AAG - Chapter 58!
Added 2025-01-04 00:42:40 +0000 UTCOnce again, this chapter started with a plan—and, true to form, ended with absolute chaos. Honestly, par for the course at this point. But before diving into my usual commentary, I wanted to share a personal realization with you amazing people—my patrons.
Earlier this week, I was talking with my 8-year-old son about writing. I told him how I’m the author of a story with thousands of readers around the world—probably the longest-running and longest-by-word-count Star Trek fanfiction in existence right now. During that conversation, it hit me: with Chapter 58, this story—this labor of love—will officially cross one million words.
Naturally, my son asked if he could read it, to which I immediately and vehemently replied, “NO!” But still—a million words!
The journey to this milestone started all the way back in 2016, when I started writing it as a co-writer. Then, in February 2020, I took the reins and began this massive re-write. For over eight years now, in some form or another, I’ve been crafting this story. And now, the re-write alone is crossing the million-word mark.
I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating—and I genuinely mean it—none of this would have been possible without your support. Whether you’ve been here from the beginning or just joined recently, your encouragement, comments, and feedback have kept me going through every chapter, every twist, and every unexpected detour.
So, in addition to sharing your thoughts on this chapter, I’d love it if you could also tell me something you enjoy about this story, how you first discovered it, or really anything you’d like to share. And just for fun—because I think it’s cool—let me know which country you’re from.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you all so much. Here’s to the next million words in the Star Trek universe!
Comments
What actually happened to Vren after interrogation? Did gothic just kill her or is she in his dungeon? Is he going to turn her over to S31 or keep her? Or did you explain it and my autistic ass missed it?
Captain-General Kittonius
2025-10-29 14:47:05 +0000 UTCIn relation to Gothic's tech vs Federation tech. If I was writing this, I would give the Bajoran's Federation tech, just with a military bent! None of you can tell me that if the military designer's of this time would create a military ship like most of the Enterprise's. For an example look at the way the Israeli's work, they were persecuted in WW2, and they now have a mentality that is belligerent to their neibors. There is no way any ship they create and crew is going to be anything less than a warship. It is right in the name for Federation ships they are Explorer's not warships. if you are looking for a contemporary comparison look at look at Icebreakers vs warships.
Chris
2025-02-14 11:28:51 +0000 UTCFirst time Poster, Long time reader, this is a wonderful excursion into the Star Terk Universe (and a few others). I am looking forward to how you are going to design the shuttle for The Flighty Temptress. The other thing I think you should work on is at least patrol ships, maybe corvettes or frigates for the Bejoran's, if the wormhole war is coming then you can't exactly leave them with Fighters only
Chris
2025-02-03 02:17:03 +0000 UTCAh, you are right sir! I had thought about the primary proliferation, but secondary or even further with the other politics out there.
RegularReplacement
2025-01-19 18:01:43 +0000 UTCFor the problem for Gothic, it's not just that it's the mult layerd sensors or even the stasis technology, it's that the Starfleet an organization that is not only anti Augment but in fact has people at it's highest ranks who despise him for not being who he is, but what he is and them learning what tech he has access, means that if Gothic ever has to go on the run from Starfleet he has less cards up his shelve. There is also the problem of the technology going beyond Starfleet/Federation cause with exception of certain technology like weapons tech, the Federation doesn't mind sharing certain technology especially if it's medical in nature like the stasis tech.
War sage
2025-01-14 00:20:58 +0000 UTCI enjoyed the chapter. Using established technology to sniff out the spy was cool. Using the 'immense pleasure' method to get information was not something I expected, but not unwelcome. As to the erotic sections of the story, they're a part of your story telling and work within the context of the story and work. What does keep me coming back is the technological evolution you're doing as everything works in the established canon. It's never a case of "this magic bullshit device works", it's always "this is what canon says will work and I can stretch it just a bit to make it more". Latinum is never really explained in canon why it important as a currency, but you did by expanding on it as a necessary component in replicator technology and that can be stretched into a necessary component of transporters as transporters are the technological father to the replicator. Still waiting to see the island after being taken care of by the Holo-Gardners and the Red Matter creation and experimentation (X milligrams of Red Matter gets Y power output Singularity) . ETA: Oh I almost forgot to add. I wouldn't worry about sharing the sensor technique technology with the federation. Knowing that it is possible is 50% of any new technology. Geordi and Data getting a description and knowing it's possible is now only a matter of time before the Federation has multi-layered sensor techniques. Data might even crack the technology in his spare time.
RegularReplacement
2025-01-12 13:48:21 +0000 UTCYeah, I'll agree with Jellico getting more reasonable. The character pushed for information, got smacked hard for it, and now (I hope) is considering his actions and will do better.
RegularReplacement
2025-01-12 12:06:23 +0000 UTCYeah I read that one, Two others I really enjoyed are, "A Thin Veneer" ST-6/B5 during Earth Minbari war and "A Universe of Change" ST/B5 Yesterdays Enterprise, the D and C go to the B5 universe during the Earth attack on B5. both very long and quite good.
maddsloth II
2025-01-10 05:15:12 +0000 UTCI do have one that is a crossover on Fanfiction.net with Dr Who, I am not a Who-vian but I was able to follow along with limited information. The premise is interesting as well. The Story is titled: "A Captain And A Madman" https://m.fanfiction.net/s/9319253/1/ Wish I had more suggestions but the Star Trek fanfics are few and far between that are worth the read.
James Wise
2025-01-07 06:35:03 +0000 UTCAnother great chapter. Hope they can get her to tell them how she made the bomb so hard to detect. Glad to see Jellico is getting himself under control.
maddsloth II
2025-01-06 23:52:45 +0000 UTCDo you have any good fic recs? Sadly Star Trek does not have a lot and even fewer real good ones that don't get abandon. The last two I remember that were good are both from Space Battles "inspired Voyage" (abandoned) "Capitalism Ho!" (abandoned) Ferengi SI set during ENT time (with time travel DS9 crew alternatehistory "I, Klingon: A Star Trek SI" seems to still be going but slowly
maddsloth II
2025-01-06 23:23:03 +0000 UTCGreat chapter and great story as a whole so far. I really like your writing stile and how you explore more the darker side of Federation and bring to the forefront that the Federation in reality isn't realy a utopia as many want to belive or actually belive (many in starfleet and most of the general population on the core worlds). You show what the dirty and brutal reality of the universe is and how without Section 31 the federation wouldn't probably be what it is today same for the Romulans and the Cardassian. As for this chapter I absolutly loved it, I found Pressman just hilarious in his behavior and clear prejudices against augments, I always need to laught when I think about what a face he would make when he knew how andvanced and more powerful Gothic realy is. As for Picard and many of his crew, I think when their mission is exploration than they are the best, but for the war against their current enemy or the enemys to come they do not have the mindset to do what needs to be done or are will they ever be without dramatic loses if that dosen't break them. Also as many have commented I also think it is time to return to DS9, if not for his job as admiral, that he really is not taking seriously at the moment and neglects so much that I am suprised that he only got a slap on the wrist so far so to speak. But I also understand why you do not want to go back as it will limit you to cannon and how much you can change the events. As for V'Ren I can understand your reluctance to keep her with already so many characters but I would realy like it if you keep her, for it would open up the posibility for an arc with the Romulans. The only problem I see is how Gothic would ensure her lolalty or at least find a way how he can use her knowledge and experience for himself without the risk of her stabing him in the back when the opportunity presents itself. There are to ways I could think of for him to at least secure himself and the crew. The first would be the slave collar, but I don't think gothic would want to do that so this is rater unlikely. The other would be an kill switch that gets somewhere impalneted in her and that his AI's monitore so that they can kill her by signs of betrayal. A third could be if he had some kind of leverage over her to make her comply. The only problem with her on board, I could see is if the knowledge would get out or possible with Belanna. You could also face some backslash on FFN in reviews for the ra*e sceane, many see it as to much even with other storys featuring it. Sorry for the gramma and spelling errors. Till next time.
Shadow6409
2025-01-06 16:05:55 +0000 UTCT'Maz is one of my favorite characters in this story along with Neela Ro and Kira. I can see the line your walking with the story. I definitely noticed that. There are times where Gothic won't go a route because he's nervous about drawing any more of the Dominion's attention to himself and Bajor. Other times he's out there kicking over rocks which might focus Dominion attention anyways. Speaking of canon events, was New Bajor founded like OTL or did Gothic have a word with Li about setting up a colony so far from support?
red demon
2025-01-06 06:54:22 +0000 UTCWhile true that Picard dosen't see Gothic as threat due to his actions as proven by the last chapter Picard does have his own concerns about Gothic namely due to his sole access to such advance and powerful technology such as the Flighty Temptress with no oversite and while not raising any alarms he did mention it to a few of his friends in the Admiralty and they may look into it on there own. To be honest while I agree his actions during his first encounter with Gothic may have damaged his career path to Admiral, depending on if Jellico stays objective on his own report on the testing I can see that lessening the damage unless Jellico been naughty in the background lol Going to be honest with you, the espionage is my favorite part of the story as it's not something really common in Star Trek and you've done it really well, and when ever S31 pops up my interest gets raised. To be honest I can see you point on V'Ren, and it's up to you on how you handle it as there can be pros and cons to keeping her as that could lead to more espionage aspects in the story if you want to have that option for the future, though cast size could be probably, especially for example Annika not getting much attention. Though to be honest I would argue that Kira, Ro and Jadzia would be the biggest victims since Gothic left DS9. Also I just realized but dosen't Kira have two brothers? Actually I kinda have something I wanted to bring up, but I feel whenever Gothic returns to Bajor there needs to be a serious discussion between Gothic and qho ever the First Minster is about if Gothic should remain head of Bajor's fleet, I meant to bring up before but forgot, the reason I mentioned it with how long and often Gothic is away from Bajor it's feels Gothic is just using the position of Admiral as a layer of protection against people like Pressman instead of the serious position it is and it's potentially harmful to Bajor. Like I get that it would be boring if Gothic stayed in Bajor all the time but that's kinda required of the job. And to be honest it feels like your reluctant to return to Bajor, and I can understand as on DS9 there is only so much that can be changed to be interesting, his arc however is completely original and may be my favorite arc of the story with the return to espionage, but with Gothic being the head of Bajor's navy kinda ties him down. Though I guess with the whole Reality/Temporal Drive time matters only when Gothic wants it to. Well till the Federation time cops gets annoyed lol
War sage
2025-01-06 03:24:45 +0000 UTCI'm very glad to hear that. There are so few good, long Star Trek fanfics out there, in my opinion. I knew this fandom was perfect for my writing since there are so few offerings, even during a period when the Star Trek franchise is being revitalized with new offerings. I've done a few POV's in the past, and I did one in this chapter. I'll see if it makes sense in future chapters. Thank you for your support!
Joseph Orlando
2025-01-05 22:32:59 +0000 UTCGod, don't I know it. I've got a bunch of stories on my favorites list that are flipping amazing, but were abandoned. That is the plight of fanfiction. It's also why patreon and other places that allow readers to provide financial support are so important. I've got a ton of demands on my time, both work and family. I started my own law firm mid last year. This story is a labor of love but it sucks up a lot of my time. If I didn't have support like yours and the other patrons, I'm not sure I would have been able to consistently update this story, every month, for the last 4 years. You've experienced that yourself, it sounds like. I really didn't want to bring in a canon Romulan, though I considered it. This character really didn't merit it, especially since I intended her to fail. I know many people are eager to get back to DS9. I have mixed feelings about it. The Dominion exist, though there hasn't been anything in-story about them with the exception of Gothic's future knowledge. As you experienced in your writing, putting out a consistently long, high quality proofed chapter each month is a struggle, but it's one I felt I could consistently deliver on, and I have for the last 4 years. I know the feeling of wanting more chapters to sink your teeth into but I just can't realistically do it. I'd have to double or triple the subscription prices to justify it, and I don't think many of you would be onboard with that. A reader of the original fic? Nice. This is not an SI fix it fic, but Gothic's hedonistic lifestyle as an SI has the fortunate side effect of helping a lot of people. I'm from the US too! Thank you for your longtime support!
Joseph Orlando
2025-01-05 22:30:45 +0000 UTCI'm so glad you found this story and like the themes I'm exploring. An SI has so much potential, to see the cracks in the facade because he was originally not part of that world. Showing the darker side of 24th century Star Trek is a ton of fun for me because I don't have the restrictions of a network television show. Gothic left his universe in 2016, the year the original story was written, so he doesn't have a lot of the new Trek. He's got the 2008 film and some of the subsequent ones in his knowledge base, but that's it. So this story is very much for the fans of the 80's to mid 2010's Star Trek. You're in the right place!! And I purposely kept it that way even when he went to a dimension like the Walking Dead and i,Robot where the new Trek COULD have been available to him. Thank Q for that bit of interference. I'm so glad you like the sexuality in my story! I can't tell you the number of readers, who typically aren't patrons, who have told me that they hate the lemons and skip past them. I get it, the vast majority of fanfiction authors have zero issue writing the violence, but are scared to write the normal sexuality, even when it fits their story. I know I've lost readers because of it, but I want to tell the story I want to tell. There are a lot of SI fics out there that are "Fix It" fics as their primary purpose. This isn't one of them. Gothic fixing shit is a byproduct of his true purpose, which is to live the good life in Star Trek, to have fun and go on adventures and fuck shit up. If that incidentally helps some folks, great, he's being paid for it. Glad you like the V'Ren scene. That made me nervous. Gothic is big on consent, but torture is an inherently non-consensual thing. It was better to sexually torture her than the traditional form of torture. Which is also why I made it so clear she was not a good person. Thank you for your support!
Joseph Orlando
2025-01-05 22:20:29 +0000 UTCT'Maz is the unsung hero of this fic and a fan favorite, I've learned, which makes me proud considering she is an OC that I created. Of course I leaned pretty hard on the T'Pol throwbacks, but still, she's an OC. Returning to DS9 weighs heavily on my mind, but I know how badly people want to be back there. I've been playing in original waters here....entirely original waters....which is a lot of hard work, but it's fun and all mine. Returning to DS9 means I've got to tread the balance beam of being back in canon episodes, using canon dialogue and events, but yet still putting my own spin on it, while keeping the things we love about DS9 intact, including some very big picture future events that shouldn't be reasonably effected by Gothic's actions. The Dominion is always going to be a bunch of controlling assholes, after all. So part of me wants to sigh, while another part of me wants to be happy about it. I don't know if that makes any sense!! Thank you so much for your longtime support!! :-)
Joseph Orlando
2025-01-05 22:11:05 +0000 UTCMy second NZ patron! Love it. I'm always a little hesitant when it comes to sexual stuff in my story. I really don't want to do what most fanfiction writers do, which is write the most horrific violence without a care in the world or a moment of hesitation, but yet balk like frightened children at including sexuality in their stories, even when it makes perfect sense. The sex stuff is divisive, I know, so I made it very clear that she is not a good person and that the alternative would have been worse than extreme edging. Thank you so much for your support!
Joseph Orlando
2025-01-05 22:05:08 +0000 UTCPrejudice makes fools of us all. Though it's an interesting realization that that prejudice is also allowing him to somewhat see through Q's notice me not magic to see the threat that Gothic could represent, if he wanted to. Picard is going to judge Gothic by his actions, rather than threat potential alone, so by that measure, Gothic has done nothing to merit that level of suspicion, but he could be a terrible threat. Jellico got his ass slapped down and he's going to pay the price for it, to the tune of his career path to Admiral, which we know happened, being set back by years. That said, the Dominion War is going to be a time for heroes to be made and rapid advancement, so he'll have his shot....assuming he survives. I'm going to slow play that if I can. Gothic doesn't want to share that technology, so he won't allow himself to be forced to. The idea, though, is now out there with Picard and others. Whether that turns into something in time, who knows. Gothic has shown a lot of good ideas, and few, if any, have made a lick of difference. Yeah, Moss was intended to be a side character that showed up very briefly to show the aftermath and good things Gothic received after he saved Kessik IV. Her character was NEVER intended to get this much screen time, yet here we are. I wasn't joking when I said this story can take a life of its own. I'm glad to hear you like the espionage and political intrigue. I was worried my most ardent readers would not like it. No, you have read this story from the beginning. So you know how I think. The Tal Shiar have washed their hands of her. They would be more likely to interrogate/torture her and kill her if she was returned. To be transparent, I'm on the fence about what to do with her. I've already got a very large cast of characters to work with. You haven't seen Annika in a while because of it, so I'm super hesitant to involve an OC in a bigger way. I'll see where the writing takes me on that score. Thank you for your longtime support, my friend!!! :-)
Joseph Orlando
2025-01-05 22:00:22 +0000 UTCGreat chapter Pressman overstepped and got bitched slapped down, so satisfying. Glad it seems Jellico had a change of heart. One tech certain to get Starfleet's attention is new sensor tech/techniques lol, but yea Gothic is be forced to show a few to many of his cards, regardless I'm sure not only will Starfleet easily adopt them unless Pressman raises a fit but will likely start improving it, as soon as scientists and engineers from across Federation and Starfleet start to tickle with it. Moss is killing it this chapter. Ahhhh I love the espionage aspect of this arc oh so much. Huh Lauren joining the interrogation was a surprise. Is it strange I suspected this form of torture was going to happen. Have to be honest even if this works curious what will happen to V'Ren as even if the Tal Shiar don't believe she talked which is very unlikely I doubt they be happy to see her if she returns, unless they make her a source of information on Gothic as she would be the only agent they have that has had any interaction with him that we know of, though I doubt that would last long as they would only get so much from a such an encounter. Only I'm sure S31 can either think of a use for her or put her in a either a secret prison or whatever prison Starfleet Intelligence puts spies they capture.
War sage
2025-01-05 07:27:41 +0000 UTCNZ, interrogation method between CIA and S31 they are possible same but yours is great i would take Gothic's seat watching Lauren
Timecka
2025-01-05 06:54:54 +0000 UTCNice very nice. It's always great to see Pressman be his own worst enemy. I was hoping T'Maz would help Gothic with his stress so I was glad to see it. As much as I want to see what happens with V'Ren I'm anxious for Gothic to return to DS9. If I'm not mistaken it should be close to midway through second season of DS9.
red demon
2025-01-05 03:52:02 +0000 UTChaha thanks, loved the story the first time i saw it on ffn, there is not many stories that explore star trek, and only a couple that have augments involved at all.
Viking
2025-01-04 17:09:19 +0000 UTCHad a feeling it would be THAT type of interrogation...perfection is not just a board game by Milton Bradley after all.
David Maddern
2025-01-04 09:08:23 +0000 UTCI found this story through FFN. I have always liked the stories that peel back the surface of Star Trek and show the slightly darker side that the Federation tries to avoid. This story of yours hits all the right buttons for me! Probably why DS9 is the one I enjoyed watching the most. Still, TNG was the show where I learned the most about being a better person. For me Star Trek ended after Voyager, and everything since then is just fan fiction of people with enough money to buy the rights or get the ones with the rights to give them "creative license" to do what they want with the Franchise. Most of those shows don't hold my attention, or outright blast the fact that they are diseased... (koff-koff-STD-Koff) Pretty visuals do not make up for a shitty script and no respect for the established lore. I really enjoy your story and the way you have balanced the Idealism (Picard and regular Federation) and the Pragmatic (Section 31 and Gothic) to allow for things to gel well and still feel like it is possible in the StarTrek universe. Also the Adult Fun Scenes. I like those... and that one with V'Ren hits a lot of my kinks LMAO! I would love to be in Gothic's seat watching Lauren work! Thanks for the story! I love it!
James Wise
2025-01-04 04:18:23 +0000 UTCWarn him that it is smutt, and that maybe he doesn't want to figure out what his mom and dad like to do.
Seadrake
2025-01-04 04:01:14 +0000 UTCAnother great chapter! Thanks for sticking with the story. So many great stories have been left unfinished. I started a story on fan-fiction with thousands of views for the first chapter and got great feedback but managing writing time along with my work hours and personal life has been harder than I expected. When the Romulans started making an appearance in the story I was wondering if you were going to bring in Commander Donatra from Star Trek: Nemesis who I thought was a very interesting character and of course Dina Meyer is gorgeous but instead we have a new OG female Romulan character. Need to read more to see if I like her. I hope we get back to DS9 along with Dax and Kira soon. Also see some more action in the Hur'q war and what I eventually guess will be the Dominion, unless they don't exist in your story? I'd have to re-read the story from the beginning but I don't remember any hint to the Dominion being given yet. Just Gothic's "canon" knowledge and thoughts. If I have one complaint its the one chapter per month timetable. I have no idea what your day-to-day is like so I can't judge, but still wished we could get new chapters sooner. I actually first learned about this story on fanfiction or at least the original version before you took over and started this one. I've always liked reading stories about events or characters on source material like Star Wars, Star Trek, Naruto, Pokemon etc making different choices or if they did something different in key moments how would that affect "canon" events. Like Vader turning against the empire sooner when he learned about Luke or what would happen if Vader learned about Leia even sooner. One thing I always disliked about Star Wars despite how great the movies and universe are is how tragic a character Anakin is and all the bad that happened because of Palpatine. Like tens of billions of people died in the 30 years the movies take place because of the actions of a few. So what would happen if something or someone changed things and a lot of that bad stuff didn't happen? It's always more satisfying when the bad guys get what they deserve and don't win in the end. We obviously don't see that happen as much as it should in the real world. Stories where the good guys win at least to me helps me have faith in the real world where that happens troublingly little. Also I'm from the USA! Keep up the great work!
M
2025-01-04 02:26:45 +0000 UTCLol, I hope not. I told him when he's 16 I'd let him read it.
Joseph Orlando
2025-01-04 01:59:26 +0000 UTCThe first international patron! Love it! Thank you for your longtime support!
Joseph Orlando
2025-01-04 01:59:00 +0000 UTCI love this book and when I first read it, it really scratched an itch for books about exploring Star Trek in depth, this chapter was great I'd also love to see so more POV's of other characters to Gothics actions. Can't wait for more!
Odd676future
2025-01-04 01:51:47 +0000 UTCNZ
Viking
2025-01-04 01:31:49 +0000 UTCVery nice.....also you know you son is still going try to look for it lol
War sage
2025-01-04 01:08:43 +0000 UTCThank you for your longtime support, Marius!
Joseph Orlando
2025-01-04 01:06:28 +0000 UTCnice, thx.
Marius Petrauskas
2025-01-04 00:54:41 +0000 UTC
