Review
grayiron
Yes, she's that Neela.
Augment Gothic
Part 17
Moon Base. Jeraddo.
"It feels weird not sleeping in the ship with the hull around me," Kira commented as we lounged around the cave, most of us lying on the sleeping bags I'd replicated "I got so used to it. Now without it, I feel...naked".
Killing time was never an easy task. But we'd really run out of things to do, and there was only so much studying a person could do before they just had to do something else, anything else. Sadly, there was nothing on the to-do list that could be done at the moment. I couldn't work on my long-term design projects either, as I didn't have the equipment I needed to do more. My research and development efforts, as well my reverse engineering plans, were stymied quite nicely on account of not having the space or the equipment required for a proper lab and fabrication and design shop. The funny thing was I actually had the money now to buy just about anything I needed, but I didn't have anywhere to put it! My ship was too small and setting anything up on this temporary base that could be discovered and destroyed just seemed stupid. That was of course assuming I had the time to fly back to Earth or elsewhere to purchase it all. Maybe when I had land and a home of my own on Bajor, in other words a permanent base of operations, I could finally make some flippin' progress.
As for why we weren't on my ship, well, it was a little small for four people to be comfortable; granted the caves weren't all that much larger, but they were big enough that sleeping in them didn't give a person cabin fever or an acute sense of claustrophobia. I could spend weeks on my ship, but even I had my limits.
Of course, at some point we'd all started drinking. Our drink of choice was Bajoran spring wine, which didn't have the robust flavor of Romulan Ale or the kick of Blood Wine, still, it was worth drinking and there was plenty of it.
"I know what you mean," Ro agreed while sipping her wine. "Even when I was living on Earth I had metal walls around me. It does feel like being naked and exposed, just not in the fun way".
Even Neela agreed.
"For me it's not having enough people around," she said. "I feel more exposed the more I'm alone".
A chuckle escaped my lips.
"Something funny, Gothic? Kira asked.
Indeed there was.
"Being in the same cave with all these alleged 'naked' women," I replied, "it struck me as funny".
I wasn't sure why.
"Knowing you, you wouldn't mind if we all walked around naked," Kira said with a smile.
That would be amusing, and sexy, and she was right. I certainly wouldn't mind.
"Go ahead," I offered. "No one minds".
Kira actually blushed at that, and I understood why. It's one thing to be walking around naked inside an enclosed ship, even with people around, it somehow feels different in a cave, despite the fact that we were the only people on this entire moon. Besides, Ro was the unabashed nudist in our little group; Kira normally kept something on even if it didn't cover all the important parts that well.
"What's the matter?" I asked. "Embarrassed?"
Now both Ro and Neela were chuckling at Kira's blushing face and obvious embarrassment.
"Hmm," Kira muttered, after taking a few seconds to rally her courage. "I don't think I've ever been naked in front of so many people. First time for everything I guess".
With no further delay Kira reached up and unzipped her jacket. shrugging it off her shoulders and tossing it on a box full of something or other. After kicking off her boots, she then wriggled her pants down to her ankles, and kicked them aside. This left her in her bluish-grey shirt, with matching tight boy short panties, something I had replicated for her a while back because I found them so sexy. Kira was happy to wear them for me for that reason, though she did say it didn't hurt that they were so comfortable as well.
"That's not quite naked," Ro chimed in helpfully, a wicked smile on her face.
Kira smiled right back at her friend, giving her the stink eye.
"Just be glad this isn't the time of cleansing," she remarked.
The Bajoran Time of Cleansing was a custom in the Bajoran religion during which people fasted for a month and abstained from all worldly pleasures. I was not looking forward to that.
Kira then drew the shirt up over her head, allowing her perky breasts to spring free, bouncing quite nicely. I learned a long time ago that those tight uniforms Kira was always wearing in the show hid a very nice rack. All smiles, and showing far more confidence than I would have otherwise expected, she swung the shirt over her head and tossed it right to me. She reveled in the attention as she stood back up and swung her hips around somewhat provocatively. Turning completely around she bent over and slid her boy shorts down, giving everyone a sensuous view of her very firm ass and then lounged back unashamedly on the chair.
"You next, Neela," Kira urged.
Ro was far more relaxed about her body than anyone I'd met, aside from maybe Jadzia Dax. Neela, however, wasn't so eager to take off her clothes and give us all a show.
"Don't be embarrassed," Kira urged gently. "You've got a pretty good body yourself, it might even be better than mine".
That I sincerely doubted. But, then again, I'd never Neela naked, and her clothes didn't show off much. You'd think accidentally seeing her naked in this small facility would have been inevitable, but it hadn't happened.
"Hmm, how about if she does something that daring, for her at least, then you have to do something even more outrageous?" Ro suggested.
Neela did not look eager, but she hadn't said no yet either.
"Come on, get into the spirit of things," Kira urged. I wisely kept silent during this entire exchange. When your women were working on another one, you wisely kept your mouth shut and let them do the convincing.
Neela seemed to give the matter some thought.
"Um, okay," Neela finally said, thus again proving the truly limitless power of boredom and peer pressure. "If I get naked then you have to give Gothic a blowjob in front of us".
Normally things didn't get this crazy without more drinking, but hell, I was game!
Kira nodded with a smile and got up, reached over and began to undress the embarrassed Bajoran who probably didn't think Kira would go for it. Once she was fully undressed I saw her light brown nipples harden as they came into contact with the cool air of the cave.
Once naked the two women stood side by side, looking each other over and sizing up their assets for comparison.
"Looks like I'm just a little bigger in the tits department, but that aside, very nice," Kira complimented.
Kira walked over to the chair I'd moved to sit in and dropped to her knees in front of me. As I leaned back to give her better access, she tugged loose my shirt and unzipped my trousers. Since I was already rock hard at the show I'd just watched, my full length came out into the open, practically slapping her in the face.
With a practiced hand she fondled it, stimulating me. Next she slowly ran her tongue up and down my manhood, eliciting a low moan. Soon she took the head into her mouth and sucked gently.
Not long after that she began to bob her head up and down, each time taking more and more of my cock into her mouth.
At this point Ro decided to take things further, no longer willing to be a spectator. She walked over to us and took her trousers and underpants off at once. Then while touching herself she caressed the future Major's luscious behind and dipped a well-practiced finger into Kira's slit. I couldn't see that, but from past experience it seemed clear that that was what she was doing.
Kira moaned with her mouth still chock full of cock, and increased her pace, her head bobbing faster and faster. Before long Ro put more fingers into her fellow Bajoran, pistoning and twisting them faster and faster in time with Kira's head bobbing, only to suddenly stop, before replacing her fingers with her tongue. With all of this going on I knew it wouldn't be long before I shot my load.
"Wait, stop," said Ro. "Let Neela have a turn". Wow, I had completely forgotten about the young Bajoran who had been intently watching us this whole time and getting extremely turned on by the show we were putting on in front of her.
It took a little bit of convincing, but before long Neela was screaming in extreme passion as she impaled herself on my manhood like a woman possessed. Neela grunted and squealed as she moved up and down, riding me like her life depended on it. What she lacked in experience she more than made up for in sheer unbridled enthusiasm. It's always the quiet ones that are hellcats in bed.
The pressure built and built until I exploded into her. The sensation drove Neela over the edge, and she let out a scream of ecstasy that echo'd around the cave. I just knew her pussy wanted me.
(Line Break)
Dahkur Province. Bajor.
The one good thing about the resistance losing so many experienced rebel fighters while liberating the Gallitep labour camp was that while they'd gotten a LOT of new recruits from the victory, they needed my skill and experience more than ever to help them with future operations planetside, while still also commanding the moon base. Their reasons for keeping me out of sight were still valid, but they just couldn't afford to sideline one of their most successful fighters, regardless of race, when they had lost so many experienced people at Gallitep. A few defeats because of inexperience would set back the momentum they currently had and that would do more harm than it becoming even better known that an alien was helping them.
That had gotten me off Jeraddo, which was great for me as I'd been incredibly bored lately and needed a change of pace. There was only so much to do on an unpopulated moon. Granted, I'd been alone with three attractive and horny young women, however we'd all started itching for the kind of action that required wearing clothes for a change.
Besides, sitting around in a cave wasn't going to get the planet liberated any time soon, and that's pretty much all we could do lately. With a Galor-class ship in orbit of Bajor it was hard enough just getting my much more advanced ship off the surface of the moon undetected, there was simply no way the raiders could be used for any future operations on Bajor with a warship ready to blow them out of the sky the second that they were detected. Of course once they were finished destroying that raider, they'd trace it back to this moon and quickly vaporize the base from orbit, hidden or no. The success at Gallitep had obviously made the spoon heads reconsider the value of keeping a warship close by.
"Kira," Ro whispered, her teeth chattering. "Stay still! If you want our help we can do this tomorrow. I am not coming with you tonight".
We were in yet another freaking cave at the moment (Bajor seemed to have no end of them!), waiting for a storm to pass so that we could get back to liberating the planet. Something the freedom fighters were willing to do inch-by-inch if need be.
It was slow, arduous, bloody work, but it was working. The spoon-heads were steadily losing control of the planet with each successful operation, that was why so much of the Occupation's top leaders were now up on Terok Nor, and why all of the ore processing was now taking place on the station. I suppose the Cardassians finally got tired of us blowing up their facilities over and over again.
The move to the station did have a downside, as more and more Bajorans were being taken up to the station in droves as either workers or in some cases as hostages. The survival rate was pretty low once they arrived and the longer the Bajoran worked on that station. One of those people being taken up was an old friend of Kira's, who was currently still on the planet, but very soon wouldn't be. We intended to go rescue the poor fellow, and we would have been doing that right now, if not for this storm.
"I can't just lay here and do nothing," Kira said, obviously getting more and more impatient. "He could be halfway to Terok Nor by tomorrow".
Kira, Ro, Neela, and I were huddling together in the cave sharing body warmth because we couldn't risk a fire, not with the patrols around. The spoon-heads might not have the kind of unchallenged control over the Bajorans that they'd once enjoyed, however they hadn't all retreated into space, and they were still trying to keep order down here despite losing so many patrols to ambushes, snipers and other guerilla actions. I was happy to claim credit for most of those kills. My cell knew how to kick ass and take names.
"And if you go outside," Ro muttered, "you will get sick and be no use to anyone. So you're staying here until the rain stops. I suggest you try and get some sleep".
I doubted she'd sleep, but she could at least rest for a while.
"Shh!" Came Neela's voice. "I'm trying to sleep, and it's hard enough as it is".
Neela, the newest of my girls, if that was what they were, had started having frequent sex with me recently, most likely due to my saving one of her childhood icons. Sadly, there didn't seem to be much chance of turning this camping trip into a small orgy as she, like the rest of the young women, was not in a good mood at the moment. I also had no desire to try to tempt them, mostly because I wasn't in the right mood either.
"Sorry," Kira said.
In short order Neela and Ro fell asleep; I could tell by the change in their breathing. I also heard Kira get up and move to the entrance of the cave. I had a feeling she was going to do something stupid, so carefully I went after her.
"You want some help?" I asked.
Kira turned to look at me, obviously surprised that I had caught her and that wasn't trying to stop her.
"No, I'm..." She started to say, but obviously gave up. "Okay".
Kira might be thinking about doing something stupid, however this didn't mean that she WAS stupid. Fighting a guerilla resistance campaign against a superior foe left no room for stupidity or unnecessary self-sacrificing heroics. If you were stupid, you died, typically in pretty horrific ways, simple as that. Accepting my help was the smart thing to do.
"I assume you're headed for the Ghetto," I guessed.
On Earth, at least during my time, a ghetto was another way of saying the slums, normally the poorest part of a city that would be inhabited by minorities and other unwanted people. On Bajor it was the place were Bajoran slave laborers were kept before being shipped off somewhere else, normally Terok Nor these days, but there were plenty of stories of Bajorans being shipped off world and never being seen or heard from again. The imagination went wild with ideas of what true horrors awaited those unfortunate souls. Was it any wonder even Bajoran children were willing to pick up phasers to kill Cardassians?
"I think it's a truly idiotic risk, but I know how much friends mean to you," was what I said next. "Still, it's going to be tough, the Cardies usually guard the ghetto like it was a prison".
There were fences, locked gates, guard posts, patrols and all the hallmarks of a prison.
"It is a prison," Kira replied as we grabbed our gear, "and Torra is locked inside".
I assumed 'Torra' was the family name since Kira wouldn't use even a friend's first name around someone who didn't know that person. She'd never even asked me what my real name was. She'd never wondered, at least out loud why I didn't use her first name either. Oddly enough other Bajorans would, Shaakar never called her Kira for one, perhaps it was because he'd been farmer before and therefore was more used to being less formal around people. There were some aspects of Bajoran culture and etiquette that still escaped me.
"I can't believe they are taking him for ore processing of all things," Kira snarled as we walked out into the rain. "Torra couldn't process ore if his life depended on it. He can't even start a fire".
We quickly made it to the Ghetto, the ongoing storm ensured no one was around. The rear entrance was just an old iron gate, there were no force fields here, and why would there be? If the spoon heads wanted more workers they'd just take them. No need for anything fancy here. It'd just be a waste of resources. Still, security was a bit lacking at the moment.
Kira and I scaled the old gate and quietly leaped down. Then we moved, staying close to the ground and before long we reached a building that had a small amount of light pouring out of its window.
I risked peeking inside and thanks to my genetic enhancements it took me no time at all to see everything going on inside and lock it in my memory. This ability had served me very well during the resistance. All it took was one brief glance and I had a perfect memory of it and the ability to recall what I'd seen, no matter how complex. This was a godsend in a large scale firefight.
In this case I cursed my perfect memory, as what I saw inside I really wished I could unsee, one of many memories in this God forsaken occupation that I wished I didn't have. It was a Bajoran girl, maybe ten years old, being forced to do something to a spoon head that no girl of ten should even know about, never mind be forced to perform. I'd managed to find a Cardie that disgusted me more than Dukat, and that was saying something knowing what I did. At least he only did that sort of thing with adult Bajoran women and there was an element of seduction and wooing involved, no matter how artificial, rather than outright force.
Somehow I managed to resist the immediate and urgent desire to go inside the small building and torture this Cardassian to the point where he begged me to die. I was only able to resist due to my super human brain and the battle calm I'd achieved over the course of many such operations and the sight of even more horrific things. This calm allowed me to recognize that killing someone in front of what must already be a traumatized little girl wasn't such a good idea.
The logical action would be to stun both of them, get Kira to take the girl away from here and then do very horrible things to the very bad man. Unfortunately, we had no time for that, we were here to save one person, not to liberate the entire Ghetto. Well, not yet anyway. Besides we couldn't take the girl on the mission with us.
I was now cursing myself for not waking up the others and doing this right; with the four of us we would have been able to risk sending someone back to the cave with the little girl, but I knew Kira wouldn't leave without her friend and I wouldn't leave her behind.
That was when Kira looked through the window and saw what was going on. I realized that if I didn't act right the fuck now, she would, so I quickly entered the building and stunned both of the aliens, on a very low stun setting of course. No sense risking the health of someone I was trying to save, and I managed to do that before Kira could do anything.
"What did you do?" She whispered fervently while racing over to the child.
I answered quickly.
"I had to stun her," I explained. "If she screamed someone might have raised an alarm".
Kira wasn't happy, but she didn't argue as she saw the truth behind my concern. Getting into a running firefight right now was not something we could afford. I couldn't blame her for being miffed though. No decent person would simply accept a young child being shot, even if it was on stun and in an attempt to spare them another horrible sight on an already horrible day.
I then took a few more quick actions as a light stun shot would only knock out someone for a few moments. The girl woke up moments after I'd taken the spoon head outside, and broken his neck, which wasn't easy with a member of that species, and then had hidden his body behind some bushes. If I'd only had more time, I could have had some fun with that sick fuck. I had considered waiting for the rapist fuck to wake up then promptly slit his throat to watch the life leave his eyes, but a giant pool of blood or a blood trail would be pretty conspicuous.
"Hello, little one," Kira whispered to the girl as she woke up, a comforting smile on her face. "It's okay, you're safe now. We're with the resistance. Are your parents here, any family?"
The girl pointed towards one of the main buildings.
"Listen, I want you to hide under the bed and wait until I come and get you," Kira told the child. "We're going to get everyone we can out, and when we do you'll come with us".
That plan was at least better than the one I'd come up with. I'd not even considered having the child hide. Although, to be fair, my battles didn't usually account for kids.
"Come on," Kira urged me, once the little girl was safely hidden under the bed.
The two of us moved quickly and stealthily over to the main building the kid had pointed to. There were no guards around; the rain had to be keeping them inside I assumed. And there had been no alarms either. The spoon heads must not consider this place important enough to secure correctly, perhaps because they had other places just like this scattered around the planet?
A door suddenly opened. A tall Bajoran poked a head out and looked at Kira with surprised eyes.
"Whatta you want?" he asked.
My thinking was that under these circumstances this was a very odd question.
"I'm with the resistance," she said. "I'm looking for a friend of mine, a man named Torra Deser".
I blinked upon realizing that Kira had used the man's first name in front of me. Which made me think that perhaps they had been more than just friends. Maybe an ex? Perhaps Bajorans didn't mind using first names when mentioning former lovers to their current one? Again, these little quirks of Bajoran culture still escaped me. Hopefully that would change as I spent more time on the planet.
"Black hair?" He asked, eyeing her suspiciously. "Green eyes?"
Kira nodded.
"Yeah, he's here. Follow me," the tall Bajoran man said.
This all seemed rather casual for people who had been taken as slave labour, and were supposed to be locked up. Then I wondered if what was actually keeping them here wasn't guards and fences. Perhaps they'd been told if they didn't cooperate that their families and friends would be killed. That was an all too common story. I had found many mass graves in my time here.
Still, what mattered right now was getting Kira to her friend. Once we found him, then we could plan an escape for everyone who was willing to leave.
Those concerns came to an end when Kira found her friend and rushed to his side, who as it turned out was dying of some kind of sickness. One that was apparently sweeping through the ghetto judging by all the bed ridden people. This was why security was such a joke around here, most of these people couldn't escape even if they wanted to. I didn't think they would even be able to get out of bed.
"Are you okay?" Kira was now asking her possible ex. "Prophets, say that you're okay!"
This was going to get super melodramatic, I just knew it. So many times since I'd arrived in this universe I found myself contemplating the nature of reality. Had the writers of the shows in my universe been given glimpses into this universe's timeline? Or had their writing actually created this universe altogether? There was even an episode of DS9 which suggested this could be true. Overly melodramatic moments like these, straight out of a television drama, really made me wonder. I suspected only upper tier Gods would know the answer.
"I'm okay, Nerys," Deser replied as he smiled weakly. "Don't you worry about me."
The young man then smiled even more.
"Hey. You rescued me," he said. "I knew you would".
Kira smiled back with tears in her eyes.
"I snuck off," she admitted. "Against orders".
They were my orders, so I didn't really mind. Rebel cells didn't really have a formal chain of command (other than someone like me being designated as the leader/commander of the cell), or rules and regulations for that matter, so it wasn't as if anyone could court martial her. We were pretty much all volunteers. Once she was formally a member of the Bajoran military after the occupation ended, then it'd be an issue.
"Just to save me," Deser said with a wet laugh. "I'm touched."
Seemed a wasted effort now. Not that I would say such a thing.
"Yeah, for you," Kira said, moving closer so that she could lay a head on his shoulder.
I removed the 'possible' part and pretty much confirmed the ex-lover thing, although given that she had come here to rescue him, against my orders and at great personal risk, I wondered if they'd actually broken up, or if they'd merely been forced to separate. Who knew? Our first time hooking up was due to a mission, where she was trying to get me to sell weapons to the resistance for a very low price and it never really ended. Of course I was pretty sure her feelings for me had grown over time, but seduction missions in the resistance weren't unheard of. A guerilla campaign required a lot of atypical warfare, after all.
"I love you, Nerys. I love you so much..." the man muttered. "I just wanted to say that before..."
At this point I moved away. I had no desire to hear anymore and I figured we'd be leaving very soon without Deser, as the dude looked like he had minutes left, if that was the case then I figured I'd be better off sorting out our escape.
"We can't leave," the tall Bajoran, the one who'd met us at the door, said, "most of us are too sick to leave, and the Cardassians have promised to cure us if we agree to work on the station".
It wouldn't shock me, not even a little bit, to learn that the spoon heads had unleashed this sickness themselves, just so that they could offer to cure it for a price. It was certainly economical and would ensure the Bajorans were cooperative. Their security costs would go way down that way.
"Well then, there's nothing we can do," Kira said from behind me, "and no reason to stay. Let's go". I had a feeling that Deser was now with the Prophets.
I sighed as I followed the young Bajoran woman, but didn't speak as there wasn't anything I could say. She'd just lost a friend, a former lover most likely. This wasn't a place she wanted to stay, and since I hadn't brought a medkit I couldn't exactly help these people.
But then I realized that not even the Cardassians would be foolish enough to hang around near sick people if they didn't have a cure on hand. Diseases mutated, the fact that there were unintended Cardassian/Bajoran babies around suggested even being of different species was no sure protection against the sickness affecting the Cardassians as well in time.
"You go," I told Kira. "Grab that girl and get out of here. I have something to do".
Kira didn't seem capable of caring about anything right now, so she left without a word, and I headed for one of the other buildings. There had be a medical center around here, and if it contained the cure I'd give it to the Bajorans. With that no longer keeping them here, I'd encourage them to simply leave and go into hiding. They weren't exactly very well guarded and since the plan of the rebels was to drive the spoon heads off planet by making the Occupation too expensive to be worthwhile, then it made perfect sense to deprive them of free slave labor.
With that in mind I scouted around and soon found the medical centre. It was raining still, so I was glad for my hood, and long black coat which kept me dry. I wore it over my armour, and it also helped to hide my weapons.
I soon found what seemed to be an infirmary of some sort. It was only as I took in more details that I realized it was more akin to a torture chamber, though. A Cardie with grey hair, suggesting that he was pretty old, was doing something to a Bajoran man that involved having him cut open and it wasn't entirely clear the Bajoran was yet dead.
Nothing I knew about the medicine of this time, which admittedly was limited, suggested that there was any value anymore to cutting someone open like this, not when you could just scan them and get far more complete information, or do experiments with a holographic simulation. The more time I spent on Bajor dealing with these bastards, the more it seemed that the Cardies did evil shit just for the sake of being evil fucks. No wonder everyone hated them and no wonder I had zero problem brutally killing every single Cardassian soldier I could get my hands on.
With clinical detachment that I'm sure this Cardassian would have appreciated under different circumstances, I shot the 'doctor' in the back of the head and then vaporized the Bajoran, on the off chance that he was still alive. I would not have been able to save him if he was alive and leaving him in that state to continue to suffer would have been no mercy. If he was alive the best I could offer him was a painless death and a return to the Prophets.
I quickly regretted killing the 'doctor' guy, though, as I realized that he would likely have known where to find the cure if there was one. Not that it was a huge mistake as there were computers in this room and I had gotten pretty decent using Cardassian technology. With them I was able to find mention of a cure and locate it.
Once I had it, enough to cure hundreds of people all in a few fully loaded hyposprays, I headed back to the workers' barracks. Things had gone smoothly so far and I saw no reason why that wouldn't continue. The disease was essentially the only thing keeping this place secure. This would all be over soon. For good measure I kept a sizeable sample for myself. After scanning it my replicators should be able to reproduce it. It would not surprise me to learn that the Cardassians were using it in other places on the planet.
(Line Break)
Moon Base. Jeraddo.
Since I commanded the Gothic Resistance Cell, as the name implied, and the Galor-class ship had finally left orbit, I had decided to take my girls and I back to the moon base. Kira needed some time to grieve in solitude before we returned to action or she'd go and do something that got herself, and perhaps others as well, killed.
As for myself, I didn't even know if I should try to comfort the young woman, so I let her be. I figured that Ro would do a much better job than I would anyway. She was both Bajoran and Kira's close friend, and I was an augment out of his own time. I couldn't relate that well even to my own species.
So instead I kept myself as busy as I could building new raiders and hoping that I could design a superior model while I was at it. That one would be all mine, and a lot less utilitarian and using much more advanced technology. Building these little ships was a great way to familiarize myself with the ins and outs and practical realities of ship construction. The raiders weren't that complex, little more than engines, weapons, and a crude life support system all welded within a metal frame, so it was great way to start building up my knowledge base. Since the gunship I was designing in my head was never meant for mass production, or being made by a very resource limited organization, I could have fun putting as many bells and whistles as I wanted onboard.
All these thoughts and plans for the future were going through my mind even as I was lying under a raider, trying to figure out this mess of a wiring job. It was such a mess that I was very glad to see Neela when she crawled under the small ship and started helping.
"Why haven't you talked to Kira?" Neela enquired, no accusation in her tone, as she started fiddling with some wires in much more competent manner than me. Not surprising considering how many raiders she'd rebuilt personally during her time with us.
I took a moment before answering.
"Honestly, I'm not very good at talking to people about personal stuff or heavy emotional stuff," I admitted, somewhat lamely.
It was the one thing the unaugmented me had been better at. I had far more trouble discussing feelings now than I'd used to. Not sure why either. Old me would have at least hugged Kira by now. If being slightly less in tune with my feelings as an augment was the extent of the unintended consequences of being changed so fundamentally, than I'd consider myself very lucky.
"When I have trouble doing something I struggle with I just think about what the Prophets would wish for me do," Neela stated.
Normally I'd hear something like that and scoff, but in this case I didn't, as I knew the Prophets did have big plans, and they did try to help, granted that help could come at a price. Still, at least they did something to aid us mere mortals, which was more than could be said for the other gods in this galaxy. Even Q, who often interacted with us lesser creatures, did more harm than good, and even when he wasn't being a pain in the ass he was still very annoying.
"The Prophets have better things to do than help me talk to women," I joked. "I doubt it's part of their plan for us".
Neela turned to look at me and I turned to look at her.
"You believe in the Prophets?" she asked in shock, having heard no mockery in my voice. "I didn't even think Terrans had a pagh... I mean of course you do, you're not the Cardassians, I just figured you didn't care about them, not like us Bajorans".
I nodded my head and then got back to making more adjustments. Compared to the repair work I'd learned to do on my ship these raiders were simple enough, so it didn't really require my full attention.
"We call them souls," I told Neela, before explaining things further. "Humans are secular nowadays, so we don't express our spiritual beliefs to others. Since we remain separate from any religion it also means we aren't allied with or against any particular religion; this makes it easier to ally with people like you whose faith defines them at all levels. But some people on Earth will have kept to the olds faith; there are many human faiths, in fact".
Neela seem very interested in this subject.
"So you believe in the Prophets," she said, "and in the pagh, or the soul, as you call it. Are you sure you're not Bajoran? Did you get some doctor to alter your nose?" she joked with a smile on her face.
That made me laugh.
"No, I'm human, mostly," I replied, "just with a whole lot of genetic engineering. But because I'm from a past time when humans weren't so secular, I don't have trouble with people expressing their faith. Well, as long as they don't try to forcibly convert others or use their faith as an excuse to harm people".
That sort of thing did piss me off.
"If you can talk to me about spiritual matters, of all things, then you can talk to Kira about her pain," Neela stated firmly. "Both are very personal, after all".
Now I was wondering if she'd done this on purpose. Trying to get me to open up like a normal person. Not that I really had, since I hadn't actually spoken about my faith, but since we were heading in that direction I decided to go do something less awkward.
"Fine, I'll try," I promised Neela, "but if I somehow make things worse, don't blame me".
Hopefully she wasn't crying. I wasn't sure I could handle crying. Stupid character development.