Disclaimer: I own nothing related to or part of Star Trek. This fan fiction was written purely for fun.
Author's Note:
A very Merry Christmas to all my readers! My small gift to you is another chapter of this fic, this labor of love on my part. I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. Now let's put this dumpster fire of a year behind us with style.
The Adventures of Augment Gothic
"Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation." ― Kahlil Gibran
"When you loved someone and had to let them go, there will always be that small part of yourself that whispers, "What was it that you wanted and why didn't you fight for it?" ― Shannon L. Alder
Chapter 8 – Adventure Requires Sacrifice
Bay Harbor Arms Apartments. San Francisco. Earth.
Present Day
I had really done a number on Annika last night during our celebration, I thought, as I gazed forlornly on Annika's sleeping form. She was currently lying diagonally across my bed, naked, on her stomach, her large D-cup breasts pressed into the mattress. Her hands were on top of my pillow, blonde hair fanned out, ass practically up in the air, a remnant from our last bout of vigorous love making, and somehow her legs were bent and up, like even in her sleep she was signaling she had reached her limit.
She looked gorgeous, as always, which was only part of the reason why I was absentmindedly running my hand down her back, from shoulder to delectable rump, like I was trying to memorize her delicious form with just my fingertips. I thought about pulling the covers up over her, but I really wanted to burn this image in my mind. It might be the last time I saw this.
Sigh…looking at Annika right now brought a lot of mixed feelings. I had just learned a few hours ago that I had been sent a starship. The galaxy was now mine to explore. Obtaining a ship of my own had been the ultimate goal, something that could have realistically taken me years on my own. It's what had motivated me to stuff probably a decade's worth of training into a span of only 10 months. Computer architecture and programming, weapons and tactics, starship operations, starship engineering, and piloting, all of it was to learn everything I would need to one day captain a ship of my own and explore this galaxy, to go on adventures, just like in the shows about this dimension that I had once watched. Because of my patron or likely someone equally as powerful, that day had arrived years early. Ignoring this gift for too long had perils of its own; Gods were capricious like that.
So, why the fuck was I feeling so unsure?
Of course, I knew why. The reason why was lying on my bed right now. The reason why was the woman I had come to really care about over the past 10 months, who was smart, and sexy, and fun, and obviously cared about me.
I had learned about this ship hours ago and I had spent the time since just watching Annika sleep. The sun was already rising, the room brightening considerably, which meant the time for that conversation I was dreading was fast approaching.
On cue, she started stirring, her eyes slowly opening, my touch obviously causing her to rouse.
"Mmmm, Gothic, what are you doing?" she asked, smiling the kind of smile you give your lover after a night of passion followed by a wonderful sleep.
"Just watching you," I answered honestly.
"Come lay with me. I want you to hold me," she begged.
I was so very tempted to just say 'fuck it' and get back in bed with her and forget about the news from last night, but I knew I couldn't.
"I received some news last night. I might be leaving Earth for a while," I said, deciding to just pull this bandage off in one go.
Her eyes opened wider at that, now watching me closely, more awake now.
"What news did you get and why would that mean you're leaving Earth 'for a while'," she asked.
"Somebody sent me a starship, I guess as a gift. Earth Spacedock commed last night to tell me it'd arrived and passed inspection," I answered.
She looked down now, not meeting my eyes.
"I see. That's great news; I know you've always wanted a ship of your own. You've worked so hard to be ready for that," she replied softly, still not meeting my eyes. "When will you be leaving, and when will you be coming back?"
It seems that whatever power or magic or Godly bullshit that was keeping Starfleet from asking questions was affecting Annika too. I can't imagine her not asking about someone just gifting me a starship.
"As soon as I can get everything ready. And I don't know," I answered honestly.
It was silent for a while after that, both of us lost in our thoughts.
"Annika, when I arrived on Earth I wanted nothing more than to get back out into space, to captain my own ship, to be the master of my own destiny. That was my dream. I never anticipated coming to care for anyone so much that I might want to give up that dream."
"I would never ask you to," she responded fervently.
"I know, and that's something I love about you," I said. "I know we've kept things casual, never made commitments to each other, but what do you think about coming with me? I'm sure you'd make a wonderful first officer!"
She looked even more sad now.
"Gothic- I- I spent a good portion of my life on a starship with my parents, traveling all over the quadrant and into the adjacent one," she spoke softly. "I've had my fill of travel and adventure. I just don't think I have it in me anymore."
And I knew that, she had told me that many times before.
"I know, Annika, but I needed to make the offer," I said. "To let you know how much I care for you that I wanted to go on this adventure together, with you. It's an open offer. If you ever change your mind, you'll have a place by my side."
We sat together in silence again, both not looking at the other.
"Where does that leave us?" I asked her.
She exhaled, shakily, but turned to me, took my hands in her own and looked me right in the eyes.
"It leaves us with fond memories of each other, a magical 10 months that I know I'll never forget. Gothic, I, I want you to go on those adventures. To see the wonders this time and galaxy have to offer. And if you ever return to Earth, I hope you'll look me up, ok?" she answered, in a shaky voice, but giving me a brittle smile.
She gave me one last kiss, before picking up her clothes, leaving the bedroom, and walking out the door of my apartment…and my life.
For the first time in this new life I cursed being made an Augment. If I hadn't been made one, I wouldn't have been able to hear her breaking down into sobs in the hallway.
XXXXX
Gothic's Ship. On Route to the Planet Risa.
Looking at my ship from the outside, which as yet had no name, I had to fight the urge to facepalm, hard. If I was uncertain before whether this ship was the gift of a God-like being seeking more entertainment from me, any doubt was well and truly gone. I recognized the design, and it was one that had no place in this universe, one that would only be recognizable to me, a dimensional traveler.
It was a ship from the fucking Star Wars universe! Talk about out of context.
Seriously, I think I was being trolled, though I couldn't exactly complain, I was being gifted a ship after all.
I had never been as big a fan of Star Wars as I was Star Trek, but I had seen all the movies and even read some fan created stories set in that universe. I had even looked up a ship once on the Wookiepedia after reading a story which featured this very ship and had thought, 'damn, that is a handsome ship' at the time. It was a freaking Marauder-class Corvette! Well, kind of.
Becoming an Augment meant I had an eidetic memory, but the memories of my life pre-change were foggy at best as they were made with normal human senses and stored in a normal brain's memory. With a good bit of effort, though, I could remember a great deal from my old life, including details about this ship. The Marauder-class Corvette in Star Wars was a 195-meter-long light capital ship introduced prior to the clone wars, sometimes called a 'pocket cruiser', with space for 12 starfighters and 80 troops.
If I had to describe it, I would say it was like a large snake with wings, in the color scheme that was standard for this class of ship in the Star Wars universe, grey with a red racing stripe that went from bow to stern. The cockpit of the ship would be the snake's larger, flared head, with a flat straight nose. Connected to the head of the snake/cockpit, led to a long shaft, the body of the snake, which connected the wings to the rest of the ship, which had an over-large ion impulse engine and oversized exhaust aperture at the end of the shaft. Most of the large weapons were built into the wing portion of the ship.
The ship in front of me had been nerfed quite a bit from its Star Wars origins by being shrunken down to less than a quarter of its normal size and adapted to better fit in with the Star Trek universe's technology base, though it did look mostly the same visually. According to my tricorder, it was 45 meters long, and 15 meters tall, with an impressive wingspan, which held most of its weapons. It was not a capital ship by any means, more of a super runabout really, but definitely larger than a standard Runabout. The Danube-class Runabout, from Deep Space 9 fame, which wouldn't even be commissioned for use till next year (in 2369), was only 23.1 meters long and 5.4 meters tall.
The standard Star Wars design, not the missile cruiser variant, though this ship did look more like the missile cruiser variant, came standard with 8 double turbolaser canons for weapons. As that technology didn't exist in this universe, those weapons appeared to have been replaced by Klingon-style disrupter canons like you'd see on a Bird of Prey, two fore, two aft, two port, and two starboard. The ones on the wing, though, were not the overlarge version of that weapon that reached past the midpoint of the ship really. And the shuttle/fighter launch bay, which had sat directly below the cockpit in the 'snake's head' was more akin to a smallish cargo bay now, which would barely be able to fit one small shuttle at most. My bike, though, and a decent amount of cargo, would easily fit, thankfully. It had a loading/boarding ramp to this cargo space, which could lower, almost like the snake's mouth opening, where you'd enter the ship and load cargo. Two smaller storage bays were at the rear of the ship, to either side of the large ion impulse engine. Each had its own door which opened at the rear for easy loading, thankfully.
Unfortunately, unlike the Star Wars version, there were no tractor beam projectors, something I would have to add when given the chance.
What was definitely not standard for the design were the two warp nacelles tucked directly under the ship, in the wing section, on either side of the large ion impulse engine. There was no such thing as 'hyperdrive' in the Star Trek universe, so warp drive was a necessity for interstellar distances, which my mysterious benefactor had obviously taken into account.
Its impulse drive was at the rear of the craft, in that large engine style of the Star Wars universe. For a smallish ship of lower mass, this gave my ship an incredible amount of thrust while at sublight speeds.
That much higher than normal sublight speed, combined with the vessel's maneuverability, meant that in a ship-to-ship engagement, where everything else was close to equal, I'd have a serious advantage. Should I face a craft that totally outclassed mine, well, I should have enough speed to run away and/or enough maneuverability to make getting hit by targeted weapons' fire very, very difficult. Even its warp drive was more powerful than that of a standard runabout.
It was a handsome ship, exotic in some ways, but not so exotic as to arouse a lot of interest. It was also pretty small compared to even the smallest capital ships around, the size of a small courier/transport ship or super shuttle, which would hopefully lead people to underestimate it and view it as non-threatening. Despite its small size, though, it was actually far better armed, more maneuverable, and had a warp core that was almost too much for a ship its size.
While my ship's true origins were still a mystery (even though I had my suspicions) no one other than myself seemed all that interested in solving it, which for Starfleet was incredibly strange. Those guys never saw a mystery, no matter how dangerous, that they didn't want to poke and prod at with a stick till it blew up in their collective faces, usually resulting in the death of a red shirt nobody. Annika hadn't even asked when told about it, acting as if it wasn't patently ridiculous and super suspicious that some unknown party would have sent me a ship out of the blue.
If I was prone to conspiracies, which I suppose I was considering the strange circumstances I found myself in, it was almost like the ship was shrouded in a 'notice-me-not' or 'nothing-important-here' field from various fantasy and science fiction stories. Sure, the ship was completely legal for me to own, despite being armed with decently powerful weapons, like those that could be found on an obsolete model Klingon Bird of Prey, but given that no one knew where it had come from, you'd think it would have been carefully investigated.
Yet no one at Earth Spacedock seemed to care! Which, admittedly, was good for me. Owning a ship of my own was the ultimate freedom. It had been a dream of mine long before I'd even arrived in this dimension.
Perhaps it was due to the size of the craft? It was a little less than twice the size of a runabout, small enough to potentially even fit in the main shuttle bay of some of the larger Federation ships, but it was large enough to have a cargo bay that could hold a fair amount of supplies/containers, well, as long as everything was stored efficiently.
Perhaps 'cargo bay' was being a bit too generous to describe the space, really it was more like a glorified large storage room with a ramp. Undoubtedly useful, though. It also had a permanent bedroom for the captain/pilot in the shaft of the ship, between the cockpit and the rear wing section. I wasn't entirely sure if the Starfleet runabout actually had one of those. The runabouts we saw frequently in DS9 didn't quite match up to the one time we saw a Runabout in TNG, so maybe there were variants for long-distance travel or different mission types. I had to constantly remind myself that the shows only gave us a tiny glimpse into that universe.
XXXXX
Before I had even left Earth Spacedock, I had scanned my new ship from bow to stern. I had examined every inch of its hull and interior, with both tricorder and eyes. Opened up every panel, looked in every wall, crawled in every crawlway, and had taken apart every piece of technology I could safely take apart. I had even turned off main power and pulled out the dilithium crystals in the warp core to take a look. My engineering courses, with its focus on Starship engineering, had been particularly useful for all this.
I had also delved deeply into the computer systems onboard, running every security check I could think of looking for anything that I wouldn't like.
Everything was clean.
Thankfully, it wasn't running a Federation operating system. It was alien in origin, but not incomprehensible.
The ship was practically brand new, new car smell and all, and in perfect working order, like it had just flown out of a freaking shipyard. There were no hidden surprises in the programming either, or surveillance devices placed by a paranoid Section 31. That had thrown me for a loop considering how it had mysteriously arrived and there had been ample time to plant them while it sat undefended in a facility controlled by the Federation.
I wasn't looking a gift horse in the mouth, but unlike Starfleet I did care about where this vessel had come from; whatever might be affecting them was unable to alleviate my suspicions or maybe I'd been purposely excluded since I was the recipient of the gift.
Though alien, there was nothing even in the ship's computer that could shed light on its origins. Assuming an ultrapowerful being, like a Q, didn't just snap his fingers and make a starship appear out of thin air, it could have been built somewhere within the Federation, possibly, even though it had disruptors for weapons and was a design straight out of the Star Wars universe. Even the ship's warp core was a standard design used by most Federation worlds in their starships. There was nothing exotic about it at all, which, admittedly, was dead useful for me as I had trained extensively with Federation warp technology.
The warp engines of my ship were fueled by the reaction of matter (deuterium) and antimatter (anti-deuterium), that were mediated through an assembly of dilithium crystals, which were nonreactive with antimatter when subjected to high-frequency electromagnetic fields. This was the same as any other Federation starship, the only notable difference being the size of the warp core relative to the overall size of the ship, and thus the amount of power it could produce. For its size, my ship was overpowered. It was also fast, heavily armed, and pretty well shielded for its size, but it didn't require much energy to operate when compared to a ship the size of something like the Enterprise.
Also, my vessel, like all Federation starships, was equipped with Bussard collectors, which were optimally positioned to collect interstellar particles to use as fuel. Collection worked best in regions where particle density was high, such as in star systems or nebulae. The Bussard collector normally collected hydrogen, especially deuterium, for fuel replenishment, but could be reconfigured to collect various gases like sirillium and plasma particles. A Bussard collector could also be reconfigured to expel gases or plasma.
It did use disrupters instead of phasers, like on most Starfleet ships, but many Federation starships used disrupters. The Federation manufactured that technology. The ship's shields were pretty standard too. As I had recently learned in my studies of this time's technology, the deflector shields operated by creating a layer, or layers, of energetic distortion containing a high concentration of gravitons around the object to be protected. On starships, even ones as small as mine, the shield had six sections, forward, starboard, port, aft, dorsal, and ventral. Shield energies could be emitted from a localized antenna or dishes, such as a ship's navigational deflector, or from a network of emitters laid out on the starship's hull.
Neither matter, nor highly concentrated energy, could normally penetrate a shield. When shields were energized at a high level, most matter or energy that came into contact with the shields was harmlessly deflected away. This was important in starship combat, as shields were essential for hull protection. When the shields were up, only minor hull damage would be expected during combat. In the 23rd and 24th century, without deflector shields, weapons were capable of causing catastrophic damage to starship hulls almost immediately. Hull armor meant very little, at least not these days, though in the future that might change. I had vague memories of the Defiant possessing some advanced form of ablative hull armor, so there must have been some advances in that old technology once the Federation put its mind to it.
What was different about my ship from both Star Wars and Star Trek tech, was its stealth system. My vessel couldn't cloak, not by any means, but it could hide itself very well from long range sensors. That was a huge advantage. Short range scanners were something it couldn't fool, though, as Starfleet ships had many sophisticated ways of detecting things at that range. However, given the vastness of space, I would be able to avoid detection at long-range, for the most part. They'd literally have to be quite close by, in galactic terms, to even know I was there. This was yet another reason why I wondered why no one was looking into the origins of my ship.
The ship's control systems were different too, but not so different as to require a great deal of time to figure out. In my opinion they were a better design and layout than standard Federation controls. It was very easy to pilot, what with its simple, intuitive controls and its built-in neural uplink, a device which allowed my brain to connect with the ship itself using a helmet-like device. This allowed me to control the ship with my mind alone if I wished to, with no need to even touch a control console. If there was a progression of starship control systems, it'd first begin with a standard console and the pushing of buttons, then it'd transition to a dynamic holographic control system, then neural control interfaces. In my humble opinion neural control was the future of starship control systems, but the question was, could standard humanoid physiology handle it?
This technology was known to the Federation, however few species could withstand having all that sensory input inside their heads, much less actually use the link to control something as large and complex as a starship. It caused a kind of sensory overload in humans that wasn't harmful per se, but it could cause intense dizziness and nausea with use. Even a half hour using the device meant intense migraines and potentially being rendered unconscious, and that was only at very low levels of input. Being an Augment with an enhanced brain and cognitive function, I didn't have to deal with these side effects, or they were mitigated by my superior physiology.
It had taken only half a day to resign from my position with the university and pack up my few belongings, including the Ferengi design computer, my weapons, and of course my hovercruiser. With a transporter it was easy to move larger items and equipment to Earth Spacedock.
My close examination of my new ship took the better of the next 3 days, working 20 hours per day. It all checked out. But what was needed now was a shakedown cruise, a decently long trip at warp to see how the ship performed in the field. A trip long enough for me to test all the systems and maybe actually do some design work without fear of surveillance.
After a few minutes of intense thought, I picked a world from the shows. Risa would be perfect. Yes, it was a dream of all Star Trek fans to visit the pleasure planet and drown themselves in endless alien pussy, but in this case it was perfect for more than just that. It was a planet far enough from Earth to be a good test cruise, but not so far as to be overly dangerous. It was also in the core of the Federation, meaning it was in very safe space with many Starfleet ships in the vicinity, with billions of visitors per year visiting the planet. Should I suffer an in-flight emergency while in route, there would be many ships in range to offer assistance.
Even beyond all these good and logical and rational reasons for a trip to Risa, I just needed a break. Plain and simple. For the last 10 months I'd worked myself to the bone trying to learn everything I could to not only survive in this new dimension, but to thrive in it. The sheer amount of information and skills I'd learned and practiced in this short span of time would have been impossible for a baseline human, but even if it hadn't, they'd probably have suffered a nervous breakdown long ago.
So, yeah, I needed a fucking vacation, something to allow me to decompress and get my mind off the memory of Annika sobbing in the hallway.
Wait, wait, how far was Risa from Earth? It was embarrassing to realize I wasn't actually sure.
"Computer, what is the distance from Earth to the planet Risa?" I asked.
It really hadn't come up in all my studies thus far. If that had ever been stated in a show, I didn't remember. The writers of Star Trek were always reluctant to provide information like that, and when they did, it sometimes wildly contradicted another series, and sometimes even a different season within the same damn show.
"The distance from Earth to the Federation planet, Risa, is approximately 90 light years[i]," the computer answered in a male voice. That would have to go.
"Fuck me. 90 light years?" I asked incredulously.
"Computer, how long would it take to reach Risa at this ship's maximum warp speed?" I asked.
"At warp 6, assuming optimum conditions, 83.75 days[ii]," it answered.
"84 days? Seriously?" I scoffed aloud, leaning back in my chair in the cockpit, eyes now gazing at the ceiling. Optimum conditions probably meant traveling at warp 6 that entire time without interruption. I had assumed a few weeks at most. That was considerably more time than I had imagined. But, still, I had no end of projects I could work on.
"Just out of curiosity, what is the travel time at warp 7?" I asked. "Answer succinctly."
"50.1 days."
"And at warp 8?"
"32.1 days."
"Warp 9?"
"21.68 days."
"Warp 9.5?" I asked, now even more curious.
"17.35 days."
'Dude, I need a faster ship,' I thought forlornly. Interstellar distances were no joke.
84 fucking days meant I had nowhere near the amount of food and water needed for such a long journey, not with the way I fucking ate. My new ship, while awesome in a lot of ways, didn't have a replicator for some reason. Maybe that was in line with its Star War origins?
As far as I could tell, every system that had been present in the original Star Wars design had been converted to its Star Trek equivalent technology, the hyperdrive engine became warp drive, the turbolasers became disrupter canons, etc. The tractor beam projectors hadn't been transitioned to this universe, but there might be some fundamental difference between the two technologies that I was unaware of. Replicator technology didn't exist in the Star Wars universe, nor did transporter tech, so therefore it hadn't been part of the Marauder-class Corvette design and thus my ship lacked both those systems. That was as good a guess as any, I supposed.
I had considered buying a replicator before but considered it an unneeded extravagance at the time. Replicators were fucking expensive and my funds were limited. On an 84-day journey at high warp, though, it changed from an extravagance to an outright necessity. With my daily caloric needs, I'd need so much water and emergency rations that it might be too much for my cargo areas. Guess I had to bite the bullet.
Cringing at the hit my bank account was about to take, I realized that I might have a way to lessen the impact. My fingers danced over the console as I opened a communication channel from inside the cockpit, a few seconds later a middle Eastern looking man appeared on the screen of one of the display panels.
"Gothic, my friend! How have you been?" Azad, the owner of Curious Curios asked, rather happily. He obviously recognized the value of a good repeat customer. "I have not seen you for months! How did the hovercruiser turn out?"
Azad had been a great help in supplying with me with the various bits and pieces of technology I'd needed to upgrade my bike, amongst other things. He had come through big time in sourcing a personal shield device for me, especially considering just how valuable and rare such technology was. I thanked God and my patron that the average Federation citizen was woefully ignorant of just how much they could save by buying on the secondary market. In other words, used goods. I was just fine with them remaining ignorant as it meant more for me and at better prices.
"The bike turned out amazing. I did a speed test in Utah and it performed like a champ," I answered with a smile, fondly remembering the speed and how cute it was when Annika was clutching me so tightly in fear. I think a baseline human's ribs would have broken. Well, that certainly put a damper on my mood, my smile now fading. "But that's not why I'm calling, I recently acquired a starship and I'm in the market for a couple of replicators."
"A starship! Well, you have certainly moved up in the world, my friend. Azad can provide," he said earnestly. "What type are you looking for?"
"A personal food replicator and a small class-1 industrial replicator to produce small to medium-sized engineering items, parts, and tools. Both would need to be designed and intended for a starship installation, high-end, customizable," I explained. Which meant it was designed to become an integrated system onboard a starship and be powered by a plasma power distribution network, versus the power systems you'd typically find on a planet.
My quarters/bedroom, had a small, but comfortable eating area that would seat 4 people (6 in a pinch), so I'd probably put the food replicator there. As for the industrial replicator, that would probably go in the engine room. A class 1-industrial replicator was actually the smallest replicator of that type. A class 4, though, was exponentially larger and in the shows was used to supply the needs on the scale of an entire planet. When the Federation committed in the shows to helping Bajor rebuild after the Occupation, the Federation had only given two class-4 industrial replicators to Bajor. There was an exponential level of difference in functionality, size, and range of replicable items even going from a class-1 to a class-2.
"Let me check my inventory, my friend, I'm sure I have something," Azad said, looking off the side now, probably looking at a real time inventory database. "Ah ha! I have 139 personal food replicators, a mix of origins and ages, however, and 13 class-1 industrial replicators! All capable of being installed onboard a starship."
Hmm…replicator technology was possessed by many different races in this area of galaxy, so there were a lot of different versions floating around. Federation replicators, however, were considered one of the very best in terms of the quality of the things it replicated and the ease by which it could be modified and upgraded. The Federation had built-in safeguards to prevent the replication of dangerous materials, but even if I had to jail-break mine, it would still be a better buy than another race's. New Federation colonies were notorious for jail breaking their replicators, which was technically illegal, to make them more useful, so I didn't need to reinvent the wheel.
"Do you have any matched pairs?" I asked. "I would much rather the origin and technology match for ease of maintenance and parts, and preferably Federation."
It would make it much easier to order parts, get software updates, and maintain them overall if I didn't have two different technology bases. There were many ways to skin the proverbial cat and each race, while capable of achieving mostly similar results, had slightly different ways to accomplish the same thing.
"Very sensible, my friend, let me dig into the details a little more," he replied, before going silent for a few minutes. "I have a matched set, personal replicator and class-1 industrial replicator. I purchased them from a Vulcan freighter that was decommissioned a few months ago. All the salvable technology was stripped from it and sold."
"A Vulcan ship? Private registry or planetary government owned? And decommissioned, Azad?" I responded, rather dubiously. Azad hadn't steered me wrong yet, so I'd give him the benefit of the doubt. "Just how old are we talking here?"
I was willing to buy old, used technology, but I had a brand new starship here and I wasn't interested in taking the time to install replicators that were already obsolete or would need replacement or endless repairs to keep functioning after only a short period of hard use.
"Planetary government, nothing but the best for you! Gothic, my friend, I would never sell goods to you that weren't appropriate and of the highest quality!" he reassured me. "My records indicate the freighter was old, but the replicators onboard were replaced two years ago in a refit. They're practically brand new!"
Hmm. Two-year-old replicators was much more acceptable. Vulcan ships, from the shows and from my own studies, were known to be extremely well run operations and were very fastidious in their maintenance. Maybe even too conservative in their replacement and maintenance schedules according to some, but that was great for me. In this case, the freighter had been owned and operated by the Vulcan planetary government, which meant even more exacting standards than a privately owned freighter. These replicators were sounding better and better.
"You've convinced me, my friend," I said, smiling now. From Azad's shark-like smile he realized he had almost certainly made a sale. That smile somehow reminded me of home, and my time in the markets of Iraq and Afghanistan. "Let's talk price."
"Of course, of course, for you, my friend, I give you a very good price, 10 thousand for the industrial replicator and 5 thousand for the personal replicator. This is very good price!"
It actually was, but the forms needed to be observed.
"15 thousand?! Are you trying to rob me, Azad! 8 thousand, not a credit more!" I yelled in mock-outrage. This was just how things were done.
"8 thousand?! Do you wish to ruin me? I will be homeless at that price and my business, bankrupt!" Azad insisted. "13 thousand," he counteroffered.
'Homeless?' I scoffed internally. Azad really was old school to trot out that old chestnut, or he was tailoring his negotiation strategy for someone from my time. I had shared my story with him during one of my visits to his warehouse. No one was homeless in the 24th century Federation, much less on Earth, the capital of the Federation.
"For old goods that will sit in your warehouse for years before someone like me comes along who sees their value?! Were you smoking hashish before I called?! Do you think some new colony launch will buy from you, Azad? They'll get their replicators brand new from the Federation for free! 10 thousand!"
"Do you wish the clothes off my back too?! You go too far! 11 thousand! My last offer, even for a friend like you, Gothic!" Azad huffed, looking off the side very melodramatically, arms crossed.
"Deal," I accepted, laughing now, reaching out to metaphorically shake his hand to signal a bargain was reached. He did the same.
11 thousand was where I hoped to end up, pricewise, and was a substantial savings from the price of new replicators. Azad shook my hand a moment later. And just like that, like we had flicked a switch, we were both now smiling at a deal well struck.
"It is always a pleasure to do business with you, my friend, someone who respects the old ways," Azad said, smiling widely.
"I see the value in your business, Azad, and greatly respect what you're doing with it. If my needs match your offerings, you will always have a loyal customer in me," I said. "And besides, I have a strong and fast ship now with space for cargo. If you have any shipping needs, I hope you'll consider me for the work."
Now that I had a ship with cargo space and a class-1 pilot's license, I could take some paying jobs during my travel. My new stealth system and decently strong weapons meant my ship would be perfect for high-value cargo.
"I will remember, my friend. I assume you would like your replicators delivered to you?"
"Yes, and hold one moment," I said, my fingers flying across the console. "I've transferred the agreed upon price, plus your standard delivery fee. Please transport them to berth 38 at Earth Spacedock."
"I've received payment. They will be transported up to your ship within the hour," Azad assured. "Safe travels, my friend!"
The communication cut out.
Well, now that I had dealt with the issue of food and water on this 84-day journey, there was no reason to dilly dally, I had a long journey ahead of me.
Engage!
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Since the ship was cruising along on a steady course to Risa at warp six, there was really nothing for me to do, at least nothing truly required. Even after familiarizing myself with all the control systems, running a few piloting simulations, and then opening every panel on the ship that was safe to do so while at warp, I was still bored. Yes, I'd examined the ship thoroughly while at Earth Spacedock, but a ship traveling at warp, under its own power, well, that was a very different animal. Systems performed differently while under strain.
So far, according to every diagnostic I'd run, everything was working perfectly, even after 3 weeks of non-stop travel at warp 6, this ship's maximum warp speed. I had already thought the ship may as well have had that new car smell, because it was behaving like it had just rolled off the assembly line. I guess only time would tell how it handled under the stress of combat and thousands of light years on the odometer.
As for being bored, well, I had spent the last 10 months at a metaphorical Warp 10. I might be on a much-needed vacation, but it was hard to turn off that need to be productive, you know? To fill every free moment with something that improved myself. The time limitations in a 42-minute episode of television really hid the fact that a lot of time on a starship was spent traveling from place to place at warp for days to weeks at a time. It was incredibly boring! Especially when you were by yourself.
In order to pass the time, I'd decided to read up on the planet I was traveling to. I'd already learned a lot about what the world had to offer in terms of entertainment, which was a lot, but there was more to the place than clear seas, endless white sandy beaches, huge holiday resorts and truly over-the-top hedonism.
Risa, I'd learned, was the capital planet of the Risian Hedony, a Federation Member State, homeworld of the humanoid Risian species, and a well-known tourist planet. It was the second planet in orbit of Epsilon Ceti B in the Epsilon Ceti star system in the Risa sector of the Beta Quadrant.
The world relied on an incredibly sophisticated and mostly automated weather control net to make the stay of their guests as pleasurable as possible. Without the incredibly advanced weather control technology, Risa was a world ravaged by intense storms, and often disrupted by powerful earthquakes and tidal forces from its three orbiting moons. If those automated systems ever failed, Risa would be in great jeopardy.
In this day and age Risa was famous throughout the Alpha and Beta Quadrants as a place of tourism and recreation and was often referred to as a 'pleasure planet'. It got that reputation because of its constant, stable climate, its attractive landscapes, and most of all, its very friendly locals.
Its native species, who were notorious for their incredibly open sexual mores, numbered approximately three billion, and the planet hosts about one billion tourists at any given time. This meant it was far less populated than Earth, and some of the other more settled, older Federation planets, most likely as a result of the planet's extreme weather and seismic instability during much of its history, prior to the creation of their weather control net. Hell, even their open sexual mores might be a result of their planet's normally extreme conditions over the ages. Life is too short and all that.
Many resorts on Risa also had elaborate gambling casinos, though there had been many more in the past, but since humans (and many other Federation planets) no longer used true money anymore, it was mostly the aliens who gambled, though you could find some humans who did. Riker was famous for being quite good at gambling.
Risa was first visited by Humans and Starfleet in 2152 when the Enterprise (NX) had arrived at the planet and several crew members took shore leave there. Those crew members included Captain Jonathan Archer, Ensigns Hoshi Sato and Travis Mayweather, Commander Charles Tucker and Lieutenant Malcolm Reed, legends in their own right in this time.
Another legend, Captain Picard, had already or would soon visit this planet if I recalled episodes from the show. I couldn't find out the details, as they weren't part of any public record, though hopefully I wouldn't run into him. Things had been mighty strained and awkward between us after he found out that I was boning his long-time crush/love to within an inch of her life.
XXXXX
A map of my course to Risa, a three-dimensional space, rendered on a two-dimensional console display. What a fucking joke. This was an age of advanced holography, why would they need to do it this way? Even a static holographic display of the space that I couldn't manipulate by hand would be superior to this bullshit.
Ah well, commenting on the stupidity of the Federation and more broadly on the use (or non-use) of advanced technology in this time for practical purposes was not my intent. I was actually closely examining an asteroid field that was only a tenth of a lightyear off my projected course to Risa. Thankfully, this being the heart of the Federation core, the entire area, including this asteroid field, had been extensively mapped. According to the computer this little detour would only take 2.16 hours to reach.
According to the star charts, these asteroids were primarily M-types, meaning metallic, made up of nickel-iron, and a minority were S-types, or stony, made up of silicate materials and nickel-iron. In this age of replication, with no exotic materials to be found, there was zero interest in mining these asteroids, which made it perfect for me to test my ship's weapons.
"Computer, power up all weapons and shields," I commanded aloud.
Of course, I could have done this via the control console, but after nearly a month of solitude, I was eager to speak to someone/anything, even if it was just the computer.
"Shields and weapons have been activated," the computer responded.
I used my pilot training to great effect by maneuvering deftly through the asteroid field, though great skill wasn't exactly required. The asteroids were spread apart a great deal, so there was plenty of space to maneuver a ship my size. In fact, I purposely flew closer to the various asteroids to up the difficulty rating of these maneuvers. It also made the view out of my cockpit window so much more exciting than an endless starfield flying by at warp. In the endless black of space, some visual markers that you were traveling at incredible speeds made the journey so much more fulfilling.
I was heading toward one of the larger asteroids in the field, hoping to test the destructive potential of my weapons. Space was vast, so this 10-mile-long oblong shaped metallic asteroid didn't look all that big in my cockpit's window at the moment, but it quickly grew to look pretty damn big.
Coming to a full stop I admired its craggy surface, pitted and scarred by collisions with other asteroids over the eons. I planned to make some new pits and scars momentarily.
An interesting design quirk of this ship was the hidden nature of the ship's weapons located fore and aft. These were located in hidden recessed compartments on the top of the ship, which protected them when not in use and made the ship appear less visibly threatening. The twin-linked disrupter canons could be powered up even while recessed, but firing would require the compartment to open and the canons to be raised. Once raised, like all the disrupter canons on the ship, they could move to track targets, each battery capable of firing on their own unique targets, or all on one target, in rapid fire pulse, one after the other, or simultaneously for greater shield penetration.
The fore canons were located directly above the snake's head, as it were, above the cockpit. The aft canons were located near the very rear of the ship, above the engine room. The port and starboard canons, were out and visible, located under the wings, near the middle of them.
Targeting the center mass of the asteroid with only the fore canons, they quickly raised from its hidden compartment above the cockpit, moved to track the target, and were fired at full power. Two bright white pulses, a single burst from both canons, flew fast and true to strike the center of the asteroid, a small cloud of debris rising up and floating away from the main body, leaving a very respectable crater of destruction several hundred feet across.
Analyzing the sensor readings, I was impressed. Of course, this was an unshielded target that wasn't fighting back, but a crater this size… A 10,000 pound bomb dropped from a plane back in my time probably wouldn't make a crater this big and I made it with the weapons on what was essentially a super-Runabout. A ship that I now owned and controlled. It suddenly struck me just how much destructive potential my little ship had and it filled me with some trepidation. It was the same feeling I had had when learning to fire my rifle in basic training. It was a great responsibility to wield weapons that could take lives so easily.
Switching to rapid fire mode, I fired. White pulses of energy rapidly fired from each canon barrel, staggered because of the great power demands, streaked towards the crater I had just created. The hole I was digging with my ship's weapons deepened with each strike, vaporizing a great deal of the nickel and iron the asteroid was composed of, the material that wasn't instantly vaporized fragmenting into hundreds of thousands of half melted chunks of rock.
After nearly a minute of constant bombardment, I stopped firing. I had three other twin-linked canon turrets that could be brought to bear on target. Targeting a location a kilometer from the crater I'd just made, I opened fire with the fore turret and the two wing turrets first on single burst then on rapid fire. The sheer amount of destruction was impressive. Then I brought all four turrets to bear creating a massive amount of destruction.
Beyond the sheer destruction I was wreaking on this poor asteroid which had never caused me harm, I was carefully monitoring the drain on the ship's power systems. Even firing all the ship's weapons on rapid fire, the drain was low, which was likely a benefit of the ship being overpowered for its size. Of course, I was stationary, and thus I wasn't engaged in power intensive evasive maneuvers, and my shields, while up, weren't being drained by being fired upon in combat. Unfortunately, I would likely require real combat to get a better sense for how the ship would handle under those demanding conditions.
Well, I had had enough fun firing on giant asteroids. It was time to fire on much smaller asteroids, ones that I could destroy completely while engaged in combat maneuvers.
Moving at full impulse into the heart of the most densely packed part of the asteroid field, I started firing, first at single targets, then engaging multiple targets with a single turret each with manual targeting. This proved exponentially more difficult to do, even with the abilities of an Augment. My eyes took in the copious amounts of sensor and targeting data, while my hands danced across the console to fire my weapons. Switching to automatic targeting and fire, my ship performed well, about as good as I did, but I had a feeling that the predictable movements of the asteroids made for much easier targets then a ship piloted by an unpredictable organic being intent on both surviving themselves and killing you.
Coming to a stop in a space devoid of asteroids, I glanced down at the neural control interface that had come with the ship. When I first saw it during my initial survey of the ship, I had to stop and stare a moment.
The trolling continues, I thought, upon recognizing the design.
The neural control interface was literally the Cerebro helmet that Professor X used in X-Men Apocalypse. Undoubtedly cool, and maybe a bit too on the nose given its function, but definitely out of context for this dimension. The helmet was a grayish silver with a bright blue lit up circle of light over each ear and on the back of the head. A contact rested right over the forehead. Surprise, surprise, it fit me perfectly. Thankfully, it was wireless, with its own regenerative power source, and fit in a recess under the standard control console.
Putting it on, I imagined I looked and felt like Neo, plugging in for the first time after being liberated from the Matrix. I became the ship in a sense. Its sensors became my eyes, its propulsion system, my means of walking and running, etc. To call it having a 'viewscreen' in my head would be doing it a grave disservice.
Reaching out with my mind, my will was to destroy the metallic asteroids floating all around my 'body.' My will became reality as the ship responded, in the same way I put a foot forward to walk, effortlessly and almost unconsciously. There was no lag between my eyes taking in the targeting information and then directing my hands to tap buttons on a console and then for those button taps to direct the weapons to fire. In other words, there were several time-consuming steps taken out of the process. It was pure efficiency, a pure, direct mental control of the ship all with the speed of thought. In some ways it was intoxicating and overwhelming.
In the real world the ship's four disrupter canon turrets were moving independently, tracking and firing on asteroids in every direction. There was no duplication of effort, no time spent tapping away on panels, being limited, even as an Augment, by the speed I could take in the information and my hands could move to tap awkwardly placed buttons on panels. And it was all awkward in comparison, when you could become the ship itself. When connected to the ship like this I was no longer an independent entity inside a larger one, directing things. Now, I was the larger entity, I was its brain, and there was no time between thought and when I took action.
It was like I was swimming through space and God did it feel good, though I knew this was dangerous on some level. The idea of being back in my body, felt small, limited, even with all my enhanced abilities as an Augment. I had only been connected to the ship for 20 minutes or so, but my connection was deep because of the intense maneuvers I was pulling and the constant firing on the asteroids around me. This was too much too soon with how little experience I had with the neural interface. It was time to disconnect.
Coming to a full stop, I reluctantly pulled the helmet off, suddenly feeling smaller, less-than, handicapped almost. Looking out the window of my cockpit all I saw was a cloud of rapidly expanding debris, where once stood hundreds of asteroids.
I'd call that a successful test.
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Author's Note:
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[i] This was established in Star Trek: Enterprise, episode Two Days and Two Nights (2002).
[ii] See the Warp Speed Calculator