Welcome to the fourth installment of the "Further" Series!
This book is a little special since it'll not be an 100% ongoing story but rather short stories that don't always connect together perfectly or have huge time skips between them..
For clarity: Every fifth chapter (The ones that contain a Stardate in the title) is a special part. Mostly they play before or during one of the previous parts of the series (and sometimes even during this book here). They are not always in the right chronological order.
All other chapters (Without a Stardate) play after "Beyond the Frontier" and are chronological in order. (Eg means Chapter 3 is after Chapter 2, then follows Chapter 4 and so on.
Usually, one chapter is one mission or adventure, sometimes the chapters are longer or some adventures are split up in more chapters.
Okay that's it for information, let's get started with the first chapter, a special.
-oO Stardate 2256.183 Oo-
Carissa didn't mean to think inappropriately but she had never seen that many non-humans in all her life than on that day. Not even at the preparatory program for the Academy. Of course, that's what you get for applying at Starfleet, she thought to herself. Not that she minded, after all this was one of the reasons she had applied to the institution, to learn more about other cultures and ways of life and species by studying exobiology at Starfleet Academy. Despite all the thrill of meeting new people and aliens in the corridors or in classes, she was glad that she had gotten a human dorm-mate. And she thought that Nicole was one of the nicest dorm-mate one could get because the moment she had entered her new home for the next four years, the blonde woman seemed to have made it her mission to make sure that Carissa felt welcome. Luckily they had a similar schedule so that they could go to most their classes together. She had already feared to get lost somewhere because she was not quite used to such high-tech institutions. If she was honest it did remind her a bit of a hospital. But her dorm looked cozy, especially after she had put up some decoration and made room for her tomcat, Nero.
"Oh dear look. We've got Professor Gazalla. He's said to be very hot, did you know?" Carissa rolled her eyes.
"You didn't come here to start a relationship with a professor who's said to be hot? That probably could get you kicked out of Starfleet even before you can say 'Federation'"
"What? No! Besides, he's about 45 or so. A little too old. But can't a girl have fantasies?"
"You're impossible… how am I supposed to survive the next four years with you in my room?"
"You already took a liking to me, admit it"
"Unfortunately, you're right" Nicole chuckled "But you know, I'd much rather know the names of my classmates. After all we'll be interacting more with them than with the professors"
"True. But hey, we both already know one"
"Yeah, we do" she grinned and went on to browse to her next coursebook. Suddenly, her private PADD rang and with a sigh she noticed it was her mother calling. "Oh no. You probably don't want to hear that" she muttered to Nicole.
"Don't worry, pretend like I'm not even here" she pulled the covers over her head "Bah, the bed smells of dry cleaning" Carissa couldn't help but sniff the pillow herself and had to concur with Nicole before she answered the call
"Hello" she said, waving at the screen.
"Hi little one" her father greeted, while her mother was already rambling
"How was your first day, sweetheart? Did you make friends as you wanted? How are your classmates? Did you see many aliens? Have you seen your dorm yet? Is everyone nice to you? Did you have something decent to eat?"
"Mum" she groaned but then answered the questions.
"So your dorm-mate is human?"
"Yes, I am" Nicole shouted
"Uh yeah, that's her" she turned the PADD so that her parents could see Nicole
"I hope you have a good sleep because Carissa wakes up at least two times a night and always go to the toilet at least once. And sometimes she even uses her PADD in the middle of the night"
"Oh don't worry, I'm a heavy sleeper. But I also can throw parties at 3 AM if I want to"
"Okay, anyway" she said, dropping the PADD back onto the pillow "As you can see, I've arrived completely save"
"Do you already have your uniform?"
"Not really"
"What does that mean?"
"Well, I got one, but it's a uniform with a short skirt. And I'll ask if I can get a man's uniform with shirt and trousers" she awkwardly tugged on her skirt, hoping she could pull it down a bit more.
"Good. It's not ladylike to go walking around with your ass out. Just imagine what happens when you bend over!"
"But it might help with the grades" she heard Nicole mutter and snickered slightly.
"Did you have classes today?"
"Uh no, we've been at a kind of lecture about what we'll have to expect and we got our stuff. PADD and uniforms and codes and god knows what"
"A PADD? But you got a PADD already"
"Well yeah but apparently that PADD is ancient, as I got told. Starfleet uses other PADDs too, they run on a different system, it seems"
"Whatever. What did you learn today?"
"Nothing, Mum. Except some organizational stuff"
"And then?"
"Then we had a short tour through the facility and then were allowed to retreat to our dorms to have a look at our schedules and all"
"Did you unpack your things?"
"Most, yes"
"What about your cat?"
"Yes, he's fine too. At least I think he is" she threw a glance to the sleeping animal.
"Does your friend mind you have a cat?"
"No, she doesn't. I've asked her and she said she loved animals"
"I'm more of a dog person, but cats are amazing too" Nicole added
"Do you have your own bathroom?"
"No. I mean, we got a small room with a toilet and a sink but the showers are down the corridor"
"Good. Please tell me you haven't been to space yet?"
"No of course not. It was my first day"
"Are the teachers nice?"
"I only had contact with three staff people. I mean people I actually talked to… and yes, they seem okay"
"Good. Will you lock the door in the night? Not that a guy sneaks into your room…"
"Oh damn it Mum! Of course we can lock the door" she got up and did so "See, I just did it."
"Is your dorm far from the school?" her father asked
"Well there are some dorm-towers. Five, I guess. Though at least one is for staff. They're on Academy ground and it's like a two minute walk from the entrance of it to the building. But today we had about seven minutes until we found the right one and got inside"
"Are they gender-separated?"
"No. But usually there are a couple of floors for girls, then some for boys. And there are different codes to even get to the floors"
"But what if a boy knows the girl code and then walks in on you while you take a shower?"
"Well if that happens I'll rip out a hair, analyze it to get his DNA and report him to staff if I don't know his name. Besides, I don't think someone would do that. It didn't happen during the preparatory program, and there were no floor codes. And the showers are cubicles that you can lock from the inside with a bolt"
"That were only six weeks! This are four years"
"Mum please calm down. Actually… I'm rather tired and would like to prepare myself for tomorrow. First day of school and all"
"Ah, yes, of course. Sleep well, little one. We love you"
"Don't forget to call us, to tell us everything about your first day. Love you, sweetheart"
"Bye. See you tomorrow" she ended the transmission and sighed
"Wow, I think I know what you meant. They can ask a lot of questions. Weird questions"
"I know" she chuckled "I'm quite glad to be away from my Mum to be honest. Ever since I returned from the preparatory program she's been annoying me a little. Before I went there, I almost didn't want to leave because the longest I've been away was two weeks when I've been in a school camp"
"I see. Well if you want to go to sleep that's okay. If you don't mind me trying to find pictures of all our professors and make a ranking from ultra-hot to super ugly"
"Yeah do that. I'll have a look in a week and agree or disagree after I've seen them in person"
"Good point" Carissa only nodded and got up to go to the bathroom and brush her teeth. She then returned to the bedroom
"Uhm just a question… in my family we were very open with each other. Means we always left the door to the bathroom open, unless we had visitors. And we also didn't really make much of a fuss with undressing in front of each other"
"Sure. You don't have to lock yourself into the bathroom to get changed. I totally agree. I don't know about the toilet thing however… let's just close the door in the first weeks and see then, okay? But if you just want to wash your hands, brush your hair or so you can leave it open. Just when we're on the toilet."
"Perfect" she smiled and started slipping out of the uniform
"Oh my God, are those bananas with faces on your panties?" Carissa looked down and felt her cheeks heat up
"Uh yeah. It's silly, I know"
"No, they're actually quite cute" she grinned "just make sure not to wear them when you're trying to have sex or the guy will go bananas"
"Ha-ha"
"No, honestly, if the guy laughs at your underwear kick him out. Women are not supposed to dress like men want them to look but rather in things they are comfortable in. And, no offence, you definitely didn't dress to impress. I admire you"
"Okay, thanks" she smiled and put on her pajama.
"You really have a thing for tiny figures on your clothing, don't you?"
"Why? Oh, the owls" she glanced at the owls on her night trousers "Yeah, guess I do. They're cute though"
"Yeah, they are"
-oO Stardate 2256.186 Oo-
Even after three days at the Academy she still struggled will the room numbering system and it was not rare that she had to actually search a room and go into different directions until she found it. That was why she loved when she had lessons with Nicole, so that they could walk together. Maybe with time, she'd find out who would be in the class she was supposed to go next so that she could walk with them. And she was certain there was some kind of room numbering system and she wanted to figure it out to at least determine roughly which room had to be where. Right now she was almost running a little late for next class. Though, she wasn't actually late, at least not if she was correct this time. Finally, she found the correct classroom and entered, scanning it for any familiar faces. Shortly after, she spotted Nicole but the seat next to hear was already occupied. So she walked to another seat, next to a guy she had seen somewhere before.
"Does someone already sit here or can I?"
"Go on" he said, not really interested and after a nod, she sat down, getting out her PADD, a bottle with water and her stylus. A part of her wanted to talk to her desk-mate but he didn't look like he wanted to talk to her. To anyone, to be exact. So she just skimmed through her textbook and felt a pang in her chest since it all looked like complete garbage to her and she could make nothing of it. Suddenly, the other cadets started whispering and she looked up from the PADD, seeing that the professor had entered. Only at the second glance did she realize that he was not human. "Oh no, where did they pick up that Romulan?"
"I don't think he's a Romulan" she said "I mean, Romulans and the Federation are not exactly friends. So it makes no sense if they hired one to teach for Starfleet. I'm quite sure he's Vulcan" she stopped, when the man at the from started speaking
"Good afternoon, Cadets. My name is Professor Spock and ere I start the lecture I shall implement an attendance check. I trust you are already familiar with the procedure, which makes clarifications redundant" he paused for about two seconds "Cadet al-Shaheen?" Carissa blinked and turned to the man next to her
"Yeah he is Vulcan. The way he speaks almost makes it obvious"
"Kind of. He just sound so monotone like the emotionless being he is"
"Well actually Vulcans have emotions. I mean, they're sentient beings. Therefore they must be able to feel. They just use logic and all to control their emotion"
"Yeah whatever, a human would have been better. He didn't even welcome us properly and all"
"I think it's nice to have not just non-human cadets but teachers as well. I'm certain we can le-…" she stopped when she noticed it was too silent in the classroom and everyone, even the professor was looking at her
"Is there an issue I should be made aware of, Cadet…?" she felt her heart dive.
"Uh Wiley. N-no. Everything's okay. He just asked me something about the class and I tried to answer him. I-I'm sorry." he looked at her, raised an eyebrow then turned back to his list, calling up Cadet Flint. Carissa lowered her head and wished she could become invisible. Why did she have to anger him of all professors they had? Only now she realized that he probably also knew that she had lied to him, after all Vulcans had a very good hearing from what she knew. Therefore he probably knew what she had actually been talking to her classmate. If only that didn't have consequences. Especially since she had been talking about Vulcans. Hopefully he wasn't peeved. When he called up her name, she almost expected another reprimand but after she confirmed that she was here, he just went on. A part of her was certain he'd call her back after the lesson.
To her surprise nothing like that happened and almost to the tick he dismissed them. She packed her things a bit slower than usual, just in case he wanted to call her back in the last second. When nothing came, she even threw a look to the desk at the front but he was looking at something on his PADD. A breath of relief left her mouth and she grinned.
"Oh my God, what did you do?" Nicole asked once she had reached her friend "That he called out on you during the attendance check"
"Well, my desk-mate thought he was Romulan and then that Vulcans have no emotions"
"Lemme guess, you corrected him?"
"Yeah…"
"Don't think I hadn't noticed you seem to be mumbling whenever we cross a non-human. Are you actually naming their species when you meet a new alien?" she blushed a little
"Only if I really know the species. Or if I'm uncertain. I didn't know I say that out loud"
"You don't always. And not whole sentences. Just words"
"Oh fuck that's so embarrassing"
"Not as embarrassing as getting called out in the lesson. You hopefully didn't talk shit about Vulcans?"
"No, the contrary, actually. I tried to tell him they do have feelings"
"Hm okay. But I fear our dear Professor Spock still will have to move a few places back in my hot professor ranking. His character ruins it, he's not worth the third place"
"Let me guess, Gallaza is the first?"
"No, only second. But with his personality he might make it to the first place" she rolled her eyes but chuckled.
"Will you ever come to a good decision and make a final list?"
"Probably not. Or I should just stick with the photos. Maybe I should ask other cadets for their opinion that it's an objective ranking"
"Then you'd also have to ask boys"
"Right, good point. So it shall be girl-objective" Carissa shook her head "But you'll help me and participate in a possible survey?"
"Why not. As long as you promise you won't tell anyone"
"Of course not. I'll ask Lucie if she wants to join us too"
"Lucie?"
"Yeah, she sat beside me the last lesson"
"Ah okay" somehow a part of her felt a little jealous since Nicole seemed to have gotten along with her quite well. She feared that if it continued like that, she would become friends with Lucie instead.
-oO Stardate 2256.187 Oo-
Carissa was quite glad that the first week only lasted four days and only had three days of actual school before the weekend came. They had already gotten a load of homework for next week and so she had two days to complete them in peace. But if her first week had started without any kind of social complications, she would have been surprised. After she had gotten her food, she walked past the tables of the canteen quickly looking away when she spotted the professor's table. With that, she almost bumped into an older cadet, who sighed dramatically when he had to stop abruptly to avoid a collision.
"Sorry" she muttered as she finally spotted some empty seats a few tables further and walked there. For a while she and Nicole could eat in silence, then the cadet from the Vulcan's lesson showed up with some other guys
"Hey, Wiley, was it?"
"Uh yes?"
"Where'd your skirt go?" he asked and she looked down at her male version of the uniform she had finally gotten the last evening. "You know, my friend here" he pointed at the young man to his right "has said you look like a butch. Wouldn't you like to correct him?"
"I just feel more comfortable in trousers" she said
"That prudish?"
"No. Wearing a skirt feels weird" she spoke a part-truth
"Ah. Can you scientifically prove that? Seeing that you're so clever"
"Well uh… technically it makes anatomically more sense if women wear trousers and men skirts" Carissa said, not able to think of something else
"Oh that is interesting. And it makes sense. Is that why you choose trousers?"
"I don't know what her choice of clothing is any of your concern. Unless you want to admit you're sexist"
"Not me!" he chuckled and left, making Nicole shook her head
"Don't mind that idiot. Next time don't even answer his questions"
"Okay, I came here to make friends, not enemies, so I'll just ignore him"
"That's the spirit"
