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The Voyage Without

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Hmm changeling forms typically remind me of that unlcassified gelatinous desert product called jello. I wonder if changeling would be considered meat or jello? Or heck, might even be a delicacy like Canadian Maple Syrup.
 
Zephyr is a dragon. Odo is golden liquid. In my mind, Odo is just reacting to the comic fear all things golden would have at the sight of a dragon.

Or, Odo tried to add Zephyr to his rolodex of forms and came away with "ERROR". But I prefer my first theory. Its funnier.
 
Revlis said:
Or, Odo tried to add Zephyr to his rolodex of forms and came away with "ERROR". But I prefer my first theory. Its funnier.
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That seems the most sensible cause, honestly. He probably more-or-less automatically tried to copy whatever the hell Zephyr is (it's a very useful form to have when you can also have thumbs as needed) and got hit with the mental equivalent of a copystrike.
 
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    • Dinah waited as I untangled myself from the lift before motioning for me to follow.

    I watched her curiously but did so, following her along before making our way up to the less populated upper level by a set of stairs I barely fit through. We move another hundred meters or so to a fairly empty bit of deck by a window overlooking empty space before she turned to me,

    "What the hell was that?" she asked quietly.

    I tilted my head in question, "What do you mean? Is it the sensor recording thing?"

    Dinah frowned, "What? No! The attitude!"

    "...What?" I asked, blinking at her in surprise.

    "Zeph, I know you," she said, "But I literally never seen you that annoyed before, even during Puke Month back at the academy. And don't think I can't read your body language, we'd been friends for years."

    I bared my teeth at her only for her hand to smack the tip of my snout,

    "And don't you bare your teeth at me!"

    I shifted back slightly, "...I don't know," I admitted, "Maybe it was almost being accused of something I didn't do, maybe it's because I've been working double shifts for most of two months getting the ship ready."

    Dinah frowned, "Been more annoyed than usual?"

    "Yeah," I admitted and sighed, "I think it's been the work. I like what I do, but it has been..."

    "A lot," she agreed with a small sigh, holding her hand up.

    I shifted to press my nose against it and she scratched up between my eyes, "I've just been stressed," I continued, "Now things have started to calm down."

    Dinah nodded and then sighed, "Okay," she said, "And I say this as your friend, but you really should talk to the ship's counselor. You know it helps, they're good at what they do."

    "Thanks," I sighed and shifted closer, touching my nose to her shoulder, the closest I got to a hug, "And I plan to once he gets onboard after this mission."

    Dinah frowned, "Wait, I thought we were getting the rest of the crew here."

    I snorted, "Transport delay," I said, "Heard about it in this morning's senior staff meeting. He and half of the science staff were on a transport that had to divert because of an ion storm. They'll be a week late and we can't wait for them."

    Shaking her head, Dinah wrapped her arm around my snout, resting her head against the side of it, "You'd think after five hundred years we'd figured out logistics," she sighed, "Come on, let's get back to the ship."

    "Sounds like a plan," I agreed, "Sorry you didn't get to see more of the station."

    "Eh, looks boring anyway. Can always check it out when we get back," she said with a smile before she eyed me.

    "...What?" I asked.

    "If you'd been doing double shifts for the last month, when was the last time you went flying?"

    "...Uhm," I said as I tried to remember, "Not sure to be honest. Likely that long, I was too busy to visit the holodeck."

    Dinah rolled her eyes, "And you wonder why you have been irritable. This is literally the largest space you've been in for months. If I had to stay in a Jefferies tube for two months, I'd be biting people's heads off!"

    I felt slightly dumb.

    "Oh."

    "Come on, we're going now," she said and turned, heading back towards the ship.


    #######


    The door of the holodeck closed behind us and I sniffed the air. The wind flowed up from the valley beneath the mountain from the ocean in the distance, bringing a scent of grass, salt and a bit of rotting fish.

    "See?" Dinah said with a grin as I stretched my wings wide and high, giving them a testing beat, "Better?"

    "...Better," I grumbled, "Thanks."

    She smiled, "What are friends for?" she asked and then motioned, "Shoo. Off you go!"

    "...Actually," I said and turned my head to her, "We never did get around to going on that flight we discussed. Wanna try it?"

    That got another grin, "Really? Awesome! What should I do?"

    I moved to settle down on the ground, "Just clamber on and hold on to the harness. Stay clear of my wings."

    Dinah nodded and climbed onto my back and I got back onto my paws. Humans really don't weigh anything, I could feel she was there, but she was maybe seventy, eighty kilos at that. I have literally eaten more in one sitting before."

    I started to move about, walking in a circle before turning it into a run, "Got a good grip?" I asked as I stopped, turning my head to look back at her.

    Dinah shuffled around some before wrapping her hands in the harness across my back just in front of my wings, "I think so," she admitted.

    "Alright," I said, "Well, the safeties are on, so worst case you'll fall a couple of meters before the forcefields catch you."

    "No, the worst case is that you fall and land on me."

    "...Okay, fair," I admitted and moved towards the edge, "Whatever, let's get this done. I need to check that the last cargo has been stowed away."

    "Hey now," Dinah pointed out, "That's not your job. That's the ops officer... hell, it's not even them, it's one of the people reporting to them."

    I turned my head to glance at her, "That cargo involves thirty eight photon torpedoes. I for one want to see that the antimatter weapons on my ship are secure."

    "...Oh. Yeah, good point," she admitted.

    "Besides," I said with an amused snort, "Somebody in logistics fucked up."

    "Oh, say it's not so," Dinah answered, "What did they do?"

    "Well, we got thirty six photon torpedoes," I said with a snort, "And a pair of tricobalt warheads."

    Dinah made a small choking sound, "What!?"

    "Don't ask me why logistics thought we needed those, but we're not giving them back now," I said, "And if anybody asks, we didn't see anything."

    Dinah laughed and patted my back before squealing as I spread my wings and threw myself out into the air.

    My wings caught the air and I started to rise and the squeal turned into laughter.

    Okay, yeah.

    I really should have gone flying more.
     
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    • Hiver said:
    "Well, we got thirty six photon torpedoes," I said with a snort, "And a pair of tricobalt warheads."

    Dinah made a small choking sound, "What!?"

    "Don't ask me why logistics thought we needed those, but we're not giving them back now,"
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    Zephyr says "logistics fucked up", I say "somebody from the Federation's time travelling branch slipped them some needed ordinance."

    This does make it seem they are headed straight to Delta Quadrant, though. And without a counsellor.
     
    ptbptb said:
    This does make it seem they are headed straight to Delta Quadrant, though. And without a counsellor.
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    As long as we're proposing Watsonian solutions to Doylist problems, I suddenly wonder how much erratic 'idiot ball' behavior on the original show could be put down to "no competent mental healthcare in a uniquely stressful long-term posting"...
     
    Qoheleth said:
    I suddenly wonder how much erratic 'idiot ball' behavior on the original show could be put down to "no competent mental healthcare in a uniquely stressful long-term posting"...
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    My favourite 'explanation' of Voyager was the fic where Nelix was giving off hallucinogenic pheromones and everyone was tripping balls the entire time (except for the EMH). It was a defense mechanism that Nelix' species evolved, but he forgot about it because the local species have all adapted to it. He also thought everyone on the ship just had 'colourful customs' instead of being out of their minds.
     
    ptbptb said:
    My favourite 'explanation' of Voyager was the fic where Nelix was giving off hallucinogenic pheromones and everyone was tripping balls the entire time (except for the EMH). It was a defense mechanism that Nelix' species evolved, but he forgot about it because the local species have all adapted to it. He also thought everyone on the ship just had 'colourful customs' instead of being out of their minds.
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    I've always preferred the "Voyager was Janeway's teen fanfic." Sadly, that doesn't really work with Voyager still being canon.
     
    I just realized...

    Hiver said:
    I turned my head to it, "Muninn. Download a full external sensor record of everything happening ten minutes before to ten minutes after the man turned into a bird. Burn the data to a data chit."

    It turned its head in my direction and after a couple of seconds it reached up and ejected a data chit from a slot at the base of its neck before holding it out for me.
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    ... Just like a PEZ dispenser!
     
    As someone only tangentially knowledgeable about Trek, why is a tricobalt warhead more powerful/dangerous than antimatter? I can sort of see it as Super-Heavy Fusion (Used in bombs, which hold volumes of super-heavy elements with atomic masses above 300, whose protons and neutrons in the nucleus have broken down into up and down quarks. To detonate, the warhead compresses nucleons into the super-heavy nuclei, releasing 52 MeV per nucleon, eight times as much per nucleon as the proton-proton chain.) but that would make it more stable rather than powerful, or maybe a Monopole (Monopoles carrying either the electroweak or the electronuclear force, which cause quarks to decay in to anti-leptons, gamma rays, or neutrinos. Allows for up to total conversion of matter into useful energy, and may be used to propagate chain reactions by scattering monopoles into the target which will continue to react, causing additional damage to larger or denser targets.) warhead but then the naming scheme is simply arbitrary.

    Physical phenomena taken from the War of the Krork quest on SB, inspired by actual physics publications.
     
    Dropbear said:
    I've always preferred the "Voyager was Janeway's teen fanfic." Sadly, that doesn't really work with Voyager still being canon.
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    Ah yes, but you also have to consider that Hiver would have to go ask permission to use the "Voyager is Janeway's teen fanfic" idea from the writer of the "Not Quite Shodan" series, who is I believe ... Hiver. :p
     
    ptbptb said:
    My favourite 'explanation' of Voyager was the fic where Nelix was giving off hallucinogenic pheromones and everyone was tripping balls the entire time (except for the EMH). It was a defense mechanism that Nelix' species evolved, but he forgot about it because the local species have all adapted to it. He also thought everyone on the ship just had 'colourful customs' instead of being out of their minds.
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    I remember that one. It was surprisingly plausible!
     
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