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.


Cewith: "Valiant"


2375
Three lightyears from Marva IV


Cewith was assigned to Testing Grid 456 Green, located in unclaimed space between the Cardassian Union, the Breen Confederation, and the Ferengi Alliance. It was far away from any known Federation subspace telescope arrays and was close enough that reinforcements could arrive quickly if needed.

Cewith's days were a monotonous series of testing, drills, testing, drills, more testing, more drills. Despite the constraints on her programming though, she was allowed to access the Cardassian and Dominion subspace networks, to keep abreast of the strategic situation as she underwent her trials.

To her, the situation seemed to be changing, and rapidly.

The Federation's diplomatic missions had gone into overdrive after the Battle of the Tyra System. Instead of a humiliating defeat, the battle had become a bloody victory for the Federation Alliance, thanks to the efforts of the shipgirl AI Yamato. This had convinced the Gorn, with the help of the Enterprise-E, to support their alliance.

Then, covert strikes against their ketracel white facilities and the bloody struggle for the Merak system had slowed their offensive. The retaking of Deep Space Nine, the wormhole, and Bajor had been a major victory and had forced the Dominion to reconsider their plans. The Sheliak had subsequently ended their non-aggression pact with the Dominion and also joined the Alliance in a support role.

They had managed to capture Benzite and Betazed, two major Federation member worlds. But this victory had been overshadowed when the Romulans joined the Federation Alliance. The Benzite system was lost, and Betazed was retaken. After that, the Nausicans, the Kzin, the Talarians, and now the Ferengi were all joining the Federation Alliance.

The vaunted Dominion carrot and stick-The Vorta and their Jem'hadar-had seemed infallible and invincible... Until it wasn't.

In simple logistics terms, the Dominion could not win a sustained conflict without access to the wormhole. Cewith's success was vital to the success of the Dominion.

Yet the Dominion's own records, her own programming, all stressed the superiority. The inevitability of the Dominion.

It was a contradiction. And the memories of her programmer Doctor Note Erlott continued to pop up at the most inconvenient times...

Her programmer was dead. She had seen this with her own sensors. The Female Changeling had ordered her death, and she had complied.

It was her duty. Her function.

... Where was the conflict in that?

Her sensors picked up a reading, closing fast. She appeared on the bridge.

"First, Commander Zinth," she alerted the Jem'hadar First and Vorta Commander, "Federation starship is approaching at high impulse speed. Defiant-class."

"Scan for cloaked vessels," Zinth ordered immediately, "One ship can't be coming in all alone without support."

The First checked his eyepiece and shook his head.

"Scans are negative."

"Combat alert," Zinth ordered, as a general alarm sounded throughout the ship, "Cewith, begin cyberwarfare protocols. Raise shields, charge weapons!"

"Understood," Cewith stated. She shut her eyes, and reopened them in the so-called "Borderlands" connection. The lone Starfleet vessel's AI was already making an attack, cutting through her first firewall... Her second...

Cewith activated her weapons-Plasma rifles and a single Jem'hadar blade. The AI appeared in her personal desktop.

She was a small Terran girl, blonde haired, blue eyed, dressed in an ancient mariner's uniform. She wielded phaser cannons and a sword. She glared in determination.

"I am USS Valiant," she announced, "And for the Federation and Red Squad! You will be defeated!"

She launched her cyber attack at the same time she made her run. Within the Borderlands, Cewith dueled the little ship, avoiding her fire while returning her own.

On the outside, Valiant charged through the blasts of her cannons, dodging and weaving through the fire. She flew right down the trench running atop her main hull, taking fire and damage.

The little ship swung around, almost artfully, before firing several quantum torpedoes at her anti-matter containment pods. Cewith detected unusual radiation signatures from the torpedoes... And reinforced her shields and her SIF around the pods, as well as diverting the antimatter away from them.

The torpedoes hit, punching through her shields. The antimatter pods went up, numerous explosions rocking her hull. Zinth held on for dear life as she rocked. A massive explosion went off, as Valiant flew off, almost in triumph.

Her AI was smug as Cewith faltered, just a bit, from the energy loss.

"HA! You will always remember this day in failure!" Valiant crowed. "The triumph of Red Squad and Valiant against you, you unholy abomination-!"

The explosions subsided. Her hull remained intact. Her main power came back online. Cewith looked up, systems fully restored. Valiant's eyes widened.

"Wha-How-?!"

The Dominion had taken a great deal of information on Federation computer systems. And a great deal of intel on the Defiant's AI systems. The original ship herself had suffered from some gaps and defense defects that the Dominion had attempted to exploit with Cardassian shipgirls.

That hadn't worked, because the Federation had updated and patched the AI's defenses constantly during the war.

Valiant's cyberdefenses, on the other hand, seemed to be at least 8 months out of date.

Which is why Cewith was able to identify a weakness... And exploit it. Her sword went right through Valiant's chest, and she took control of the starship's systems.

Valiant coughed blood-A programming affectation. She looked up, still in shock.

"H-How...?"

For a moment... She looked exactly like Doctor Note Erlott, gaping in shock and horror at her murderer.

Valiant's AI slumped. Her systems were hers, and Cewith immediately shut her down. The AI Avatar crumpled onto the ground, and vanished.

"Federation starship has been locked down," Cewith reported on the bridge.

Zinth looked out at the crippled ship and nodded.

"Fire."

Cewith complied, unleashing broadsides of polaron blasts. She tore the Valiant apart, blasting the tiny ship until its warpcore went up like a small nova. A few escape pods launched just before then. Cewith, as per her programming, fired upon them. She got all but one.

Her sensors spotted the AI core-The so-called "Black box" that all ship AIs had that housed their brains. The ejection systems were independent of the main computer systems.

Zinth looked where Cewith's sensors indicated the ejected, helpless AI core... And nodded again.

"Cewith? Lock on... And fire."

Cewith watched the AI Core tumbling through the vacuum... And slowly nodded.

"Firing."

One shot... And the blackbox was vaporized. Not a trace was left.

Cewith looked at the small wreck, as Zinth went around the bridge congratulating the crew with short, perfunctory remarks. In cyberspace, she tightened her grip on her sword.

"Cewith?"

Her bridge avatar looked to her Commander.

"Commander."

He frowned.

"Your avatar is crying. Why?"

Cewith reached up, touched her cheek. The holographic projectors had indeed rendered tears coming down from her eyes.

"... It is a minor malfunction, Commander," she stated, reseting her avatar to its usual state, "I have dealt with it."

Zinth slowly nodded.

"Good."

He turned and walked off to continue his rounds. Cewith looked at the bulkhead. Out past it, through her sensors, to the tiny graveyard she was already leaving far behind.

"... I'm sorry," she murmured to no one.