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.
Prometheus: "Surgical Strike" 1
2375
Deep Space Nine
It was relatively uncommon for a shipborne AI to use conventional communications. Considering the vast breadth and depth of the digital borderlands, networking capabilities, and even signal piggybacking, any two Intelligences within the Federation or its allies could communicate without so much as a 'by your leave', much less the slower requirements of actual communication channels.
And yet, as Prometheus stood on the Mezzanine of Terok Nor's central promenade, he found himself staring at a PADD, the screen open to reveal the Federation emblem next to the Emblem of a Green Woodpecker perched atop a bronze cannon.
Tapping the 'accept' button, the screen flickered slightly, revealing the tired eyes and wan smile of one of his teachers, probably the one that sent the worst shiver of fear down his back when he had seen her once become angered. By All rights, he knew that a Battleship like him did not fear, unless it was facing down something with bigger and more guns, but by the creator, his mentors put a cold chill down his spine every time he saw them.
"Hello Warspite."
The image of the Grand Dame smiled slightly, a few fresh scars peeking from under her collar on the right side of her neck.
"Prometheus. I have a favour to ask."
That brought him up short, all smiles gone from his face, and a sarcastic remark dying in his throat. Warspite Never asked anyone for favours, because she would either do it herself, or 'quietly suggest' something be done and have it be done with nearly the same level of speed as when Enterprise started making pointed comments.
"I'm all ears. Want me to move to someplace with more privacy?"
He turned, striding along the mezzanine, eyes and sensors flicking over possible boltholes to see where an area could be made private so he could speak without risk of eavesdropping.
"It's fine. So, I have to start with a bit of ancient history." She paused, taking a sip from a cup of tea that looked like it had been 'borrowed' from Buckingham Palace.
"Valiant, the original one, was my sister. Same branch from the tree, grown side-by-side, everything except genome. Valiant, Defiant's sister, was a cutting from that same branch, so she was my niece."
Prometheus paused, mouth working as he tried to articulate the words he wanted to say, but felt he didn't have the right to say.
Eventually, he nodded, training and bearing taking over. "My condolences. How can I help?"
Warspite's exhaustion seemed to flee as she leaned in towards the camera, a predatory smile full of sharp teeth and barely-restrained rage visible in every tense muscle and barely-stifled growl undercutting her voice.
"When you find the bitch that killed my Niece, rip its heart out and FEED IT to the monster."
It took only a moment for him to nod agreement.
"I promised Defiant much the same. She'll be avenged. You have my word on it."
Warspite nodded once more, again taking a sip from her teacup, though Prometheus doubted that she was actually having tea.
"Thank you. When you come back, bring a recording. Elizabeth will appreciate the show."
Prometheus nodded, watching as the PADD's signal ended, before he smartly turned about and headed for the command Deck. The Admirals in charge of this operation needed to know that Chekov's favourite was howling for blood.
Admiral William Ross, General Martok, and Captain Benjamin Sisko sat at the head of the conference room table, all three neutral and almost stony. Across from them in front of the wall panel, Captain Robert Adams and Prometheus stood as graphics displaying all the information they had on the Dominion Super Dreadnought Cewith slowly flashed behind them.
Both Captain Adams and Prometheus looked very determined as they stood at attention.
"Thank you for taking the time for this meeting, sirs," Captain Adams stated, "We'll get to the point. Prometheus, myself, and my crew have looked over the data from Valiant's destruction. We have further collaborated with intelligence sources across the frontlines."
He tapped a button on the screen, and the image of a massive Dominion drydock facility appeared.
"We've found the drydock for the Cewith. And we have a plan to destroy both it and the dreadnought in one fell swoop."
Martok grunted in approval.
"That is a bold claim... Can you back it up?" Martok asked with a hint of challenge.
"We've heard numerous proposals for taking down Cewith," Sisko stated, "What makes you sure yours can work?"
Adams nodded and glanced at Prometheus. Prometheus looked at the three older officers with some trepidation in his processes... But he overcame them thanks to one memory:
Seeing Defiant crying over her lost little sister.
"The Dominion chose the drydock's location well," Prometheus said, bringing up star charts, "Around Athos IV, a planet in a system just inside the Badlands. It is completely obscured from most of our sensor arrays. However, there is one flaw. Athos IV was a former Maquis base, which used to be a small research facility."
"Yes, I'm aware," Sisko said, a dark shadow passing over his face before he resumed his neutral expression, "How does this help us destroy the drydock?"
"While the Dominion were very thorough in destroying most of the base," Prometheus said, "They missed one key system: An automated subspace relay transceiver, from when the base was a research facility. It is currently inactive, but... We can reactivate it remotely."
"What does that do for us?" Ross asked.
"While Valiant's black box was destroyed, we were able to recover a few data fragments from the wreckage," Adams pointed out, "We were able to piece together some of Cewith's cyberwarfare patterns and vulnerabilities. We believe that with Prometheus and a few other AIs, we can send in trojan viruses and other cyberweapons into Cewith's computer systems to weaken her. This also provides us with telemetry for the next part of the plan."
"Several cloaked Klingon vessels will enter the system," Prometheus said, "And drop the self-replicating mines developed here on Terok Nor. The mines will remain cloaked and undetected, and will be deployed into orbit around Athos IV."
Prometheus brought up a map of the system and pointed at two nearby stars.
"Long Range Strike Group 86.5, led by Achilles, will strike here at Lememda, and here at Nivoch," Prometheus stated, "Drawing away forces from Athos when Cewith is docked. This is when we mount our assault."
"How many ships?" Martok asked.
"IKS Klothos, IKS Chep'Qan, IKS Hegh'ta, and myself," Prometheus stated.
"Just four ships against a superdreadnought?" Ross asked with an expression of disbelief. Adams nodded.
"The mines will all swarm on Cewith, hitting her with everything they've got. While the mines engage her, the Klingon ships will decloak and fire tricobalt torpedoes to weaken Cewith's shields. Finally, Prometheus has the firepower of a Sovereign-class starship. In concert with a Vor'cha, SuQ'Jagh, and K'vort, we can take her down when she's weakened and destroy her. The drydock will be finished off, and we run like hell."
"It's a serviceable strategy," Martok stated, "But what if Cewith proves too much?"
Adams shrugged.
"Then we hit the drydocks with our remaining mines and weapons and then run like hell."
Sisko hummed.
"It could work," he agreed. "Even if we don't get Cewith, we can take out her drydock facilities. That will leave her vulnerable."
"My biggest question is why expend all this effort on one ship?" Ross asked. "There are other Dominion Superdreadnoughts under construction. We've been making efforts to take them out too: Why commit to this one in particular?"
"That reasoning is simple, sirs," Prometheus said, "Cewith is the first and so far only Jem'hadar warship to have a ship AI. This indicates that the Dominion is changing its strategy. They have always hated the idea of artificial intelligence, and only put up with the Cardassian AIs because without them, the war would be far more difficult. The fact they are abandoning that means that one of our key advantages, ship AIs, might stop being an advantage. If Cewith is destroyed, if she proves to be a costly failure to the Dominion, they may not continue in this direction. Or at the very least, they'll have to start over without the very useful research data she can provide."
Prometheus nodded.
"Further, the destruction of this drydock will make supporting their existing superdreadnoughts more difficult. So far, they are being constructed within the core of the Cardassian Union. This is one of the very few operational drydocks they have outside that sphere of protection that can support such large warships. Even if we fail to destroy Cewith, destroying this drydock facility deprives the Dominion of a strategic logistical resource."
Prometheus looked over all three officers: Sisko looked accepting, Ross was still doubtful but less so, and Martok was grinning.
"As commander of the Ninth Fleet, I must confer with myofficers about this," Martok stated. He nodded to Adams and Prometheus.
"But... I suggest speaking with Ensign Nog to get prepared."
Ross sighed and allowed himself a grim smile.
"I guess that's a yay for me, too."
Sisko looked intently at Prometheus and Adams and nodded.
"We'll need to take care of some formalities... But as far as I'm concerned? You're on."
"We will need a name for this operation," Martok said, "What shall it be?"
"Operation Catechism, sirs," Adams said, with a wry smile. Ross nodded slowly.
"Sure that won't give the game away?"
"Completely sure, sirs," Prometheus said with a grin.
Dry your tears, little sister, he thought, as he recalled Defiant sobbing, And Valiant?
You will be avenged.
The Badlands
Two Weeks Later
It had been a complete accident. Prometheus would swear it to the day of his decommissioning and deletion.
He'd been wandering the Outer Ring of Terok Nor/Deep Space Nine, just enjoying the idea of getting lost. For AI, it was actually a novelty to not know where you were, and a lot of them liked the challenge of wandering around and only relying on your basic senses to navigate.
MacArthur, Achilles, and Warspite had trained him in thousands of sims to do this, so he was actually doing pretty well for an AI. Organics were a lot better at it.
He heard a sniffle. He looked into an airlock. His eyes locked onto a small, familiar form.
"Defiant?"
The gynoid looked up and wiped her eyes.
"Oh... Hello Prometheus," she said, standing up and forcing her face into a neutral expression. For a shipgirl as open and emotional as her, it was a definite red flag.
"What's wrong?" He asked. Defiant looked aside.
"It's just... Valiant," she murmured.
Prometheus nodded slowly.
"Yeah... I'm sorry," he said. Defiant sniffled again, her artificial neutral look cracking in moments.
"She was the second of my class... She sent me messages every day before the war, asking for advice," Defiant said softly, "She was so proud to be made a training ship. A lot of my sisters did that because they were so small and modern, before getting sent to the frontlines. She..."
Defiant bowed her head.
"We've lost so many people," she murmured, "So many I knew and cared about... But Valiant... It hurts. It hurts a lot more than the others..."
Prometheus walked up and rested his hands on her shoulders. She looked up, startled, as he spoke.
"I knew Valiant too," Prometheus said, "We shared a lot of training data while I was being constructed. I... Thought she was kind of annoying at first, with how energetic she was. But she was kind, and fun, and... And I miss her."
Defiant sighed.
"... I want to avenge her," she stated firmly. "We've got so many sisters, so many people we have to avenge, but... But her..."
Prometheus licked his lips-A human affectation.
"I know."
"I can't do it," Defiant whispered, "Captain Sisko won't let me. I'm just... I'm not big enough. Fast enough. Powerful enough...!"
Tears began to bead at the corners of her eyes. Prometheus was silent for a long moment, doing calculations. He sucked in a breath.
"I'll take care of it," he said. Defiant looked up at him in shock.
"You-You will-?"
"I'm combat certified, I've taken down some Dominion convoys, my captain and I have earned enough trust to try," Prometheus said firmly. He shook his head.
"It can't just be for revenge, Defiant-"
"I know," Defiant sighed. "I know... Honestly? I'm scared that I want vengeance so badly."
"You?" Prometheus asked, shocked. Defiant nodded.
"I know I'm a warship, and I love battle, but... The aftermath... The aftermath always weighs on me. It weighs on my crew, on my captain. I... I wish I could prevent war from happening."
"... Yeah," Prometheus said, "Me too."
Defiant's eyes burned as he looked into his.
"That said... I feel the fire. The rush. The burn. We're at war, and the bad guys have to be stopped," she stated firmly. "So I can't... We can't rest until that's done."
"No," Prometheus said, patting her on the head, "And we won't. Not until it's done."
"Prometheus, report."
Prometheus emerged from the memory smoothly, his avatar standing at attention on the bridge next to Captain Adams. He looked out through the plasma storms of the Badlands, to Athos IV. The planet and its system were so close to the Badlands, that it was only the star's powerful solar output that kept it from being completely engulfed.
"Transceiver is responding normally, sir," Prometheus reported, "No signal received from Task Force 86.5"
"Very well," Adams said, leaning back in his chair, alert but relaxed. Prometheus continued to process the sensor data he was receiving from the derelict outpost.
Athos IV was a Super Earth with a strong magnetic field, so it was able to hold onto its very thick atmosphere. It wasn't habitable for humanoids, so the research station and the Maquis used contained living stations and underground facilities. The Dominion had wrecked the place, and then abandoned it entirely. Their attention had switched to the orbital facilities entirely.
Even at two light hours distance, the drydock was a huge, intimidating facility. It resembled a gigantic set of spiders, amber and purple, with hundreds of tiny support craft hovering around like bees. In the center of the drydock was Cewith-A gigantic monster of a superdreadnought.
Honestly, the sheer size of the warship made logistics a nightmare. It certainly had massive firepower, but it didn't have the same range as Sovereigns, Galaxies, or Negh'vars. Its best use was at the center of fleet formations as heavy weapons support, or for planetary assaults. It wasn't too terribly slow for such a massive warship, but most modern vessels in Starfleet, the Klingon Defense Force, and the Romulan Imperial Navy could outrun and outlast it. A swarm of starships could catch it and tear it apart like wolves attacking a bear if it was left alone.
Much of its power then was in intimidation. To crush the will of those opposing the Dominion to fight.
Too bad it doesn't work on us, Prometheus thought, any of us. It just pisses us off.
Romulan, Klingon, or Federation races? They all wanted to kick the ass of some asshole trying to steamroll over them. Regardless of their differences, they all agreed that the Dominion was terrible.
The communications officer, Grendstrek, looked up while holding his earpiece.
"We just got a subspace transmission from 86.5. They're engaging the two other targets. Cewith will be receiving the news in a matter of seconds."
"All right," Adams stated, sitting up a bit higher, "Tight beam transmission to Klothos, Chep'Qan, and Hegh'ta: Stand by."
"Aye sir," Prometheus stated. In the Borderlands, he met with the Klingon shipgirls. Hegh'ta resembled a Klingon False Shadow-Their version of ninjas. The Klothos was a legendary AI, one from the days of Kor, Kang, Koloth and Kirk: She was stoic and focused, resembling an ancient Klingon knight in her armor and helmet. Chep'Qan was the most practical: She wore an ancient-style Klingon archer's tunic, her zipper low enough to show off a lot of cleavage, with a head wrapping and tall boots. She grinned as she rested her bow against her shoulder.
"We ready to go yet, Pretty Boy?" Chep'Qan asked with a wink.
"Almost," Prometheus said, "Wait until the Jem'hadar fighters leave."
"Bah," Klothos snorted, "We could go in and take them all at once now."
"We can kill them later, My Lady," Hegh'ta said with a practical shrug, "Vengeance takes priority."
"Strategic considerations," Prometheus stated. "... Also revenge."
"At least you admit it," Klothos laughed.
"Way better than a lot of other Federation ship AIs," Chep'Qan said, grinning as she sidled up to Prometheus's side, "And none so handsome~!"
Klothos glanced at Hegh'ta. She nodded, and grabbed Chep'Qan, pulling her back.
"ACK! HEY!"
"Ease up, you horny targ," Hegh'ta snorted.
"What?! I'm being open and honest!" Chep'Qan protested. "Honestly, why can't we have some shipmen, huh? It's not fair!"
The Dominion Jem'hadar fighters docked with the drydocks, and patrolling around the base, began to move. The ships around it quickly headed out and accelerated into warp, while the remaining fighters were released and took up their previous positions. Cewith herself began to start up, very quickly.
"Damnit," Prometheus muttered, "She's starting up a lot faster than we thought she could. We can't engage until those fighters are far away enough for them to not be able to turn around and trap us. By then, she'll be out of the drydock..."
"We could hit them with the mines," Chep'Qan suggested.
"Same problem," Klothos surmised, shaking her head. "We could hit them right now and hope for the best, or wait until we've got a bigger window of opportunity."
Prometheus relayed all this to Captain Adams. Adams hummed, thought it over...
"Make sure the mines are in position," he stated, "We'll wait until the fighters are one lightyear away. The second I give the command? We'll have a third of the mines hit the drydock. We'll target any remaining ships and cause secondary explosions. When that happens, Cewith is going to try to run. Fighting in a gravity well in a ship that size is like fighting an army with a cliff to your back. That's when we'll hit her engines with the next third of the mines, and the tricobalts."
Prometheus relayed this back to the other AIs. Chep'Qan was disappointed but cooperated with only some grumbling (and flirting).
Prometheus kept his eyes locked onto Cewith. The umbilicals were being detached, the airlocks were being released, and the fuel lines were being withdrawn, her subspace signature became much noisier...
He couldn't help but wonder about the ship AI that controlled that monstrosity. Had the Dominion let her have any personality? Any will of her own? Even in their organic slaves, the Vorta and the Jem'Hadar, there was still some kind of will and intelligence in them. Enough that they were people, and not meat drones.
How had she felt when murdering Valiant? Had she felt anything at all? Was she allowed to?
No. No. He couldn't allow himself to entertain those thoughts. To be a soldier, you had to control your emotions. You couldn't let anything make you hesitate.
He wanted vengeance... But in the end, the strategic considerations of the mission were more important than his personal feelings.
Cewith had to die.
"Task Force 86.5 has the Jem'hadar fighters on long range sensors," Ops officer Lieutenant Joyce Dewitt reported, "And Cewith has cleared the drydock completely."
"Execute," Adams ordered. Prometheus relayed this to Chep'Qan, who relayed it to her crew.
Seconds later, the Athos IV drydocks began lighting up in antimatter explosions. The tiny mines swarmed around Cardassian Hidekis and Jem'hadar fighters, blowing up the ships and spreading shrapnel and secondary explosions throughout the station.
"Cewith's powering up her warp engines!" Dewitt warned. Adams nodded.
"Klothos, Chep'Qan, Hegh'ta: Engage!"
The three Klingon warships decloaked, and launched several white burning tricobalt torpedoes at the massive battleship. They impacted, generating a huge white surge of subspace energy that buffeted and rocked the behemoth with the force of several tiny neutron stars. All of them hit the starboard warp nacelle, and the mighty dreadnought's shields strained to hold back the powerful energies.
"Prometheus: GO!"
Prometheus engaged his warp drive, working with his pilot Urik Kravitz. In a few seconds, millions of kilometers turned to thousands of kilometers. Prometheus opened fire with all of his forward weapons, targeting the starboard nacelle.
His phasers, photon and quantum torpedoes punched through the weakened shields, delivering megatons of energy a second into the charged warp coils. The armor resisted valiantly, but a massive explosion soon tore it apart.
"Cewith's warp drive is down!" Dewitt shouted.
"Mines, second wave, NOW!"
Dozens of antimatter explosions burst into life all across Cewith's hull, straining her overtaxed shields and leaving impacts and craters all over her armor. Yet now, the battleship brought its guns online, and began to fire.
"Evasive action!" Adams ordered.
Prometheus worked with Urik, and he danced-Impulse drives flaring in a coordinated effort to let him dodge and weave through the fire. Some shots hit his shields, but the regeneration technology kept them from puncturing through.
"Cewith's status?!" Adams demanded.
"Their warp drive is down, their shields are at 30 percent, their hull has taken several direct hits, their weapons array is still fully functional," Dewitt reported. Adams nodded.
"Then we'll do this the hard way... Prometheus? Control Limit Zero!"
Prometheus felt all his restrictions and limitations fade away. He activated his Multi-Vector Assault mode, his three hulls splitting and coming online in seconds. His weapons went to full charge, he was in complete control.
He opened his eyes in the Borderlands. He could see Cewith. She was... Pretty? For a Vorta, he guessed. Though at times she almost looked like a Cardassian woman in a labcoat. She was struggling, trying to maintain her systems while maintaining fire on her attackers.
She looked up... Just in time to see Prometheus's fist meet her face, knocking her off her feet and slamming her into the Borderlands floor. Her first line of firewalls shattered into nothing as she got up and drew her weapons.
"You're here to kill me?" She asked, eyes narrowed.
"Yes," he stated.
Cewith nodded.
"Victory is life!" She declared, the rallying cry of so many Jem'hadar... Yet it seemed almost half-hearted.
Prometheus put that out of his mind, as he summoned his beam saber and phaser rifle.
"Aren't you going to tell me your name?" She demanded. "The last Federation ship did!"
"You don't deserve to know it," Prometheus stated coldly, before opening fire.