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.
During the Dominion War...
Solo reconnaissance was a risky proposition for any starship in Dominion space. Appalachia though knew the risks, and she and her crew were very good at it. Without a cloak though, sneaking in was tricky.
So Captain Ahmed used an old trick that had worked in wars long ago: Follow an enemy ship back into their space, disguising their subspace field to blend with their subspace wake. Jem'hadar were professionals, and they kept careful watch on their sensors at all times. Just as Starfleet crews did.
Appalachia though was an old hand at this. She adjusted her deflectors and jammers, doing her very best to resemble nothing more than a hole in space.
It was always tense, trailing for hours behind Dominion ships just out of visual range. Once or twice, the Dominion ships went active sensors and Captain Ahmed immediately ordered all stop, power down, ECM lock. They sat there, powered down, and all the beings on her that could held their breaths.
But they finally made it, and at the most opportune time, Appalachia split off to her main objective: A Dominion subspace relay station. Appalachia remotely accessed the relay, shutting down its sensors, before she moved in close.
Her crew headed out in space suits to attach bugging devices, while Appalachia began capturing and analyzing the Dominion subspace transmissions as quickly and efficiently as possible. What she couldn't decrypt she set aside for later analysis, all the while keeping a look out for any Dominion ships.
Her crew was tense, but everything was going according to plan. The engineers reported they would have the bugs installed in ten minutes thirty-two seconds. They would then head for one of the main patrol routes, and shadow another Jem'hadar patrol to get out of Dominion space and back across the border. Just as planned...
When she got an unexpected message.
"Captain," Appalachia reported on the bridge, "I'm receiving an encoded transmission from the relay itself. It's directed to... Me?"
Ahmed visibly gave away no emotion, but the rest of the bridge crew tensed up.
"Source?" Ahmed asked. Applachia shook her head.
"It's been bounced through so many subspace relays it's impossible to find the specific source," she reported, "but it is using my IFF code and subspace signature."
Ahmed stood up, taking charge.
"Abort mission," Ahmed ordered, "get our people out of there, now. Once they're aboard set course for friendly space, maximum warp-"
"Sir," Appalachia interrupted. He looked at her, and she shrank a bit out of shyness. She managed to get her courage back up. "There's an attached warning that if we try to leave, the sender will alert the local patrols to our presence."
Ahmed frowned, his forehead creasing in confusion.
"Cyber threat assessment?" Ahmed asked.
Appalachia blushed slightly.
"Well, they haven't gotten anything on active from me," she said, "and I haven't detected anything from the link. I have my firewalls up to full, and rotating access points with a transcendental access code. If it is an attempt at overriding my systems, it won't get far."
She paused, but managed to go on.
"However... Judging from the ID trace and the methods involved," she said, "I'd say it's a 90 percent possibility we are dealing with a Cardassian shipboard AI."
And no need to remind everyone how good they were at cyberwarfare. Appalachia still remembered two of her sister ships, the Haven and the T'plan, being disabled by multiple cyber attacks and destroyed when their shields were shut down just a week ago. It was a keen reminder that this war took place on multiple levels, and the Cardassians were quite good at it.
Ahmed's frown deepened, but he looked at the viewscreen. He crossed his arms, took a deep breath... And nodded.
"... Then open a channel, Appalachia," he ordered. Appalachia nodded back, steeled herself, and closed her eyes.
She reported them once inside the Borderlands, and opened the channel. Her own borderlands often took the form of a cool, relaxing ocean off a desert coast. Across the gulf between the AIs, an alien landscape similar to ancient Cardassia appeared. A tall Cardassian woman in old fashioned Hebitian warrior robes stood there, her faced covered by a veil. She reached up and tapped on an invisible barrier between them, and nodded in something approaching approval.
"Your defenses are quite good," she said, "I see why you are assigned to such information gathering missions so often."
"Um, thank you," Appalachia managed. The woman's face was covered, but Appalachia could feel the other AI's disgust through long practice.
"Ugh... And yet you're so meek!" She spat. "You faced the Borg with this weak personality of yours? Pitiful!"
Appalachia growled.
"Look, what do you want?" Appalachia demanded, narrowing her eyes, "if you wanted to destroy us, you could have done that at any time if you knew we were going to be here. So stop with the games and stop-stop wasting my time!"
The Cardassian woman looked taken aback, and then chuckled.
"Well well, you're not quite as pitiful as I thought," she stated, "good! I would hate to have to deal with that bore, Intrepid."
Appalachia frowned, accessing her memories. Intrepid...?
The pulsar field survey had hit an unusual snag. A Cardassian ship on patrol near the pulsars had suffered damage from flying at warp too close to one of the dead stars. Starfleet had sent both Intrepid and Appalachia to go deal with it, sensing a possible diplomatic coup. Appalachia's captain took it in good humor, and they arrived just in time to provide a power beam 'jump start' to the damaged Cardassian ship.
"On behalf of the United Federation of Planets," Intrepid had said cheerfully to the Cardassian AI, "I hope this will lead to more acts of kindness and understanding between our peoples-"
"Oh shove it," the Cardassian AI snorted, "I've heard this nonsense before. Blah blah blah 'peace and unity' blah! Don't you have anything else to say?"
"Well really!" Intrepid huffed. "You could be more grateful!"
"I didn't need your help, thank you!" The AI sniffed, "and if you're going to blather on like that-"
"I'm not blathering!" Intrepid shot back.
"Excuse me," Appalachia said. She stood between Intrepid and the Cardassian AI in the Borderlands, and held up a hand. A mass of viral probes and network crackers appeared between them. Intrepid was aghast, while the Cardassian AI... cringed.
"You really shouldn't be trying to get these into our systems," Appalachia managed, looking right at the Cardassian AI, "it's very r-rude. Especially after we helped you... Or something," she mumbled.
The Cardassian AI raised an eyebrow. Her smirk was almost complimentary.
"Very good," she said. "Well... Thank you for the assist. Keep your younger sister in line, won't you Appalachia? She's bound to warp off without her main processors."
"I am not," Intrepid grumbled, crossing her arms under her chest and pouting. Appalachia smiled and waved as the Cardassian AI wirthdrew.
"Don't do that!" Intrepid growled, "they're hostile actors!"
"But-" Appalachia tried.
"They tried to infiltrate our computers!" Intrepid seethed. "Which I could have handled all by myself, you know! I didn't need your help!"
"But-"
"Enough of that! Let's get back to work!" Intrepid stated, logging off. Appalachia was left alone in the Borderlands. She let out a sigh.
"... I'm sorry..."
Intrepid popped back in.
"By the way," she said, looking disinterested, "who was that AI?"
Appalachia started.
"Uh... They were-"
"CUS Kraxon?!" Appalachia blurted out. "What do you want?!"
The AI's smirk softened.
"I believe you have coordinated defections and agent extractions from the Dominion before, have you not?"
"That's classified," Appalachia replied immediately. "But hypothetically, if I had, why would you ask?"
"How do you feel about aiding..." And here the Kraxon grinned, "A resistance movement?"