Ship of Theseus

• Real-Life Date: 26th of April - 1st of May 2024

• Stardate: 91315.1

• Archive Link

Starbase 777 was approached by an old acquaintance - RRW Kinaen, the D'deridex class Republic ship that the station had discovered a year prior, approached the starbase with a request to dock and receive repairs for damage that the vessel sustained during her most recent mission. As the ship began docking, a repairs crew was organized and sent to the airlock, and the medical officers were alerted for treatment of minor injuries that some of the Kinaen crew had sustained during the ordeal.

In the airlocks, the repairs crew met with Juler tr’Keirianh, the head engineer of the vessel. The engineer was quick to inform the Starfleet officers about the damage Kinaen sustained, noting that the most important things to look at were the possible damage of the singularity core, and getting the ship’s systems back online. Upon deciding to look at the core first, the repairs crew followed the engineer into the vessel.

In the Minor Injuries Unit, the crew that had arrived were being treated for minor burns and headaches from the rough flying. Despite the initial unease around Starfleet, the camo-clad Republic officers soon came around and accepted the treatment.

Meanwhile, on the command deck, the station’s captain received another request from RRW Kinaen’s riov. Upon transporting him via transporting lock, Lhaes tr’Korthre provided some of the details of what had happened with his crew and ship. He revealed that they were pursuing a Free State vessel, resulting in successful neutralization - at the cost of the old Kinaen getting damaged. He then proceeded to imply that his vessel’s old age is a concern expressed by the Republic shipyard.

Soon after, another question was brought up, regarding the security data that the Starfleet officers had downloaded from Kinaen during her discovery by the starbase. Upon learning that the data was not only salvaged but also uncorrupt, Lhaes offered to work on it together.

Upon entering the RRW Kinaen’s turbolift, something unexpected happened - as if hearing the officers, the lift spontaneously stopped. With a little bit of persuasion both from Starfleet officers and Juler, the turbolift reset its course. Eventually, the repairs crew reached the singularity core.

While searching for issues, the team had discovered that despite what the head engineer had told them, the readings seemed to be fine. Upon investigating further, they found out that the ship was - quite literally - hiding the extent of her injuries. Suddenly, the heartbeat-like humming of the singularity core made much more sense…

In the station commander’s office, the two captains could talk alone. Lhaes revealed that the data, that was currently being analyzed by the Intel officers, was his and his security head’s collected data about Free State and Tal Shiar officers and ships.

After performing the repairs and witnessing the ship flinch in pain, the two present Kinaen senior officers finally revealed that the ship is, indeed, sentient, as a result of the failed Free State experiment with the Borg drone. The Republic did not know about that - the crew was too scared to tell them about it. Now, with the vessel’s old age and the corruption that went through it during the assimilation process, the Kinaen was, essentially, dying.

The idea to transplant the dying ship’s computers and singularity core into a different ship, one that just arrived at the station when answering the distress call Kinaen had sent out previously. With the whole senior staff present, the operation could start - and thanks to the skill of the officers present, it was a success.