Tardy to the Party (Part 1)

Posted on Wed May 7th, 2025 @ 4:50am by Captain Patricia Cooke & Lieutenant Charlotte E. "Charlie" Yeager & I-402 & Boso Gane & Oko Gane & Commander Katrina Chance & Lieutenant Commander Joseph Nixon & Lieutenant Commander Andrew Star & Lieutenant Akira Kogami & Lieutenant Sara'draphia T'eseri & Lieutenant Gabrielle 'Gabi' Shimoda & Gunnery Sergeant Roy Erbun

1,459 words; about a 7 minute read

Mission: Impending Midnight
Location: Romulan Neutral Zone

The Missouri, along with the USS Icarus and USS Apollo, dropped out of the slipstream within the Romulan Neutral Zone. A previously insignificant system deep within the Romulan Neutral Zone was not as such today: For when the three Starfleet ships emerged from the slipstream, they found the Lazzaro system to be a flurry of activity:

"I'm picking up at least three hundred different kinds of energy signatures on the sensors," Akira reported."Romulan, Klingon, Cardassian, and... is that Breen??"

Patricia sat in her chair, awestruck by the sight on the main viewscreen.

"Look at this..." She muttered. "Look at this..."

Katrina had been content to sit quietly next to her new CO as she waited for the moment when all hell would break loose. But it seems that moment had come, and they weren't there to witness it.
Out in the deep blackness of space, from the picture Katrina could see on screen, things were nothing short of organized chaos incarnate. Some ships were nothing but wrecks, while others were maneuvering as fast as their crew's fingers could make them.

"I guess that means my battle plans are hanging out the window," Katrina thought. She rose to her feet and took a few steps closer to the main screen, her mind analyzing everything she saw in an attempt to make some sense of it all.

Joe exhaled sharply as he listened to the incoming comm chatter, shaking his head. The reactions were all the same—Starfleet was late to the party. Again. He sighed and turned to the bridge crew.

“Well, the locals aren’t exactly rolling out the welcome mat,” he said dryly. “Comms are lighting up with chatter about how we’re late, how the real fight’s already happened, and how Starfleet’s just here to pick up the pieces.”

His gaze drifted back to the main viewscreen, taking in the wreckage, the frantic maneuvers, and the sheer chaos of the Lazzaro system. "Hell of a scene to walk into," he muttered.

He looked around at his fellow officers, gauging their reactions. The tension was thick, but no one said anything right away. They all knew it—the moment they arrived, they were already behind.

Gabi found herself torn between the perilous scenes on the viewscreen and the sensor readings and tactical data that was coming through to her station at Mission Ops. Data was pouring in rapidly. The computer was scarcely able to keep up with the information flooding in, she had even less capacity to take it all in. She had to keep her head in the game, there was no time to be swept up in angst. But this was a hell of a thing.

"I'm picking up more than forty different classes of starship out there," Gabi stated firmly, trying to keep her astonishment in check. She turned away from her station and approached the railing at the aft of the bridge. "I recommend we exercise caution if we want to enter the combat area. If the AI has commandeered any of those damaged ships, we may find ourselves in the line of fire."

"You'll have to forgive the subterfuge, Captain:" A voice came from the turbolift before Patricia could answer.

From the turbolift, a young, yet artificial looking woman with an aquamarine hue stepped forward onto the bridge, clad in what appeared to be a command red Starfleet uniform bearing the rank of Commander.

"Given the importance of the situation at hand, going through official channels would have taken too much time." The woman continued explaining as she walked down the steps to the forward bridge area and stepping up to the Command pit.

It was only once she arrived at the Command pit did she fully notice the different composition of bridge officers. Even the woman sitting next to Patricia was not the same woman that scanned her following her creation.

"It appears I have missed a few things while I was away." The woman observed aloud.

Andrew was in the Science cubby, staring at the station interface, gathering every piece of scientific information. He felt the Galactic community's anger at being late, he too disliked the Federation's human-centric nature being intertwined with Starfleet. But what made him look up? I-402 entering the bridge. International security should have gone off. Why didn't it go off? Then he remembered a theory... What if she was already aboard to begin with?

Stepping out of the aft turbolift near the security station, Sara quickly felt the tension on the bridge as she looked around and her eyes stopped on what she could only identify as an Artificial lifeform. This caused her to freeze in place, her body tensing up ready to attack.

I-402 calmly observed the bridge crew. Not a word had been said since she had stepped onto the bridge.

"Quiet bunch, too." She observed. "No matter; I suppose I'll learn everyone's names once the day is saved."

I-402 then stepped off the command pit and began to make her way back towards the turbolift.

"You might want to get those away teams together, Captain." I-402 suggested. "Before everyone else starts wondering what Starfleet's doing."

Bemused at having watched I-402's little display and subsequent exit, Gabi let out a breath. She was curious, having not seen this person. She looked to the command staff, "And that was?"

Katrina had watched the interaction between the sudden arrival and the other bridge staff in silence. Observing, she thought, should be her primary responsibility. She wanted to see how the crew interacted naturally, and she was aware that being came aboard before her. "That, Lieutenant," she answered, "Was an entity known as I-402. A sort of... offshoot of I-400, if I am not mistaken."

"But, unlike I-400, she's friendly." Patricia quickly clarified. "As she's a mix of both I-400 and the Federation AI program known as Iona, she considers herself to be something new."

Gabi raised an eyebrow, arms crossed as she comtinued to survey the scenes outside- it reminded her of the horrific stories her father had shared about the Borg attack decades ago. She'd heard Starfleet was in league with an AI, but she wasn't aware it was like this. Though, if the Captain trusted this I-402, Gabi supposed that was good enough. "Do we think the I-402 is correct?"

"We can never be 100% sure, but the alternative is letting I-400 kill us all." Patricia said, turning to Katrina. "Well, Commander: Shall we make like I-402 said and get those away teams assembled?"

“Apologies, but why are you all acting so casual about that A.I.? Surely the Federation knows how dangerous those things can be?” Sara asked out of disbelief. She couldn’t understand why everyone was so unphased by the sudden presence of such an automaton on their ship.

"Come join the club, Doc," Akira muttered off-handedly.

The Onlie spoke up firstly. Not out of fear, but as an experienced person in the weirdness that is deep space. "We're Officers of peace," Andrew said, not knowing the blue woman he was speaking too. "We've been trained to be calm, but I'm super scared inside!" The scaredness inside him was overcome but excitement... But of course, he didn't let it show.

Katrina could understand Sara's reaction. Giving Patricia a slight nod of acknowledgement she stepped away from the command chair. But rather than approach the turbolift, she approached the disbelieving woman. She smiled at her, then addressed Sara's concern. "I understand how you're feeling, Doc," she started. "But the outcome of this scenario is binary. Either we succeed, or we're all dead. Regardless of I-402's presence aboard the Missouri, I-400 itself has the ability to learn and adapt. So either it will learn what we are attempting to do, adapt and take us out, in which case we're dead... or it doesn't, and we survive. I-402, as an offshoot of I-400, have knowledge of how the AI thinks, and if she does, we can use that to our advantage. If she turns against us? We're just as dead as we would be otherwise. So it comes down to trust. The Captain trusts I-402, and she would not be in the center chair if she did not have a good sense of who was worthy of trust and who wasn't."

“I wasn’t questioning the Captain’s competency, I was merely voicing my concern. My people have a rather strained relationship with Artificial Intelligence and I wished to offer my knowledge” Sara explained, glancing over at the turbolift where the I-402 had left through.

"Of course not, Doctor," Katrina acknowledged kindly.

To be continued...

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