USS Provider

Shipgirl AI of USS Provider, the second of the Project Fort starships which were built specifically to fulfil the rôle of an auxiliary oil replenishment vessel of old; she would carry a mixture of necessary cargo wherever she goes in support of any flotilla of starships which might be operating well beyond the support of a convenient starbase. She takes the physical form of a "forced augment" from the Ojibwe people who inhabited the place she considers her adopted hometown: The town of Dryden in Ontario's Kenora District; it was here in more peaceful times that a Royal Canadian Sea Cadet corps named after the second HMCS Provider was located. As is tradition among all Port Weller girls, Provider the shipgirl perpetuates the two HMC Ships of the same name. The first was a World War Two depot ship for Fairmile motor torpedo craft which served in the Caribbean Sea, out of Québec City and later out of Halifax during that conflict. The second HMCS Provider was one of the first true AORs ever constructed for any surface navy; she would commission in 1963 and serve for an impressive thirty-five years before being decommissioned. In the universe of Paint and Powder, a third HMCS Provider was constructed to assist the Royal Canadian Navy in the Third World War, she being a sister to the German-designed second Protecteur-class auxiliary ships built at Seaspan's shipyards in North Vancouver. While Resolve projects a rough-and-tumble aura to all those she meets, Provider is the classic wine snob. She could easily outdo Yorktown when it comes to enjoy a wonderful decanter of the good stuff; rumour has it that Provider was the one who hooked Yorktown on Niagara ice wine, which she always carries as "emergency stores" whenever the shipgirl roving ambassador of Starfleet needs something to stiffen her resolve. Provider's career in Starfleet parallels that of Resolve, going from a modified Edward-class cargo ship (2330-2362) to a Fabrux-class tender (2364-2378, such condemned thanks to the wear and tear from the Dominion War) to an Olympic-class medical science ship (2380-2400) to a modified Horizon-class science ship (which had to be fast-activated to help deal with the Frontier Day "silliness". Of course, like all Port Weller girls, she got the chance to meet the returned heroines of the First Assault Squadron, then gladly hosted the post-battle celebration party when it was all said and done.