The Origins Of Vick And Danny…Part 2

Posted on February 15, 2012 by trekfan

Whew, been a busy few days and I’ve neglected to complete this little untold story. Now…where was I?

Oh yes, that’s right, Vick and Danny. Well, as we saw in my previous post, Vick and Danny’s origins were somewhat cobbled together, but quite a story. I had developed the characters, I had developed the general outline really, but the question was, now what? I had Danny and I had Vick; I stuck the two together in my head and what came about was really quite surprising.

Vick and Danny are not PB and J. They’re not Peanut Butter and Chocolate. They resemble an odd mix, a thing that really has no chance to survive but somehow, someway, does. Vick and Danny are like Spam and Chocolate Milk.

Let that sink in for a second as I explain this; Spam and Chocolate Milk is a horrible, horrible thing. You take the Spam, you take the Chocolate Milk, you stick them in a blender and you make a concoction that will have the toughest person on Earth (Chuck Norris) crying tears. It. Is. Disgusting. How do I know this?

Uh…well, I had some. A lot of some, actually. It was a kinda “Fear Factor” food thing challenge between a few of the local church groups. It was me versus some poor kid from the Presbyterian church. The one who drank the most Spam/Chocolate Milk mixes in the allotted time won the contest and got bragging rights. It was church pride on the line, people, I had no choice…plus I was stupid and only 14. Factor that in please when you judge. Anyway, I chugged the most in the allotted time, won the contest, and was promptly ill for the rest of the night/next day. Being lactose intolerant did not help me in the contest, but I won anyway; I just paid mightily for it as one can imagine.

That’s why Danny and Vick are, to me, the Spam/Chocolate Milk mix. They shouldn’t exist. They shouldn’t work and it’s sickening, in some respects, to watch them work together. Danny, being the eternal hopeless romantic and optimist, is constantly trying to redeem Vick, no matter what his actions really. Vick, being as depressed and guilt ridden he is, is constantly diving deeper into the abyss. The problem is that, together, the two achieve some weird balance that keeps them from going TOO far in one direction or the other. They kind of tether one another to the middle and if you remove one from the equation, the other goes sliding into their chosen extreme with reckless abandon.

Screwed up? Sure. A total mess? Absolutely. Completely up my alley? Hell yeah.

There’s a reason I’m called “The King of Character Torture”. The tragedies and travesties of our lives play a role in helping shape us. It’s why my characters have them in spades, because we all do frankly, some more than others. These two were a weird, unsustainable, unholy mix of a partnership that strangely managed to survive despite the long odds that it would.

I was quite enamored with them and still am, to some extent. I had plans for them to have their own spin off book that would explore that seedy, unclean side of Starfleet and the Federation more in depth, but it never really developed. I only got down the one chapter before the idea, like many ideas, fizzled out for me. I did make a smashing book cover though, one I really quite liked…maybe it’ll get used in the future. Here’s that.

Vick is Clive Owen (huge fan of his) and Danny is Ryan Reynolds (Also a huge fan). I’ve always like the idea of the two actors together in a movie but it seems quite unlikely. But I can see both of them fulfilling the roles quite well.

And finally, here’s the only chapter I have for them, featuring the very familiar antics of one Danny Scott…and a few other things of course. 😉

Star Trek Lost Souls: Damnation

Ch. 1

“You know, I really do like what you’ve done with the place…it adds a great bit of flare to it.” He smiled at the wall in front of him, his eyes focused on it. “It reminds me of a bar on Archer III I used to go to…a very exotic bar. Not much décor but certainly more than enough…extracurricular activities.”

No one responded-still. By his clock he had been in here for over two hours now without a word from anyone or anything. The room itself was a standard interrogation room. One table, two chairs, a door, and a depressing paint scheme. He’d have thought after three years they’d have repainted it but sadly he was mistaken.

“You know, in that bar I met a lady by the name of Brenda. Now Brenda…ah, she was a looker if there was one. I mean, you ever meet a girl who just seemed to glow when you saw her…a girl who just seemed to pop in a boring world of noise and confusion? That was Brenda. She had a lot of pop…and certainly spunk.” He smiled at the wall and leaned back in his chair. “She could talk your ear off though…but I didn’t mind. We complimented each other well and we never had a dull conversation.”

He glanced back at the wall, still receiving no indication from the other side that someone was watching. He didn’t see any obvious recording devices in the room but he knew there had to be one somewhere; they rarely stuck him anywhere where he was truly alone. They were always waiting and watching him for any hint of what he knew.

“So, Brenda and me seemed to work out…at first. But after a few weeks I realized she liked those extracurricular activities more than being a single lady, so we parted ways.” He smiled at himself. “Though anytime I’m in that system I do visit her to catch up on old times.”

The door to the room opened briskly and he smiled at the person who had just entered. She was rather good looking and he didn’t mind that at all. He leaned forward in his chair as she sat down and winked at her. “Well, they may not have changed the paint scheme but they did change my case worker; you’re far prettier than my old one was.”

She looked down at the PADD in her hands and then back at him. “You’re Daniel Scott?”

He nodded. “The one and only-though you can call me Danny.”

She put the PADD down on the table and eyed him suspiciously. “You’ve been read your rights?”

“I have…though if you’d like to read them to me again I will support that decision fully,” he said playfully.

“Your accused of treason, murder, espionage, and a myriad of other charges-you realize the situation you’re in?”

He smiled at her again. “The situation I’m in? Of course I realize it. I’m in a bland room with a beautiful woman…such a situation many men would dream of…well, maybe they’d wish for a less bland room.”

She slammed her hands on the table, getting his attention. “Don’t play games with me Scott! Where is he?!”

He wagged a finger at her. “Angry really doesn’t suit you at all…I think you need to relax more. I know a place on Gravak V that has a beautiful view of the ancient city there. In fact, if you look really hard you can see some of the ancient imagery built into the architecture—”

“Where is Johansson?” She interrupted.

He put on a look of innocence. “I don’t know who you’re talking about.”

She picked up the PADD and scrolled down to a picture of a man. “Him,” she said showing the picture to Danny, “where is he?”

Danny stared at the picture and shrugged. “Afraid I can’t say I know him-though I doubt he would like that picture. He looks like a filthy criminal.”

“He is a criminal, like you,” she said strongly. “If you don’t cooperate, I’ll be forced to recommend you be charged to the full extent of the law.”

Danny feigned consideration. He then grinned. “Okay…if I cooperate will you give me a date? Because that imagery on Gravak V is really something—”

She tapped her combadge and two security officers entered into the room. “Take him to his cell.”

Danny shook his head. “You’re going to miss out on a great time-I swear Gravak V is just as I promised.”

She stepped into his personal space, barely a few inches from his face. “I know Gravak V…the city you’re talking about isn’t allowed to be visited by tourists. Even if it was,” she said with venom, “the imagery you’re talking about built into the architecture is pornographic.”

Danny smiled shamelessly. “You looked like you needed to see how it was done…I doubt you’ve had much experience with fun lately with that kind of attitude; you must surely eat the weaker men.”

“Get him out,” she snarled.

Danny was roughly escorted out of the room and thrown into his cell down the corridor. After a moment of picking himself off the floor he mock saluted the leaving guards.

He sat down on the brigs sparse bench and looked around the room. The usual arrangements; nothing fancy. He figured he get at least a nice brig…after all this was the third time he was a guest here on Starbase 67. He figured he’d get some sort of repeat offender special.

“A side of eggs and a nice thick piece of bacon would be good right now,” he called out to the guard on duty. The guard ignored him, paying him no mind.

Danny sighed and leaned back against the wall. “This reminds me of the time I was a guest on board an Orion freighter…nasty place those freighters. They really have no sense of cleanliness and utterly disregard other species smell preferences. Have you ever smelled a sweaty Orion? It smells like someone died and was bathed in Klingon bath water.”

The guard looked up and raised an eyebrow.

Danny nodded in understanding. “You’re right; Klingons don’t take baths.”

He watched her exit the room in a huff and closed his eyes. She had lost her cool and allowed Scott all the room he needed to distract her.

“I want her off the case,” the admiral behind him demanded.

Nathan rubbed his eyes and turned to face the admiral. “Sir, please, give her—”

“No more pleading with me, Captain Brennan. I want her off-now.”

“Yes, Admiral,” Nathan said slowly. He had feared Noble would make this difficult and he was right. Admiral Francis Noble was a man many disliked and many feared; he wielded great power as head of Starfleet’s Department of Internal Affairs. Noble’s authority was backed up by Starfleet Intelligence and that didn’t help the man’s image.

But for whatever aspects Nathan disliked Noble for, he did respect the man; he had a winning record and closed out cases quickly back when he was an investigator. Nathan was promoted to captain due in no small part to Noble’s influence in the department. As an investigator himself, Nathan had a lot to learn from Noble; there were just some days he wished the admiral was a little more understanding.

A quick tap of his combadge summoned Commander Gala Fresnel into the room and Nathan made sure to look her directly in the eyes; it wasn’t easy for him to pull her off the case…they were involved at the moment and Admiral Noble wasn’t too pleased about that either. “Commander, I’m afraid you’re being removed from this case. It is the opinion of myself and the admiral that Scott doesn’t see you as a threat…he sees you as a plaything.”

Gala’s eyes burned with anger, but she remained calm-at least on the exterior. “Sir, respectfully, I’d like another crack at him; I think I can get to him.”

“You did get to him,” Noble replied abrasively, “and he got to you, Commander. I expect an unwavering amount of self control from my officers, especially when overseeing a case such as this; he’s a dangerous man, Commander, and his partner is ten times more lethal than he. He’s playing games with you and that means he doesn’t take you seriously; I’m pulling the plug,” he said as he narrowed his eyes at her, “and that’s final; understood?”

Gala gave a curt nod of acknowledgement, though Nathan could see in her eyes how angry she was.

“Good,” Noble said quickly, “dismissed.”

Gala about faced and walked out of the room briskly, her calm exterior beginning to crumble slowly. Nathan knew he’d find her in the holodeck later, probably killing some poor simulation. She didn’t take losing well and this would qualify as a loss in her book.

Noble turned to Nathan and scowled. “I hope you have a suggestion who to put on this case.”

“I recommend myself—”

“Absolutely not!” Noble insisted strongly. “You’ve worked this case for the last nine years, nearly ten now…as head of this station’s Internal Affairs division, you’re place is authoritative, not leading an investigation.”

Nathan’s face flushed red briefly, but he controlled himself. “Sir, I have more experience than my entire staff-overseeing this investigation to its conclusion is something I swore to myself I’d do.”

“Overseeing it is something you will do,” Noble responded harshly, “but that’s all; taking an active part in this investigation will draw unneeded attention to it. Request denied, Captain; try again.”

Nathan locked his jaw and contemplated the question at hand. Noble wouldn’t allow him to do it and Noble wouldn’t allow Gala to do it; that left few options. “Sir, you’ve seen my entire staff and you know that no one here is qualified to work this case as well as I or Commander Fresnel; you’ve eliminated all the options I have available.

Noble shook his head. “You have someone arriving later today that would suit the case fine; he’s just as much a man who likes to play as Mister Scott is.”

Nathan looked at Noble in surprise. “Sir…you vehemently dislike Harrison—”

“I dislike his brother; I like him a little more. He at least understands his job and does it well…his brother, as evidenced by his capture, did not. I want him on this case and in a room with Scott tomorrow morning. You’ll send Commander Fresnel to brief him upon arrival.”

“Sir, respectfully, I’m the best person to brief him,” Nathan argued quickly.

“Commander Fresnel was in that room with Scott…she’ll have insight you or I don’t. I want her to brief Harrison-you and I have another meeting tonight.” Noble glared into the glass. “It’s not one either of us should look forward to, but it will help speed this case along.”

“Who are we meeting, sir?”

Noble frowned. “Carry out my orders and meet me at my quarters at 1800 hours; don’t be late.” He walked out of the room briskly and Nathan let loose a deep sigh.

“Smug bastard,” he said under his breath, careful to vent his frustration slowly. He had to inform Gala and then he had to prepare himself for a night out on the town with Admiral Noble.

Fate was out to torment him today.

And that’s it. As you can see, Danny is himself there, very much as he is still himself now. Not much has changed with Danny in nearly two years. Vick is briefly referred to there a few times but he wasn’t supposed to play a big role until a a few chapters down the line as I had it planned out.

The set-up, at least how I had it planned anyway, was that Danny had purposefully gotten captured. Vick needed him on the inside of the station to help them steal a Defiant class there for repairs. It was going to be very Star Trek III-esqe that particular scene (probably with a few references to that movie in the scene as well). They were going to need the firepower of the ship to bring down a Section 31 ship that carried none other than everyone’s favorite agent, Sloan. It was Vick’s plan to capture Sloan, get him to clear him and Danny’s names (a lot of things had been blamed on the two that weren’t true) and get S31 to reveal the location of Vick’s wife-he strongly suspected they knew where she was.

As for the other characters, well, they’re roles were somewhat undefined. Commander Fresnel was going to be Danny’s love interest, Captain Brennan was going to be the guy who wanted to see Danny and Vick behind bars no matter what, and Admiral Noble was the guy who had the connections to S31 and the shady dealings. Anyone who’s read my Star Trek Chronicles series knows that Admiral Noble is not a nice man; he’s pretty much a dick.

And who is the Harrison that Admiral Noble was referencing in the chapter? That was Hank’s youngest brother, Jake Harrison, also a fellow Starfleet officer. This book was, more or less, going to debut Jake and would allow him to get out there on his own. Hank’s other siblings don’t get a lot of mention in the main books, or even in the prompts; they’re kind of glossed over, sadly, but each is distinctive in their own way and certainly worth writing about.

But none of it really came to pass sadly. That was the only chapter written and though I quite like it, the idea never got off the ground really. The story, like so many others before it, got red shirted, and now lies on the harddrive of my computer, waiting for me to get back to it.

Today though, it’s story has been told, and hopefully it has been somewhat enjoyable for you folks. As always, any and all comments are welcome. Thanks for reading.

The Origins Of Vick And Danny

Posted on February 10, 2012 by trekfan

Well, it’s time for another untold story ladies and gentlemen and this one has to do with my dynamic duo, Vick Johansson and Danny Scott. To sum each up in a sentence, Vick is this uber depressed alcoholic with homicidal tendencies and lots of grudges. Danny is the talktive, eternal optimist, hopeless romantic, who tags along with Vick as they both are on the run from Section 31 (scary cats).

But exactly where did these two come from? Both were and still are rather unique characters in my rather large stable of characters. There hasn’t really been other characters like them; the two are largely codependent on one another. You take one away from the other and things generally don’t go well.

Well, Vick and Danny surprisingly share some of the same origins as Hank Harrison and some of the Pearl crew; they’re from an email based RPG that sadly never got off the ground. There was literally one post from just about everybody involved and then it died. At the time, Vick and Danny were named differently…in fact, they were pretty much different characters entirely; Vick was named Tommy while Danny was named Dan. Here’s the only post I ever wrote in that RPG, over two years ago:

“Oh hell!” The sparks from the console rained on Dan and he threw his arms up to protect himself. “Tommy, we’ve lost helm!”

His partner in crime punched his fist into the console and grimaced in pain. “Damn it!”

Tommy stood up and headed for the escape pod.

Dan stood as well, but got in way. “We’re not leaving!”

“Why not?! She’s gonna crash and burn.”

Dan shook his head. “Come on, we got to try and save her!”

“You try, I’ll run. I’m not wasting time on a broken ship!”

The ship lurched violently and both the men were thrown against the nearby bulkhead. The ship began to spin out of control as Dan watched the stars whirl around them.

He tried to move but the gravity was failing and he was pinned down.

“Damn you and you’re sentimentalism!” Tommy tried to reach for his gun but failed. The gravity was too strong.

“I like my ship!”

The console beeped. Dan smiled desperately. “The ship’s found another vessel!”

“Good, we can take out two for the price of one!” Tommy tried his hardest to pull away but couldn’t.

Dan didn’t even try. Whoever was nearby, it was up to them to save Dan and Tommy.

And that was it. I was the set up post for the entire thing; my dynamic duo of Tommy and Dan were going to get rescued by a Starfleet vessel, their past as former S31 agents would be brought up, they would get captured, and things would go from there. Unfortunately, it never got that far, but Tommy and Dan had been created.

As you can see through some of the interactions, Tommy and Dan had a weird, if not fun, dynamic which I found hard to forget about. I mean, they were just created for an RPG but since it was dead, they had no where to go. I felt bad for them, so I wanted to really use them for something; by this point we’re in late 2009, early 2010. I had just completed the second book of the Star Trek Chronicles series and was in need of a bit of a break…I wanted to write other characters; I wanted to explore other things.

I was a bit burned out on the Pearl crew. I mean, you can write the same characters so often it just kinda grates on you after awhile and this was where I was at. So, I decided to turn my attention to the question of Tommy and Dan but I really didn’t have a place to start.

And then a challenge on Ad Astra caught my attention. It was the Academy Hi-Jinks Challenge and I was looking to actually use Hank initially for the challenge, but it went no where. Luckily, it was extended and I got a chance to start development from scratch; so I decided to take my Tommy character and rename him Vick (because that seemed so much cooler) and explore exactly how he became a Section 31 agent.

That exploration turned into the story One Damned Prank which won that challenge in a close vote and seemed to really make an impression on people. That’s when the rest of the details began falling into place for Vick; I knew I had a character that seemed to be interesting to people (always a good thing) and I wanted to make his story a rather sad and tragic one (very much matching the vibe of the story he premiered in). So, all that being said, I was going to take Vick down a dark and twisty path that offered little hope of redemption; I was going to put this guy through hell and back.

You see, Vick would run a lot of ops for S31, but his first one was written about in Gusts and Gales. It was there were Vick would sell off the first piece of his soul and from that point on the slide began. Vick would engage in more depravity and feel even less about it. He was becoming a cold and ruthless weapon, exactly what S31 wanted; but they misjudged just how dead he was inside when they sent him on a two year undercover mission.

On that mission, Vick was supposed to get close to a very powerful Orion Syndicate family; he married into it and slowly worked his way up the food chain. The problem was, he was given orders to kill them, all of them…including his wife. Here’s an excerpt;

It was later that night when Vick was standing inside the house, his wife in his arms. He had married her two years ago to get into the Syndicate…to go deep undercover. He had never imagined…never guessed the feelings she would unlock in him. And now…those very same feelings he had treasured for these last two years were his greatest weakness. “You have to promise me, T’alyn-promise to keep your end of the bargain.”

She looked up to him, her eyes full of confusion. “I don’t understand any of this…not at all. You have to get me away from here, but I can’t be with you…you have to place me in the care of others, but you don’t who they are or where they’ll take me. Worst of all, you expect me to do this while my family is left behind…and while I leave you behind.” She pulled herself from her arms and stood angrily. “This isn’t right!”

Vick stood quickly, his hands reaching out for her arms, gripping them tightly. He pulled her in close, his face full of conviction and anger. “Don’t fight me on this! You will die if you stay here, do you understand?! You. Will. Die. Isn’t that clear to you? I…I have to get you away, and I can’t know where you’re going…I don’t know even if the people I have coming are trustworthy…but I have no choice. You have to go…and you have to leave me behind. You can’t attempt to find me…you wouldn’t anyway.”

“So what should I do?! Sit and wait for you?! Grow old looking to the sky, wondering when you’ll arrive?!” Tears streamed down her face and she ripped herself away. “I refuse! Do you hear me, I refuse!” She began to walk towards the door, her movement fast and angry.

Vick was left with no choice. He brought a small phaser out and fired it, stunning her to the ground. She collapsed into a pile.

He bent down, picking her up, cradling her form for a moment. He kissed her lightly on the lips and pulled away. “I’ll find you…I swear.” He placed a small holographic chip into her pocket, where she was sure to notice it. That would explain everything…his life, his job…why they were married. He hoped, as much as he ever hoped in his entire life, that she would understand some of it…any of it. He knew though, that the reality was she’d probably hate him for as long as she lived. Maybe he should just let her live the lie…maybe it would be better to keep her blissfully unaware.

But then, love…love had no boundaries, no secrets…if he really loved her, he would have to tell her the truth.

After considering these things, he carefully made sure the chip was secure in her pocket, and then stood. He tapped the combadge for the signal, and then attached it to her shirt. In a glimmer of blue light she vanished.

In those seconds, what was left of his heart went with her.

Vick would carry out his orders, killing the family, but instead of a painless death as S31 promised with the transporter scramblers he was given, the family instead died a very painful death and Vick would have those memories with him for the rest of his life. This is where he began to plan his escape from S31…to get away from them, to find his wife, to redeem himself for all the sins he had committed.

But before I could do any of that, I needed to figure out the other half of the dynamic duo. Dan was going to act as the anchor that kept Vick in this world, I knew that, but as to how Dan was going to do that…what Dan was like…I didn’t know. First thing that had to change was the name though…Dan did not enthuse me so I decided to give it a more friendly flare and changed it to Danny.

But as to why he got his last name Scott, well, that’s due to one person alone, SLWalker. You see, SLWalker had written a lot of great Scotty stories; she really fleshed out the life of that character in a way that will likely never be matched in my mind, it’s just that good. Those stories and more can be found here.

Anyways, Danny ended up with the last name Scott simply because of my adoration for the way SLWalker wrote Scotty. Now, it’s never stated in canon that Scotty ever had any kids or any flings that resulted in kids (I somehow doubt he ever did) and I never make that connection between Danny and Scotty. The extended Scott family carried on Scotty’s legacy and were always looking for the next Scotty. Fast forward a few generations later, and we arrive at Danny who was slated to be the next great engineer from the Scott family.

Except, Danny really didn’t want that. He’d been pushed into it as a kid and he was hugely resentful of it by the time he was approaching his pre-teen years. That resentment and the family discourse in general is covered in Traditions. It’s here that a few things about Danny are revealed; firstly, he doesn’t want to be the next Scotty and secondly, that his mother is physically abusive towards him. This would play a huge part in Danny’s development as a person as hope would be something he eternally held onto for his mother and his family in general; hope that his mother would change for the better, hope that his family wouldn’t force him to go into Starfleet, hope that things didn’t have to go down the path they were seemingly destined to.

Sadly, Danny’s hopes never came true. He ended up at the academy, flunked out after two years, and was recruited by Section 31 to work with them. Danny, who had no future as it was, joined up with them because he thought as least there he could make a difference. He was a disappointment to his family and he felt like he failed them…he wanted to lessen that feeling, hence why S31’s offer to work for them was so quickly accepted.

Danny, being the friendly, talktive, somewhat annoying, blabber mouth that he was was quite intelligent; he was charming, cocky, and not S31 material really…which is exactly why he was made an S31 agent. No one would ever suspect him. Vick and Danny would work a few ops together but when Vick made his escape attempt Danny joined up with him. It was completely unplanned, spur of the moment, but Danny liked Vick; he was his friend and Danny is fiercely loyal to friends. So, he helped Vick escape (much to Vick’s dislike) and the two from that point on were together. They would remain so for many years.

The dynamics between them, their own story, and how they were further explored I’ll get into next time. As always, any and all comments are welcome and thanks for reading.

The Endgame of All Good Things…Part 3

Posted on February 9, 2012 by trekfan

And so, we finally find ourselves here. The big finale. Sadly, this is where the untold story of “The Last Generation” comes to a close. I had the timeline, the characters, the plot, the theme, but not really the motivation I guess. I really, really liked the idea but I had issues getting off the ground. I tried a lot of different ways to get the first chapter moving, to get things going, but nothing really worked. So, I opted for a rather bland and straightforward beginning which I was unsatisfied with and that likely played a big reason in why I never wrote a second chapter. So, here it is; the one and only chapter for “The Last Generation”.

Star Trek: The Last Generation

Ch.1

He stood silently, staring at the old holo pictures that hung on his wall. The faces of friends and comrades from the distant past stared back at him. He was never one for nostalgia…he had never been one for that particular emotion. He appreciated history and what it taught, but never understood why people looked back at the past so glowingly. The past was never as pretty as one remembered it.

However, in this case…the past was prettier than the present. He knew that. The glory days were gone and the golden years had been withered away by time. All that was left of his service in Starfleet were awards, holo pictures, and memories. The awards were meaningless…the memories were the most valuable. He had thousands of logs stored on his computer here and he could listen to them all; the logs let him glance back on his life through younger eyes.

A life devoted to the Federation…to his career…to Starfleet. A life devoted to peace. Was it a meaningful life? He frowned at the pictures and scoffed at them. He began to slowly walk away, leaning on his cane heavily as he shook his head in frustration. All of it was a waste of time.

He headed back to his chair and cup of tea, but the door rang. He paused in the middle of his living room and scowled again. He didn’t have any guests scheduled to come by today. The door rang again and he sighed. “Come,” he called to the doorway. The computer responded by opening the door and he froze at the sight of the person standing there. Just as old, just as withered as he…except, the person shouldn’t be.

“Q,” he uttered quietly.

The old man nodded with a smirk. “Jean Luc…still just as stubborn as I left you.”

Jean Luc Picard turned angrily on his cane and walked towards Q as fast as he could in his advanced age. “What kind of game is this Q? Why are you here, now?”

Q stepped into the house under his own power, walking slowly. His face was wrinkled, his hair gray, and his eyes old. Whatever trick this was, Q had gone all out for it. “Not a trick, not a game Jean Luc. I’m here…because I need your help.”

He stopped in his tracks, his eyes questioning Q. He scowled. “I don’t have time for this.” He took his cane and swung at Q’s side, betting the immortal, omnipotent being would merely disappear out of the way-except Q didn’t. Jean Luc’s cane connected hard to Q’s ribs and the omnipotent being winced in clear pain.

“Well, your hospitality is still the same,” Q shot back weakly as he grimaced. He was clearly injured.

Jean Luc was clearly confused. “You’re…not—”

“Omnipotent? Immortal? My old self…no. None of the Q are…not anymore.” He shook his head as he proceeded past Jean Luc and sat down. “Sit down, take a load off…I know I will.”

Jean Luc scowled but allowed Q to sit. None of this made sense and at the very least he was owed an explanation. “All right Q…I’ll sit,” he said as he lowered himself down slowly. He finished sitting and picked up his tea. “You have five minutes.”

Q shot him an annoyed look. “If I get hit again by your cane does that grant me five more minutes?”

He ignored Q’s jab and continued. “What do you mean…that the Q are not omnipotent anymore?”

“It means exactly what it sounds like…the entire species of Q has been rendered…mortal…and…Human,” Q said with disgust. “It has been this way for years now.”

Jean Luc narrowed his eyes at this. “The Continuum?”

“Gone,” Q responded sadly. “And it’s all Janeway’s fault.”

Jean Luc put his cup of tea down and leaned forward. “Janeway? She’s been missing for years now…ever since 2404. How could this be her doing?”

Q sighed in disgust. “All these years and you have learned nothing.”

“I’ve learned not to take you at your word,” Jean Luc responded harshly. “I won’t be making that mistake anymore.”

Q leaned forward. “Do you know what happened to Janeway?”

“No one does,” Jean Luc answered with finality. Her fate had never been discovered after her disappearance…it was truly one of Starfleet’s enduring mysteries. “Plenty like to speculate though.”

“Then let me cease that speculation with the truth; Janeway took it upon herself to fix the timeline for her and her crew…she went back in time and brought her precious Voyager home early.”

Jean Luc shook his head in disbelief. “I won’t be a part of this charade Q…whatever game—”

Q’s hand shot out and grabbed Jean Luc’s arm; the grip was weak, Q’s hand shaking. “It’s not a game…it’s far more real than you realize.”

Jean Luc stared down at Q’s hand in surprise. If this was one of Q’s tricks… “Let go,” Jean Luc said calmly. “I’ll listen.”

Q released the weakened grip he had on Jean Luc’s arm and leaned back. “Janeway saved her people and in the process created an entirely different timeline…she knew this going in. Time is not as linear or easy to understand as you Humans wish it to be.”

“And this has to do with you, how?”

Q’s eyes locked on to his. “Her interference in the natural course of time caused a problem the Continuum had not foreseen…it caused one of our oldest enemies to reappear in the timeline.”

A sense of fear was evident in Q’s voice…fear that Jean Luc had only heard before from desperate people. “The Continuum had enemies?”

“Had is the operative word,” Q responded quickly. “Centuries before we had eliminated them as a species…it was a solution that was necessary, if not prudent.”

“You killed an entire species?” Jean Luc stared. He had never thought the Continuum would do that.

“It had to be done. They were just as powerful as us…but far more ruthless, far more demanding. They wanted to dominate everything Jean Luc…they weren’t content being omnipotent; they wanted to be Gods in the worst ways possible.”

“Were you no different?”

Q angrily slammed his fist into the arm of the chair. “We were protectors…we stayed away from species natural development until they proved to us their worthiness of knowing the Q. Our enemies…the U…they had no such bounds. Conquer, rule, and dominate…that’s all they knew. They were just as powerful as us…just not as well intentioned.”

“And the Continuum dealt with them…and they appeared when Janeway created the new timeline?”

Q smirked. “Now you’re beginning to understand. Janeway’s selfish desires brought back the U…but only in small numbers. However, their fate was not so easy to decide; their powers were still on par with ours…the Continuum was in a deadlock over what to do. Then…we were betrayed.”

Jean Luc leaned forward. “By who? I thought the Continuum was a whole once more with the birth of Junior.”

Q scoffed. “We were…except for a minority. This minority was lead by someone we both know, Jean Luc…someone we both helped make; Amanda Rogers.”

Jean Luc’s eyes widened with the memory of the young woman he encountered so many years ago. Her parents had been Q and she had developed Q powers…she had struggled to decide if she was Human or Q, but decided eventually to join the Continuum. She hadn’t been seen since.

“You remember…I see it in your eyes,” Q said glibly. “Good…then remember how Human she was, how conflicted she was.”

“You took her in…that was not my decision. It was her decision and she made it…you accepted it,” he responded defensively.

“It was a mistake I will never be able to rectify, Jean Luc…she was too Human. She led the Q who were dissatisfied with the current state of the Continuum in a defection…they joined with the U. She had a child with one of them in 2404…and that child grew quickly as our children do. In a few years, he was the leader of the U…a blend of Q, U, and Human…he was our end.” Q leaned his head back. “We were slaughtered in the war versus these new U…the Continuum reduced to a few dozen members and the U banishing us to Human form; no powers…no omnipotence.”

Jean Luc’s eyes flashed in understanding. “The U…are they the same as the Unar’s?”

Q brought his head up and nodded. “Once we were gone, what was the point of being omnipotent anymore? The U had dominated and destroyed us…so they made themselves mortal, with very long lifespans and very advanced technology. They gave themselves every advantage…and then began to conquer.”

Jean Luc stood slowly, grabbing his cane angrily. “You knew this? All these years and you knew this? Why wait till now, Q! Why wait till it’s too late to save the Federation!”

Q stood slowly, a smirk on his face forming. “The Delta quadrant, the Gamma quadrant, and the Beta quadrant have all fallen under the Unar’s rule, Jean Luc. They’ve only been at it 24 years…and that’s how long it’s taken me to formulate a plan to stop them. But I have one…and I need your help. The Federation is dead now, Jean Luc…every member world, minus Earth, has surrendered to the Unar’s rule. You know that the negotiations will fail with the Unar…you know that war in inevitable. Starfleet can’t stop them…Earth’s influence is minimal.”

“Yes, yes, yes, damn it, you’re right!” He yelled angrily. “The Federation is gone…of course you don’t care! But what can you do now? Why now?”

Q’s smirk grew wider. “I had to wait…trust me on that.”

Jean Luc heaved angrily. He took a moment to regain control of his emotions and scowled. “I don’t like evasive answers, Q. You want my help? What can an old man, well past his prime, do for you?”

Q’s eyes sparkled. “You have access to things no other retired officer in the fleet has the privilege of knowing about. I need these things…I need a ship, I need weapons, I need a crew…with these things, we can stop the Unar from taking Earth…from ruling over you.”

Jean Luc narrowed his eyes. “What do you need all that for, Q? What can you do in your old age?”

Q shrugged coyly. “I can’t do anything…my grandson can, however.”

Jean Luc’s eyes widened in surprise. “Grandson?”

“Junior was far more…influential with Human females than I was. All that time with Janeway had a use apparently,” Q said annoyed. “He married, had a son…and since then we’ve been preparing to take the Unar down.”

“How?”

Q crossed his arms. “It’s better you don’t know.”

“Q,” Jean Luc warned, “I won’t do anything unless I know everything.”

The former omnipotent being considered the words for a long moment and then nodded. “Fine. We do what did to them all those centuries ago. We kill them…all of them.”

“Genocide!?” Jean Luc’s eyes lit up in fury. “That violates the very core of Starfleet and Federation values; I will have no part of it!”

Q shook his head. “I told you it was better you didn’t know.”

“Get out!” Jean Luc demanded furiously. “I won’t have you preaching genocide in my house!”

“Jean Luc, don’t be so emotional…it’s the way it has to be. Their deaths makes them go away…they rule harshly, ruthlessly Jean Luc…they won’t be kind masters to you.”

Jean Luc ignored him and walked towards the doorway angrily, his cane loudly slamming into the floor with every step. He stopped at the door and opened it. “Out! I demand you leave my house and never return. I’ve put up with enough of your antics…I’ve had enough. Out!”

Q stood where he was and sighed. “So much for the great Jean Luc Picard…reduced to a pathetic, scared old man,” Q said sharply. He walked towards the door slowly and arrived in front of Jean Luc with a frown. “You’re making a mistake.”

“I won’t be a part of genocide,” he responded firmly. “I won’t be a part of a direct violation of everything I believe in.”

“Your beliefs are outdated, Jean Luc. It’s 2430, not 2360…the years have made necessary a change in the way we act.” Jean Luc’s hand reached for the door controls but Q stepped in front of him. “Think about the dead, Jean Luc; Riker, Troi, Laforge, Worf, Data…Beverly,” Q said the last name with emphasis.

Jean Luc hesitated. He tried not to think about them anymore. He didn’t want to a lot of days. “What about them?” He asked angrily.

“They all died for your vaunted Federation values and ideals…and what have they to show for it? The Federation is gone…the Unar are going to obliterate Earth in any war. What good is their legacy if no one is around to remember it?”

Jean Luc’s eyes wavered and his hand went to his side. “I won’t be a part of genocide. We have to find another way.”

Q nodded. “Fine then…we’ll go with the backup plan.”

“And that is?” Jean Luc asked warily.

Q smiled. “We give Earth the advantage over the Unar. To do that…we need some very powerful pieces of technology; I know where that is.”

“And I need to provide the ship, right?”

Q nodded once more. “How is the Enterprise holding up anyway?”

Jean Luc frowned. He had to take the chance Q was actually telling the truth here. If there was any way of beating the Unar short of genocide…it was worth the risk. The Federation was already gone and Starfleet was next. He couldn’t let Earth fall too, could he?

Q smiled and extended his hand. “Deal?”

It was the chance to save Earth.

It was chance to preserve the legacies of his friends…of people who were his family.

It was also a deal with a former devil.

Jean Luc took Q’s hand and shook it weakly. This was a deal he couldn’t pass up. “Deal.”

And that’s the one and only chapter for “The Last Generation.” I quite liked the dynamic of old Q and old JLP, but frankly it never really seemed that good to me, even now. It was missing something, I’m not sure what, but it was. At any rate, I grew frustrated with it and banished it to red shit status, moving on to another project as I inevitably do. This story had potential and it still does…perhaps one day I’ll finish it.

Today however it has been given it’s eulogy and it’s untold story, finally brought to light.

The Endgame of All Good Things…Part 2

Posted on February 8, 2012 by trekfan

So, yesterday I dove right into the untold story of how the early 25th century story “The Last Generation” began. Today, I’ll be revealing the plot and showing off the never before seen timeline (it’s an interesting read if I do say so myself).

The Plot

Well, at this point in the development of the story I had devoted a lot of time to research on Memory Alpha, rewatching Q related episodes, and pretty digging around for anything I thought useful. Time consuming, yes, but like all stories it takes time. However, I had finally hit upon the plot idea; it involved Q, Q Junior, Amanda Rogers, Picard, Janeway, and a host of others, combining all the things I wanted together.

And the way this was justified, at least in my mind, was with the episode “The Q and the Grey”. For those of you that don’t remember, this is the episode where the Q were in the midst of a civil war, Q wanted to get his groove on with Janeway (YIKES!), have a half human/half Q child, and reunite the continuum. This is one of my favorite Q episodes because it makes a lot of really good references back to previous Q episodes (notably “Death Wish” another great Q episode and one of my favorites from VOY overall) and introduces the notion that the Q can be just as savage as humans can. I mean, a Q civil war sure doesn’t establish the company line that their “superior” in every way to the mortal species of the galaxy.

So, with the “Q and the Grey” as my example, I figured that with the Continuum debating heatedly over the fate of their former foes-to kill the U once again or allow to live, potentially inviting war-that things would eventually break down into war. Now, the Q, by virtue of them being omnipotent, war pretty hard core. To better explain myself, let’s go through the timeline (as written nearly a year ago) and get an indepth look at how this thing evolved.

Star Trek The Last Generation Timeline

June 15^th, 2404: Admiral Janeway goes back in time to save her crew from 16 more years of traveling through the Delta Quadrant but presumably fails-Janeway is never seen or heard from again.

The Voyager family manages to keep the truth from their superiors and from the world at large; claims by Korath are ignored by both the Empire and Federation; his house remained dishonored. The effects of Janeway’s disappearance had far greater consequences outside of normal space time.

Janeway’s travel through time opened a breach in the space time continuum, momentarily allowing an extra dimensional species to reemerge in the timeline. This species was called the U-an early rival to the Q that was eliminated millions of years ago. The reemergence of the U cause the Q to consider what to do about them again-this leads to a very extended and heated debate in the Continuum.

(This was the first domino to fall. Janeway goes back in time, doesn’t seem to effect the timeline at all, and her transgressions are hidden by the Voyager family, as they would no doubt do. Korath-what a friendly fellow-claims Janeway did a lot of bad things, but he gets ignored; the VOY family has a lot of pull in both the Federation and the Klingon Empire, so he gets blacklisted essentially. The big bit here is Janeway’s time travel reintroducing the U back into the timeline which is really going to mess things up for everyone in the future.)

July 7^th, 2404: Tuvok, former chief of security for Voyager, dies in his sleep. Distraught at the loss of his captain and weakened from his illness, Tuvok loses his grip on life. He is buried with full Starfleet honors and lies with his fellow Voyager crewmate, Chakotay, on Earth-this was his last wish, to be buried with the family he had in the Delta Quadrant, the Voyager crew. His family on Vulcan understands and honors his request.

Starfleet’s investigation into Admiral Janeway’s disappearance yields no results, and further investigation is recommended-however, it never comes to pass. Chief of Starfleet Intelligence, Admiral William T. Riker, quietly buries the investigation after the situation is explained to him by Reginald Barclay.

(This was tough for me to do, as I like Tuvok a lot-and in fact I don’t know anyone who doesn’t like him-but it had to be done. He loses his best friend, his captain, and a trusted companion in Janeway when she goes back in time; that kind of loss combined with his illness was bound to send him to the grave. Now, I did think hard about whether to bury him on Vulcan or Earth, but as seeing he spent so long in this timeline with the Voyager crew and the fact that in the episode he was being treated on Earth as opposed to Vulcan, I figured his family had moved on without him in the 23 years he was missing in the Delta Quadrant. As much as this saddened me too-Tuvok’s family was often overlooked in Voyager-it made sense that he’d grown closer to the people on board the ship than his own flesh and blood. Burying him by Chakotay was a natural choice; the relationship between those two was often as professional as it was subtle, but the respect the men had for one another was profound after 7 years. Imagine how large it was after 23.

Of course Starfleet was going to investigate this further but the investigation was shut down by Admiral William T. Riker of Starfleet Intelligence. In a move very much like what happened with the Pegasus investigation, Riker uses his considerable influence to make sure Janeway’s disappearance is never fully looked into. Reg Barclay, being another TNG/VOY connection, play an big part in that too. Reg, in some respects, was more a member of the VOY family than the TNG one, but he still has pull with both. This was the first of the TNG/VOY connections that would be referenced in the timeline.)

July 20^th, 2404: The Q Continuum continues to struggle over the U situation, with the Continuum split down the middle on the issue. Amanda Rogers leads the Q who wish to accept the U into the Continuum while the being known only as Q to Starfleet leads the Q who believe the U should be exterminated once again. The debate rages.

(Pretty much how it always happens, even today; two sides with differing views on an issue draw the battle lines and begin to dig in for the long haul. The leader of the Q who want to accept the U into the Continuum, Amanda Rogers, is naturally sympathetic to the U’s previous fate. Her parents were killed by the Continuum and she grew up as a human; she has human sensibilities. Of course, Q himself would rather be rid of the U once again, but he can’t convince everyone. The wounds of the Q Civil War are still very much raw, even now, and there are still those that would rather see Q gone than the U.)

August 11^th, 2404: Ensign Miral Paris is severely wounded in an attempt on her life by the House of Korath. She is transported back to Earth by the USS Rhode Island and Captain Harry Kim, where the Doctor, now known as Joe, treats her. Miral recovers from the attack but loses the use of her legs.

In a landmark procedure, Miral undergoes spinal replacement with the Genitronic Replicator, which only years earlier had been approved for live testing. The Genitronic Replicator was previously used decades earlier in a similar procedure on Worf. The surgery is an astounding success and Miral recovers fully; the Genitronic Replicator becomes standard medical equipment onboard all Federation ships, outposts, stations, and colonies within the next five years.

(This was a nod back to “Endgame” and an even further nod back to the TNG episode “Ethics” which featured the really cool, never seen again, med tech; the genitronic replicator. It was probably never seen again due to the fact that it would end up taking a lot of drama out of moments where big characters were going to die due to failing organs. It was a plot device, really, and probably would not ever appear in proper Trek again; but I’m anything but proper in my Trek, so I wanted it back. I naturally chose Miral Paris as the subject and things worked wonderfully for her. The genitronic replicator would become standard tech on all Federation ships a few yeas later and ultimately, far down the line in the story, would be used to save someone. This was more a note to myself than an actual plot specific point in the timeline.)

August 13^th, 2404: Amanda Rogers and her contingent of Q join with the U after failed talks again with the opposition. The U, possessing similar powers to the Q, now outnumber the Q who wish to eliminate them with Amanda Rogers’ followers; a war begins.

(And so the other shoe drops. Amanda Rogers and her Q defect to join the U. Now the combined forces wage war with Q’s forces and all hell breaks loose. This seemed liked the natural progression of things with Amanda in charge of the opposition here; as someone with human sensibilities, I doubted debating for years on end what to do about the U really suited her. As we saw in her episode, when this girl wants something, she often goes and gets it; I figured in this case if she wanted the U to be accepted into the Continuum she would force the issue.)

September 1^st, 2404: Federation Outpost Gamma Hydra 269 records a massive space time disturbance near the remnants of Praxis. This marks the first of dozens of space time disturbances all across the galaxy recorded in the month of September.

The USS Rhode Island is dispatched to gather data and analyze the disturbances, but contact is lost with it mid mission. Starfleet dispatches a search and rescue but finds only debris; Harry Kim and his crew are declared lost by Starfleet.

(The outpost’s name is not chosen arbitrarily; it actually was in another story of mine, the AU series Star Trek Paths Not Taken: From The Ashes and it was chosen simply as a nice reference to a past work. The spacial time disturbances were, you guessed, manifestations of the battles the Q were having in their little war. Harry Kim’s ship gets sent into the mix and is sadly lost; I never determined whether he was alive or dead, but I figure with my propensity to plant story ideas everywhere in my stuff, he was alive somewhere, sometime. Still, he’s thought of as dead in his timeline and yet another Voyager family member bites the dust.)

October 8^th, 2404: The opposition Q lose to the combined Rogers and U forces and are banished from the Continuum, powerless, reduced to human form. Most of the powerless Q are slaughtered, leaving only a 100 alive, among these the Q known to Starfleet and Junior. Q is left with his Q knowledge intact, unlike the others. This is a gift from Amanda to him, in order to help provide the Q colony with a chance to survive.

(The U and Amanda Rogers Q forces win against our favorite Q; his forces are mostly killed, 100 of them are left alive at the behest of Amanda Rogers, they are made human, and stuck on some planet to rot. Amanda Rogers didn’t want it to end like this so she gave our favorite Q all his Q knowledge as a gift, to help the now mortal, confused, and human Q colony survive. Talk about a serious downgrade; once omnipotent beings now a nearly extinct species.)

October 22^nd, 2404: The space time disturbances have not reoccurred for weeks and the Federation declares the threat over, but the cause is unknown.

Back in the Continuum, the U betray their Q followers and eliminate them all-except Amanda Rogers. Rogers is taken by the U leader and is offered a choice; breed with him to create a Q/U hybrid child or watch as the last of the Q-those reduced to human form-are killed.

Rogers, realizing her mistake, agrees to the terms. A hybrid child is produced for the first time in history between the U and Q. Rogers then asks to be made human and placed with her fellow Q, wanting nothing to do with the child or the U-her request is granted.

(Things get pretty nasty from this point on. Amanda Rogers gets her Q followers killed as the U, very much like our favorite Q has been saying, are heartless, ruthless, SOBs. They betray her, force her to breed with their leader, and then make her bear the burden of being the mother of a Q/U hybrid child which, by the way, is likely going to one hell of a superpowerful being. I was setting up the playing board for big things here. All this betrayal, breeding, death, ect had a lot of Roman flavor to it; I believe I was reading a book about them around this time which influenced some of this. At any rate, she asks to become human, her request is granted since she’s the mother of the new “God” child and she joins up with the last of the Q. Can someone say awkward?)

November 7^th, 2404: The U, having taken time to survey the Milky Way Galaxy, find that being all powerful is boring. They agree to make themselves mortal, with lifespans going no longer than 1000 years. They give themselves advanced technology and vow to conquer the galaxy, as they did millions of years before in other galaxies.

They start deep in Romulan territory and begin their domination.

(This is where the big differences in the U and Q begin to show. Whereas the Q were quite content to be omnipotent and be unchallenged, the U were not. They got bored and frankly, can you blame them? They eliminated their enemies, left a few alive just to suffer a mortal existence, and pretty much dominated. They had their hybrid child which would undoubtedly cement their place in the universe as all powerful…but where was the thrill? Where was the competition?

So, they decided to make themselves mortal with very generous advantages. Long, long lifespans, great tech, and finally someone to kick around again. Picking on the Romulans was easy as they were virtual the weakest of the major powers in the Alpha/Beta Quadrants thanks to the Romulus exploding. Poor Romulans.)

December 23^rd, 2404: The Federation is asked for aid by the Romulans against the U, whom now call themselves the Unar. The Federation council enters into heated debate on the subject, a potential deadlock looming.

Meanwhile, at the Q colony, Amanda Rogers and the being known to Starfleet as Q, begin to formulate a plan to regain their powers and take back the Continuum. Junior begins to court Amanda Rogers, despite the elder Q’s dislike for the budding relationship.

(The U become the Unar-again, not exactly original but I liked it well enough-and they start owning the Romulans. The Fed Council debates what to do about it and as usual with politics, things get deadlocked. The big development here is the plan between the elder Q and Amanda Rogers to get their powers back; also Junior courting Amanda Rogers is huge. These two things go hand and hand.)

January 12^th, 2405: The Federation Council agrees to help the Romulans and in response the Klingon Empire ceases all diplomatic ties with the Federation, being strictly against the Romulans in all forms.

Starfleet sends a fleet of ships deep into Romulan territory to stop the Unar.

(The Federation steps up and predictably the Klingons don’t like it. As seen in “Endgame” and “All Good Things” the Klingons and Feds don’t get along very well in the early 25th century and though things aren’t bad enough for war, things are certainly cold. The Federation’s act of mercy towards the Romulans isn’t a wholly selfless one; afterall, if the Romulans fall, the Unar will come for them next likely.)

February 5^th, 2405: Amanda Rogers and Junior marry, both realizing that their time is now quite possible short as humans. Junior’s father, Q, disapproves of the marriage but realizes the benefits far outweigh the risks. Q has a plan.

(Junior and Amanda Rogers get married and though it’s hard to imagine that cocksure Junior settling down, I figured that since Voyager was trapped in the Delta Quadrant for so long Junior spent a lot of time with Aunt Kathy, otherwise known as Janeway, and he learned some life lessons. Though not nearly as human as Amanda Rogers in terms of sensibilities he certainly had some human sensibilities by this time; he wasn’t such a bad guy actually. The Elder Q though…he’s kinda a bad guy here. The marriage he wasn’t a huge fan of but he wanted what naturally comes with the marriage, a child; Amanda Rogers also played a part in this little plan but the feelings she developed for Junior she did not plan for. The two of them actually loved one another, surprisingly.)

March 20^th, 2405: Starfleet reports to the Federation Council that the war does not go well; over the first month Ally losses outnumber enemy losses 2 to 1. Starfleet Command recommends deployment of all available vessels to Federation borders and withdrawal of Starfleet vessels from Romulan space-they believe the war is lost there.

The stunned council agrees and the Romulans are advised to retreat as well. The Romulans flatly refuse.

Impressed with the Romulans refusal to retreat and fight a losing battle, the Klingon Empire sends their forces against the Unar. In a move motivated by mutual survival, the Klingons hope the combination of their forces and the Romulans can stave off the Unar.

The Federation refuses to join; instead it fortifies its own borders. The March of the Unar continue.

(The Federation withdraws from the Romulan front, citing concerns about itself. The Federation at this point in time is pretty much conceding defeat in the battle for the Romulan worlds. Shocking? Not really. It’s war, it’s made up of tough decisions, and the Federation will not sacrifice it’s own position to aid another. The Klingons however relish losing battles; they love to fight against all odds and seeing the Federation withdraw and the Romulans fight on, well I bet it warmed their hearts. I think they have multiple ones if I remember correctly.)

March 23^rd, 2405: Amanda discovers she is pregnant. Q, though disgusted with the act of human mating, is pleased-all going according to plan.

(Elder Q, not a huge fan of human anything, is liking the thought of a grandson. Not for the fact he’ll have one but because it’s “all part of the plan.” He’s a devious being, isn’t he?)

July 27^th, 2405: The combined Romulan and Klingon fleets are defeated and the Unar gain control of their territories.

The Federation resigns itself that the Unar are coming and prepare for the oncoming war.

(Things are about to get bad for the Fed. Not only are the Unar coming but they’re best fighting buddies, the Klingons, are down for the count. Without the Klingons in the Dominion War things would have ended up much differently; here it’s just the Federation against the Unar and the odds are not looking good.)

August 7^th, 2405: The Unar enter into Federation space for the first time, destroying a fleet of over 100 ships in the process.

(Are the Unar really that deadly? Uh…yes.)

September 19^th, 2405: Admiral William T. Riker is killed in action, along with his wife Deanna and former Ambassador to the Klingon Empire, Worf, aboard the USS Worthington.

Former Captain Jean Luc Picard suffers a massive heart attack upon hearing the news and is immediately transported to Starfleet Medical. Picard enters into a coma.

(And here we have our first mention of Jean Luc Picard; when he hears that Riker, Troi, and Worf are all dead the poor guy just can’t take it; at this point in his advanced years I figured his health would be rather sensitive and distressing news like this would not sit well with him.)

October 13^th, 2405: Captain Geordi Laforge and the USS Challenger are lost at the Battle of Andor. Earth, Vulcan, and Tellar Prime remain as the last Federation worlds.

(This is a reference to “Timeless” which showed Geordi being captain of a the Galaxy class starship, the USS Challenger. The Andorians and he both go down fighting; true, this doesn’t exactly fit in with what we saw in “All Good Things” as Geordi was a writer in that one, but I figured he reactivated his commission for the war; Starfleet was going to need all the help it could get.)

December 10^th, 2405: Vulcan falls to the Unar; half the Vulcan population is wiped out and over 1/3 of the plant’s surface is rendered uninhabitable.

At the Q colony, Amanda goes into labor early; the baby is delivered at 9:12 PM successfully. Amanda, however, suffers from internal bleeding. Despite medical intervention, she dies.

Junior is devastated and refuses to hold the child. He leaves the colony and doesn’t return for days.

In the meantime, Junior’s father Q cares for the baby; the child is a boy.

(Vulcan goes down pretty hard and Amanda Rogers dies during child birth; both sad events but both are actually references to Star Trek 2009, as in the JJverse Vulcan gets destroyed and an Amanda dies. Here Vulcan gets really hurt, not destroyed as that would be overkill, and someone named Amanda does in fact die.

This kinda hurt for me killing Amanda Rogers as I’d kinda grown to like her by this point. Her and Q Junior just seemed like a natural fit for one another in my mind. Her death sends Junior into a tailspin, one he won’t recover from for many years. Meanwhile, Elder Q takes over as the caretaker of the child. I wasn’t sure whether he had any role in the death of Amanda Rogers just to propagate his plan and frankly I wouldn’t put it past him; my feeling is that he didn’t kill her.)

January 23^rd, 2406: Tellar Prime falls to the Unar and Earth is now the last Federation world standing.

(The Tellarites go down and now Earth is all that’s left. It’s a bloody mess on Tellar Prime though; the folks there made the Unar go through hell to get that planet.)

January 25^th, 2406: Weeks of debate have resulted in a compromise; the new child will be named Quincy, honoring his human and Q heritage, despite Q’s insistence to simply name the child Q. Junior is somewhat recovered from Amanda’s death, but is depressed almost constantly, lying in bed for days at a time.

The care of the child falls to Q in Junior’s absence.

(And so the new child is named Quincy and Q pretty much becomes the de facto father in place of Junior who is the most depressed individual in the galaxy at his point. He really, really loved Amanda, so much so that I think it was his only love; to lose that, especially during what is supposed to be a happy occasion-the birth of a child-must have been crushing in ways I’ll never guess. Amanda’s death has long term implications for Junior, Q, and Quincy.)

February 2^nd, 2406: Earth is taken over by the Unar; Jean Luc Picard recovers from his coma and is moved back to his home in France, under the care of Beverly Crusher. He is saddened and angered by the news of what happened in his absence.

The Unar demand complete and utter obedience to them; many on Earth refuse. In a show of strength, the Unar level the moon, killing all life on it. If complete obedience is not given, they will kill more innocents; Earth agrees to the terms.

The Aftermath: Jean Luc and Beverly are largely left alone by the Unar, and visits by old friends are uncommon. They become isolationists and live together for the remainder of Beverly’s life until her passing in June of 2413. Jean Luc grows cold and distrustful of others after Beverly’s death. He uses the significant time he has to start a vineyard at his home. His life has now come full circle.

The Unar impose significant rules and laws on all they rule, banning interstellar travel faster than warp three. All vessels are stripped of advanced armaments and the Unar rule with an iron fist. Rebellions and revolutions are attempted, but ultimately are futile.

The Q colony remains largely unnoticed by the galaxy and Amanda’s child, Quincy, is raised with the knowledge of the Q at his finger tips. Junior is an absent father for child’s early years, still reeling from the loss of Amanda. He does not hug his son until 2015; the moment is emotional for both of them.

Q teaches the boy all he can, as the knowledge of the Continuum still remains with him. Junior and Q both realize that the best chance to defeat the Unar is with the child.

WHEW. And that’s the timeline, with all the explanation and plot details abound in it.

Tomorrow, the conclusion of the untold story of “The Last Generation” and the reveal of the only chapter I wrote for it before the idea sadly got red shirted.

The Endgame of All Good Things…Part 1

Posted on February 7, 2012 by trekfan

How It All Began…

Ah, “Star Trek: The Next Generation” has a special place in my heart. Primarily because unlike TOS, I got to watch most of TNG when it first aired. I wasn’t born till 88, so I really didn’t catch on to the show till like 90 probably, but I was a TNG era kid. True, my love for TOS is far more than TNG, but I was still a TNG era kid. I had (and still have) quite a lot of TNG era toys, memorabilia, ect, and it’s quite valuable to the sentimentalist in me. I doubt it has any real monetary value and frankly I’ve never checked; it’d just ruin the magic. One cannot put a price on such memories in my mind.

TNG, while a great TV series, was also a fantastic era to write stories in. My expanded universe is based off the TNG era and all the things that went on in it (yes, even Nemesis) but there has always been a particular part of the TNG era that I’ve never really been able to write; that would be the end of the TNG era that appeared in “All Good Things” the series finale of TNG (and much better movie than Generations ever was). That particular part of the TNG era has always eluded me writing wise, simply because it’s hard to grasp for me. I’ve never quite been able to wrap my brain around all the stuff that was (supposedly) happening. The fact that Q could have easily all made it up is also there, but that was minimized by other series, namely DS9 with “The Visitor” and VOY with “Endgame”. Both featured the uniforms and politics of the future in “All Good Things” so I believe that is indeed the future Trek was heading towards.

Nonetheless, I still found it hard to write that future, especially adding in “Endgame” into the mix. “Endgame” theoretically wiped out that future (again, if one believes it was wiped out in “All Good Things” which it seems likely). But, as with all things Star Trek, nothing is ever gone “for good”. Everyone comes back, in some form or another. So, that future, that timeline is still out there, somewhere, going on. I just needed to figure out what was going on in it.

And that’s when I returned to “Endgame” and where today’s untold story comes to light, that of never seen project, “The Last Generation”. You see, “Endgame” actually provided, for me anyway, the basis of which I could finally write an interesting, if not engaging story in the early 25th century era. Before “Endgame” I wouldn’t have known where to start in that era; if the events of “All Good Things” did in fact happen then they did not in fact stick-if everyone in the present time of the episode but JLP forgot the events of the episode, than if figured so did everyone in past/future as well. (As a complete aside, time travel episodes are SUCH a headache sometimes).

At any rate, prior to “Endgame” there was no real definable, interesting, new viewpoint to start a story in. After “Endgame” there was indeed a VERY interesting viewpoint to start the story from. The question that would come to launch the story and define the era itself…”whatever happened to Admiral Janeway?”

If the timeline went on, as I imagined it did, then obviously that would be the question. One of Starfleet’s most lauded heroes disappears with no trace of what happened to her and no one’s talking. I doubt any of the Voyager crew would have spilled the beans, even if threatened with a court martial, legal action, ect. That crew, more so than any other (even TOS) was a family; they were closer than blood in my mind. Stuck in the DQ (Delta Quadrant, not Dairy Queen; if they were stuck in Dairy Queen for seven years they would all have diabetes) for seven long years, going through hell and back a lot, the Borg, and more, well…if tends to bring people pretty close. This family dynamic-something started a bit in TOS, then really expanded upon in TNG, and somewhat there in DS9-was on full display from day one with VOY. They were family, through pretty much everything.

That was a big reason in why the idea for “The Last Generation” was so potent to me. Whereas if there had been a weak link in the VOY family I could see Starfleet (or someone else) breaking that link and knowing the answer of what happened to Janeway, there was no such weak link here. Yes, one can make the case for Reg Barclay but in his defense he was trying to lie to another family member (and it’s not as easy as one would think). If Reg had to lie to someone outside the family (which I imagined he did a few times offscreen in “Endgame”) I think he would have been fine.

All that added up to the mystery being alive and well. “Whatever happened to Admiral Janeway?” probably would have been a huge deal for many years following “Endgame” and doubtlessly plenty of theories would have arisen. By this point into the development of “The Last Generation” I had the mystery and the family dynamic firmly down as themes or points to hit on often at least. The next part was the hard one; what exactly was the plot?

It’s here that I struggled a bit. Sure, I could go ahead and write a story about the search for Janeway (and part of me wanted to do that as an obvious homage to “The Search for Spock”) but I felt that was really a moot point. Any Star Trek fan worth their salt or with access to the internet would be able to tell you what happened to Admiral Janeway; she died and took the Borg Queen with her (epic moment of win by the way). Great moment in the ep but there’s little that can be done with it from that point writing-wise. Sadly, her final fate has already been determined.

So, I needed a new take. I wanted to tie in “All Good Things” with “Endgame” more directly than just “well, they happened in the same era.” Usually, I’d banter this out with one of my many fellow writer friends, but for this particular case, I really, really wanted to figure it out on my own. So, I spent hours digging through memory alpha and beta, looking for any sort of connections, perceived or otherwise, about the two episodes.

And then it hit me; TNG and VOY did share one thing in common throughout the majority of both runs and that was Q. Yes, the omnipotent being Q that always had a penchant for sticking his nose in things he didn’t have any say in. Q would be the key to getting things on track but Q was in a lot of Star Trek episodes and his references to the continuum, time travel, and everything else…well, they were numerous. MA was good but I was going to need to do some reviewings of some of those eps in order to get my mind wrapped around things.

One episode in particular drew my attention and that was the episode featuring Amanda Rogers; “True Q”. This episode always kind of annoyed me, simply because it seemed to be the odd Q episode of the bunch. It didn’t focus on the usual Q/JLP dynamic nearly as much as it focused on the Q Continuum aspect. It was in this episode that the plot began to first take shape; I knew now that I wanted Amanda Rogers to play a part in this, somehow and it didn’t take long for me to add Q Junior into the cast as well.

Things were beginning to take shape for “The Last Generation.” I knew some of the themes, I knew some of the plot points, and I knew some of the characters. All this I knew, but I was still missing the cohesiveness I needed to fully make this a story. There was a missing piece.

That missing piece would end up being the time travel itself by Admiral Janeway in “Endgame”. If the timeline had continued on, then there would have had to be some sort of effect to it from the act of the time travel; perhaps not a major one, but one that didn’t alter the timeline dramatically initially. Thinking back on all the time travel episodes I’d seen, I decided to reintroduce a species back into the timeline which had previously died off, somewhat like what happened in VOY “Year of Hell” episodes. Someone changes something in the timeline, the timeline shifts, either dramatically, or slightly, but it shifts.

In the case of “The Last Generation” post “Endgame” timeline, I decided that a previously dead rival species of omnipotent beings would be brought back into the fold; the Q’s age old rivals the U (sure, not very original but hey, it’s a letter too). The Q had previously eliminated the U many eons ago and since that time had been the only game in town. Thanks to Janeway’s actions, a few of the U were brought back-not enough to wage a war against the Q but enough to make some Q question whether killing them off to begin with was even right.

From there, things began to turn in my head…and I knew I had something. That’s where I’ll leave this story for today. Tune in tomorrow for part 2, where I’ll explain the details of the plot of this untold story, show you the timeline and how exactly everything went, and further expand upon my thoughts regarding “Endgame” and “All Good Things”.

The Lt. Olsen Twins

Posted on February 6, 2012 by trekfan

I’m sure I don’t need to remind many of you of the first “red shirt” death in the new JJverse, which premiered in 2009 (seems such a short time ago), but nonetheless Lt. Olsen’s demise is important to me, simply because his red shirt death has quite the untold story to it. Here’s his death (along with a few other TOS red shirts):

Lt. Olsen Dies…

Now, I remember seeing this in theaters (twice!) and it brought quite a smile to my face. I mean, come on, a classic red shirt death like that cannot be played enough times over and over. But, like everything with the new JJverse trek, I had to think on it a bit afterwards. Mainly, the question that kept popping in my mind was “Why was Olsen such a thrillseeker?”

The new AOS intrigued me on a number of fronts, from the political dynamics of the universe, to the social ramifications, to the demise of Vulcan, the new takes on the species, and of course of canon was turned upside down, shook about like a bottle of soda, and open to spray stuff everywhere. The possibilities were quite endless.

But Olsen’s death particularly intrigued me. Not only the motivations behind his death but also why he was named Olsen. I came up with a reason for the second question pretty quickly; his last name is Olsen so obviously he has a twin, right? Right?

Well, it made sense to me. For those of you unfamiliar, the Olsen twins were a twin set of identical girls that were quite famous worldwide thanks to their role on the show “Full House”, which was huge in the late 80s and early 90s, the time when I was just a kid. Those two were EVERYWHERE during that time period, so that’s why his last name triggered that particular thought in me.

And you know what? It made sense in a weird way. I figured if Lt. Olsen had a twin, then the Lt. Olsen we saw bite the dust must have been the thrillseeker of the two. The other had to be the cautious one in my mind. And so, Lt. Olsen had a twin; this idea led directly to the development of my AOS series, Star Trek Farragut: Borders of Fear (which sadly remains unfinished) and the idea of a rival/mirror for the AOS Kirk.

You see, if Olsen had a twin, then why couldn’t Kirk and his crew have a sort of twin as well? Not exact copies mind you but sort of half mirrors? I decided to “make it so” and figured Kirk’s rival/mirror would be none other than Kirk’s TOS mentor/idol Captain Garrovick. Except here he was a mirror of Kirk in some ways, and so was his crew. It was a bit of a reach, admittedly, but I quite fell in love with the idea and had a field day with it. Lt. Olsen’s death was indirectly or directly responsible for helping spawn the idea.

I had plans to include Lt. Olsen’s twin, Owen Olsen, as a science officer aboard Garrovick’s ship, but I never progressed far enough into the story to really get that far. Rather than be like his brother and die a senseless death, Owen Olsen was actually going to play a hand in saving the day, without dying of course. I was quite taken with the idea of giving him his own spinoff series if he was received decently enough but again I never got far enough into the story itself to even write it.

However, I did do a small, small bit of background work on him and Owen was a nice guy. He was shy as hell though; whereas his brother Oz (yes, I know, a bit cliche to have them named Oz and Owen when their last names started with O) was the adrenaline junky, thrillseeker, excitable guy, Owen was very much introverted. He took joy in reading a good book on biology (his field of study) and wasn’t much for the night life. Owen liked the silence of an empty room, and enjoyed his own company more than others. He wasn’t good at social stuff; quite the opposite actually. Whereas his brother was, more or less, a party animal Owen was more like a party plush toy; cute looking, nice to squeeze, but obviously not fit for life in the jungle.

Owen went into the sciences simply for the fact that solitude was often called upon there. One scientist could be left alone for quite a while; Oz joined engineering for huge amount of people it took to run it and of course the ever present chance of death (warp core breaches anyone?). The two were quite a dichotomy, probably too extreme of one, but as seeing how Oz died, I didn’t think it was too bad a stretch.

Owen could have been an interesting character to write. At the very least, he lives on in some way. One day he may get his due as a character but today, he gets his eulogy.

Though Owen Olsen didn’t really live in any sense of the word he did help play a role in creating my AOS series. Furthermore, without the red shirt death of Lt. Olsen, the ideas spawned off his death would have likely not come to fruition. The Lt. Olsen twins will likely be regulated to a footnote in my creative history but today, they are the heroes. Cheers to both of you gentlemen, perhaps one day I’ll get back to the AOS universe.

Until then, the best I can do for you two is to give you your due here, small pittance as that is. Never fear though…only one of you is technically dead (sorry Oz). At least you died in classic fashion though.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the story of The Lt. Olsen Twins.

Hank’s Near Death Experience

Posted on February 5, 2012 by trekfan

It’s not often that I struggle with doing something to a character. I didn’t get the moniker “King of Character Torture” for nothing after all; characters-mine and others-share a particular dislike for me simply because I come up with new and horrible ways to torture them. Conflict breeds a good story (along with other things) and conflict often involves people getting hurt, in one or another, in real life. So, when I write conflict, somebody is usually going to get “tortured” in one way or another; physically, emotionally, mentally, ect. Characters get tortured in my stories and that’s the way it goes.

One in particular however, my very first fanfic character Captain Henry “Hank” Harrison, always gives me trouble when I try to torture him. Now, I could utterly spoil everything I’ve done to him but that’s literally a few stories in of itself. Basically, I’ve made this guy go through a lot of different kinds of hell. Romantically, he’s always pining for a girl he never quite seems to find the courage to go all the way with. In his career, he’s a bit of a black sheep and Starfleet doesn’t really like him, but doesn’t exactly hate him. When he manages to land his posting aboard the Pearl as her captain after serving a few years as captain of the science vessel Galloway, things seem to be looking up.

And then I throw him into a nasty storm of events that has a lot of political, social, and other ramifications at stake. A battle happens, people die, he gets captured, he gets tortured (in more ways than one), and generally his life is complete hell for a few months. All this I do to this guy and I find it hard to.

Which is why towards the end of Star Trek Chronicles: Old Foes and New Allies (the second book of the Chronicles series) I was going to finally do away with Hank Harrison. My valiant captain. My first fanfic character and easily the most likely character I had…he was going to die. His head was going to be on my mantle…he was going to be the first “major” character I had ever killed and it would be a moment that would echo throughout the cosmos.

Okay, maybe not the cosmos, but certainly the story itself. I was dead set on ending Hank Harrison. Why, do you ask, would I kill off my most likable and popular character? Well, the answer is in the question itself. Hank was (and still is) SO likable and SO popular. It frankly annoyed me when I was writing the second book how often people would read a chapter and focus solely on Hank-even when he wasn’t in the chapter.

Book II of the Chronicles series shifted focus on a number of fronts; lots of different perspectives and characters were seen. In retrospect, probably too many were seen, but at the time I thought it was a good play. Hank wasn’t in every chapter; in fact, he probably appeared in about a third of the book. Which is why when people left feedback on the story and the first sentence usually pointed out the obvious fact (to me anyway) that Hank wasn’t featured in that chapter, it got me angry.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love feedback. I love reviews. You could completely trash my chapter and my story as a whole and I’d love the feedback anyway. But as a writer when you focus on other characters and plots in a story and people gloss over them to ask you about one character and plot…well, it gets tiresome. This was a situation where a character had grown to overshadow the story.

Which meant the character had to die, in my mind. Hank had to die in order for the rest of the story to live. So deadset (ha?) on this that I actually wrote the ending of Book II with Hank dead. I committed to it. He was a goner. Don’t believe me? “Oh, trekfan’s not really serious” you say. All right, fine; read about it. Be warned, it was written nearly three years ago, so it’s rough, but here it is:

The death of Hank Harrison-End of Book 2

The bridge was in shambles as the fire around him made his skin burn. Maxwell was still alive but that didn’t matter.

The massive vessel was ahead of them still, destroying Romulan ships without so much as a thought. The Pearl was barely holding her own against the onslaught. Her hull was blackened by burn and hull breeches, but she still fought on. She wouldn’t give up. No one on board would give up.

Hank reached over and rolled Maxwell over. Breathing and awake. “Still…going?”

Maxwell coughed blood. “I can keep going…just the same…as you.”

Hank smiled. “Any ideas?”

Maxwell struggled to his feet. “We’re weaponless with barely any propulsion.”

Hank gripped the arm of the captain’s chair and pulled himself up. “The battle is raging around us…” he winced as he put weight on his leg.

Maxwell noticed. “Maybe you should sit.”

He stared at him with determination. “If you can stand, so can I.”

“Have it your way.” The old man moved towards the helm and looked over it. “We have 1/16^th impulse. Barely. Don’t know how the hell we do.”

Hank grinned. “I managed to save some power.”

“Smart boy.” Maxwell turned to him and stood tall. “Only one thing left to do. We can save them.”

Hank nodded. “Yes, we can. The warp core will cause a huge dent in their hull. They won’t survive.”

Maxwell bit his lip. “Those assholes are dead.”

The two men turned towards the viewscreen and watched it as they approached the hull of the ship.

“Do we have shields?”

Hank shook his head. “Nope.”

Maxwell shrugged. “Worth asking.”

Hank slid into the captain’s chair, his mind racing. He was going to die. All the friends he hadn’t seen in months, all the family he wished he could have said one last goodbye to, all of that was wishful thinking. He would never see them again.

He would never see Nick’s smiling face at one of his jokes, never hear Bethany sing again, and he would never see Nick’s child. Boy or girl. Hell, he would even miss Ashley’s sister, Brittany. She did nothing but insult him.

He would miss so much. So much.

He looked at Maxwell. “You said you had family?”

Maxwell barely nodded. “Adopted, yes. Haven’t seen them in three years, but when I did…there was a little boy. It was their son, barely six months old. He was a looker.”

“Was going to get all the ladies?”

Maxwell smiled weakly. “Guaranteed.” He sank down into the helm’s seat and stared wistfully at the screen. “Been one hell of a battle.”

“Sure has.”

“Harrison, you ever think about getting married?”

Hank took a sharp breath. “One day. I hoped.”

“Yeah, it’s good being married. You’ll never quite feel as close to a person as you will to your spouse. It’s why I could never remarry. Things would just get…too messy.”

“I had a girl all picked out, you know?”

Maxwell turned to look at him. “Really?”

“She was beautiful. Wish I could have seen her one last time.”

A hail was coming through. Hank recognized the tone of the computer. Maxwell did too and he quickly put it onscreen.

It was Nick. He was bruised and bloody, but he was still alive. The Pearl was barely in any better shape than they were. His face lit up at seeing him.

“Hank?! You’re alive!!!”

Hank grinned. “I can see you are too. Go figure.”

Nick smiled. “We can beam you onboard. Just activate a communicator and we can hone in on you.”

Hank looked over to Maxwell. “And him?”

Nick shook his head. “We have enough for one. Just one.”

The screen began to fade and then it just went. It returned back to the view of the battle and Hank looked at Maxwell sadly.

The old man just nodded. “I got nothing to live for. My life’s pretty much over anyway. It’s okay Harrison.”

“I won‘t leave you behind.”

“You don’t have a damned choice. You’re leg is bum, I can outrun you all around this bridge until they beam you off.”

“You don’t have to stay, come with me!”

“You heard them, they have enough for one. One Harrison. You introduce another body to that transporter beam and we both die. Or worse yet become fused,” he huffed angrily. “Suck it up and go. Activate the damned communicator. The more time you waste the more likely we both die.”

Hank looked at the combadge on his chest and felt a heavy burden. He couldn’t leave him. He had never left a person behind before, and even though he didn’t like Maxwell a lot, he wasn’t going to condemn a good man to death. Maxwell was a good man. Hank had found that much out in his short time with him.

He struggled to his feet. “You have to come with me. We can risk it, I have faith in my transporter chief. She can do it.”

Maxwell walked to him, still coughing blood. “Damn you, it doesn’t work like that. I’ll activate the damned thing for you if you don’t.”

Hank was left with few choices. He took off the pips on his collar and gave them to Maxwell. He then extended his hand, a sad smirk on his face. “Good luck Captain.”

Maxwell stared at the pips in his hand and grasped them tightly. He extended his other hand and shook Hank’s. “Thank you.”

Karrie watched as she received the signal she had waited for. It was time. There was a battle going on around them and she had to be precise and careful. She only got one shot at this.

Her hands flew over the controls and the transporter whined to life. The power was barely there, barely enough for one person. She had to be careful…

She saw a form began to take shape on the transporter pad and she quickly adjusted the confinement beam, bringing the transporter to its optimal condition just to make sure he got in.

She didn’t believe she’d ever see Captain Harrison again. She didn’t believe he would ever be back.

The transport was done and she looked up.

“Son of a bitch.” The old man sank to the floor his eyes hollow with horror.

“Transport is complete!” Bethany reported excitedly. Nick could understand. The entire bridge was brightened by the news.

“Shields are at 10%!” Mark called.

They had to leave. Nothing more they could do here. They had Worf and the rest of the Valiant survivors. It was time to pull out of this place and leave. He had Hank back. He had his best friend back.

“Sir, receiving a hail from the Hayes.”

Nick took a sharp breath. “On screen.”

The view changed from the battle to the eyes of a saddened man.

Nick felt like someone had punched him in the gut. He wasn’t prepared for it.

The rest of the bridge went silent.

Hank Harrison just grinned. “I’m sorry. It’s not right for him to have to die. He doesn’t deserve it.”

Nick quickly regained his composure and turned to Chris. “I need more power for the transporter!”

Chris just stared at the screen. “No more. We’re out.”

The realization began to sink in and Nick turned towards his friend confused. “Why?! Why?!”

“I’m sorry Nick. I couldn’t watch him die. The captain goes down with his ship.”

“No…” Bethany stood from her seat, her eyes tear filled. “Please, don’t.”

Hank’s eyes locked on hers. “I wish…” he looked down. “No time for regrets. You have to move on.”

Hank’s eyes turned towards the Walker brothers. “Mark, you’re going to make a great captain one day. You’re going to be the best.” He grinned happily. “Chris, run engineering anyway you want. Keep the ship alive.”

Both of them just stared at him.

“You’re the best crew I’ve ever served with. You’re my family. Goodbye,” he saluted and the transmission cut out.

Nick and the entire bridge watched as the Hayes plowed right into the middle of the massive enemy vessel. The hull of the Hayes tore away and the warp core exploded in a bright flash, putting a huge hole in the enemy.

The ship itself began to crumble from the impact and soon it exploded in a bright orange flash.

The day was saved.

Hank Harrison was dead.

See, there you go. He died. He was done there and he was never going to come back.

However, there was a problem with Hank’s death; though I had killed him off in the story and the rest of the series, leaving all kinds of things a mess and shifting the focus off him (finally) Hank Harrison WOULD NOT DIE. He kept going in my head. I killed him off in the writing but I could not kill him off in my head. He wouldn’t go away.

Days on end I tried and tried to kill him off in my mind. And for days on end Hank continued going on. It was like I was trying to kill a part of myself off and I couldn’t. I consulted with some fellow authors and they agreed; if the character was still talking to me, if the character refused to go away, it meant that there was still a story to be told there.

In other words, Hank couldn’t die then. He had too much to live for, so to speak. Unfinished business I guess you could call it. I don’t know what to officially name it but he was assuredly not done. So, I amended the ending and restored Hank back to life. I still ended Book II on a cliffhanger, simply because I thought it was cool-which in retrospect, again, may have been a bad call-but I generally felt better with Hank alive than dead.

And that was Hank’s near death experience. He was this close to dying for good. I was going to kill him for the wrong reasons really. I was tired of his popularity overshadowing the story. I was tired of him dominating the conversation when it came to characters in my story. But what it really all boiled down to was that I was jealous of one of my own characters; that’s messed up.

Today, Hank and I are cool. I write him often in various spots-challenges, weekly prompts, and even short stories here and there. But mind you, he was just a few clicks of the mouse away from being dead for good.Thankfully, he’s still alive and well.

But just because he’s alive doesn’t mean he misses out on a eulogy. 😉

Reporting for Duty

Posted on February 4, 2012 by trekfan

Hello ladies and gentlemen! There’s a lot to get to but first let me spell out a few things.

Who Am I?

I am Tarzan, hear me…okay, I’m not Tarzan. My name is trekfan (that’s trekfan without a capital “T”) and I’ve been at this writing thing for many, many years. I could sit here and bore you with the entire account of my experiences that led me to fanfiction but it’s quite a long story; perhaps I’ll get into the nitty gritty of it in the future. Here’s the short version;

I started writing Star Trek RPGs back in late 2006 (my senior year of high school-very much needed a release) and that’s where I first chose my name, trekfan. It was simple, short, sweet, and to the point. It worked. It has stuck with me since (over five years now). The RPGs I participated in ended in the summer of 2007 and for me, I figured that was it. However, after my first year in college, I had come to find I missed writing Star Trek…in fact, I quite needed it. So, I wanted to start up another RPG but sadly my old RPGing friends were otherwise engaged.

That’s when I hit upon fanfiction. I was up late one night, watching some Star Trek episodes, and the thought crossed my mind if anyone had done any books about Riker and Troi kids (cause they do finally end up together in Nemesis). A quick google search revealed nothing official had been done but there was some unofficial stuff; fanfiction. Now, I had heard some things about fanfic before and generally I was wary of it. I didn’t think they could match quality of the official stuff then but it was late, so I gave it a shot.

I stumbled upon the Omega Sector and it’s fan trek forums, where a lovely lady by the name of Terilynn was writing up Riker kid stories by the ton. I spent about three nights reading through her threads as a guest before being convinced that her stuff was far superior than any of the official Trek stuff I’d read in years. I joined up, made my presence known, and from that point began my fanfic journey.

Inspired by Terilynn’s writings and itching to get in on the action, I took the idea for the RPG I was going to start and began writing the first book of the Star Trek Chronicles series. It was merely a spur of the moment thing; I didn’t think I’d be that good at it nor that I would get much love for it, but the folks at the OS were great (especially Terilynn, Mr. Picard, and Glenn) and there support was instrumental in cultivating my fanfic drive. While also posting this story one SLWalker (Yes, the founder of Ad Astra itself!) found her way into the topic, began posting in it, and also provided great help. As part of a few story for art trades there, she’s the one who did the wonderful artwork of the Star Trek Chronicles characters in the blog header

Fanfiction from that point on was a firm part of my life. I made many friends there on the OS and more when I joined SLWalker’s Ad Astra. I’ve written a lot of stuff since then and there are a lot of stories behind all that which brings us to…

What This Blog Is About

This blog is firstly about fanfiction and more importantly the stories behind the stories. Sure, there’s the actual stuff that is written and posted to the Ad Astra Archives (or other sites) but then there’s the behind the scenes stuff, the special features as it were, that never see the light of day. These are the stories about the stories, the “how it came to be” kind of stuff.

I’ll also be talking at length about the development of some of the characters in the stories I’ve written and the development of the stories themselves. I’ll use the blog to keep you good folks in the loop of what I’m currently doing writing wise as well. This place will also be for all those projects (and there are lots) that sadly, for one reason or another, never really got off the ground. I plan to debut some of that stuff on this blog from time to time just to give you a peak at the “what could have been’s” in my writings.

This blog will also serve as a place where I can talk about other things related to fiction in general; books I’ve recently read, Star Trek (or other show eps) that have sparked an idea in me, and more. In general, fiction-all fiction, all forms-will be covered here. I’ll also devote some time for art (all forms) and other things as they come to me.

Why the Blog is Called “Red Shirt Eulogies”

Well, as all Star Trek fans know, if you wore a red shirt in The Original Series (and your name wasn’t Scotty, Uhura, or Kyle) your likelihood of dying in that episode was very high. That’s kind of how it is with me and my writings; just because I’m currently writing a particular story doesn’t mean I’ll stick with it. If I get stuck on a story I tend to switch to another one and there’s no guarantee I’ll come back to it.

All my stories, at one time or another, have been “red shirted” (a college football AND Star Trek term, two of my favorite things). Some have died horrible red shirt deaths while others, like many red shirts on the original series, “die” in one episode but come back in a later episode.

The “eulogies” part of the blog name is based on what a eulogy is. From wikipedia; “A eulogy (from εὐλογία, eulogia, Classical Greek for “good words”) is a speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. Eulogies may be given as part of funeral services…Eulogies can also praise a living person or people who are still alive…”

So, there you go. “Red Shirt Eulogies” is primarily a blog with writings in praise of all the stories that have been “red shirted” in my time as a writer. It has many secondary objectives as well, as previously spelled out.

Other Things of Note…

I absolutely love, adore, and welcome feedback of all kinds. If you hate what I’m blogging about, tell me. If you’d like to hug me if you saw me in real life, tell me. If you want to launch profanity laden torpedoes at me, do so; if you’d like to set phasers to love, I’m all for it. Any kind of comments are welcome and loved.

As for a particular schedule with this, I’ll try to post as often as I can when I have time, at the very minimum once a week, likely more.

Otherwise, if you have any questions, comments, or more, please do feel free to leave a comment here, message me, or contact me in some other way. Hailing Frequencies are open, always. 🙂

Hello world!

Posted on February 2, 2012 by trekfan

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Red Shirt Eulogies

Not Just For Dead People

Monthly Archives: February 2012