The Cravic class androids were deliberately made to not resemble humans to avoid the uncanny valley effect.
um that would make it a Robot. Otherwise, awesome story!
You are right. I had initially made them just like Data Mark II then I decided it was too unoriginal and had them resemble and named after one of the fighting robotic races which appeared in a Voyager episode. Obviously I should have gone back and changed it from android to robot.
Blayne wrote:I thought that The Master filled that role
Do the Time Lords have any control or understanding of what comes after death? I'm wondering what are the limits of their technology.
Well the Master did fill the role in the BBC novels, however he clearly didn't in the series, so I will excise that part out from my personal continuity. As to their technology, they do preserve the minds of dead Time Lords in the Matrix the same way the Borg preserves the minds of its drones in their collective. As of the novels they can theoretically resurrect dead Time Lords as long as they have all the relevant "biodata" presumably the means thoughts plus DNA, and I suspect thats what they did to the Master after his death in the 1996 movie.
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
I'd been assuming he was inside the Doctor's ship's Eye of Harmony, like Omega, and they goinked him out and gave him new regenerations, rather than making a new one.
Superior Moderator - BotB - HAB [Drill Instructor]-Writer- Stardestroyer.net's resident Star-God.
"We believe in the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, argument and debate and most of all freedom of will." ~ Stargate: The Ark of Truth
I dunno, Torchwood seemed very insistent on the "what happens after" question being very mysterious. The Matrix could simply be their way of avoiding what they feel (through rational observation) may simply be oblivion and thus still leaving the question of "what happens after death" a mystery canonically.
So they can restore dead Time Lords but only when they're in the Matrix or presumably somewhere they can "reach" or if they have the body on hand (or with nifty time travel tricks) for any other sentient?
This is mostly just for curiosity as I've been having a series of dreams where D&D gods could stare down Time Lords by preventing their souls from going to where they're supposed to go (which I guess would be the Matrix in this case).
Can Time Lords travel to higher dimensions at will ie visit the Q Continuum or is that something that to them would be an all or nothing effort (like Stargate Ascention?)?
I am sure the term higher dimensions has been thrown up to make it sound better than the "lower dimensions" ie the material universe, however it most likely hasn't been defined very well. If you ask can they travel to other universes easily, the answer is depends on which universe.
1. Parallel time lines are easy enough for them to do it by travelling side ways in time.
2. E-space is almost impossible since they don't know how to open the wormhole thingy, which is why they couldn't follow the Great Vampire and finish him off, although in the novels they could manipulate the "border" between E-space and normal space and imprison vampires in this substance nicknamed the cold
3. People with their own little space time continuum - depends again. The TARDIS can enter the Toymaker's den and leave (once the Toymaker is distracted). However other immortals have their own little "pocket dimension" like the Gods of Ragnorak and its unknown if they can enter it (actually they have two pocket dimensions, the one shown in "the greatest show in the Galaxy" and the so called "Land of fiction" which is easy enough for the TARDIS to enter).
4. In the novels higher beings like the Guardians reside in their own higher dimensions but I am not sure if Time Lords have bothered to research trying to enter it prefering to stay in the material universe.
Keep in mind that the Time Lords can create their own sort of pocket dimension eg the inside of a TARDIS is stated on BBC website as a separate universe while, the Virgin new adventure novels had the so called "universe in a bottle", and the BBC novels also had the Celestis faction creating their own dimension of thought (since the Celestis became beings of pure thought so they couldn't be wiped out in a time war).
As to whether they can visit the Q continuum, hell if I know. The Q continuum isn't well defined (as with all these higher dimensions since we don't really understand the physics of it), however since the continuum can be breached by blowing up a star and doing some technobabble adjustments achievable by 24 th century Federation technology, I am going to say they probably could if someone informed them of how Voyager did it.
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
Blayne wrote:I dunno, Torchwood seemed very insistent on the "what happens after" question being very mysterious. The Matrix could simply be their way of avoiding what they feel (through rational observation) may simply be oblivion and thus still leaving the question of "what happens after death" a mystery canonically.
Nah, Torchwood's just trying to be grim and dark, with "everyone goes to a black domain where they can feel something terrible behind them getting ever closer" It doesn't grok with the rest of the canon though, and given all the other problems of the Risenmitten, can be assumed to be a fuckup with it, unless more evidence is provided.
So they can restore dead Time Lords but only when they're in the Matrix or presumably somewhere they can "reach" or if they have the body on hand (or with nifty time travel tricks) for any other sentient?
It's not clear what they can do, and what they're willing to do. These are rather different things.
This is mostly just for curiosity as I've been having a series of dreams where D&D gods could stare down Time Lords by preventing their souls from going to where they're supposed to go (which I guess would be the Matrix in this case).
Ignoring that most D&D gods (at least as of 3.5) don't have anything like the scope to control such a thing (they're usually limited to one world) that's hardly a threat. The Time Lords could simply make themselves immortal and mete out an ass kicking until these jokers are kill't. In short, see my current sig quote.
Can Time Lords travel to higher dimensions at will ie visit the Q Continuum or is that something that to them would be an all or nothing effort (like Stargate Ascention?)?
It rather depends on what kind of superior beings there are. The TARDIS can certainly travel to the Celestial Toymaker's domain, and similar things. But that really doesn't prove much.
The Q dimension itself, however, can be accessed by Voyager modifying its shields. I can't think it's that hard to get to.
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Ambassador Odo watched impassively as his ship conveyed him to Feriginar. Fifteen Lamarck ships were escorting the USS Cannae, watching her every move. They in turn was escorted by 50 Ferengi star ships. It was two weeks since Federation agents managed to arrange a meeting with Braxiatel. The venue chosen was Feriginar, because the renowned neutrality of the Ferengi.
So far the Time Lords had reiterated their demands for Shada to be returned. They were apparently not in a hurry to press home their advantage. Mr Fable had remarked that was not surprising, considering the leisurely pace they took to subjugate the Dominion. Not since the 26 th century when Captain Smith signed the Federation’s first treaty with Gallifrey had Odo met another Gallifreyan. But he was about to today.
The protests on Earth and other Federation worlds were increasing in intensity. So far the pro war faction was in ascendency. If President Talas couldn’t secure a peace treaty she was likely to be impeached. She most probably still would be even if she did, even as those who impeached her realised a war with Gallifrey could not be won.
Accompanying Odo was Mr Fable as his attache. Officially it was so the Cravic class robot would record the meeting without bias, so that future generations may know what happened in the event negotiations break down. In reality Odo suspected it was so that the robot could spy on the Time Lords. “Just let me do the talking Mr Fable, and we should be fine.”
“Are you sure? I can adjust my charisma rating to 18, which leads to an increase chance of convincing the average humanoid by ..”
“Leave the matter to me.”
* * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The first stage of the negotiations involved meeting the Vorta, Dilandra who served as Braxiatel’s attaché. Mr Fable’s analysis of the Vorta was helpful. Dilandra was a female Vorta (Odo had heard it rumoured that all Vorta serving Braxiatel were female) with striking black hair, standing at 165 cm tall. Odo quickly cut off the robot before he went into discussion on Vorta physiology and where amongst the variations Dilandra fit in.
“So the Federation sends a false god to plead on their behalf?” Dilandra had a haughty voice but there was confidence there too. The confidence that came with being on the winning side.
“I never claimed to be a god.” Odo replied smoothly. “In the Federation I have the same rights, privileges and responsibility as any other citizen.”
“Maybe so, but that never stopped the Changelings from claiming to be our gods. Are you aware that the day when the true gods arrived and smote the false gods is celebrated by my people?”
If Odo had tear ducts in this form, he would struggle have to hold back the tears. Dilandra was talking about a holiday celebration for the genocide of his entire race. The thing is Odo did know, but it still stung nevertheless to hear it mentioned so casually.
“Among the humans there is a saying, that everybody likes a winner and nobody likes a loser.” Fable at this moment interrupted. “Viewed in this light it is understandable why whole groups of species sometimes develop sympathy with their conquerors. They feel abandoned by their old leaders, even though those leaders were forced to do so at the barrel of a gun or at the end of a temporal weapon. Thus the conquered attached themselves to the strong, sometimes forgetting their cultural heritage in their quest to become more like their conquerors. What they fail to realise is that it is the conqueror’s superior technology, tactics, numbers which held the day and because of any perceived moral superiority.”
Dilandra’s eyes betrayed her rising anger, but she held her tongue. “Come, Braxiatel is waiting.”
As the Vorta led them away, Odo couldn’t help whispering. “I thought you said you set your charisma rating at 18.”
“You didn’t ask me to, so I left it at the default of 6.”
* * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Is it done?” The speaker was clothed in a strange black substance which seemed to absorb the light such that it obscured his appearance. However to Burbo the Ferengi engineer he was clearly Suliban.
“Of course it is. Martial droids program to your specification. Wouldn’t the Telehex corporation be surprised when they start attacking random guests? Can you imagine what would happen to their shares. But then you must work for one of their rivals.”
“Something like that.”
Now how about my money? Engineers don’t get paid well you know. Meanwhile these uneducated sport stars are raking it in.”
“Give me your credit card.”
“Why?”
“Just give it if you want to be paid.”
Reluctantly Burbo gave the Suliban his credit card. He watched fascinated as the Suliban waved his cylindrical device over it. “What is that?”
“Laser screwdriver,” the Suliban muttered. “I wouldn’t think about stealing this, you lack the knowledge of miniaturization to cram all its functions into such a small device.” Finally he handed the card back to Burbo.
“What did you do?”
“Check it.”
Burbo did by plugging it to a terminal. To his surprise it read that the card had one billion credits on it. Immediately his moved to transfer the money to various accounts he held. “Hey thanks.” But the Suliban was already gone.
* * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“So you admit to stealing Shada Mr Odo?” Braxiatel was quite enjoying the verbal sparring with the Federation’s ambassador and his mechanical attaché.
“I admitted no such thing. However if these criminals are as dangerous as you say, the Federation will be willing to devote our not inconsiderable sources to helping recapture them. Moreover we willing to pay, let us say very generous reparation for the attack on one of your home worlds. That we do not deny.”
Of course the generous reparation would cover not just the psychological cause of having to deal with the attack, but the disappearance of Shada as well.
“It is not uncommon for many cultures to exchange currency and goods with a foe they are currently in conflict with in return for peace. For example the Chinese paid off the Khitans in the 11 th century and earlier did the same with the Xiongnu. The Bolians also did the same in…”
“Your point is well taken Mr Fable. I just did not realise the Federation was such a group.”
“There is much you don’t know about us.” Odo took the opportunity to jump in. “Perhaps we may become allies in the future and we can learn more about each other.”
At that statement Braxiatel couldn’t help clapping. “Oh the Federation did send their most charming representatives. Come Dilandra, some refreshments for our guests. Do not hesitate to try some yourself.”
The Vorta brought some food for all 3 negotiators. Odo forced himself to consume the humanoid food, while Mr Fable unlike his predecessors was not program to mimic human culinary habits, could only sit impassively.
“Now Mr Odo, if it was up to me I am incline to let the Federation off lightly. However Rassilon is another matter. He will likely demand that those who plotted the attack on our territories be executed.”
“Luther Sadler, the head of Section 31 and Commander in chief of the Right Wing fleet perished during the assault,” Fable cut in. “Like us you are able to scan time and time lines. If the Federation provides you with Sadler’s biodata you could verify for yourself his demise.”
“You make powerful arguments gentlemen..” Braxiatel’s next statement was cut short by the arrival of 3 humanoid robots standing 6 feet tall. In one of their hands was the head of a dead Ferengi. At once they advanced towards the diplomatic team.
Fable recognised them immediately. They were martial droids destined for the Tsunkatse fighting pits. The sport was quite popular in the Delta Quadrant. As with all sports the rules evolved over time. First it was aliens in the “natural form”. Then they allowed genetically enhanced competitors. Then cyborgs until finally Tsunkatse competitors become full robots, albeit long range weapons were disallowed. Quickly Fable’s mind analysed the odds. Switching on his internal tricorder he noted the presence of 10 others in the building heading this way. Must be a demonstration as part of a sales pitch he thought. The odds were not good. He may be able to fight two at a time, but certainly not 3 yet alone 13. He however knew his duty. If Braxiatel died today peace with Gallifrey would likely die with him.
With rapid movements Fable hit one of the droids. Another moved to engage him simultaneously. So they had been program for cooperative efforts. Must be “tag team” droids. Fable ended up using his left arm to block attacks from one droid and his right arm on the other. Those that he couldn’t block, he dodged. He was slightly faster than them, but despite his mind able to predict possible moves it was only a matter of time before he was hit.
Meanwhile Odo had transformed himself into a gelatinous substance and was trying to wrap the martial droid. In response the droid began twisting faster and faster until Odo was thrown off. Dilandra appeared to be praying, while Braxiatel was strangely unconcern.
A change in strategy by the droids gave Fable a possible opening. One of the machines launched himself at him. With miniature jet packs it allowed the droid to glide at the same time kicking continuously at Fable. Rolling along the ground the Cravic class robot came in under the first attacking droid and was rewarded with his fist connecting with the second martial droid’s face. Fable was programmed with several human and alien martial arts, so repeated blows rained onto the droid, until finally Fable took its head off. Still it came. However the first droid had not been idle and on realising what had happened had double backed with a jump attack with his “elbow” aimed at Fable. Only Fable was no longer there and his blow finally “killed” the first droid.
Puzzled the martial droid failed to see Fable behind him. When his computer brain had concluded the there was not enough time to dodge the blow Fable had activated emergency beam out, allowing him to reappear behind his attacker. Now he wrestled with his attacker. Analysis – able to match martial droid strength for 15.3 seconds. Solution weaken droid. Immediately Fable like the Cravic Automated Personnel Units of old, discharged a bolt of chromodynamic energy into the martial droid. This weakened it enough for Fable to rip his arm off. More blasts into the now exposed circuitry dealt with the droid.
Elsewhere Odo had changed into a four legged wolf like animal and jumped on the droid. He must protect Braxiatel at all costs. He was beaten mercilessly back every time he jumped. However his distraction allowed Fable to literally fly kick the droid away from the Time Lord. Reforming Odo shifted into some restraints to hold the droid. It wouldn’t have held long, only 3 seconds, but it was half a second longer than required for Fable to reach into the droid’s chest and destroy its control centre.
What greeted the near exhausted Odo was horror as ten more droids lumbered towards them. Finally Dilandra completed her chanting. The effect was immediate. Three of the leading droids burst apart as a monstrosity appeared from all three. The creature had tendrils which proceeded to wrap around 2 of the remaining droids and crushing them. The other droids attacked it but it seemed impervious to their blows. In a matter of seconds the creature had destroyed all the remaining martial droids. Only then did it stop.
“What is that?”
“That my dear ambassador is what we call an N-form. They exist in a pocket dimension and are anchored to our universe by use of carrier molecules. When they appear they rip through their targets by opening tiny dimensional rifts on a molecular level.”
“Fascinating.” Fable studied the N-form intently. He was already picturing what his report to Federation intelligence would entail.
“The technology to create them is billions of years old. We deployed them against extradimensional invaders long ago and had need to use them again in recent conflicts. We teach a few of our servants how to summon them into normal space.”
“You mean you allowed the Vorta to know their activation codes?”
“That is one way of looking at it.”
“So you were never in any danger?”
Braxiatel held up his right hand. On it was a metal ring. “This is a time ring. It allows me to travel through time or make emergency temporal shifts. So I would have escaped irregardless of the outcome here. However your actions do impress me. There may be hope for your Federation after all.”
“May I suggest Braxiatel, that you unsummon the N-form.” Odo had finally gotten his breath back.
“Why? There may be more of those robots.”
“The Ferengi will soon be here. Before you know it they will be pestering you to sell it to them, and that is an experience I would never wish even on my worse enemy.”
The occasion would be historic, not just because of the peace treaty, but rather the beings which attended. Not only were the Time Lords represented by Rassilon on the world of Gryben, but other greater powers were also there. Gary 7 with Isis, the Organians, the Zalkonians, the Medusans, the Metrons and the Thasians. The Federation would be represented by president Talas and her entourage.
“My lord Castellan, it is an honour to meet you under such circumstances.” Talas thought her words sounded hollow even to her. Fortunately the Castellan failed to notice, or was too polite to point it out.
“This way madam president.” The Castellan led Talas away. The corridor was filled with paintings and mirrors. “We will be meeting Rassilon soon. The sooner the treaty is signed the better it is for all.”
Talas was thankful that Odo had succeeded. Braxiatel apparently managed to convince the High Council not to continue prosecuting the war. The price for peace was high, for the Federation and for her. As part of a face saving arrangement, Star Fleet intelligence managed to catch Grandfather Paradox. At the request of Ducane they had lied that Mary Ward had also escaped with the other two prisoners. The Time Lords weren’t pressing the issue. It seemed that while their diplomats told the other Involved Powers how dangerous the other criminals were, they neglected to mention her. This gave them less of a hold to bargain with. After all, why would the other powers support Gallifrey wanting her back, if she wasn’t as dangerous?
The payment of several border worlds to the Gallifreyan empire would spell the end of her political career. At least she managed to stop more blood being spilt. Her successors may turn up the anti Gallifrey rhetoric, but they were aware that victory was not possible, maybe in a few centuries when their technology matures, but not right now. So they would use the peace treaty as an excuse to stir up more hate yet at the same time not go to war. Politics. How she hated it sometimes. This was one of the times.
It was then on arrival to a new room that she noticed something starring at her in the mirror. Not just this one, but she realised it must have been what she saw out of the corner of her eye in the mirrors in the corridor. Unable to help herself she had to stop and stare. The green face starred back at her. Something in Tala’s memory stirred. Something from the history books. Finally it hit her, “Nagilum,” Talas spoke in a whisper.
“Yes that is its name.” The Castellan sounded bored. “No doubt it was curious given the historic occasion and sought to see what was going on.”
“What is he doing here? Do you know how dangerous he is?”
“It captured a Vorta ship. Killed one third of the crew because they were mortal and he was not. It said it would help increase it’s knowledge. We know it has experimented on other ships before, but it never found what it wanted, so it kept on killing. Finally we isolated the pocket space time continuum where Nagilum lived and separated it from the dimensional walls, took him and imprisoned him.”
“Where?”
“In mirrors of course. All of them.”
“But a mirror is just a reflective surface. How can you imprison something in that?”
“Its.. rather complicated. Suffice to say it appears to be beyond your science. When you start master multi dimensional shifting come back and our explanation might make sense.”
Talas tried a different tact. “How long will he be imprisoned?”
“Rassilon did order him to be imprisoned until the end of time itself.”
“But its barbaric.” Talas could not help herself. “No matter what crime he has committed it is only finite. It cannot deserve eternal suffering.”
“Strictly speaking the universe itself will eventually end so he won’t be suffering eternally.”
“What would you have us do madam President.” Rassilon had chosen that moment to enter. “Kill him perhaps. End his suffering. But I had forgotten, the Federation doesn’t condone the death penalty.”
Talas was about to reply with an argument but then thought better of it. “The Federation of course has a Prime Directive which forbids us to interfere in the affairs of others. Gallifrey’s internal matter is at her own disgression.”
“I am glad that you understand. Now let us sign the treaty.”
Just like that, Gallifrey and the United Federation of Planets ceased hostilities. However for Talas she was just struck by how alien the Time Lords really were. Not to mention their power. If my nation is to catch up she thought, we must increase knowledge of the sciences, not just in developed planets, but also in the outlying agrarian worlds. With that Talas vowed to do just that even if she was no longer president.
“So the peace treaty will be signed, but the conflict will not end. For the human named Braxton it will only worsen his pain. He will seek to get back at the Time Lords. But even then Braxton will have no idea of the part he will play. For soon, the Gods themselves will die.”
Q the younger looked around at the remnants of his allies. For centuries the civil war had raged, until only the most fanatical and determined of the Q still stood. No longer a boy any more Q had seen much. He had seen his enemies moving in, bloodied but confident of victory. Hiding in the pocket dimension vacated by the Celestial Toymaker so long ago, Q waited with his allies for the final card to be played. The trump card which Q held. Remembering the speech Rassilon gave two centuries ago, he raised his arms.
“For Father, for victory, for the end of the Continuum itself.” Q shouted.
“For victory, for the end of the Continuum itself,” echoed the others.
* * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * *
Next chapter I will focus in on Janeway and crew vs the Celestial toymaker
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
There was also a yahoo geocities site which gave a chronology of who. Unfortunately geocities is no longer available and I am not sure if the author found another host. However I did save it on my hard drive for future reference.
Plus I have all 3 "I Who" books by Lars Pearson which reviews Doctor Who novels. They are particularly good because as well as telling you which novel sucked and which ones were good, they make note of the technology appearing in the novel even if its just the 1000 th function of the sonic screwdriver. While they don't use SW vs ST type of calculations, the books do give you a decent idea. For example mentioning that N-forms can easily rip through half a ton of metal gives you an idea for a lower limit of strength.
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
Heh. It's surprising the rate you write this at. Not sure about the Q channelling Rassilon though.
Superior Moderator - BotB - HAB [Drill Instructor]-Writer- Stardestroyer.net's resident Star-God.
"We believe in the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, argument and debate and most of all freedom of will." ~ Stargate: The Ark of Truth
On N-forms, they're also totally incapable of harming a Gallifreyan, so as giving Vorta weapons goes, that makes a good deal of sense.
mr friendly guy wrote:There was also a yahoo geocities site which gave a chronology of who. Unfortunately geocities is no longer available and I am not sure if the author found another host. However I did save it on my hard drive for future reference.
Superior Moderator - BotB - HAB [Drill Instructor]-Writer- Stardestroyer.net's resident Star-God.
"We believe in the systematic understanding of the physical world through observation and experimentation, argument and debate and most of all freedom of will." ~ Stargate: The Ark of Truth
Well I do have a bit of free time at the moment. That will shortly change, but since I already have a rough idea of what is supposed to happen it helps.
As for Q channelling Rassilon, I thought it would help with the foreshadowing. Now we know Braxton will do something which pisses the Time Lords off so much that they describe it as threatening the entire universe. We also know Q plans to use Braxton to "kill the gods" while the TL visionary also hinted something along those lines. But what can one mad human possibly do?
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
When he spoke, one knew he was used to being in a position of power. His arrogant manner did not change despite being imprisoned. Janeway was wary of the being who called himself the Toymaker. She had already inferred from Mr Dark’s subtle hints that if the Voyager crew lost the Toymaker would keep them as his slaves. Or try to. She wasn’t sure what he could do behind his forcefield, but certainly his technology could keep Voyager grounded.
“Q may not have told you of the stakes which we play for, but I assure you it is high. In your future a race from another universe will seek refuge in yours. Their presence will change the power structure of the Milky Way galaxy and even in the Q continuum itself.”
“These Time Lords, I take it they aren’t friendly.” Janeway was determined to get every scrap of information for the enigmatic immortal.
“In my universe they wage a great time war. Thousands of species were wiped out, or rather were made to have never existed. Thirty thousand years of war before the Time Lords felt secure enough in their power to stop.”
“Yet strangely you are unaffected.” Tuvok was quick to point out obvious flaws in the immortal’s story.
“They tried to trace my history but they failed. I am not without abilities and powers. So they could not excise me from history as they have done to many others.”
“Not powerful enough to escape your prison though,” Tuvok continued without missing a beat.
“Unfortunately no. However safe in my own space time continuum I could watch unaffected by the changes in history. Until the Time Lords finally found me and imprisoned me here, until the end of time itself.” The lie would hold. In truth he had tried to make one Time Lord, the Doctor play his games only to be outdone by him. His punishment was to be imprisoned here.
With a gesture two beings suddenly appeared. “These are Katz and Rainer. Two scientists in my possession. They worked for the Third Zone governments and they tried to copy Time Lord technology and build a primitive time ship. It was of course sabotage by the Time Lords and they eventually ended up in my possession.” Another half truth. In reality the ship was stolen by Sontarans and traitors within the Third Zone, and the Doctor had intervened to set things right. “Win and you may leave. Lose and you become part of the scenery. Fail to play and your ship will eventually run out of power. Soon after you will die.”
Shortly after the peace treaty ceding several border worlds to Gallifrey, the Time Lords wasted no time in demonstrating their dominion over those worlds. Federation colonists barely had enough time to leave before Lamarck ships moved in. Various Gamma Quadrant races settled on the worlds, however the Time Lords reserved two for themselves. Using their technology to moved not just the planets, but the entire solar system deeper into their territory. This demonstration of their power frighten some citizens of the Federation. Some of them who felt it would be better if they became citizens of the Gallifreyan empire.
Various people in the Federation called these migrants traitors and advocated detaining them. However the majority felt that this would compromise the core values of the UFP, and so allowed them to travel to the Gamma Quadrant.
So it was here that Daniels found himself. Posing as a journalist he asked numerous sentients why they wanted to be subjected to Gallifrey’s laws. Some were in awe of the Time Lords. Others felt they could help the Time Lords understand the Federation better and promote peace. Some had incurable dsieases and they hoped Time Lord medical knowledge would succeed where Federation doctors failed. It was here that a couple checked in to board the ship known as the Icarus. They were both humans, Sydney and Milly Roddenberry. Nothing remarkable except perhaps the husband being drunk in this day and age and his wife had to fill in all the relevant forms.
If Daniels had probed deeper he would found there were more to these passengers then meets the eye. However what was so strange about two immigrants?
“Sorry.” Tuvok looked up from the Kal Toe board. The Toymaker had selected 3 games for the crew to play. Kim and Paris were playing a type of card game, while Janeway and Chakotay were pitting their holographic warriors against others in a game reminiscent to the Delta Quadrant sport Tsunkatse, while Seven of Nine was coordination from Voyager.
“Your captain earlier asked me what my name was. It is Millennia, although some of the humans call me Milly for short.” The speaker was the woman in red who had confronted the Voyager crew earlier.
“You are not human.” It was more of statement than a question.
“I am a Time Lord. What the Toymaker tells you about my people is half truths. A few of us investigated the legend of the Toymaker and ended up waking him from a dormant state. For our curiosity I became his plaything, my mate eventually died protecting the third member of our party. It was him who eventually undid the harm we did by imprisoning the Toymaker behind the forcefield you see.”
Tuvok decided to try and learn more about their host. “What is he?”
“My tormenter. However now that he is imprisoned I can speak more freely. The Toymaker calls himself the Crystal guardian, the embodiment of games and illusion. I don’t know how true that is now, however he wasn’t before. He survived the destruction of his universe and somehow like other survivors found that he has vast powers in our universe. Legend says that he wasn’t always like this. He used his vast powers to help civilisations. Then the ennui of the ages took hold, and he destroyed the same races he once helped. But still boredom afflicts him. So he torments lesser life forms for his enjoyment playing his games seeking some distraction.”
“Has the Toymaker ever been defeated?”
“Oh many times. He does play by the rules he sets up. If you win, his world, this …. Toy room will cease to exist.” Millennia struggled to get those last words out.
“But that should lead to his destruction.”
“The Toymaker is immortal. He will survive the destruction of his world until eventually a new one will form, and then he will continue the cycle anew.” Millennia made another move at Kal Toe.
Tuvok made his counter move. “Your move.” Contrary to popular beliefs, Vulcans were not emotionless. They merely learnt to suppress them, relying on logic for decision making. Tuvok could feel apprehension. He could see that Millennia would be a challenging opponent despite having never played the game before.
Sydney Roddenberry woke up with splitting headache to find himself in a nightmare. The last thing he remembered was making love to his wife before blackness took him. Now he found himself on a ship heading towards the Gallifreyan empire. His wife was insistent that Time Lord science had the ability to regenerate various species and that will cure him of his disease.
He had protested to Milly, his wife that despite his disease, he would not want help from an empire which butchered the people of Vulcan. In any event, there was no evidence that the Time Lords had such technology.
His wife had laughed as his concerns and pointed out it was his disease and not him talking. Sydney doubted it, however impaired judgment was one of the symptoms of Michael Grade Syndrome.
He had refused to talk to his wife for two days while their starship utilising out of date quantum slipstream technology trundled into the Gamma Quadrant. So he talked with the others on the ship. Among the passengers, some were in similar circumstances (minus the kidnapping of course), some saw themselves as ambassadors bringing peace to the universe and others who desperately needed a deity to fill in the void that was their life and felt they had found them in the Time Lords. Sydney did his best to avoid such people.
“Sydney, please try to understand.” It was his wife. She was dressed in red with immaculate black hair, the same way when he first met her those years ago. She was of course wearing the fob watch which she loved so much. He remembered telling her that he could replicate a more advance time keeping device, but she had only laughed and said the replica had been a family heirloom. Deciding that Milly did have his best interest at heart Sydney made peace with his wife.
Two hours later their ship was intercepted by a Lamarck vessel. How the local governments reacted depended on which part of Gallifrey territory you arrived in. Some Vorta turned the would be immigrants back, others resettled them as long as they were willing to be subjected to Gallifreyan law. This particular Vorta named Dillandra had ordered the ship turned back. Sydney could picture the cries of disappointment and horror among the passengers. It was then that he noticed Milly had activated the comm and was in direct communication with the Vorta.
“We mean no harm to the Gallifreyan empire, but I have come too far to turn back now.”
Dillandra looked at the human who dared to talk back. Dillandra decided she might allow some of them to settle in Gallifreyan space. She was feeling generous. Gallifrey had won after all. It was unlikely all of them would be spies. It was then that she noticed her fellow Vorta, Wayan had begun the chanting that would summon an N-form. He had always had a sadistic streak and the chance to hurt someone who could not possibly fight back appealed to him greatly. Before she could stop him, the incantation was complete.
A human died as his form was ripped apart and the monstrosity appeared.
Sydney had heard about these N-forms and he knew now he was going to die. Suddenly Milly was there standing before the N-form and had opened the fob watch. The N-form promptly stopped attacking to his amazement.
“Why did you stop attacking,” Dillandra asked. “Once released only the Gods may command you.”
The N-form looked back. Well if it had eyes it would. “I am programmed not to harm a Time Lord,” was the simple reply.
It must have been the disease acting up, because it didn’t register to Sydney the significance of what the N-form had just said. It still didn’t register when Milly spoke in a strange language which the universal translator failed to understand. It only dawned on him what was going on when the Lamarck soldiers on the view screen got on their knees in homage to his wife, that something clicked. For the language of Gallifrey still had power, and the Time Lords would programme their genetic creations to be subservient to their will.
“These refugees will be settled onto a world on the Gallifreyan empire.” Milly commanded. “They will receive the same rights and privileges as everyone else in the empire. I and my entourage will be taken to Gallifrey to see the High Council.”
Dillandra could only nod, stunned at these versions of events.
It was Milly Roddenberry the human who had stepped onto the Icarus. But once the chameleon circuit was activated it was Millennia the Time Lady who would step off.
“This game is unlike any card game I have played.” Harry Kim was shaking his head in bewilderment at the rules of the game. Money : The Enterprise was certainly different from games like poker which survived even in Kim’s time.
“Well if it makes you feel any better, our opponent is a card shark in his old life. He most probably will be in the same situation as us,” Paris remarked.
As far as the duo could work out, various symbols on the cards indicate a type of currency for different worlds. Each of the 5 worlds represented specialised in producing certain goods and services needing to be paid in that currency. The green planet manufactured organic technology, the blue world psionic products, the red world weapons and power plants, the white planet infrastructure and medical services while the last and final world, the dark planet represented products on the black market, such as narcotics and mind to computer transference technology similar to Borg unamatrixes. Once a currency card was activated or tapped, it usually cannot be reused until the next round. Winning a game involved either poisoning an opponent, being the first to raise a certain amount of capital, or killing the opponent by reducing their life score down to zero. This of course led to numerous strategies – does one play it defensively while building capital or attack the opponent aggressively and hope to kill them before they have built up sufficient capital to win the game. Cards were drawn randomly, so luck remains a factor in the game.
“I am not sure if the most weird thing about this game is that the players choose which cards were allowed in their deck, or that your opponent can play certain cards on your turn.” Harry quipped.
“Mr Kim, Mr Paris, I require your attention.” When Seven spoke, people took notice. “I do think I have found a way to give us the advantage.” Seven had been studying the rules of the game and had come to a certain conclusion. They were written such that it is subjected to manipulation.
“How?”
“If you and Mr Kim were to sacrifice this soldier card to the organ transplant bank card you gain 3 currency units. However if you had the resurrection machine in play before hand, that soldier can be resurrected for the cost of 2 currency units. If this process was repeated 20 times you would gain 20 currency units for nothing. Repeat continuously and you achieve infinite currency and thus win.”
“Do you think it will be allowed?” Harry asked.
“Only one way to find out.” With that both men set about constructing their deck.
* * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“It has begun.” The loud booming of the narrator announced the start of the game as Janeway and Chakotay took their turns controlling the holographic characters. The game strangely was called Immortal Combat, where according to each character’s fictional biography they were all immortals contesting for the ultimate prize. Godhood. Each character seemed to have their own special powers. The Star Fleet Admiral and Captain respectively decided to choose the character known as the Ice Maiden. Her power seemed to be able to freeze and opponent for a short period allowing her to attack them with impunity. Strangely this freezing worked on opponent in the air in defiance of gravity, that is what comes up, stays up when frozen.
So far the two were more than matching the Toymaker at this game. They had now advanced to challenge the more powerful “boss” characters. After nearly dying Janeway had manoeuvred the Ice Maiden behind her opponent and struck repeatedly. Down and virtually out the narrator intoned “Finish him.”
Janeway was about to do just that (after all, it was only a game) when she hesitated. She realised the. Toymaker should have won. The Ice Maiden was nearly dead but he made an uncharacteristic mistake letting her back into the game. Why would he do that? There is more to it than meets the eye. Janeway activated the key which granted her opponent mercy. The bout would now be replayed after a recess.
“Kathryn. We all but won, why did you not go through with it.” Chakotay was puzzled but years of experience serving with Janeway taught him not to discount the Admiral.
“Voyager’s ready room, now.”
If the two looked back, they would have seen the Toymaker’s veneer of civility fade to be replaced with anger and hate.
* * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
29 th century
Sydney’s disease was cured. The Time Lord regeneration module had cured him completely of Michael Grade Syndrome. His relief however was tempered by the fact that he had found out that Milly, no Millennia he corrected, she was a Gallifreyan. One of the Time Lords. Enemies of the Federation.
After questioning by the High Council they had accepted her story, whatever it was. Sydney wasn’t aware of all the details, however she had apparently been living among Federation space since the 24 th century. When Gallifrey had reappeared in the 26 th century she chose not to make contact because this Gallifrey, one scarred by war was different from the one she remembered. Daleks, she had never heard of them. For all she knew this Gallifrey could have been from a parallel dimension, however Time Lord science had verified that it was not. So it was with dread that Sydney prepared to meet his wife.
“Sydney. I am glad you are healed. Did I not tell you of the wonders of my people’s technology.”
“Please Milly, don’t make this more harder than it already is.”
“Whats wrong.”
“I can’t live here. Your values are too different. Your people execute criminals. They killed billions of Vulcans without remorse because we freed a few of your prisoners. Look at that.” Sydney was pointing to a mirror where Nagilum was starring back. “They imprisoned him till the end of time. That’s barbaric. How can you live among these people?”
Millennia’s face hardened. This was not the response she expected after she had risked so much. “I thought the Federation embraces diversity, that your motto is infinite diversity in infinite combinations. That this diversity makes you stronger. Yet you turn away from me. Have I not treated you well during our time together?”
“Come back with me to the Federation. We can start anew.”
“You know I can not.” Millennia thought about what the citizens, those who were fans of such holoshows like Greg Beck’s, what these citizens would do to her if they found out she was a Time Lord. At least the return of a Time Lord long missing back to Gallifrey would be celebrated.
“I understand. But I had to ask.” With that Sydney held his wife for the last time. By tomorrow he was on a ship back to Federation space. On arrival he was greeted by Federation intelligence eager to learn about the wonders he had seen.
When Janeway and Chakotay arrived back they found Kim, Paris, Seven and Tuvok discussing their separate triumphs.
“So we exploited this loophole in the game and we gain infinite currency and won.” Paris was telling the story his way, talking up his and Harry’s exploits.
“Unsurprising. Those who cheat naturally have the advantage.”
“Its not cheating Tuvok, it was perfectly legal.”
Noticing the Admiral, Kim could no longer keep his curiosity in check. “Did you win?”
“We gave the opponent mercy.”
“Admiral.”
“Tuvok, I think we are being manipulated. But I can’t explain why.”
“That is not logical.”
“No its instinctive. Something isn’t right. The Toy maker all but won, then gave away the advantage.”
“It seems even immortals can make mistakes.” Seven joined in. “Consider the Q. We tipped the scales allowing our side to win the civil war. Neither side expected such a strategy.”
“The woman in red…”
“I played against her Admiral. Her name is Millennia and she is a most challenging opponent, however in the end I triumphed.”
“Millennia mentioned something earlier..”
“If you are dying from hunger and thirst and the only way was to condemn to death an innocent, someone who has not done you any harm, would you do it?” Tuvok repeated the words she had spoken earlier.
“But we aren’t harming anyone by winning. In fact if these Time Lords are even half as bad as we have heard, gaining intelligence on them would help the Federation greatly.”
“I know Mr Kim, but something is missing. What else would happen if we won?”
“According to Millennia his realm, this Toy room will cease to exist. The Toymaker will perist…” Tuvok paused. It was then that the collective horror descended on the Voyager crew. It took Seven to finish the what everyone was thinking.
“If we win his prison is also destroyed, but he himself remains alive. Eventually he will go back to doing what he has always done. Capture others to torture by playing his games.”
“If we refuse to play or lose, we and everyone else here remains his playthings.” Janeway continued.
“We would be condemning untold numbers to suffer a fate worse than death by releasing the Toy maker, but if we don’t we potentially condemn the Federation of the future to suffer at the hands of the Time Lords.” Tuvok finished.
I thought I would end chapter 8 after the “reveal” moment.
Next – Janeway makes a decision out of many and hopefully its not the one we expect
And who is Mary Ward?
Notes
1. Katz and Rainer were the scientist that tried to make a time vessel copied off from TL technology in “The two doctors”.
2. Millennia appeared in the novel “Divided Loyalties”
3. Kal Toe was a game Tuvok enjoyed in the Voyager series. Money the enterprise is an obvious parody of Magic the Gathering and Immortal Combat is a parody of the video game Mortal Kombat. The unfilmed Colin Baker script “The Nightmare fair” had the Toymaker challenge the Doctor in games reminiscent of the video game fad of the 1980s. So I had the Toymaker challenge the crew in some popular games which I played when I was younger.
4. Sydney Roddenberry is obviously a combination of Sydney Newman and Gene Roddenberry
Creators of Doctor who and Star Trek respectively
5. Michael Grade Syndrome – well you can figure out where that comes from.
6. Time Lord ability to regenerate can be given to other species – notably the Minyans “Underworld.”
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
Well I am glad someone got the reference. Any one want to try to work out where the idea of calling a disease which impairs judgment Michael Grade syndrome came from?
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
He was the guy who practically do everything he could to kill a highly popular show, and proceded to miss-manage a host of other popular shows, and goes on to bungle the management of several successful Tv channels.
"Okay, I'll have the truth with a side order of clarity." ~ Dr. Daniel Jackson.
"Reality has a well-known liberal bias." ~ Stephen Colbert
"One Drive, One Partition, the One True Path" ~ ars technica forums - warrens - on hhd partitioning schemes.
The thing is, some DW fans arguably still have a bit of a grudge against him as NuWho was coming out since he was going to be made quite high up in the BBC's echeleons. It might seem excessive after all this time when he originally suspended Doctor Who, however Grade himself is not above rubbing it into Who fans in unrelated public venues. So turn about is fair play.
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
“I know your game Toymaker. You want us to win and in doing so free you.” Janeway thundered.
“The question is, what are you going to do about it? I trust I don’t have to repeat the choices for you.”
“I will play your game, but in return you have to free everyone. Every slave you have acquired over the years, free them now. Turn them over to Voyager. Alive.” Janeway punctuated the last word.
The immortal paused for a moment as if considering the choices. “Very well, I accept your terms. But you must come here to finish the game. I want Admiral Kathryn Janeway to play my games. Not her hologram.”
With that the image of Janeway shimmered and faded. The 29 th century mobile emitter fell down.
* * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“There are too many to fit unto Voyager, Admiral.” Chakotay was worried. He didn’t want to be in the enviable position of deciding who lives and who dies.
“We can store the patterns of most of them in the transporter buffer.” Harry suggested.
“The tactic worked while transversing Devorre space only because we were only hiding a few telepaths.” Trust Seven to put everything in a pessimistic light, Harry thought.
“Then we will wipe out non essential memory. Take the computing power of the holodecks if you must.” Janeway ordered.
“Getting right on it.” Like possessed people, Harry, B’elana and Seven went to work making the necessary adjustments.
This time the Toymaker made no pretence of trying to win. He controlled his character’s movements with less precision hitting only air. Meanwhile Janeway caused the Ice Maiden to land a combination of blows. “Finish him.” The games narrator shouted. Janeway did just that.
“Free.” The Toymaker shrieked. “I can feel this realm breaking apart even now.”
“Admiral, we are detecting seismic disturbances. Voyager is already taking off. We need to beam you off the surface now.” Chakotay’s voice radiated concern.
“Negative Captain. Take off. There is something I have to do first. When I am ready transport me, but not until then.”
“Why wait, Admiral? Once I am free I will simply pull Voyager back in. I am not a good loser. I want to punish those that defeat me, even if you did set me free.”
“Thanks for the tip.”
“Behold.” The portal which had earlier deposited Voyager disappeared.
“Now watch my counter move Toymaker.” Nothing happened. The Toymaker looked at her with bemusement. “Hurry up Q,” Janeway muttered under her breath.
Suddenly a new portal appeared above the sky with Voyager heading right to it.
“Q.” The Toymaker hissed.
“You see, I lied earlier. Q did warn me about you.”
“He cannot know all there is to know. I was careful not to tell him too much.”
“True, but he figured you would be what we humans call a bad sport. When I was confident we were going to win, Voyager sent an inverse dakion pulse. Since inverse dakion’s are particles which are only artificially created, any one sensing it would know it was from me. That was Q’s signal to pull us out.”
The seismic disturbance had finally spread to the Toymaker’s central command. The ground had become unsteady and as a result, one of the forcefield generators fell down. Soon others followed, and with that the Celestial Toymaker was finally free. So was Janeway’s phaser. Pulling it out she fired repeated blasts set to kill on the Toymaker. For his part he simply blocked it with his hand and waved the phaser beams away like a man swatting flies. With a thought he paralysed Janeway.
“Not even the Doctor tried a frontal assault on me. You have gall I will give you that. In better circumstances you might have been a worthy opponent.”
Janeway couldn’t reply. The Toymaker’s will held her. However she could still think, and the biomechanical neurotransmitter she had the EMH implanted in her skull allowed her to communicate with Voyager.
“Chakotay. Do it now.”
“Prepare to beam the Admiral out.”
“Unable to lock on.” Harry said.
“Compensate.”
“Attempting to, but the Toymaker is doing something to the beam. I don’t know how, but we can’t lock on.”
“Chakotay.” The voice of Janeway could be heard on the bridge. He knew the Admiral was only communicating through the biomechanical neurotransmitter and as such the computerised voice often failed to communicate the subtle context which humanoid voices could. Chakotay felt despite this, there was resignation in Janeway’s call, but also determination to carry it through to the end.
“Chakotay, you know what to do.” And he did. Damn it, he did.
“Paris, get us to warp. Tuvok arm quantum torpedoes and fire them as we leave.”
Six type II quantum torpedoes, each one at 60 isotons yield rained death from above. Janeway hoped that this would finish the Toymaker. She remembered after the first few years of being stranded in the Delta Quadrant she kept herself hidden from the crew, haunted by leaving her crew stuck. While rationally it was the right decision to do, to save the Ocampa from Kazon aggression, emotionally it still stung. Right now she realised, rationally protecting the Federation from their future enemy was more important, however it still stung if she had let free someone like the Toymaker. The agonies he will inflict on potential beings, knowing that she helped let it happen would sear her being right down to the very soul, as her conscience would remind her of her crimes. Her last thoughts were that if this doesn’t kill the Toymaker, I most probably wouldn’t be able to live with what I had to do.
“None. Wait, the portal is starting to close.” On the viewscreen the crew watched as it shrank, smaller and smaller until finally there was nothing there to even suggest the gateway had even existed.
“Status of the crew.”
“Katz and Rainer are missing. Everyone else accounted for.”
“Damn it. Could it have been Q?”
“I am checking the computer logs, it seems there was an unauthorised transport. Unable to trace.”
Suddenly more alarms rang out on the ship. “What is it now?” Chakotay could feel the situation deteriorating.
“Someone has stolen a Delta Flyer and is attempting to escape.”
“Who is it?”
“It appears to be Millennia.” Tuvok stated.
“Are you sure?”
“No other life form has two hearts,” the Vulcan replied dryly.
“Tractor beam it back.”
“The computer is not responding to my commands.” Suddenly a message read out on the bridge.
“I am sorry to have to do this. However I must find a way back to my people. What the Toymaker has told you is propaganda and lies, but I can tell you have put a lot of trust into this Q person. So I leave. The computer virus will clear itself, but for now you cannot follow me. I have also boosted the memory of your bioneural gel packs. This should allow you to store the patterns on your transporter until you can reintegrate them. Farewell.”
With that the Delta Flyer went into warp.
“Should we attempt to follow?” Paris asked.
“No, get us to the nearest Star Base,” Chakotay ordered. Today was a long day and he would need to mourn the death of a close friend. “Leave her be.”
The innovations made by Katz and Rainer would serve the Federation well, Braxton thought. Already Time Fleet was attempting to copy the Gallifreyan TARDISes, not as advanced, but then Rome wasn’t built in a day either.
“Didn’t I tell you they would be useful?”
Braxton knew better than to display his surprise. Q the younger always had a habit of popping in unexpectedly. “Your help with the temporal coordinates allowed us to steal them from under Voyager’s not so watchful eye.”
“You are on the same side anyway. In any event you need at least 29 th century understanding of physics and engineering principles to make use of their knowledge Captain, so there was no point letting them keep the two.”
“Admiral.” Braxton corrected. Secretly he gloated, although he told himself he shouldn’t. Janeway had died in freeing the captives from the Toymaker. That woman would never be able to cause another temporal incursion again.
“So you have been promoted. Well I should congratulate you, but I have other things on my mind.”
“I don’t understand Q. You help us against the Time Lords because you admit to hating them. Why do you not confront them directly?”
“I have already told you. The Continuum is fighting a civil war. The other side have a non aggression treaty with them, and there is no point opening two fronts.”
“Then make me like you.” Braxton begged. “With more men like me, you might be able to bring the war to a satisfactory conclusion. Then we combine our powers and deal with Gallifrey.”
“One, our power would be further divided among the new recruits.” Q held up one finger for emphasis. “Two with the damage to the Continuum each new Q would be weaker until the continuum regenerates.” Q now held up two fingers. “Finally, three it will take time to train you how to use your powers. Without knowing how to defend yourself, the enemy Q could simply strip you of your powers and then pry out whatever tactical and strategic information you have.”
“How can one remove an innate ability?”
Q looked at Braxton. Sometimes he wondered for all their advances, humans were sometimes just so stupid. “The same way I would give you powers fool. Trans –mute—tay----tion.” Q emphasised each syllable. “We make you genetically like us down to the subatomic level and then you can also tap into the power of the continuum. But what is done can be undone. We can simply change you back into a human or one of the myriads of life forms in the universe. Most of which can’t tap into the Continuum’s energy supply. How do you think we gave Riker his power? Have an automatic machine obey his every wish?”
Braxton ignored the insult. Q wasn’t far from the truth. Several scientists from the Daystrom institute actually did propose that the Q didn’t have innate powers like the Douwd or the Ocampans. That they simply used a highly advanced machine which could act as a replicator on a vast scale. The only other race he had seen which operated on such a scale was the Time Lords. While the Q talked big, the Time Lords actually demonstrated their power. Braxton decided to change tact. “You must have come here for more than a social call Q.”
“So you humans aren’t totally stupid like that idiot Greg Beck. You caught me out. It turns out that some of you are working on a way to travel to parallel universes. I suggest you fund that project. It may be useful in the future.” With that Q disappeared, leaving Braxton to muse over what he had just learnt.
He was vaguely away of the so called Sliders project, headed by a Maximillian Rhys Davies and a Jerry Mallory. They proposed that using a similar method to how time ships operate, they could cross the Einstein-Rosen bridge into a parallel universe. It then occurred to Braxton that maybe the Time Lords still had enemies from their old universe. That perhaps an understanding might be reach with them. He didn’t expect them to intervene militarily against Gallifrey, but perhaps their knowledge may tip the balance between victory and defeat. Making up his mind, Braxton decided he would help fund the Sliders project after all.
* * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
From the rubble he rose. With the power of his mind he cleared the debris, the remnants of the Toy room. Slowly the Celestial Toymaker set about recreating his realm. Soon. Soon his time will come again. Pity about Janeway. He would have enjoyed challenging her again. “Now Doctor, we will once again match wits.”
The Toymaker was immortal with the knowledge that comes with vast age. However he could not see the future. He would not realise his failed pursuit of his Time Lord nemesis will have consequences which will trickle down and affect three universes.
After the brief border war, Ducane had been left in charge of the Shada prisoners. Or rather prisoner. The Grand Father had been returned to Gallifrey, who promptly transported him to the Nekrit triangle, situated in the Delta Quadrant. This forbidding region of space was avoided even by the Time Lords. Legend had it that a sadistic immortal lived there playing games with mortals within reach. All probes and Federation ships which explored there failed to return.
That left Mary Ward. The woman was an enigma. Obviously human, but why had the Time Lords gone through all the trouble to wipe her memory? The more time he spent with her the more mysterious she became. The Federation had encouraged her to join Starfleet in the hope that she would one day recall any aspect of Time Lord technology.
The economic reforms of the 25 th century had encouraged innovation, and so it was with Mary. She produced and patented the sonic screwdriver. Some 20 th century aficionados remarked it was the swiss army knife for engineers. It even had some limited medical tricorder functions in the event of plasma burns or some other engineering mishap. The sonic screwdriver became the multipurpose engineering tool which served Starfleet’s needs well. After all phasers had more than just military uses, so why shouldn’t their engineering tools be as well. She became rich over night.
Not just that her other two innovations were amazing. Circuitary regeneration which allowed ships to repair themselves, and finally advanced memory storage chips. She mentioned that her dog once had such advanced electronics. After further questioning it seemed that her “dog” was in reality an advanced computer built in the shape of a dog.
It was her technological advances which made Federation intelligence finally agreed that they made the right choice, hiding her existence from the Time Lords. Ducane however was still kept as her watcher. As he introduced Mary to the sights of the Federation, to the pleasure planet Risa, to the museums on Earth, he realised he was falling in love. Amazingly she returned the sentiment. The day he married was the happiest day of his life. The birth of his son Jay only added to the joy. However all good things must come to an end.
* * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
“Captain Ducane. Your record in Time Fleet is exemplary. One wonders why you never bothered to try for admiralty.” The speaker was Ducane’s old captain. Braxton. Now an admiral.
“I felt I could best served the Federation in my current position.”
“Ah yes, you looked after Mary.” Holding up the latest version of the sonic screwdriver Braxton adjusted some settings. “There are several hundred functions on this. It can even generate a high pitched sound. We can’t hear it of course. However those irritating teenagers can and they know to stay away. Of course I never had children or otherwise I might have enjoyed their company.”
Ducane chose not to comment. He was all too aware Braxton’s wife Amanda was killed in the border war with Gallifrey. After an unpleasant pause, Braxton tried to restart the conversation. “I hear that your wife has now found a way to improve the efficiency of our Omega powered engines.”
“That is correct.” The solution to the Omega paradox which plagued Federation scientists in the 24 th century was remarkably simply. Instead of controlling the reaction between the subspace molecules, engineers simply deposited the molecule into a quantum singularity. The vast subspace energies released were kept in the singularity and radiated out in the form of Hawking radiation, drawn by a Starship’s systems. Such a system however was grossly inefficient, albeit it was more than offset by the enormous amount of power generated by the Omega molecule. To date as Omega synthesis became more efficient, ships were able to produce more power by having several Omega power generators, rather than increasing efficiency of existing ones. Mary’s newer computing hardware could calculate how to stabilise the molecule which led to greater efficiency and allowed ships to do away with using quantum singularities to help power them.
Continuing on, Braxton’s conversation suddenly took a different turn. “There was a joke historians used to tell each other in the 20 th century. The first historian would say, hey what do you think the world would be like if Hannibal had won the second Punic war? The second historian would say we would be having more child sacrifices.”
“Ignoring for the moment the joke isn’t something I find humourous, I don’t see where you are going with this.”
“The point is, the story that the Carthaginians sacrificed their children en mass is a myth. It was lie perpetuated by their geopolitical rivals, the Greeks and the Romans. With the ability to time travel, we can see for ourselves the truth. Now what do we know about the Daleks?”
“They were supposedly the enemy the Time Lords fought in their own universe. Fought to a stand still. Great armadas, millions of ships. Each one with the ability to destroy a planet. They had time travel, utilised biological weapons on aliens, kept humans as slaves to mine Veganite and other rare minerals. The scourge of millions of worlds.”
“Yes, and who told us all this?”
“The Time Lords,” he answered politely. Ducane could see where Braxton was going with this, however what he couldn’t see was the point. Braxton’s hatred of the Time Lords was well known, but trying to stoke up hatred seemed pointless, especially since its been years since the border conflict and they had kept to themselves. Even migrants had stopped trying to enter their space after finding out it wasn’t the utopia they imagined it to be.
“I submit to you Captain, that the Daleks were no worse than any other great power. I submit that the Time Lords propaganda paints them as monsters.”
“So what if this is true?” At this point Ducane was growing weary of Braxton’s rant. “There is no way to prove it.”
“Oh but there may be. What do you know about the Sliders project?”
So Braxton was getting to the point then. “Very little,” Ducane answered.
“This project was to allow us transverse to parallel dimensions. Six months ago it succeeded. We have sent out probes to various other universes and now I will show you what we have found. Computer activate programme.” An image appeared in the room courtesy of the multiple holo emitters installed. On it could be seen images of Earth and giant rockets of a type Ducane had never seen before. Fascinated he watched as floating spheres transverse the sky before finally detecting the probe and destroying it.
“Chronometric dating puts this at around the early 21 st century. Quite advanced for the time wouldn’t you say? We picked up a few radio signals. Apparently Earth is under the dominion of a dictator named Harold Saxon. However that isn’t the interesting thing. Analysis of the quantum signature was compared to that of known various Time Lord technology, they were known to have brought over from their universe. It matches. We have found the Time Lords’ place of origin.”
The revelation hit Ducane but he kept calm. “What do you plan to do with this knowledge?”
“I plan to send a small group of Time and Star ships to explore this new place. A 5 year mission to seek out new life, new civilisations and to find allies.”
Ducane could see it took Braxton an effort not to add the words “against the Time Lords” in that same sentence. “Where do I fit in all this?”
“I want you to lead this squadron. The Federation’s charter has been to explore. What better way than exploring another universe altogether?”
“I am sorry sir, but I must decline.”
For a moment there was palpable tension in the room. Then Braxton relented. “No matter. You aren’t my only choice. I do however have another suggestion for you. Are you aware of Gol’s children?”
Ducane was. Survivors from the disastrous attack on Vulcan who were beamed up onto Federation ships before their doomed planet fell into their star. They forsook Kolinar, the Vulcan way of logic and suppressing emotions. Their philosophy was that life was too short and needed to be enjoyed. They allowed the Vulcan emotions, stronger than anything a human could feel to come to the fore. They were outcasts among other Vulcan survivors, however they found friends among the other species. It was said that once a human mated with a Vulcan with unrepressed emotions in the throes of a mind meld, they would never look at anyone else as a potential mate ever again.
Taking Ducane’s silence as assent Braxton continued. “They aren’t just all hedonists. A few of them have developed their mental powers to an extent. Different from the traditional Vulcan way, but I believe stronger. If Mary is willing, I believe one of their exemplars can help her regain her memory.”
“Vulcans have tried before.”
“Yes, and with Mary’s permission they can try again.”
“I will ask her.”
* * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
To Ducane’s surprise Mary said yes. Like Braxton she was eager to learn more about her origins. So they left Jay with Ducane’s parents and boarded a ship for a short trip to Risa, where Gol’s children had set up their primary base. They met Braxton and another human, who he introduced as Doctor Elizabeth Calhoun. Her family Braxton explained was killed during the attack on Terra Nova 4 when the Time Lords moved it from its orbit. Ducane was aware that Starfleet finally managed to tractor beam it back to its proper orbit through use of a gigantic static warp field and dozens of ships working in concert. However Federation technology could not repair lost lives.
Calhoun’s job was to scan the process to ensure that nothing went wrong. Braxton explained it would be a type of mind meld. Before too long they had encountered the exemplar. His name was Kuvak, and he was accompanied by two other Vulcans. Braxton had reserved a private holodeck for the group. Kuvak explained he worked best when reminded of his home on Vulcan. The holodeck programme showed a small cave, with dusk having set in on a Vulcan night.
It struck Ducane that the Vulcan to be missing his lost home, however Kuvak continued on business like. He asked Mary to sit down while he held up a small stone. “What is that?” Ducane asked.
“It’s creation was inspired by an ancient holy object, the Stone of Gol. It is a..”
“Psionic resonator..” Mary completed.
“Yes. But unlike the Stone of Gol which only amplified negative thoughts, this will amplify any thoughts. With it I will hopefully be able to breach the barriers in your mind. Are you ready?”
Mary nodded. Kuvak placed his hands onto her forehead, with the stone nearby. “My mind to your mind. My thoughts to your thoughts.”
Suddenly Mary screamed. Ducane moved to intervene but Braxton held him back. His grip was surprisingly strong. Unfortunately the two Vulcans quickly joined in and there was no way Ducane could break free of them. “I am reading an increase in neurological activity, but still within human norms.” Calhoun read off her medical tricorder.
Mary saw. She saw things no humans had ever seen. At least any human from this universe. She saw the Doctor confronting a giant squid like creature. She saw him facing down the Black Guardian. She saw the Exo-space time continuum. She remembered the Marshmen from Alzarius and how they had infected her with their code of life. She remembered how the Doctor had killed the Great Vampire and how she had been under the control of its servant Aukon. She remembered escaping back to N-space and how she became president. She saw her trials and tribulations as she protected Gallifrey against the Free Time terrorist organisation, against renegade Time Lords, the future Enemy that never was and finally the Daleks. She remembered stealing technology from the future. She was there when some Time Lords woke Rassilon from his eternal sleep and how he charged her among with breaking the Second Time Law, as well as treason for failing to prosecute the war against the Daleks. The High Council deemed her incompetent, but agreed that what she did, she did for Gallifrey. They however agreed with Rassilon that stealing technology from the future violated the Second Time Law and decided to strip her of the Presidency. Never mind that they were complicit in violating the law as well.
Then she screamed as she remembered the guards placing her in the Chameleon arch, every cell of her biology being rewritten. Rassilon would not kill her, but he would make her less than a Time Lord, but with a Time Lord’s life span. She remembered being regenerated in her human form each time she “died” on Shada, the memories being blocked out again and again. Then she remembered who she was, and who she is now.
“Stop it, you are killing her.” Ducane was begging Braxton now.
“Some bioneural energy is coming from her. I have never seen anything like this before.” If Calhoun had been among Time Lords, she may have called the energy Atron energy. Suddenly the Stone shattered and Kuvak was hurled back. The force broke his back with a sickening thud. Calhoun didn’t need the tricorder to tell her the Vulcan exemplar was dead. However it was then that she noticed the anomalous readings it was giving her. “Admiral. She isn’t human anymore. I am reading two hearts and a self regenerating cellular system.” Suddenly her eyes flared as she could no longer keep the hate from her voice. “She is one of them. She is a Time Lord of Gallifrey.”
The woman stood up. Ducane met her eyes and realised straight away something was wrong. The eyes that starred back at him was not the eyes of a youthful woman in the prime of life, but that of someone who had seen so much.
“My name is Romanadvoratrelundar. It is true. I am a Time Lord, and despite what Rassilon has done, I am not ashamed to be one.”
Braxton held up a phaser. “Then enjoy your last moments as one.”
“No, its murder.” Ducane tried to break free of the Vulcans but it was too late.
Notes
1. Romana built her own sonic screwdriver in “Horns of Nimon”
2. Circuitary regeneration appeared in “The key to time” where it was used on K-9
3. Guess who Elizabeth Calhoun is a descendent of.
4. The super fast computations idea leading to stabilisation of molecules came from “Earthshock.”
5. I have no idea whether I am understanding Hawking radiation correctly, but it sounds nice.
6. Romana stealing technology from the future was revealed in “The ancestor Cell”, a crime which would have Rassilon rolling in his grave. Oh wait.
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
“I submit to you Captain, that the Daleks were no worse than any other great power. I submit that the Time Lords propaganda paints them as monsters.”
oh, this is gonna be fun......
"Of course, what would really happen is that in Game 7, with the Red Sox winning 20-0 in the 9th inning, with two outs and two strikes on the last Cubs batter, a previously unseen meteor would strike the earth, instantly and forever wiping out all life on the planet, and forever denying the Red Sox a World Series victory..."
I wonder how many regenerations Romana used up as a human on Shada, because it looks like she might need at least another one thanks to Braxton's stupidity, here they have the perfect ally against the timelord and the too shortsighted to see it.
God damnit that stupid stone of Gol turned up i always hated that concept.
"Since when is "the west" a nation?"-Styphon "ACORN= Cobra obviously." AMT
This topic is... oh Village Idiot. Carry on then.--Havok
So I stare wistfully at the Lightning for a couple of minutes. Two missiles, sharply raked razor-thin wings, a huge, pregnant belly full of fuel, and the two screamingly powerful engines that once rammed it from a cold start to a thousand miles per hour in under a minute. Life would be so much easier if our adverseries could be dealt with by supersonic death on wings - but alas, Human resources aren't so easily defeated.
“I submit to you Captain, that the Daleks were no worse than any other great power. I submit that the Time Lords propaganda paints them as monsters.”
oh, this is gonna be fun......
Thanks for the feedback. I suggest you have a look at chapter 2 again where Gallifrey and the Federation debate punishment for Braxton's crime and you can see the clues already there. Also the start of chapter 4 also gives more clues. Remember what Braxton said “The ancient enemies will gather at the gates of the Celestial Temple. On that day the Gods themselves will die.”
Themightytom wrote:I wonder how many regenerations Romana used up as a human on Shada, because it looks like she might need at least another one thanks to Braxton's stupidity, here they have the perfect ally against the timelord and the too shortsighted to see it.
God damnit that stupid stone of Gol turned up i always hated that concept.
The thing is Time Lord regeneration technology can be used ad nauseum as shown in the classical episode "Underworld." However its clear that culturally modern day Time Lords don't do this since they eschew immortality "Brain of Morbius". Except in rare circumstances will they extend the regeneration eg they offered the Master an extra set in "Five Doctors", while Borusa was forced to research Rassilon's method of immortality otherwise he could simply extend his regeneration cycles. Its hinted in an old Patrick Troughton episode that Time Lords in the past may have followed the immortality route since he stated they are immortal barring accidents ? "Tomb of the Cybermen".
Given this and the fact it can be extended to other species, its not surprising that Romana in her human form could be regenerated easily past the 12 th regeneration as part of Rassilon's punishment. Since he is cruel and a bad ass so he would never tolerate another rival for the Presidency. My thoughts are she resets back to her Time Lord regeneration cycle, so he would currently prior to being shot by Braxton be in her third incarnation (taking into account the novels where she turns out to be a cold hearted bitch in this incarnation).
Blayne wrote:Ya she'll just regenerate again I imagine the sad part of this is that there's no guarantee that she'll still be in love with Ducane.
Hopefully she proves to be helpful to the Federation, my impression from the previous chapters is that yes she does.
Also, Captain Mackenzie Calhoun?
Ding. Ding. We have our winner. I initially wanted a character who was the descendent of Elizabeth Shelby who was played by the stunning Elizabeth Dennehy in the Best of both worlds. I thought her character was driven and I loved how she told Riker to move out of her way. Apparently she married Mackenzie Calhoun in the novels so there you go.
In answer to your other points, I did plan for Romana to be someone who would help the Federation offset the tremendous advantages the Time Lords hold. I can only wank Trek up so much before it looks stupid, and they would still be curbstomped, so yeah, I needed someone to give them a leg up. Of course she doesn't know all the technical details, so the Time Lords would still have quite an advantage. Moreover her knowledge will be 300 years out of date, and by the 31 st century it would be 500 years out of date unless she can catch up.
Keep in mind though, that the Time Lords also have just gained one of their numbers who has lived among humans for the past 500 years. We all know what happened when RTD decided to combine Time Lord brilliance with human thinking.
Never apologise for being a geek, because they won't apologise to you for being an arsehole. John Barrowman - 22 June 2014 Perth Supernova.
Countries I have been to - 14.
Australia, Canada, China, Colombia, Denmark, Ecuador, Finland, Germany, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, USA.
Always on the lookout for more nice places to visit.
oh, this is gonna be fun......
