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.

Strange New Worlds "Broken Circle"

Stardate 2269.2 (2260)

By jhosmer1

"I thought transponders could only broadcast a ship's name and class to other Federation vessels."

Dr. Joseph M'Benga concentrated on the device in front of him, blinking and sweating as the stimulant he and Nurse Christine Chapel had taken coursed through his system.

"I can reprogram it to send a simple message," he said, simply, forcing his hands not to shake as he worked on the device before him.

Guttural Klingon shouts came from down the corridor as several Broken Circle members noticed them.

"We need to move," Chapel said urgently. The guards picked up their pace. "Now."

"I need a minute," M'Benga said, even as he hurried.

"I'll buy you that minute," Chapel said, moving to intercept the Klingons with the speed of her drug-enhanced reflexes.

M'Benga concentrated, using skills he picked up during the war and a misspent youth to program a simple Morse code message into the transponder signal. As he worked, he cursed as he accidentally cross-connected some conduits and gave himself a shock.

Elsewhere, power flowed across dead circuits, reactivating long dormant systems.

"Got it!" he finally said, turning to his nurse, who was panting with exertion. "Better find a way off this ship," he started to say, but was interrupted as Klingon disruptor fire came down the corridor at them.

They opened a maintenance hatch in the hull and jumped through a discontinuity in the ship's gravity to the next lower deck. Chapel looked around hurriedly and then pointed.

"Airlock!" she said, beginning to run. "Unless you've got enough juice for another dance!" They rand down the corridor and found more Klingons and humans coming for them. "I think it's running out!"

"Better hurry," M'Benga said, and they used the last of their drug-enhanced speed to fight their way to the airlock. They arrived just as the ship began to take off.

Systems came online, and with them, a consciousness.

What is going on?

Then a more troubling thought.

Who am I?

Deep inside the ship's primary hull, power crackled over tiny crystals, which began to grow and multiply.

"How long do you think that will hold them?" Chapel asked nervously, looking at their hastily hotwire airlock door.

"Five minutes if they have a laser torch," M'Benga said. "Less if they have a grenade."

"We're in space. They can't be that stupid-"

"Excuse me," a third voice interrupted. "Could you help me? I don't seem to know who I am."

The two starfleet officers looked at a nearby speaker in shock. The voice was young, female sounding, and hesitant.

"They didn't..." Chapel began.

M'Benga remembered the cross-circuiting in his hasty transponder hack and what systems were likely connected to it. "There was a black box left behind," he said in realization. "Starfleet must have removed the AI, but left some of the hardware. Probably had to remove her under threat of combat."

"And it just spontaneously made a shipgirl!?" Chapel said.

"A shipgirl? It that what I am?" the young voice asked.

"Hello," M'Benga said, talking as he had to Rukiya. "I'm Joseph, and this is Christine. We're very happy to meet you, child."

"Yes, we are," Chapel said hurriedly. "I don't suppose you could do something about the Klingons outside this airlock?"

"Um... I don't think so," the new shipgirl said uncertainly. "I just figured out how to speak, and you looked the... friendliest, I guess? It was cool how you were beating up the others! But they don't seem very nice at all."

"No, they're not," M'Benga said. "If you check, I believe you're connected to a transponder that is broadcasting this ship's name and registry. Since you are the ship, it could be your name, if you want."

"Oh! Yeah, there is something... USS Roger Chaffee, NCC-1279, Crossfield Class... does that help?"

"Roger?" Chapel said, dubiously.

"Let's just call you Chaff, is that okay?"

"Sure, Joseph! I am Chaff... I like it!"

"Now, can you help us? We need to get out of here before the not-nice people can hurt us."

"Hurt... hmmm... that's bad, right? OK, let's see... hmmm, not a lot I can actually do. I feel... disconnected. Is that the right word?"

M'Benga thought, then said, "Try thinking of something called the Borderlands..."

On the bridge of the USS Enterprise, Ensign Nyota Uhura was saying, "It's a pattern. A code. Uh, Morse 2, I think."

"What's it saying?" Lieutenant Spock asked.

"It's spelling out, 'Enterprise, destroy this ship.'"

The tiny screen on the command chair flickered. "Wait a minute, Spock," the AI for the ship said, "I'm getting something over the Borderlands!"

Enterprise divided some of her attention to the Borderlands, where a young girl in a plain white jumper suddenly appeared.

"Oh, cool! You're pretty!" she said, looking up at the older AI.

"What... who are you?" Enterprise stuttered. She did not know how to handle this. She was a ship, not a kindergarten teacher! Where was Yorktown when she needed her?

"I'm Chaff! I just woke up!" She bounced around. "Oh! Joseph and Christine said they need your help-um, if you're the Enterprise lady they told me about."

"Yes, that's me. I'm Enterprise Lady-er, just Enterprise."

"You're funny!" Chaff giggled. "I like you!"

"Um, I like you, too... er, Chaff, where are Joseph and Christine?"

"They're in my Starboard Deck 12 Airlock. They said it was important."

"Chief Jay," Enterprise said over the intercom in the transporter room. "Doctor M'Benga and Nurse Chapel are on that ship's Deck 12 Starboard Airlock. Prepare to beam them aboard immediately on getting a lock."

"Aye, aye, sir," Jay said.

"Okay, we're going to help Joseph and Christine," Enterprise said. "Thank you, Chaff, you've been a very good girl."

"Yay!"

"Now, I need you to activate your Black Box Ejection System, okay?"

"Sure thing, Big Lady Enterprise!" Chaff concentrated hard, her face scrunching up. "Um, it says the system is offline."

Enterprise paled. "It can't be-"

"Fire photon torpedoes!"

Enterprise pushed the processing speed of her connection to Chaff to its extreme. For them, there was a lot of time, even though only seconds would pass in the real world.

"Would you like to play with me for a while, Chaff?" she said, a little brokenly.

"Sure! Let's play tag!"

For what seemed like hours, they ran around a simulated park, lay in simulated grass and looked at simulated clouds, and talked about 'cabbages and kings.' Outside, photon torpedoes slowly crossed through space, and two people slowly transported out of an airlock. When the torpedoes hit, Enterprise felt tears fill her eyes.

"Big sister Enterprise? I'm feeling... sleepy," Chaff said, wobbling on her little legs.

"It's okay, Chaff," Enterprise said. "Come lie down on my lap and go to sleep. I'll keep the bad people away."

"Yay..." Chaff said, slurring a little. Then she blinked as she looked up at Enterprise. "Why... are you... crying...?"

"I'm just so happy... to meet you," Enterprise whispered, kissing the little girl on the forehead.

Chaff then dissolved into nothing as her hull exploded.

Author's Note:

Well, that went in a direction I wasn't expecting when I started. Sorry to be a downer. There's not always a happy ending.