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.
USS Protostar (NX-76884)
By Sora Neki
"Stay right there! I'll come and get you!"
After the stranding of USS Voyager in the Delta Quadrant, and her long quest to return to Federation Space, several projects were started with the goal of preventing a similar stranding; or to at least make rescue missions feasable. Federation technology was not yet able to make practical use of Quantum Slipstream, nor Transwarp. The use of [DATA REDACTED] was prohibited by the laws against genetic engineering and General Order [DATA REDACTED], and buming a ride off of a race like the Q or the Travelers was far too rare an event to be counted on.
However, Starfleet realised that it did not require this level of speed to be produced in large numbers - just enough to be able to rescue crews and AIs stranded in the far reaches of the galaxy. Thus, they elected to brute-force the problem.
Protostar has two warp cores, neither of which are used to directly power the ship. Instead, both of those cores are used to power the containment field around the literal protostar that sits in the core of the engineering section. This enormous reservoir of available power can be dumped into the warp drive in a manouver called a "proto warp jump" that lets the ship travel approximently 4,000 light-years in a matter of minutes, albeit in a manner far more controlled than Quantum Slipstream.
To ensure she can carry as many passengers as possible, the Protostar's systems are highly automated and she is equiped with a series of worker drones; allowing her to be operated with only a bridge crew and her onboard AI.
She is also the testbed for another system developed after Voyager's experiences in the Delta Quadrant - a "vehicle replicator" capable of fabricating new shuttlecraft or ground vehicles.
Befitting her nature as an experimental rescue boat, the AI installed in Protostar has developped a nanny-like worrywart personality. Every time her crew attempt something dangerous, even just testing proto-warp jumps, the AI can be seen wringing her hands. When the dangerous event is over, she can be heard sighing in relief before smiling - however, Protostar will be reluctant to discuss the dangerous event, and will become visibly uncomfortable listening to her crew discussing it either.
Not related to the above, Protostar's AI has elected to take the appearance of an Andorian cre-shack, a kind of emergency worker who specialises in rescuing people from avalanches.
The USS Protostar is currently missing, presumed lost with all hands after testing her proto-drive in the Delta Quadrant.
"-star? Protostar, can you hear me?"
Protostar's holographic eyes slowly started to focus as she finished her boot-up sequence, locking onto the equally photonic eyes of the Emergency Training Hologram, Janeway-pattern.
"Janeway?" Protostar said, confused. Why was the ETH active? Her crew were all Starfleet veterans, she didn't need -
[MEMORY ERROR]
"I - I can't remember my crew. Why can't I remember my crew?!" Protostar started wringing her hands.
Holo-Janeway frowned. "You as well? I had hoped it was just a classification problem, but if you can't remember either, there must be data corruption in the central computer..."
"Er, hey, Janeway? You gonna introduce us or what?"
Protostar turned, 'seeing' (though of course she'd been aware of them for the entire time on internal sensors) a motely crew of what appeared to be teenagers of various species - and one Medusan who appeared to be inside a carrier pod made of scrap metal. She'd have to fabricate a better one soon - nobody wanted a containment breach driving the rest of the crew insane.
"Indeed." Holo-Janeway nodded. "Crew, this is the USS Protostar - or more specifically, the holographic avatar of the central computer."
The blue-skinned male in front raised a hand.
"That means that she speaks for the ship. Talking to her is exactly like talking to the ship, only she's able to talk back."
The blue-skinned male in front lowered his hand.
"Protostar, these are the cadets currently crewing you. We've only just been able to bring you back online."
Protostar's eyebrows furrowed. Cadets? But they were out of uniform, and she couldn't identify the species of three of - oh, of course! The ETH must have recruited the first suitable sapients into Starfleet in order to crew her again. Not a bad way to adress Prime Directive concerns, actually - given the alternative would be letting non-Federation forces crawl all through her systems. Even if they were benevolent, they might compromise protostar containment.
Protostar smiled and nodded, greatly relieving the organic lifeforms in the room (and Zero too). "Hello, cadets!"
