iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 11/03/2026

It was Geordie. Geordie was the candle-fucker this time. It contained the ghost of a cute and naive young alien engineering student. Because of course it did. Anyway apparently every officer has to redo the E-Learning module on aethereal consent again now. Cheers Geordie.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 09/03/2026

HR just sent out a "reminder" to people that Star Fleet has a policy on sex with ghost candles. So OF COURSE now everyone is trying to work out who did it this time.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 03/02/2026

The nice thing about being friends with Geordi is you get told the EXACT moment they unlock Cadburys Easter Eggs on the replicators each year.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Intro deal was great, but it's a pain trying to cancel the contract now.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

For years I couldn't work out why whenever I ticked the "remember my details" box on things it never worked. Turns out it was Q. Absolute arsehole.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

From what I've seen the plan is to remove even more of the people interfacing and manual control in favour of computerisation. I accept Command believes this is the appropriate design path. I have also served on two Enterprises so far that would have been lost if they were built to that principle.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Majority of non-essential crew movements happen by shuttle. Transporters are solid tech, but you have to do a risk assessment if you want to use them outside of certain clearly defined priority uses or where shuttle operations are deemed risky.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

I briefly commanded the museum ahip USS Kongo, an original Constitution Class, during an anniversary tour. She had a FRICKIN BOWLING ALLEY. It was incredible. Those old ship configurations were insane. Been trying to persuade the Captain we need one on the E, ever since.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Lego kits are rubbish because it's all just stuff from kids holos. Cobi do an excellent range of historic starships though.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Because Starships are an insane amount of raw power forcibly confined in a very small metal box. It's a marvel of engineering that they don't explode more often.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Picard invites the senior staff to take part in a holodeck murder mystery every year, often drawn from his library of old earth dramas. The year Gowron found out about this and invited himself for the first time was... interesting.

text chat with gowron.

GOWRON: Catboy! I have defeated Picard in a battle of words. I will play the Avenging Angel of Death in the Holodeck Murder Carnival this year.
ME: Jessica Fletcher. And that's not what it is.
GOWRON: That is her. All of Cabot Cove will tremble. The dead will be avenged.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

So without going full Shuttle nerd, there is a reason we mostly only run Type-6s and Type-7s on the E. They have an auxiliary manual yoke which has, literally, saved mine (and by extension Riker's) life at least once. They're meant to be bringing it back in the Type-X, thank God, but we'll see.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Yeah. The Galaxy Class is generally seen as a bit of a misstep now. But it was a period where political and military thinking was that the era of major ship-to-ship combat had passed. These days Starfleet tends to offer housing in sector operational centres for families of those on deployment.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Very occasionally you get quirks due to emitter misalignment or software issues, but they're normally very obvious and unpalatable, so get fixed. Used to take ages to get fixed, as Engineering saw it as a low priority. But that was changed after the Chocolate Button Incident a few years back.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Contrary to popular portrayal on holovids, the risk of serious injury or death is actually greater in engineering roles than security ones.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

To bust a myth: If you are selected for command fast track at the academy, you do a sim session once a month in your final two years. ONE of those sessions will be the No-Win test. You have no idea which one it will be. The exact scenario varies. Maru is just the most famous due to Admiral Kirk.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

The Prime Directive is actually a lot more complex and subtle than a lot of people think. It's why ships working sectors where there is a risk of first contact tend to be carefully chosen. There's an entire specialism path for captains (or captain candidates) around it.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 24/12/2025

Anyway. Time for my annual (Starfleet approved) AMA. I am Lieutenant Commander Bull. I'm half-Caitian, and am Chief Shuttle Officer on board the USS Enterprise (NCC 1701-E). Ask me whatever you like about serving in Starfleet. If it won't break regs I'll answer.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 31/08/2025

At a lecture on how the Age of Galactic Exploration changed earth culture. Deeply fascinating how some stuff changed slowly, and other stuff suddenly. Also the accounts of what happened after humanity made contact with the Isonu, who look EXACTLY like "anime" girls, are creepy af.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 16/08/2025

Hundreds of years of technological advancement. And they still can't make a replicator that can do decent toast.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 28/07/2025

They opened up the ability for people to run custom, self-created programs on the Holodeck again on Friday. Wanna guess how long that lasted?

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 25/07/2025

Riker demanding I take him to a Guardian portal so he can go back in time and age verify. This is why I told him to get a credit card last time we were on DS9. Post-money society is great until it suddenly isn't.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

Riker's used up all the monthly Warhammer credits on the replicators again. I know this because Geordi has emailed the captain complaining that he can't replicate some Tau he preordered and copied all the senior staff in. Join Star Fleet! See the galaxy! Etc.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 18/01/2025

There's a compulsory 45min e-learning module for bridge crew that we have to redo annually because of this incident.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 09/09/2024

Every year on this day the Captain starts banging on about something called a 'Dreamcast'. We nod along politely and pretend we know what the hell he's talking about. Some history thing he's obsessed with.

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Reposted by Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA)

Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

Just realised I didn't do one of these when I joined here. So: I am Lieutenant Commander Bull, Chief Shuttle Officer on the USS Enterprise (NCC 1701-E). I am half-Caitan on my mother's side. AMA about serving on a ship in Star Fleet and, unless it breaks regs or security, I will try to answer.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 08/09/2024

Okay. Bit of a long one. I'm only half-Caitian, on my mother's side. She died when I was very young. I grew up on Earth in a city called London. It's always been an intercultural city, but its never had a strong Caitian community. My dad was an Earth native but he tried his best. /1

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

Depends on the shuttle, but low warp for most of ours.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

Mostly they run to their limit (time or quantity) based on Ship Time then pause and resync on return.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

Ship's time is resynchonized with Federation Standard Time (FST) Individual service time is measured in Calculated Service Time (CST). That is FST +/- Anomaly Service Time (AST). i.e any time that passed, or didn't pass while the individual was involved in temporal anomalies during service.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

It's entirely possible to live a good life on most Federation planets without ever having, or spending, currency. Doesn't stop people offering additional goods and services in exchange for the same, or for a bit of gold-pressed latinum. Star Fleet pays a small stipend of the latter while deployed.

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Reposted by Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA)

Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 19/02/2024

In my experience, what tends to happen is that a lot of people suddenly discover they're perfectly happy with simple food. It's AMAZING how many junior officers who say they ABSOLUTELY CANNOT LIVE without Vulcan tapas options will suggest egg and chips when it's their turn to cook for everyone.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

Don't forget i'm taking AMA questions today. Follow to see the replies (I'm quoting questions to provide answers)

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

Generic replicator patterns are free. But various brand package subscriptions are available. Sometimes you crave Cadbury's Chocolate Buttons over 'Packet of Milk Chocolate Circles' Most of us have at least one monthly replicator pattern subscription that covers some foods special to us.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

It doesn't. Replicators have default settings and you can do some limited customisation with common keywords. Beyond that it's down to pattern subscription lists the ship (or individual) has, mapped to keyword phrases. "Tea, Earl Grey Hot" on Enterprise gets you cup of bootleg Yorkshire Tea.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

The Type 7s with long range mods are absolute unkillable workhorses. Great shuttles. We have a couple of the short-lived Type 11 series on E. They're amazing to fly but very maintenance intensive. The Captain's yacht is an absolute cow of a ship and Picard hates it as much as we hate flying it.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

One with Geordi where he inevitably fell in love with an ancient scientist. But having one of those is practically a right of passage for senior officers on the Enterprise. One involving an old klingon warship jumped forward. That wasn't fun. One I can't talk about.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

I commanded the original USS Kongo on a heritage tour. Classic constitution class. Real bit of history. Felt very honoured. Also it had a BOWLING ALLEY. Which was incredible. I honestly think they need to bring those back.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

The Oberth modernisations are better than a lot of people credit. There's no real creature comforts though. Much more basic experience. If you've served on a Galaxy or Sovereign, you're going to find it a VERY back-to-basics experience. And they are VERY cosy. Not a lot of crew space.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

First Officer would be the next step up for me. I've been offered First Officer roles a couple of times but declined to apply. You have to rely enjoy command deck stuff to want to be a First Officer then a Captain. I generally don't. I like having my area of control, but not running the whole lot.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

Comms are rarely 'all ship' by default. Your general role, line of command and current duty all create a more locally defined instant comms map. Within that map, you're less likely to have a name clash. When it happens, you get an alert and can create a custom name mapping.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

Diversity, in all its aspects, is core at Star Fleet. That includes being aware of the individual needs of every crew member, at every rank, and accommodating them where possible. That allows them to operate at their strongest. Diversity is Star Fleet's most important force multiplier.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

No AI on Fleet vessels. AI has only two states. Non-True, which is really just a computer programme making up things that seem likely to be true. Or True, which tends to want to kill you. Most species realise pretty quickly both versions are bad news.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

Varies by ship and rank. Enlisted get a decent-sized locker here on the E. I have a shared cabin (on the D I had one to myself). I am endlessly impressed with the variety of musical instruments people have. Assessed for space requirements, likely distress to animal and known crew allergies.

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Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 05/09/2024

The average Star Fleet captain normally commands a specific vessel for only three years, maximum. After that they are rotated. It requires a specific exemption from CINC Logistics to hold command longer. The exemption is ships in the Historic Fleet, or those with flagship designation.

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Reposted by Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA)

Lt Cdr. Bull (Starfleet Pilot AMA) @catboycdr.bsky.social · 23/11/2023

I do sometimes wonder if Shuttledeck commanders on other ships have to put up with this kind of thing.

Phone screenshot of convo with will riker. RIKER: Are you up?! Have the shuttle access codes changed? Mine's not working?! ME: Yes. I ordered the codes changed as someone keeps having sex in the shuttles late at night. RIKER: Oh right. RIKER: It's probably Q.

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