USS Preserver

Shipgirl AI of USS Preserver, the last of four 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 maiden of the Mi'kmaq people from the Atlantic provinces of Canada; her spiritual hometown (and once base of a namesake Royal Canadian Sea Cadet corps) is the town of Botwood on the shores of the Bay of Exploits which forms part of the northern coast of the Island of Newfoundland. And like many natives of "the Rock", she holds on to some interesting customs, including the legendary "screech-in" ceremony which welcomes non-Newfoundlanders (those who "come from away"). Of course, since using an actual cod fish might sometimes be a problem, Preserver makes use of a common trick and substitutes a roll of bologna meat instead. Like other Port Weller girls, Protecteur the shipgirl perpetuates the three HMC Ships of the same name. The first Preserver was a Fairmile depot support ship, name vessel of the class, which protected the Atlantic waters off Canada (and Newfoundland, which was a semi-independent dominion at the time) from U-boats. The second Preserver was an auxiliary oil replenishment ship that served from 1970-2016. The third Preserver was built by Seaspan's Vancouver yards as the second Protecteur-class auxiliary vessel in the early part of the Third World War, serving for the majority of that conflict. Of the four Project Fort auxiliar replenishment ships, this is said: Resolve handles the rough and ready stuff. Provider handles the fine materials. Protecteur gladly delivers the weapons. And Preserver brings the comforts of home to wherever you are, no matter what situation you're in. Many in Starfleet understand that. Preserver's career in Starfleet parallels that of her sisters, going from a modified Edward-class cargo ship (2330-2367) to a Fabrux-class tender (2369-2379, 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, like Provider did, had to be fast-activated to help out with the Frontier Day "silliness"). Of course, in that event, she met four heroines from the famous First Assault Squadron, fellow Newfoundlanders Nursing Lieutenant (Navy) Paige McLeod (the unit's nursing officer, late of HMCS Cabot), Sergeant Talia Hadow (combat support troop sergeant, late of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment), Corporal Nadine Ricketts (intelligence analyst, late of le Régiment de Maissoneuve in Montréal, but born in Burgeo) and Surgeon Captain Dana McLeod (Paige's older sister, a physician's assistant late of 26 Health Services Battalion). Naturally, the screech-in which was held on USS Preserver that followed was epic!