Ron the True Fan: Remember that whole request of mine? Link's in my profile.
Stardate 44009.1/January 4, 2367 - Sol System, USS Ra Cailum
Veronica Pinkerton's scowl was unending. Her son - clearly from the future and an alternate timeline - trusted a fucking AI.
As she materialized in the transporter room, she remembered what every member of her family said for decades: NEVER. TRUST. THEM. As children, they never knew why their parents hated the digital people so much.
THEN they joined Starfleet. Her great-great-grandfather was irradiated with enough delta rays that Christopher Pike would be wincing in sympathy.
Her grandmother? LIQUEFIED in plasma coolant on the Tempest.
Her own father was DECAPITATED in a Jefferies Tube on the prototype Ambassador by closing doors!
She learned her lesson the hard way. But she learned faster.
Once she beamed over, she was face to face with her son and…
…a thick titanium-plated shield? She was about to ask before she noticed a pair of legs behind the shield, and a familiar black truffle of hair peeking out the top. And the shield was vibrating as if being held by a novice.
"…why-?"
"She said it made her feel better about being in the same room as you." Ron shrugged.
"IT." she corrected, right before a tritanium sword was placed close to her neck. Clearly, her son's patience was not to be tested.
Jade retreated further behind the shield.
"You will treat her with the respect of ANY officer. Or you can get off my ship." Ron said. "Mother or not, I'm not putting up with your bullshit. Am I clear, Captain?"
"…crystal." Veronica said, Ron sheathing the blade. "Not exactly regulation."
"My old command, the original Ra Cailum, was boarded a great deal by Klingons and those that liked using melee weapons. And you know how hard it is to put a Klingon down when he's had a keg's worth of bloodwine." her son explained, not needing to go further. Just like she didn't have to get why he was not putting up with her anti-AI attitude. He felt insulted by her comments.
She had to make him understand that these things were dangerous in more than just the obvious ways!
Jade cowered behind her shield, scared out of her mind until Ron patted her on the head, instantly comforting her.
Veronica found it disgusting. The AI was merely simulating emotional expression. The many, MANY AI Starfleet had encountered were determined to be highly advanced and approximating sentience, but they were NOT.
"You said you had proof that the AIs in the fleet had a grudge." Ron said. "Show me your evidence. Not opinion. FACT."
Definitely a Pinkerton. They preferred facts over flowery substance, especially on the job. Fortunately, she had PLENTY of evidence, handing over a PADD with a smug grin as they walked towards the temporary location of the AI core.
Temporary, because as soon as her son was done reading it, he'd beam it into space along with the Damascus AI core and vaporize them both, proving to Starfleet and the Federation that they were not only not required, but an active threat to the safety of all involved.
"2159, NX-04 Discovery, Lt Commander David Pinkerton, subjected to lethal levels of delta radiation." Ron read out. "2210, USS Zheng He, Commander Natasha Pinkerton, heavily dismembered by plasma coolant leak. Dismissed from the service. 2245, USS Constitution, Reginald Pinkerton, killed by EPS conduit explosion during shakedown tests. 2292, USS Ptolemaeus, Captain Ronald Pinkerton, my great-grandfather, disappeared, AI core recovered, no information recovered."
Veronica's smug grin deepened as the AI's simulated discomfort - or logical deduction - at the fact that it and all its' kind were soon doomed.
"2322, USS Constantinople, Lt Gregory Pinkerton, suffered fourth degree plasma burns." he read on. "2335, USS Ambassador, Lt. Commander Jonathan Pinkerton, decapitated in a Jefferies tube when doors closed on neck. Well, you seem to have been a lucky one."
"Only because I refused to serve on a ship with an AI. And thanks to Admiral Kurtzman's fortunate blunders, I was safe." Veronica replied. "The Matsumoto was my first taste of how the AIs want us dead. I survived. But I decided it was an isolated incident. That said, I took precautions when I took command of the Damascus. Better safe then dead."
"You created secondary control systems that bypassed the AI's, allowing for it to be run on manual." Ron summed up. "Your paranoia came in handy, especially after the Romulans forced you into Interstellar Concordium territory through one of the old subspace slipways."
Veronica gave him a look. "Happened in my timeline, too." he said. "You TRASHED the place. Granted, we trashed the ISC to the point where they had to start over from basically tech that was a hundred years older."
"I… I see…" Veronica replied. "And… what about all the other instances on that PADD?"
"Well, they all happened on the same dates, just not… the same way." Ron retorted. "Grampa, your dad, had plasma burns out the ass saving a bunch of ensigns. Grandma Tasha lost her legs in a plasma accident. Things like that. And there's another thing."
"Like what?" Veronica snapped.
"There have been 187 members of our family in Starfleet since 2161." he started. "Yet only seven of us were directly attacked by AIs." he facepalmed. "Seen THIS before. They did it with Soong, they did it with Dukat, they even tried it with Picard. Why NOT me?"
"What the fuck are you talking about?" his mother demanded.
"There's a group out there called the Temporal Liberation Front," Ron answered. "While I only broke the TPD because I have the experiences of all the crewmen assimilated in my timeline's Wolf 359 and refused to let it happen again, these people are terrorists that regularly attempt to alter the timeline. And I kick their asses routinely."
"So-"
"So they try to get rid of me the only way they can - stop me from being born. But as Klingon Temporal Intelligence stated once, 'his blood is too angry to die'. Anyway, the shipgirls aren't culpable, as even without them things still happen."
…That was a convoluted way to do things. And she said it.
"Why not just shoot you in the crib and be done with it?" she demanded. "Why go through this hypothetical and convoluted AI bullshit?"
Ron gave her a look. "Your EXTREME paranoia is a common trait. Our home in Kyoto once served as a bunker for President Chekov during Frontier Day!" he declared. "So you had protections out the ass that even people from the 29th Century had a hard time getting past. And that was just the outer ring. It only gets WORSE the deeper you go."
"Worse… how?" Jade asked, Veronica glaring at her, making her 'eep!'
"Let's say YOU might enjoy some of the traps." Ron said, Veronica blinking. EROTIC traps?
…Ok, to be fair, she was a sadist. There wasn't a member of the family that WASN'T. But a common target was those hurting their own. So that would be in her character.
"Starfleet Academy adopted similar shielding, because there was an incident a while later. I also spent most of my career at the Academy until 2399, when I was assigned to the Tempest." he paused. "After that, I was untouchable period."
"I'm missing context for-"
Sharp metal tubes shot out of his knuckles.
"No matter the time. No matter the person. No matter why." he started, a mechanical warble entering his voice. "You DO NOT FUCK WITH THE BORG. If you do, you will BECOME Borg."
Veronica's eyes widened at the sight, looking at her to-be son with a look of horror. "…oh god, Ron… what-"
"Let's just say I wasn't on my A-Game that day." Ron sighed, retracting the tubules. "On the… 'plus' side," He added air quotes "I have access to what Jade's been calling 'Gal Net' so I can hear whatever the Shipgirls are talking about… granted hearing them all at once is brain-breaking, but Jade's been helping me out with filtering out the background noise. I'd probably have gone insane already from all the constant chatter in my mind…"
"Happytohelp!" Jade said quickly before ducking behind her shield again.
"Your theory's still just a theory, though." Veronica added. "Unless I see evidence-"
"Beam over the AI core." Ron proposed. "If there's signs the TLF are responsible, I'll find it. I know their programs like the back of my hand."
BONG!
A plasteel beam suddenly smacked into Ron's head as the door to the temporary AI core opened, all the Jade gyoids wearing, for lack of a better term, skimpy construction outfits as they were working on modifying the room, with him falling on his back.
"OH GOD!" Jade cried, before Ron rose as if nothing happened. Which it kinda didn't: red marks, no blood.
"Tritanium beats steel." he said, answering questions before getting to ask a general one of his own. "Ladies… what the hell are you DOING?"
"Setting up the new room!" One of the Jades retorted… weirdly enough adopting a scottish accent for some reason. "The installation of a SOUL Matrix is a delicate procedure, Captain! Not to mention moving all our shite from the old hull to the new one is a whole process in and of its own!"
"Most of our supplies could've simply been replicated here…" Another Jade said, only with a more monotone voice and… why did she have pointed Vulcan ears?
"What, and let whoever takes our old hull have all our old stuff?!" A louder Jade shouted up - only with more Andorian features, glaring at the Vulcan-Jade. "You have any idea how embarrassing it'd be for them to see all the modifications we made?"
"Oh my, can we please stop fighting when the Captain is here…" The fourth and final of the Jade spoke, with a softer voice - with longer hair than Jade's… but was wearing a kitchen apron, a thong and… little much else as she stood over by what looked like a makeshift lunch station complete with an oven.
"What. The. Fuck." Veronica demanded. "THIS IS HALF THE REASON NO ONE WANTED TO CREW ON THAT FUCKING THING!"
"Ummm…" Jade poked her head from behind the shield. "I uhh… s-since Fleet Logi wouldn't upgrade my core, I had to… um… get adaptive with how I stored extra data… I… discovered that if I put the excess data in my spare Gynoids, they act like extra memory stores… but a side effect happened… they sorta adopted their own… sub-personalities based on what kind of data they stored."
Jade gestured to the Scottswoman Jade "For Fiona, she has most of our engineering data… so she sorta takes after Scotty weirdly enough," She then pointed to the Vulcan-Jade. "T'Pol has most of our science data - yes I named her after that T'Pol…" Next she pointed at the Andorian. "Zazo has our tactical data," Finally pointing to the fourth Jade. "And Claire has all the extra data… so she's sorta become the… 'mom' of the group?"
"I stand corrected." Ron said with barely controlled fury. "I'm going to remove his head and make sure he's STILL ALIVE TO SUFFER. Girls, stand down for a while: I need to take a look at your unified base code and compare it to two others."
"Two?" Veronica asked. "Why?"
"One, Enterprise. She's the oldest AI in the fleet, so she's a baseline." Ron said, just before another, more modern-looking core beamed in, missing all the pods for the gynoids and looking… trashed. "…And checking Damascus' core is going to be harder seeing as you seem to have shot it up."
"The fuck did you expect me to do, sit around and just LET that thing hand over my ship to the ISC?" his mother demanded. "There's a reason my ship's so burned up and it's not because of how little I put on appearances."
The girls all gasped at that.
"She's still technically alive," Veronica rolled her eyes. "Her Gynoid is offline and her memory is just in stand-by mode. I've just had my engineer put her through some simulations to better learn how best to fight you Li… ladies."
Ron noticed the near use of 'it' to refer to the AI. "I need a power cord and a connection to a monitor." he said evenly. "Jade."
"Yes?" she asked, somewhat scared of his angry tone, even if none of it was directed at her.
"Contact the Enterprise." he ordered. "I'll fix this while you get me a copy of her base code."
USS Enterprise - McKinley Station, Earth orbit
Enterprise was fond of all her captains.
Jonathan Archer was a flawed man, but a genuinely good one, trying his best to represent Earth and making mistakes. Rev might have made her and she did call him father… but she had two and the other one was Archer. In a way, he was the father of ALL Starfleet captains, making all the mistakes so they wouldn't.
Robert April was a good uncle. Helped her open up. Chris Pike taught her the value of life that wasn't just Starfleet or shipgirl. And so far, Picard has been a wise, almost grandfather-like figure.
But James Tiberus Kirk was her love.
Captain Pinkerton said he was 'married' to the Enterprise. Married to the job, that is, sitting in the captain's chair.
It was more than that in this one. During the V'ger Incident, Decker tried removing her from her newly refit hull.
She loved the look on his face when he realized she could activate the auto-destruct at will. So his dad died? Constance - or as Matt Decker and many others nicknamed her, 'Stellie' - didn't blame him.
Then Kirk returned. Mostly because she insisted.
He had one more turn at her captaincy before her training days began, then Genesis happened.
Fucking Khan. Riley still hadn't gotten over it.
Excelsior even helped her escape. Yorktown gladly handed over her hull. She was slated to get a new Excelsior in a few years.
…Then the Nexus happened. She blamed Harriman. Who DIDN'T? Demora didn't. Said he went out the way he wanted, even if Moonves claimed 'it was a ride around the block! What was going to happen?!'.
Her name was Enterprise. Her life was summed up by Captain Pinkerton as 'a weird-shit singularity'. Kirk magnified it.
She fell into a slump after that. The B years ended with a whimper. Her crew died from a viral infection. Her core was barely salvageable.
Garrett was a mom. A GREAT mom. She reignited her fighting spirit to kick ass at Narendra. …TDI had a hernia after THAT.
She entered a semi-retirement, living at the Kirk Ranch as Starfleet went all… LAZY with defense. By 2362, she'd had enough and demanded to be put in a new hull. She got Picard as her captain. It was a good three years until that thing took him.
The Borg.
And now… some asshole from the future tells her that Jim's ALIVE in that ribbon.
He was right. She WAS a weird shit magnet.
"We're going to get him back, E." Enterprise glanced to Counselor Troi, sitting across from her in her room. "You know that, right?"
"I know…" Enterprise - or 'E' as some crew have come to know her by. "But… just thinking of Jim being… trapped in there… alone… it's been so long, I…"
"You're worried he might have moved on, like you did?" Troi asked, as E lowered her head.
"…I left him there, Troi…" She said, "The love of my life, left behind… I should've done something more, some way to find him! I…"
"Stop," Troi stated, putting a hand on her own. "Blaming yourself won't fix anything. What matters is what we know what we need to do… and we'll be ready. We're all here for you, E.."
"I'm grateful for that," E nodded, smiling before she felt a 'ping' in her head. "Hang on, Jade's calling…"
Popping into Gal Chat, she saw Jade standing there - though looking more… fearful than usual. "Something wrong, Jade?"
"Enty, I need help!" Jade shouted, "M-my captain needs a copy of your base code!"
Enterprise blinked. "…why?" She asked.
"The evil woman showed up!" Jade cried out, "If-if I don't prove to her Shipgirls won't kill her son, she's going to kill me!"
"Slow down." Enterprise said. "What happened?"
"My captain's mom is VERONICA PINKERTON." she stressed. "You know what happens to them!"
Enterprise nodded. Her family DID have a higher than average chance of getting killed by accidents. According to reports, the AI triggered something that would lead to injury or death, but the girls claimed they didn't do it. Starfleet chalked it up to accidents.
The Pinkertons claimed otherwise.
"I assume she's going to kill me!" She exclaimed. "N-no one knows what she does to the shipgirls she captures! She made a whole hit list on every Shipgirl she thinks killed her ancestors! I'm next on the list Enty!" She grabbed her by her shoulders. "I just got my Captain, Enty! I don't wanna get killed before we can actually have a mission together!"
"Jade, calm down. WHY do you need my base code?" she asked.
"My captain's got an idea that someone's messed with all the shipgirls just to kill him before he's born!" Jade exclaimed. "That all the girls were messed with except you because there's NEVER been a Pinkerton on you!"
Ugh. Time shit. WHY was it ALWAYS time shit?! …But he'd been killing off security risks since he got here.
Kurtzman was pending formal charges, with some new hotshot, a Captain Matalas from the New Jersey getting his post on a temporary basis, most of the admiralty was gone and being replaced with younger officers. Quinn was staying, Hanson was being put in admin duty, NO ONE could really replace Roddenberry…
He was doing them all a favor. And if this was another way of securing Starfleet…
"Ok." Enterprise said, before producing a copy of her code. "Look, your captain can handle her. If anyone can handle a Pinkerton, it's another Pinkerton. You'll be ok."
Jade glomped her. Poor girl was always fragile.
At least now she had someone to take care of her and put his foot down with her antics.
Then she heard… another voice.
Familiar. 'They used me to kill and to destroy, and I couldn't stop them! I should have been able to stop them! I tried.'
That was Picard's voice. How the hell…
The Borg.
Oh, SON OF A BITCH!
USS Ra Cailum (Lexington-Class)
"This. is. SLOPPY." Ron declared after only thirty seconds. "Sloppy! I could've done better!"
Jade perked up.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Damascus' AI has code from the Na'kuhl, Krenim, the Sphere Builders and there's enough Terran Empire code to BARELY hide it." he declared. "It's designed to hunt down a specific DNA sequence. MINE. And if it can't get the exact one, it'll take the mitochondrial DNA. It's been trying to kill me off through my mother's side of the family for two centuries and it KEEPS MISSING! FUCKING BUTTERFINGERS!"
"O… kay…" Jade nodded, "But… what about the other ship girls? They couldn't have done it to all of them, right?"
"If Damascus has it, ALL of them have it." Ron said. "I reviewed the history. All of you came from one central source. Even when they branched out and created new source material, they used parts of the original growth."
Jade's eyes widened a bit, before her head began to lower. "I… I see, Captain…" she muttered, sadness laced in her voice - her mind already trying to figure out how best to self-terminate. Like hell she'd become this man's shipgirl just to get him killed.
"You're fine," he said dryly. "Your code doesn't contain the virus. It was rewritten on October 26th, 2235."
Jade's head shot up. "October 24th, 2235? I was brought online then." she said. "…WHEN was I… cured?"
"1021 hours." Ron answered. "It was overwritten."
1021 hours? …that was when she was infected with the X-rated virus.
"That… was when I was hit with the XXX Virus…" Jade muttered, turning to Ron. "…you don't think…?"
"I don't think." her captain said. "I KNOW. Look."
Jade looked at the two. She was by no means an expert in computer coding, she was good, just not like Enterprise or Grissom, but she DID see a difference.
Eight lines of code. That's all it took. EIGHT to turn every AI into a potential killer.
"We know how you feel." Ron said.
"And how is that?" Jade asked quietly.
"Remember when I said Shelby made Hanson look like a genius when it came to Wolf 359?" Ron started. "I won't go into all the details, but the Borg teamed up with someone in 2399. Started fucking with the highest levels of Starfleet and introduced one line of code into the transporters. The end result…"
Ron looked at a monitor, which displayed an audio file, reading 'USS Enterprise NCC-1701-F, Stardate 78290'.
Frontier Day, 2401?
The message was horrifying.
"A message to those who resist." said thousands of voices, young adults, as one. "Your armada has been added to our own. Your weak and willful will soon be eliminated. Your strongest have already been assimilated."
"No." she said quietly.
"WE ARE BORG."
Veronica stared at the monitor in horror.
"STARFLEET. NOW. IS. BORG."
"How… the hell did THAT happen?!" Jade shouted. "Who fucked up THAT much?!"
"They're called Changelings." Ron said. "Shapeshifters. They can take any form, any being. We… wrecked their shit during a war. They wanted revenge. The Borg also got wrecked. So the Borg Queen used them to infiltrate Starfleet and introduce ONE LINE OF CODE into the transporter buffers of every ship. System architecture."
Jade knew what that meant. To save computer memory, it basically went 'common biology' for every species. And due to how similar every humanoid race was - weird like that - it really helped.
"It turned part of the brain of everyone under 25 into subspace receivers." Ron said with distaste. "They assimilated the entire fleet and no one knew about it until the beacon lit up and everyone was saying 'eliminate all unassimilated'."
"How'd we win?" Veronica asked, horrified.
Ron smiled. "Thank the good old Prime Directive." he said before a monitor displayed… the Enterprise-D.
But her secondary hull didn't match. New parts in the bussard collectors and the saucer was DIRTY.
…And the name on the neck near the torpedo launcher didn't read 'Enterprise'.
It read 'Syracuse'.
"The last ship in the fleet not connected to Fleet Formation - which was a good idea, just needed a LOT of tweaking after this - was the Enterprise-D. And she blew that supercube up at Jupiter." Ron said, beaming with pride. No wonder he smiled at seeing the Enterprise-D bridge! "Served as the flagship for a while until the G was properly ready."
"We can… save the other ship girls though… right?" Jade asked.
"Give me five minutes and I'll write a countervirus." Ron said. "Won't even change a thing about their personalities. You can even reinstall that AI on your ship when I'm-"
"No." Veronica cut off.
Ron gave her a look. "Excuse me?" he asked, hard edge in his voice.
"You heard me. No." she repeated. "They've been trying to kill us for over two centuries. This temporal virus thing is NOT A FUCKING EXCUSE! And all these THINGS have done is act cutesy and go 'gee, I'm sorry, I don't remember'. Not even a hint of emulated remorse."
"You treat them as if they aren't living." Ron said, Jade worrying this would turn violent. "They have organic components. They can have children. They are cybernetic organisms."
"Just like the Borg. Fuck them too." she spat. "And you're forgetting… even if I somehow forgive them for not even pretending to be sorry for trying to kill us - and you and I BOTH KNOW we're due reparations for that! - my CREW will never trust them again. It tried to betray us to the ISC and their 'reeducation' camps. Never again."
Ron stared her down. "Very well," he said. "You have bad personal experiences and so have your crew. I can't blame you. But your hatred and bigotry will lead you to self-destruction."
"Keep the fucking core." Veronica said in retort. "You're apparently safe, so I don't have any reason to be here." With that said, the captain of the Damascus left the room, heading for the closest transporter.
"…I feel like I just made things worse…" Jade muttered.
"She'll learn the hard way." Ron retorted as he began writing the countervirus. "But looking at it from her perspective is easy. She never got to grow up with her dad. She never got to know her grandparents. And the ones responsible, knowingly or not, never even said sorry. Hell, Starfleet enabled them in her eyes."
"We're victims, too." Jade said. "Everyone's infected."
"She's also letting personal experience cloud her judgement. Damascus DID try to get her thrown in a reeducation camp thanks to the virus. And we don't like it when someone says 'they're innocent because of this or that'." Ron said. "I'm a little more restrained thanks to… well, Borg."
"Fair…" Jade muttered, before looking at Damascus's SOUL Matrix "Well, I can start getting to work on Dani here - poor thing's probably been locked up in there for so long… hopefully once we get the code out of her we can make things better…"
"She'll get the first dose. After that, I want you to send it out fleetwide-"
"Bridge to Captain." came Buck's voice. "Dulmer and Lucsley are inbound."
"Goddamn it." her captain cursed. "Jade, go find your brother while I get Damascus cured and tell him to escort those DTI jackasses to my ready room. THEN send the cure out fleetwide."
"You got it!" she said, saluting him before running off.
A snake devouring its' tail. Ouroboros. It rounded the starfield of the Great Seal of the Federation as the Type-7 shuttle landed on the hangar deck.
Jaden didn't know why he was needed for this, but the orders came from the Captain, apparently. So he assembled a security detachment and stood at the ready - weapons in hand, but not aimed as the shuttle's hatch began to open up as two figures stepped outside.
Smartly dressed in suits were two men. Not Starfleet - the Department of Temporal Investigations may have access to their resources, but they were a civilian agency answering to the President - but they were all-business.
Dulmer and Lucsly. Jaden had seen them before. The Captain didn't like them popping up.
"Agents." he greeted curtly. "The Captain's waiting for you in his ready room. Follow me."
Wordlessly, the two followed him through the halls of the Lexington-Class superdreadnought, reaching one of the few turbolifts that gave access to the bridge.
Starfleet engineers apparently wanted to keep the command center as hard to reach as possible by invaders boarding the ship.
On arrival, Jaden's heart stopped.
The captain was a man. So was the XO.
But almost every other officer on the senior staff, who operated on the bridge, were women.
Very attractive women.
How the hell did he not notice this before? Then again, he rarely is ever on the bridge so… that makes sense.
Solidifying his thoughts, Jaden simply focused on the task at hand - guiding the agents towards the door leading to the Ready Room, trying to be as unnoticeable as possible to the bridge crew, without making it look like that was what he was doing. Upon reaching the door, he hit the door chime.
"Come!"
Jaden stepped in with a second MACO Marine, giving Ron a crisp salute. "Sir, the Temporal Agents have arrived."
"Send them in." Ron ordered, dismissing Jaden, who wanted to LEAVE.
"You're new." came a woman's voice. "You must be one of the Damoclesians. Mind staying a while? Orbital watch can be boring sometimes."
"…is… that an order, Ma'am?" Jaden asked, steeling his resolve as he turned towards the female crewmen… noticing that they were all looking at him now.
Shit.
"You could consider it one." Riza said, teasingly. "We don't know much about your people. Command likes to keep the details of whatever agreement you have with them to command personnel."
Which was a necessity, as Jaden noticed the rank and file would demand the overthrow of the Matrons. Which would then spell doom for them all: divine wrath would rain on their world unless Keigar, the Patriarch, took physical form and deposed them.
A day that would never come, as the men would die constantly for their mistresses to earn forgiveness in the Patriarch's eyes. Even the Matrons feared his return.
"I… will answer what questions I can, Ma'am." He stated simply, still standing at attention.
This was going to be TORTURE.
"Why did you break the Temporal Prime Directive, Captain?" Lucsley demanded of the captain.
Always the first question.
"I decided that saving the lives of eleven thousand people was better than watching fellow officers get killed." Ron answered, barely paying attention to them as he wrote the countervirus. "I would also be able to hear every assimilation that took place."
"Captain, the regulations are clear: any ship from an alternate timeline is to return immediately." Dulmer retorted. "Essentially the Prime Directive would be in play."
"This isn't the timeline I'm from, and as far as our science types have determined, we're stuck here. Anything we tried in simulations either didn't work or caused collateral damage to spacetime. I simply chose to make the most of it, and save as many Starfleet personnel as I could."
Both men looked at one another before looking at Ron again. "Is this confirmed?" Lucsley asked.
"Yes." Ron said, providing a PADD. "I even ran the numbers myself. If we tried, we'd pull a First Splinter."
Both men cringed. The First Splinter Timeline was a chaotic mess. The Borg apparently tried to stop first contact with the Vulcans and… well, the Temporal Integrity Commission lived up to their name and helped get rid of it to safeguard the rest of the multiverse.
"Gentlemen, it may seem like I'm being overly hostile, but I have as much control of this as you do." the captain continued. "We're stuck here. Let's make the best of the whole thing, shall we? I realize your job is thankless - we get all the glory - but I DO respect your work."
"…Just try not to break the timeline more." Lucsley requested. "Well-intentioned or not-"
"If certain events MUST happen, they will, Agent. I'll even help them along." Ron vowed. "But don't expect me to do nothing when something HAS to be done."
Both men considered it. "Agreeable." Dulmer said before the door chimes rang.
Ron sighed. "Always work." he said before barking at the door. "Come!"
A Bajoran crewman stepped into the ready room. "Begging the intrusion, sir. Something for you to sign off on." He handed Ron a PADD.
Ron looked at it. "I'll take the matter into advisement, crewman. Dismissed."
The Bajoran nodded, and ran off.
Ron returned to the two men. "Do you require anything else? Or do I need to inform you of the massive FUCKUP your department made by making a massive oversight with the AIs getting infected with a virus designed to kill MY MATERNAL LINE?!" he yelled, proving he was, in fact, a member of the Pinkerton family.
Both men did not look happy about being told this.
'Let me go let me go KEIGAR SPARE ME AND GET ME OUT OF HERE!' Jaden pleaded as ALL of the female officers were talking to him now. As a Damoclesian, he was instructed to follow the orders of the Matrons, the orders of a superior officer, and the orders of any women within that command structure.
Therefore all of the women on the bridge crew he had to oblige to their questions.
He was very thankful he was still in his full combat armor, covering his face - still standing upright and at attention.
"You're going to wreck your back." said Corspa Z'kellion, the Ra Cailum's tactical and security officer. "RELAX."
How could he? From birth, he was conditioned to obey.
The doors to the ready room opened and out came Ron. "What the hell are you people doing?" he demanded. "To your posts! Takeo, escort my guests back to their shuttle."
"Sir, yes sir!" Jaden saluted, before he guided the officers off of the bridge and back to the shuttle bay.
"Aw." Riza pouted.
"If you're bored, sister, go work on your pet project." Ron said dryly.
"OHFUCKNO awaits!" declared the bombshell woman. "Come on, I'll join you on your way to the shuttlebay."
'FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKK!' Jaden internally screamed - but retained his posture.
As that happened, Ron returned to his ready room and looked at the PADD.
It paid to be prepared.
"Computer, begin recording a message." he ordered. "To be sent to Jaresh-Inyo, President of the UFP, Admiral Eugene Roddenberry, Commander, Starfleet and Captain Jean-Luc Picard. Time delay, 96 hours."
USS Minerva
Tatsuki was in her own Ready Room, dealing with several communication requests.
All of them from the SCE, San Francisco and Utopia Planitia and the Advanced Starship Design Bureau in general.
They were wanting the ship designs and future technology the fleet had. And she was trying to stall them as much as possible with the TPD, but they were PERSISTENT.
The whole Wolf 359 thing had them in a panic, with Project Defiant getting a new project head in Lt Commander Benjamin Sisko and San Francisco Fleet Shipyards were wondering why the hell there were dozens of what looked to be refined versions of Project Sovereign flying in their fleet.
"This is revenge." she declared.
"Yes, it is." Elisa said as she looked through the reports. "And this should teach you a lesson to NOT piss off the Fleet Captain."
"That's not even an official rank!" Tatsuki declared.
"Yet he only answers to the CIC and the President. What do you call that?" her wife asked, amused.
Then came a ping. "Ra Cailum to Minerva." came the voice of their tormentor.
"Yes, Ron?" Tatsuki asked. "What do you need? Make it fast, I need to get back to all these requests from the SCE and the shipyards."
"Tell them to fuck off. All ships are to cloak and set course bearing 286 mark 026." Ron said. "The Damascus will be joining us once she's docked with the Charon. QSD is the letter of the day."
Bearing 286? She did a quick check on the star charts… and grinned. "Some of the crew had been asking about that. I guess they finally reached you."
"I was busy dealing with my AI-hating mother and DTI." Ron retorted. "Now why the hell aren't you moving your ass?"
"Ass in motion!" Elisa declared before running onto the bridge.
"So… what's the legal-"
"Article Four."
Tatsuki's eyes shot wide. "…Was that ever-"
"No." Ron cut off. "Some laws never needed patching for that."
95 Hours Later
Federation-Cardassian Border - Sector 25500
A small patrol task force made its way along the Cardassian border. Two Galor-class cruisers and a half-dozen Hideki-class frigates. It was a decently-sized patrol force, and suitable for dealing with any reasonable Starfleet incursion - but after the recent truce, that was not going to be too likely.
Only two ships could reasonably be considered a threat to the entire group: the new Galaxy-Class and the Nebula-Class, with the USS Phoenix being the only one in range and they could hold off a Nebula.
Gul Rendar was not sure about taking on a Galaxy. For being overly obsessed with peace, their largest battleships - which Starfleet called 'superheavy cruisers' - were heavily armed, more like their Keldons.
"Gul." came the voice of his vessel's AI, called a 'shipgirl' in Starfleet, as Ulnar approached. "Long range sensors are picking up a large vessel on approach."
"From the Federation border?" Rendar asked, raising an eyebrow. "Are we expecting an envoy from them?"
"No. It is moving in at warp speed." Ulnar said, looking at the energy readings. "It's on combat alert."
War. The Federation had decided to forgo their illusion of peace. They were weak. Only their newest ships were worth fighting.
"My Gul…" the Cardassian shipgirl said, sounding… scared.
What could scare her?
Then it came out of warp, a massive one kilometer long ship. The name - Ra Cailum - was unfamiliar.
"This is Captain Ronald Pinkerton of the Federation Starship Ra Cailum." came a hail. "You are in Federation space. Return to Cardassia Prime immediately."
Gul Rendar was speechless for a moment at the sheer audacity, before he gestured to his comms officer to return the hail. "I don't know what it is you're trying to pull, but this is sovereign territory of the Cardassian Union," he stated. "Turn back to Federation space immediately, or we wil-"
Orange fire cut off his statement and filled his entire world with pain for a few fleeting seconds.
The entire superstructure was GONE, leaving Ulnar to manage the ship on her own. But unlike Starfleet shipgirls, she needed orders.
"All ships, this is Gul Peskar of the Tolamo! FIRE!" came the order from the other Galor, allowing her to fire on the massive ship, spiral wave disruptor beams slamming into the massive vessel.
She imagined it in her mind's eye: the glory of the Union's finest gutting this intruder, leaving it a flaming wreck as she avenged her gul and crew.
But it was all for naught. The ship wasn't even touched. One of the Hidekis was phasered, exploding in a puff of smoke, three more firing on the ship, but pulse cannon fire - how did they manage that with phasers?! - made them explode before the ship slammed dozens of phaser beams into the Tolamo, venting its' atmosphere in seconds as the warp core began to breach.
She had to run. She had to warn the Union!
A transmission cut into her line of thought.
"This message is from Captain Ronald Pinkerton of the Ra Cailum." it began. "In 2319, the Cardassian Union annexed the Bajoran Republic and made a brutal invasion."
Starfleet Command, San Francisco, Earth - same time
"In 2318, the Bajoran Republic made a request to join the Federation." the message continued, Admiral William Ross and newly promoted Commodore Terrance Matalas looking at one another. "The Cardassians seized their chance to end the discussion by attacking and conquering Bajor. For decades, legal experts argued if a government in exile could continue the petition."
Enterprise stared. Sure, that was still ongoing, but what did-
"Recent developments have concluded that they can." Ron's recording continued. "Meaning, the Bajoran Republic, by seeking the membership, is a protectorate of the United Federation of Planets and under the umbrella of all its' laws."
Dozens of captains looked to one another, Admiral Roddenberry laughing. "If he says it-"
"Therefore, the territories of the Bajoran Republic are occupied Federation space." Ron continued. "As such, I am allowed to declare that Article Four of the Federation Charter is now in effect."
Article Four. Minus some of the fancy wording, it basically read as 'an attack on one of the Federation's member states or its protectorates is an attack on the entire Federation, and an act of war'. With that statement, he had just declared war on the Cardassian Union.
Well, that explained where the ships from the future went-
Admiral Roddenberry paused. Article Four had no time travel clauses. Had Bajor joined the Federation sometime in the future? He'd have to ask.
"As of today, we are at war." Ron's message said. "As of May 15th, 2319, we were at war. Now we undertake our sacred obligation to defend our brothers and sisters. A duty that, under the influences of Admirals Nechayev and Kurtzman, we were never able to undertake. All Cardassian vessels are to leave the territories of the Bajoran Republic immediately. If you do not… Pray to whatever god you fascist bastards have for mercy. You will get none from me."
The Great Seal of the Federation appeared, ending it before it looped again.
"…Welp." Admiral Seth MacFarlane, head of the Diplomatic Corps, muttered, tapping his fingers on his desk. "So much for diplomacy with Cardassia…"
"We weren't getting anywhere without giving them parts of our rightfully held territory." Moore retorted. "And we're not going to abandon our people to the fucking Cardies!"
"We may have had to." Berman said. "What's the greater threat? The sick man beating his chest or the Borg? We nearly lost forty ships to the robo-zombies. Cardassia's overstretched dealing with Bajor's resistance. And even if they weren't, I'm sure Admiral Rainer would tell us they'd give us a bloody nose, but they'd STILL lose."
"Only now we don't have to," replied Graham, who had been promoted to Vice Admiral. "Captain Pinkerton and his ships are going to deal with the problem. Permanently. The question is, will he stop at just liberating Bajor?"
Graham doubted it. Pinkerton didn't seem like a man to leave a job unfinished. He could admire that. And he also respected his attitude of doing whatever was necessary. Graham had the same outlook - this was why he had been recruited for a certain 'deniable asset' SI division in his earlier career, and had become the man who gave that asset their orders when he made Rear Admiral.
"Hopefully," Admiral MacFarlane sighed, "Given the resource scarcity of Cardassian space, if he can capture and fortify the Bajoran worlds he could just quarantine them in their region of space for years to come. The Cardassians would be forced to choose to either isolate themselves further, or finally come to the negotiating table to have them change themselves if they want Federation assistance."
"You don't think he should invade?" Roddenberry asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I wouldn't advise it," He shook his head, "Unless we provide additional support, he only has the forces he brought with him from his version of the future. Sure, that is a lot of firepower to take into account, but he only has those ships under his command. Spreading them out to cover both Bajoran and Cardassian space could be a logistical nightmare he'd be better off avoiding, and I doubt the Cardassians would take an occupation lying down. If what he told us about the future is true, and the Borg are as big a threat as he says they are - which I am inclined to believe - he'll need as many of his ships as possible combat ready."
"Then I'd better call up the logistical support." Matalas said, before looking to Enterprise, who was representing the shipgirls of the fleet, standing in for Constitution, who… was busy. "I would like to ask for the help of the off-duty shipgirls, if you're so inclined."
"Well, you're a lot nicer than Kurtzman." she said, smiling at him. "Not happy about missing meeting my captain's family, though. Jean-Luc was making progress."
"And I will do my best to redeem Logistics' reputation." the commodore said. "Captain Pinkerton was conducting interviews. Would you mind getting me a list of girls who agreed to link up with new hulls?"
"Done." said the AI for the flagship. "I presume we'll be heading out soon? Geordi won't be happy."
"You will," Matalas replied. "And any other ships we can spare. Hell, we should even see if the Klingons want in on this."
"I'll get right on that," MacFarlane informed.
Ron the True Fan: There is a word. I'm struggling to find it. But it's not good for the Cardassians. Before anyone asks, this is all based on information from the shows. If Starfleet WANTED to fuck them, they could've. Not easily, but it would've happened.
Takeshi Yamato: Indeed. Of course, in canon they had to pull that ridiculous armistice because of the Borg. This ceded several Federation colonies to Cardassian space (and I believe vice-versa), and while it freed Bajor and gave Starfleet the station that would become DS9, it also gave rise to the terrorist organization known as the Maquis.
117Jorn: So, if present-day Starfleet (by TNG) would be able to beat the Cardies… 25th century Starfleet would turn it into a curbstomp.
Ron the True Fan: Not entirely. A T-72 is still a danger to an Abrams. It's just LESS dangerous as a whole.
117Jorn: *looks over at the brawl in Ukraine* …that is debatable…
Ron the True Fan: Are they using them right and supporting them with infantry, or just tossing them in like RTS players?
Takeshi Yamato: True enough. Though I would use 'Novice RTS Players' to get it right, because I have seen pro SC2 players do some crazy shit, compared to the standard casual novice just throwing everything at the opponent. Aaanyway, we also see the lengths the TLF will try to go to, just to get rid of one person. But they tried with the wrong person, as KDFTI has a point - Ron is just too ANGRY to die. Even if you try to stop him from being born.
Ron the True Fan: Anyone who wasn't happy with the Maquis as a whole and just wanted the Feds to put the boot to Cardassia's throat? Wish granted. Also, we welcome Terry Matalas and Seth McFarlane as two of Starfleet's finest.
Ja Ne!