Lieutenant-Commander Sara shook her head as Gail
finished her summary of the Lady Grace's mission, her
golden hair falling into her eyes. "I don't know if I
should be impressed or frightened by this," she said
frankly.
"It's a gamble," Gail acknowledged, "but an educated
one." The redhead leaned forward as the taller woman
said, "The colony ships left Solonoid space on this
vector, and if they made it through Paranoid space
undetected they might be intact on the other side of
the region."
"If," Sara sighed.
Catty observed them both silently, the purple haired
communications officer's expression utterly impassive.
Finally Danielle had to speak up, the intense tactical
officer asking them, "So what are we going to do with
her?"
"Scrap her," Sara said crisply.
"For what?" Catty asked calmly. "I have committed no
crime and am a serving officer of this ship," she
paused, "whatever my origins."
Gail held up a hand to stop them, "I've asked Chief
Karin to come up here, let's hold off talking about
this till then."
It took only a few moments for the chief engineer to
arrive, the woman looking visibly tired from all her
efforts today. "Ma'am," Karin looked tired but
satisfied, "my people have most of the supplies
offloaded, we're now just sorting and stowing it
away."
"Welcome," Gail gave her a chance to settle into a
chair then looked over at Catty, "we were just
discussing how to handle her situation." Allaine gave
Karin a nod in greeting, Danielle looking cool and
composed as she kept an eye on Catty. Sara flashed a
weak smile at her, while Catty studied her
impassively.
"So what's the plan?" Karin asked.
"That's what we need to determine," Allaine said
seriously.
"The android is a security risk," Danielle said
simply, "I suggest confining her to quarters for the
remainder of the voyage."
"Not good enough," Sara was intense, "she'll find a
way to betray us to the Paranoid the first chance she
gets. We have to take her off-line."
Gail listened thoughtfully, "Karin, from what Catty
tells us her sister was compelled to help the Paranoid
by her programming. If you were given access to
Catty's programming could you prevent that from
happening again?"
Even Catty seemed surprised by that suggestion as
silence swept across the meeting room. Karin studied
Catty a moment, her thoughts clearly racing then said,
"I think so, though I'm going to have to have Davies
and the Commander help. Just sorting through the
number of data files her system requires is going to
be hideously difficult."
Danielle was frowning slightly as she challenged her,
"But what if there's some hidden command you don't
find?"
"That's why I want Davies and Allaine assisting,"
Karin answered dryly.
"So you'll keep her as part of your crew?" Sara
looked mildly ill at the idea.
"Even with your ensigns we're still running badly
understrength," Gail reminded them all, "we can't
really afford to loose a crew member."
Catty herself had the oddest look on her face as she
was working through what was going on. Finally she
said, "Normally I would be compelled to resist, but
this particular situation has not been included in my
situational responses."
"Will you consent to the procedure?" Karin looked at
her intently.
"You're asking permission?" Danielle asked
disbelievinglly.
Allaine spoke up, "She may or may not be a sentient
being, but she is a member of the Lady's crew. Hell
yes, we ask permission."
"Thank you, Commander," Catty nodded. She looked over
at Karin, "Yes, you may alter my directives, though I
ask that my personality parameters be left intact."
"We'll be combing through all your programming very
carefully," Karin said seriously, "but as long as we
don't find any hidden landmines it should be fine."
Sara really looked like she wanted to object to all
this, but seeing the way things were going she kept
her mouth firmly shut. Instead she asked them, "Is
your crew going to be all right working along side an
android?"
Gail looked over at Karin and asked her, "I suppose
most of the downside team knows that Catty is an
android?" When the engineer nodded ruefully Gail
sighed, "Then the way rumors spread half the crew
knows by now, if not more."
"Not to mention whoever was on the bridge when Karin
passed that piece of information along to us," Allaine
added.
Danielle tapped the shiny table thoughtfully, then
said, "I think most of the crew should be able to
handle it, ma'am."
"I hate to give you additional work but reprogramming
Catty is nearly as important as moving the star
destroyer power core," Gail said seriously. She looked
over at the engineer and asked, "when can you start on
this?"
"The power situation is stable for now," Karin
consulted a data pad thoughtfully then said, "we can
probably start rigging something up to work on Catty
in a short time."
"Then with the Captain's permission let's get started
on this," Allaine rose, Karin and Catty following as
they left the room.
"I've got duties waiting for me on the bridge,"
Danielle waited for Gail to nod before getting out of
her chair with a impish smile. "I haven't hit
mid-watch with a combat drill in a while," the woman
looked nearly devilish as she left.
"She sure enjoys her work," Sara rubbed at her eyes
tiredly, the Lieutenant-commander slumping in her
chair tiredly.
"You clearly still have issues with Catty," Gail
noted, "though I appreciate you not saying anything
more in front of the others."
Sara smiled grimly, "A good crewmember supports the
captain's decisions, even if she privately objects."
She rose with a visible wince ad asked, "Could I get a
guide down to sickbay, I should have that eager doctor
of yours give me a once over?"
"Then you get some rest," Gail said as she summoned
an on duty crew member.
The door to the meeting room slid open a few moments
as the crisply dressed ensign entered, her short pink
hair a bit messy, somehow. "Ma'am?" Max saluted.
"Escort Sara down to sickbay," Gail ordered.
"Yes, ma'am," Max saluted, leading the other woman
out eagerly.
It wasn't until she was sure they were both gone that
Gail allowed herself to relax, putting her face in her
hands as the stress of the last day washed over her.
The tension of waiting for the salvage teams, the
Paranoid attack and their near escape all had been
building up in her. A few tears trickled free and ran
down her face, the artificial air flow drying them up
quickly.
Finally Gail took a deep breath, sitting up as she
tried to regain her composure. "I can do this," she
sighed, getting to her feet. Checking the chronometer
she blinked, realizing her shift had ended hours ago.
'Do I go to bed,' she wondered, 'or stay awake for the
next disaster?'
"Captain," a surprised voice said.
Turning Gail saw the lanky figure looking at her
worriedly, brown hair falling into her eyes. A name
was quickly dragged up from the recesses of memory,
"Lynn, correct?"
"Yes ma'am," Lynn nodded, clearly impressed that the
captain had actually remembered her name. A bit
tentatively she said, "Pardon my saying so, but you
look like death warmed over."
Gail blinked in pure surprise, then suddenly found
herself laughing softly, Lynn's increasingly worried
looks spurring the laughter on. Holding herself up
against the wall Gail wiped at her eyes, "Sorry, it's
been a long day."
Lynn smiled slightly, the lines around her eyes and
mouth showing that she did so often. "Then I'm glad I
was able to brighten it a bit," she said, waving to
Gail casually before confidently striding off down the
hall.
Gail watched her go, smiling honestly for the first
time in days. 'I've met that pilot before,' she
thought, 'I wonder when?'
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