fictionfan
Please sir, may I have some Meows?
- Location
- Tempe, AZ
Section 31 will make them, but no one needs to know about them unless they actually need to be used.
The Voyage Without
- Thread starter Hiver
- Start date
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
While I'm sure that would be more comfortable, the single folding chair is funnier.
- Location
- State of Confusion
Oh yeah, Section 31 is going to keep those designs on file, at the very least.
Magnets! That's how Starfleet contains anti-matter. Oh sure, they've given it some fancy sounding 'technical' name, *ahem* 'electromagnetic containment field', or some such. But it just boils down to 'magnets!'
Magnets! That's how Starfleet contains anti-matter. Oh sure, they've given it some fancy sounding 'technical' name, *ahem* 'electromagnetic containment field', or some such. But it just boils down to 'magnets!'
Edit: I just realized that Star Fleet failed their own test by refusing to prepare for failure; they literally have a simulator-test for what their people do in the event of failure, to see if their people have operational/mental failsafes and can switch to secondary goals, and now here they are refusing to prepare for the possibility that their primary objective, maintaining their cultural tenant of harmlessness, might be untenable.
Electron-shells are magnets by default. Specifically they're passive monopoles, or at least all of the other end of them is on their insides, so they're extremely stable.
Yeah but a Kotatsu lets him lay "on" someones lap without murdering their legs.
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NemiTheNen
Perpetual Phone Poster
This, the huge weapons, the talk of section 31, of stopping bein the federation and starfleet.
It reminds me of Bolos. Late 'series' bolos.
Bolo tanks don't need humans to pilot them, but they put people in them anyways, not just as partners, or as 'robots lack creativity,' or 'sometimes you gotta do the illogical to win,' sort of thing.
Not even as a stop gap don't send off the nukes button--Bolos can refuse illegal orders and are designed to be honorable and ethical because you don't want a gun happy space faring anti continental weapons platform roming around.
But to die with them. To remind people you are spending lives. Send a robot to its death? Easy. Send a man? Harder. We made them to fight for us, so we should at least fight and die by their side.
And that's how you can stay the federation.
KillerFish
Grumpy Owl, Bird Lawyer
Cardassians: "What a fascinating idea! *Yoink*!"
B'lanna Torres: "Look at this Cardassian world-ending missile! I should totally reprogram it to target Cardassia Prime and rename it 'Dreadnaught'!"
- Location
- Reading, Berks, UK
Based on some of the backstory in STO, I rather suspect it might be better called Ketracel Red.
- Location
- france
Nice one, but Ketracel comes from the other side of a wormhole, from the Dominion space.
And it's not easy to manufacture outside of Dominion tech... That said since Ketracel is addictive and even Worf drinks bloodwine... Huh...
- Location
- Reading, Berks, UK
And in STO is refined from a fungus the Hurq eat and the Klingons/Felrii were a failed attempt by the Founders to use it to create a slave soldier race before the Jemhadar.
... that makes no sense. The Founders/Dominion didn't know about the wormhole until the events of DS9, and Klingons were drinking Bloodwine before TOS. Additionally, why would they try to create a soldier race on the Alpha Quadrant side of said wormhole anyways? That's like Japan deciding to recruit Samurai from Australia.
Sure, the trip is possible, but it long, hard to send orders to because of said distance, open to blockading by hostiles, and just generally inconvenient.
- Location
- Reading, Berks, UK
Additionally, why would they try to create a soldier race on the Alpha Quadrant side of said wormhole anyways? That's like Japan deciding to recruit Samurai from Australia.
Sure, the trip is possible, but it long, hard to send orders to because of said distance, open to blockading by hostiles, and just generally inconvenient.
STO has the Founders being the race that the Klingons rebelled against and became a space faring power afterwards. This is happening a long time before any of the TV series. There might be something about the pocket dimension the Felrii are imprisoned in as a fast travel system.
I don't count STO as canon, especially for this fic. Which does not exactly follow canon either, even disregarding the lack of transporters, this is very much an AU.
- Location
- Reading, Berks, UK
Which is how it should be. I was just trying to explain one of the weird bits of a licensed product.
- Location
- Arizona
While I'm sure Orions Arm Expert Systems are much more in depth than ones we have made so far, expert systems actually go back to either the late 1950s or the 60s and unlike the AI often talked about today an expert system can be set up to show you how it came to the conclusion it has. By the 1980s there were medical expert systems developed that could do better at coming up with a diagnosis for a set of symptoms than the average doctor (partly because they dodn't get fixated on things like, "but this region doesn't get bubonic plague," which resulted in at least one death in the US when a patient's doctor didn't pay attention to the patient having traveled to a region of the southwest US where bubonic plague is still endemic in certain wild animal populations). The simplistic answer to, "Well why don't we see them being used in every doctor's office in that case?" is that it would be blow to the collective ego of the medical establishment, issues with funding, and ease of use (no wireless tablet computers or voice recognition etc in the early 80s), likely combined with ego to result in such tech not getting the support needed to build up even more complete databases to reason off and to shepherd it through various countries medical tech licensing systems. And I suspect versions probably are in use, just in the background and not much talked about because until recently things stopped being considered AI once they left the research labs and once the current advertising fad for calling anything and everything AI or AI assisted, that will likely once again become the pattern.
(Edit: and now on a reread of the linked page I see the, "goes back to the dawn of computers," line. Zephyr both probably can and probably has made use of expert systems in his drones. I suspect with Federation tech it probably wouldn't be hard to make something similar to the Vots of the article. Wide ranging expert systems plus a natural language interface seem like the should be most of that.)
And Hiver, thanks for the chapters! I'm enjoying this.
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Vulcan.
Home planet of the Vulcans.
Funny how that happens.
Not that I had time to go down and sightsee, we were only stopping for less than a day, taking on some more supplies and personnel before continuing on to Deep Space Nine to pick up our last group of crew.
"-and check the antimatter flow regulators," I said, finishing off the what felt like kilometers long list of potential issues that had been found on the way to Vulcan, "Then there is the port sensor array, it's been acting up since we dropped out of warp, it did not like that subspace vibration the tuning problem in the warp field caused. Zheng, I'm putting your group on those."
She nodded and made a note on her PADD, "Yes sir."
I nodded, "That's all I think. Unless somebody has something to bring up..."
Davies put his hand up a bit, "Actually sir, I was wondering if you know anything more about our mission?"
I let out a small snort, "Unfortunately no. At this point, I know as much as you. Some Maquis ship got themselves lost in the badlands and we're being called in to track them down. So let's get all of these issues hunted down. I don't know about any of you, but if we're going into the badlands, I want the ship in top shape."
That got nods of agreement all around.
"Let's get to it then. Dismissed."
Everybody started to wander off and I raised my head to look at the warp core, its constantly shifting blue of matter annihilation was pretty to look at.
The badlands. I did not look forward to going there. The entire place was a constantly churning plasma storm of subspace disruption and... it was just bad. I understand why they called in Voyager, the Intrepid class was one of the few ships in Starfleet with the right mix of maneuverability, speed and toughness as well as sensors to be able to survive in an environment like that.
The main door to engineering opened and I glanced in that direction before fully turning when I saw who it was.
Captain Grey walked inside. He was a man of medium height in his fifties of a medium build and I couldn't even begin to pinpoint his ethnicity. I was bad at that sort of thing in the first place, but his ancestors liked to travel it seems, and the end result was neither dark nor light. He looked very tan more than anything else.
He kept his head shaved other than a thin mustache.
"Captain," I greeted him with a nod, "How can we assist you?"
He smiled and shook her head, "Just taking a walk, Lieutenant. I like seeing what's going on, not just reading reports."
I nodded in understanding, "We're tracking down any issues discovered during the trip here. The list is... extensive."
"New ship, Lieutenant," he said in an agreeing tone, "That's why we do shakedown cruises."
"Yes, sir," I agreed and then shook my head, "Nothing that's a mission stopper has been found. Worst is the subspace harmonic when dropping out of warp, but I have a team on it right now. Looks to be the port nacelle plasma flow regulators."
The Captain nodded, "Keep at it, let me know if there is an issue."
"No, I was thinking of keeping it a secret, sir," I told him dryly.
That drew a grin from him, "Think we'll be ready in time?"
"We should. Like I said, nothing major has crept up on us," I said and mimicked a shrug, "Not overly happy about the badlands, but she'll be able to handle it."
Grey nodded, "Well, I'll leave you to it, Lieutenant," he said and wandered off, leaving through a different door than he entered by.
I looked after him for a second before I returned my attention to the readings in my vis-
"Fitzgerald to Zephyr."
I sighed at the interruption and then flicked my eyes to accept the com request, "Zephyr here."
"Please report to sickbay. You have yet to do your onboarding checkup."
"...Bit busy here, Doctor. Can it wait?"
"Engineering is always busy. And no, it can't. You're one of the last people onboard not yet processed."
Resisting a sudden urge to growl, I instead answered, "On my way. Zephyr out."
Damn it, I really didn't have time for this.
But I still turned and padded out towards the closest cargolift. I had been examined enough by now, surely they could just pull something from my file?
"Ah, Lieutenant," Doctor Fitzgerald said as I entered the sickbay, "I see you found some time after all."
I didn't growl at him, but I may have shown a bit more teeth than strictly necessary as I answered, moving to sit down on the floor so not take up the entire place, "Well, I'm here, Doctor. Do your thing."
He nodded and opened a locker, pulling out a medical tricorder three times the size of normal. We had finally managed to build a mobile one that mostly worked on me and I just brought one along when I changed ships, putting in sickbay for their use.
Way faster than having to build a new one each time.
Turning it on, He started to run it across me, "Have you experienced any symptoms?"
I keep getting annoyed at monkeys jabbering at me when I have a list of work longer than I am.
"None."
He nodded, waving the tricorder beneath my chin, "Any changes in diet?"
No, but if you don't stop that, I might make an exception.
"None."
Doctor Fitzgerald nodded, "Lower your head," he said before asking, "No headaches, pains, anything else?"
I did as he said, "Nothing that can't be explained by having pulled double shifts for the last while. It'll calm down once the ship calms down and stop trying to fall apart."
"I think we would all appreciate it if it didn't do that," he commented, "...And your file wasn't kidding. Even with this I can barely get any readings through your skull. The rest of your bones are just as bad, but at least I can scan around them."
"Indeed," I agreed, "But I assure you, there is something in there."
"I don't doubt it," he said equally dryly before he sighed, "But if you have a head injury, that may be a problem. Looks like we will need to build that larger scanning array you have on file. The one from the Institute, that could get images good enough to see blood vessels at least."
I looked at him in some amusement, "Unused to not have clear scans to a cellular level, Doctor?"
He smiled a bit wryly, "Haven't had to make do without it since medical school. And considering you're an unfamiliar species, I have quite a bit of studying to do."
"Let me guess, you want a blood sample?"
He smiled, "Like you read my mind. Let's see what I get when your cells are away from your bones."
"I like my cells next to my bones, that's where they belong," I grumbled before I stuck my tongue out so he could take his damn blood sample without needing to go through my scales.
Ow!
Why did it have to be the tongue of all things!?
That's never not going to be unpleasant.
Home planet of the Vulcans.
Funny how that happens.
Not that I had time to go down and sightsee, we were only stopping for less than a day, taking on some more supplies and personnel before continuing on to Deep Space Nine to pick up our last group of crew.
"-and check the antimatter flow regulators," I said, finishing off the what felt like kilometers long list of potential issues that had been found on the way to Vulcan, "Then there is the port sensor array, it's been acting up since we dropped out of warp, it did not like that subspace vibration the tuning problem in the warp field caused. Zheng, I'm putting your group on those."
She nodded and made a note on her PADD, "Yes sir."
I nodded, "That's all I think. Unless somebody has something to bring up..."
Davies put his hand up a bit, "Actually sir, I was wondering if you know anything more about our mission?"
I let out a small snort, "Unfortunately no. At this point, I know as much as you. Some Maquis ship got themselves lost in the badlands and we're being called in to track them down. So let's get all of these issues hunted down. I don't know about any of you, but if we're going into the badlands, I want the ship in top shape."
That got nods of agreement all around.
"Let's get to it then. Dismissed."
Everybody started to wander off and I raised my head to look at the warp core, its constantly shifting blue of matter annihilation was pretty to look at.
The badlands. I did not look forward to going there. The entire place was a constantly churning plasma storm of subspace disruption and... it was just bad. I understand why they called in Voyager, the Intrepid class was one of the few ships in Starfleet with the right mix of maneuverability, speed and toughness as well as sensors to be able to survive in an environment like that.
The main door to engineering opened and I glanced in that direction before fully turning when I saw who it was.
Captain Grey walked inside. He was a man of medium height in his fifties of a medium build and I couldn't even begin to pinpoint his ethnicity. I was bad at that sort of thing in the first place, but his ancestors liked to travel it seems, and the end result was neither dark nor light. He looked very tan more than anything else.
He kept his head shaved other than a thin mustache.
"Captain," I greeted him with a nod, "How can we assist you?"
He smiled and shook her head, "Just taking a walk, Lieutenant. I like seeing what's going on, not just reading reports."
I nodded in understanding, "We're tracking down any issues discovered during the trip here. The list is... extensive."
"New ship, Lieutenant," he said in an agreeing tone, "That's why we do shakedown cruises."
"Yes, sir," I agreed and then shook my head, "Nothing that's a mission stopper has been found. Worst is the subspace harmonic when dropping out of warp, but I have a team on it right now. Looks to be the port nacelle plasma flow regulators."
The Captain nodded, "Keep at it, let me know if there is an issue."
"No, I was thinking of keeping it a secret, sir," I told him dryly.
That drew a grin from him, "Think we'll be ready in time?"
"We should. Like I said, nothing major has crept up on us," I said and mimicked a shrug, "Not overly happy about the badlands, but she'll be able to handle it."
Grey nodded, "Well, I'll leave you to it, Lieutenant," he said and wandered off, leaving through a different door than he entered by.
I looked after him for a second before I returned my attention to the readings in my vis-
"Fitzgerald to Zephyr."
I sighed at the interruption and then flicked my eyes to accept the com request, "Zephyr here."
"Please report to sickbay. You have yet to do your onboarding checkup."
"...Bit busy here, Doctor. Can it wait?"
"Engineering is always busy. And no, it can't. You're one of the last people onboard not yet processed."
Resisting a sudden urge to growl, I instead answered, "On my way. Zephyr out."
Damn it, I really didn't have time for this.
But I still turned and padded out towards the closest cargolift. I had been examined enough by now, surely they could just pull something from my file?
"Ah, Lieutenant," Doctor Fitzgerald said as I entered the sickbay, "I see you found some time after all."
I didn't growl at him, but I may have shown a bit more teeth than strictly necessary as I answered, moving to sit down on the floor so not take up the entire place, "Well, I'm here, Doctor. Do your thing."
He nodded and opened a locker, pulling out a medical tricorder three times the size of normal. We had finally managed to build a mobile one that mostly worked on me and I just brought one along when I changed ships, putting in sickbay for their use.
Way faster than having to build a new one each time.
Turning it on, He started to run it across me, "Have you experienced any symptoms?"
I keep getting annoyed at monkeys jabbering at me when I have a list of work longer than I am.
"None."
He nodded, waving the tricorder beneath my chin, "Any changes in diet?"
No, but if you don't stop that, I might make an exception.
"None."
Doctor Fitzgerald nodded, "Lower your head," he said before asking, "No headaches, pains, anything else?"
I did as he said, "Nothing that can't be explained by having pulled double shifts for the last while. It'll calm down once the ship calms down and stop trying to fall apart."
"I think we would all appreciate it if it didn't do that," he commented, "...And your file wasn't kidding. Even with this I can barely get any readings through your skull. The rest of your bones are just as bad, but at least I can scan around them."
"Indeed," I agreed, "But I assure you, there is something in there."
"I don't doubt it," he said equally dryly before he sighed, "But if you have a head injury, that may be a problem. Looks like we will need to build that larger scanning array you have on file. The one from the Institute, that could get images good enough to see blood vessels at least."
I looked at him in some amusement, "Unused to not have clear scans to a cellular level, Doctor?"
He smiled a bit wryly, "Haven't had to make do without it since medical school. And considering you're an unfamiliar species, I have quite a bit of studying to do."
"Let me guess, you want a blood sample?"
He smiled, "Like you read my mind. Let's see what I get when your cells are away from your bones."
"I like my cells next to my bones, that's where they belong," I grumbled before I stuck my tongue out so he could take his damn blood sample without needing to go through my scales.
Ow!
Why did it have to be the tongue of all things!?
That's never not going to be unpleasant.
- Location
- USA
- Pronouns
- He/They
Oh God tell me Picard's not a fashion icon
Picard's shiny bald head has more diplomatic victories than any three other diplomats put together. Of course it's a fashion icon.
KillerFish
Grumpy Owl, Bird Lawyer
Starfleet had adopted it as the official protagonist captain's haircut prior to OTL-Janeway. That's the real reason Sisko started shaving his when he got promoted.
JmonsterNEO
Spouter of nonsense
- Location
- The quest forums
There is one other option, but I think you'd like it less.
Two others. One's a pain in the ass, the other is somewhere even worse.
Edit: Wait, his sinuses are probably also valid targets for a blood draw. So there's three possible locations other than his tongue, and they're still all worse.
- Location
- Omniverse #1345
I could see the doctor surviving the trip but not being in a state where he can actually physically do the job, leading to then leaving the hologram on as an aid/assistant.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
I'm kinda hoping that time skip means that he's going to end up pulling all kinds of interesting tricks and secrets out when they start running into trouble.
Also, I wonder what ship he helped design. Sovereign class and Defiant class were both designed as anti-borg so maybe one of those?
Also, I wonder what ship he helped design. Sovereign class and Defiant class were both designed as anti-borg so maybe one of those?