So now that the Dark Horses have had their run, Georgia and Rusty have had this story they've been trying to get out an wouldn't let me sleep until it was done. luckily this week my work schedule's gotten all flexible. Nap time now, then reviews.
If Rusty's - ah - equipment is anything analogous to that possessed by the Deinonychus he's said to resemble, I'm afraid young Georgia is in for a bit of a disappointment...
Oooooh, that was a fun entry :cool: All kinds of inappropriate going on there, almost giving Marcus a run for his money :cool:
I thought I kept it from getting too inappropriate by letting her initiate the relationship and by coming from a position of vulnerability. Which is really the only way Rusty would have accepted this ("how can I help this person who's so desperate for my affection...")
Obviously there's some mutual attraction there. She likes him because he's so different and yet so kind, and she knows how strong he is and how protective he is of his loved ones. I think he loves her honesty and her adventurous spunk.
Yeah its inappropriate, but if anyone asks, she started it.
If Rusty's - ah - equipment is anything analogous to that possessed by the Deinonychus he's said to resemble, I'm afraid young Georgia is in for a bit of a disappointment...
There is actually a heated, ongoing argument in paleontology on these issues you bring up: What exactly did dromaeosaurids look (Jurassic Park raptors or overgrown turkey vultures) and exactly how did dinosaurs have sex.
I really don't like the argument for a 250 theropod with a five-foot wingspan who's at least a few branches of the apparent evolutionary ancestors of true birds to be sporting wing feathers. As for the nuts and bolts, they'd at least have to be endowed enough to couple with a typically larger female specimen.
At any rate, if I ever choose to go into that much detail on the mating habits of my own Deinon species, I always have the "genetic engineering" card to play. I don't except Georgia will be too terribly disappointed, but I doubt they'd be shopping for trojan magnums
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
I thought I kept it from getting too inappropriate by letting her initiate the relationship and by coming from a position of vulnerability. Which is really the only way Rusty would have accepted this ("how can I help this person who's so desperate for my affection...")
Obviously there's some mutual attraction there. She likes him because he's so different and yet so kind, and she knows how strong he is and how protective he is of his loved ones. I think he loves her honesty and her adventurous spunk.
Yeah its inappropriate, but if anyone asks, she started it.
I don't think that'll keep Rusty out of New Zealand But inappropriate is good, it makes for interesting reading :cool: Makes for interesting writing too -- I didn't even know about Marcus and T'Reya until I started writing that scene, and then BAM, all this stuff about her abusive ex comes out too, so I think there's definitely something to be said for pushing a characterFrom time to time to see what happens :cool: That said, I would say Georgia is anything but vulnerable. Sure, her home and family are history, but she's no victim, but a survivor, and knew what she wanted from the first time she met Jesu, and again with Rusty. I certainly wouldn't've called her vulnerable at all :cool:
@gulberat & ambassadormolari - beautiful entry. I didn't see this as so much of a conflict of organized religion vs. the scientific community, but rather a collision of two intolerant viewpoints which both claim to embrace tolerance. The fact is that anyone who claims to be universally tolerant is either a liar or someone who is ignorant of his own viewpoint. Certain worldviews are simply mutually exclusive. You can't promote human rights if you subscribe to Malthusianism. Even if you simply claim to respect all the opinions of others, that only holds up until someone who comes along with an opinion which offends your sensibilities. Tolerant people lack conviction, and anyone who professes any belief in anything will be intolerant of those who attack their belief.
I'm...not quite sure how to respond to such an impressively philosophical reply, so...glad you liked it!
A fantastic entry, I feel both author's contributions blended perfectly, and made for a thoroughly engrossing read :cool: I had no issue with the nature of the subject matter, but, I did find Alyosha's attitude -- disagreeable. I couldn't quite put my finger on it while reading, but when finished, I would have to say that he is actually bigoted against bigots, and he essentially bullied Arkos into revising his own opinions... The fact that Alyosha is a Christian, was irrelevant to Arkos' beef with Gerstein, and I feel that he was within his right to make a complaint about someone putting personal practice, ahead of ship's duties.
Except, bear in mind, Gerstein was following a mandatory religious holiday that was allowed by Starfleet regulations. Arkos was practically the only guy on the ship who had a problem with this, and while he was primarily angry at Gerstein for not being there, this anger was being spurred on by the much deeper antagonism he felt towards religion in general, and that antagonism was affecting his attitudes towards crewmates like Gerstein.
The fact that Arkos' opinion about religious practice is negative, is irrelevant to the principle under discussion of self-determination. If he doesn't like the religious, he does not have to, and so long as his interpersonal relations with them were professional and not abusive...
For the most part, I agree with this sentiment, and feel that the same holds true for real life: if a person has his/her personal misgivings about religion and the religious, that's not necessarily a bad thing so long as they don't go out of their way to harass or antagonize persons of faith. I think the problem here was that I was trying to write Arkos as doing just that, but fell short-- I had originally intended to write a blurb about Arkos having a particularly bad history with religious persons in the Academy, and being openly and aggressively antagonistic towards them, but for some reason I never did so.
For the record, in the "current" timeline, Arkos is still an atheist, and still has a few lingering misgivings about religion. The difference is that now he doesn't let those misgivings get in the way of any professional relationships he has with religious crew members.
Gerstein's practices impacted on ship duties, Alyosha's did not, so it was an unfair comparison, IMHO. That is not intended as a critique of the entry, per se, as I thoroughly enjoyed it, I just felt Alyosha's handling of the situation bordered on the sanctimonious. He was undoubtably doing the right thing by addressing instances of intollerance by an officer, I just felt he did so in an unfair and ironically intolerant manner himself... Excellent writing though, kudos to you both :cool:
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it-- gulberat was fun to work with, and the project has made me want to do more collaborative pieces in future.
Except, bear in mind, Gerstein was following a mandatory religious holiday that was allowed by Starfleet regulations. Arkos was practically the only guy on the ship who had a problem with this, and while he was primarily angry at Gerstein for not being there, this anger was being spurred on by the much deeper antagonism he felt towards religion in general, and that antagonism was affecting his attitudes towards crewmates like Gerstein.
That is rather irrelevant though. The point I was making, is that Arkos had a (what I perscieve to be legitimate) problem with it. He didn't do anything harmful towards Gerstein, but made an official complaint. For Alyosha to speak of respect, while not respecting Arkos' right to his own opinion (whatever it may be) is hypocritical. To play the trap he did, was to use his rank and position to intimidate a subordinate (with a legitimate beef) into retracting a legitimate complaint, and enforcing his personal morality on another. It's the old:
"So you have a problem with (insert group here)?"
"Yes, I don't like them."
"Well I'm (insert group here) and your superior, tell me more about your problem with me..."
Intimidated person backs down...
That's not getting someone to reconsider a misheld viewpoint, it's using power to intimidate someone out of theirs simply because i) their position means they are protected from any response (which then becomes verbal abuse of a senior officer, and ii) knowing that social protocol will likely lend to the person not wanting to cause a scene... I like Alyosha, I think he's a great character, but I do think he can be sanctimonious at times. This was one of them, and it was a failing on his part to bully Arkos thusly, even though he likely did not intend to do so, and was trying to have a positive effect on Arkos. It was the manner in which he did so which I found objectionable and beneath an officer.
I think the problem here was that I was trying to write Arkos as doing just that, but fell short-- I had originally intended to write a blurb about Arkos having a particularly bad history with religious persons in the Academy, and being openly and aggressively antagonistic towards them, but for some reason I never did so.
I think that would have made the 'attitude adjustment' much more understandable and tolerable if Arkos had actually been being hostile towards Gerstein. As it was, it was simply a case of someone being intolerant of another's opinion, and using their seniority to try and enforce and change of opinion, and a retraction of the complaint. To put a different spin on it: If you recall the Risa LC interlude I wrote, Amanda refused to take on a crew member who had played a rather creepy prank on a female officer. Had she been Arkos' senior officer, the meeting would consist of her acknowledging Arkos' complaint, reminding him of Starfleet policies on tolerance, reminding Arkos that she acknowledges his opinion, but taking no further action. She certainly wouldn't issue a reprimand to someone for observing a religious holiday, but equally, she wouldn't ignore the complaint or attempt to make the person retract it through emotional grandstanding...
I think had you shown those incidents, it would have made Arkos less sympathetic in that instance, and someone in need of a talking to, but I think I would still feel the same way about Alyosha's method of going about doing it. IMHO, a person has the right to their opinion, whatever it may be, and it is not for anothr to try and intimidate them into changing it. That was my beef (with Alyosha, not the piece)
For the record, in the "current" timeline, Arkos is still an atheist, and still has a few lingering misgivings about religion. The difference is that now he doesn't let those misgivings get in the way of any professional relationships he has with religious crew members.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it-- gulberat was fun to work with, and the project has made me want to do more collaborative pieces in future.
Absolutely, I enjoyed it very much. It was a really nicely written piece, which flowed well. I can guess at who wrote what, but the writing did not clash, but flowed together nicely And yes, I also very much enjoyed collaborating with gulberat on our joint piece
@gulberat & ambassadormolari - beautiful entry. I didn't see this as so much of a conflict of organized religion vs. the scientific community, but rather a collision of two intolerant viewpoints which both claim to embrace tolerance. The fact is that anyone who claims to be universally tolerant is either a liar or someone who is ignorant of his own viewpoint. Certain worldviews are simply mutually exclusive. You can't promote human rights if you subscribe to Malthusianism. Even if you simply claim to respect all the opinions of others, that only holds up until someone who comes along with an opinion which offends your sensibilities. Tolerant people lack conviction, and anyone who professes any belief in anything will be intolerant of those who attack their belief.
Looks like you got the point here.
As it happens, there are two definitions of tolerance commonly used. One is a type in which you merely allow the existence of others but are NOT required to like that thing. The other (the "modern" definition) is to have a mind so open that everything falls out--never having a hard opinion about everything. Neither of these individuals would ever fit the latter definition. I think both would use it in the "merely allow" sense rather than the "embrace contradiction" sense.
To address a few points:
1) It is never stated that Alyosha never had to take an absence on a different day due to his religion.
2) It is clear from Smith's discussion with another officer that news of Arkos' complaint had "gone viral." Had the incident been wholly private between Arkos and the senior staff, it might not have been as severe in nature, but with it being public, the result is Gerstein being "called out" in front of everyone. This is the very definition of harassment and a hostile work environment and is not something to be treated as a routine matter or a mere nuisance. The complaint, being made public, is in and of itself an act of aggression.
With that being said...I did find myself wondering if Smith might end up getting some blowback offscreen from this situation as well. I was a bit surprised to receive the prologue that had Smith setting up Arkos with no idea as to what he was walking into--and then discussing it after Arkos left the room, with a random officer.
3) Arkos was never asked to convert to theistic belief, nor was the suggestion even made, and as later stories prove, he never did and likely never will. The broadbrushing and stereotypes were what needed to stop.
4) Teeglar has almost zero mercy, especially when he sees a record of prior incidents. It was either take drastic measures to make Arkos straighten up and fly right immediately, or Teeglar likely would have written Arkos up or outright sanctioned him, and it likely would have been career-derailing. There was not going to be a second chance. This would be bad not just for Arkos, but also for Starfleet. For Arkos to be where he is after only two years is extraordinary. This is a talent to be saved (career-wise) at damn near any cost.
I can see the point that had we developed further background on these incidents, rather than a single line or two, the sense of a last ditch effort where prior, more traditional performance counseling of the sort some of you describe had failed, would have come across more clearly and might have explained better why Alyosha felt that he had to do what he did in order to avert what may well have been the imminent destruction of Arkos' career. I saw it as almost like this: if a child is about to stick his or her finger in an outlet, and shouting, "No!" until you're blue in the face doesn't work, you're finally left with no choice but to slap the child's hand away in order to keep him or her from getting a potentially lethal shock. Even a parent who abhors spanking, I think, would take this action.
While ambassadormollari and I knew that career derailment was the potential consequence due to those past offenses, and the context for Alyosha's actions, it seems that without actually reading out a detailed list of all of Arkos' iprior ncidents, and their nature, it was not something that all readers perceived with such a sense of danger and immediacy.
5) I imagine everyone knew this--but no actions were taken during the meeting without ambassadormollari and I without both of us OK'ing it. What you saw between the characters should not be inferred to transfer in any way to "real life" between AM and me.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
1) It is never stated that Alyosha never had to take an absence on a different day due to his religion.
Alyosha's religious practices were irrelevant. The issue under complaint was Gerstein, and should have solely addressed Gerstein's practices, not gone down the route of "Well I'm religious, I dare you to find fault with me, and because I'm your superior officer, I'll end your career if you have..." which was how Alyosha came across in that instance. Of course, everyone has their bad days... In Immaculate Perception, S'rR's was acting like a brat until T'Reya put her in her place and made her get over herself :P
2) It is clear from Smith's discussion with another officer that news of Arkos' complaint had "gone viral." Had the incident been wholly private between Arkos and the senior staff, it might not have been as severe in nature, but with it being public, the result is Gerstein being "called out" in front of everyone. This is the very definition of harassment and a hostile work environment and is not something to be treated as a routine matter or a mere nuisance. The complaint, being made public, is in and of itself an act of aggression.
With that being said...I did find myself wondering if Smith might end up getting some blowback offscreen from this situation as well. I was a bit surprised to receive the prologue that had Smith setting up Arkos with no idea as to what he was walking into--and then discussing it after Arkos left the room, with a random officer.
Ahh, now this revelation rather changes the context... The complaint should only have been between those directly affected by it, not turned into scuttlebutt... It sounds like Smith needs a bit of a speaking too as well about workplace etiquette...
3) Arkos was never asked to convert to theistic belief, nor was the suggestion even made, and as later stories prove, he never did and likely never will. The broadbrushing and stereotypes were what needed to stop.
No, he was not, but, he was essentially told "You must respect this person, you may not hold the opinion you hold on them." As I said above, that is in itself an intolerant viewpoint, so an irony given the context it appeared ^_^
4) Teeglar has almost zero mercy, especially when he sees a record of prior incidents. It was either take drastic measures to make Arkos straighten up and fly right immediately, or Teeglar likely would have written Arkos up or outright sanctioned him, and it likely would have been career-derailing. There was not going to be a second chance. This would be bad not just for Arkos, but also for Starfleet. For Arkos to be where he is after only two years is extraordinary. This is a talent to be saved (career-wise) at damn near any cost.
I can see the point that had we developed further background on these incidents, rather than a single line or two, the sense of a last ditch effort where prior, more traditional performance counseling of the sort some of you describe had failed, would have come across more clearly and might have explained better why Alyosha felt that he had to do what he did in order to avert what may well have been the imminent destruction of Arkos' career. I saw it as almost like this: if a child is about to stick his or her finger in an outlet, and shouting, "No!" until you're blue in the face doesn't work, you're finally left with no choice but to slap the child's hand away in order to keep him or her from getting a potentially lethal shock. Even a parent who abhors spanking, I think, would take this action.
While ambassadormollari and I knew that career derailment was the potential consequence due to those past offenses, and the context for Alyosha's actions, it seems that without actually reading out a detailed list of all of Arkos' iprior ncidents, and their nature, it was not something that all readers perceived with such a sense of danger and immediacy.
I agree, with deeper background context, that might have come across better, and indeed, from those examples, it probably should have been a career-ending situation (which of course, the situation did not allow for due to Arkos' future, but would have for any other officer ) which required that kind of shock treatment... It's a bit like the aforementioned 'interview' between Amanda and Mr Cornish... He's likely going to be wandering Spacedock for quite some time, unless he decides to just do the universe a favour and hang himself in his closet
5) I imagine everyone knew this--but no actions were taken during the meeting without ambassadormollari and I without both of us OK'ing it. What you saw between the characters should not be inferred to transfer in any way to "real life" between AM and me. ;-)
Ahh, now this revelation rather changes the context... The complaint should only have been between those directly affected by it, not turned into scuttlebutt... It sounds like Smith needs a bit of a speaking too as well about workplace etiquette...
It was there in the story, right after Arkos left the room.
I do think that Smith should not have encouraged further discussion once it became evident to her that others knew. I can't imagine Teeglar will like that degree of "relaxed" command when he finds out, and as a senior officer I doubt the option will be allowed to not get at least a butt-chewing direct from him.
Of course (ironically), that is not a matter that would be raised during the discussion with Arkos--though you might have noticed a hint that Alyosha wasn't entirely pleased with her.
I agree, with deeper background context, that might have come across better, and indeed, from those examples, it probably should have been a career-ending situation (which of course, the situation did not allow for due to Arkos' future, but would have for any other officer ) which required that kind of shock treatment...
I do imagine that especially with the galaxy heading towards multi-front war, Starfleet would not wish to lose its most talented--prodigies, even. Even worse should someone defect and actively give that talent to an enemy cause. There would be no reason for Arkos to do the latter. But I am fairly sure retention was getting a lot of focus. I hate to use the Wesley example, but Arkos' stated learning pace and rate of acquisition made it clear he was very much in the same category. Losing a being like that was a significant loss in "Journey's End" that clearly no one would like to repeat. Hence the choice to keep trying where conventional methods failed.
The extent of Arkos' talents was discussed--but apparently missed. :-/
I never thought otherwise :cool:
In past experiences I have seen the worst-case scenario with co-authoring or round robins, where it got adversarial and personal, so I felt it bore mentioning that this was not the case here.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-) Proudly F2P.Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
It was there in the story, right after Arkos left the room.
Ahh, I have to admit, I didn't pick up on the subtext as to 'the talk' referring to it being something everyone but Arkos knew about, and simply thought Dell thought he was going to get 'a talk' from Alyosha...
I do think that Smith should not have encouraged further discussion once it became evident to her that others knew. I can't imagine Teeglar will like that degree of "relaxed" command when he finds out, and as a senior officer I doubt the option will be allowed to not get at least a butt-chewing direct from him.
Of course (ironically), that is not a matter that would be raised during the discussion with Arkos--though you might have noticed a hint that Alyosha wasn't entirely pleased with her.
Yes, that definitely came across that he was not impressed with her
I do imagine that especially with the galaxy heading towards multi-front war, Starfleet would not wish to lose its most talented--prodigies, even. Even worse should someone defect and actively give that talent to an enemy cause. There would be no reason for Arkos to do the latter. But I am fairly sure retention was getting a lot of focus. I hate to use the Wesley example, but Arkos' stated learning pace and rate of acquisition made it clear he was very much in the same category. Losing a being like that was a significant loss in "Journey's End" that clearly no one would like to repeat. Hence the choice to keep trying where conventional methods failed.
The extent of Arkos' talents was discussed--but apparently missed. :-/
I picked up on Arkos' swift learning curve, but after his descriptions of the Federation, would not have considered him a 'flight risk', as he was clearly so grateful to have been taken in as a freestanding citizen
In past experiences I have seen the worst-case scenario with co-authoring or round robins, where it got adversarial and personal, so I felt it bore mentioning that this was not the case here.
I guess I've been lucky with my collaborations, as I've never experienced that
I don't think that'll keep Rusty out of New Zealand But inappropriate is good, it makes for interesting reading :cool: Makes for interesting writing too -- I didn't even know about Marcus and T'Reya until I started writing that scene, and then BAM, all this stuff about her abusive ex comes out too, so I think there's definitely something to be said for pushing a characterFrom time to time to see what happens :cool: That said, I would say Georgia is anything but vulnerable. Sure, her home and family are history, but she's no victim, but a survivor, and knew what she wanted from the first time she met Jesu, and again with Rusty. I certainly wouldn't've called her vulnerable at all :cool:
I think you're right there about Georgia. Not vulnerable, but definitely needy. I think as I keep exploring Rusty's issues, he may turn out to be the vulnerable one here. His character is definitely begging for my attention right now, and I think he's ready to invite me in to more of his darker side.
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
I think you're right there about Georgia. Not vulnerable, but definitely needy. I think as I keep exploring Rusty's issues, he may turn out to be the vulnerable one here. His character is definitely begging for my attention right now, and I think he's ready to invite me in to more of his darker side.
Maybe that could be something for LC51 :cool: It will be interesting to see if Georgia indeed develops a relationship with Rusty, or if she's simply going for him as he's 'exotic and different', and was to then turn her attention to someone else... Indeed, I certainly think she has the potential to play Rusty pretty badly...
PS With regards T'Reya's ex, Scolak, he 'was mauled by a sehlat while making a pilgrimage across the Forge'... (and named for my favourite beverage )
Big thank you to those who've given feedback! Only by knowing what others think can I improve!
Been a bit tardy with giving feedback of my own....I blame 2 things: hospital wifi was spotty and dropping too much, driving me absolutely batty, and certain medical procedures can leave one....fatigued. ( Too fatigued to read? Yep. Life sucks sometimes. Not fair, either. You'd think that PTSD and physical disabilities were enough...no...nature's going for the trifecta on me. I either have really, really bad luck, or did really, really bad things in a prior life. Bad, like making people buy multiple copies of Blu-Ray movies because each copy has different special features. But I digress...)
I will do my best to catch up and give my two cents.
And I may give the crew of the Bonaventure some time off....if one writes when in pain...that's all that's gonna come though on the page. And I'd like to spare you from hopping on the pity party bus that any entry I write might become.
But I look forward to the awesome tales y'all tell!
Milandare: you made me laugh. The whole story moves with the goofy speed of a silent movie-and you made me laugh. "Drake Franklin" lol
Thanks! I guess that means it's easy to visualise, albeit melodramatic with short scenes Very pleased you found it funny. I had hoped to finish with a dramatic battle scene. Sander suggested I could send a clone and I also needed a hologram for an extremely fast response. At that point the story could only go wrong.
@milandare - I'm really enjoying what you're doing with Nicci, and Erred, and everyone who crosses their path. (especially a "Drake.") Also, the "age" question was hilarious.
"Take that, cruel world!" BZZZT! - also hilarious.
Thanks too! 'Experiential age' took a fair bit time to research on memory-alpha. The last measure shouldn't have been there. I was avoiding parody, but that one I couldn't resist. Writing is made easier when the borrowed characters already have such a rich history. So thank you too!
I managed to read a few stories before work consumed me again:
Let me know if you want to read more on this story as I'm happy to post in future challenges if there is interest.
By all means build on your world! I guess it's easiest if a submission works as an independent story, for anyone who hasn't kept up with your events, but overlapping characters eventually make the stories deeper and more familiar. @masopw's story struck me that way.
@dariuslorelei: The USS Saintchrist sure seems suitably persecuted! And by Rom(ul)ans no less! Good to see they're not all bad. Some ?'s, but they seem unavoidable.
@rextorvan36: Often left not knowing what the characters are talking about. Once I got past that though, the momentum really picked up and I enjoyed it very much! It finished almost too suddenly. Perhaps it is a work in progress. Some ?'s and ?"s.
@masopw: Fantastic channeling of the cast personalities! Again I was lost a lot with regards to what was happening, but I didn't really mind thanks to the voices in my head. The writing really pulls you along into the flow. Gratuitous use of famous cast members was great. I think I need to read more of your stories (I did recall reading something with L'naas split four ways). Surreal themes running through both tales.
@azniadeet: Great storytelling! Nice little evil touch from Deet at the end. I like the crew images too, it has a movie credits feel at the end.
S'Rel and Bur'ar are my Ground Away Team. I've built my Bridge Officers to handle Space *or* Ground combat instead of packing their abilities to do both. this helps keep Solaris as my solo-play ship and Hiketeia as my STF ship. Man, if the Excelsior had either a universal BOff slot, or substitute
So, they may show up in a LC or not, but I definitely wanted to set them up while also knocking out a previous LC. Come to think of it, I think S'Rel has already been used. Bur'ar would have been in the The Brig LC, but I decided at the 11th hour against it.
S'Rel and Bur'ar are my Ground Away Team. I've built my Bridge Officers to handle Space *or* Ground combat instead of packing their abilities to do both. this helps keep Solaris as my solo-play ship and Hiketeia as my STF ship. Man, if the Excelsior had either a universal BOff slot, or substitute
So, they may show up in a LC or not, but I definitely wanted to set them up while also knocking out a previous LC. Come to think of it, I think S'Rel has already been used. Bur'ar would have been in the The Brig LC, but I decided at the 11th hour against it.
*breathes in*
LC 8 next!
Ahh, that makes sense :cool: It's certainly fun how these LC's throw up changes :cool:
I still want to keep writing for LCs I missed. I hope you enjoy my latest one. As a side note: I have not read the previous entries so forgive me if it looks familiar.
On the bridge with the others (seen but not heard, not mentioned directly):
S'Rel - Morena Baccarin
Karl Melango - Jeremy Renner
Lori Kalmar - Kate Mara
I still want to keep writing for LCs I missed. I hope you enjoy my latest one. As a side note: I have not read the previous entries so forgive me if it looks familiar.
On the bridge with the others (seen but not heard, not mentioned directly):
S'Rel - Morena Baccarin
Karl Melango - Jeremy Renner
Lori Kalmar - Kate Mara
Awesome piece, it's just a shame it stopped before they began to tackle the problem
I have another vision but that would have increased the length of the piece and removed the chance for the reader to imagine something completely different.
Revisions in other LCs are not allowed because I already printed it out. Sorry
I have another vision but that would have increased the length of the piece and removed the chance for the reader to imagine something completely different.
Revisions in other LCs are not allowed because I already printed it out. Sorry
:P
:P Guess you'll just have to print it out again once I've fixed it
Comments
Oooooh, that was a fun entry :cool: All kinds of inappropriate going on there, almost giving Marcus a run for his money :cool:
Obviously there's some mutual attraction there. She likes him because he's so different and yet so kind, and she knows how strong he is and how protective he is of his loved ones. I think he loves her honesty and her adventurous spunk.
Yeah its inappropriate, but if anyone asks, she started it. There is actually a heated, ongoing argument in paleontology on these issues you bring up: What exactly did dromaeosaurids look (Jurassic Park raptors or overgrown turkey vultures) and exactly how did dinosaurs have sex.
I really don't like the argument for a 250 theropod with a five-foot wingspan who's at least a few branches of the apparent evolutionary ancestors of true birds to be sporting wing feathers. As for the nuts and bolts, they'd at least have to be endowed enough to couple with a typically larger female specimen.
At any rate, if I ever choose to go into that much detail on the mating habits of my own Deinon species, I always have the "genetic engineering" card to play. I don't except Georgia will be too terribly disappointed, but I doubt they'd be shopping for trojan magnums
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Cheers,
Brandon =/\=
I'm...not quite sure how to respond to such an impressively philosophical reply, so...glad you liked it!
Except, bear in mind, Gerstein was following a mandatory religious holiday that was allowed by Starfleet regulations. Arkos was practically the only guy on the ship who had a problem with this, and while he was primarily angry at Gerstein for not being there, this anger was being spurred on by the much deeper antagonism he felt towards religion in general, and that antagonism was affecting his attitudes towards crewmates like Gerstein.
For the most part, I agree with this sentiment, and feel that the same holds true for real life: if a person has his/her personal misgivings about religion and the religious, that's not necessarily a bad thing so long as they don't go out of their way to harass or antagonize persons of faith. I think the problem here was that I was trying to write Arkos as doing just that, but fell short-- I had originally intended to write a blurb about Arkos having a particularly bad history with religious persons in the Academy, and being openly and aggressively antagonistic towards them, but for some reason I never did so.
For the record, in the "current" timeline, Arkos is still an atheist, and still has a few lingering misgivings about religion. The difference is that now he doesn't let those misgivings get in the way of any professional relationships he has with religious crew members.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it-- gulberat was fun to work with, and the project has made me want to do more collaborative pieces in future.
That is rather irrelevant though. The point I was making, is that Arkos had a (what I perscieve to be legitimate) problem with it. He didn't do anything harmful towards Gerstein, but made an official complaint. For Alyosha to speak of respect, while not respecting Arkos' right to his own opinion (whatever it may be) is hypocritical. To play the trap he did, was to use his rank and position to intimidate a subordinate (with a legitimate beef) into retracting a legitimate complaint, and enforcing his personal morality on another. It's the old:
"So you have a problem with (insert group here)?"
"Yes, I don't like them."
"Well I'm (insert group here) and your superior, tell me more about your problem with me..."
Intimidated person backs down...
That's not getting someone to reconsider a misheld viewpoint, it's using power to intimidate someone out of theirs simply because i) their position means they are protected from any response (which then becomes verbal abuse of a senior officer, and ii) knowing that social protocol will likely lend to the person not wanting to cause a scene... I like Alyosha, I think he's a great character, but I do think he can be sanctimonious at times. This was one of them, and it was a failing on his part to bully Arkos thusly, even though he likely did not intend to do so, and was trying to have a positive effect on Arkos. It was the manner in which he did so which I found objectionable and beneath an officer.
I think that would have made the 'attitude adjustment' much more understandable and tolerable if Arkos had actually been being hostile towards Gerstein. As it was, it was simply a case of someone being intolerant of another's opinion, and using their seniority to try and enforce and change of opinion, and a retraction of the complaint. To put a different spin on it: If you recall the Risa LC interlude I wrote, Amanda refused to take on a crew member who had played a rather creepy prank on a female officer. Had she been Arkos' senior officer, the meeting would consist of her acknowledging Arkos' complaint, reminding him of Starfleet policies on tolerance, reminding Arkos that she acknowledges his opinion, but taking no further action. She certainly wouldn't issue a reprimand to someone for observing a religious holiday, but equally, she wouldn't ignore the complaint or attempt to make the person retract it through emotional grandstanding...
I think had you shown those incidents, it would have made Arkos less sympathetic in that instance, and someone in need of a talking to, but I think I would still feel the same way about Alyosha's method of going about doing it. IMHO, a person has the right to their opinion, whatever it may be, and it is not for anothr to try and intimidate them into changing it. That was my beef (with Alyosha, not the piece)
I'm glad of both of those things
Absolutely, I enjoyed it very much. It was a really nicely written piece, which flowed well. I can guess at who wrote what, but the writing did not clash, but flowed together nicely
Looks like you got the point here.
As it happens, there are two definitions of tolerance commonly used. One is a type in which you merely allow the existence of others but are NOT required to like that thing. The other (the "modern" definition) is to have a mind so open that everything falls out--never having a hard opinion about everything. Neither of these individuals would ever fit the latter definition.
To address a few points:
1) It is never stated that Alyosha never had to take an absence on a different day due to his religion.
2) It is clear from Smith's discussion with another officer that news of Arkos' complaint had "gone viral." Had the incident been wholly private between Arkos and the senior staff, it might not have been as severe in nature, but with it being public, the result is Gerstein being "called out" in front of everyone. This is the very definition of harassment and a hostile work environment and is not something to be treated as a routine matter or a mere nuisance. The complaint, being made public, is in and of itself an act of aggression.
With that being said...I did find myself wondering if Smith might end up getting some blowback offscreen from this situation as well. I was a bit surprised to receive the prologue that had Smith setting up Arkos with no idea as to what he was walking into--and then discussing it after Arkos left the room, with a random officer.
3) Arkos was never asked to convert to theistic belief, nor was the suggestion even made, and as later stories prove, he never did and likely never will. The broadbrushing and stereotypes were what needed to stop.
4) Teeglar has almost zero mercy, especially when he sees a record of prior incidents. It was either take drastic measures to make Arkos straighten up and fly right immediately, or Teeglar likely would have written Arkos up or outright sanctioned him, and it likely would have been career-derailing. There was not going to be a second chance. This would be bad not just for Arkos, but also for Starfleet. For Arkos to be where he is after only two years is extraordinary. This is a talent to be saved (career-wise) at damn near any cost.
I can see the point that had we developed further background on these incidents, rather than a single line or two, the sense of a last ditch effort where prior, more traditional performance counseling of the sort some of you describe had failed, would have come across more clearly and might have explained better why Alyosha felt that he had to do what he did in order to avert what may well have been the imminent destruction of Arkos' career. I saw it as almost like this: if a child is about to stick his or her finger in an outlet, and shouting, "No!" until you're blue in the face doesn't work, you're finally left with no choice but to slap the child's hand away in order to keep him or her from getting a potentially lethal shock. Even a parent who abhors spanking, I think, would take this action.
While ambassadormollari and I knew that career derailment was the potential consequence due to those past offenses, and the context for Alyosha's actions, it seems that without actually reading out a detailed list of all of Arkos' iprior ncidents, and their nature, it was not something that all readers perceived with such a sense of danger and immediacy.
5) I imagine everyone knew this--but no actions were taken during the meeting without ambassadormollari and I without both of us OK'ing it. What you saw between the characters should not be inferred to transfer in any way to "real life" between AM and me.
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Alyosha's religious practices were irrelevant. The issue under complaint was Gerstein, and should have solely addressed Gerstein's practices, not gone down the route of "Well I'm religious, I dare you to find fault with me, and because I'm your superior officer, I'll end your career if you have..." which was how Alyosha came across in that instance. Of course, everyone has their bad days... In Immaculate Perception, S'rR's was acting like a brat until T'Reya put her in her place and made her get over herself :P
Ahh, now this revelation rather changes the context... The complaint should only have been between those directly affected by it, not turned into scuttlebutt... It sounds like Smith needs a bit of a speaking too as well about workplace etiquette...
No, he was not, but, he was essentially told "You must respect this person, you may not hold the opinion you hold on them." As I said above, that is in itself an intolerant viewpoint, so an irony given the context it appeared ^_^
I agree, with deeper background context, that might have come across better, and indeed, from those examples, it probably should have been a career-ending situation (which of course, the situation did not allow for due to Arkos' future, but would have for any other officer
I never thought otherwise :cool:
It was there in the story, right after Arkos left the room.
I do think that Smith should not have encouraged further discussion once it became evident to her that others knew. I can't imagine Teeglar will like that degree of "relaxed" command when he finds out, and as a senior officer I doubt the option will be allowed to not get at least a butt-chewing direct from him.
Of course (ironically), that is not a matter that would be raised during the discussion with Arkos--though you might have noticed a hint that Alyosha wasn't entirely pleased with her.
I do imagine that especially with the galaxy heading towards multi-front war, Starfleet would not wish to lose its most talented--prodigies, even. Even worse should someone defect and actively give that talent to an enemy cause. There would be no reason for Arkos to do the latter. But I am fairly sure retention was getting a lot of focus. I hate to use the Wesley example, but Arkos' stated learning pace and rate of acquisition made it clear he was very much in the same category. Losing a being like that was a significant loss in "Journey's End" that clearly no one would like to repeat. Hence the choice to keep trying where conventional methods failed.
The extent of Arkos' talents was discussed--but apparently missed. :-/
In past experiences I have seen the worst-case scenario with co-authoring or round robins, where it got adversarial and personal, so I felt it bore mentioning that this was not the case here.
Christian Gaming Community Fleets--Faith, Fun, and Fellowship! See the website and PM for more. :-)
Proudly F2P. Signature image by gulberat. Avatar image by balsavor.deviantart.com.
Yes, that definitely came across that he was not impressed with her
I picked up on Arkos' swift learning curve, but after his descriptions of the Federation, would not have considered him a 'flight risk', as he was clearly so grateful to have been taken in as a freestanding citizen
I guess I've been lucky with my collaborations, as I've never experienced that
I think you're right there about Georgia. Not vulnerable, but definitely needy. I think as I keep exploring Rusty's issues, he may turn out to be the vulnerable one here. His character is definitely begging for my attention right now, and I think he's ready to invite me in to more of his darker side.
...Oh, baby, you know, I've really got to leave you / Oh, I can hear it callin 'me / I said don't you hear it callin' me the way it used to do?...
- Anne Bredon
Maybe that could be something for LC51 :cool: It will be interesting to see if Georgia indeed develops a relationship with Rusty, or if she's simply going for him as he's 'exotic and different', and was to then turn her attention to someone else... Indeed, I certainly think she has the potential to play Rusty pretty badly...
PS With regards T'Reya's ex, Scolak, he 'was mauled by a sehlat while making a pilgrimage across the Forge'...
Been a bit tardy with giving feedback of my own....I blame 2 things: hospital wifi was spotty and dropping too much, driving me absolutely batty, and certain medical procedures can leave one....fatigued. ( Too fatigued to read? Yep. Life sucks sometimes. Not fair, either. You'd think that PTSD and physical disabilities were enough...no...nature's going for the trifecta on me. I either have really, really bad luck, or did really, really bad things in a prior life. Bad, like making people buy multiple copies of Blu-Ray movies because each copy has different special features. But I digress...)
I will do my best to catch up and give my two cents.
And I may give the crew of the Bonaventure some time off....if one writes when in pain...that's all that's gonna come though on the page. And I'd like to spare you from hopping on the pity party bus that any entry I write might become.
But I look forward to the awesome tales y'all tell!
Thanks! I guess that means it's easy to visualise, albeit melodramatic with short scenes
Thanks too! 'Experiential age' took a fair bit time to research on memory-alpha. The last measure shouldn't have been there. I was avoiding parody, but that one I couldn't resist. Writing is made easier when the borrowed characters already have such a rich history. So thank you too!
I managed to read a few stories before work consumed me again:
By all means build on your world! I guess it's easiest if a submission works as an independent story, for anyone who hasn't kept up with your events, but overlapping characters eventually make the stories deeper and more familiar. @masopw's story struck me that way.
@dariuslorelei: The USS Saintchrist sure seems suitably persecuted! And by Rom(ul)ans no less! Good to see they're not all bad. Some ?'s, but they seem unavoidable.
@rextorvan36: Often left not knowing what the characters are talking about. Once I got past that though, the momentum really picked up and I enjoyed it very much! It finished almost too suddenly. Perhaps it is a work in progress. Some ?'s and ?"s.
@masopw: Fantastic channeling of the cast personalities! Again I was lost a lot with regards to what was happening, but I didn't really mind thanks to the voices in my head. The writing really pulls you along into the flow. Gratuitous use of famous cast members was great. I think I need to read more of your stories (I did recall reading something with L'naas split four ways). Surreal themes running through both tales.
@azniadeet: Great storytelling! Nice little evil touch from Deet at the end. I like the crew images too, it has a movie credits feel at the end.
Cast for crew:
Kathryn Beringer - Rachel Nichols
Anthi Ythysi - Katheryn Winnick
Karl Melango - Jeremy Renner
Thel Ythysi - Kevin Sorbo
S'Rel - Morena Baccarin
Bur'ar - David Ramsey
Ian McKinnon - named but not seen
Not named in story but present in the scene:
Omazei - Malin Ackerman-
Christa Harrington - Emily Bett Rickards
Looking forward to seeing more of the new recruits :cool:
S'Rel and Bur'ar are my Ground Away Team. I've built my Bridge Officers to handle Space *or* Ground combat instead of packing their abilities to do both. this helps keep Solaris as my solo-play ship and Hiketeia as my STF ship. Man, if the Excelsior had either a universal BOff slot, or substitute
So, they may show up in a LC or not, but I definitely wanted to set them up while also knocking out a previous LC. Come to think of it, I think S'Rel has already been used. Bur'ar would have been in the The Brig LC, but I decided at the 11th hour against it.
*breathes in*
LC 8 next!
Dramatis Personae:
Kathryn Beringer - Rachel Nichols
Anthi Ythysi - Katheryn Winnick
Ian McKinnon - Ben Browder
Omazei - Gemma Arterton
Heard but not seen:
Thel Ythysi - Kevin Sorbo
On the bridge with the others (seen but not heard, not mentioned directly):
S'Rel - Morena Baccarin
Karl Melango - Jeremy Renner
Lori Kalmar - Kate Mara
Thank you for reading!
I considered this actually. As is my style, I chose to leave the details out so the reader can devise it on their own if they wish
It was fun to write (at the expense of some work :P )
I had a brief flash of them hiking around on the asteroid in EVA suits :cool:
I'm filtering some ideas to expand my last LC entry as it was a bit brief ^_^
I have another vision but that would have increased the length of the piece and removed the chance for the reader to imagine something completely different.
Revisions in other LCs are not allowed because I already printed it out. Sorry
:P
:P Guess you'll just have to print it out again once I've fixed it