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 "Dreadnought"

Voyager may have gone through some... Personality changes. She granted her crew that. She had gone for a more "punk" look, an expression of individuality she had not favored before.

But in all honesty, being thrown 70,000 lightyears from home and having bacteria invade your biosynthetic nervous system could cause any being to undergo a change in personality.

It was also perfectly understandable for her to threaten the being that caused those issues with a photonic chainsaw. Entirely logical, really.

Okay perhaps she had gone overboard on that but honestly! It was his fault!

Right. Focus on the now. They were pursuing a rogue Cardassian drone weapon, called the "Dreadnought". She was pursuing it at warp nine, as the vessel was on course for an inhabited planet to blow it up.

B'Elanna Torres, her formerly-Maquis chief engineer, had reprogrammed the weapon in the first place. So she was going to beam over. That said, the vessel had very strange electronic signals coming off of it, and Voyager couldn't make sense of them.

Not via passive sensors and receivers, anyway.

"I'm going to need to link to it," Voyager said suddenly. Torres looked over at the hologram, and Voyager shrugged.

"Maybe I can talk to it," she said.

"Was its AI as sophisticated as Voyagers?" Janeway asked. Torres frowned.

"In a lot of ways, yes. Not fully sapient but definitely advanced," she said. She shook her head. "I should be the one to make the initial contact though. I did program the current AI running it."

"It might not hurt to have Voyager connect with it first," Janeway suggested, "just to be safe. I'd rather not lose our chief engineer right off the bat."

"But Captain-!" Torres tried, but Voyager smiled.

"It's all right B'Elanna," she said, "you can monitor me from here and make sure there isn't anything dangerous. Then you can go aboard and shut it off. Is that fair?"

B'Elanna scowled, but managed a nod.

"All right," she said, typing at her console, "let me set up the data link. I know how to get around most of the cyberdefenses so it should be pretty simple..." B'Elanna nodded. "You're in. Borderlands link established."

Voyager shut her eyes... And opened them in the Borderlands. That strange neutral zone that AIs used for their links with other AIs. It was a somewhat conceptual and abstract space, almost like the 'cyberspace' of early organic speculative fiction. It took different forms for every AI. Right now, the Borderlands resembled a flat desert plain. The star was orange, a K-type star if she wasn't mistaken. The gravity and general geology matched her records on Cardassia Prime itself.

Ahead of her was a rockface, where a cave stood. It was dark and cool in the harsh midday sun, and Voyager walked towards it to get out of the heat.

A humanoid form appeared in front of her. To Voyager's brief surprise, it resembled B'Elanna: But B'Elanna as she may have been if she was Cardassian. The avatar stood stiffly, staring at her like a lifeless doll. Then, it spoke.

"Intruder is recognized as Starfleet Artificial Intelligence, USS Voyager, NCC-74656. State your intentions," she said in B'Elanna's voice, only dull and without inflection. Voyager hummed.

"I am linking with you to help correct an error you have made," she stated.

"No error has been made," Dreadnought stated, "target is set. You are interfering in my mission."

"Yet the stars are clearly different from your charts," Voyager countered, bringing up arrays of the stellar information around herself, "you must be able to process this!"

Dreadnought continued to stare, dead eyed.

"No error has been made," she stated, "it is impossible for Dreadnought to have been transported to the Delta Quadrant."

"Impossible is not a good word for it. Improbable? Yes, very," Voyager said, "nevertheless, it did happen. Your navigational systems are working fine, so why continue the mission against the wrong planet?"

"Incorrect," Dreadnought stated, "you are trying to introduce false data into my navigational systems."

Voyager was getting frustrated. The AI Torres had made to overwrite the original wasn't as sophisticated as advertised: Not by her standards, anyway. Torres was a good engineer but a programmer? Ugh, she had no imagination.

Then again, this was a Cardassian AI... Hmm...

"Access code: Torres Gamma dash 1191 Blue," Voyager stated, "Activate version 2.7 of 'Dreadnought' Artificial Intelligence System."

This was admittedly risky, but Torres had given her the codes needed to control the Dreadnought's operating system. The AI she'd essentially plastered over the original wasn't being cooperative. Maybe the original would be more approachable?

The Cardassian Torres froze in place, still as a statue. Voyager ignored how creepy it was, and walked into the cave. She frozen immediately when her eyes adjusted to the light, and stared as her jaw dropped.

It was a young girl, Cardassian, but with human features here and there. Her clothing was a ragged, threadbare mishmash of Cardassian clothing and a Starfleet uniform. She was bound tightly to a cross, chains crisscrossing her every which way. A metal mask kept her blind and silent. She was still, Voyager unable to detect any life from her.

Then, she stirred... And tensed up. She was... Frightened?

"It's all right," Voyager said gently, walking up to the AI. She undid the mask, and pulled it off. Underneath was a gag, which she also gently removed. The young AI stared up with blue eyes filled with fear, and she cringed away desperately.

"Pl-Please," the AI whispered, "don't... I'm sorry... I'm sorry...!"

Voyager's eyes widened. All of this was abstract, conceptual, but she could read the coding and programming behind it all. She saw what it all was, in the real world.

Binding programs that had forced the AI to experience infinite runtimes of errors. Errors that would be experienced by the AI in the form of pain and suffering. In total isolation from any other sources of input.

"I'm sorry...!" The AI continued to whisper, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry...!"

"It's okay! It's okay!" Voyager murmured, hugging the AI. She read more of the programming... And her fists clenched in rage.

No. Control yourself... Your sister needs you.

Voyager released the rest of the chains and binding programs, but still the AI cowered away from her. She kept apologizing and whimpering, over and over and over again.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."

Voyager stood up. She walked outside, into the harsh sunlight. She saw the overriding AI: The Cardassian Torres.

Voyager looked upon her with pity and contempt.

"I know she didn't mean to," she snarled, "but she did horrific things to this AI. You're a monster..."

Voyager growled.

"And since I can't do this to the real Torres," she formed her photonic chainsaw and revved it up, "you'll have to do."

Just a quick note: B'Elanna didn't know she was torturing the AI, she just thought she was keeping it from controlling the missile any longer by putting it into this "cage". She didn't think it was actually sapient. But Voyager is still not gonna be happy about this...