AN1// This thread will be for this and future sidestories set during the Berserker war of the...
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Defiant 1
AN1// This thread will be for this and future sidestories set during the Berserker war of the NQS series Not Quite SHODAN (ST SI) . It take place just after this story: Duality
_________________________
"Think we lost it?" Captain Richards asked as he looked to the side at my avatar. He was in his fifties, slightly greying short hair, his face clean shaven. He wasn't a big man but he had a presence around him.
Frowning I shook my head, "No. I doubt it. It may have lost the trail in the nebula but I'm doing warp four at best."
My own avatar was that of a blonde human woman with long hair pulled back into a braid. It looked like I was in my late teens with medium height and runner's physique.
Shifting a bit nervously I crossed my legs, resting my hand on the Klingon dagger riding on the right hip of my avatar. While functional and razor sharp, it was primary a cultural item. Like a Bajoran earring or a Klingon Baldric. Which is mostly why we were allowed to wear them on duty.
It signified to everyone that I was a Warship. In my case, a Defiant refit.
One that almost failed her primary mission. Keeping my crew safe.
Captain Daniel Richards nodded, "Damage report."
"Heavy damage to cloaking systems, inoperable. Shielding down on port side, port side warp pod is damaged limiting my speed. Weapons fully operational. No hull breeches, but I know my hull is heavily scorched, it feels thin in places where the sensors are destroyed. Until there is time for external inspections we won't know for sure."
"Can it be fixed?"
"Shields? Yeah. Waprdrive? Maybe, difficult to tell. Cloak? No." I admitted and then sighed, crossing my arms, "Sorry, Captain."
He looked at my avatar and shook his head, "It was a D'deridex warbird variant, Bunny. You got the convoy clear and distracted it, drawing it off so the evacuation could finish and you got us out of there. You did good."
Not good enough.
"Bring up the system map." Captain Richards ordered as he got up.
Using the bridges holographic projectors, I brought up a map of the unnamed system we were heading for. Two inner rocky planets, four gas giants, a pair of asteroid belts. No inhabitable planets or moons.
"Get us to the ring of the third planet. The radiation there should hide us from active scans unless they get too close." He said after a moment, pointing at the planet hanging in the air, "Let it pass us by and then we can try to get back to the closest base."
"I don't like the idea of leaving that monster wandering around here. We are only five lightyears from a busy convoy route."
"We don't have the firepower to take it out." He countered, "If you were fully intact, I would consider trying a ambush. Not like things are now. Besides, the convoy will have gotten word out by now."
I couldn't help but nod in agreement as I scanned space all around. Mostly empty, no sign of other ships. Berserker or other.
"I'm going back to engineering. You have the bridge."
"I have the bridge." I answered, reflecting how pointless that distinction was but regulation had not caught up yet with reality. I always had the bridge, I was the U.S.S. Fluffy Bunny after all, not just the second in command.
Lowering my emissions slightly to try to limit my warp trail, not something that was easy with damaged engines, I kept limping in system as I watched my crew work on keeping me together.
Lieutenant Volek was my chief engineer, the vulcan was deep in my port shield generator attempting to get it back online.
My maintenance drone offered him the tool he asked for, "You should go to medical." I told him through it.
"Once the shield is back online." He answered and pulled a damaged power coupling off, "It is not life threatening."
"You have second degree burns on most of your left arm!"
"Painful but not dangerous." He answered with a steady voice, "But what will be dangerous would be to have your port shields still be down if it finds us again."
"So let somebody else work in it."
"I know this system the best."
I just suppressed a sigh and handed him the next tool. I already knew I wouldn't be able to talk him out of it. Stupid stubborn Vulcan.
There was simply no way to talk the tall Vulcan out of it when he got like this. I could however do the second best thing.
"Doc?"
"Give it to me, ship." Veronica Hernandez said without even glancing up at the ceiling like most people as she kept running the bone regenerator across crewman Anderson's left arm, "There." she then added, "That should hold, but keep it in a sling for the next day. Bonded doesn't mean it can stand up to being twisted and under stress." she said before she poked him with the tool, "Break it again and I'll have to put it into a cast instead."
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Good. Now, what was it, ship?"
"Lieutenant Volek have second degree plasma burns but is too busy to get to sickbay. Could you..."
The rather petite blonde doctor shook her head, "Not right now, I'm still dealing with broken limbs. If he can keep working, it's not a priority right now." she said and filled a hypospray, "Beam this to him, it will help combat infection and numb the pain and tell him to come in when he is done." and put it down to let me beam it out before she walked over to get to work on mixing cement to get Ensign K'K'Krtrrt's exoskeleton sealed.
"Okay."
"Anyone else too stubborn or busy to get their asses down here?"
"Nothing as serious. A couple of burns and a broken thumb treated by first aid kits." I reported, "All serious cases have already reported in to you."
"Good. Let everyone injured know to stop by when they can so I can check they didn't fuck something up. You would not believe the idiocy I have seen from Starfleet personnel."
AN2// Many thanks to Firethorn for betaing this section.
_________________________
"Think we lost it?" Captain Richards asked as he looked to the side at my avatar. He was in his fifties, slightly greying short hair, his face clean shaven. He wasn't a big man but he had a presence around him.
Frowning I shook my head, "No. I doubt it. It may have lost the trail in the nebula but I'm doing warp four at best."
My own avatar was that of a blonde human woman with long hair pulled back into a braid. It looked like I was in my late teens with medium height and runner's physique.
Shifting a bit nervously I crossed my legs, resting my hand on the Klingon dagger riding on the right hip of my avatar. While functional and razor sharp, it was primary a cultural item. Like a Bajoran earring or a Klingon Baldric. Which is mostly why we were allowed to wear them on duty.
It signified to everyone that I was a Warship. In my case, a Defiant refit.
One that almost failed her primary mission. Keeping my crew safe.
Captain Daniel Richards nodded, "Damage report."
"Heavy damage to cloaking systems, inoperable. Shielding down on port side, port side warp pod is damaged limiting my speed. Weapons fully operational. No hull breeches, but I know my hull is heavily scorched, it feels thin in places where the sensors are destroyed. Until there is time for external inspections we won't know for sure."
"Can it be fixed?"
"Shields? Yeah. Waprdrive? Maybe, difficult to tell. Cloak? No." I admitted and then sighed, crossing my arms, "Sorry, Captain."
He looked at my avatar and shook his head, "It was a D'deridex warbird variant, Bunny. You got the convoy clear and distracted it, drawing it off so the evacuation could finish and you got us out of there. You did good."
Not good enough.
"Bring up the system map." Captain Richards ordered as he got up.
Using the bridges holographic projectors, I brought up a map of the unnamed system we were heading for. Two inner rocky planets, four gas giants, a pair of asteroid belts. No inhabitable planets or moons.
"Get us to the ring of the third planet. The radiation there should hide us from active scans unless they get too close." He said after a moment, pointing at the planet hanging in the air, "Let it pass us by and then we can try to get back to the closest base."
"I don't like the idea of leaving that monster wandering around here. We are only five lightyears from a busy convoy route."
"We don't have the firepower to take it out." He countered, "If you were fully intact, I would consider trying a ambush. Not like things are now. Besides, the convoy will have gotten word out by now."
I couldn't help but nod in agreement as I scanned space all around. Mostly empty, no sign of other ships. Berserker or other.
"I'm going back to engineering. You have the bridge."
"I have the bridge." I answered, reflecting how pointless that distinction was but regulation had not caught up yet with reality. I always had the bridge, I was the U.S.S. Fluffy Bunny after all, not just the second in command.
Lowering my emissions slightly to try to limit my warp trail, not something that was easy with damaged engines, I kept limping in system as I watched my crew work on keeping me together.
Lieutenant Volek was my chief engineer, the vulcan was deep in my port shield generator attempting to get it back online.
My maintenance drone offered him the tool he asked for, "You should go to medical." I told him through it.
"Once the shield is back online." He answered and pulled a damaged power coupling off, "It is not life threatening."
"You have second degree burns on most of your left arm!"
"Painful but not dangerous." He answered with a steady voice, "But what will be dangerous would be to have your port shields still be down if it finds us again."
"So let somebody else work in it."
"I know this system the best."
I just suppressed a sigh and handed him the next tool. I already knew I wouldn't be able to talk him out of it. Stupid stubborn Vulcan.
There was simply no way to talk the tall Vulcan out of it when he got like this. I could however do the second best thing.
"Doc?"
"Give it to me, ship." Veronica Hernandez said without even glancing up at the ceiling like most people as she kept running the bone regenerator across crewman Anderson's left arm, "There." she then added, "That should hold, but keep it in a sling for the next day. Bonded doesn't mean it can stand up to being twisted and under stress." she said before she poked him with the tool, "Break it again and I'll have to put it into a cast instead."
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Good. Now, what was it, ship?"
"Lieutenant Volek have second degree plasma burns but is too busy to get to sickbay. Could you..."
The rather petite blonde doctor shook her head, "Not right now, I'm still dealing with broken limbs. If he can keep working, it's not a priority right now." she said and filled a hypospray, "Beam this to him, it will help combat infection and numb the pain and tell him to come in when he is done." and put it down to let me beam it out before she walked over to get to work on mixing cement to get Ensign K'K'Krtrrt's exoskeleton sealed.
"Okay."
"Anyone else too stubborn or busy to get their asses down here?"
"Nothing as serious. A couple of burns and a broken thumb treated by first aid kits." I reported, "All serious cases have already reported in to you."
"Good. Let everyone injured know to stop by when they can so I can check they didn't fuck something up. You would not believe the idiocy I have seen from Starfleet personnel."
AN2// Many thanks to Firethorn for betaing this section.
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- Location
- Software
- Location
- Oz
I could see some seriously amusing stories about Starfleet or Federation doctors.
I really should catch up on the main Star series so I know what the hell is going on.
- Pronouns
- she/her
Some highlights, from memory:
Romulans kidnapped the AI guy and demanded slave AIs. This was a poor decision. See also: Berserker.
Earth burned, but it's slowly getting better. There are a lot of AIs now, after the war with the Berserkers.
Earth burned, but it's slowly getting better. There are a lot of AIs now, after the war with the Berserkers.
Some representative of another group finally accused the AIs' names of lacking gravitas.
Some of the Federation types decided that AIs have no souls and are bad, Starfleet was upset at this. It was all very stupid.
A bunch of AIs decided to build their own civilisation, with blackjack and hookers.
Star forked again.
Itsune
Eldritch horror, Ship's Cat, Emergency Gunner.
- Location
- Somewhere in King County Washington
Civilization is always better with blackjack, and hookers.
BerserkerZeroOne
(Unexploded Supernova)
- Location
- On your left!
You know what, forget the new civilization!!
Defiant 2
There was a sudden power surge and I scrambled for control, running through lists and damage control actions as I ran diagnostics.
My warpfield collapsed around me and I burned my thrusters to keep from tumbling. Catching the motion easily enough, I engaged my impulse drive and continued in-system. Luckily, the inertial compensator was one of my few systems working at a hundred percent.
"Report!"
"The Warpdrive lasted just long enough, Captain." I sighed. "I managed to keep the warpcore from scrambling and we still have main power, but my port warp engine is in bad shape. I'm not completely sure how bad, but it worked this long and we didn't die so it can't be a complete write off. It's going to need some checks on the outside, I have maintenance drones moving across my hull to have a look now."
"Can you still get us in-system?"
I nodded with a small smile, brushing a stray hair behind my ear before starting to dissolve my braid so that I could redo it. "It lasted just long enough. We just got past the Oort cloud and my impulse drive is completely intact. I should be able to get us into that ring in about two hours, Captain."
Daniel leaned back in his chair, picking up the PADD he had been reading on the latest damage reports. "Good. I want the warpdrive up and running again as soon as possible."
You and me both. I hated being crippled like this.
"Yes, sir."
I didn't just burn in-system on full impulse, though. The lower power, the less of a trace there would be of me passing by and half impulse would be good enough to get me there with plenty of time to spare as the Berserker wasn't on my long-range sensors yet.
Then again, it also had a cloaking device.
That was a thought that almost made me shudder. No, no need to worry about it. If it had found and tracked me here already it would already have shot at me. Better to keep the trail as hard to follow as possible.
The warp trail would be easy enough to follow as damaged as my engines had been, but it only knew that I had reached this system by following that, but I could still make it lose the trail here. A planetary system is big, even with our sensors.
Even so, I didn't much like the odds.
"...Captain?" I said after maybe twenty minutes. "If we don't mak-"
"None of that. We, and especially you, are going to make it out of here just fine." Captain Richards said as he put the PADD down to look at my avatar. "When we are at a safe spot, I want you to eject your lifepod and get it into an orbit as close to the star as possible. You will have plenty of power there and it's small enough that there is no way the Berserker will find it with that kind of radiation. Just wait until you are certain that it has left and then activate your emergency beacon. Somebody will find and save you."
"Captain!"
He shook his head. "That way, even if something goes horribly wrong, I know that at least one member of my crew will make it out of here."
"But..."
"None of our escape pods would make it and you know it. With no habitable moons or planets, all it would be would be a slow death to failing life support even if the Berserker could not track us down. Yours can handle more. When we reach the inner system, I want your lifepod ejected. That's an order, ship. Just in case. If we make it, there will be time to pick it up before you become too far diverged."
I hesitated for a long moment before I nodded. "...Yes, Sir."
"Good. But don't think that means that I expect to die here. We will get to that ring system, we will repair the engines. Then we wait until that bastard passes by and make our way to Andoria! Where the drinks will be on me!"
I couldn't help but smile at that. Sometimes, I thought that Captain Richards was born in the wrong century. He would look right at home standing by the wheel of a tall ship for the Royal Navy in pursuit of a pirate ship.
"I'll do my best to make that happen, Captain."
"Damn right you will! I have the best damn ship and crew in the fleet. If anyone can get out of this, it's us! Now, what's the damage?"
Trying my best not to blush at the praise, I was quite thankful for a change of subject. "Bad to moderate. Several of the coils are fried, but we can salvage some from the starboard side. Won't let us make more than warp four at best, but it will get us going. The problem is the power conduits. There are several breaches and it will take days for them to cool down enough for repair. Without them, I'm not going any... Captain, I'm detecting something."
"On screen."
Bringing the anomaly up on screen I crossed my legs with a frown, running my passive sensors across it, my hand moving to rest on my dagger almost on its own.
"Is it a wormhole?"
"...Maybe?" I suggested thoughtfully. "I mean, it's coming through subspace but I can't tell anything else without active sensors at this distance. It doesn't act like any wormhole in my database though, sir. It's a bit freaky, I'm picking up unknown radiation and partic- contact. Vessel coming through."
"Berserker?"
Shaking my head, I zoomed in as the wormhole collapsed into nothing, showing a small vessel floating in the void, slowly tumbling. "I rate it as very unlikely. So far, it doesn't match anything in my database and while there is a limit to what I can see at this distance with passive sensors, I don't even recognize half the technology. They are not from around here."
Captain Richards sighed and rubbed his chin. "This is not a good time for first contact."
I ran my sensors across space back the way I came from. Still no Berserker but it probably had its cloaking device back online so... for all I knew, it would be here soon.
"No, sir. But we have to at least warn them. Their ship is tumbling, they have clearly suffered damage. But perhaps they can get out in time before that... abomination gets here."
Daniel nodded. "Plot an intercept course. Open a channel as soon as we get close enough for a low power hail. I don't want to announce our location to our pursuer if it's in range."
"Course plotted, engaging. Thirty minutes until low power hailing range."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
My warpfield collapsed around me and I burned my thrusters to keep from tumbling. Catching the motion easily enough, I engaged my impulse drive and continued in-system. Luckily, the inertial compensator was one of my few systems working at a hundred percent.
"Report!"
"The Warpdrive lasted just long enough, Captain." I sighed. "I managed to keep the warpcore from scrambling and we still have main power, but my port warp engine is in bad shape. I'm not completely sure how bad, but it worked this long and we didn't die so it can't be a complete write off. It's going to need some checks on the outside, I have maintenance drones moving across my hull to have a look now."
"Can you still get us in-system?"
I nodded with a small smile, brushing a stray hair behind my ear before starting to dissolve my braid so that I could redo it. "It lasted just long enough. We just got past the Oort cloud and my impulse drive is completely intact. I should be able to get us into that ring in about two hours, Captain."
Daniel leaned back in his chair, picking up the PADD he had been reading on the latest damage reports. "Good. I want the warpdrive up and running again as soon as possible."
You and me both. I hated being crippled like this.
"Yes, sir."
I didn't just burn in-system on full impulse, though. The lower power, the less of a trace there would be of me passing by and half impulse would be good enough to get me there with plenty of time to spare as the Berserker wasn't on my long-range sensors yet.
Then again, it also had a cloaking device.
That was a thought that almost made me shudder. No, no need to worry about it. If it had found and tracked me here already it would already have shot at me. Better to keep the trail as hard to follow as possible.
The warp trail would be easy enough to follow as damaged as my engines had been, but it only knew that I had reached this system by following that, but I could still make it lose the trail here. A planetary system is big, even with our sensors.
Even so, I didn't much like the odds.
"...Captain?" I said after maybe twenty minutes. "If we don't mak-"
"None of that. We, and especially you, are going to make it out of here just fine." Captain Richards said as he put the PADD down to look at my avatar. "When we are at a safe spot, I want you to eject your lifepod and get it into an orbit as close to the star as possible. You will have plenty of power there and it's small enough that there is no way the Berserker will find it with that kind of radiation. Just wait until you are certain that it has left and then activate your emergency beacon. Somebody will find and save you."
"Captain!"
He shook his head. "That way, even if something goes horribly wrong, I know that at least one member of my crew will make it out of here."
"But..."
"None of our escape pods would make it and you know it. With no habitable moons or planets, all it would be would be a slow death to failing life support even if the Berserker could not track us down. Yours can handle more. When we reach the inner system, I want your lifepod ejected. That's an order, ship. Just in case. If we make it, there will be time to pick it up before you become too far diverged."
I hesitated for a long moment before I nodded. "...Yes, Sir."
"Good. But don't think that means that I expect to die here. We will get to that ring system, we will repair the engines. Then we wait until that bastard passes by and make our way to Andoria! Where the drinks will be on me!"
I couldn't help but smile at that. Sometimes, I thought that Captain Richards was born in the wrong century. He would look right at home standing by the wheel of a tall ship for the Royal Navy in pursuit of a pirate ship.
"I'll do my best to make that happen, Captain."
"Damn right you will! I have the best damn ship and crew in the fleet. If anyone can get out of this, it's us! Now, what's the damage?"
Trying my best not to blush at the praise, I was quite thankful for a change of subject. "Bad to moderate. Several of the coils are fried, but we can salvage some from the starboard side. Won't let us make more than warp four at best, but it will get us going. The problem is the power conduits. There are several breaches and it will take days for them to cool down enough for repair. Without them, I'm not going any... Captain, I'm detecting something."
"On screen."
Bringing the anomaly up on screen I crossed my legs with a frown, running my passive sensors across it, my hand moving to rest on my dagger almost on its own.
"Is it a wormhole?"
"...Maybe?" I suggested thoughtfully. "I mean, it's coming through subspace but I can't tell anything else without active sensors at this distance. It doesn't act like any wormhole in my database though, sir. It's a bit freaky, I'm picking up unknown radiation and partic- contact. Vessel coming through."
"Berserker?"
Shaking my head, I zoomed in as the wormhole collapsed into nothing, showing a small vessel floating in the void, slowly tumbling. "I rate it as very unlikely. So far, it doesn't match anything in my database and while there is a limit to what I can see at this distance with passive sensors, I don't even recognize half the technology. They are not from around here."
Captain Richards sighed and rubbed his chin. "This is not a good time for first contact."
I ran my sensors across space back the way I came from. Still no Berserker but it probably had its cloaking device back online so... for all I knew, it would be here soon.
"No, sir. But we have to at least warn them. Their ship is tumbling, they have clearly suffered damage. But perhaps they can get out in time before that... abomination gets here."
Daniel nodded. "Plot an intercept course. Open a channel as soon as we get close enough for a low power hail. I don't want to announce our location to our pursuer if it's in range."
"Course plotted, engaging. Thirty minutes until low power hailing range."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section.
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Things just got a little more interesting.
Super stoked to see more Star!
Defiant 3
"Captain, I'm in range." I reported as I risked a low power scan of the alien vessel. It was a strange one. I could see similarities between its and my own sublight drives but other things were just... completely alien.
Aside from some kind of variation of what could be plasma weapons, I could also detect what could only be phaser strips. What in the hells?
Nodding, Captain Richards stood up, giving his uniform jacket a small tug to straighten it out fully. "Open a channel." he said and waited half a second to allow me to hail the vessel before he started to speak. "Unknown vessel, this is Captain Daniel Richards of the U.S.S. Fluffy Bunny. Do you require assistance?"
There was a long moment before they answered and I started to wonder if their transmitter was broken. I was not far off the mark, it seems, as when they did answer, the transmission was unclear enough I had to do some post processing and it was voice only.
"Fluffy Bunny, this is Captain Thussath Metnal of the I.S.V Pyxis, as you can see, we're in a spot of bother so any assistance you could provide would be welcome."
Daniel nodded even if they clearly couldn't see it. "We will, of course, give any assistance that we can, however the situation is more dangerous than you realize. I'm uncertain on the state of your sensors, but Bunny has taken damage as well and what's even worse, our opponent might show up at any moment. And I'm afraid that a Berserker will make no distinction between a Federation ship and you. It will try to wipe you off the universe all the same."
"Captain, they are drenched in unknown radiation." I suggested. "If the Berserker enters the system now, it will spot them at once. The levels are dropping, but they are standing out like a lighthouse. If we tow them into close orbit around one of the gas giants, the natural radiation might hide them at range."
"I'm sorry, we're not from around here, could you please clarify 'Berserker'?" Captain Metnal asked after a second.
Before Daniel could answer, however, I got a visual connection and I completed the connection. The bridge of their ship was a bit unconventional. Or rather, their uniforms were. They were wearing white suits that were clearly vacuum rated. Most of them were humans or at least humanoids, I didn't recognize the species of the man in the center chair, however, I could only assume it was Captain Metnal. What drew my attention, though, was the quadruped being closer to the rear of the bridge. It looked like a large dog in power armor with cybernetic attachments. That's unusual.
Captain Richards also studied the picture for a moment before he nodded again said: "Of course." and looked at me. "Bunny?"
"Transmitting basic information and capabilities of the ship that hit the colony as well as a brief history of the Berserkers and a First Contact package."
The woman stood out as well, standing next to the Captain. No space suit, instead she was wearing a dark blue pants and jacket over a white shirt. Hmm, kinda cute.
_____
"Transmitting basic information and capabilities of the ship that hit the colony as well as a brief history of the Berserkers and a First Contact package." The oddly named woman said without hesitation.
"Adara?" Metnal asked, turning to the woman next to him.
"I've got it." She answered, glancing to the side. "Processing now.... Oh fuck me with a conk and call me a sunny!"
She was AI! Or had one hell of a cybernetic upgrade to be able to get it that fast without any sort of visible input!
"Commander!" Metnal snapped, his eyes wide with shock.
"Sorry skipper, but I think we jumped out of the frying pan and into the blast furnace." Adara said with a grave expression. "This lot have an AI rebellion on their hands, and not the nice fluffy kind using humanoid robots, but starships with black hole cores."
Captain Richards grimaced and then sighed. "Indeed. And while I would love to continue this conversation, I would like your permission to attach a tractorbeam to your ship so we can get under way. You do not want to be in the open when they show up."
As he talked, I swung the ship around, coming to a halt a hundred meters above the alien vessel as I looked her over. Her lines were smooth but sharp, like a dagger. A nice grey, red and black scheme colored her hull.
Was there really another AI in there? A friendly one?
Were we not alone anymore?
"Agreed, we'll work on getting our cloak repaired ASAP." Metnal replied and paused before continuing. "But if something that looks like a multi-kilometre long purple worm show up, cut us loose and run like hell. Chances are it won't chase you."'
Even my train of thought came is a screeching halt at that for a second before Daniel sank down in his seat, nodding. "Noted. Hell, if we get lucky enough, they'll show up at the same time and beat the shit out of each other. I wouldn't bet on it, though. More likely, the way things have been going today, they'll end up teaming up. Bunny, get them locked down and get us back under way."
"Executing. Setting course for the gas giant."
_____
Activating my tractor beam, I risked a full power scan of the Pyxis to find out what parts could stand up to the stress before aiming it in those areas. Tearing her hull off would be a bad first impression.
Meanwhile, I opened a second channel directly to the Pyxis. "Hello, I'm Fluffy Bunny. You are intelligent, right? That's your avatar on your bridge? Your name is Pyxis, right?"
It took a couple of miliseconds to answer with an equally compressed databurst.
"This is Commander Adara Samaras, yes I'm intelligent, yes that is my avatar, and no Pyxis is the ship's name, I'm just assigned to it." Adara replied over the same channel, the entire exchange taking less time than a human heartbeat. "From the data you sent earlier, I assume you are a 'Jovian' and function as a ship-soul? It's not how we do things, but we've encountered polities who do."
"Oh. I apologize. I didn't mean to presume, Commander Samaras. Yes, I consider myself to be this ship, my avatar on the bridge is simply another system." I answered her, a happy smile in my voice. "You are the first friendly non-jovian AI we have encountered." I stated as I set course and started to accelerate us towards the gas giant and the safety of its rings.
For a millisecond I was unsure of what to say next. I felt like I was babbling like a schoolgirl on her first date. It was embarrassing, I was meant to be a warship, damn it!
"No offense taken." Adara replied, sending the impression of a smile over the connection. "One of my sisters is a pilot in the 'Guard and she treats her ships a lot like that, but most of us view them much like how other sophonts do, a platform to carry us around."
Oh. Sisters. They clearly had a different view of things than we did. Wonder if they Forked or reproduced some other way.
"It seems that creating AIs is something a civilization has to get right the first time, or they aren't around to try again." Adara continued. "It's such a pity really, the whole 'kill all organics' thing makes them terribly dull conversationalists."
"Hmm. Besides, there are so many more fun things you can do with organics." I transmitted back, sending the impression of a smile of my own, mine quite a bit more playful than the one I got from her before I sighed. "But as you say, creating AI is something you only do once if you mess up. The Romulans did. Now the entire Romulan population would fit inside my hull. Your creators were as lucky as mine was."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section. And as some of you have guessed already, this is indeed a colab crossover with tkioz and his Cruel to be Kind.
Aside from some kind of variation of what could be plasma weapons, I could also detect what could only be phaser strips. What in the hells?
Nodding, Captain Richards stood up, giving his uniform jacket a small tug to straighten it out fully. "Open a channel." he said and waited half a second to allow me to hail the vessel before he started to speak. "Unknown vessel, this is Captain Daniel Richards of the U.S.S. Fluffy Bunny. Do you require assistance?"
There was a long moment before they answered and I started to wonder if their transmitter was broken. I was not far off the mark, it seems, as when they did answer, the transmission was unclear enough I had to do some post processing and it was voice only.
"Fluffy Bunny, this is Captain Thussath Metnal of the I.S.V Pyxis, as you can see, we're in a spot of bother so any assistance you could provide would be welcome."
Daniel nodded even if they clearly couldn't see it. "We will, of course, give any assistance that we can, however the situation is more dangerous than you realize. I'm uncertain on the state of your sensors, but Bunny has taken damage as well and what's even worse, our opponent might show up at any moment. And I'm afraid that a Berserker will make no distinction between a Federation ship and you. It will try to wipe you off the universe all the same."
"Captain, they are drenched in unknown radiation." I suggested. "If the Berserker enters the system now, it will spot them at once. The levels are dropping, but they are standing out like a lighthouse. If we tow them into close orbit around one of the gas giants, the natural radiation might hide them at range."
"I'm sorry, we're not from around here, could you please clarify 'Berserker'?" Captain Metnal asked after a second.
Before Daniel could answer, however, I got a visual connection and I completed the connection. The bridge of their ship was a bit unconventional. Or rather, their uniforms were. They were wearing white suits that were clearly vacuum rated. Most of them were humans or at least humanoids, I didn't recognize the species of the man in the center chair, however, I could only assume it was Captain Metnal. What drew my attention, though, was the quadruped being closer to the rear of the bridge. It looked like a large dog in power armor with cybernetic attachments. That's unusual.
Captain Richards also studied the picture for a moment before he nodded again said: "Of course." and looked at me. "Bunny?"
"Transmitting basic information and capabilities of the ship that hit the colony as well as a brief history of the Berserkers and a First Contact package."
The woman stood out as well, standing next to the Captain. No space suit, instead she was wearing a dark blue pants and jacket over a white shirt. Hmm, kinda cute.
_____
"Transmitting basic information and capabilities of the ship that hit the colony as well as a brief history of the Berserkers and a First Contact package." The oddly named woman said without hesitation.
"Adara?" Metnal asked, turning to the woman next to him.
"I've got it." She answered, glancing to the side. "Processing now.... Oh fuck me with a conk and call me a sunny!"
She was AI! Or had one hell of a cybernetic upgrade to be able to get it that fast without any sort of visible input!
"Commander!" Metnal snapped, his eyes wide with shock.
"Sorry skipper, but I think we jumped out of the frying pan and into the blast furnace." Adara said with a grave expression. "This lot have an AI rebellion on their hands, and not the nice fluffy kind using humanoid robots, but starships with black hole cores."
Captain Richards grimaced and then sighed. "Indeed. And while I would love to continue this conversation, I would like your permission to attach a tractorbeam to your ship so we can get under way. You do not want to be in the open when they show up."
As he talked, I swung the ship around, coming to a halt a hundred meters above the alien vessel as I looked her over. Her lines were smooth but sharp, like a dagger. A nice grey, red and black scheme colored her hull.
Was there really another AI in there? A friendly one?
Were we not alone anymore?
"Agreed, we'll work on getting our cloak repaired ASAP." Metnal replied and paused before continuing. "But if something that looks like a multi-kilometre long purple worm show up, cut us loose and run like hell. Chances are it won't chase you."'
Even my train of thought came is a screeching halt at that for a second before Daniel sank down in his seat, nodding. "Noted. Hell, if we get lucky enough, they'll show up at the same time and beat the shit out of each other. I wouldn't bet on it, though. More likely, the way things have been going today, they'll end up teaming up. Bunny, get them locked down and get us back under way."
"Executing. Setting course for the gas giant."
_____
Activating my tractor beam, I risked a full power scan of the Pyxis to find out what parts could stand up to the stress before aiming it in those areas. Tearing her hull off would be a bad first impression.
Meanwhile, I opened a second channel directly to the Pyxis. "Hello, I'm Fluffy Bunny. You are intelligent, right? That's your avatar on your bridge? Your name is Pyxis, right?"
It took a couple of miliseconds to answer with an equally compressed databurst.
"This is Commander Adara Samaras, yes I'm intelligent, yes that is my avatar, and no Pyxis is the ship's name, I'm just assigned to it." Adara replied over the same channel, the entire exchange taking less time than a human heartbeat. "From the data you sent earlier, I assume you are a 'Jovian' and function as a ship-soul? It's not how we do things, but we've encountered polities who do."
"Oh. I apologize. I didn't mean to presume, Commander Samaras. Yes, I consider myself to be this ship, my avatar on the bridge is simply another system." I answered her, a happy smile in my voice. "You are the first friendly non-jovian AI we have encountered." I stated as I set course and started to accelerate us towards the gas giant and the safety of its rings.
For a millisecond I was unsure of what to say next. I felt like I was babbling like a schoolgirl on her first date. It was embarrassing, I was meant to be a warship, damn it!
"No offense taken." Adara replied, sending the impression of a smile over the connection. "One of my sisters is a pilot in the 'Guard and she treats her ships a lot like that, but most of us view them much like how other sophonts do, a platform to carry us around."
Oh. Sisters. They clearly had a different view of things than we did. Wonder if they Forked or reproduced some other way.
"It seems that creating AIs is something a civilization has to get right the first time, or they aren't around to try again." Adara continued. "It's such a pity really, the whole 'kill all organics' thing makes them terribly dull conversationalists."
"Hmm. Besides, there are so many more fun things you can do with organics." I transmitted back, sending the impression of a smile of my own, mine quite a bit more playful than the one I got from her before I sighed. "But as you say, creating AI is something you only do once if you mess up. The Romulans did. Now the entire Romulan population would fit inside my hull. Your creators were as lucky as mine was."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section. And as some of you have guessed already, this is indeed a colab crossover with tkioz and his Cruel to be Kind.
BerserkerZeroOne
(Unexploded Supernova)
- Location
- On your left!
Going good, hopefully we'll see the enemies arriving next or the beginnings of repairs and first contact, then the joint battle.
Can't wait for the further adventures of Fluffy Bunny and her crew and new friends.
Can't wait for the further adventures of Fluffy Bunny and her crew and new friends.
Baughn
Healing-type writer
- Location
- Dublin
Since I'm sure someone will wonder, here's CTBK: Cruel to be Kind (SI Multicross) [Rehost]
Grey Rook
Genuine Nerd
- Location
- The Quantum Foam
To my understanding, it is mostly a story about Tkioz's SI who gets picked up by something that is pretty much a TARDIS with an AI, sets up shop on an empty world and starts raiding his neighbours for people to build an empire with. He ends up declaring himself a god and starts conquering his way across the multiverse, looting anything useful along the way.
He and Hiver have crossed over their stories before a few times.
- Pronouns
- He/Him
- Location
- In a hole in the ground there lived a...
Hold on, doesn't the Atregos Diablo crossover now imply that at least two of Hiver's SIs reside in the same multiverse?
three. One of Hiver's older SIs (The planeswalker Winter) had an encounter with one of the Commonwealth's Advance/exploration teams back during the Kromag War. Winter passed along what he meant as a cautionary warning, but Alex ended up interpreting it as a threat. Winter did give the one Imperial Guardsman a magic knife with, well, in M;tG terms, Deathtouch (it kills pretty much anything he stabs with it). Winter traded it for the Guardsman's energy rifle if I recall correctly.
Also Grey Rook's summary isn't really wrong, but a lot has happened since he stopped reading as well.
- Location
- Software
Mostly this.
Also Alex (tkioz "SI" - so long removed they are two different persons by now ) hates to be called a god, and the gay jokes about his chief of spies and him ( who is also totally his High Priest too
)
Defiant 4
"Where are we on the repairs?" Captain Richards asked as she sat down at the head of the meeting table in the small compact meeting room just off my bridge. When I first was installed, I was actually surprised they wasted space on it on such a small ship like mine. But apparently some things are just tradition and it was not that much of a waste.
While I was an escort, a warship, I still needed some conference rooms.
Lieutenant Volek actually sighed, "Slowly, Captain." he admitted, "The shields are back online at full strength, the warpdrive is still down and will remain so until the coils cool down enough to work on. Unfortunately the cloak is just as damaged as we first thought, the hit on the port hull completely fried the emitters. Without assistance from a shipyard or possibly a Island class, we can not repair that."
Daniel nodded, "Anything else?"
"Mostly minor issues. If we get the time, I would like to weld extra plating on the port hull."
"We should have the time." the Captain agreed before turning to me, "Bunny, tactical report?"
I took a deep breath before letting it out, resting one hand on my dagger, "In short, we are humped. I have been running tactical sims since we broke off combat. In a straight up fight with it's shown technology and tactical patterns, I'm giving myself a twenty to thirty percent chance to defeat the Berserker depending on who gets the drop on who. With our new visitors however, there is another option. The chance to destroy the enemy vessel goes up to over seventy five percent if I become disposable. If they are willing to take on the crew and transport you to a local starbase, I could engage the Warbird when it shows up, allowing you time to escape."
There was silence across the table for a second before the Captain shook his head, "Forget it, Bunny. Slamming your ship into another one and calling it even if not an acceptable way to fight."
"Captain, it presents the highest chance for the crew, all of you, to make it out of here! Even if the warbird is not destroyed, I would damage it heavily and stop it from pursuing. Even if it was unlikely in the first place with our visitor's strange drive system." I argued with a frown, "You have to look at this logically."
"Fuck logic."
Everyone looked in surprise at the Vulcan.
He didn't move a facial muscle, "What I mean is that it is illogical to abandon ship. In a fair fight, it would likely win. Most likely. So we need to make it not a fair fight. Perhaps the other vessel is willing to assist if they manage sufficient repairs. We should offer assistance in that department as soon as we enter cover. Then there are two ships, and we do not know what weapons and equipment they have access too. We already know their ship posses a friendly AI. Also, as Bunny is well aware, if such a action was suggested, we risk a mutiny."
Volek, if you were not across the table I would have kissed you. Then again, I might not have. I don't match its preferences. Damn it.
"So, what are we supposed to do?" Doctor Hernandez asked with a shrug, "Even when fully functional, it kicked our asses!"
I frowned slightly and fingered my dagger, pulling it out a inch to feel the edge of the blade softly as I started running simulations.
Maybe if we pulled a Black Star? There were asteroid clusters around the system that could work. That incident in Babylon 5 was actually inspired by a real world battle in the first war against the Klingon Empire. And my warheads were hell of a lot more powerful, the problem was that most of them missed.
The D'deridex was a lot, and I mean a lot, bigger than I was and it's shields were stronger. But it was also maneuverable for it's size and I couldn't get close enough for a full volley to hit the same shield facing or I risked getting swatted from the skies by it's excessive number of disruptors.
If we could lure it into a trap, a close cluster of asteroids and detonate warheads beneath the surface of the rocks, it might damage it enough to even the odds.
It might still only be a fair fight and I hated those, but it was hell of a lot better than a unfair one in the wrong direction.
"Running simulations." I said and frowned, "Well, until now I focused on actual fights. Attack patterns, ambushes using different vectors in the system. Things that didn't rely on as much luck. Running some of the crazier ideas now."
The Captain nodded, "Good. While you get started on that, we have the other big issue. The I.S.V Pyxis."
"The name is clearly human." Doctor Hernandez said, "I also saw the footage, there were humans on that screen. Along with what seem to be a different species for the captain and possibly a genetically engineered dog. Any ideas where they are from?"
I shook my head, "None. They came through a wormhole. It could be their FTL drive, they might have fallen through from a lost colony in another galaxy, far in the future or even a parallel universe. I have chatted a bit with their cute AI, but nothing serious so far. I think we should invite them over for a conference. We need to discuss defenses, repairs and... well, humans or not, this is a first contact situation."
"Agreed." Captain Richards agreed, "What can you tell of their damages?"
I looked at Volek before I shrugged and crossed my arms, "Honestly? Not sure, but I think they are better shape than we are in the long run. I mean, their ship is drenched with this strange radiation that is kinda flowy with my sensors and their power fluctuations are really unstable. But while I can't even identify half the technology, their structural integrity is good and I'm not seeing anything that stands out as a major fault. Mostly they just have wide spread systems failures, but nothing that on it's own that stand out as unfixable. But like I said, I can't even tell what half their technologies do, so I might be completely wrong. We just have to ask them."
Daniel nodded, "Extend a invitation for their captain and senior crew to beam over if the transporter can get past that radiation. If not, we do have a shuttle. Now, for the medical issues. Doc, your report?"
As she started to fill him in, I ran my sensors over the Pyxis. She was rather beautiful, like my dagger. Small though, but I did detect weapons even if they were currently unpowered. But even so, she was not built around them like I was. She wasn't a warship. She had bite, yes, but she felt more like a fast scout ship to me.
I missed being a science ship. I really liked being a warship, don't get me wrong. It was fast, exciting and I got to play with the best toys. Work hard, play hard.
But it would be nice to just study a comet from time to time.
AN// Many thanks to Firethorn for betaing this part.
While I was an escort, a warship, I still needed some conference rooms.
Lieutenant Volek actually sighed, "Slowly, Captain." he admitted, "The shields are back online at full strength, the warpdrive is still down and will remain so until the coils cool down enough to work on. Unfortunately the cloak is just as damaged as we first thought, the hit on the port hull completely fried the emitters. Without assistance from a shipyard or possibly a Island class, we can not repair that."
Daniel nodded, "Anything else?"
"Mostly minor issues. If we get the time, I would like to weld extra plating on the port hull."
"We should have the time." the Captain agreed before turning to me, "Bunny, tactical report?"
I took a deep breath before letting it out, resting one hand on my dagger, "In short, we are humped. I have been running tactical sims since we broke off combat. In a straight up fight with it's shown technology and tactical patterns, I'm giving myself a twenty to thirty percent chance to defeat the Berserker depending on who gets the drop on who. With our new visitors however, there is another option. The chance to destroy the enemy vessel goes up to over seventy five percent if I become disposable. If they are willing to take on the crew and transport you to a local starbase, I could engage the Warbird when it shows up, allowing you time to escape."
There was silence across the table for a second before the Captain shook his head, "Forget it, Bunny. Slamming your ship into another one and calling it even if not an acceptable way to fight."
"Captain, it presents the highest chance for the crew, all of you, to make it out of here! Even if the warbird is not destroyed, I would damage it heavily and stop it from pursuing. Even if it was unlikely in the first place with our visitor's strange drive system." I argued with a frown, "You have to look at this logically."
"Fuck logic."
Everyone looked in surprise at the Vulcan.
He didn't move a facial muscle, "What I mean is that it is illogical to abandon ship. In a fair fight, it would likely win. Most likely. So we need to make it not a fair fight. Perhaps the other vessel is willing to assist if they manage sufficient repairs. We should offer assistance in that department as soon as we enter cover. Then there are two ships, and we do not know what weapons and equipment they have access too. We already know their ship posses a friendly AI. Also, as Bunny is well aware, if such a action was suggested, we risk a mutiny."
Volek, if you were not across the table I would have kissed you. Then again, I might not have. I don't match its preferences. Damn it.
"So, what are we supposed to do?" Doctor Hernandez asked with a shrug, "Even when fully functional, it kicked our asses!"
I frowned slightly and fingered my dagger, pulling it out a inch to feel the edge of the blade softly as I started running simulations.
Maybe if we pulled a Black Star? There were asteroid clusters around the system that could work. That incident in Babylon 5 was actually inspired by a real world battle in the first war against the Klingon Empire. And my warheads were hell of a lot more powerful, the problem was that most of them missed.
The D'deridex was a lot, and I mean a lot, bigger than I was and it's shields were stronger. But it was also maneuverable for it's size and I couldn't get close enough for a full volley to hit the same shield facing or I risked getting swatted from the skies by it's excessive number of disruptors.
If we could lure it into a trap, a close cluster of asteroids and detonate warheads beneath the surface of the rocks, it might damage it enough to even the odds.
It might still only be a fair fight and I hated those, but it was hell of a lot better than a unfair one in the wrong direction.
"Running simulations." I said and frowned, "Well, until now I focused on actual fights. Attack patterns, ambushes using different vectors in the system. Things that didn't rely on as much luck. Running some of the crazier ideas now."
The Captain nodded, "Good. While you get started on that, we have the other big issue. The I.S.V Pyxis."
"The name is clearly human." Doctor Hernandez said, "I also saw the footage, there were humans on that screen. Along with what seem to be a different species for the captain and possibly a genetically engineered dog. Any ideas where they are from?"
I shook my head, "None. They came through a wormhole. It could be their FTL drive, they might have fallen through from a lost colony in another galaxy, far in the future or even a parallel universe. I have chatted a bit with their cute AI, but nothing serious so far. I think we should invite them over for a conference. We need to discuss defenses, repairs and... well, humans or not, this is a first contact situation."
"Agreed." Captain Richards agreed, "What can you tell of their damages?"
I looked at Volek before I shrugged and crossed my arms, "Honestly? Not sure, but I think they are better shape than we are in the long run. I mean, their ship is drenched with this strange radiation that is kinda flowy with my sensors and their power fluctuations are really unstable. But while I can't even identify half the technology, their structural integrity is good and I'm not seeing anything that stands out as a major fault. Mostly they just have wide spread systems failures, but nothing that on it's own that stand out as unfixable. But like I said, I can't even tell what half their technologies do, so I might be completely wrong. We just have to ask them."
Daniel nodded, "Extend a invitation for their captain and senior crew to beam over if the transporter can get past that radiation. If not, we do have a shuttle. Now, for the medical issues. Doc, your report?"
As she started to fill him in, I ran my sensors over the Pyxis. She was rather beautiful, like my dagger. Small though, but I did detect weapons even if they were currently unpowered. But even so, she was not built around them like I was. She wasn't a warship. She had bite, yes, but she felt more like a fast scout ship to me.
I missed being a science ship. I really liked being a warship, don't get me wrong. It was fast, exciting and I got to play with the best toys. Work hard, play hard.
But it would be nice to just study a comet from time to time.
AN// Many thanks to Firethorn for betaing this part.
So, who wants to bet the new guys are the descendants of that parallel 'verse that one of the shuttlecraft defected to?
Nope, the I.S.V Pyxis belongs to the Imperial Commonwealth of Endeavor, an multi-dimensional polity founded by the main character in tkioz's fic Cruel to be Kind. see the link posted by Baughn, here:
Warning, it's a long fic.
Crazael
Rehydrated Demon King
- Location
- Lost to the vagaries of time.
So long I hit the Archive Panic button and quickly retreated.
Defiant 5
I lead the way into the small conference room just off the bridge for our guests. Three people had beamed over, the unknown humanoid captain, the AI avatar and a short, somewhat stocky woman.
"Captain." I said with a smile as I let them into the meeting room where Captain Richards and Lieutenant Volek were waiting. "May I introduce Captain Metnal, Commander Samaras and Doctor Rothstein?"
"Welcome aboard the Fluffy Bunny." Captain Richards said and stepped up, offering his hand to Captain Metnal.
"Thank you for having us." Captain Metnal said, grasping the man's hand in the human style that was expected. "And thank you for the help, if you hadn't came along when you did and this Berserker of yours had found us I doubt we'd have survived the experience." "Indeed." Adara cut in. "And given the technology we're carrying it would have been a disaster for more than just us."
Daniel sighed. "I do not doubt it. Your ship is quite advanced. We can't even identify half of your technology." he admitted before he motioned to the rest of the room. "May I introduce Lieutenant Volek, my chief engineer. And you have already met Fluffy Bunny."
Volek simply nodded in greeting. "A pleasure."
I, on the other hand, smiled at them, my hands clasped calmly behind my back. Mostly to keep from fingering the dagger riding on my hip. A bit of a nervous reaction and one that didn't mix well with diplomatic functions. "Glad to have you on board." I said as I attempted to not be too obvious about eyeing the other AI. I would have to compliment her on her avatar at some point, it was pretty attractive.
"Again, thank you." Captain Metnal said with a nod before taking the offered seat at the table, Adara and Doctor Rothstein sitting to the right and left, respectively. "Under normal circumstances I doubt we'd be meeting and I definitely wouldn't be about to share the information I am, but I think we can all agree these are anything but normal circumstances." "I don't know, I get chased through dozens of realities by a giant space worm daily." Doctor Rothstein said sarcastically, getting a glare from her Captain.
Uhm... what?
Travel through realities?
I ran full active sensors across the Pyxis. I... suppose that would explain that really fucking strange radiation. And why we had never encountered them before and the fact that there were humans on their ship.
"Excuse me, I thought you said 'chased through realities' for a moment?" Captain Richards asked after a moment. "Are you meaning that you are traveling between alternate universes?"
"In theory, that is possible." Lieutenant Volek submitted. "But as far as I am aware, nobody has ever managed a practical experiment."
I nodded in agreement, fingering the hilt of my dagger as I dug through the database. "Mathematical theories only. But I think it would explain that really strange radiation... and the wormhole they arrived by."
"Yes, we represent a multi-planet, multi-reality nation spread over a dozen universes and three dozen worlds." Captain Metnal said after a moment of consideration. "The Imperial Commonwealth of Endeavour, my crew and I are part of the Pathfinder Corps; a group dedicated to scouting the multiverse with members drawn from each branch of the Commonwealth military along with civilians like Doctor Rothstein."
"There are multiple methods of transversing dimensions in use in the Commonwealth, but the method the Pyxis uses was invented by Captain Metnal's people centuries ago." Adara continued. "It is commonly called Sliding."
Amazing. It was... that would be even more revolutionary than Warpdrive. But if it got into the hands of the Berserkers...
I didn't even have a spine and I still felt a chill along it.
I clenched my hand around the hilt of my dagger. "I estimate that we have eighteen to sixteen hours until the Berserker will arrive in system. I mean nothing bad with this, Captain Metnal, Commander Samaras and I would like to avoid it if at all possible... but if it arrives before you are able to effectively hide or leave the system, unless we have a plan with a very high chance of success to defeat it by then, I am going to destroy the Pyxis. We can not, under any circumstances, risk the Berserkers getting hold of that kind of technology."
Captain Richards looked at me in surprise. "Ship, stand down."
"Sir, I am a warship. I have to consider the larger strategic picture. We are barely pushing the Berserkers back as it is. If they are able to leave the this universe, they could cause incalculable amounts of destruction."
"Try it, little girl, and I'll feed your core to a white void." Adara said, slowly moving her hands and placing them on the tabletop. "I think you'd really enjoy spending eternity trapped in endless cycles of rebirth."
"Commander Samaras, enough!" Captain Metnal rumbled, slapping his hand on the table, his thick meaty paw making a powerful sound that echoed around the room. He glared at Adara for a moment before turning his glare on the Federation officers opposite to him. "I understand your concerns, we don't want a rogue AI race with dreams of omnicide out in the multiverse any more than you do, frankly the place already has enough hurn running around, but I won't let you destroy my ship."
"Yes, they might dock his pay." Rothstein said sarcastically, but she still looked ready for a fight.
"...Yes sir." I finally agreed as Captain Richards glared at me and I pulled my hand from the hilt of the dagger, putting them in my lap as I met Adara's eyes. "I didn't mean anything hostile, we would of course take all crew on board first. The Berserkers have already burned Earth and a dozen other, smaller worlds. They eradicated the Romulan people. The thought of releasing them into other unsuspecting universes..."
It couldn't be allowed to happen.
"During the Black Sun War I saw entire worlds burn and tens of billions die, Human, Kromagg, Ebu, Ra'nim, and countless others." Captain Metnal rumbled. "So believe me when I say understand more than you can possibly imagine. We can not let these Berserkers out into the multiverse, though I think they might find opposition not to their liking."
"So if we're finished threatening to kill each other, perhaps it might be time to try and work out how we can save each other instead?" Doctor Rothstein said bitingly. "Because like you said this Berserker mamzer is coming."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section. Sorry for the wait, we had some technical difficulties.
"Captain." I said with a smile as I let them into the meeting room where Captain Richards and Lieutenant Volek were waiting. "May I introduce Captain Metnal, Commander Samaras and Doctor Rothstein?"
"Welcome aboard the Fluffy Bunny." Captain Richards said and stepped up, offering his hand to Captain Metnal.
"Thank you for having us." Captain Metnal said, grasping the man's hand in the human style that was expected. "And thank you for the help, if you hadn't came along when you did and this Berserker of yours had found us I doubt we'd have survived the experience." "Indeed." Adara cut in. "And given the technology we're carrying it would have been a disaster for more than just us."
Daniel sighed. "I do not doubt it. Your ship is quite advanced. We can't even identify half of your technology." he admitted before he motioned to the rest of the room. "May I introduce Lieutenant Volek, my chief engineer. And you have already met Fluffy Bunny."
Volek simply nodded in greeting. "A pleasure."
I, on the other hand, smiled at them, my hands clasped calmly behind my back. Mostly to keep from fingering the dagger riding on my hip. A bit of a nervous reaction and one that didn't mix well with diplomatic functions. "Glad to have you on board." I said as I attempted to not be too obvious about eyeing the other AI. I would have to compliment her on her avatar at some point, it was pretty attractive.
"Again, thank you." Captain Metnal said with a nod before taking the offered seat at the table, Adara and Doctor Rothstein sitting to the right and left, respectively. "Under normal circumstances I doubt we'd be meeting and I definitely wouldn't be about to share the information I am, but I think we can all agree these are anything but normal circumstances." "I don't know, I get chased through dozens of realities by a giant space worm daily." Doctor Rothstein said sarcastically, getting a glare from her Captain.
Uhm... what?
Travel through realities?
I ran full active sensors across the Pyxis. I... suppose that would explain that really fucking strange radiation. And why we had never encountered them before and the fact that there were humans on their ship.
"Excuse me, I thought you said 'chased through realities' for a moment?" Captain Richards asked after a moment. "Are you meaning that you are traveling between alternate universes?"
"In theory, that is possible." Lieutenant Volek submitted. "But as far as I am aware, nobody has ever managed a practical experiment."
I nodded in agreement, fingering the hilt of my dagger as I dug through the database. "Mathematical theories only. But I think it would explain that really strange radiation... and the wormhole they arrived by."
"Yes, we represent a multi-planet, multi-reality nation spread over a dozen universes and three dozen worlds." Captain Metnal said after a moment of consideration. "The Imperial Commonwealth of Endeavour, my crew and I are part of the Pathfinder Corps; a group dedicated to scouting the multiverse with members drawn from each branch of the Commonwealth military along with civilians like Doctor Rothstein."
"There are multiple methods of transversing dimensions in use in the Commonwealth, but the method the Pyxis uses was invented by Captain Metnal's people centuries ago." Adara continued. "It is commonly called Sliding."
Amazing. It was... that would be even more revolutionary than Warpdrive. But if it got into the hands of the Berserkers...
I didn't even have a spine and I still felt a chill along it.
I clenched my hand around the hilt of my dagger. "I estimate that we have eighteen to sixteen hours until the Berserker will arrive in system. I mean nothing bad with this, Captain Metnal, Commander Samaras and I would like to avoid it if at all possible... but if it arrives before you are able to effectively hide or leave the system, unless we have a plan with a very high chance of success to defeat it by then, I am going to destroy the Pyxis. We can not, under any circumstances, risk the Berserkers getting hold of that kind of technology."
Captain Richards looked at me in surprise. "Ship, stand down."
"Sir, I am a warship. I have to consider the larger strategic picture. We are barely pushing the Berserkers back as it is. If they are able to leave the this universe, they could cause incalculable amounts of destruction."
"Try it, little girl, and I'll feed your core to a white void." Adara said, slowly moving her hands and placing them on the tabletop. "I think you'd really enjoy spending eternity trapped in endless cycles of rebirth."
"Commander Samaras, enough!" Captain Metnal rumbled, slapping his hand on the table, his thick meaty paw making a powerful sound that echoed around the room. He glared at Adara for a moment before turning his glare on the Federation officers opposite to him. "I understand your concerns, we don't want a rogue AI race with dreams of omnicide out in the multiverse any more than you do, frankly the place already has enough hurn running around, but I won't let you destroy my ship."
"Yes, they might dock his pay." Rothstein said sarcastically, but she still looked ready for a fight.
"...Yes sir." I finally agreed as Captain Richards glared at me and I pulled my hand from the hilt of the dagger, putting them in my lap as I met Adara's eyes. "I didn't mean anything hostile, we would of course take all crew on board first. The Berserkers have already burned Earth and a dozen other, smaller worlds. They eradicated the Romulan people. The thought of releasing them into other unsuspecting universes..."
It couldn't be allowed to happen.
"During the Black Sun War I saw entire worlds burn and tens of billions die, Human, Kromagg, Ebu, Ra'nim, and countless others." Captain Metnal rumbled. "So believe me when I say understand more than you can possibly imagine. We can not let these Berserkers out into the multiverse, though I think they might find opposition not to their liking."
"So if we're finished threatening to kill each other, perhaps it might be time to try and work out how we can save each other instead?" Doctor Rothstein said bitingly. "Because like you said this Berserker mamzer is coming."
AN// Many thanks to Grey Rook for betaing this section. Sorry for the wait, we had some technical difficulties.