Stravo wrote:This is the reponse I got when I calmly asked what was the wankfest comment about considering the state of vs. today.
Originally Posted by Stravo
Just out of curiosity, considering the state of the versus debate as it is now with the ICS and other things, how is this tale a warsie wankfest?
Because the ICS IS A WARSIE WAKNFEST!! You missed the debate a while back quite a few people agreed on the fact the numbers in the ICS calcs were biased warsies used examples of when weapons were working at 10% saying that was 100%. Then later we find out were those extra zeros went, and how the Warsies reached those ungodly numbers.
Yesterday I went to the grocery. While I was there I cut through the cookies asile and saw a very interesting site. There was a kid, I'd say about 2 years of age, in the middle of a fulblown temper tantrum. Kid heaved himself on the floor, and was kicking and flailing with his fists. Tears were streaming down his extremely red face, and his piercing crying could be heard throughout the store.
For some reason that post just brought that image to my mind.
بيرني كان سيفوز
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Nuclear Navy Warwolf
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in omnibus requiem quaesivi, et nusquam inveni nisi in angulo cum libro
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ipsa scientia potestas est
Hell, when I first started rooting around Wong's site, I was part of the unwashed, uninformed mass that though Trek had the edge(sad, but true). I remember reacting badly to fanfic that gave Wars only a sizeable, rather than an overwhelming advantage. However, I also payed attention while watching both Trek and Wars, and Wong's analysis corresponded with what I had seen, unlike the rantings I have seen from others desperate to prove their supremacy.
If they want WArsie Wankfest" then point them at Stardestroyers Rampant.
Ph34r teh eyebrow!!11!Writers GuildSluggitePawn of ChaosWYGIWYGAINGW so now i have to put ACPATHNTDWATGODW in my sigEBC-Honorary Geordie Hammerman! Hammer!
this is called constructive critism from a writer to the other... i know that strave is 10x better than me, but still, even a blind chicken finds its way.
But Lex, you have to consider the alternatives. You say you don't like the good guys winning against insurmountable odds at the last minute. What are the alternatives?
Good guys winning against insurmountable odds from start to end (wtf)
Good guys losing against insurmountable odds from start to end (yawn)
Good guys losing against insurmountable odds at the last minute (ok if you're rooting for the bad guys, but it's a poorly written story where you end up rooting for the bad guys instead of the good guys. Or maybe you're writing the story for a bunch of goths )
Busily picking nuggets out of my well-greased ass.
maybe a realistic story with both sides suffering losses in an euqal amound, but the war goes on as noone is able to get the win? or the empire wins? soemthing realistic.......... i mean ok i accept it if they are saved 1 time in last minute, but 3 times???? tahts to much
Lex wrote:maybe a realistic story with both sides suffering losses in an euqal amound, but the war goes on as noone is able to get the win? or the empire wins? soemthing realistic.......... i mean ok i accept it if they are saved 1 time in last minute, but 3 times???? tahts to much
Except that you weren't talking about the galactic war between the Federation Remnant and the Imperials (which is already over: Imperials won!), you were talking about Kirk being saved at the last minute. Since Kirk is the main charcter in this story being chased around by Sith Lords, he's constantly getting into mano-e-mano duels with the bad guys. If he lost those he'd be dead; if he won those it would be stupid (Sith Lord > Kirk); he can't lose "some of the time" because its a life/death thing for him. The only way to avoid it would to have these sort of things happen less often. And that would be a damn shame.
Lex wrote:maybe a realistic story with both sides suffering losses in an euqal amound, but the war goes on as noone is able to get the win? or the empire wins? soemthing realistic.......... i mean ok i accept it if they are saved 1 time in last minute, but 3 times???? tahts to much
Rule one of writing fantasy/Sci Fi....
"See this Science book?" *Tosses it out the window*
Both sides are suffering losses (The good guys FAR more losses...) And I think the way Kirk's been getting saved are quite realistic. First time against Fett, however sweet Fett is, he's still human and going up against 3-4 guys shooting at him. In space vs. Luke and Fett, Fett saves Kirk when trying to take out Nemisis, Kirk didn't get out of that very well. Mano a mano with Fett, he had the help of a worm and the force and still barely won. Kirk vs. Nemisis. Kirk had the force and he STILL got wasted.
Besides, you obviously aren't a writer since the whole thing behind keeping people reading is SUSPENSE. We all knew that Nemisis would wipe the floor with Kirk, but we knew Kirk wouldn't be able to die yet. So we wanted to know what would happen. And to not have Kirk saved at the last minute is poor writing, you do have a point that it can't be constant last minute saves...but good writing has them.
Justice League, Super-Villain Carnage "Carnage Rules!" Cult of the Kitten Mew...The Black Mage with The KnifeSD.Net Chronicler of the PastBun Bun is my hero.The Official Verilonitis Vaccinator
Please enjoy the latest unstallment and special thanks to Necronlord who provided me with information vital to telling this chapter as well as my bretheren in the Writer's Guild for a spell and grammar check.
Chapter 58: End Run
Catherine Janeway stood on the bridge of the Voyager - the starship that had taken her home through countless light years and adventures. She felt at home here and she glanced around at her crew. Chakotay sat proudly at his XO station glancing down at a counsel display. Paris was plotting a course at the helm station. Tuvok sat quietly with an intense expression as he analyzed sensor data.
Just one thing was wrong.
Everyone was frozen in place, as if Janeway had walked into a still frame from a holonovel.
“Now are we clear on what needs to be done?” Q asked softly as he sat against one of the railings on the bridge, arms crossed and watching her with a strange expression. One could almost call it pity.
“I think it’s fairly clear what you need from me.” Janeway replied darkly as she examined her crew with pride and sadness. If she succeeded in her mission many of them would no longer be alive.
“I want to hear it from you before I start the ball rolling.” Q pressed.
Janeway snapped her head around and pinned Q with a withering gaze.
“Are you getting some perverse enjoyment out of this?”
“No, not at all. Perhaps it would make you feel better if I were, if I truly cared about the gnat we commonly call humanity.”
“Except this particular gnat can set things right.” Janeway replied hotly.
“And this particular gnat is solely responsible for the impending doom of reality itself.” Q replied without skipping a beat.
They stared hard at each other for a long moment.
“I find it hard to believe that my actions alone could have triggered the events that threaten reality itself Q.” Janeway stated quietly.
Q smirked.
“Did you and your precious Federation think that time travel is some get out of jail free card? That you could tamper with the very fabric of space time without any consequences on your part? You brought the future technology into the present, you knew the consequences and you went ahead and did it. Why? Because you wanted to come home.” Q made a petulant mewling sound to accompany the last portion of his statement.
“How was I to know? Q my crew was looking at either death at the hands of the myriad enemies we would face or a swift return home and defeat of the Borg. How could I ignore that option.”
“Simple really, Katherine. You took the easy way out.”
“You call what we did easy?!” she protested.
“The true path would have taken you a few decades longer, a few crewmen shorter and a wrecked ship, but instead you chose the quick and easy path and now look at us. I have to try and patch up what no one thinks can be fixed or should be.”
Janeway stalked over to him and looked into his eyes.
“You told me that no one else would lift a finger. How could they Q? You so called gods like to think you live on a higher moral plain but I’m beginning to see that this notion is a farce.”
Q smiled and it chilled Janeway’s blood because it was a smile devoid of any compassion, understanding, any human emotion whatsoever. An imitation of a smile but there was no humanity behind it and she did not think such a horror was possible.
“Morality, Katherine is a god’s prerogative.”
“And you want me to help you? The price you ask for is too damned steep.” she spat and turned away from him, unwilling to look at him with his trickster’s mask slipping revealing the entity beneath.
“You mistaken me for someone else. I’m not asking for you to pay the penalty, the universe demand such penalties.”
“And you? You could just whip up your hands snap them and everything would be back in its place. Why this path?” she demanded slamming her hand on her command chair.
Q snorted.
“You really think Katherine that I have such power? We’re not talking about some rogue planet, errant comet or odd anomaly. We’re talking about the length and breadth of reality itself, every world, galaxy, nebula and dimension in the cosmos. You do me too much credit.”
“So the great and powerful Q Continuum has its limits.” Janeway noted sardonically and smiled darkly.
“Not once have we ever insinuated otherwise Katherine. The Continuum plays by its own rules too my dear Captain and like you I am breaking the rules but unlike you my efforts lead to a positive end.”
Janeway slowly turned to look at Q.
“You chose this path?”
Q nodded.
“And Captain Kirk? He seems to be in the thick of the universe saving business.” she asked.
“Looking to foist this on someone else? Katherine, I’m shocked.” Q replied in mock horror.
“I was asking a simple question. Where does he stand in this? You’ve been quick to focus on me but don’t think I haven’t noticed what he’s doing. While I’ve been dealing with the Borg he’s been fighting the good fight and keeping the Federation free.”
“He would trade his place with yours without hesitation were he to know what awaits him. He has only seen a glimpse of his path. I have given you the easiest task my dear. His will test the very foundations of his being and we shall see if the human in him can resist the irresistible pull of entropy.” Q assured her with a dark tone.
Janeway blinked.
“You can try to head that off, Janeway. You can make an end run and stop this disaster now.”
“But it will cost me everything.” She replied.
Q nodded.
“One cannot save the universe and not expect to pay the price. What is your life compared to the utter infinite number you will save.”
Janeway remained silent as she glanced down at her crew seated around her. Q watched her for a moment before continuing.
“You would trade your life for any one of them?” he asked gently.
Janeway nodded slowly.
“If it were just my life Q.” she replied. Q nodded.
“The universe will not be satisfied with just one life. Actions have consequences and repercussions.”
“We just wanted to come home.” She sighed sorrowfully as she slid into her command chair and ran her hands along the arm rests as if looking for support and strength.
“Your life will be a closed circle Katherine. You and your crew. This was not meant to be but so be it. The decision remains yours as it should be.”
“And it has to be now?”
Q nodded.
“You could not just take us back to the battle of the array? I could choose to escape.” Q began to shake his head. “Or the first encounter with the Borg, I could choose a different path.” She continued and realized she was starting to sound desperate.
“No. No. and most definitely no. There is one path that leads to the destruction of the universe.” Q held up a single finger. “One path that allows you to correct a mistake that led to that destruction. One path that is open to us. One path that could end the game.”
Janeway stared into the godling’s eyes and they remained silent for long moments.
“I have no choice Q. In the end I am a Starfleet officer and I have a job to do. When we make mistakes we do what we can to correct that mistake.”
Q nodded.
“Very well Katherine. I must say, it’s been one hell of a ride. You do your species credit, for what its worth.”
“Don’t count me out yet, Q.” Janeway replied with a cool smile. “I could just surprise you.”
Q held up a hand. His lack of a reply told her all she needed to know. He knew that there was no chance of any other alternative.
“And you remember what needs to be done?” Q asked.
Janeway nodded and looked away, staring into the view screen with grim determination.
“I have to lose.” She answered.
Q snapped his fingers with a flourish and the bridge was engulfed in bright white light for a moment. Janeway closed her eyes and centered herself.
“Standing by sir.” Tom Paris announced.
Janeway opened her eyes. The transwarp conduit was ahead, somewhere in the Unimatrix, her future self was facing the Borg Queen. Sacrifices within sacrifices. Now it was just a matter of adding one more to the pyre.
“Take us in.” She ordered.
“Yes ma'am.” Paris replied and his fingers flew across the helm controls. The Voyager quickly accelerated forward into the storm of light seething within the transwarp hub. The starship flashed into the hub and vanished into the transwarp conduit.
“Status?” Janeway asked as she held on to the seat while the bridge bucked around her. One hand was quickly typing a coded string into the tactical display. When the time was right she would seize control of the helm station. She would not ask Tom or anyone else to do what needed to be done.
“The Admiral succeeded, Captain. Conduit shielding is destabilizing.” Seven reported.
“Mr. Tuvok. Fire.” Janeway ordered and as she did so she activated her override program.
Tuvok nodded and punched in a code on the tactical control. Torpedoes rushed away from Voyager and struck the conduit’s support structure. Explosions rippled along the spider web like designs of the conduit and it began to collapse.
An alarm buzzed on Paris’ station. An expression of surprise flashed on his face and he turned in his seat towards Janeway.
“Captain! I’ve lost helm control!” Paris exclaimed.
“I know Tom.” Janeway replied sadly as she keyed in a new course heading.
Paris’ eyes widened.
“Chakotay!”
“I see it, Tom. Katherine! What the hell are you doing?!” Chakotay shouted as he reached out to try and clear the pad. Janeway fended him off as she keyed in the final execution order.
Paris whirled back to his station.
“Oh my God we’re---”
Voyager suddenly pirouetted gracefully in flight and dove right into the expanding shockwave of the ruined conduit.
“Chakotay, we can’t go home, hold on and this will all be over in a second!” Janeway snapped as her XO managed to scramble out of his seat and over power Janeway, reaching for the control pad.
“It’s too late!” Paris exclaimed and put up his hands to his face as the fireball filled the screen.
Instead of the fiery conflagration and oblivion she felt nothing. Even Chakotay’s weight and incessant pulling vanished replaced by a cold quiet stillness save for a single sound. The all too familiar sound of a lcars keypad being tapped.
Janeway noticed that Chakotay was frozen in time, his movements nonexistent, expression stuck in the same angry outrage that had struck Janeway to the core. The expression of betrayal in each of their eyes that she would have exchanged for anything else in the world. For those expressions to be etched on the faces of her crew in their final moment together was more painful to her than a thousand deaths.
She peered past Chakotay and saw Tom working the helm. Except that it wasn’t Tom. The figure had silvery hair, that was once black, some of it still peeked out between the harsh streaks of silver and he wore an ancient Starfleet uniform, gold shirt with turtle neck and old rank insignias at the sleeves.
“Who are you?” Janeway demanded standing up out of her seat and adjusting her uniform.
“A friend.” the figure replied and his voice was like thunder in the distance.
Janeway slowly stepped down from the command level to the helm.
“What’s happening here? Are you a Q?” she demanded.
The figure slowly turned in his chair to face her. She stopped short. It was a man, his eyes were like orbs of liquid silver and his face was sharp and gaunt like a razor. His smile was ice and unlike Q, lacked any sort of human emotion nor was any attempt made to try and hide the utter lack of compassion or empathy. Here was a being that knew he was not human and reveled in it.
“You’re not a Q.” she breathed.
“No, I am most certainly not. Do you see me playing with inferior creatures, toying with the fabric of reality or watching with the barest interest as the universe creeps along at a snail’s pace? I think not.”
“Who are you? Why are you wearing that uniform?”
“I earned this uniform when I graduated from the Academy. I earned these when I tried to breach the barriers around the galaxy.” he pointed to the uniform shirt then to his eyes.
“You were human once, a Starfleet officer.”
“Apotheosis, my dear, say it with me.” The silver eyed figure replied flatly.
“I’ve heard many people claim to be gods.” Janeway snorted. “In the end they all ended up suffering from the same delusion.”
“My name is Gary Mitchell, I was once a lieutenant commander serving aboard the USS Enterprise, NCC-1701. I’ve never fancied Starfleet’s current fetish with registry numbers and letters. It tends to dilute the power of the original, don’t you think?”
“I’ve never heard of you.”
Mitchell waved his hand dismissively.
“I was a little before your time my dear, but suffice it to say that if James Kirk knew I was involved in this mess, well…things would be different. For now I like to keep him flailing madly at the mistaken foe.”
“You’re behind this?”
“Well in a manner of speaking yes, but I detected that note of relief in your voice so let me be the first to squash your pathetic hopes like a bug and tell you that you created the opportunity for me to advance my agenda.”
“A game?!” Janeway exclaimed angrily. “Q’s let it slip several times Mitchell, there’s some sort of game going on and I for one find it pathetic and sad. All the power in the universe at your fingertips and instead of trying to save creation you decide to sit down and play a game in the final moments of reality? I pity you for your lack of vision.” she spat.
Mitchell stared at her for a long moment, completely expressionless as if all emotion had drained away from him. Janeway stared waiting for something, anything, refusing to spend these last moments meekly waiting for the end.
Mitchell started to laugh.
It was a low rumble at first, like thunder heads in the distance coming in from the sea. But it grew until his laughter boomed through the bridge like a tempest.
“Captain Janeway, really.” Mitchell would have been driven breathless by the laughter were it not for the fact that he no longer breathed. “You have proven to be as unintentionally humorous and entertaining as Q suggested.” Mitchell finished and held up a hand to ward off more fits of laughter.
Janeway remained rooted in place. What the hell was happening here?
“Ok, I almost forgot, one last course correction.” Mitchell added, turned and entered another string of codes into the helm station. “It’s been a long time since I’ve done that.” he added to himself.
“You’re trying to stop me!” Janeway exclaimed and started to surge forward. Mitchell did not turn around to confront her, he merely lifted his head slightly and his silver eyes crackled with some unknown energy. Janeway stopped in mid-stride.
She stood awkwardly balanced on running legs.
“Not at all.” Mitchell replied as he slid out of the helm station. “You will note the coordinates I entered for you.” He indicated the helm display. Janeway could move her eyes and she focused on the coordinates, they only slightly deviated from her own by several degrees.
Mitchell clucked his tongue and wagged a finger in Janeway’s face.
“Any helmsman out on his first tour knows that to make course corrections in mid journey while at warp requires you to compensate both for galactic drift AND subspace variances in the local dimensions. You forgot that as such your little grandstand maneuver would have resulted in the Voyager going into the bow front of the shockwave at an angle that would have tossed your little starship around like a cork on the wild sea. Your crew would have suffered several seconds of agonizing life before the shields and hull gave way.”
Janeway closed her eyes in sorrow.
“This new course takes your starship right into the heart of the blast, my good captain so that your life and the others go like that.” Mitchell snapped his fingers loudly.
“This will of course be the 44, 788th time I’ve done this course correction for you and sometimes I’m tempted to simply implant the suggestion into your mind so that I don’t have to keep doing this.”
Janeway’s eyes betrayed surprise and a growing sense of horror.
“Oh yes.” Mitchell assured her softly as he walked up to her, standing nearly nose to nose.
“I’ve played this out with you on an almost infinite loop and I will tell you this because it always brings me such a sense of accomplishment to see the expression in your eyes as I reveal the truth to you and its still as fresh and powerful to me as the first time I revealed this.”
Janeway locked eyes with him defiantly.
“Your mission was useless.” he explained with a simple shrug. Janeway’s eyes showed confusion mixed with skepticism. “You see I sliced off a split second of time from your mission that brought you home. The exact same split second that meddler Q decided to intrude upon. Think of it as one long chain of events and Q simply paused a millisecond of that chain and inserted you into the chain. You were meant to destroy the ship in order to completely seal off the Federation from the temporal pollution your technology would cause.”
Janeway watched him intently and he smiled as he saw the first wisps of comprehension in her eyes.
“I seized that same moment that Q used and isolated it from the flow of reality and time, allowed you to go forward on a new chain of events so that you could ‘complete’ your mission. Of course, the true consequence dear is that your actions, your noble sacrifices all for naught and will always be that way.”
Janeway’s eyes widened as she could feel the truth in his words.
“Yesss.” Mitchell replied feeling the waves of despair emanating from her. “You see now do you not? I’ve initiated a sweet little temporal loop and Q will always come back to this moment and I will always be here to oppose him. So sweet Katherine Janeway, you will go on dying a million deaths and go to your doom knowing that all you’ve sacrificed is useless, that in the end you are no longer relevant, driving your ship into a ball of fire and oblivion a million times in a universe that only exists for you to die in.”
Janeway’s eyes dropped for a moment as the weight of the revelation seemed to cause her shoulders to slump and despair flared up within her heart.
Mitchell always loved this part most of all.
He reached out and touched took a firm grip of her chin and lifted her face to him. He could see it, right on the edges of her eyes, the tears that were threatening to well up, tears of anger, despair and frustration. He leaned in close to her, lips almost touching hers, silver eyes boring into her.
“And let me make you the only being in all reality to know my plans, to be aware of what will happen.”
Her eyes blinked.
“The game is a distraction sweet Janeway. It is the smoke and mirrors I use to lull the assembled gods into the complacency that will allow them to walk calmly into oblivion. The truth is far more subtle and powerful than that. Let me enlighten you and know this, you can do nothing to change it, you can warn no one. This will be the 44, 788th time that you have gone to your doom and I have revealed my plans and there are an infinite number waiting for you and I will tire of none of them, Katherine. Take this knowledge with you.”
Mitchell leaned in to her ear and began whispering.
Janeway’s eyes narrowed for a moment and then began to widen in horror as Mitchell continued whispering fervently. Soon tears welled up in her eyes and slowly descended down her cheeks in lazy fat trails as Mitchell pulled away.
“Yes, you see the glory of it all don’t you?” he asked as if she were a lover.
Janeway stared at him, tears clouding her vision so all she could see clearly were the silver orbs that were his eyes.
“Captain Katherine Janeway I consign you to oblivion. Again.” Mitchell stated regally and his silver eyes flashed blinding her for a moment.
Voyager suddenly changed course and plunged straight into the expanding fireball from the ravaged conduit. The vessel was swallowed by the storm of plasma and debris, her shields failing immediately as they were crushed by the titanic forces that proceeded to tear the starship apart in a single heartbeat, washing away all traces of the starship and crew. For the 44,788th time Katherine Janeway went down with her ship in an reality crafted by a mad god.
A LONG TIME AGO IN A GALAXY FAR FAR AWAY
“The last of the functionaries and Moffs on your list have arrived my lord.” the quiet young man in the dark robes reported and bowed deeply.
“Excellent. I want everyone secure in their quarters and schedule a conference for tomorrow. I will meet with them here in my throne room.” the cold ancient voice replied in the empty darkness of the throne room. Behind him was a massive window dominated by the image of the gas giant the Death star currently orbited.
“My lord.”
“And tell them we will meet under new stars never seen before. They will need to become accustomed to that.”
“Of course, my lord. I assume then that we will be departing?”
“Indeed. The time has come. All the pieces are in place, and we will make our presence known soon enough. Attend to my guests.”
“As you wish.” the young man replied and walked out, head bowed until he was out of sight of his emperor.
The emperor turned in his throne and regarded the stars and planet in view. They had spent weeks here patiently waiting for the signal. He had gathered his followers to him, the true believers, not the sycophants or hangers on. They would soon be relegated to what was coming.
Part of him wished he could watch the events that would unfold here shortly. He wanted to see what raw entropy would do to the planets and people. A massive city world like Coruscant gone. Would they have enough time to know what was happening to them? Would they have enough time to feel the fear and the terror of certain death?
But now there were other concerns. For his part he had agreed to make war on gods.
The Emperor activated the companel on his seat.
“Commander, prepare to move us out of orbit and into the distortion the sensors picked up on the other side of the system.”
“Yes my lord.”
“Have the super laser teams standing by, we will be entering combat operations as soon as we emerge from the anomaly.”
“Aye my lord.”
“Secure all commands and make sure all personnel are aboard and accounted for.”
“Supplies have been stowed away as well my lord. All communications arrays are secured, encrypted and encoded. Download from Coruscant archives complete. All your commands have been obeyed. The death star can now be considered the new capital of our galaxy.”
“Oh it will be more than that commander, much more than that.” The Emperor vowed and chuckled softly as he clicked off the com.
The emperor said nothing else as he watched the gas giant slowly drifting away as the half constructed but fully operational battle station rose out of its shadow like a predator emerging from its den.
“Was that really necessary?” Q asked softly.
“You broke the rules, you tried an end run around this whole game and you’re asking me if I overreacted. What would the continuum think?” Mitchell asked coldly.
Q and Mitchell sat on the barren plane in a dimension far removed from the actual game itself. The board sat between them, pieces moving in a slow dance. Several pieces sat off to the side eliminated from the grand strategy. Mitchell’s pieces were slashing deep into Q’s areas. Q was forming small tight defensive formations, with one group of pieces advancing steadily into Mitchell’s center.
“This is getting interesting.” Mitchell noted quietly.
“Indeed. Makes me wonder what the point of that is.” Q noted pointing to the deathstar piece that was suddenly proudly on the board and advancing alone.
“I like to bring out the big guns during endgame.”
Q smirked.
“You think we’re in endgame already? You think very lowly of me then.”
Mitchell said nothing but eyed him with a bemused expression.
“Why do I get these jobs?” Charlie asked himself as he walked through a dark tunnel. Q told him that as a higher being he had higher responsibilities, some of the more vital and dangerous jobs had to be carried out by those like him.
He had a growing suspicion that Q was simply giving his crappy details to Charlie.
There was no reason why Q could not do this himself. Charlie was itching to get back to Kirk’s side. Q had not allowed him to peer over and see what was happening. Q assured him that the Captain would be fine without him for now. Charlie doubted that. He could feel events closing in around them like an inescapable vise. No. That wasn’t quite right. It felt more like the every wild turn they could take was slowly being cut off, as if they were on some road and the forks and bends in the road were slowly vanishing and coming fewer and farther between.
Suddenly a tall burst of flame exploded in his path and he jumped back, the heat nearly blistering his flesh. The ground beneath his feet hungrily began to suck him down like walking through quicksand.
The geyser of flame solidified into a column of fire that slowly approached him as he floundered in the muddy earth.
He paused for a moment.
The fire was wavering in his vision and his feet were suddenly free of the solid stone floor.
“You’re going to have to do better than that.” Charlie called out as he managed to center himself and cleared his mind.
The fire still advanced without hesitation but Charlie walked through the fire as if it were air. Mostly because that was precisely what the fire was. Thin air given shape by another mind.
“I’m not here to harm you. Surely if you can force your illusions into my mind you can tell that.” Charlie protested. Q warned him they would be skittish.
“What do you want?” a voice echoed in his mind. It was cold and sterile.
“I’m here to meet with you on behalf of Q.”
“We were unaware that Q had emissaries. The last time he visited our world it nearly destroyed us.”
Charlie cursed to himself. Seems where ever he went he was running into the detritus of Q’s actions.
“I am not here to do the same. I don’t want to hurt you. In fact we need your help.”
A small figure approached, dressed in gray flowing gown the sexless creature stepped into the light. A large bulging head lined with throbbing veins topped a frail child like body.
The Talosian examined Charlie serenely.
“We have ignored the rest of the galaxy throughout our entire history. What does it matter to us what happens outside this world.”
“Surely you noticed there’s a war raging out there.”
“Indeed. A massive army from another galaxy has all but conquered this galaxy.”
“So they will eventually come for you.”
The Talosian smiled.
“Child, there is no doubt that they may come bent on conquest but they will soon learn the folly of attacking those that can shape their perceptions like clay.”
“And how many can you do that too? How many soldiers can you and your people manipulate before it becomes too much? Even if you could hold them off, what’s to stop them from simply bombing you out of existence?”
The Talosian said nothing.
“The boy is right.” a cold monotone spoke.
Charlie looked past the Talosian to a seated person approaching, he was accompanied by a woman, clutching the side of the chair.
“We did not mean this confrontation to disturb you.” the Talosian replied with genuine concern.
“I’ve been away long enough. The galaxy has finally come calling again.” the voice replied and the figure in the chair rolled into the light. Charlie frowned for a moment. It was a horribly scarred human male, old, very old but still alive. The woman next to him was also ancient but proud and she looked on her man with love and genuine affection.
Q warned him that the Talosians may have kept him alive with their technology. Their deep seated sense of morality would not allow them to let him pass easily. They felt they had grievously harmed him and so they worked diligently to please him, make his life easier and more comfortable.
Q also said he was their ace in the hole.
“Captain Pike?” Charlie asked uncertainly.
“Yes.” Pike replied, his voice a cold monotone emanating from a speaker system on the front of the chair.
“This is none of your concern, Captain Pike. Vina, please take the Captain back to your quarters. We did not meant to alarm him.”
“Christopher?” Vina asked quietly. He looked at her and Charlie saw a love there that instantly made him miss his parents.
“No.” Christopher Pike replied and for emphasis a single ancient light blinked twice on his chair.
“The galaxy is in the midst of a war that is threatening to engulf her completely. The Federation is reaching out and asking for all her sons and daughters to come to her aid and who am I to say no.”
The Talosian looked startled.
“Captain?!”
Charlie smiled.
“We need heroes, sir.”
Pike’s frozen face betrayed no emotion but his eyes seemed to shudder.
“Heroes?!” He spat derisively. “No son, the Federation has enough heroes. But the call has come and I’m ready.” His eyes slowly turned to Vina. She smiled warmly and passed a hand across a frozen cheek.
“Where you go, I follow.” She replied and kissed his forehead.
Charlie looked over at the Talosian who was staring at Pike. The Talosian hesitantly turned and returned Charlie’s gaze.
“Where he goes…we follow.” The Talosian replied hesitantly.
Charlie clapped excitedly and smiled. Things were looking up. The Talosian did not look so optimistic.
Wherever you go, there you are.
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I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season."
EDIT: Dude, plot twists and new things coming up. WOAH!!!!
Justice League, Super-Villain Carnage "Carnage Rules!" Cult of the Kitten Mew...The Black Mage with The KnifeSD.Net Chronicler of the PastBun Bun is my hero.The Official Verilonitis Vaccinator
"A cult is a religion with no political power." -Tom Wolfe Pardon me for sounding like a dick, but I'm playing the tiniest violin in the world right now-Dalton
What kind of dark wizard in league with nameless forces of primordial evil ARE you that you can't even make a successful sanity check versus BOREDOM? - Red Mage
Poor janeway, she was never evil, she was never a tyrant or anything, she was just given bad writing, and what did you do to her, you gave her an eternity of betraying her crew, hearing Mitchell's plan, and then dying.
Now, I know you all hate Janeway with a passion, but she was not THAT bad, she or anyone else in the universe, deserves to go out like that.
Still, a very good chapter, I now view Janeway more as a lost martyr than as a dumb captain.
Stravo wrote:Please enjoy the latest unstallment and special thanks to Necronlord who provided me with information vital to telling this chapter as well as my bretheren in the Writer's Guild for a spell and grammar check.
Chapter 58: End Run
Better and better. I will change my undies now.
Via money Europe could become political in five years" "... the current communities should be completed by a Finance Common Market which would lead us to European economic unity. Only then would ... the mutual commitments make it fairly easy to produce the political union which is the goal"
Humm... I think that would actually be worse than what I did to her in the Dalek thing...
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
The last three or four Star Crossed chapters were not as thrilling to me as some of the originals but this one I enjoy alot.
Can you imagine the effect of a truly powerful Sith lord on Talos? Better still A Sith Master such as Vader or Maul who are fueled by pure hatred? That planet would be BUTCHERED.
"If it's true that our species is alone in the universe, then I'd have to say that the universe aimed rather low and settled for very little." -George Carlin (1937-2008)
"Have some of you Americans actually seen Football? Of course there are 0-0 draws but that doesn't make them any less exciting." -Dr Roberts, with quite possibly the dumbest thing ever said in 10 years of SDNet.
Darth Fanboy wrote:The last three or four Star Crossed chapters were not as thrilling to me as some of the originals but this one I enjoy alot.
Can you imagine the effect of a truly powerful Sith lord on Talos? Better still A Sith Master such as Vader or Maul who are fueled by pure hatred? That planet would be BUTCHERED.
Wherever you go, there you are.
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~Jason
