Disclaimer: I own nothing related to or part of Star Trek. This fan fiction was written purely for fun.
Author's Note:
Hello my friends, welcome back to another installment of this story! After reading fanfiction for years, it's now my turn to write the ubiquitous, sorry for the delay author's note. Real life has been a real bitch in this time of Covid. My wife just started a new job in another city three hours away, I'm looking for a new one, all the while we are trying to sell our old house and buy a new one while living with my parents in our old hometown. So, yeah, it's been hard to find time and motivation to write, even though this story is never far from my mind. The very first scene in this chapter was one I was on and off envisioning in my head for literally weeks.
The Adventures of Augment Gothic
"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn."
– Benjamin Franklin
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever."
― Mahatma Gandhi
Chapter 6
Bay Harbor Arms Apartments. San Francisco. Earth
3 Months Since Arriving on Earth
This view, dude. My eyes kept returning to it, no matter where I was in this swanky apartment.
The windows were floor to ceiling, but you could barely recognize the fact that there was something between you and the fifty-story fall to the ground. The clarity of the 'glass' was insane and it must have some anti-glare coating on it because even with the sun shining directly on it in the morning you could still barely tell that it was there.
Of course, the sun was not an issue at the moment, being near midnight, but the moonlight reflecting off the water of the San Francisco Bay was beautiful in its own right. The flying cars even flying around at this time of night like fireflies in the night sky.
Like a great bird of prey my arms were outstretched, my wingspan wide, my Augment muscles large, tight, and well defined on full display, as my arms lay draped on the back of my sumptuous couch, a King in my gifted castle. I still had no idea what material it was covered with, but it was like a mix of suede, leather, and silk all in one.
Three months had already passed since I left the Enterprise and arrived on Earth, taking up residence in the Bay Harbor Arms Apartments and yet it felt I had only just arrived back on Earth and in the 24th century. For the first two weeks, I woke up each morning having to convince myself that it hadn't been just a really elaborate dream, that I really was in Star Trek.
Of course, it was hard to accept my new reality as actually real when so much of it resembled my teenage era fantasies. Looking down didn't help, as I only saw strawberry blonde curls moving up and down, my augment sized cock being practically devoured by a perpetually horny Annika Hansen during this long and slow blowjob. A fully naked, ridiculously sexy, 7 of fucking 9, was giving me an epic blowjob right now. So, yeah, I sometimes had a hard time believing that this was all real.
"Fuck, Annika, you're such a needy, horny little slut!" I growled, knowing how much Annika loved dirty talk like that.
Reaching down I threaded the fingers of my right hand through those blonde curls and roughly made a fist, pushing her down onto my cock hard and fast to let her know I was paying attention to her. Her choking moans and the way her fingers between her legs moved even faster was testament to how much she enjoyed the rough treatment from me.
Pulling her up and off I gave her a chance to speak, "Y-Yes, but only for you, sir! Only for you!"
That declaration was made with total sincerity, even as her eyes were clouded with unbridled lust, none of the usual incredible intelligence, drive, and brilliance shining through in this moment, just pure primal need. She wanted it, wanted my cock and me.
"You better not come before I give you permission, slut! You haven't earned it yet!" I growled, for effect, her rapid nods and increased fervor obviously telling me she liked it, forcing her down on my cock to the root, her mild asphyxia enhancing the moment's intensity.
Releasing my will, I came hard in her mouth. Her mouth filling with my cum, to the point it was overflowing. She swallowed it all with a smile on her face. Apparently, my cum tasted amazing now, according to Annika, and she couldn't get enough of it. She'd even reported feeling better after swallowing it, saying that she always felt energized after and general aches and pains were alleviated and she even thought she healed faster. The day after swallowing my semen she also reported feeling energized, more focused, more productive, and prone to bouts of creative intuition, essentially operating at a higher than normal level. I had no idea if that was true, but I sure as fuck wasn't telling anyone about it, especially a Federation doctor. The chance that my semen was addictive was a fear that had been growing.
It wasn't completely crazy according to my Star Trek knowledge. In Star Trek: Into Darkness, Khan's blood had some miraculous healing powers that could cure disease and even bring people back from near death. At the time I thought that that was ridiculous and OP as fuck, but part of me was terrified my blood would have similar properties. The idea my semen might have some benefits, wasn't crazy when viewed in that light. If it were true for me too, kidnapping me for study and keeping me as a living blood bank to sell would be a genuine danger. I wasn't ready for that.
Her rhythmic swallowing and careful cleaning of my cock of all its juices brought me back into the moment and away from my currently unconfirmed fears. The stereotype was right. It was always the quiet ones who were the biggest freaks. And this sexy librarian had proven to have the soul of a sex demon, it had taken an Augment like me with an eidetic memory and enhanced body to bring it out into the light, here to stay. Thank God I was an Augment now who had near perfect control of his body or she'd have broken the old me. My erection now worked like a hydraulic pump, I just needed to flip a mental switch and I was in boner city. No matter how many times we had sex, no matter how long it took, or how many times I came, it was always ready to go, with little in the way of recovery time.
Our relationship had blossomed over the course of these past 3 months, though we still hadn't made anything official. I was free to fuck other women and she other men, though I was certain she hadn't and had little desire to. Somehow, even though we'd never really talked about it, she could obviously sense that I was not in the market for a serious relationship, not when I was living the dream of being inserted into the Star Trek universe. There was so much pussy out there for this newly created Augment to slay, and this pinnacle of the human form would help me do it. That said, I was growing closer to Annika each day. In time, I feel like I could even love her, assuming she was capable of handling my lifestyle, meaning going on adventures in the galaxy. No matter how much I cared for her, there was no way I was tying myself permanently to Earth.
Pulling her roughly off my cock by her hair, I had her rise to her feet to push her up against the 'glass' wall of my apartment. If anyone could see in, which I knew they couldn't, they'd see Annika's huge and perky tits, D cups, pressed up against the cold surface.
Bending her deep at the waist, her hands flat on the glass in front of her, I gently kicked her legs further apart to gain access to that dripping wet cunt, roughly rubbing the head of my cock up and down her drooling slit, but only slipping a little inside.
"Beg me, whore. Beg me to fuck this cunt," I ordered.
"P-Please, sir, please fuck this slutty whore's body! Please stick your big, fat Augment cock in this cunt and take your pleasure from it! It's yours, sir! It's yours!" Annika begged, her chanting growing louder each time, just like I asked.
"You better fucking believe it, slut. This cunt is mine for as long as I want it, now get ready, I'm going to rearrange your insides!" I growled into her ear, my hot breath adding another layer to this encounter.
With that said, I slapped all ten inches of my new and improved cock on that fat ass a few times, her breath hitching in anticipation, her eyes now gazing back at me vacantly, filled with need, waiting, begging me to fuck her. In another dimension this would have been 7 of 9.
Grabbing her roughly by the hips, my upward thrust was a bit haphazard, uncaring which hole I took, luckily for her, penetrating her pussy balls deep in one thrust, rather than her ass. Her squealing and shrieking, moaning and whimpering in that moment, was music to my ears. Even though we'd had sex many, many times, on virtually every surface of this apartment and in many places in the university library, she had never gotten used to my size. Pumping into her at a quick pace, I let my hands roam all over her sexy body, often reaching up for those large and perky tits, twisting the nipples just enough to add some spice to this encounter. Grabbing her by the throat and gently squeezing, I pulled her back to devour her mouth, our tongues intertwining as I bent her back in an arch.
I still had no idea why this occurred, but being an Augment seemed to make humanoid women extremely submissive to me when it came to sex. In my old life I had been vaguely aware of dominance and submission as a sexual lifestyle, the Fifty Shades of Grey books and movies being popular at the time, but had neither had a strong desire to dominate my partners, nor had any of my partners ever shown a submissive side in the bedroom. But for some reason, every single humanoid woman I'd banged so far, with the exception of Guinan, had taken on a very submissive bent when it came to sex with me.
I certainly wasn't complaining, but it did take some getting used to! Part of me had been shocked at how well I took to the role of sexual dominant and how much I enjoyed it. In the quiet moments after our first few times sleeping together, Annika had expressed how incredible our lovemaking/fucking was and how surprised she was at how much she enjoyed being the submissive to me, saying she'd never known that about herself and how fulfilling it was to switch her mind off and enter that 'sub space,' a place where I made the decisions and used her body for my pleasure.
I was happy to provide what she liked, I liked it too, but again, I suspected there was some kind of ancient humanoid instincts in the DNA that somehow triggered this behavior, because statistically it was kind of hard to believe that I kept finding submissive women to fuck. Could all humanoid women somehow sense I could provide them with strong babies? Thank God Beverly had created a contraceptive injection strong enough to work even for my physiology, or else I'd have impregnated every sexual partner I'd had so far.
No joke, Beverly had needed to take and study a sample of my semen and found my sperm were just as augmented as I was. Without contraception, if it was even remotely possible for my partner to get pregnant, my sperm would likely get the job done. A new variant of the standard contraception for human men had needed to be created to deal with it. It was so strong, she'd told me that computer simulations suggested that a baseline human male would actually be rendered permanently infertile because of it.
Snapping back into the moment, I groaned aloud at the sheer pleasure I was feeling. Say what you will about smart girls, but if they put their minds to it, those same epic research skills could be focused on the sexual arts. Annika had been religiously practicing her Kegel exercises since we'd started having sex, because that cunt was rhythmically gripping and squeezing me.
Gripping her hips with near bruising strength, I started a fast pace that would have been unsustainable by a baseline human for more than a few seconds. My Augment physiology meant I could keep it up for however long I wanted. I was even toning down the strength of my thrusts as I didn't want to break her pelvis. Annika obviously had no complaints as she was practically shrieking at the top of her lungs now in pleasure, the room reeking of sex at this point.
Gripping her hair, I pulled on it hard, yanking her back in time with my thrusts, spanking her with my other hand.
"I'm getting ready to cum, slut. Convince me to cum in that slutty cunt of yours!"
"P-Please, sir, cum in this slut. I don't deserve it, but please use your bitch like the cum slut she is. I'll be your cum dump whenever you want!"
"Get ready to cum, slut, I'm about to fill you up with my cum!" I roared.
Releasing my iron hard will, I let go and came inside Annika. She had waited for me, and started screaming aloud, her cunt going crazy squeezing like my cock like a vice, before seemingly going limp and falling unconscious. Thankfully I wasn't so lost in the moment I didn't notice her shutting down, as I caught her midair and brought her to the bed, my mind flashing back to our first night together and the 3 months I'd spent improving myself in this new time.
XXXXX
3 Months Ago
Looking up at the ceiling of my apartment, I felt rather content. Part of that probably had something to do with the smoking hot blonde bombshell that was lying naked in my bed, her head lying on my chest over my heart, her hair tickling my nose slightly.
She was stuck to me like a limpet, with one smooth and well-formed thigh thrown over my legs and was sleeping like the dead after the workout I'd put her through. The body control and stamina of an Augment certainly helped in the bedroom, but at other times it was a double-edged sword. My bed partner had conked out after her third orgasm and an hour of love-making, leaving me ready to go more. I had enjoyed myself thoroughly and had come too, but it was a strange feeling to know you could fuck all night.
In this rare case the spirit and body were both strong and ready for more.
Still, I had just banged 7 of freaking 9! Well, kind of. Her dimensional counterpart had never become a Borg, but she was still smoking hot. As a super fan of the shows, I was pretty psyched. A short time in this dimension and I'd already banged canon women like Guinan, Lwaxana Troi, Keiko, and now 7 of 9.
Life was damn good right now, but I still felt a desire for more. I knew what was coming in the years to come. War on a level that eclipsed all the wars previously. My foreknowledge was also an advantage that could be exploited and set me up for a long, long life, if only I was smart, skilled, and positioned well enough to do it.
Right now, I had the education of a typical adult in the Federation, but none of the specialized skills that would better help me survive the troubles that were coming or allow me to take advantage of my knowledge.
I had so much to learn if I was going to get out in space, but thankfully I still had quite a bit of time before the shit really hit the fan.
XXXXX
Learning to Program
A few days since arriving on Earth
Sitting down at my new computer, I was feeling pretty confused. The lifeblood of an advanced civilization were its computers, without them everything here fell apart. They ran everything and modern life was fundamentally dependent on them, with technology intertwined at practically every level of life.
Just like in 2016, computers were nothing without their programing, the way we gave computers instructions. A computer, no matter how advanced, could do nothing until a computer programmer told it what to do. That was true in 2016 and it was true now, in the 24th century.
As a combat engineer, I hadn't needed to know or do much programming beyond some bare basics, but I certainly recognized how important and valuable it could be in the right circumstances. Learning fundamentally, how the computer technology of the Federation worked and how to program computers, would be vital in my success in this time and to eventually captaining a ship of my own and designing and building new technology. That was why it was one of the first things I wanted to learn now that I was on Earth. My Augment mind was a super computer in its own right, it was time to apply that new intellect to this task. This was a skill that would probably make everything else easier.
Unfortunately, at the start of this ambitious goal, my mind was running off on a bit of a tangent, though a related one. Sitting in front of my computer, in this swanky ass 24th century apartment, I found myself rather disappointed, and pretty confused. The personal computer my apartment had was essentially a thin glass monitor panel. A bit futuristic, admittedly, but not exactly screaming 24th century tech. There was also no keyboard, or mouse, or any visible way to input things or type, which made zero kinds of sense to me. Was I seriously supposed to dictate everything aloud? Was that seriously the most efficient way to do things? It was cool, absolutely, but come on. I had seen a few instances of PADDs with a pencil-like stylus for some kind of input, but how did that work exactly?
Seriously, where were the advanced holographics for all this shit? I should seriously have a holographic display and control interface. This was the future, right?! I'd seen Data with a handheld holographic portrait of Tasha Yarr in that one episode, so the tech was obviously available, couldn't they have created something like that for a computer display? Add in a bit of tech that obviously existed in the holodeck and you could have a dynamic display and control interface, fully tactile. With a holographic display I could pull some true Iron Man shit here, make a dozen displays floating in mid-air, manipulate it with my hands, touch it, spin it around, enlarge or shrink. But, nope. This monitor or display, or whatever the fuck it was called, wouldn't have even been that futuristic looking in my time. As an engineer this was driving me a bit crazy. The hologram tech had already been invented. Was it lack of imagination? I sensed an opportunity for profit here, and was potentially a source for a lifetime of profit, but that would be a long way off.
The personal computer technology of Star Trek was a bit of an unknown to fans of the show and the few glimpses we had been given had never made much sense to me. To be fair, though, fans had only gotten a few glimpses of what that might look like, and typically only in the context of a Starfleet ship.
On the Enterprise D, we saw a handful of what could possibly be considered 'personal' computers, like in Captain Picard's office or in a few of the bridge officers' quarters. Those, though, looked like small, but thick laptops sitting on desks to the sensibilities of someone in 2016. Some had wondered if those in-office computers on the ships weren't, in fact, essentially all terminals anyway, merely really shitty monitors and display devices and the ship's central computer core did all the actual computing. The screens were tiny, the things didn't have any kind of keyboard or mouse, and we never actually saw anybody touch the screen. Of course, we did see people talk to the computer all the time, but that was it. Was this really the best of what 24th century technology could provide in terms of computing?
But, again, you had to remember the context. The shows were a product of their respective times, no matter how far in the future it was set, the show, Star Trek the Next Generation, had come out in 1987. Sure, they had laptops then, but the things were the size of a small briefcase, weighed 18 pounds, and cost like $40k a unit. You don't even want to know the specs on it. So that prop computer on Picard's desk looked pretty fucking advanced at that point in time. The show's creators were obviously limited by the technology of the time and their own imaginations when the show was made. I once read an interview with a sci-fi director who said something to the effect that 'if you didn't want your tv show or movie's tech to look dated in 5 years, you had to make your own.'
Star Trek had done an amazing job on that front in many respects, especially the 60's era original series, which had inspired engineers for decades to come. TNG, though, not so much. The later series weren't much better. Deep Space 9 had Cardassian tech, which was truly alien, and Voyager later followed the example TNG set when it came to computers. It was only with J.J. Abrams' Star Trek movie of 2008, set in Kirk's time period, that the technology base of our time was advanced enough to show some cooler tech at work.
"Computer, I would like to learn all about the computer technology of the Federation and other major powers, including how to program for those systems. Is there a way for me to learn those skills in a practical fashion," I asked aloud to the room.
"As a staff member of the University of San Francisco library, you have access to the interactive learning programs offered by Starfleet Academy on that subject. Would you like to begin the coursework?" the computer responded.
That was exactly what I was hoping to hear.
"Thank you, computer. Can you display what this learning program includes?"
A great deal of information filled my display's screen. And what a course of study it was. A Starfleet cadet had some serious expectations placed on them, especially those entering the engineering officer track. The other officer tracks, like command and sciences, obviously needed to know a lot of this, but the engineers' course of study was far more in depth and detailed, delving deeply into the programming of a starship's computer programming and functioning. Of course, this was a learning program created by the Federation, meant for a wide variety of potential species with varying levels of knowledge and familiarity, so it was pretty comprehensive and essentially took nothing for granted in terms of what the user was supposed to know already. That was a Godsend. It included everything that was covered in the years before the Academy (though optional), the four years of formal schooling in the Academy, plus advanced topics that would take someone firmly into the doctoral coursework levels.
The interactive courses, with practical exercises and evaluations to complete throughout to test the student's proficiency and grasp of the material, was set out in painstaking detail on a timeline or sequence, one topic building up to the next, then to the next, and so on. I was pleasantly surprised that around the late 3-year mark, the programming methodologies of the Klingons, Romulans, and a handful of unique Federation member worlds, were optional study areas. That was smart and was probably meant to serve as a source of contrast to standard Federation programming techniques. Seeing the differences in how the various races did the same things could be rather illuminating and a budding engineer/programmer could get some good ideas from how other races tackled similar problems.
Unfortunately, there was nothing on Cardassian programming techniques, which would probably be pretty fucking useful if I ever found myself on Deep Space Nine. I'd have to see if I could purchase or acquire something that could help there. Best case scenario, I could find something meant to teach Cardassian civilians how to code, worst case, I could try to reverse engineer their programming techniques and style by playing with some Cardassian tech.
I guess it was time to start, the journey of a thousand miles and all that. While I was excited to learn, too bad there was no fast forward on this training montage.
XXXXX
Holodeck 42. San Francisco University Library. Earth.
Three months since arriving on Earth
'Well, wasn't this familiar,' I thought with humor, as I entered one of the staff holodecks in the university library. It very much followed the Enterprise holodeck aesthetic with the large black square panels outlined in bright ass orange lines. The room itself was rectangular and probably half the size of the holodecks I had used on Picard's ship, but that made sense. There were a shit ton more holodecks in this library than there were on the flagship.
Working in a library definitely had its advantage, and banging the head librarian into a pleasure coma on the regular also didn't hurt when it came to reserving a holodeck for some training.
It'd been a little over three months since I had arrived on Earth and yet this was seriously the first time I'd set foot in a holodeck, that should tell you just how long and difficult a topic computer programming was in the 24th century. I had probably spent 12-14 hours a day since I arrived just studying that, in a state of hyper-focus and multi-tasking that was unique to the abilities of an Augment, since it certainly wasn't possible for a baseline human. Having a hot blonde willing to give a long, lazy blowjob under your desk at the drop of a hat helped a lot. A little over three months of intense study and I'd completed an interactive learning program that covered 7-8 years' worth of study.
For some reason, it had just clicked. The total logic of it, the clarity, the beauty of it. Yes, a well written program could be beautiful in the same way a painting, or a musical work, or sculpture could be beautiful. When done well, it was a harmony of purpose, a work of elegance and efficiency.
The Federation's standard programming languages, techniques, and methodologies were a harmony of purpose all their own considering how many races were part of the Federation. At the beginning I couldn't really spot the difference, but now it was like someone had painted the various bits of code in a different color, font, and size. Each race did things differently, thought differently, viewed and conceptualized the world and universe in slightly different ways and with enough practice and experience you could easily spot and identify which race some particular bit of programming came from, or what race had influenced it. Federation programming was a bit of a mutt like that, but just like a mutt, it was stronger and healthier and more robust than its pureblood cousins for having been combined together.
But that wasn't my purpose for today. I was ready to take my next step in this training montage. And this time I'd be learning something a bit more traditionally fun and physical, something that could save my life one day.
"Computer, give me a standard Starfleet hand phaser, the design currently in use," I ordered aloud. Moments later the computer placed a small long, rectangular table in front of me with the phaser sitting on the table top, the black and orange grid on the walls still visible, since I hadn't asked for anything that would have affected the environment.
For several moments I geeked out, the smile on my face being stupidly large as I looked down at this piece of Star Trek fame. That lasted about a minute. I looked at the weapon from as many different angles as I could, turning it over, picking it up, and taking fake shots at imaginary targets with my own sound effects. In hindsight, I probably looked like a fucking idiot, making firing sound effects when I had as close to a working phaser as I could get without having the real thing. Why was I going "pew, pew, pew?"
'This will never be spoken of,' I thought embarrassedly, clearing my throat.
The type 2 phaser was sleek, silver colored, with a handle flowing into the form of a muzzle cowling and emitter. The weapon featured a large, illuminated power level readout, with two small buttons for beam width and intensity control, and a larger one to actually fire the thing with your thumb. A power level readout was pretty vital. This thing fired energy, not bullets, but the power cell was finite, just like ammo, and when you ran out of energy, well, that was that, you had a paperweight to throw at someone.
"Computer, show me the technical schematics and details," I ordered, a great deal of data now appearing in midair, which I quickly scrolled through and read. None of this was classified, in the same way that the technical schematics of a Glock weren't in my time.
This thing had 16 power settings, ranging from stun to heavy stun to kill to disintegration. The energy beam it fired could also be set to narrow, affecting a single target, or to wide beam, affecting two or more targets over a wide area. It could be used as a weapon, a cutting tool, an explosive device, or an energy source.
Yes, undoubtedly a cool looking weapon in the show, but after a few minutes, looking at it with the eyes of a soldier and engineer who had seen combat… Well, this thing was not something I'd want to take into battle.
Bottom line, this was a tool, a multi-function tool, rather than a true weapon. It was just trying to do too much! Like the designers were afraid to really make a weapon meant for one purpose, to fight and kill. No, the type-2 phaser was like the Swiss Army knife of weapons. A Swiss army knife was a great multi-function tool, extremely useful for a lot of tasks. For fighting and killing, though? Well, it had a knife, sure, but good luck if you tried to take that knife to war and stab somebody with it with the intent to kill or to defend yourself from someone trying to kill you. Yeah…it was possible, but not exactly easy or likely.
Why did they give up the pistol-style configuration? I know the phasers in the 23rd century, the era of Kirk, had pistol grips, so why give it up The humanoid hand hadn't changed in that time. Picking it up, I tried to visualize fighting with it. The way the weapon was designed meant you had to hold it kind of awkwardly, and almost entirely one-handed. There would be no easy two-handed grip for stabilization. Because it was essentially a one-handed weapon and there were no sights to speak of, you basically had to fully extend your arm and lock the elbow, using the arm like a sight. How fucking awkward.
"Computer, give me a humanoid silhouette target at 20 feet."
I picked up the weapon, turned it on, set it to stun, narrow beam and fired.
A crimson bolt of continuous bright ruby red energy flew down range to strike the target in the heart. A shot to the heart wasn't exactly necessary anymore for stunning or killing, but I guess some habits were hard to overcome. They had been ingrained in me over the course of many hours on the range after all.
Sighing with a frown, I set the weapon down. A loud beam of bright red energy streaking through the air and creating a direct trail straight back to your position seemed nonsensical and outright fucking ridiculous. It was like shouting your position to anyone with eyes, allowing them to know exactly where the shot had come from. What was the purpose of that? Had advanced sensors and life sign detection rendered this aspect of combat obsolete? That just didn't track with my memory of the shows. People were always finding ways to mess with the sensors or hide their life signs.
I could see this continuous firing beam being a good idea in one sense. You could fire and then essentially adjust your aim in real-time to strike the target, like with a tracer. You wouldn't need to peer through your sights to adjust, though this weapon didn't have sights. I'd only seen one episode in all of series where a phaser was fired like that, though. The rest of the time it was like they couldn't adjust the beam after it was fired. Like they were firing a gun with a bullet and adjusting its trajectory after it left the barrel was an impossibility. In a small unit, it would also clearly indicate which target you had chosen. That was kind of useful.
No, a pulse firing mode was a much better option in my opinion, like the style the Klingon and Jem'Hadar used for their energy weapons. If I was designing this weapon, I'd get rid of all this fluff and embrace that it's a weapon meant to kill. Then I'd do something about how fucking loud it was and how bright the energy beam was. Seriously, making the energy pulse small, compact, and dense, while toning down the color, would make it far more useful.
"Computer, show me a Klingon military disrupter and a type 1 phaser, include technical schematics and details."
Picking it up and handling it, I fired it at the target.
The Klingon disrupter was a weapon meant to kill, having very few frills, a longer barrel with rough iron-like sights, and a pistol style grip (though a bit weird) allowing for a better grip.
The type-1 phaser, also known as the cricket phaser, though I'm not sure where I'd heard that, was actually an impressive weapon. It had eight settings, ranging from stun to disintegration. There was no grip whatsoever and you fired it with your thumb again, but if only for its extremely small size, it was impressive. It was perfect for diplomatic missions where a visible weapon wouldn't be a good idea or when you needed to conceal it for undercover work. I had no complaints about that. It'd make a great holdout or backup weapon, though its small size meant the power cell was small. That was the tradeoff. It had just enough power to be fired once on its highest setting, disintegration, before the power cell was totally depleted, and up to 10 times on stun and 5 times on kill, alone.
After firing it a few times, an errant thought struck me, hard. These were energy weapons, why on Earth was a beam of energy moving so fucking slowly?! Seriously, I once saw someone duck out of the way in an episode. That wasn't going to happen with a bullet. In the show I thought it was just because of the special effects limitations of the time, or the need to emphasize the beam to maximize it's cool factor. In war, it was just plain stupid. I'd have to look into speeding it up somehow if I ever designed a weapon of my own. I mentally added it to my ever-growing list of design projects.
"Computer, begin Starfleet Academy weapons training program and small unit tactics interactive learning program."
The holodeck environment changed to that of a classroom with drawings of the type 1, type 2, and type 3 phaser, otherwise known as the phaser rifle. A gruff looking human officer in uniform with a severe frown on his face also appeared, bringing back some unpleasant memories from my time in basic.
Looking directly at me, the man projected like he was shouting right in my face.
"Welcome to Starfleet weapons training for cadet officers! In this 3-phase course you will learn to care for and use these weapons. At the end of this course, if you pass, you will be fully qualified on these weapon systems and can own these weapons in the Federation and use them during your service with Starfleet. In phase 1 you will learn how to disassemble, clean, and reassemble your weapon, as well as safe handling procedures. You will also learn how to safely change and/or recharge the weapon's power cell, diagnose and determine weapon malfunctions and perform basic repairs. You will not be firing any weapons during this phase. During phase 2 you will fire your weapon. The objective of this phase is to get you used to safely and accurately handling your weapon. You will also learn how to hit your target and will receive feedback about your downrange performance and advice how to improve your marksmanship."
Damn, some things changed, and others stayed exactly the same. It was eerie how similar this was to my military training. The weapons may be more advanced, but this training was practically the same. As for marksmanship, I had a feeling being an Augment gave me a huge advantage on that front that I didn't have before. I was looking forward to testing that out. After becoming an Augment everything physical came easy to me.
"During phase 3, you will complete the official qualification course and exam. You must pass the minimum standards set in order to graduate from this weapons training course to begin small unit tactics training. You will shoot targets, single, pop up, and interactive, from three firing positions, supported prone, unsupported prone, and foxhole. If you pass this training course you will receive an official license to purchase and possess a firearm in the Federation or be issued one onboard a Starfleet vessel."
Well, that was useful. I'd have to confirm this was the case, but from the sound of it, passing this course in the holodeck actually meant I'd be granted an official firearm license from the Federation.
Directing my eyes to the training officer, I indicated to him (and the computer) I wanted to begin.
XXXXX
Holodeck 49. San Francisco University.
4 Months Since Arrival on Earth.
It had taken a month to complete my firearms training and to learn everything a Cadet officer would learn about small unit tactics and shipboard combat with firearms. Much of it I had a profound disagreement with, but I felt it was still a good use of my time to learn what a Starfleet officer would have. Energy weapons did require different tactics and handling; that was mostly true.
I had many positive takeaways from it, the best of which was learning all about the energy weapons of the Federation, and the various other powers. I could disassemble and reassemble, clean and repair them blindfolded now, in seconds. I'd also qualified as a master marksman, for whatever that was worth in this day and age, my enhanced sight and hand/eye coordination making hitting my target easy, regardless of movement. The reflexes of an Augment and the targeting computer in my brain were fearsome things.
The course was very useful though. Energy weapons were not the conventional weapons I had been trained in and used during my time in the military. They were still weapons, but the underlying technology and mechanics meant I had to learn some different ways of thinking. One such thing was a lack of real recoil when firing. Because the fired energy has a practically zero ratio of momentum to energy output, the weapons produced a negligible recoil at best, which changes the way you handle and fire the weapon. That put the fucked-up grips of the type 2 hand phaser in a different light, but I still thought it was stupid for other reasons. Gravity and wind speed also affect energy weapons very little, except on particularly long-range shots, but even then, it was far less than with a traditional projectile weapon.
Some of the negatives, though, were problematic when I knew the alpha quadrant would face war in a few short years. Humanity had somehow forgotten many lessons of war. It's like the 24th century Federation had forgotten its existence was not by divine mandate, like it no longer needed to fight to survive. The 23rd century Federation would be ashamed at what they had become.
During my training I was shocked at the fact that no form of standard armor existed in Starfleet's forces. They also had no modern weapon equivalents for combat knives, machine guns, grenade or missile launchers, mines of any sort, grenades of any sort, drones (weaponized or otherwise) or artillery. The list went on. The few heavy weapons available, like phaser canons or photon torpedoes, were only intended to be mounted on ships. It was silly.
My training and experience from the 20th century, honed in Iraq and Afghanistan, sometimes in battle, would be incredibly useful in this time, simply because these guys, including even the Klingons, fought like it was still the wild west where we just shot weapons at each other, mostly hand weapons, till someone got hit.
Luckily, this training course granted me a license at the end of it, and that was useful. I was now licensed to purchase and possess a type 1, 2, and 3 phaser in the Federation. That didn't give me the right to have one on my person on a Starfleet ship or other official government installations or buildings, though, which made perfect sense.
I was surprised they even allowed their citizens that much, but the mentality of the average Federation citizen was quite different from my time. Acting on a hunch, I had pulled up the statistics on weapon ownership and had learned that only 0.3% of the entire Federation population had a weapons license, even though the licensing course and test was not that onerous. The training program I had taken, designed for people on the way to becoming Starfleet officers, people who would routinely use phasers and potentially fire them in combat or on away missions, was far more rigorous and comprehensive than the ones actually intended for civilians.
The civilian license was basically just a safety training course and some range time to show that you could semi-accurately fire the thing on target. Of course, the civilian licensing test only allowed the person the right to purchase and possess a phaser up to type 2.
The people of this time just didn't see the need for it. The Federation was safe and easy, after all. Boy, would they be in for a surprise when Federation worlds were occupied by the Jem'Hadar during the Dominion War, like Betazed had been.
XXXXX
Curious Curios. Outside San Francisco. Pescadaro, California. Earth.
Four Months Since Arrival on Earth
If a pawn shop and an antique store got together and had a baby, this store would be that baby.
On a whim I'd asked my apartment's computer for a place where I could buy technology, Federation and otherwise. Amongst the many listings, this place's name had stuck out. In my time a place like this could have some hidden gems in it; I knew that from personal experience, having made some incredible finds while on tour in Iraq.
This place was in a huge warehouse-like building, looking like one of the big-box stores of my time. I was already intrigued. Entering the store, a beaming man, human, in his late 60s, greeted me. He had a very middle Eastern look to him, which brought a wave of nostalgia.
"Welcome, my friend, to Curious Curios! I am Azad, the owner and operator of this fine establishment! How can I help you today?" the man apparently named Azad asked. His enthusiasm brought back some good memories from the markets of Iraq. Those folks knew how to hustle.
A genuine smile was now on my face. "Hello Azad, I'm Gothic," I responded, as I shook his hand gently, careful to moderate my strength. "I don't have any specific goals in mind for today, just wanted a look around to see what strikes me."
"Of course, of course! You seek an adventure in my shelves! Azad will provide! If you have a PADD I can send you a map of our warehouse."
Pulling out a small PADD from my pocket, I set it down on the counter, Azad obviously having done something because it beeped indicating it had received a transmission. Picking it back up I saw an interactive map of the store was now available. I activated it and boggled at it for a moment. A blinking red dot on the map now indicated where I was in the store, in real time. Putting my PADD on the desk had obviously identified it to the system that controlled this store.
"Azad, just how big is your store?" I asked, paging through the list of areas, all clearly labeled by category, many of which were intriguing, like weapons, tools, computers, replicators and starship components. The map of this place looked like a labyrinth of paths and shelves.
The answering grin was clearly one of pride, "My store's warehouse space spans over 1 square mile, containing items of all types from all over the alpha quadrant, not just the Federation! As you can see from the map, each area is clearly marked by category," he said, tapping on my PADD gently to show what he was talking about. "The blinking dot indicates your current position in the store and provides clear instructions to get to each area and the most efficient path back to this spot. If you don't know what something is," at this he threw a wink at me, "or want more information, simply scan the item with your PADD. Doing so will bring up a description, technical schematics and details, a price and brief history of the item will appear, possibly how we acquired the item. You can even complete the purchase while in the warehouse itself, the credits being automatically deducted from your personal account. Anti-grav sleds are scattered throughout the warehouse at most intersections, feel free to use them to retrieve larger items and bring them to the front. If the item is too large, simply call for assistance or pay a small additional fee for in-home delivery."
Well, that was certainly convenient.
"Thank you, Azad, I'm getting excited already!" I joked.
This place really was shaping up to be an adventure and I needed the break. The last four months had been spent in intense study and I felt like I was on the cusp of burning out. Stuffing years' worth of study into a few short months would do that to you, Augment or not. Hyper focus for that sheer length of time was unnatural, after all.
"Please signal me on your PADD if you require any assistance. Your PADD is connected to our system while in the store and it can function like a communication relay."
With that I entered the large doors to the warehouse. Interestingly, they were in the style of the cargo bay doors on the Enterprise. Maybe that was Federation standard for such spaces?
I was unprepared for what I saw when the doors opened. As far as the eye could see, semi-neat rows of 12-foot-tall shelves stretched out before me. In many ways, it reminded me of the scene in Raiders of the Lost Arc when they were storing the crate containing the Arc of the Covenant in some mysterious government warehouse. My eyes were darting to and fro as I wandered aimlessly for a while, scanning items with my PADD when I didn't know what the item was. That happened an embarrassing amount of time.
I was currently in the alien art antiquities section, which I had limited interest in, but it was still intriguing what had ended up here in this store. My eyes fell on a small statuette that I distinctly remembered from an episode of TNG. Scanning the item with my PADD, I read the brief description available.
Horga'hn – Statuette – Polished and Oiled Obsidian - Fertility symbol on the Federation planet, Risa, representing sexuality. Purchased at an estate sale by Curious Curios.
I was tempted to buy it, mostly because it was something I recognized from the shows, but since I wouldn't likely be traveling to Risa anytime soon, it'd probably be best to wait. If I ever did end up visiting Risa, I'm sure I could pick one up there and figure out just what the hell 'jamaharon' was. It obviously had something to do with sex, most things on Risa did, but TNG was too kid friendly to explain.
Looking at my PADD I found the section labeled 'weapons.' After a month of intense training, I was curious just what this place had. If the items I had seen so far were any indication, they'd likely be old. Nothing here was new, but that was part of the fun. You could order new items from just about anywhere on the planet using credits, but this place was all about the find, unique artifacts and antiquities from all over the quadrant. It made sense, not everything was replicated or was cheap enough to be put back into the replicator for recycling. People died, people wanted to get rid of old stuff, people needed money so they'd sell something, and other species came to Earth all the time looking to engage in commerce and trade. It looked like a lot of stuff ended up here after a while. That suited me just fine.
Several weapons interested me, but the Klingon and Romulan disrupters, a Klingon d'k tagh, and a 23rd century Starfleet phaser caught my eye. It was a bit of risk, but I wanted them all to study. I had taken apart the Klingon and Romulan disrupters a thousand times on the holodeck and could do so blindfolded now, but a holographic weapon was only good on a holodeck. All of these were currently uncharged, and thus non-functional, but the power cells could be charged with a universal charger, also for sale.
The Klingon combat knife, from what I could tell, had not belonged to a noble house as there was no iconography of a Klingon family on the hilt of the blade. The inventory database indicated it was a standard knife issued to soldiers in the Klingon military. I was interested in studying the blade's metallurgy to make a knife of my own using the more advanced materials of this time.
The 23rd century Starfleet phaser was the most curious of all. It was definitely a better designed weapon than the modern type 2 phaser used by Starfleet. Unlike that one, this early design had a pistol grip, which offered a lot more stability and firing methods, a more traditional trigger and trigger guard, rudimentary sights, and a smarter power cell location in the hand grip of the weapon for quicker and easier changing of the power cell. I could see several ways to improve upon this design too. What was curious was that this was not the phaser we saw in TOS, in the time of Kirk, but in the alternate reality Kirk timeline like seen in the 2008 movie. Some shenanigans were at work or the 60s era show didn't do as good a job with that prop weapon and this was the true weapon of that time period, but I'd take my luck where I could. The design, while kind of silly in the way it changed between its stun and kill setting, was a definite improvement over the modern version.
Buying these weapons was a bit of a risk; the Federation might be rather unhappy with the idea of me buying three energy weapons, and I'm sure they'd know practically instantly, but I had looked it up and it was perfectly legal. Of course, there was a big difference between legal and a good idea, especially when I was trying to distance myself from the violent and tyrannical Khan-era Augments who had nearly destroyed Earth, but I couldn't live my life in fear like that. The soldier in me was definitely happy with the idea of having some protection, just in case. The engineer in me was happy about taking these designs and coming up with something even better.
Moving on, I walked for about 5 minutes at a brisk pace to the next area I was interested in, non-Federation technology. I seriously didn't recognize half the shit here, having to scan the items one after the other to learn just what the hell they were. I had mostly given up on finding anything all that interesting when I found two items tucked away behind another item, hidden from view.
If you knew what to look for, with just a glance at the design and look of a piece of tech you could often tell who had made it. The design aesthetics of a race could actually be quite distinctive. Certain colors, certain angles, certain shapes, common iconography, if you knew what to look for it could often be pretty obvious with just a glance.
Having seen 7 seasons of Deep Space Nine, taking place on a Cardassian designed space station, the design aesthetic of the Cardassians was something I was pretty familiar with. They favored this burnt orange, orangish brown color scheme, with a lot of curved lines and circles or half circles. I had a suspicion as to what this was, but I wanted to confirm it. Scanning the item, I read the description.
Cardassian Tricorder – A multi-function hand-held device used for data sensing, analysis, and recording.
This device had been sold to the store by a Ferengi trader. That made sense, the Ferengi were known to have a trade relationship with the Cardassian Union so them acquiring it wasn't hard to believe. As the Federation had superior technology to the Cardassians in just about every way, this wasn't an incredible find of strategic value. It was very valuable to me, though. Not for its sensors, but for the programming that ran the device. I couldn't wait to get home to pick its coding apart to learn how their programming worked. A tricorder, in particular, was an interesting device with a lot of different technologies and functions built into a small package.
The next device was clearly Ferengi in origin. I'd seen many bits of Ferengi technology on DS9, so I was pretty curious what this was. Scanning the item, I was again, very happy I'd stopped and checked this out.
Ferengi Virtual Design and Pattern Manufacturing Computer – A computer used by Ferengi engineers to virtually design items and create custom replicator patterns, when applicable. Acquired at impoundment auction.
This was a seriously lucky find. Since I had arrived in this time, I had been marveling at the wonders of this time. 24th century technology was amazing and could do some pretty crazy stuff, but sometimes I was struck by just how dumb something was in practical terms or how it could have been done so much better. They often had the technology to easily do something better, but they didn't. For example, the computer monitor in my room or the stupid design for their weapons. To be fair, though, the weapon design might just be a different mentality at work, favoring a multi-functional tool approach versus a weapon designed solely to kill. The Federation and Starfleet were pansies like that, never fully embracing the military-like role they reluctantly took on.
I was excited for multiple reasons. Since I had arrived in this dimension my mind had been going crazy coming up with new designs, ways to improve my survival chances in a galaxy that I knew would be embroiled in war. In my head, at this very moment, were multiple partially completed designs for armor, weapons, better uses of holography, etc. I might have been many times stronger, smarter, and faster than a baseline human, but I was far from unkillable. In fact, it would be pretty easy to take me out. All my designs so far were attempts to improve my survival chances or make money.
At any point I could have used various computers or holodecks I had access to take what was in my head and start the virtual design process, maybe even replicating the items or purchasing what was required. Virtual design in the 24th century was something that had existed even in the 20th and 21st century, but 24th century technology took it to the next level. You could take designs and test them to see if they were viable, and in a myriad number of other ways, and from these designs you could create a replicator pattern or holographic template to put it through millions of simulations to test how it would perform in various conditions. If your design didn't require materials that couldn't be replicated, you could build the thing virtually, then turn around and just replicate it for real. If you made the effort to create a modular design, you could keep those non-replicable components as something you added later on. Meaning you could replicate 95% of the item and merely adding whatever components couldn't be replicated later on, for example, like putting in a magazine into your pistol.
I had been extremely reluctant to use a Federation computer for that thus far, because I had no doubt that everything I did would be monitored. No way was I sharing my designs or plans, only for them to steal or develop countermeasures for everything. I needed the 24th century version of an 'air gapped' computer, an alien computer was close. A Federation version of this computer would not have been hard to acquire, merely pay the credits and I'd have one of my own, but I had no doubt that Section 31 had built in backdoors in all Federation software that would have allowed them to see everything I did with it; they might have even built in hardware hacks that a replicator would dutifully reproduce. It's what I would have done if I were them. My paranoia was strong and I doubt I was wrong. How else can you explain how they moved about the Federation so easily, completely undetected, for centuries. I guarantee you they built in backdoors or overrides in the computers and software that ran all Federation installations and ships.
The only chink in their armor came in the form of alien technology, where their influence was more limited. In an episode of TNG Bashir and O'Brien had successfully captured Sloan. The only reason that worked was most likely because it had occurred on DS9, an installation built by the Cardassians and still running their operating software. If it had happened on a Federation installation or ship, I have little doubt Sloan could have just told the computer to release him or something silly like that.
In this case, I was betting this Ferengi computer, running Ferengi operating software, was a much more secure option. The Ferengi were a paranoid race and their computer security and encryption schemes were some of the very best in the quadrant. Corporate espionage was practically an art form in their society, so a design computer was one of their better defended pieces of technology. Of course, I had plans to conduct a thorough scan of my own, even adding in some security and encryption programs I'd designed myself as an intellectual exercise during the doctoral portion of my computer programming training, but building a working operating system from scratch was beyond my current abilities, at least insofar as it'd probably take a few years, hence why this was such a great find.
I had little doubt the previous owner had left some backdoors or surveillance software, but I'd much rather go toe-to-toe with some greedy Ferengi than take on the might of Starfleet Intelligence and Section 31, using Federation hardware and software they had likely thoroughly infiltrated and compromised from the start. If I ever received any Federation tech I'd have to comb through its software with a fine tooth comb, maybe even designing a program to do it autonomously, because it could be hidden in trillions of lines of code. The hardware was going to be harder to track down, but I'd figure something out.
The first thing I'd do would be to disable its wireless connectivity…and only store designs on an external memory device, never on its internal memory, then keep it on me at all times. The only way I'd store it on some computer was if I controlled and owned that computer outright, after an exhaustive check.
I could finally start building things, things that would help me survive this time.
With these plans in place, I decided it was time to go home. I had been in this cave of wonders for over 4 hours now and I had plans with Annika tonight. Walking swiftly back to the entrance area, I took a path that led me around the outside wall of the warehouse, my eyes scanning the shelves as I walked by in case I spotted something interesting I should come back on some future day to check out or might need in the future. An eidetic memory was a godsend sometimes.
When my eyes landed on a shaped I recognized, I stopped mid-stride. It couldn't be… Getting out my PADD I quickly scanned the item.
Hovercrusier Model 924M – 23rd century anti-grav vehicle with ion propulsion drive system, capable of exoatmospheric flight, used primarily by the militaries of the time. Civilian models of the 924 were often used by civilian law enforcement. Acquired at government auction.
"Well, fuck me silly and call me Sally," I whispered aloud.
I remembered this thing. In J.J. Abrams 2008 Star Trek movie, a young Kirk, joyriding in his late father's classic Corvette, was chased by a member of the Iowa police on their Hovercruiser 924. This vehicle was styled like a standard motorcycle in some ways. Well, if a motorcycle was missing its wheels, and floated above the ground…and had wings. It was an insanely cool vehicle and finding a military version of this thing was lucky. It even had an ion propulsion drive, which would provide an insane amount of power since it was basically a stripped-down shuttlecraft engine, which was probably the only reason it was rated for exoatmospheric flight. The level of thrust required to exit the atmosphere was nothing to scoff at.
It must be capable of insane speeds with that engine. Its top speed might even be unsafe for a baseline human to even handle. Looking at the historical info on my PADD confirmed it. They had not made many of this type, the engine was just too overpowered with the operator/driver exposed like this. The stripped-down civilian version had been far more popular. Even with a weaker engine on that model, specialized 'riding gear' had been required to operate it safely.
Getting down low, I got on the ground and looked around at it more closely. This thing was definitely the military model. The wings were bigger than what I'd seen in the movie, thicker and more solid, with fixed hard points for mounting heavy weapons, probably rockets or missiles or something, and the underbelly had a turret mount too, probably for a phaser cannon of some sort of sensor system. The weapons were obviously missing, but the mounts were there.
I had to have it! But how much was it?
"Fuck, that's steep," I said, looking at the price tag. Twenty thousand credits was a lot of money. The weapons were a thousand each, and the Ferengi computer was seven thousand. I had not expected to spend thirty thousand credits on this shopping trip, but I couldn't pass this up.
XXXXX
"I see you found a few things you liked!" Azad, the store owner, practically shouted. Obviously happy I'd found somethings I liked and would be making a sale today. Even in the future shopkeepers were all the same.
Looking at the weapons and computer on the small anti-grav sled, I had to agree, chuckling.
"You're absolutely right, Azad. You've got an amazing store here, but this isn't everything I'll be buying today. You said I could get larger items delivered to my home," I answered, placing my PADD on the desk. "I found a Hovercruiser 924M; I want it. Can you arrange delivery to my home?" I asked, knowing my address information was part of my identity profile. Thankfully my building had parking for residents for a small additional fee and there were plenty of spots left.
"Of course, of course!" Azad replied, happy he was making such a large sale. "The weapons, however, require a license you know," he warned, now unsure if that sale was in jeopardy.
"I know, it should be on file," I answered confidently, gesturing for him to check.
Azad called up my identity profile on his own PADD and nodded. "Yes, I see it now, a class 1 weapons permit, via a Starfleet Academy interactive training course," he read aloud. "Are you a cadet at the Academy?" he asked me eagerly.
"No, no, not a cadet," I answered with a laugh. That'd be the day. "I do have access to their training programs, though, which granted me the license."
The ability to get official licenses from holodeck training programs was really freaking convenient. Of course, not all licensures were available that way, though often the highest-level ones were the only ones that required 'live' testing with independent verification. Normally a class 1 weapons license would have required a live testing, but since I had used the Starfleet Academy training program and completed it an 'officially' licensed holodeck owned and maintained by the University, thus checked frequently for tampering, it was accepted. Even then I needed an official witness for my final exam. Annika, as head librarian, had to be present and sign off that everything was in order to certify the results. She had been rather turned on by my animal machismo on display-girls dug badass men with guns that knew how to use them-and had practically dragged me into her office so I could fuck her on her desk.
"Very good, everything is in order then. The Hovercruiser 924M can be purchased today, but it does require a pilots' license to operate, as it is capable of exoatmospheric flight, unlike a standard hovercar which merely requires a driver's license," he explained.
Now, that, I didn't know, but it dovetailed well with my plans. The Academy had an excellent starship pilot program. Of course, that was the bare minimum I wanted to learn. I wanted to be able to operate my own starship in the future, largely on my own. That meant I needed to know how to operate it, including how to conduct maintenance and repairs. I needed to know every system on that starship intimately.
"That's next on my to-do list, Azad. I won't be flying it, driving it, or whatever you want to call it till I get the appropriate license. Thank you for all your help today!" I replied, before shaking his hand and leaving the store, the 30 thousand credits having already been deducted from my account.
XXXXX
Class 2 Training Shuttle. On route back to Earth.
10 months since arrival on Earth
"Congratulations, Mr. Gothic, you have successfully passed your final pilot's exam," Master Flight Instructor Sienna Johnson congratulated.
I was currently in a Class 2 shuttlecraft, in the real world, not in the holodeck, taking my final pilot's exam. The Class 2 shuttle was a short-range auxiliary space vessel used by Starfleet as an embarked craft from Starships. They were small, with a crew complement of 1 to 6, capable of only reaching a maximum of Warp 4, but were a workhorse vessel in the fleet. There were a ton of these little vessels in shuttlebays all over the quadrant and was a favorite cadet training vessel for Starfleet Academy. Since the training program I had been using all along was an Academy created and sponsored one, I was required to use an Academy instructor and ship, which was fine.
Becoming a private pilot in the Federation wasn't an incredibly onerous task, though it did require a good bit of time and hoops to jump through, but becoming a licensed commercial pilot, meaning I would be allowed to pilot a ship with paying passengers and commercial cargo, well, that was far more of an involved process.
This process has started over 6 months ago, when I had purchased my hovercruiser. It had begun with basically a crash course on flying and starships, in general, which I had absolutely needed. I had never been a pilot in my old dimension, after all. That had been intense, but incredibly fun, luckily there were many programs available from the Academy meant to train cadets who might never have even set foot in a starship before, much less piloted one. After 10 months of training, often with an Academy interactive learning program in the holodeck, I had a tremendous amount of respect for their training regimes. They were well designed and exceedingly good at bringing a young cadet from practically zero knowledge to being proficient in whatever the program was meant to teach. I didn't always agree with what was being taught, but it was presented extremely well. Given how good these programs were, it begged the question why Starfleet was often experiencing manpower shortages and could not field as many ships as the Federation economy and infrastructure would allow.
Over the course of many simulated 'deaths' on the holodeck, I had learned how to operate a starship, including how to change out critical pieces of technology during a crisis. Things like how to swap out an ODN or plasma conduit, how to swap a warp coil, how to prevent a warp core breach when the magnetic containment fields collapsed, how to plot a course in and out of warp, even how to navigate in an ever changing and chaotic asteroid field. These were less sexy and fun then taking a ship into simulated combat, which I did plenty of on the holodeck, but it was part and parcel of owning and operating your own ship. Ideally, I'd find crew to help me do various things, but a certain minimum level of competence was required of a captain. Ignorance could kill just as easily as a disrupter bolt.
The path to today was a long one. Before I could even start a pilot training program I had to demonstrate starship proficiency with numerous written exams, pass a medical and vision exam, learn how to create log entries, speak properly to flight control, how to maneuver, conduct maintenance, then log a huge number of hours in the cockpit, etc., etc. Thankfully, the vast majority of these flight hours could be completed in the holodeck. It was only a few of the exams and the final exam that needed to be conducted live and by a certified instructor, rather than a holographic one.
Master Flight Instructor Sienna Johnson was a civilian pilot attached to the Academy who regularly conducted these licensing exams for non-cadets. She was also a beautiful Latina woman with straight black hair, a tight curvy body, with a large set of tits that strained her skintight unisuit. Seriously, her top looked like it was one jiggle away from unzippering in the front and letting her girls out to breathe.
"You passed with flying colors, Gothic," she said with a smile on her face, a smile that had more than a hint of something lascivious behind it. "I've never seen a human pilot with such incredible reflexes. You tackled Terra's asteroid belt with no issue and I threw some seriously esoteric flight emergencies your way and you didn't even bat an eye. Color me impressed."
"Thank you, Instructor Johnson," I answered with a smile of my own. "I'm built a bit better than the average bear and have some advantages most don't," I joked.
"The average bear, I'm not sure I understand."
It was moments like these that reminded me I was far from home.
"Ah, yes, it's an idiom from my time, from an animated children's show. The character's line was 'he is smarter than the average bear', because he was an animated bear," I explained rather awkwardly, in my opinion. "I'm referring to the fact that as an Augment I have some distinct advantages over a baseline human."
This lack of understanding with idiomatic phrases that didn't exist here happened semi-frequently. Annika was actually a fan of learning them, being such a fan of history, and she often used them with me once she'd heard me say them once or twice, which meant I still used them. I appreciated the thought behind that, as it was a little piece of home in an unfamiliar time.
"When they told me you were an Augment, I had no idea what to expect, but call me a believer now. Your hands were flying across the control console so fast I could barely make out what you were doing! Your ability to quickly evaluate a situation, devise a solution, and then react, was amazing and so fast it almost appeared precognitive. I can definitely see why Augments were so feared, you blew the Academy record for this exam out of the water. They'll be checking the logs for sure to confirm," she gushed, her excitement doing interesting things to her bountiful chest. "It was exciting to see you work those controls, it makes me wonder what else an Augment can do in and out of the cockpit," she said slowly, her tongue darting out to wet her lips.
"Why don't you hop onboard and find out," I said, staring intensely into her eyes and glancing to my lap.
She needed no further invitation as a moment later she'd jumped out of her seat, threw her leg over my lap to straddle and began to grind her ass on my cock, her lips descending on mine with a palatable hunger. Throughout the flight test she'd been the height of professionalism and poise, but now that the test was over, the tigress had come out to play. Just like I'd wanted to do this entire flight, I pulled the zipper down on her flight suit to let those big tits free. I promptly buried my face in them and motorboated her like a mother fucker.
Being an Augment was pretty awesome sometimes! Thank God the official log recorder ended when the test completed, because we were about to get nasty.
Postscript Author's Note:
Training montage! Well, I enjoyed that, did you? Gothic is well on his way to kicking ass and taking names. And just to be clear, not all the training he did appeared in this chapter. There was martial arts training and a few other things. What other skills and training do you think an Augment SI should have done in the Star Trek universe? If I like it enough, I might work it in a future chapter.
Next chapter we're probably going to be leaving Earth and not returning for a while. Things are going to get exciting! Stay tuned and please be patient and if you want to encourage me to devote my limited time to writing, please leave a review, even a brief one. It makes a world of difference. Until next time, my friends!