I slowly blinked my eyes open, not bothering to move yet. Outside my window dust streaks against the warp field flowed past.
With half open eyes, I just watched the shifting lights for several long moments as my brain slowly started to find a gear, any gear.
Ever slept so well that you wake up having no idea what year it is?
Slowly intelligence started to creep back in from somewhere hidden and I blinked slowly.
"Computer, time?"
"The time is 05:32."
Hour and a half until my shift starts. From now on, no more double shifts either. Last night we finally hunted down and killed the last gremlin on the 'medium issues' list. Now there was just the minor issues list left. Like the random sonic shower that somehow hit a resonance with itself on deck five and vibrated itself apart. But none of which needed my personal attention and could be left to my people.
Now... sleep another hour and skip breakfast? Or have a leisurely breakfast?
Food.
Yawning again, I pushed myself up to sit, shifting my wings before slowly stretching with another yawn, my tail hitting the ceiling.
After work, I'm going to go flying. If I get the time.
Maybe one of those holo novels where I got to fight knights, that was always enjoyable. I liked the crunch their armor made.
Hope there's time.
Prediction… unlikely.
Yawning once more, I then licked my muzzle and headed towards the door. Muninn disengaged automatically from its charging dock and followed me.
It wasn't far to the mess hall, just a lift and a couple of corridors away.
I was a bit late for third shift dinner and early for first shift breakfast, so there was only a pawful of people there already, which suited me just fine. Gave me plenty of room to move about and I moved to settle down in the far corner by one of the tables as Muninn headed for the replicator. I looked out the window as it returned, carrying a twenty liter container of water and a large curly straw. It put it on the table before wandering off again. I sipped the water.
"Lieutenant," a voice said and I turned my head, spotting Commander Cavit approaching with a tray in his hands, "Mind if I join you?"
"Not at all, sir," I said and motioned towards the chair at the other side of the table with my muzzle.
He sat down and picked up his spoon. He had something like oatmeal I think, with some sort of berries I didn't recognize.
To be honest, as I couldn't really eat any of them, I didn't pay much attention to learning about alien fruits.
He tasted his breakfast before he looked at me, "How's things? Settling in alright?"
I nodded, "Yes, sir," I agreed, "Now when things are starting to calm down some, I may actually be able to do more than work and sleep. I've barely seen my cabin since I came onboard."
Cavit smiled, "Yeah, I know that feeling. Paperwork for a new posting is one thing, paperwork for a new posting and a new ship?"
I just nodded, "Same on this side," I said as Muninn returned with a large tray stacked with whole roast chickens. It put the tray on the table before picking one up, holding it for me. I took it between my teeth before letting it roll on my tongue before swallowing it whole.
Cavit looked in fascination before returning to his own meal before looking at Muninn as it picked up another chicken, "So, I have to ask..."
"How smart they are?" I asked and ate another chicken, "Very. As for how thinking they are, not very. They are running an adaptive and generative mind matrix with predictive algorithms. For example, I just left my cabin this morning. Muninn here figured out on its own what I wanted based on time, destination and any number of factors and moved to assist without being explicitly told to. Think of them like holodeck characters but without a personality subroutine. They do things that might seem intelligent, but... well, the light's on, but nobody's home."
"Fascinating."
I ate another offered chicken, "I've been working on making them smarter. It's been a slow process and none can hold a candle to somebody like Commander Data, and I suspect none will until we manage to get a positronic matrix stable again. But for now, they're good enough."
Cavit nodded, "Seems practical," he said before chewing on a berry.
"Very."
"So what do you think of our mission?" he then asked, sipping a glass of some sort of green juice.
I sipped my water to gain a couple of seconds to think before I answered, "I think the Federation fucked those colonists over and I'm not surprised at all that they fought back."
Cavit frowned slightly, "The treaty stopped the war. Besides, Cardassian colonies ended up on our side of the new border as well."
I snorted hard enough that the water in my container rippled. I ate another chicken before I answered, "The Cardassians knew the 'soft' Federation would treat those colonists well. Not only that, but they gained a valuable intelligence pathway in and out of Federation space. Not so much for those colonies that ended up on their side. They were mostly populated by people that have already been driven from their homes historically. They had found a new home, built it up and then some people hundreds of lightyears away changed the lines on a map and suddenly the Cardassians arrived, jackboots marching to kick them out of their homes."
"So tell me, Commander," I continued, looking at him, "Say the same thing happened to your home. Lines in a map changed and suddenly Earth is considered Cardassian territory. Would you not tell the Federation to take a flying leap out an airlock and pick up a phaser?"
He let out a sigh and sipped his juice, "The treaty stopped the war. The dying."
"Not for them. And the war only stopped temporarily. A culture like the Cardassians can not tolerate not having total control. They'll build back up while doing whatever they can to destabilize us and in twenty, fifty, maybe a hundred years they'll come at us again."
"Maybe," he agreed, "But then we'll stop them then too," he said before he smiled a bit wryly, "This is a bit too heavy for this early however."
"You started it, sir," I pointed out and ate another chicken.
Muninn picked up the tray and headed for the replicator.
Cavit looked after it, "...How many of those can you eat?"
"A lot. But breakfast is usually about ten or so," I said and suppressed a yawn before licking my muzzle, "Not looking forward to today," I then admitted, "Getting things working means that other things have had to be pushed back. Such as paperwork, reports and whatever... it's been piling up a bit."
Cavit smirked, "Welcome to being a senior officer," he said before he regarded me, "...I'm a bit surprised you accepted the assignment to be honest," he then said, "I don't have access to your entire file, but I do know you were offered a position at Daystrom."
I shifted my wings, mimicking a slight shrug as Muninn returned with more chickens, "Building things is fun," I admitted, "and I did enjoy my time doing that. But that's not why I joined Starfleet. I wanted to explore, to see what's out there."
He slowly nodded, "So why Voyager? She has to be a bit small for you."
I looked at him in amusement, "Because she's a brand new, cutting edge, long range scout and research vessel. Yes, she is on the small side for me, but as she is made for long duration missions, she is roomier than most ships her size. I'm not quite that large yet."
Cavit smiled, "Now that I get. I'm not sure what our next mission is, but I'm pretty sure Captain Grey wants to get back to what we're really meant to be doing."
I nodded, "We're not set up for a long duration mission," I pointed out, "We'd need to do some significant resupplying after this mission. Basically the only thing we're stocked on right now is probes."
"It's because of our current mission, we'll pick up photon torpedoes when we reach Deep Space Nine. Our departure was a bit rushed because we got this mission," he admitted, "But it won't be a long mission and we'd be good for months. I can't see this taking more than a week or two once we're in position."
"Agreed," I said and ate another chicken, "If we can't find their ship in a couple of weeks, it means they either escaped or were destroyed and continuing is pointless."
"So what do you think about going into the badlands?"
"...not a big fan," I admitted, "The ship can handle it, but not looking forward to testing it, if you get what I mean."
Cavit nodded, looking out the window, "I very much do."
With half open eyes, I just watched the shifting lights for several long moments as my brain slowly started to find a gear, any gear.
Ever slept so well that you wake up having no idea what year it is?
Slowly intelligence started to creep back in from somewhere hidden and I blinked slowly.
"Computer, time?"
"The time is 05:32."
Hour and a half until my shift starts. From now on, no more double shifts either. Last night we finally hunted down and killed the last gremlin on the 'medium issues' list. Now there was just the minor issues list left. Like the random sonic shower that somehow hit a resonance with itself on deck five and vibrated itself apart. But none of which needed my personal attention and could be left to my people.
Now... sleep another hour and skip breakfast? Or have a leisurely breakfast?
Food.
Yawning again, I pushed myself up to sit, shifting my wings before slowly stretching with another yawn, my tail hitting the ceiling.
After work, I'm going to go flying. If I get the time.
Maybe one of those holo novels where I got to fight knights, that was always enjoyable. I liked the crunch their armor made.
Hope there's time.
Prediction… unlikely.
Yawning once more, I then licked my muzzle and headed towards the door. Muninn disengaged automatically from its charging dock and followed me.
It wasn't far to the mess hall, just a lift and a couple of corridors away.
I was a bit late for third shift dinner and early for first shift breakfast, so there was only a pawful of people there already, which suited me just fine. Gave me plenty of room to move about and I moved to settle down in the far corner by one of the tables as Muninn headed for the replicator. I looked out the window as it returned, carrying a twenty liter container of water and a large curly straw. It put it on the table before wandering off again. I sipped the water.
"Lieutenant," a voice said and I turned my head, spotting Commander Cavit approaching with a tray in his hands, "Mind if I join you?"
"Not at all, sir," I said and motioned towards the chair at the other side of the table with my muzzle.
He sat down and picked up his spoon. He had something like oatmeal I think, with some sort of berries I didn't recognize.
To be honest, as I couldn't really eat any of them, I didn't pay much attention to learning about alien fruits.
He tasted his breakfast before he looked at me, "How's things? Settling in alright?"
I nodded, "Yes, sir," I agreed, "Now when things are starting to calm down some, I may actually be able to do more than work and sleep. I've barely seen my cabin since I came onboard."
Cavit smiled, "Yeah, I know that feeling. Paperwork for a new posting is one thing, paperwork for a new posting and a new ship?"
I just nodded, "Same on this side," I said as Muninn returned with a large tray stacked with whole roast chickens. It put the tray on the table before picking one up, holding it for me. I took it between my teeth before letting it roll on my tongue before swallowing it whole.
Cavit looked in fascination before returning to his own meal before looking at Muninn as it picked up another chicken, "So, I have to ask..."
"How smart they are?" I asked and ate another chicken, "Very. As for how thinking they are, not very. They are running an adaptive and generative mind matrix with predictive algorithms. For example, I just left my cabin this morning. Muninn here figured out on its own what I wanted based on time, destination and any number of factors and moved to assist without being explicitly told to. Think of them like holodeck characters but without a personality subroutine. They do things that might seem intelligent, but... well, the light's on, but nobody's home."
"Fascinating."
I ate another offered chicken, "I've been working on making them smarter. It's been a slow process and none can hold a candle to somebody like Commander Data, and I suspect none will until we manage to get a positronic matrix stable again. But for now, they're good enough."
Cavit nodded, "Seems practical," he said before chewing on a berry.
"Very."
"So what do you think of our mission?" he then asked, sipping a glass of some sort of green juice.
I sipped my water to gain a couple of seconds to think before I answered, "I think the Federation fucked those colonists over and I'm not surprised at all that they fought back."
Cavit frowned slightly, "The treaty stopped the war. Besides, Cardassian colonies ended up on our side of the new border as well."
I snorted hard enough that the water in my container rippled. I ate another chicken before I answered, "The Cardassians knew the 'soft' Federation would treat those colonists well. Not only that, but they gained a valuable intelligence pathway in and out of Federation space. Not so much for those colonies that ended up on their side. They were mostly populated by people that have already been driven from their homes historically. They had found a new home, built it up and then some people hundreds of lightyears away changed the lines on a map and suddenly the Cardassians arrived, jackboots marching to kick them out of their homes."
"So tell me, Commander," I continued, looking at him, "Say the same thing happened to your home. Lines in a map changed and suddenly Earth is considered Cardassian territory. Would you not tell the Federation to take a flying leap out an airlock and pick up a phaser?"
He let out a sigh and sipped his juice, "The treaty stopped the war. The dying."
"Not for them. And the war only stopped temporarily. A culture like the Cardassians can not tolerate not having total control. They'll build back up while doing whatever they can to destabilize us and in twenty, fifty, maybe a hundred years they'll come at us again."
"Maybe," he agreed, "But then we'll stop them then too," he said before he smiled a bit wryly, "This is a bit too heavy for this early however."
"You started it, sir," I pointed out and ate another chicken.
Muninn picked up the tray and headed for the replicator.
Cavit looked after it, "...How many of those can you eat?"
"A lot. But breakfast is usually about ten or so," I said and suppressed a yawn before licking my muzzle, "Not looking forward to today," I then admitted, "Getting things working means that other things have had to be pushed back. Such as paperwork, reports and whatever... it's been piling up a bit."
Cavit smirked, "Welcome to being a senior officer," he said before he regarded me, "...I'm a bit surprised you accepted the assignment to be honest," he then said, "I don't have access to your entire file, but I do know you were offered a position at Daystrom."
I shifted my wings, mimicking a slight shrug as Muninn returned with more chickens, "Building things is fun," I admitted, "and I did enjoy my time doing that. But that's not why I joined Starfleet. I wanted to explore, to see what's out there."
He slowly nodded, "So why Voyager? She has to be a bit small for you."
I looked at him in amusement, "Because she's a brand new, cutting edge, long range scout and research vessel. Yes, she is on the small side for me, but as she is made for long duration missions, she is roomier than most ships her size. I'm not quite that large yet."
Cavit smiled, "Now that I get. I'm not sure what our next mission is, but I'm pretty sure Captain Grey wants to get back to what we're really meant to be doing."
I nodded, "We're not set up for a long duration mission," I pointed out, "We'd need to do some significant resupplying after this mission. Basically the only thing we're stocked on right now is probes."
"It's because of our current mission, we'll pick up photon torpedoes when we reach Deep Space Nine. Our departure was a bit rushed because we got this mission," he admitted, "But it won't be a long mission and we'd be good for months. I can't see this taking more than a week or two once we're in position."
"Agreed," I said and ate another chicken, "If we can't find their ship in a couple of weeks, it means they either escaped or were destroyed and continuing is pointless."
"So what do you think about going into the badlands?"
"...not a big fan," I admitted, "The ship can handle it, but not looking forward to testing it, if you get what I mean."
Cavit nodded, looking out the window, "I very much do."
Photon torpedoes are still antimatter, are as far as I know. Not sure what's in quantum torpedoes - though knowing what little I do about quantum, indeterminacy may be the point.
