Chapter 4
"We've been looking for you forever Captain, how'd you end up here?" A man asked getting up from the command chair as Lore walked onto the bridge, holding Piper's hand. "Long story Levell, something we don't have time for. Set a course for the Neutral Zone, warp 10," the android said sitting down where the security chief had just been sitting, and pulled Piper into his lap. "Course laid in sir," a woman said sitting at the Navigation console on Lore's front right. "Engage!" Lore said, and at once the ship shot into warp speed heading toward the Neutral Zone.
"Senior staff meeting in five minutes!" The captain ordered through the intercom before standing up and setting Piper in his chair then walked off the bridge with Levell, a woman sitting on Piper's left with long jet black hair, and the man sitting at the console to the left horizontally across from the Navigation console got up and walked off to the right. The young girl watched with a confused expression as they followed Lore off the bridge before she got up and started looking around.
"So what's happened while I've been gone? I need updates, we'll start with tactical, Levell?" Lore asked turning to face a man wearing a plain black t-shirt and black Tripp jacket with his hands in the pockets. He had short jet black hair, and his bangs slightly hanging in his face. "We've updated the weapon system, we now have photon bursts up to level eight sir," the man replied folding his hands on the table and looked down at his jet black nails. "Excellent, how close are we to getting them to level nine?" Lore asked as Piper came in and climbed into his lap, but the android ignored it. "We haven't started yet, but I will right away sir, but it'll take some time." Lore nodded. "Make it so, get started right away!" Piper watched as the man gave a compliant nod and then walked out.
Tilting his head, Lore turned to another man, but unlike Levell, he was wearing a 21st Century pair of skater jeans with a studded belt and a black vest without a shirt, a silver diamond encrusted chain hanging from his neck with a diamond encrusted pair of 21st Century handcuffs hanging against his chest. Like Levell, his bangs were hanging to the left, covering his left eye and hiding it from view, although his bangs were much longer than Levell's. "Tarrant, any medical news for me?" Lore asked, but the medical chief shook his head. "Nothing except that Kya and Weaver had children, fraternal twins, Nevin and Elisha."
Lore nodded and sighed before turning to a woman who looked a lot like Levell, his younger sister Vina Bakke. "All functions running within established parameters, except we were almost caught by a Starfleet ship about a year ago, but we lost them somewhere around the T-Tauren system," she reported standing up straight with her hands behind her back. "Excellent, you have the bridge for now. I'm going to show Piper around her new home," he said standing up causing young Piper to slide off his lap. With a bow of the head, Vina walked out leaving Lore and Piper alone.
"Lore why do these people listen to you so well?" Piper asked taking Lore's hand as he led her out of the observation lounge and onto the turbolift. "Deck two," the android instructed to the computer. "Because they're … well they're trained to … to obey my orders," he replied as the turbolift started moving and stopped on the second floor of the Legend. "How big is this ship?" Piper asked as Lore picked her up, holding her on his right side, holding her right leg up for support. "As far as I know it has 32 decks," he said walking off the turbolift when the doors opened.
Walking into the captain's quarters Lore smiled as he set Piper down. "We can set your room up now if you like, just get everything from the ship's stores," the android said calmly as he set her down. Piper looked around the room tilting her head. In the left far corner of the big room there was an ivory white piano and a white marble bench sitting in front of it. "Is that your piano?" Piper asked running over to it and lightly pushing on one of the keys. Lore nodded and smiled. "I'll teach you to play it if you want," he said as he sat down next to her and began to play a small tune from a very old movie that he had watched while studying history on Omicron Theta. "I like that; can you teach me to play that song?" Piper asked, but Lore only nodded with a light smile.
Leading her to the right, Lore led her into a small room. "This is where you'll sleep, and we can decorate it however you want," Lore said tilting his head as Piper looked around the room. "Can we do it now?" She asked turning to Lore and taking his left hand in both of her own. Compared to the android's Piper's hand were quite small seeing as she was only six. "Of course follow me," he said walking over to the store replicator. "Computer bring up home decoration for bedrooms commonly used for young girls around the ages of five and 10," the android instructed and at once an entire thumbnail menu popped onto the screen. "Pick any one you like."
Piper finally chose a twin size bed of black cherry wood, a sheet set of the Romulan alphabet, although Lore knew she had no idea how to read or speak Romulan, a purple comforter set with bass guitars and Rock Star written in green all over and matching pillow sets and as many stuffed animals as she could fit on the shelves and her bed. "Do you like it?" Lore asked looking around the room once she was satisfied that it was done. "I want to see the stars," the girl said tilting her head and at her command a small window appeared at the end of her bed exposing her to billions of stars zooming past at warp speed.
"Captain we've reached the Neutral Zone, you're being hailed by the crystal entity," Levell's voice called over the personal intercom. Lore kissed Piper on the head and pressed a small control panel on the wall. "Acknowledged all stop," the captain replied as he led Piper out of the room and back onto the turbolift after promising her that he would show her around later.
Lore walked onto the bridge and set Piper down. "Open the frequency," he commanded standing behind Vina. "Open!" The operations chief replied looking at Lore over her shoulder. "Kairi glad to see you've made it why have you ordered us to the Neutral Zone?" Lore asked as the giant snowflake being popped onto the screen sitting right outside the ship. A ringing bell sound filled the bridge causing Piper to cover her ears as tightly as she could. "How do we know we can trust them my friend? I mean they may think we're a Starfleet crew. Starfleet ship, Starfleet crew," but before Lore could finish the ringing sound filled the room again. "Ok, ok, ok!"