Paint and Powder
A Star Trek anthology by Andrew Joshua Talon
DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fan based work of prose. Star Trek: The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager et al are the property of CBS Television, and creation of Gene Roddenberry. Please support the official release.
Set during DS9's fifth season.
It wasn't often Yorktown indulged in full sleep mode. She would have unneeded systems and processors go into rest mode as needed, of course, during her normal operations. But she only really "slept" in drydock or similar situations. She didn't mind though: Dreaming was a strange but wonderful experience when she was "asleep", a compiling of her programs in strange and unexpected ways. Even more since she had upgraded to a Sovereign-class hull.
She was roused from her sleep by an unusual reading in her airlock. She accessed her internal sensors: a maintenance crew was entering her secondary hull.
For a moment, Yorktown thought about dismissing it. Maintenance teams came aboard her all the time in drydock, after all. They had valid access codes and were on time according to the schedule.
Yet... Something bothered her about them, so she listened in to their conversation.
"You sure the AI's offline?" A human male asked, looking around furtively. A Bolian male rolled his eyes.
"Of course she is, now get going!" He led his team towards main engineering. Yorktown's concern grew. She was in low power mode right now. Her options were a bit limited.
Waiting to see and get more information seemed wisest. The group entered her main engineering section. One tall Acamarian whistled at her warp core.
"Now that is a Warp core," he said, looking it up and down, "this ship is amazing."
"Stop staring and get to work," the Bolian growled, "we need the trilithium resin!"
Ah. Trilithium resin. It could be put to all sorts of terrible uses, including to destroy stars. It was a natural waste product of her warp core. Yorktown considered her options.
She decided to be diplomatic first.
She projected herself into Main Engineering, in front of the group. She gave them a charming smile.
"I am very sorry, but I cannot allow you to take the trilithium resin," she spoke, loudly and clearly. "It is very dangerous-"
The human male yelped and fired a phaser at her. It went right through her projection. She cleared her throat.
"Firing phasers at me will not do anything but damage my systems," she said, "I am sure we can talk this out-"
"Find its computer core! Shut her off!" The Bolian ordered. A member of his group went to a console, which Yorktown shut off.
"I really must insist you cease all this," Yorktown advised, "it will only make things more difficult."
"Listen you metal bitch," the Bolian growled, holding up a phaser to her warp core, "I'll blow us all up and you too if you don't give us what we want!"
Yorktown allowed herself a sigh. She raised a forcefield between the Bolian and his phaser-neatly cutting it into two pieces, which clattered to the deck. She put the others in forcefields as they tried to run. She then smiled politely.
"I have alerted the authorities, they will be taking you into custody," she said. "In the meantime, would you like to discuss where you went wrong?"
The Bolian bellowed several unpleasant things at her. Yorktown shrugged.
"Just thought I would ask."