The telltale sound of a teleporter beaming into the transporter room down the corridor was the cue needed for my existence to start. I came into myself as Thomas Riker, the memories slipping into my head easily, and I ran back through the base and down to the parts that hadn't been repaired. I came across a small chasm and leapt across it to a data console.
I used my bare hands to tear off the broken parts and exposed the data core. A touch of telekinesis had it disconnected properly and I grabbed it and stepped to my living area and created a dufflebag to stuff some small personal things inside, then stepped back into the corridor as I tucked the data core under my arm and held the bag with that hand.
I heard a tricorder going off and Data saying a life sign had appeared where I was. That was my cue to approach, so I spent a moment to use my partial metamorphmagus ability to change my face and hair slightly, removed the scruffy beard, and reduced the appearance of my age by about eight years. I need to do that to pull off the ruse and hopefully not gain Q's attention.
I started walking down the hallway towards the transporter room and silently repaired my uniform to that of a Senior Lieutenant, the puke yellow color doing nothing for my complexion. I took a deep breath and let it out as I reached the automatic doors and they hissed open. I stepped inside and pretended to be shocked by seeing other people there.
“Starfleet personnel? How in the world did you get through the planetary distortion field?” I asked and then stared at the original William Riker. “And who's the older man that kinda looks like me?”
The short Asian woman at the back of the group let out a soft gasp.
“Who the hell are you?” The bearded Commander Riker asked, imperiously.
I glanced at Data using his tricorder on me and back to him. “Obviously, I'm Lieutenant Riker that was left behind when the USS Potemkin failed to beam me back to the ship.”
“That's not possible.” Commander Riker said. “I made it back to the ship.”
“Well, one of us is obviously lying.” I said and rolled my eyes. “I've only been here a short while and you're a lot older than...”
“It happened eight years ago.” Commander Riker interrupted.
I pretended to be shocked. “Wh-what?”
“Commander, the scans show he is human, only with an unexplained energy inside of him.” Data said and the tricorder beeped at him. “He also has the data core with the important research information on it that we were sent here to retrieve.”
“You mean this old thing?” I asked and patted the data core I had tucked under my arm. “I'll be happy to hand it over to the proper authority figure if you can get me off this planet.”
Worf the Klingon, Data the android, Commander Riker, and the Asian woman named Ensign Chen, didn't miss the implied threat of him not handing over the data if they didn't agree to take him with them.
Commander Riker frowned at me and stepped forward as he opened his mouth.
“Before you embarrass yourself commander, I'm not in your chain of command. As the sole officer on this starbase, I am the ranking officer in command here.” I said and his eyes widened. “The only authority I'm legally allowed to acknowledge is the captain of whatever starship you arrived here on, as per Starfleet Protocols for commanding officer conduct when reporting to another superior officer.”
Commander Riker's mouth snapped shut and his eyes narrowed.
I smiled at his reaction and looked at Worf, Data, and then smiled at Ensign Chen. “Shall we beam back up? I don't want to take the chance that whatever happened to let you beam down here is going to end and we'll all be trapped here with no means of communication.”
Data looked at Commander Riker and the man nodded, so the android stepped aside and waved at the transporter pad. “Right this way, please.”
“Thank you.” I said and held my hand out to shake. “I'm Thomas Riker, and my friends call me Tom.”
Data gave me a surprised expression, which matched Riker's and Worf's, and he shook my offered hand. “I am called Data.”
I stopped the handshake and wiggled my fingers slightly. “Is that a hypersteel alloy used for your finger bones?”
“Yes, it is.” Data said and kept the surprised expression on his face. “How did you know that?”
“I developed a sense for things like that while working with various metals and composite materials.” I said, being completely truthful. I could sense the thoughts of the others about me doing all the repairs to the place and I didn't correct them. I walked by Data and over to the transporter pad to stand at the back. “I've also gotten really good at programming and technology integration.”
They exchanged odd looks and the four of them followed me and stepped onto the transporter pad.
Commander Riker tapped his comm badge. “Riker to Enterprise, five to beam up with a piece of equipment.”
“Ah, right.” I said and set the data core on the floor in front of me. “Ready.”
Riker nodded to me and faced forward. “Energize.”
“Aye, commander.” A man's voice responded. “Energizing.”
I made myself invisible and stepped up to the ship and used a modified tricorder to fix the glitch that being unable to teleport me would have generated.
“Energizing.” The transporter chief said as I saw the thing lock onto five human signals, even without me there.
I mentally nodded and stepped across the room to the teleporting pads as the away team beamed in. I did the glamour for me materializing as well and made myself visible. I scooped up the data core with a smile.
Commander Riker turned to give me a look, then nodded at Data.
“Sir, I believe we should get you checked out in sickbay.” Data said to me.
“Of course. Who knows what kind of things I've picked up down there, like occasional body odour and massive loneliness.” I said and Ensign Chen gave me a sad look. “I'm sure I'll be fine.”
She smiled and nodded at me.
Data stepped off of the transporter pad and I followed him. I felt more than saw Worf following right behind me and he had his hand on his hip the whole time. Data entered sickbay with me right behind him and there was a soft gasp from across the room.
“Oh, my god! What happened to Commander Riker?” Beverly Crusher asked as she rushed over to me. “Was there a temporal anomaly or something?” She asked and grabbed my arm and led me over to one of the many beds in sickbay and sat me on it.
Data and Worf came over to me and Data handed his tricorder to Beverly just as she noticed the data core under my arm and the bag in my hand and huffed.
“Put those down and let me examine you without interference.” Beverly ordered.
“Yes, doctor. Anything you say.” I said and put them down and beamed a smile at her. “You can order me around as much as you want.”
Beverly paused briefly as she reached for a medical tricorder, then she picked it up and turned to look deep into my eyes. “You are not Will Riker.”
“I prefer Thomas, or Tom to my friends.” I said and glanced down at her body and back to her face. “If it's not too much trouble, I would really like for you to be my friend.”
Beverly blushed slightly and copied the data from Data's tricroder, handed it back to him, and pulled out the scanner part of the medical tricorder she held. “Don't make me stun you before I examine you.”
I chuckled. “Understood. No flirting with the strikingly beautiful doctor until the important things are out of the way.”
Beverly's slight blush became a full one as the device in her hand started scanning me. “Worf, if he opens his mouth again, shoot him.”
Worf smirked at me. “Yes, doctor.”
I held up both hands in surrender and let Beverly work. The door to sickbay opened and in strode the male version of Captain Picard, whom nodded to Data and then Worf. Just looking at him made me miss the quirky female version that had quite the sense of humor, once you got a shot of Romulan Ale into her.
“I've heard quite the interesting story just now.” Picard said. When I didn't respond, he looked at Beverly. “Is there something wrong with him?”
Beverly sighed. “Worf, ignore my last order.”
Worf huffed and relaxed slightly.
“You're allowed to talk now, Tom.” Beverly said to me as she finished her scan.
“Thank you, doctor.” I said and gave her a very warm smile.
It took Beverly a moment before she realized what she called me and her face flushed red. She didn't correct herself, though.
“It's nice to meet you, Captain.” I said and held a hand out for him to shake. “Lieutenant, Senior Grade, Thomas Riker, acting commander of Nervala IV's starbase and research station.”
“So, the story's true?” Picard asked and shook my hand briefly. “You look surprisingly like a younger version of my first officer, Commander Riker.”
I smiled and nodded at the doctor. “I think that's something the lovely doctor was about to determine.” I said and was glad I had temporarily suspended a lot of my powers and abilities that would have physically changed me, like my Kryptonian physiology, my massive regeneration, and most of the entity powers I gained from defeating Scion and Eden.
What I couldn't suppress was my Touch of Divinity, which I suspected was the esoteric energy Data picked up when he scanned me.
“As far as I can determine, he's as human as the rest of us.” Beverly responded. “His DNA scan also shows he's a genetic match with Commander Riker. If Tom didn't look so much younger, he could have claimed they were twins that were split in the womb and no one could refute it.”
Picard gave her a pointed look and then looked at me. “What about the unknown energy he has?”
Beverly walked over to the display beside the bed and typed a few things on it. The screen changed to show my DNA strands and then the screen split to show a softly glowing gold energy. “I honestly don't know what it is.”
“Could it be a side effect of being under the distortion field for so long?” Picard asked.
“No, the energy signatures don't match.” Beverly said and hit a few more buttons and the screens didn't change. “As far as I can tell, the energy doesn't really do anything. It's just sitting there.”
“Is it harmful?” Picard asked and looked at her.
“No, like I said, it's inert and not emitting anything. It's not circulating, or shifting, or doing anything else that normal energy inside a healthy body usually does.” Beverly answered. “If Data hadn't done a full spectrum scan on Tom, I doubt we would have ever detected it, because I wouldn't have looked for it.”
“Can you remove it?” Picard asked.
“Excuse me.” I said, a bit harshly. “You have no right to ask her to do that.”
Picard bristled. “You are on my ship...”
“As a guest.” I interrupted him and he frowned. “The state of the planet is untenable, so I have to abandon my command area, under duress as my report to Starfleet will indicate. With my own authority of said starbase, until I do relinquish that command, I absolutely refuse to allow myself to be treated with an unknown medical procedure to harm, alter, or extract whatever energy is inside of me that is literally not harming anyone, especially myself.”
The tension in the room rose and no one moved or said anything for several seconds.
“Very well.” Picard said and stepped back from me. “However, I will have to inform everyone on the ship that you are infected with an unknown energy, even if it isn't harmful.”
I narrowed my eyes at the man. “Infected, am I?” I asked and looked at Beverly. “Doctor, please perform a full medical scan on me and include your own professional opinions on the unknown energy. Once that's done, release it to the general database on this ship for everyone to easily access, then send it off to be disseminated to Starfleet Medical and the rest of the ships and starbases in the fleet.”
Beverly sucked in a sharp breath. “Tom, you... you must know what giving out your medical history like that will mean.”
“Yes, a certain captain can't ostracize me on his ship over something he realizes has no control over.” I said and looked back at Picard, whom looked calm and was furious underneath. “I will also be submitting my paperwork for the eight extra years I've been a Lieutenant Senior Grade. The time alone should bump me up to a minimum of captain rank, at least.”
By the look on Picard's face, he knew he lost his gamble. At this moment, we both had our command areas and we were in equal standing. As soon as I filed to give that up, my time serving as said commander really would bump me up to reestablish myself as his equal again. He could not argue I was under his authority and that really irked the controlling man.
“As a peace offering, I'll graciously hand over the data core with the information your mission required you to retrieve.” I said and reached down for the data core and held it out to him.
“Mr. Data.” Picard said, his mouth a thin line.
Data stepped forward and accepted the data core. He nodded to me and walked away at a fast pace.
“If you will excuse me captain, I have a date with an intensive medical scan to get to.” I said and laid down on the biobed.
Picard gave me a pointed look for a moment, nodded to Beverly, nodded to Worf, and left just as fast as Data did. As soon as the door hissed closed, I sighed loudly.
“I'm sorry you had to witness that, doctor.” I said, sadly. “I hate dick-measuring contests as much as you do.”
“How do you know I hate them?” Beverly asked and waved over her medical assistant, Nurse Aigawa. “You'll need to strip off your uniform for this.”
“Because they are as stupid as they are pointless.” I said and sat up, then stood to my full six foot three inches of height. “Sensible people discuss things and can usually work out their conflicts without having to pull rank... or trying to pull rank. Picard knows I'm his equal and still tried to order you to harm me without even asking me about it.”
Beverly had a look of approval on her face at my words and then had to look away as I pulled off the tunic and then the long sleeve t-shirt to leave my chest bare. It was hairless as well, as was the rest of me, and only my head had hair. My muscles were well defined and unlike Beverly, Nurse Aigawa had no problems watching me with a discerning eye.
“Worf, this is going to get private very quickly.” Beverly told the Klingon. “If you have to remain nearby, please wait in the waiting room or guard the door.”
“Yes, doctor.” Worf said and gave me a pointed look, almost the same as Picard's, and left.
“Thank you, doctor.” I said and dropped my trousers.
Both Beverly and the nurse dropped their gazes to my small boxers and the very obvious bulge there.
“You have to forgive me for that. It's been a while since I've seen a beautiful woman in person.” I said and reached for them.
“W-wait!” Beverly gasped, only too late.
The boxers hit the floor and Beverly blushed and Nurse Aigawa gasped before she bit her lip. I laid back down onto the biobed and both women stared at my perfect penis, that stood up at a 45 degree angle from my belly without anything supporting it.
“B-Beverly.” Beverly said and swallowed as she tried to fight off her blush. “My name is Beverly Crusher.”
I smiled warmly at her and held my hand up for her to shake. “It's a great pleasure to meet you, Beverly.” I said and made myself twitch and move up and down in time with the handshake.
Nurse Aigawa whispered something in Chinese that the universal translater couldn't pick up. I could hear her, though. Would Beverly pass up the chance to ride me like the nurse thought she would? Only time would tell.
“Let's get started.” Beverly said and let my hand go. She reached to the side and the nurse put a pair of rubber gloves into her hand. With two loud and quick snaps, she had them on in barely a second. A few seconds later, the nurse made two similar snap sounds.
I might have bitten off more than I could chew with asking for a full exam. “Please, be gentle.”
Both Beverly and Nurse Aigawa gave each other knowing looks and then gave me similar smiles.
Yeah, I wasn't getting out of this without at least one anal probe, was I?