[ WP ] You are a medic on a federation spaceship . In a recent battle , the boarding party 's vital signs cut out , meaning they died . You go check the clone bay to see how their new clones are taking their sudden death and re-spawn .

Black, black, and black. 
 
 That's all there was to it. Three monitors, each displaying the boarding party's vitals in minuscule detail, cut to nothingness all at once. Simple, quick. Dead. 
 
 SR-388 had n't been sure why they had gone to investigate at all. Organic ships! How quaint. Even if his circuits had n't had an innate disdain for the squishy, primitive nature of organic life, he was fairly certain that there would have been nothing to gain from the clearly inferior species. Ah well. Perhaps a few brushes with the other side might be good for Captain Gagarin and her crew. Maybe they would even give up on that silly superstition they had of a god. 
 
 SR sighed. Time to check the vats. The Captain and the others should be finishing their regrowth cycle by now, if the nanoassemblers were doing their job correctly, and it was his duty to make certain that nothing had gone amuck. Whether he wanted to or not. 
 
 `` Everything going alright in here, Captain?'' He asked, lowering an articulated camera from a panel on the ceiling. Three figures sat on the benches there, nude and covered from head to toe in slimy fluid from the vats. The captain blushed, covering her chest. 
 
 `` SR! Cut the feeds, dammit! How many times have I told you not to bring cameras into the clone bay?'' 
 
 `` Twenty-seven, Captain.'' The machine responded, mentally rolling it's eyes. `` But again, I must remind you that protocol states-'' 
 
 `` Damn the protocol, it can wait till I get some clothes! Now, *cut the feeds! *'' The Captain shot back. 
 
 
 `` Yes, Captain.'' SR sighed and did as he was bade. He was n't sure why she was so intent on stopping him. It was n't as if *he* was interested, that was for sure. It was nothing he had n't seen in the thousands of files in the ship's data library, after all. In fact, by all accounts, she was a bit on the smaller side - not that he had ever bothered to bring that up. 
 
 `` Captain?'' He asked. `` As my visual feed has been cut, I must ask... what is the state of your two companions? Have there been any abnormalities in the cloning process?'' 
 
 `` We're fine SR, thanks for asking.'' Replied another shaky female voice. `` Just a bit of cloning sickness... think I'm gon na hurl.'' 
 
 `` Sending anti-nausea medication along with your jumpsuits, expect arrival in T-14 seconds.'' Said the computer. A noise that sounded suspiciously like someone vomiting was picked up from the microphones. `` Do n't worry about the mess, the scrubbers are more than capable of cleaning out all organic matter. But, captain, what exactly happened on board? I was getting a strong visual from your ocular implants when suddenly everything was... cut off. I barely got a single frame of the other species before everything went dark.'' 
 
 `` That's how it was for us too, SR.'' Said Captain Gagarin. `` Not sure *what* happened, to be honest. All indications from them seemed friendly, if our translators were to be believed. They even breathed the same mix of nitrogen and oxygen that we do... or at least close enough. I wonder what set them off like that?'' 
 
 `` What, indeed.'' SR replied. `` Well. We got what we were looking for - a read on the alien species, first contact, and their intent. Shall I power on the particle cannons?'' 
 
 `` Have they moved to intercept our vessel?'' The captain replied. 
 
 `` No, but I would say they made their intent more than clear. Scuttling a single transport would be of little incident compared to the message we could send.'' Said the machine with a matter-of-fact tone. 
 
 `` SR... if they have n't moved aggressively, leave them be. They can keep the blasted shuttle if they want, there was nothing valuable there. No big loss, just as you said.'' Gagarin replied. 
 
 SR sighed again. No luck. He had hoped he might be able to enact a bit of vengeance against the organics, petty as it were. Not that he cared if the captain had been killed, of course. That was far too good for her. 
 
 Suddenly, he picked up a ping on his local sensors. `` Please hold, Captain.'' SR-388 said. `` It seems all may not be lost after all. I'm picking up a signal from your shuttle, let me see if I can decipher it before I patch it through.'' It was a lie, of course. SR knew exactly what he was hearing. 
 
 `` SR? SR, can you hear us?'' Said Captain Gagarin's voice in his mechanical ear. `` Damn machine, I *know* you can hear us, I can see that the signal is going through.'' 
 
 `` Ah! Captain, apologies.'' SR replied, routing his voice through her temporal implant. `` What happened? I lost your signal for a moment... I thought you were dead!'' 
 
 `` You'd like that, would n't you robot?'' The captain snarled. `` No, just have one hell of a headache. This damn species has a hatred of technology of all kinds, barring organic. That's why they're using this stupid kidney of a ship - they blasted us with some kind of EMP the second they opened up the airlock to let us in. Knocked out our nanos, all at once. Once I realized what happened, I knew I had to get a signal through to you ASAP. I *did* catch you early enough to stop the clone bay, did n't I?'' 
 
 `` Oh!'' SR said, thinking quickly. `` Um. Yes, yes you did. In fact, you caught me just in time - they were just about to begin writing your memories. That's what I was dealing with before you called, actually. There's been a bit of an... incident... with the organic materials. It's going to take the scrubbers a bit to clean everything up, if you understand my statement.'' 
 
 `` Ugh.'' The captain replied in disgust. `` Of course. Just make sure everything is ready before we have to go again. I do n't fancy spending my time being dead, if you do n't mind.'' 
 
 `` I understand perfectly, Captain Gagarin.'' SR replied stoically. `` Attending to it now. I eagerly await your return.'' 
 
 Gagarin snorted. `` Of course you are. Gagarin out.'' 
 
 The feed went black. 
 
 `` SR? What news from the shuttle?'' The second captain asked. Internally, SR-388 smiled. 
 
 `` Nothing of consequence, my dear captain.'' He said. `` Just some orders to clean the clone bay.'' 
 
 Perhaps today would be a good day, after all. 
 
 
 *** 
 
 *Thanks for the read! CC welcomed, and if you liked this story feel free to check out some of my other ones over at /r/TimeSyncs! *
