Chance meetings

Posted on 27 Dec 2021 @ 9:32am by Lieutenant Commander Cintia Sha'mer & Ensign Kat Walker

1,752 words; about a 9 minute read

Mission: Home
Location: Corridor

Kat was making her way through the ship, in flight form, just stretching her wings so to say. Though as AI she didn't have wings to stretch. Still, the iridescent black feathered paravian dinosaur with the body the size of a cat's and pennacceus flight feathers on all four limbs sailed through the corridor, on her way to - well, that only she knew.

It had become a habit after the accident – once she became mobile enough, at least – to sense around for approaching minds just to avoid any collusions or other surprises. The system wasn't infalliable, as the whole situation with Commander Hawk earlier had proven, but usually it served her well enough.

However, she completely failed to detect any mind attached to the being she saw swerving right at her as she rounded the corner. She yelped as she moved to try to avoid a collision. Inevitably, that what she had managed to avoid twice before today happened at last: the leg collapsed, the brace reacted a tad too slow and she landed on the floor.

With a squeak and the flutter of wings the creature swerved aside, though as it dove towards the ground, with a shimmer it shifted into a humanoid form. That of a young female ensign, wearing fighterwing gray, with almost too perfect skin and flawless hair. The young woman knelt down next to Cintia with a concerned expression.

"Oh! I'm so sorry, Commander - are you alright? I didn't mean to startle you, do you need anything? Can I help you up?" she asked, her voice warm and kind though with a tone of concern.

Pain and anger at herself sought an outlet and found one. "Yes, I'm perfectly fine," she said testily. "Just admiring the carpet." She pushed herself up into a sitting position and ran one hand along the brace, checking whether it was still intact (of course it was) and adjusting the setting. She winced as the support field grew stronger. "Sorry, sorry," she muttered. "A hand up would be appreciated, yes."

"Again my apologies, Ma'am," the young Ensign furrowed her brows, though she reached down to offer Cintia a hand up. Said hand felt subtly weird, artificial, like that of an NPC on the holodeck. There was a slight shimmer in the young Ensign's arm as she braced herself to help the Lieutenant Commander up. "Are you sure you're alright, Ma'am? I - ... I'm sorry, I'm just getting slightly weird readings from you. It might just be my sensors, they might need some recalibration. Hopefully that's what it is."

"Thanks," Sha'mer grumbled and leaned against the bulkhead, head down until the lightheaded feeling passed. The last thing she wanted was to pass out now. Thankfully, a few deep breaths helped. It also gave her time to process what had happened. There were only a few possible explanations for the sudden transformation from weird flying creature to human-looking ensign, and combined with what the XO had told her, only one logical conclusion. She looked up again and ran the hand which wasn't clutching her cane through her short hair. "You must be the fighter AI, right?"

"Yes Ma'am," the Ensign slipped into at attention, look of concern replaced mostly by a soft, practiced smile, but not completely. There were still things puzzling her, confusing her. But that was maybe something to address later, not now. "Ensign Kat Walker, Ma'am. Fighterpilot trainee. This remotely controlled avatar is a humanoid form I have chosen to ease interaction with the crew."

"Will you stop with the 'ma'am'! …Please." Sha'mer pulled a face. It wasn't fair to offload her irritation on someone else, especially on a junior officer. "And the other avatar you chose for your own pleasure?"

"The microraptor avatar is for faster movement through the ship. I don't specifically need to change avatars for that but a smaller, winged creature seems more appropriate than just flying my humanoid avatar around. Plus, I find it a fascinating creature from a fascinating time in Earth's history," Kat tilted her head slightly. "What would you prefer I call you?"

"Rank or sir when we're on duty, Cin or Sha when off." Sha'mer pressed a hand against the wall to push herself off, slowly putting weight on her leg. It seemed to hold, at least for now. She wondered distantly if she could postpone her visit to medical until tomorrow? Or just send her file over with the rest of the paperwork tonight and hope for the best? "Where do you originate from, if I may ask?"

"The mirror universe that Odin recently returned from, Cin," Kat ventured that right now they were not on duty. "I was found there, derelict and adrift. My damaged physical form was brought aboard, where I reactivated, though with no memory of anything before that moment. Other that the people who created me were called the Drul'Anu, and looked like this - "

Another shimmer ran over the avatar, which shifted to that of a reptilian humanoid, slender and with limbs longer relative to its torso, compared to a standard humanoid form. "I estimate I have been adrift for approximately five hundred years, give or take a few decades," she mused, changing her avatar back to the familiar young Ensign. "I am a combat variant of a general purpose AI designed to pilot small to medium sized vehicles. But that is all I know, really."

Sha'mer had a bit more experience with aliens than the average Starfleet officer, due to her own background. She tried to think of anything that could help the the AI, but with the limited amount of information thus far, she knew she wouldn't get far. "Are you curious about your background?" Always a good first thing to ask. If Kat's answer was 'no', then she wouldn't dig any further. Stars knew there were enough other things on and around this ship to fuel Sha'mers curiosity for the forseeable time.

"Only for personal curiosity. I have no memory of them, they've not given me culture or a place to consider 'home'. I am in Starfleet now. This ship is my home, and my way lies forward, not behind me." Kat offered in a simple, matter-of-fact tone.

Oh, that resonated. Sha'mer knew all too well where she came from and what she had left behind. But she had made the conscious choice to leave all that in the past and create a future for herself in Starfleet. She only hoped her own past wouldn't catch up with her at some point. "I understand," she said softly. Then she collected herself. "Anyway. I need to get back to work. It's been nice meeting you." Other than the whole embarrassing 'admiring the carpet' bit, of course.

"May I ask you one question before you go, Cin?" Kat asked, her hands folded together in front of her and a curious expression on her face.

"Of course." One hand sneaked down to change another setting on the brace, making it more rigid. She shifted her weight slightly to test it again.

"You read human to my remote sensors, but your heat signature is averaging low for a baseline human. Yet your energy output and cognitive behavior doesn't seem to suffer from this relatively low temperature gradient," Kat explained, tilting her head slightly, her pose remaining otherwise static, not even seeming to breathe. "Are you sure you are feeling alright?"

"Ah." Sha'mer smiled thinly. "I'm not human. I, too have altered my appearance to make things easier." Of course, her origins were stated in her file, but looking human-standard prevented at least the 'What are you?!' questions from anyone who would otherwise see an unknown alien – i.e. everyone she encountered. It had taken Sha'mer all of two days to make that decision after arriving in Federation space. She concentrated and shifted back to her true appearance. Still humanoid, but with a grey-green skin tone, slightly pointed ears, subtle changes to her face which gave her a more elfin appearance.

"That's fascinating," Kat smiled widely, almost bouncing on her feet a bit. For several clock cycles she considered asking deeper, but decided against it, realizing that Sha'mer had likely chosen to look human for a reason. Though, one question would not hurt, she figured. "Might I ask, what are your people called?"

"Vo'Sh'un. From deep in the back of the Delta Quadrant." Sha'mer gave a slight sigh and shifted back to her regular appearance. "I… had my reasons for leaving." Not wanting to be used as either a pawn or a bargening tool, for one. Or both. The Federation was not without flaws, far from it, but still it was much to be preferred over whatever future there would've been for her in the Vo'Sh'un Empire.

"I see," Kat said, meanwhile opening a line to the ship's computer and trying to find whatever was publicly available on the Vo'Sh'un. "I will not take up any more of your time, Cin. Thank you for the chat, it was nice meeting you. And once again my apologies for startling you," she added with a slight bow of her head.

The information regarding the Vo'Sh'un was scant: their location – a significant area in the back of the Delta Quadrant, quite far away from where once a lone Starfleet vessel had appeared and made its way back. It was, according to the database, an Empire, of which the current Emperor was a man called Go'Larn – the Vo'Sh'un sure loved their aprostrophes, it appeared. A list of a few other races which were part of the Empire, or incorporated, or subjugated – the precise nature was unclear.

There were a few notes on the race itself: appearance, strengths and weaknesses. Physically frail, mentally strong to very strong – several psionic powers were mentioned, such as telepathy, mind control, and a limited kind of teleporting.

"You're welcome. It's always good to meet new people," Sha'mer answered, returning the nod. "And don't worry about it. It happens." But usually not to me , her mind added with an inward sigh. "Have a good day."

"And you," Kat agreed, jumping up and shimmer-shifting her avatar back to the four-winged flying creature. With a flap of her wings she disappeared around the corner.

Sha'mer stood for a few moments longer, bemused, then shook her head and started moving again. She had expected that ship life would be more dynamic than life on a colony. She wasn't sure she'd been prepared for all of this.

 

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