Hmm...I'm starting to mull something over for Prompt 1, with a flavor of Prompt 2...but it requires a really sideways interpretation of what the prompt is about...
Sideways interpretations are the best ones, I think. I'm noodling one of those myself - it all hangs on exactly how you define "intelligence agent" and "assigned to"...
In a way, one commander is going to be doing Prompt 1, but it depends on how one interprets the Iconian War truly being over for them, given that T'Ket never accepted the accord. The other character in the story, though she is not one of my captains, will, in a way, be doing Prompt 2, though she seems to have sought most unconventional counsel.
The story is now in progress, and will be titled "The Bitterest of Medicine."
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.
I've just posted "The Bitterest of Medicine," a rather "sideways" response to Prompts 1 and 2. Given that the Iconian War never truly ended, there is in effect only one true exit for a captain from the battlefield. As for Prompt 2...someone ends up seeking most unconventional counsel.
(WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR "MIDNIGHT"! PROCEED WTH CAUTION.)
Like its title, this story was painful in a lot of ways for me. Even though it's not Masterverse continuity (it MIGHT be in continuity, however, with "The Blood of Dragons"), it involves an impending character death, and even though it seems his death will be a relatively gentle one, it doesn't make it any easier to think about it. I've filled in a few of the plot holes in the episodes, including something that--no kidding--I actually did on my first runthrough of "Midnight" that kind of makes it make sense why someone didn't recognize my toon at first sight.
This story also comes from a painful place in my own heart, where I had to face the seriousness of some of my own sins. There is some of me in Admiral Berat...but there is also an uncomfortable amount of me in the character who has come to visit him in his final days. Fortunately in my case we were blessed with a chance for new beginnings, whatever that turns out to be, that the visitor will not have. But the lessons stand nonetheless.
Please listen to the song I posted at the beginning of the story first. I thought of it when I played "Midnight," especially this version which is IMO much more painful and full of lost opportunities and regrets.
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.
Gulberat, that was beautiful. I really liked in particular
L'Miren offering Tayben immortality and him saying, no, one life's enough for me.
Also nice that Tayben and his love got a happy ending after all.
And @westmetals, welcome to the loony bin! Not a bad introduction for your characters, if short.
"Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Gulberat, that was beautiful. I really liked in particular
L'Miren offering Tayben immortality and him saying, no, one life's enough for me.
Thank you...I'm glad you liked it.
L'Miren is so divorced from his frame of reference that I can truthfully say that she almost couldn't conceive of any other way to handle that very tough situation.
Hence her genuine belief that "for once I can do the right thing." Though there are other shades in how she perceives him as the Other, that compelled her even further to make the offer...
Also nice that Tayben and his love got a happy ending after all.
Well, that's one universe. I truly have no idea yet how things might play out in the Masterverse, or another universe much different from this one where I write for him.
It was also fun, even with the very hard aspects of this story, explaining some of the plot holes left by the episodes, like why the Other was never recognized (and funny enough I really DID the thing with his uniform in game), and why in that particular universe, Cardassia and (nearly until the end) Earth escaped the Iconian "Special Treatment," whereas Romulus and Qo'noS were both hit harder. (The Iconians presumably matched the uniforms of the Romulans and Klingons to their time periods, but in that particular continuity couldn't make a reliable match for the Starfleet personnel.) And also the idea that Paris and Kagran bugged out in "Broken Circle" over his objection. AND why Berat didn't try to stop Sela when the moment came: if he'd broken off from what he was doing at the console, the Iconians would be trapped with no hope instead of some hope that Kagran could do something to stop her.
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.
Man, I'm behind on commenting - @westmetals, Nice little introductory piece.
@gulberat - Well, I personally follow the Tao of Nwabudike Morgan in regards to immortality, there's a lot of good soul-searching in this piece and voice - I missed the Broken Circle ref, sorry - or is that background? But man, final thoughts with a near-god.
A mild general comment on the critique of Midnight - *I* wouldn't be looking for the tattered remnants of my civilization to be a time traveler from the civilization I'm currently conquering.
And a late edit - @artan42 I liked that one a lot!
Post edited by antonine3258 on
Fate - protects fools, small children, and ships named Enterprise Will Riker
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
@gulberat - Well, I personally follow the Tao of Nwabudike Morgan in regards to immortality, there's a lot of good soul-searching in this piece and voice - I missed the Broken Circle ref, sorry - or is that background? But man, final thoughts with a near-god.
I'm afraid that while I looked up the character you cited, I don't know enough from a Wikia entry to know the point you're making...my bad.
The Broken Circle reference was when Berat referred to how he would've felt during the war about striking M'Tara down, and he said that back then he would only have been angry at his colleagues for panicking and retreating instead of taking L'Miren down too (which we don't know for sure but it might have been possible IF the powered-down conduits affected L'Miren as well).
The Iconians certainly seem to have an Olympian view of deity. Her perspective on the Other (likely shared by the rest of the Ten, and rejected by T'Ket) is a whole other strange thing...
A mild general comment on Midnight - *I* wouldn't be looking for the tattered remnants of my civilization to be a time traveler from the civilization I'm currently conquering.
However, one would think basic species recognition wouldn't be so hard. "What? There was no species like that when the invasion came, but now suddenly they exist in the time where we've started this war?" That should at least raise the suspicion that *something* hinky is going on...they knew enough to destroy Romulus in the future and not 200000 years ago, with the express purpose of pulling a Nero and make Sela live with the knowledge, after all. That's the inconsistency the writers overlooked (recognizing Sela/Romulus, but not recognizing you/the Other), which I sought to resolve with the idea that unlike the other powers, the Other did not appear in uniform and therefore was assumed until the revelation at the end to be some sort of civilian contractor or freebooter rather than a regular member of one of the great powers' armed forces.
Post edited by gulberat on
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.
@gulberat - Well, I personally follow the Tao of Nwabudike Morgan in regards to immortality, there's a lot of good soul-searching in this piece and voice - I missed the Broken Circle ref, sorry - or is that background? But man, final thoughts with a near-god.
I'm afraid that while I looked up the character you cited, I don't know enough from a Wikia entry to know the point you're making...my bad.
"I plan to live forever, of course, but barring that I'd settle for a couple thousand years. Even five hundred would be pretty nice. " Sid Meier Alpha Centauri, 'Longevity Vaccine' secret project video.
I did enjoy both the most recent stories a lot, apparently I need to start cranking on this one.
Fate - protects fools, small children, and ships named Enterprise Will Riker
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though. JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
@gulberat - Well, I personally follow the Tao of Nwabudike Morgan in regards to immortality, there's a lot of good soul-searching in this piece and voice - I missed the Broken Circle ref, sorry - or is that background? But man, final thoughts with a near-god.
I'm afraid that while I looked up the character you cited, I don't know enough from a Wikia entry to know the point you're making...my bad.
"I plan to live forever, of course, but barring that I'd settle for a couple thousand years. Even five hundred would be pretty nice. " Sid Meier Alpha Centauri, 'Longevity Vaccine' secret project video.
Oh, OK. I don't subscribe to that approach myself, but I understand what you're getting at now.
While long life could be nice, and who knows, I may get one, I take the approach that for everything there is a time and a season, including my death. That is something I am even more resolved to lately, not to expect or demand longevity as if it is my due, though to be grateful should I be given it. I neither have to worry about living less than I should, nor more than I should. That doesn't mean not taking care of myself, by any means. However long or short my time is, quality of life is a thing, and probably what is more important to me. That includes both physical and mental/spiritual quality of life. Whatever I receive, I am most concerned that it be well lived--not thrown away recklessly or wasted, but also not clung to so jealously that I lose my focus on what matters the most.
Artan, good first entry. While I am very selective in what KDF material I read, since I regard the Empire much like Ezri Dax, I liked that you directly confronted the dead end that Klingon society has gotten into, and showed that there are still a few even in the dark days of J'mpok who remember and understand Gorkon's legacy.
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.
"I plan to live forever, of course, but barring that I'd settle for a couple thousand years. Even five hundred would be pretty nice. " Sid Meier Alpha Centauri, 'Longevity Vaccine' secret project video.
It's an area I can understand a lot of debate, it wouldn't be my personal choice, but I can understand it and I enjoyed the story.
Fate - protects fools, small children, and ships named Enterprise Will Riker
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
Artan, good first entry. While I am very selective in what KDF material I read, since I regard the Empire much like Ezri Dax, I liked that you directly confronted the dead end that Klingon society has gotten into, and showed that there are still a few even in the dark days of J'mpok who remember and understand Gorkon's legacy.
Thank you . Morgrin (one of my BOFFs) is based upon the appearance of Gorkon ingame (as close as I can).
I wanted to include a character that lived Gorkon's legacy and even before that to the TOS era that included Science Officers and whatnot on the D7s. I've mentioned it before, but I really do dislike the TNG era Klingons for the most part.
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though. JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
Artan, good first entry. While I am very selective in what KDF material I read, since I regard the Empire much like Ezri Dax, I liked that you directly confronted the dead end that Klingon society has gotten into, and showed that there are still a few even in the dark days of J'mpok who remember and understand Gorkon's legacy.
Thank you . Morgrin (one of my BOFFs) is based upon the appearance of Gorkon ingame (as close as I can).
I wanted to include a character that lived Gorkon's legacy and even before that to the TOS era that included Science Officers and whatnot on the D7s. I've mentioned it before, but I really do dislike the TNG era Klingons for the most part.
@artan42 , you and I are of one mind on that for sure. The TNG and DS9 writers really screwed up there by reducing them to a bunch of Viking berserkers (no offense to Scandinavians...they're better written! ).
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.
Artan, good first entry. While I am very selective in what KDF material I read, since I regard the Empire much like Ezri Dax, I liked that you directly confronted the dead end that Klingon society has gotten into, and showed that there are still a few even in the dark days of J'mpok who remember and understand Gorkon's legacy.
Thank you . Morgrin (one of my BOFFs) is based upon the appearance of Gorkon ingame (as close as I can).
I wanted to include a character that lived Gorkon's legacy and even before that to the TOS era that included Science Officers and whatnot on the D7s. I've mentioned it before, but I really do dislike the TNG era Klingons for the most part.
@artan42 , you and I are of one mind on that for sure. The TNG and DS9 writers really screwed up there by reducing them to a bunch of Viking berserkers (no offense to Scandinavians...they're better written! ).
That is pretty much it . It's one of the reasons I like Gawron, he's a political schemer, a little bit like Chang. He has his own goals and his goals for the Empire, unfortunately they don't involve dying gloriously (well until midway through DS9 when he went insane).
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though. JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
Artan, good first entry. While I am very selective in what KDF material I read, since I regard the Empire much like Ezri Dax, I liked that you directly confronted the dead end that Klingon society has gotten into, and showed that there are still a few even in the dark days of J'mpok who remember and understand Gorkon's legacy.
Thank you . Morgrin (one of my BOFFs) is based upon the appearance of Gorkon ingame (as close as I can).
I wanted to include a character that lived Gorkon's legacy and even before that to the TOS era that included Science Officers and whatnot on the D7s. I've mentioned it before, but I really do dislike the TNG era Klingons for the most part.
@artan42 , you and I are of one mind on that for sure. The TNG and DS9 writers really screwed up there by reducing them to a bunch of Viking berserkers (no offense to Scandinavians...they're better written! ).
The House of Martok seems to be the only one of the larger houses that really gets the rut the Empire has fallen into, and then only because Martok grew up in a working-class family and his gin'tak was raised in the Federation. A people that turns so readily to civil war without an external enemy is not stable, and if you have to start picking fights with your allies to avert societal collapse, you're doing it wrong.
Though in fairness to TNG, they did that to everybody: The Romulans were almost all sneaky, backstabbing police state TRIBBLE (except for Spock's Unificationists) and likewise the Cardassians. DS9 was the first series to really realize that the Planet of Hats couldn't be much more than a stereotype not applicable to every member of the species unless you wanted a boring show. That's one of the reasons I like Obsidian and BioWare games: they have a habit of poking huge holes in stereotypes.
Warden: Tell me about the qunari. Sten: No. Warden: Well, that wasn't what I expected to hear. Sten: Get used to disappointment. People are not simple. They cannot be defined for easy reference in the manner of: "the elves are a lithe, pointy-eared people who excel at poverty."
Mass Effect deconstructs the Klingon stereotype especially thoroughly. You've got two warrior species, the turians and krogan, but the turians are focused on rigorous discipline* and have a very prosperous, stable society, much like the Andorians in ENT. Meanwhile the krogans are, by and large, Klingon clones... and as a result they nuked their own homeworld into oblivion before first contact and are now slowly going extinct because they can't stop fighting each other long enough to rebuild after the Citadel Council had them sterilized to keep their population in check.
*To the point where an in-universe joke goes, "How do you know a turian's out of ammo? He takes the stick out of his TRIBBLE and starts beating you with it."
"Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
— Sabaton, "Great War"
I actually thought the Cardassians fared better even in their debut episode. Good God, the LOOK in Daro's eyes still kills me. To me, that says it all: even the three Cardassians on that team, with one (Telle) fitting the stereotype and another pragmatically trying to defuse the situation despite being given what he seems to know are crappy orders (Macet), are way more varied to me than the crew of mooks in a typical Klingon episode. Unlike the TNG Romulans my impression is that we see from early on that the Cardassian veneer of "perfect dystopia" is paper thin. And that's what makes them interesting to me: that seething dissidence only just barely beneath the surface.
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.
Erei'Riov Tovan ir'Hfihar tr'Khev, chief of security, RRW Bloodwing: Jon Huertas
Ebrahim Khoroushi: Erick Avari
Ehsan Khoroushi: Tamer Hosny
Firuzeh Khoroushi: Yasmine Al Massri
Cadet Third Class Dariush Khoroushi, Starfleet Academy Class of 2411: Adam Bakri
"Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Erei'Riov Tovan ir'Hfihar tr'Khev, chief of security, RRW Bloodwing: Jon Huertas
Ebrahim Khoroushi: Erick Avari
Ehsan Khoroushi: Tamer Hosny
Firuzeh Khoroushi: Yasmine Al Massri
Cadet Third Class Dariush Khoroushi, Starfleet Academy Class of 2411: Adam Bakri
That was interesting. I've got a Muslim character I'm adding if I can ever get round to chapter 3 of Freefall. I'm not sure but I don't think we saw a single Muslim character in the entire run of ST.
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though. JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
Erei'Riov Tovan ir'Hfihar tr'Khev, chief of security, RRW Bloodwing: Jon Huertas
Ebrahim Khoroushi: Erick Avari
Ehsan Khoroushi: Tamer Hosny
Firuzeh Khoroushi: Yasmine Al Massri
Cadet Third Class Dariush Khoroushi, Starfleet Academy Class of 2411: Adam Bakri
That was interesting. I've got a Muslim character I'm adding if I can ever get round to chapter 3 of Freefall. I'm not sure but I don't think we saw a single Muslim character in the entire run of ST.
Well, we didn't exactly see any confirmed Christian characters either. I mean, we did have Kirk alluding to a belief in God a couple times and NCC-1701 had a nondenominational chapel, but other than Bajorans there's really no confirmably religious characters in the franchise. (Which is largely Roddenberry's doing.)
But I'm of the school of thought that, for better or for worse, theistic belief isn't going to just die out on Earth even in the 25th century. Far more likely humans are just going to adapt their practices to deal with space travel and aliens, which as a writer I also think opens more story options: One of my favorite scenes in early Babylon 5 is the bit in "TKO" where Rabbi Koslov is trying to decide whether this alien food called "treel" is kosher (which, given that Ivanova says it's fish, it probably is). So we get things like Jaleh facing Sol for her daily prayers and timing them based on the shift schedule (and then in this story, forgetting the time difference when she's back home).
Of course, writing Jaleh is also very challenging in terms of the amount of research I have to do. When I started writing her I pretty much only knew the Cliff's Notes version of Islamic practices, and most of that was Sunni stuff since they're the majority denomination. But I got annoyed at how in popular media "Muslim" basically equals "terrorist" these days and wanted to make a more positive portrayal.
"Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Erei'Riov Tovan ir'Hfihar tr'Khev, chief of security, RRW Bloodwing: Jon Huertas
Ebrahim Khoroushi: Erick Avari
Ehsan Khoroushi: Tamer Hosny
Firuzeh Khoroushi: Yasmine Al Massri
Cadet Third Class Dariush Khoroushi, Starfleet Academy Class of 2411: Adam Bakri
That was interesting. I've got a Muslim character I'm adding if I can ever get round to chapter 3 of Freefall. I'm not sure but I don't think we saw a single Muslim character in the entire run of ST.
Well, we didn't exactly see any confirmed Christian characters either. I mean, we did have Kirk alluding to a belief in God a couple times and NCC-1701 had a nondenominational chapel, but other than Bajorans there's really no confirmably religious characters in the franchise. (Which is largely Roddenberry's doing.)
But I'm of the school of thought that, for better or for worse, theistic belief isn't going to just die out on Earth even in the 25th century. Far more likely humans are just going to adapt their practices to deal with space travel and aliens, which as a writer I also think opens more story options: One of my favorite scenes in early Babylon 5 is the bit in "TKO" where Rabbi Koslov is trying to decide whether this alien food called "treel" is kosher (which, given that Ivanova says it's fish, it probably is). So we get things like Jaleh facing Sol for her daily prayers and timing them based on the shift schedule (and then in this story, forgetting the time difference when she's back home).
Of course, writing Jaleh is also very challenging in terms of the amount of research I have to do. When I started writing her I pretty much only knew the Cliff's Notes version of Islamic practices, and most of that was Sunni stuff since they're the majority denomination. But I got annoyed at how in popular media "Muslim" basically equals "terrorist" these days and wanted to make a more positive portrayal.
Hmm, I think you're right, though I'm sure there were a few references to god and whatnot (and not the out of place 'oh hell's' from Kira) that could have been religious (or perhaps more likely cultural language).
As the Muslim character of mine is based on a friend it's not too hard to do research for him and it was just going to be a minor part of his character but I may end up ramping it up a bit just to drop an anvil.
As for religion in ST, I won't go into it much here, but I can see more 'universal god' Pantheism, Panentheism, or Deism style religions rather than the 'personal gods' present in most Theistic religions. A combination of recent trends and the cultural losses from WWIII as well as a far less literal approach to the word of the texts.
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though. JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
PS I suspect replicated food will be declared halal, as, even if it a replication of pork/blood/etc, it is something which 'has undergone transformation' whivh I believe means that it becomes permitted
Also at one point you say 'Allah be praised', I don't know about over there but here it's more common to use the full Arabic 'Alhamdulillah'.
Also isn't the phonetic pronunciation of Kronos Qow'nos?
As for replicated food being Halal (or Kosher), I assume it all is, but it would be avoided to replicate food that would be forbidden if it were natural unless you needed to eat it for diplomatic reasons or whatever.
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though. JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
I expect there will be changes and serious cultural upheavals on post-WWIII Earth...but as a note, we actually did have a confirmed Christian character of sorts (I say that because he was offscreen) on Enterprise: I believe it was Phlox who attended Mass at the Vatican, which should mean that there was a Pope as of the time of the 22nd century. I suspect though that faith was more prevalent in that time than after the Vulcan cultural interference and other upheavals resulting from WWIII.
I do write on the assumption that at least some religious adherents remain, though less common and sometimes facing discrimination (not that humans would *ever* admit to such an imperfection as that). I tend to see many of them as having fled to colony worlds though.
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.
Also at one point you say 'Allah be praised', I don't know about over there but here it's more common to use the full Arabic 'Alhamdulillah'.
I honestly don't know which one they'd be more likely to say in central Iran, either (though note that Jaleh's family are ethnic Persians whose primary language is Farsi rather than Arabic). I won't pretend I don't make mistakes: the whole thing about Jaleh not bothering to keep the dietary rules on deployment began as a way around me goofing the first time I wrote her by having her drink Romulan wine with Tovan.
Also isn't the phonetic pronunciation of Kronos Qow'nos?
Not according to the pronunciation guide in The Klingon Dictionary. Capital 'Q' is an aspirated 'k' sound (you sort of breathe out as you make the click, which I render as 'kh'), and capital 'S' is pronounced 'sh'.
Of course the real-life reason for that is that Marc Okrand was transliterating the Greek word Kronos, which, like Romulus*, was assigned during the TOS bizarro period where Roddenberry wrote alien species as just humans at different levels of cultural development, e.g. Space Romans, Space TRIBBLE, Space Mafia, like there was some universal law of societal progression (which isn't even true on Earth).
* Diane Duane justified Romulus and Remus in The Romulan Way by them being names assigned by a Federation scout vessel before first contact, which is something I borrowed here (with modifications to compensate for ENT).
As for replicated food being Halal (or Kosher), I assume it all is, but it would be avoided to replicate food that would be forbidden if it were natural unless you needed to eat it for diplomatic reasons or whatever.
Yeah, that was one where I started to try and figure it out based on what I could find on the Internet, but then pretty much just said, "TRIBBLE this; they haven't figured it out in-universe either." Replicators were apparently still pretty new technology in TNG.
"Great War! / And I cannot take more! / Great tour! / I keep on marching on / I play the great score / There will be no encore / Great War! / The War to End All Wars"
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Comments
I enjoyed this, and am really looking forward to Part II
The story is now in progress, and will be titled "The Bitterest of Medicine."
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.
I'm looking forward to everyone's entries for #1!
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
(WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS FOR "MIDNIGHT"! PROCEED WTH CAUTION.)
http://forum.arcgames.com/startrekonline/discussion/comment/12736317/#Comment_12736317
Like its title, this story was painful in a lot of ways for me. Even though it's not Masterverse continuity (it MIGHT be in continuity, however, with "The Blood of Dragons"), it involves an impending character death, and even though it seems his death will be a relatively gentle one, it doesn't make it any easier to think about it. I've filled in a few of the plot holes in the episodes, including something that--no kidding--I actually did on my first runthrough of "Midnight" that kind of makes it make sense why someone didn't recognize my toon at first sight.
This story also comes from a painful place in my own heart, where I had to face the seriousness of some of my own sins. There is some of me in Admiral Berat...but there is also an uncomfortable amount of me in the character who has come to visit him in his final days. Fortunately in my case we were blessed with a chance for new beginnings, whatever that turns out to be, that the visitor will not have. But the lessons stand nonetheless.
Please listen to the song I posted at the beginning of the story first. I thought of it when I played "Midnight," especially this version which is IMO much more painful and full of lost opportunities and regrets.
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.
Also nice that Tayben and his love got a happy ending after all.
And @westmetals, welcome to the loony bin! Not a bad introduction for your characters, if short.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
Thank you...I'm glad you liked it.
L'Miren is so divorced from his frame of reference that I can truthfully say that she almost couldn't conceive of any other way to handle that very tough situation.
Well, that's one universe.
It was also fun, even with the very hard aspects of this story, explaining some of the plot holes left by the episodes, like why the Other was never recognized (and funny enough I really DID the thing with his uniform in game), and why in that particular universe, Cardassia and (nearly until the end) Earth escaped the Iconian "Special Treatment," whereas Romulus and Qo'noS were both hit harder. (The Iconians presumably matched the uniforms of the Romulans and Klingons to their time periods, but in that particular continuity couldn't make a reliable match for the Starfleet personnel.) And also the idea that Paris and Kagran bugged out in "Broken Circle" over his objection. AND why Berat didn't try to stop Sela when the moment came: if he'd broken off from what he was doing at the console, the Iconians would be trapped with no hope instead of some hope that Kagran could do something to stop her.
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.
@gulberat - Well, I personally follow the Tao of Nwabudike Morgan in regards to immortality, there's a lot of good soul-searching in this piece and voice - I missed the Broken Circle ref, sorry - or is that background? But man, final thoughts with a near-god.
A mild general comment on the critique of Midnight - *I* wouldn't be looking for the tattered remnants of my civilization to be a time traveler from the civilization I'm currently conquering.
And a late edit - @artan42 I liked that one a lot!
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
I'm afraid that while I looked up the character you cited, I don't know enough from a Wikia entry to know the point you're making...my bad.
The Broken Circle reference was when Berat referred to how he would've felt during the war about striking M'Tara down, and he said that back then he would only have been angry at his colleagues for panicking and retreating instead of taking L'Miren down too (which we don't know for sure but it might have been possible IF the powered-down conduits affected L'Miren as well).
The Iconians certainly seem to have an Olympian view of deity. Her perspective on the Other (likely shared by the rest of the Ten, and rejected by T'Ket) is a whole other strange thing...
However, one would think basic species recognition wouldn't be so hard. "What? There was no species like that when the invasion came, but now suddenly they exist in the time where we've started this war?" That should at least raise the suspicion that *something* hinky is going on...they knew enough to destroy Romulus in the future and not 200000 years ago, with the express purpose of pulling a Nero and make Sela live with the knowledge, after all. That's the inconsistency the writers overlooked (recognizing Sela/Romulus, but not recognizing you/the Other), which I sought to resolve with the idea that unlike the other powers, the Other did not appear in uniform and therefore was assumed until the revelation at the end to be some sort of civilian contractor or freebooter rather than a regular member of one of the great powers' armed forces.
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.
"I plan to live forever, of course, but barring that I'd settle for a couple thousand years. Even five hundred would be pretty nice. " Sid Meier Alpha Centauri, 'Longevity Vaccine' secret project video.
I did enjoy both the most recent stories a lot, apparently I need to start cranking on this one.
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Oh, OK. I don't subscribe to that approach myself, but I understand what you're getting at now.
While long life could be nice, and who knows, I may get one, I take the approach that for everything there is a time and a season, including my death. That is something I am even more resolved to lately, not to expect or demand longevity as if it is my due, though to be grateful should I be given it. I neither have to worry about living less than I should, nor more than I should. That doesn't mean not taking care of myself, by any means. However long or short my time is, quality of life is a thing, and probably what is more important to me. That includes both physical and mental/spiritual quality of life. Whatever I receive, I am most concerned that it be well lived--not thrown away recklessly or wasted, but also not clung to so jealously that I lose my focus on what matters the most.
Artan, good first entry.
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's an area I can understand a lot of debate, it wouldn't be my personal choice, but I can understand it and I enjoyed the story.
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
Thank you
I wanted to include a character that lived Gorkon's legacy and even before that to the TOS era that included Science Officers and whatnot on the D7s. I've mentioned it before, but I really do dislike the TNG era Klingons for the most part.
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
@artan42 , you and I are of one mind on that for sure. The TNG and DS9 writers really screwed up there by reducing them to a bunch of Viking berserkers (no offense to Scandinavians...they're better written!
This commercial says it all for me when it comes to the Klingons post TUC:
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.
That is pretty much it
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
The House of Martok seems to be the only one of the larger houses that really gets the rut the Empire has fallen into, and then only because Martok grew up in a working-class family and his gin'tak was raised in the Federation. A people that turns so readily to civil war without an external enemy is not stable, and if you have to start picking fights with your allies to avert societal collapse, you're doing it wrong.
Though in fairness to TNG, they did that to everybody: The Romulans were almost all sneaky, backstabbing police state TRIBBLE (except for Spock's Unificationists) and likewise the Cardassians. DS9 was the first series to really realize that the Planet of Hats couldn't be much more than a stereotype not applicable to every member of the species unless you wanted a boring show. That's one of the reasons I like Obsidian and BioWare games: they have a habit of poking huge holes in stereotypes.
Mass Effect deconstructs the Klingon stereotype especially thoroughly. You've got two warrior species, the turians and krogan, but the turians are focused on rigorous discipline* and have a very prosperous, stable society, much like the Andorians in ENT. Meanwhile the krogans are, by and large, Klingon clones... and as a result they nuked their own homeworld into oblivion before first contact and are now slowly going extinct because they can't stop fighting each other long enough to rebuild after the Citadel Council had them sterilized to keep their population in check.
*To the point where an in-universe joke goes, "How do you know a turian's out of ammo? He takes the stick out of his TRIBBLE and starts beating you with it."
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
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.
Theme for part one was "what we gained", but part two is "what we lost". Also, bits and pieces of worldbuilding for Shi'a Islam in the Warp Age.
Partial Cast:
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
That was interesting. I've got a Muslim character I'm adding if I can ever get round to chapter 3 of Freefall. I'm not sure but I don't think we saw a single Muslim character in the entire run of ST.
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Well, we didn't exactly see any confirmed Christian characters either.
But I'm of the school of thought that, for better or for worse, theistic belief isn't going to just die out on Earth even in the 25th century. Far more likely humans are just going to adapt their practices to deal with space travel and aliens, which as a writer I also think opens more story options: One of my favorite scenes in early Babylon 5 is the bit in "TKO" where Rabbi Koslov is trying to decide whether this alien food called "treel" is kosher (which, given that Ivanova says it's fish, it probably is). So we get things like Jaleh facing Sol for her daily prayers and timing them based on the shift schedule (and then in this story, forgetting the time difference when she's back home).
Of course, writing Jaleh is also very challenging in terms of the amount of research I have to do. When I started writing her I pretty much only knew the Cliff's Notes version of Islamic practices, and most of that was Sunni stuff since they're the majority denomination. But I got annoyed at how in popular media "Muslim" basically equals "terrorist" these days and wanted to make a more positive portrayal.
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
Hmm, I think you're right, though I'm sure there were a few references to god and whatnot (and not the out of place 'oh hell's' from Kira) that could have been religious (or perhaps more likely cultural language).
As the Muslim character of mine is based on a friend it's not too hard to do research for him and it was just going to be a minor part of his character but I may end up ramping it up a bit just to drop an anvil.
As for religion in ST, I won't go into it much here, but I can see more 'universal god' Pantheism, Panentheism, or Deism style religions rather than the 'personal gods' present in most Theistic religions. A combination of recent trends and the cultural losses from WWIII as well as a far less literal approach to the word of the texts.
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
Also isn't the phonetic pronunciation of Kronos Qow'nos?
As for replicated food being Halal (or Kosher), I assume it all is, but it would be avoided to replicate food that would be forbidden if it were natural unless you needed to eat it for diplomatic reasons or whatever.
Norway and Yeager dammit... I still want my Typhoon and Jupiter though.
JJ Trek The Kelvin Timeline is just Trek and it's fully canon... get over it. But I still prefer TAR.
#TASforSTO
'...I can tell you that we're not in the military and that we intend no harm to the whales.' Kirk: The Voyage Home
'Starfleet is not a military organisation. Its purpose is exploration.' Picard: Peak Performance
'This is clearly a military operation. Is that what we are now? Because I thought we were explorers!' Scotty: Into Darkness
'...The Federation. Starfleet. We're not a military agency.' Scotty: Beyond
'I'm not a soldier anymore. I'm an engineer.' Miles O'Brien: Empok Nor
'...Starfleet could use you... It's a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada...' Admiral Pike: Star Trek
Get the Forums Enhancement Extension!
I do write on the assumption that at least some religious adherents remain, though less common and sometimes facing discrimination (not that humans would *ever* admit to such an imperfection as that). I tend to see many of them as having fled to colony worlds though.
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.
Not according to the pronunciation guide in The Klingon Dictionary. Capital 'Q' is an aspirated 'k' sound (you sort of breathe out as you make the click, which I render as 'kh'), and capital 'S' is pronounced 'sh'.
Of course the real-life reason for that is that Marc Okrand was transliterating the Greek word Kronos, which, like Romulus*, was assigned during the TOS bizarro period where Roddenberry wrote alien species as just humans at different levels of cultural development, e.g. Space Romans, Space TRIBBLE, Space Mafia, like there was some universal law of societal progression (which isn't even true on Earth).
* Diane Duane justified Romulus and Remus in The Romulan Way by them being names assigned by a Federation scout vessel before first contact, which is something I borrowed here (with modifications to compensate for ENT).
Yeah, that was one where I started to try and figure it out based on what I could find on the Internet, but then pretty much just said, "TRIBBLE this; they haven't figured it out in-universe either."
— Sabaton, "Great War"
Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/