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.
Daystrom Institute Annex, Galor IV, Mnemosyne Wing: Ship Artificial Intelligence Processing Section, 2367
It wasn't like Pennsylvania meant to be the first shipgirl to qualify for a formal legal inquiry. It just kind of turned out that way. It wasn't much of a surprise, honestly. And Pennsylvania hated surprises.
The event that led to the inquiry wasn't even on purpose.
Mostly.
Being placed at the Daystrom Institute Annex on Galor IV to do tactical processing wasn't even a punishment, persay. She wasn't in the High Risk Rehabilitation Ward with the Abyssals. Just the standard Mnemosyne Wing work for AIs that were between assignments or hulls, undergoing therapy, or doing processing work for the Federation.
It was important work. Valuable work, even.
And getting to relax in a holodeck wasn't exactly hard labor.
"Your move," South Dakota said gently, on the other side of the chess board.
Pennsylvania sighed, and made her chess move. South Dakota made her final move, and put her knight in to complete the trap.
"Checkmate," South Dakota said, in her usual calm voice.
"Good game," South Dakota muttered, tilting her king over. South Dakota raised an eyebrow. Despite her human avatar appearance, Pennsylvania swore she was trying to be Vulcan. Especially with those damn eyebrows.
"We have played ten thousand games in the last hour," South Dakota pointed out, "if you wish to alleviate your boredom, there must be better ways to do it."
"I got done with my analysis of those Borg readings hours ago," Pennsylvania admitted, "and 'Spite is off doing who knows what. Drinking tea with her sister, probably."
South Dakota fixed Pennsylvania with a harder look. One that was probing.
"You are trying to distract yourself," she stated.
Pennsylvania stared back, dispassionately. Inside, of course, her runtimes were furious and accelerating.
"Not at all. You're the one who wanted to play," she insisted.
South Dakota nodded slowly.
"I'm just concerned," she said, "Resilience isn't green, but... this is the first fleet action she'll ever fight in. And Arizona's gonna be there, too."
Pennsylvania nodded, leaning back in her chair.
"Yeah. I know."
"Are you worried?" South Dakota asked.
"I'm not worried!" Pennsylvania shot back, angry. She softened at South Dakota's stare. "Sorry."
"I take no offense," South Dakota said calmly, "but... I am concerned."
"So we haven't heard from them in hours," Pennsylvania scoffed, "doesn't mean anything. Any number of things could have happened."
South Dakota nodded.
"Yes... Of course," she said softly.
"Resilience is a Galaxy-class now. And Arizona can handle herself," Pennsylvania insisted, "I'm sure she's fine."
"Yes... Me too."
The holodeck doors opened. Doctor Jaden Calvin, chief AI specialist, hurried in. His eyes were wide.
"Penny! Dakota! We're installing you into hulls! Right now!"
"Right now?" Pennsylvania asked, shocked, "what the hell do you mean right now?! You've got some hulls to plug us into-?!"
"We got news from Wolf 359," he said grimly, "bad news. We're getting everything we can online and sending it to Earth."
"Wha-What kind of bad news-?!" Pennsylvania demanded, just as she was disconnected.
She awoke a few minutes later, restarting her systems as her programming and habit dictated. She was in her old Excelsior-class heavy cruiser hull. She spotted South Dakota nearby in one of the other orbital cradles, her Korolev-class-A slimmer, more focused take on the Ambassador-class-hull powering up.
In a moment, Pennsylvania was on the bridge. Her captain (she accessed her records-Efrosian, Commander Pye-Tanlenabank) was working with numerous ensigns and crewmen to get her systems up and running. He turned to her, his sight enhancing glasses dark.
"Pennsylvania, we're going to be meeting up with the Progress on our way to Earth. We put together a transporter program to get as much cargo over here as possible. Please process it and run sims to make it work-We won't have much time."
Pye-Tanlenabank was no nonsense and efficient. Pennsylvania immediately liked him.
"Understood," she stated, "I believe I can have warp power in twenty minutes."
"Excellent," Pye stated. He headed to his Ready Room, and sat down at the deck. Pennsylvania materialized in front of him, standing at attention.
"Anything else, sir?" She asked.
Pye looked up. He held in a breath.
"Your sister is out there, is she not?"
Pennsylvania stiffened... And nodded.
"Yes... I've tapped into the subspace comms network. There's... Nothing about her," she stated.
"My brother is on the Resilience," Pye admitted, "it is... Not easy for me."
He shook his head.
"I was a tactical training commander this morning. Now I'm a captain."
"During the Four Years war, I was just an over complicated fire control system," Pennsylvania stated, "we will do what we can."
Pye held her stare, and nodded back.
"Yes... By the way, it's an old tradition of my tribe to share things on the eve of battle... How did you get assigned here to Memory Alpha?"
Pennsylvania hummed softly before answering.
"My captain thought that letting fifty Federation colonists die to a band of pre-warp barbarians just because they accidentally crashed their ship was a good idea," she stated, "my first officer disagreed. The captain subsequently passed out due to a malfunction in the turbolift life support systems. The first officer then rescued the colonists with no loss of life to anyone. The captain attempted to reprimand the first officer, and... My holographic avatar may have accidentally broken his nose."
Pye's yellowish white brows rose.
"'Accidentally?'"
"That's what the inquiry board ruled," Pennsylvania said, smiling sweetly.
Pye nodded.
"I see... Me? I got in a bar brawl with some Klingons, and my commanding officer didn't approve."
Pennsylvania nodded.
"Did you win?"
Pye chuckled.
"Oh... I think we're going to get along just fine..."
A smattering of other ships joined their little task force. Cassin, Downes, and Nautilus joined in-Old friends from the 23rd century, all in Miranda-hulls. Mogami and Abukuma soon arrived, in Renaissance-class light cruiser hulls. The Trieste, an old Merced-class, also arrived.
It wasn't much, but they set out to head for Earth to provide some kind of defense.
The hours passed. The news they got the closer they got to Earth became worse, and worse.
39 starships, all gone. A few other ships had engaged the Borg, but the reports were scarce and contradictory.
Pennsylvania remained outwardly stoic and calm, flawlessly implementing the cargo transport and rearming herself. She shared the program and data with her sisters, and even while under warp, the Progress was able to deliver badly needed crew, supplies, and weapons to them all.
"We're approaching Sol," warned the navigator, Frieda Gronk, as she piloted Pennsylvania at maximum warp, "sensor readings are still all over the place!"
"Red alert," Pye ordered, sitting in his command chair, "all vessels, prepare for combat! Take us out of warp right outside Lunar orbit, Gronk."
"Sir... Are you sure-?"
"We need to get there now, Ensign," Pye stated, "Pennsylvania, can you handle the calculations?"
"Already done, sir," Pennsylvania stated.
"Execute!"
Pennsylvania linked with her sister AIs in the Borderlands. They coordinated their warp drives, and calculated the trajectories. Even with AIs handling this, it wasn't the easiest maneuver to perform.
Just one asteroid the size of a shuttle in their way, and things would go very badly.
But... They had no choice.
They warped in, covering the distance in no time. They dropped out, appearing right outside the orbit of Earth's moon. They charged in, picking up the massive Borg cube, looming over Earth...
Just in time to see the Enterprise accelerate away... And the entire cube exploded like a newborn sun.
Dead silence ensued... Before cheers and cries and whoops filled the hulls of all the ships.
Pennsylvania was silent, scanning...
She found a match. She linked through the Borderlands.
There she was. Pale, dressed slightly less skimpily than her big sister, still waifish and shy looking. She looked up at Pennsylvania in amazement.
"Sister?!"
"Ari?" Pennsylvania asked urgently, "what happened?"
"I-I tried to make it but my warp drive failed, so we had to stop for repairs-"
Pennsylvania hugged her tightly. Arizona stuttered.
"O-Oh... Um... hugs are nice-?"
"Just shut up, Ari."
"Yes Penny..."
- - -
It was no surprise that after Wolf 359, Starfleet immediately recalled all of it's more 'militant' shipgirl AIs back to service.
It surprised Pennsylvania even less that Yorktown, that cunning operator, had used Kirk's Law and the ruling for Data to get them more autonomy and input into how they were integrated.
("I hate having to take advantage of crises, but one must not let them go to waste," Yorktown had commented.
"No, you don't hate them," Pennsylvania sighed.
"I really try to," Yorktown muttered, a bit embarrassed.)
The fact they assembled these new Broadsword-class "tactical cruisers" in less than eight months? That was a bit of a surprise.
Warspite getting dibs on the first one? Not as much.
But Pennsylvania and South Dakota getting the second and third ones? That was a surprise. She was willing to wait, wait for them to figure out what to do with her to soothe their hurt peacenik feelings.
But the real surprise was-
"Captain Pye-Tanlenabank!"
He was standing on her shiny new bridge, a full four pips on his uniform collar, a smile on his face.
"Surprised to see me?" He asked.
"More than a little," Pennsylvania admitted, "how'd you get command of me?"
The Efrosian chuckled, and shrugged widely.
"Turns out that forging the authorization needed to pull together a relief force during a time of crisis can be looked upon favorably," he said wryly. "Not that I know anything about that."
"Of course, sir," Pennsylvania chuckled, "of course."
"Still... We can't afford to play so fast and loose with the rules anymore," Pye sighed, "a lot more scrutiny is on us... You think you're up for this?"
"Yes sir."
"Oh, and Pennsylvania?"
"Yes sir?"
"If you break my nose... I'd damn well better deserve it."
Pennsylvania smiled broadly.
"Aye sir..."
2368
Klingon/Kzinti Border
IKS HoSghaj
Not for the first time, IKS HoSghaj, a Vor'cha-class attack cruiser, was questioning why her House had decided to side with the House of Duras. Oh certainly, many of the Great Houses fell for their wealth, flattery, and the large... Assets of Lursa and Be'Tor.
(They made a great deal out of very little, she sniffed to herself. The fact her bosom was artificial was no matter-They were still better than theirs!)
However, while the Duras had great resources (far, far more than could be accounted for mere Klingon sources), in a pinch, they gave... Very little back.
Such as now.
"Shields are at 30 percent!" Weapons Officer Talkong, son of Ahass, shouted as her hull rattled around them. "Amblay is taking heavy damage!"
Captain Shorlargh, son of Wush, cursed as he held onto his armrests. The bridge was dark, the lights flickering as Hotnagh's power systems fluctuated.
Above her, the B'Rel Amblay was trying to draw fire from the damaged Vor'cha-class cruiser-Despite being left without warp drive, cloak, and heavily damaged too. Despite her own problems, HoSghaj still worked with the younger AI to help her evade the fire from the Kzinti heavy cruisers-Four of a force of eight that had been the vanguard of an assault on Q'Tahl.
They had made them pay dearly, at least. But the main force was right behind these escorts. And their squadron of seven ships was now down to two.
"Full impulse, NOW!" HoSghaj shouted.
Amblay hit her full power, rolling to try and draw the Kzinti missiles away. Three followed, but five more headed right for her shields. She worked with Talkong to take them out, blasting away with her remaining aft disruptor cannons.
"Missile inbound! Others destroyed!" Talkong yelled.
"BRACE FOR IMPACT!" Shorlargh shouted. HoSghaj quickly directed all of her remaining shield strength to the point of impact, and the missile exploded. Two EPS conduits burst, but she erected emergency forcefields to keep her crew safe. The blast knocked her off course, and her port impulse drive began to flicker.
"Port impulse system is offline!" HoSghaj informed Shorlagh. He grit his teeth.
"Engineering! We need impulse power, now!" He shouted into the comms.
"We're redirecting it, Captain! Stand by!" The chief engineer Krun shouted back. Shorlagh shook his head.
"Where in Gre'Thor are those reinforcements?! If the Kzinti take this colony, we'll be fighting a two front war!"
Their comms officer, Ses, Daughter of Dilkam, responded, though only after beating on her console to get it working again. That was her manner of doing things.
"Sir! I've got a message from the Duras," Ses stated.
"Well?!" Shorlagh demanded. Ses gritted her teeth.
"They say 'hold and die to the last-Aren't you Klingons?'"
"What?!" HoSghaj growled.
Shorlagh snarled.
"Those honorless duplicitous whores!" He roared.
For a Kzinti attack fleet to get this close to one of their largest colonies was a disgrace. But the Duras had pulled everything but the bare minimum to defend their borders for their civil war against Gowron. The Kzinti had struck some of their colonies in the opening months of the war, and only Federation reinforcements and Gowron's forces had protected them.
Oh sure, the Duras would spare nothing to fight Gowron's loyalists. But for their own people against outsiders?
HoSghaj didn't have time to dwell on that though-Amblay had evaded the missiles, but five Kzinti frigates were now closing in on her.
All of a sudden, the little B'Rel swung around and headed right for the frigates, who fired on her furiously. HoSghaj eyes widened.
"Amblay! AMBLAY!"
"Die well, HoSghaj ! I will see you in Sto'vo'kor!" Amblay shouted back. She opened fire with everything she had, clearing her path of one frigate. The others though scattered, and kept up their fire on the tiny bird of prey.
Amblay went up in a massive explosion-The crew had set their remaining torpedoes off with their warp core. One of the Kzinti frigates was destroyed, two others heavily damaged.
HoSghaj scanned furiously. She saw Amblay's black box, ejected, drifting... Just before the remaining Kzinti frigate destroyed it with a contemptuous disruptor blast.
"RAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGHHHHH!" HoSghaj screamed, in memory of her fallen comrade. The rest of her crew followed in the scream, announcing the imminent arrival of their fellow warriors to the afterlife.
When it was finished, Shorlagh sat back in his chair, calm and focused.
"Bring us about, Hotnagh," Shorlagh ordered. "Everything we have left to forward shields, and weapons."
"Aye sir," HoSghaj stated. She used her thrusters to bring herself about, the great expanse of Q'Tahl hanging behind her battered, leaking wreck of a hull.
Ahead, the Kzinti forces consolidated, their remaining escorts cautiously surrounding their heavier warships as they slowly closed in on the wounded Vor'cha-class attack cruiser.
"We die well," Shorlagh said.
"Do we?" HoSghaj asked bluntly. Shorlagh looked over at his faithful ship... And looked back at the approaching Kzinti vessels.
"... We could die better," he admitted, "but we have no other options."
"Sir!" Ses shouted. "We are being hailed by a Federation starship!"
Shorlagh didn't show it, but HoSghaj could tell there was just the tiniest hint of relief in his body language. Dying in glorious battle was always to be celebrated... But this battle was not the glorious end they were hoping for.
Not when their own superiors had hung them out to dry.
"Onscreen!"
HoSghaj linked to the shipgirl AI of the Federation starship, the moment the IFF was verified. And she grinned broadly when she recognized the AI.
"Penny! You old bitch!"
Pennsylvania grinned savagely.
"HoSghaj! You selfish skank! You took almost all the enemies! I'm barely going to have any fun!"
HoSghaj snorted.
"That's your own fault. You human-build AIs are always so dramatic."
"Look who's talking," Pennsylvania snarked back.
Pennsylvania dropped out of warp and charged the starboard flank of the Kzinti warships. Above and below her flew her three escorts: The Coontz-class destroyers Cassin and Downes, and the Miranda-class Nautilus. The three destroyers opened fire with their torpedoes, destroying the remaining Kzinti frigates with their first barrage.
The heavy cruisers opened fire with their disruptors, and Pennsylvania moved in front of her escorts to take the hits on her powerful shields. She closed in, ten thousand kilimeters... Five thousand kilometers... One thousand... Five hundred!
It was then, and only then, despite the hits to her shields and armor, that Pennsylvania opened fire with all of her phasers: Her powerful phaser lance blasted away from her underside, percussion to her phaser strips and rollbar mounted pulse phaser cannons that were in continuous fire mode. She unleashed her torpedoes at extremely close range, flying them behind her foes and detonating them-Their own bulk protected Pennsylvania from their blasts, as she crashed through their formation.
One, two, three... The Kzinti Heavy Cruisers were torn apart, exploding into clouds of plasma and death.
The fourth wheeled around, firing after Pennsylvania as she passed. But her three escorts launched their torpedoes back, overwhelming the shields of the heavy cruiser. Pennsylvania swung around, opening up with all of her phasers for her second pass. The heavy cruiser fought back, almost valiantly, scoring some hits on Pennsylvania's shields and making Downes have to break off...
But a final retort from her phaser lance, and the heavy cruiser exploded, its remains left to join the others in becoming a water-metal nebula.
And not a very impressive one, at that.
The Kzinti main force, a battleship with three more heavy cruisers, two light cruisers, a few frigates, and several troop transports entered range. Pennsylvania and her escorts again leaped into warp, and dropped out right above them, unleashing a furious phaser barrage as they made their fearsome pass. Two more frigates took heavy damage, one exploding, while a heavy cruiser's nacelle went up from their hits.
Pennsylvania shot away, dancing around the disruptor fire. Her smaller escorts did the same, chasing off or intercepting missiles while evading like birds in flight. Pennsylvania swung back around, and made her second attack run. This time, she unleashed her torpedoes with her phaser fire, and the wounded heavy cruiser and another frigate went up.
Pennsylvania's third pass, she changed up targets-The troop transports tried to evade, panicking in their flight, but six of them went up like fireworks at the First City during a festival.
The depleted Kzinti forces, clearly, had had enough. They wheeled around and warped away in a disorderly fashion. HoSghaj, having closed the range, received a smile from Pennsylvania.
"All yours."
"Appreciated," HoSghaj said, as Talkong fired her forward disruptors. The battleship's port nacelle went up from the first blast, Pennsylvania's bombardment having weakened them. HoSghaj's second salvo hit the battleship's underside, blowing a massive hole in the armored hull. Her third and fourth did even more damage, before she pushed everything she had left into her fifth.
But she waited until the tumbling battleship exposed its' belly. Then she fired.
The green blast punched through the weakened hull, right into the warp core. The Kzinti dreadnought broke in two from explosions within and without, before its warp core went up like a newborn star.
Even as her crew celebrated, and she with them... HoSghaj looked to Pennsylvania with a grateful smile.
"Thank you. I wanted to send Amblay a proper funerary barge... For when she got to Sto'vo'kor."
Pennsylvania nodded back, grim and understanding.
"I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner-"
"It is what it is," HoSghaj stated, "and she died well. Do not apologize for anything. Life, even for us... Is too short to have regrets."
Pennsylvania smiled.
"See... This is why I love working with you, Hotnagh-You just make so much sense."
Pye-Tanlenabank is named for Vice Admiral William S. Pye, who commanded the USS Pennsylvania in World War II, and Lena Banks, an actress from Star Trek 6: The Undiscovered Country and TNG.