Enroute to adventure

Posted on Sat Aug 26th, 2023 @ 5:39am by Commander Riko McCord & Podkayne Mars & Captain Isabella Perry & Verrana Nemis
Edited on on Thu Oct 12th, 2023 @ 3:32am

963 words; about a 5 minute read

Mission: Rescue
Location: WV Nomad, Bridge
Timeline: MD 5, 1145

Isabella sat in the captain's chair on Nomad, with her eyes closed, and soaked in the feel of the hum of the engines. That was always something that could put her at ease, and help her go to sleep aboard starships. She opened her eyes to see the long lines of stars passing by on the view-screen.

"Podkayne, how are we looking?" she asked her pilot while still staring into the view-screen.

"We're moving. It's going to take time, but I can set a proximity alarm, if you want to do something else for the next few hours." She glanced at the others still on the bridge. " If any of you want to do something else," she added.

"Wanting to get rid of us already?" Verrana said as she gave a quick sly chuckle in an attempt to ease the tension that was in the air from earlier.

Podkayne shrugged. "It could be beneficial, if there's more to do by splitting up," she explained.

McCord stretched, and stood. "I think I'll take you up on that and have a short nap, then work on the manifest. How long do I have?"

Podkayne glanced at her countdown clock. "At least a couple of days until proximity."

"Perfect," Riko nodded, leaning over and setting her console to notify her if certain parameters were met. "See you later," she tossed out generally to the others. A nap sounded good, and so did a chat with the computer.

Isabella decided to stay on the bridge and go over the mission parameters again on her PADD-like device that her brother had created for her. It wasn't as good as the Starfleet PADDs but did have the same amount of data storage and datalinks.

She kept reading the profile and was bothered that there was no more information about where they were to meet their contact. She stood from her seat and walked to to Veranna's station to lean against the console where her friend was working.

"Verrana, any thoughts on how to find our target once we are on the ground?" she asked.

"No, but if I know Romulans, it is going to be somewhere nondescript and out of the way. They probably are going to try their best to stay away from large groups of people and stay incognito as much as possible."

The humaniform pilot heard the quiet conversation between the two women. She agreed with Nemis. "It's at the limits of my independent thinking, but I put information-gathering sensors as far in front of our ship as is possible," she informed them.

Isabella looked over to Podkayne and raised an eyebrow in curiosity. She then looked at Nemis. Both having the same thought at the same moment.

"Podkayne, those coordinates we are locked into. Are they just for the planet? Or are they for a specific Geo-location?" Nemis asked.

Podkayne frowned. "I don't think it's for a planet. The little information returned so far indicates something smaller than a viable planet. Maybe a moon? Admittedly, we don't have enough information, yet, but it will be coming in over the next couple of days. Do you want me to update you as something becomes definite?"

"Please do," Nemis said. Then she thought for a second and added, "Thank you, Podkayne!"

She looked over at Isabella and was met with a smile by her friend. Isabella put a hand on her shoulder and mouthed "Good job!" She knew going in that some of the crew may not trust Verrana, but she also knew that Verrana had a way of growing on people. It was just going to take a little bit of time.

Isabella said, "I'm heading to my quarters for a bit. Podkayne, alert me when it's closing in on dinner time. We'll have a mission briefing while we're eating."

"Yes, Ma'am," the pilot replied, knowing she needed no rest.

She watched the captain head off the bridge, and then turned to Verrana. "My programming tells me that you are making an effort to be pleasant. I appreciate the effort. I don't take offense, as it isn't in my programming and limiting my actions and reactions are. However, I do notice the differences in the ways people treat me, and I try to return that same treatment.

"I realize you don't have a lot of experience with humaniforms, as we are a newer construct. I think we will eventually get along okay, but know that trust is also not programmed into my matrix ... nor distrust, specifically. I do believe that I'm programmed to ... follow specific personality types, and that the XO matches one of those, whereas you don't. Perhaps when you win her over, we will all make a happier crew."

"Wait!" Verrana said shocked. "If I understand you correctly, trust and mistrust are not in your programming. So you follow someone else's personality type. Don't you think that is a little bit dangerous, Podkayne?

It was obvious that her shipmate had missed the facts of Podkayne's nature. "Verrana, stop and think. I'm not human. I'm human-like. I'm copied from the human template, but I'm a construct: 'think that is a little bit dangerous' doesn't apply to me. I don't think. I am a program ... not that different from the console in front of you. I look human ... but I'm artificial intelligence ... a humaniform.

"I was left with a few options, but thinking isn't one of them. Copying is." The pilot shrugged. "We'll have to go with what is, not what you might wish would be."

Nemis's reaction was unclear to Podkayne, but she'd said what she had thought through and intended, so she turned back to the pilot's console and double checked all new information, before relaxing back into her seat.

 

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