Stretching Proverbial Legs [Kristen/Mira]

It was a terrifying moment for the hologram as she flickered in and out of existence for a few seconds, unsure whether or not her program had suffered any permanent damage, whether they would even be able to bring her program online fully.

"Report!" she barked, the standard greeting subroutine she had been given, but quickly shook it off, checking herself over quickly. She was going to need a major diagnostic when she got back to Athena Station. "What happened? How long was I offline? And why are we in a nebula?"

"Oh thank god." Kristen breathed a sigh of relief, unfortunately her comfort wouldn't last long. "You were only offline for a few moments. An electro-magnetic pulse struck the ship and your program de-stabilized. I think I've got it stabilized for the moment. You will need full diagnostics when we get back to the station. However, we seem to have more pressing matters at the moment. I was forced to take refuge in the nebula. We need to make minor repairs before we can get underway. We were being pursued by a vessel of unknown design. I could use your help. Do you feel up to it?"

"We're in a nebula?" Mira asked as she flickered again. Her expression turned faintly irritated as she looked down at herself. "Well, that's going to be annoying. We'd better get repairs underway as soon as possible in case that vessel decides to join us." Getting to her feet and moving away from the console, she paused for a moment, then looked back at Kristen. "I hope you have a better idea of how to fix the shuttle than I do. It's not part of my programming..."

Kristen glared towards the hologram. "I had no idea you were programmed with such an acute sense of humor and yes, I am well versed in the operations and repair of this vessel. Most of the tactical systems were fried. Can you work on shields and weapons? I should be able to have warp drive repaired within 30 minutes. I think its just a matter of replacing a few fried relays."

Mira looked up at the human, blinking a couple of times in confusion as she tried to figure out something that Kristen had said.

"I don't have a sense of humour. It was never thought to be an element necessary to carrying out security and tactical duties, especially not in an emergency." Shrugging it off, she focused on the other element that Kristen had brought up. "I should be able to get the shields back online quickly, but the weapons may take a little longer."

Kristen smiled as the hologram denied a sense of humor. "If you say so Mira, but I would tend to disagree." She looked over tot the status of the systems throughout the vessel. "Okay Mira, make it so. Get those systems back online. I'll begin working on the engineering systems."

Although she was a little confused by her friend's disagreement with her statement about not having a sense of humour programmed, Mira decided to get to work on repairing the systems.

Finding a toolkit stashed away in the rear of the shuttle, she quickly pulled off one of the panels hiding the circuits for the shields. The first thing she had to check was whether the circuits had been fused or something. As she reached into the hatchway with a tricorder, her program flickered, causing the scanning device to fall to the deck plates with a clatter. Her eyes widened as she flickered again, vanishing for a second only to reappear again.

"Kristen?" she called out, fear tingeing her voice.

Kristen sat at the engineering diagnostic console. She was working to get the engines back online. It didn't take her long to realize the induction systems were offline. She removed the panel in the floor and made her way under the ship in an attempt to repair the unit. When she heard her name called out. The sense of fear and urgency in the holograms voice sent a chill through Kristen's body. "Mira." She called out. She wiggled her way back therough the access point. "Mira are you okay? What happened?" She said as her head poked through the hole in the deck plating.

Mira's simulated breathing was reaching panicked levels as she flickered again. "That pulse must have knocked out my stabilising subroutines," she whimpered. That was something that she knew couldn't be fixed through her mobile emitter. They were going to have to transfer her back into a computer. Unfortunately, the shuttle wasn't equipped with holoemitters...

Kristen gasped when she saw a flicker from her friend. She quickly made her way over and accessed her mobile emitter to try and assess the situation. "Your right. Your stabilizing subroutines need reset. We need to get you back to the station. I think I can stabilize your program temporarily." She ran her tool across the emitter. "That should do it, but I have no idea how long it will hold. And we still have that ship standing between us and the station. Try to get the weapons back online. The engines are almost complete. We need t leave this nebula soon."

Nodding her head in understanding of what Kristen was saying, Mira turned to approach the panel she had been working on, only to find herself flickering again.

"Kristen, I think I need more than a patch!" she whimpered. "Upload my program into the computer! I don't know how long I can stay together!"

Kristen flipped her head back around and saw her colleague flicker. "It will be okay Mira." She tried to comfort the hologram but the truth was that Kristen wasn't certain of that. She could see the fear in Mira's eyes. She ran her fine tool back over the emitter. "The patch will hold." She glanced to her feet and muttered. "I think." She looked back up to Mira. "The truth is... I can't do this without you. I can't fire the weapons at an enemy vessel and initiate evasive action. I need your expertise." Kristen brushed Mira's shoulder. "We can do this. We'll get past this ship. Get to the station and get you all fixed up."

Mira whimpered quietly, her face twisting into a scared expression as she continued to flicker. As much as Kristen seemed to think that she was going to be ok, the hologram wasn't so sure. Each flicker felt as if it was going to be her last, that her program was going to fail.

"Even if you upload me into the computer, I should still be able to guide you," she managed to get out through the fritzing.

Kristen could recognize the panic in Mira's eyes. She had seen it many times before. If the situation had not been quite so dire Kristen would of taken the time to contemplate the holograms reaction. She shouldn't experience this level of fear or apprehension.

"Alright Mira. You win!" A certain level of frustration filled Kristen's voice. She ran to her command console and begin entering the commands. "I'm going to transfer your program into the computer. Once you're in there I need you to work on reconfiguring the shield systems. I'm going to create an image display so we can continue communication. You should be able to access ship systems and target weapons from within."

It was always a strange sensation, being downloaded into a computer. All of her senses changed as the inputs were switched from her emitter to the computer's internal sensors. Her personality remained intact, what little of it there was, and she could communicate on both audio and visual cues, much like the computer already did.

Her image flickered once more, then dissolved completely as she was transferred, her mobile emitter clattering to the deck plates.

"I have successfully been uploaded into the computer," she said, seeming almost relieved at that fact. "Accessing shield systems." There was silence for a moment, then, in a hushed tone, she said: "There's something in here with me."

Seeing her friend flicker on the computer screen proved to be quite an odd sensation. Kristen quickly rushed to pick up the mobile emitter and safely sealed it into its container. "There you go. Ive got you're emitter tucked away for safe keeping." She ran through the ships systems checking and double checking to ensure that her program was stable. When she heard the hologram announce another presence. "What, what do you sense Mira?"

As much as knowing that her mobile emitter was safe, Mira was a little more concerned about the fact that there was something in the computer with her, and that something might as well have been the reigning galactic champion at hide and seek.

"I don't know," she replied. "I can't get a good look at it, it's slipping in and out of all the files and systems."

Kristen was more than a little concerned that there seemed to be some type of presence hiding inside the ships computer. "What do you mean Mira? Is it a lifeform? Is it a computer program? Are you okay Mira?" Kristen was surprised by her concern however, the more she got to know Mira the more she could sense her feelings changing. She couldn't see Mira in the same light as others. She couldn't view her as a mere hologram and at this point in time she was genuinely concerned for Mira's safety.

Mira metaphorically sat amongst the programs in the computer, scanning the code for the intruder. She kept thinking that she caught a glimpse of it, but it kept slipping away. From what she could see, however, it had a definite destination in mind.

"I'm fine, but I think it's heading for the warp core programs!"