“Which is the goal of this undertaking, Professor—to give the Warborn an opportunity to broaden their range of abilities,” Rakatheema replied. “Their training to date may have emphasized combat, but their innate capacity to learn goes beyond that. Their rate of cognitive development and assimilation of new knowledge surpasses what is normal even for my people, and the rapid learning techniques we Arcturians invented for their training have already been successfully adapted by the Federation for medical rehabilitation, for language acquisition in circumstances where computer translation is unavailable, and so forth.

“Naturally,” Rakatheema went on, “we would expect the Warborn to meet the same qualifications as any other cadet. The sponsorship requirement is taken care of thanks to Admirals Kirk and Cartwright. Our candidates are already undergoing rapid remedial training on Arcturus, and any further catching up can be done during the summer preparatory program. They would hardly be the first entrants who drew upon the preparatory program to compensate for a lack of conventional educational achievements, due to coming from small colonies, emigrating from non-Federation worlds, or having otherwise exceptional backgrounds.”

“Their very exceptionality is a concern,” Captain T’Vari put in. “In stressing their learning speed, you remind us of the Warborn Arcturians’ augmented physical and mental capabilities. Starfleet cannot be seen to embrace the recruitment of Augments, least of all those engineered for military purposes.”

“By a strict interpretation of those rules, Captain, I would be forbidden from service, as would Professor Blune. Both of us are from species that have undergone genetic engineering in the past.”

“On a species-wide level. The restriction regards those beings who are artificially enhanced beyond the general optimum for their species, granting them an unfair advantage.”

“Advantage?” Rakatheema countered. “The Warborn have little advantage over other Arcturians. Their accelerated growth gives them shortened lifespans. They are outsiders among our people—placed on pedestals for their sacred role in our defense, yet viewed with discomfort in peacetime, for they have no place in our everyday lives. They are strong and skilled in combat, yes, but little more so than a natural-born Arcturian in peak condition. After all,” he added, lowering his head, “they were bred for their numbers and speed of reproduction above all else.” He declined to put the cruel calculation into words: parts designed to be disposable and easily replaced did not have to be especially durable.

“Still, Captain T’Vari has a point,” Superintendent Chandra put in. “Aside from the ethical concerns, there are political considerations as well. The Klingons would see it as an abrogation of treaties and agreements going back to the Augment Crisis of 2154. Given the current… deteriorating nature of our relations with the Klingons, it would be unwise to provoke further mistrust.”