Hello, any people who may read this, I'm The Universal Storyteller. This particular story will

be the first of many primarily "Star Trek"-related stories from me, I hope, here on fanfiction.net. I'll

accept constructive criticisms, of course. But I won't accept any flames, especially with strong

language with them. So if you happen to use strong language with me, your reviews will be ignored.

Always, and completely, as a matter of fact. With this story of mine here, at least, this will be your only

warning, if at all possible. And please don't bother ever asking me for any transgender, m-m, f-f, or

hermaphroditic kinds of romantic, or so-called romantic, relationships relating to any or all of the

applicable characters for this or any other stories of mine here on fanfiction.net. For such requests from

my readers here will be always and completely ignored as well. For I don't ever personally believe in

them for protagonists in my stories, at all.

All characters that are definitely known to actually be part of the "Star Trek" Universe are

actually the property of their owner or owners, where applicable. As are the settings of this particular

story and any related stories I may write at any time. All other characters and/or settings that actually

are non-native to the "Star Trek" Universe here are actually of my own creation, unless otherwise

stated. If they aren't actually of my own creation, they're actually the property and/or creation of their

owner or owners, where applicable. So don't bother suing me now, for I've not actually claimed your

characters and/or settings as mine here, if they're not actually of my own creation. Besides, I don't

really have any money. So you actually wouldn't get anything from me in that way anyway, at least.

I'm a financially poor person, currently, if I won't always be. And so therefore, your chances of getting

any money from me at this time, if ever, are very small indeed. Probably even microscopic, at the

current time.

All poems and/or songs in, at least, this story or series of stories are copyright to and/or of their

respective writers, performers, or authors, and/or their owners, wherever possible, if I'm actually not

their writer and/or owner as well. I claim nothing knowingly for my own, people, that I know isn't

actually mine. Just like I'm doing for any other elements and characters that I mentioned in the previous

paragraph here, I'm doing that here for all of the said poems and/or songs, in fact, people. So the

exact same disclaimer applies to them as it does for anything else related to this story and/or its series,

at least, if not any other story or stories of mine, people. That's whenever possible, of course.

Now without any further ado, let's get on with the story here, readers. Please read, review,

and enjoy here, if at all possible, of course.

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Star Trek: Pilgrim Squadron

Book One

Chapter One

It was early September 2373 in San Francisco, California, when a dozen young people from all

over the world came there to start attending Starfleet Academy. For they were hoping to become duly

commissioned officers after they graduated from there. At least one of them was in some way related

to at least one past Starfleet officer. And that person was Mindaka Sulu, who was related to Captain

Hikaru Sulu by common ancestry. They all met for the first time in person when they were each picked

up from their homes all over Earth by the crew of a Starfleet shuttle called the Roddenberry.

The Roddenberry's crew had first picked up the future Cadets Hanson, Thomas, Franklin,

Walker, Onada, Tracy, Benjamin, Ames, Shannon, and Saranson elsewhere in North America, before

they then went to South America to pick up the future Cadet Bradca and to Asia to pick up the future

Cadet Sulu. Then, once all of the aforementioned future Cadets had been picked up from their homes

all over Earth, the Roddenberry's crew brought them to San Francisco. And that was where they

would each become students at Starfleet Academy for what would hopefully turn out to be no more

than about four years. So the dozen future Cadets would then hopefully please Starfleet by graduating

within the aforementioned length of time.

Soon after arriving on the Academy's grounds, they were each assigned to their new quarters

on the Academy's campus, for the obvious reasons. Cadets Franklin and Thomas were assigned to the

same quarters, as were Hanson and Walker, Onada and Bradca, Tracy and Sulu, and Ames and

Shannon. Cadets Saranson and Benjamin were not assigned to the same quarters with each other, for

the primary reason being that Saranson was a female, and Benjamin was a male. Instead, Saranson

was paired with another female cadet, and Benjamin was paired with another male cadet.

The female cadets that had been on the Roddenberry were Hanson, Walker, Onada, Bradca,

Tracy, Sulu, Ames, Shannon, and Saranson. While their male companions on the trip to San Francisco

had been Franklin, Thomas, and Benjamin. They had each gotten at least a little bit acquainted with

one another as they were making their way to San Francisco on the Starfleet shuttle for the first time in

each of their lives. Supposing, of course, that they didn't already know each other at least a little bit in

them, in fact.

As they all then settled into their new quarters all over the Academy's grounds, they all

prepared for their first day of classes at the Academy within the next week or two. Eventually, they

had all set up their respective quarters in the necessary manner or manners for themselves and for

Starfleet. And they then went to the main cafeteria area on the Academy's grounds. They all reunited

with each other there, with Cadet Robinson Franklin being the first of them to get there so that he could

eat his evening meal by 2000 hours local time.

By this time, they were all in their cadet uniforms, for the obvious reasons. Cadet Franklin had

saved three tables for all of them, and he was pleased at least a little when Cadets Thomas, Walker,

and Hanson joined him at his table. For while they'd been ferried to San Francisco, he'd been quite

glad to meet them on the shuttle in question. Supposing, quite naturally enough, that he didn't yet know

them well enough in his life, at least, of course. And to talk to them at some length about each of them,

in fact.

Franklin said, "I'm glad you're joining me at my table, Thomas, Hanson, and Walker. I hope

that the twelve of us can someday all get to serve on the same ship together in the future. For if things

happen well enough for us in the meantime, I think, for some yet-unknown reason, that we'd all work

quite well with one another on any ship that we might ever serve on together with one another."

Cadet Sharon Walker, a tall eighteen-year-old Terran Caucasian female with long and straight

auburn hair down to the middle of her back, said, "I think I would like that very much too, Cadet

Franklin. But only time will tell if that will ever be possible for any or all of us." She was quite

attractive-looking in her cadet uniform, but not drop-dead gorgeous. And she hoped that she'd

someday get to be a ship's Counselor after she graduated from Starfleet Academy.

"And I hope that we will be among the first, if not the first, people to explore elsewhere in the

Universe besides our own Galaxy," stated Cadet Raquel Bradca.

"You would really like to see us go explore elsewhere outside our own Galaxy, Cadet

Bradca?" asked Cadet Hanson, a Terran Caucasian female with short and wavy blonde hair. She was

quite physically fit, and she'd already earned the highest possible black belt in Karate, at least, if not

also several other Terran martial arts disciplines as well. She was about 5'9" and about 130 pounds.

"Of course, Cadet Hanson, if that's what Starfleet wants us to do or we are forced to do so in

order to be able to come back to Earth whenever we want or need to. But we'll have to see what the

future holds for each of us, and see if we'll ever get to do what I have just suggested here."

For about an hour, then, while they ate in the aforementioned cafeteria area on the Academy's

grounds, they got better acquainted with each other, if they hadn't already. They also learned each

other's first names, if they hadn't earlier. By the time they finished eating, then, they had learned that

Cadets Hanson and Shannon shared the same first name, which was Marie. They learned that Cadet

Thomas was called Wayne, and that Cadet Onada's first name was Patty. They also found out that

Cadet Saranson's first name was Martina, and that Cadet Benjamin's first name was Floyd. Cadet

Ames was a Janine, and Cadet Tracy was an Anne.

Then by 2110 hours, they were already out of the aforementioned cafeteria area, and back in

their respective chambers for what they hoped would be the rest of the night. But that wouldn't prove

to be the actual case, for they'd be rousted out of their beds before midnight arrived for them by some

new fourth-year cadets. Cadets who were going to require them to form a Squadron, on the previous

orders of the Academy's Superintendent, as of the previous year at the Academy. For all new Cadets

had to form at least one squadron once they'd begun their stays at the Academy. And since the dozen

cadets were just first-year cadets at it, they'd have to form a squadron with each other, per Academy

regulations, in fact.

They were all rousted out of their beds by midnight, and then they were blindfolded by at least

three times as many fourth-year cadets, if not more. They were then brought to a holodeck somewhere

in the main building on the Academy's grounds. And they were then pushed into it by the fourth-year

cadets. When they were pushed into it, their blindfolds then fell to the ground near the exit. Then the

exit closed behind them as a program began running around them. A program that apparently had them

on a planet called Camille, which Starfleet had eventually discovered to be in the Plarvonian Empire, an

interstellar Empire somewhere in the Andromeda Galaxy. Starfleet had learned of that planet's

existence through certain people that often traveled between the Milky Way and Andromeda Galaxies.

And ever since, they'd been interested in seeing how much they could learn about other galaxies in the

Milky Way's Local Cluster of numerous galaxies.

The fourth-year cadets were hoping to see how well they could handle a strange planet in a

simulation. And they were hoping that they would form a squadron together while they were there.

And eventually, if enough went sufficiently according to plan here, the dozen cadets would do as their

fellow cadets had hoped they would. And they would then form the necessary squadron in the required

way while they were still alone with one another and the appropriate computer constructs in the

holodeck, if things went sufficiently according to plan here, of course.

When the exit closed behind them, and the scenery did the same, they soon found themselves

facing at least thirteen, if not more, different opponents in the holodeck. They soon had called for

various weapons, in fact. And soon enough afterward, they were eventually fighting with at least

thirteen different opponents in the holodeck.

Each of them matched up with at least one of the aforementioned number of opponents. And

they were soon parted from one another by their various opponents. They had been separated from

one another by certain characters from various stories that a now-missing or long-dead Terran author

of at least some repute had written in the late 20th and early 21st Centuries on Earth. Or at least the

Earth of another timeline, reality, or Universe, if he wasn't actually from the exact same Earth that they

were all actually from in each of their own lives, anyway. Specifically characters who were Galaxians

had separated each of them from their fellow cadets, if not others as well.

Robinson Franklin ended up with a character named the Star Prince. And the Star Prince was

masked. They soon found themselves in a forest of some sort, with Franklin then pursuing the Star

Prince quite heavily. The Star Prince soon lured him deep into the forest, and Robinson soon found

himself being barraged by coconuts tossed by any number of Camillean monkeys. That allowed the

Star Prince to eventually gain an advantage against Franklin, for Franklin was also trying to protect

himself against the aforementioned barrage of coconuts from the Camillean monkeys. Soon the Star

Prince had backed him up against a tree, and was about to strike at Franklin's unprotected head. But

he then chose to stick his Light Sword in the tree behind him, for he wasn't so unkind as to want to take

an unfair advantage against any opponent in battle, no matter who he was. And the Star Prince said, "I

do not wish to kill you, Cadet Franklin. For it is not my way to kill those who would not kill me either

in battle, if they could avoid it, and do not wish to kill me at the very same time. I do know that you

wouldn't kill me in battle, anyway. For you have a good heart inside you, and you do not wish to harm

anyone else if there is not sufficient reason to do so, and you can possibly avoid it, at all. So I will

spare you here in our little fight. Go, and may we meet again in peace someday in the future, if it is

God's will that we do so."

"Who are you then?"

"If you ever read 'The Galaxy Girl Chronicles' for any applicable generation of them, you will

eventually know soon enough who I am. Go, my new friend, and may God bless you in your future

Starfleet career."

Soon enough, then, Robinson was joined by the rest of his current companions in the holodeck

again. And they all told similar enough stories to his to each other, once they reunited once more in it.

Then from outside the holodeck now in question, one of the fourth-year cadets who'd pushed them into

it eventually asked, "What have you all decided to call your Squadron?"

Robinson spoke for all of the cadets in the holodeck when he answered, "We have all chosen

to call ourselves the 'Pilgrim Squadron'. For in essence, as we all live our lives in God's very own

Universe, we are all pilgrims of a sort on any number of possible journeys in the Universe. And just like

them, I don't walk alone on those journeys in the Universe. We are all pilgrims, and that is what we'll

always be, no matter where we go in God's very own Universe. And I will lead them on any number

of possible journeys in the Universe for as long as God above lets me do that, if at all possible."

"Very well, then, you are now the Pilgrim Squadron, and it will be noted in all appropriate

enough future records of Starfleet and the Federation."

Then the fourth-year cadets let them out of the holodeck now in question here, so that they

could all return to their respective quarters and go back to sleep in each of their beds there. Each of

the first-year cadets was then soon asleep in their beds shortly after they'd returned to their respective

quarters on the Academy's grounds. And they slept until they were woken up by the Academy's

computer system by 0800 hours on their first full day at the Academy in San Francisco, California.

After they had all woken up, and all of them had eaten their breakfasts in the Academy's main

cafeteria area, they soon found themselves in the Superintendent's office. This was so that they could

fill out the necessary paperwork, in a manner of speaking, if not in actual reality, to make themselves

officially members of the Pilgrim Squadron to a sufficient enough degree to please both Starfleet and the

Federation. It took them most of the morning to do the necessary things that would make them each

part of the Pilgrim Squadron at the Academy. But eventually, they did all those things, and they

officially enough became members of their new Squadron at the Academy.

Then they were dismissed for the rest of the day from the Superintendent's office, and they

each then received an evening pass to leave the Academy's grounds until 2200 hours. After which

time, they'd then be past their current curfew time as first-year cadets at the Academy. Several of the

cadets went to New Candlestick Park to see the San Francisco Giants playing baseball against the

defending World Baseball Champions, who were the St. Louis Cardinals. For most, if not all, of at

least the last 370 or so years, the Cardinals had won many division, league, and world baseball

championships that professionals could officially compete for legally. And they'd won at least the last

fifty World Championships against whatever team they'd faced in the World Championship Series of

professional baseball on Terra, if not more than that. Other cadets in their new Squadron went to the

Golden Gate Theater where several famous actors from all over the Milky Way Galaxy were going to

be performing a play written by Admiral T'Sana, a Vulcan from ShiKahr. ShiKahr on Vulcan was

where the legendary former Starfleet officer Mr. Spock had hailed from after being born to the Vulcan

Ambassador Sarek and the Terran woman Amanda Grayson, many long years before the present year

in Terran time-keeping standards.

Those that went to the baseball game were Franklin, Walker, Thomas, Hanson, Onada, and

Bradca. While the others went to the play at the aforementioned theater in San Francisco. Before they

separated, though, the cadets made sure that they'd be able to contact each other, for the obvious

reasons. They parted near the Golden Gate Bridge, just before those cadets who were going to the

play bought their tickets to it, and after Franklin put Cadet Sulu in charge of those who would be

accompanying her to the play in question, for the obvious reasons.

Then Franklin led those cadets that would be going with him to the game to the aforementioned

baseball stadium. And they watched the Cardinals defeat the Giants by a score of 6-3, after a Cardinal

batter had won the game with a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning. After the game, they then

went to a local bakery to buy some pastries for themselves before returning to the Academy for the rest

of the night. They bought some pastries there, and then caught a taxi to the Academy's grounds, just

barely avoiding being late to check in there by the required curfew time. For their taxi driver had

encountered at least twenty drunk and hostile Klingon diplomatic personnel from the Klingon Embassy

in San Francisco on the way there. And they'd sought to wreak havoc on him and his passengers.

And they'd jammed his taxi's communications systems with a palm-sized jammer. So that eventually

forced him and his passengers to fire their phasers on heavy stun at their assailants, so that they could

protect themselves against the rowdy Klingon diplomatic personnel now in question. Of course, the

seven people in the taxi would have preferred not having to do so. But due to the danger then posed to

themselves, they then had to fire their phasers in order to defend themselves well enough. When

enough of the Klingons had been stunned into unconsciousness by the taxi's defensive systems and the

taxi's occupants, the taxi driver then finally got away from the rowdy Klingons, and he took his

passengers back to the Academy's grounds, just in time for them to make their required curfew time.

When they offered to pay him for their ride back to the Academy's grounds, he said, "Due to your

bravery in the fight, this ride is on me, as a measure of thanks to you all. I'm glad that you were with

me tonight in my taxi."

"All part of the service, Mister." Cadet Franklin said this, in fact.

"Call me Gulateno, the next time you see me, you all."

Then the cadets exited his taxi, and they got onto Academy grounds no more than a minute

before their required curfew time had passed for them all. They asked the security guards at the front

gate to let their driver in, so that he could have his taxi repaired by the necessary technicians at the

Academy before he left the area again. And they checked with the Academy's Superintendent, to see

if he'd let Gulateno's taxi onto the Academy's grounds. Seconds after doing that, they then got

permission from him to let Gulateno's taxi onto the Academy's grounds so that it could be repaired by

the necessary technicians there. Gulateno then brought his taxi to the appropriate repair facility on the

Academy grounds, as his recent passengers went there to watch the repairs being made for at least a

brief period of time. Then the damage that his taxi had suffered during the fight in question was repaired

fully within two hours, in fact. This was eventually done here after he'd then come to the required

repair facility on the Academy's grounds, and at least a little while after the cadets had been ordered to

their respective quarters, for the obvious reasons. But before they left the repair facility in question on

the Academy's grounds, they each learned that their taxi driver had served with the Academy's

Superintendent many years ago while they were still both in Starfleet. After Wolf 359, though, their

driver had been forced to retire for medical reasons. This was simply because he'd lost at least half of

his left leg during the battle against the Borg there, while he'd been on the Melbourne as Lieutenant

Harry E. Gulateno from Boise, Idaho, a Terran city in North America.

By the time that they each reached their respective quarters, they also encountered their fellow

Pilgrim Squadron members outside their own quarters. And they found out that they'd all also made it

back to the Academy's grounds in plenty of time for them to make their required curfew time. They

briefly conversed with each other before they all retired to their respective quarters for the rest of the

night. After which, they were all soon asleep in their respective beds there, of course.

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Well, that's the end of this first chapter here. How do you all like it so far, readers. I await

hearing just what you all have to say about it here, in fact. More will come later, if and whenever

possible. In the meantime, please don't forget to read, review, and enjoy this story as much as

possible, if you possibly can, readers. Until I add more to this story here, then, this is "The Universal

Storyteller signing off, and saying over and out. Take care, God bless, and all that, if at all possible, of

course. "Universal Storyteller to Starfleet Academy, one to beam to your location now, please."

"Energizing." Moments later, the area is once again unoccupied by The Universal Storyteller,

as a light breeze blows through the area he just occupied mere moments before, in fact.