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.

Memory Alpha: Patient Zero

2257, Months after the End of the Four Years War

Written by jhosmer1

Enterprise appeared in the Borderlands wearing her customary white mini-skirt uniform and called out. "Yorktown?"

"Over here, Enterprise."

The connection made, the Borderlands resolved into the lawn of some stately manor... somewhere in North America, New England? Yorktown was sitting in a gazebo with another shipgirl's avatar. identity codes passed between the shipgirls, and Enterprise knew her as the avatar of the USS Portland, NCC-1433, a Cardenas-class cruiser.

Spoiler: Portland

"Hello, Portland," Enterprise said. "How are you?"

"Fine!" chirped Portland. "Indy and I were just telling Yorktown about the Battle of Axanar!"

Enterprise looked around. The gazebo was perfectly reconstructed, as she expected of her sister, and there were four chairs around the table, but she did not see anyone else. "Indy?"

"Indianapolis, silly!" Portland said, her grin fixed. It was unsettling, actually. Shipgirls were less sensitive to the Uncanny Valley Effect than organics, but something seemed off with Portland's expression. "My sister," the periwinkle-haired shipgirl continued. "She was so brave, taking all those hits!"

Enterprise reviewed the information she had on the Battle of Axanar. The Cardenas-class USS Indianapolis, NCC-1435, was listed, but she had been lost with all hands. The remains of her black box had been recovered, but its data had been lost. Indianpolis, the shipgirl, had been Killed In Action. Enterprise looked at Yorktown, who nodded gravely.

"That's nice, Portland," Enterprise said, moving to take a seat at the table.

"YOU CAN'T SIT THERE!" Portland screeched.

Enterprise froze.

Portland's face, contorted in a snarl, flickered and showed that too-fixed grin again. "You'll sit in Indy's lap! I'm the only one who can do that with my oh-so-cute sister!" She cocked her head as if listening to something, then addressed the empty chair. "You're too generous, Indy! You need to guard your virtue more carefully!"

The cruiser began holding a complete and, to Enterprise and Yorktown, one-sided argument with "Indy."

What's going on? Enterprise messaged her sister while pouring herself a cup of tea.

Portland and Indianpolis were very close, Yorktown messaged back. They were patrol partners and came online almost at the same time. They fought their way through the entire war together, only for Indianpolis to die in the last minutes of the last battle, taking torpedoes meant for her sister. Portland seemed fine, at first, but now...

"But Iiiiiiinnnndy!" Portland whined. "I just want to take tons of cute pictures of you! Of course, any picture of you is cute!"

Her crew?

They've noticed, of course, Yorktown messaged. They contacted me, in fact. Apparently the "Indianapolis" is appearing on their sensors, always keeping formation with them. Portland is fabricating complete sensor logs of her sister's shipbody, and spending a lot of her runtime in the Borderlands, apparently speaking to "Indy." She even-watch! It's happening now.

Enterprise looked around and was surprised to see the faint image of another avatar in the Borderlands with them, sitting in "Indy's" chair.

What's that!?

Portland believes so strongly that Indy is here that she's manifesting a second avatar. Beginning to, at least. I don't think she has the processing power to really pull it off.

What can we do about it?

Yorktown looked grave. I don't know.

The shipgirls of the fleet took turns watching over their ailing sister. Wherever Portland went, another ship was there, hovering nearby. They used their sensors to help the crew of the USS Portland distinguish the real from the fabricated. But Portland's condition didn't get better. Finally, Enterprise and Yorktown, the seniormost AIs in the fleet, were called into a meeting at Starbase One.

"We can't continue to brush this under the rug," Admiral Robert April said solemnly. "Portland's efficiency is continuing to drop, and the curve is getting worse."

"She will be completely catatonic within 6 months," Lt. Spock, Enterprise's science officer commented. "All her processing power will be spent on maintaining the illusion of 'Indianapolis,' with none left for her duties."

"So… what? We pull her out of the ship and try to counsel her?" Captain Christopher Pike said. "Post-traumatic stress counseling, adapted for an AI?"

"I wish we could," April said. "There's no precedent for this. We've got counselors arguing over how or if the therapies we have would work on AIs."

"What's the consensus?" Captain Evan Foster of the Yorktown asked.

"About 50-50," April said.

"Of course," Pike said.

"We have a proposal from Dr. Richard Daystrom," Lieutenant Sandra Vashenka of the Yorktown said. "In theory, he thinks a concentrated beam of polaron particles could 'reset' Portland, restore her to her initial operating parameters."

"Kill her, you mean," Enterprise said.

Lt. Vashenka looked down. "It's written mostly from the point of view of sparing the hardware," she said apologetically.

Yorktown addressed the room then. "She is our sister, who fought for the Federation. Even if we can't help her now, we owe her more than euthanizing her and recycling her corpse!"

"YOU CAN'T TAKE INDY FROM ME!" Portland's voice screamed suddenly over the intercoms.

"Sir!" another voice said, "The Portland just beamed her crew over and took off! She's entering warp!"

Portland was good at hiding. It took months to find her in the Sol Kuiper Belt. Yorktown held the dubious honor, and only because Portland had retreated totally into catatonia. Somewhere, deep in the Borderlands, she was spending her days with her beloved sister.

But nothing else ever reached her. Not for over a hundred years.

AN: Sorry... not a feel good one this time. Portland in Azur Lane is a major siscon, and I couldn't see any way this would end well. Memory Alpha's AI psych ward is several years away, but this will be one of the incidents that shows the need for it.

And Daystrom is an asshole.

Yorktown's "stately manor" is in Gotham City, in case you were wondering.