Congratulations to the winners! I'm a bit disappointed that my story wasn't one of the chosen, but at least it left me with a material to expand upon it. So, if there is going to be again some contest like this, I will participate with sequel, or possibly even prequel about events on USS Triton.
Or maybe I might even introduce you to species called Devourers that are worse and more dangerous from ones depicted in Deadly Investigation.
Too bad that word limit has somewhat limited me from a real slower build up which might have been better in the type of story I wrote. Nevertheless I'm glad I did it and I hope you liked my story and that it was scary enough.
Now I'm going to re-watch the Thing which is one of the greatest inspirations for my horror sci-fi stories and was for this one as well But some things also comes from Dead Space and Resident Evil as well.
FED ENG:FA Sirius Verax (USS Leviathan) , FED TAC (Delta): FA Adria Tyllex (USS Thunderblade) , ROM TAC:ADM Kill'ina (IRW Imperix Thrai) , KLING ENG (Delta):LT. GEN Ghol'Vaq Martok (IKS Qeh'Ral II) - 44th Fleet member SUPPORTING PLAYABLE CARDASSIAN AND DOMINION FACTIONS!
All rewards will be sent over in-game mail. Make sure your privacy settings allows for messages from people you don't know.
Oh and everyone else that entered and didn't win will get something as well.
(@brian and @marcusdkane, please leave some space in your full inboxes, thank you )
As far as I can tell, my inbox isn't full, but my PC is still broken, so I still can't play the game, so I'd like to request that any reward be transposed to another entrant Thanks for the inspiring challenge
Even though I didn't win, it drove me to get another short written in a semi-reasonable length of time, which is always a good thing. And I'd like to thank you for the participation prizes, I was very impressed and surprised by them.
Well, since the competition proper is over, it's time for me to ask my question/make my guess, brian... were the crews of the Mary Celeste and the other ship being erased from the timeline by the Krenim and Iconian Resistance messing with the past and causing their ancestors to not exist, making them fade away as their ancestors were removed?
"If you can't take a little bloody nose, maybe you ought to go back home and crawl under your bed. It's not safe out here. It's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross; but it's not for the timid." -- Q, TNG: "Q-Who?"
^Words that every player should keep in mind, especially whenever there's a problem with the game...
Even though I didn't win, it drove me to get another short written in a semi-reasonable length of time, which is always a good thing. And I'd like to thank you for the participation prizes, I was very impressed and surprised by them.
Well, since the competition proper is over, it's time for me to ask my question/make my guess, brian... were the crews of the Mary Celeste and the other ship being erased from the timeline by the Krenim and Iconian Resistance messing with the past and causing their ancestors to not exist, making them fade away as their ancestors were removed?
That wouldn't leave their clothing behind, it has to be nanites, it's nanites right? right?! I must know!
I enjoyed @bioixi's entry as well...it gave me a good laugh.
@badgertheory also had a neat story, and I agree with whoever said that is very likely to be an extinct species soon, once that Vorta resurrects (I figure it's a Cylon-like thing, probably even the first place Ronald D. Moore toyed with the idea) and reports everything that happened. I don't think they'd exactly be as patient or forgiving as the Federation...
@brian334's story was also a personal favorite of mine and one that I thought to be a serious contender for the top prize. I posted my guess on his profile and I'll reiterate it again that it was some kind of nanite infestation--grey goo, basically. (And on that subject, xkcd has a pretty funny chart...)
I also have to say that @antonine3258 was beginning to give me a Lovecraftian vibe, especially with the reality/dimensional warping that was going on; I was starting to wonder if the cause of all the trouble was one of the Great Old Ones wandering the ship. I am not sure quantum torpedoes would be enough to dispose of Yog-Sothoth, if that was the case...
There were others I didn't get a chance to read through fully, but there were a lot of neat entries here.
And thank you to the contest runner. Getting off my butt and finally filling in a story that had been a question/plothole in my series was worth it in and of itself (and TBH with the length and admittedly unconventional take on the prompt I was aware my odds weren't as high as some others), so walking away with that accomplishment alone would've been worth it. But the outcome was a pleasant surprise for sure.
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 also have to say that @antonine3258 was beginning to give me a Lovecraftian vibe, especially with the reality/dimensional warping that was going on; I was starting to wonder if the cause of all the trouble was one of the Great Old Ones wandering the ship. I am not sure quantum torpedoes would be enough to dispose of Yog-Sothoth, if that was the case...
Hey, phasers can take out Greek gods, quantums should have a chance against Lovecraftian horrors, or at least their portals.
Congratulations to the winners, and I really enjoyed all the stories!
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!
I also have to say that @antonine3258 was beginning to give me a Lovecraftian vibe, especially with the reality/dimensional warping that was going on; I was starting to wonder if the cause of all the trouble was one of the Great Old Ones wandering the ship. I am not sure quantum torpedoes would be enough to dispose of Yog-Sothoth, if that was the case...
Hey, phasers can take out Greek gods, quantums should have a chance against Lovecraftian horrors, or at least their portals.
Haha, maybe...I suppose it depends on just how adept quantums are at handling beings that do not abide by normal laws of physics. Just curious, was it indeed Lovecraft that inspired you?
I enjoyed @bioixi's entry as well...it gave me a good laugh.
Thanks man, I'm glad you liked it.
No problem. Some of those voiceovers really do repeat WAY too often. Though admittedly my worst voiceover problem in the Winter Wonderland is that Ferengi. If I could only silence one of them, I'd pick him. Neelix is OK because Ethan Phillips is a good voice actor even for something silly like that, so we can leave him IMO.
There is someone in my Teamspeak who does a really good impression of the Epohh Lady and trolls everyone with it every so often. Though not TOO often, so it's still in good fun.
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.
Thanks for considering my entry in your contest. And thanks to all who posted positive feedback.
Yes, it was nanites, but regular ones would be detectable. These guys are interphasic nanites!
The interphasic parasites that made Data go all Norman Bates on Deanna gave me the idea. Then I recalled a myth we have here in Southeast Louisiana that red ants all bite on signal, and I mixed the two together. These interphasic nanites can absorb material from our 'normal' phase, and they like to swarm a source, then on cue each nanite drags one cell into their phase. The result is that the creature disappears one cell at a time, but in the span of a few seconds the victim is disassembled by billions of nanites. Clothing, not being organic material, is simply ignored as a useless by-product of their harvesting process. (I assume some kind of high tech artificial fiber is used rather than simple cotton or wool, which would be taken just as hair and fingernails and bones are.)
Thanks for considering my entry in your contest. And thanks to all who posted positive feedback.
Yes, it was nanites, but regular ones would be detectable. These guys are interphasic nanites!
The interphasic parasites that made Data go all Norman Bates on Deanna gave me the idea. Then I recalled a myth we have here in Southeast Louisiana that red ants all bite on signal, and I mixed the two together. These interphasic nanites can absorb material from our 'normal' phase, and they like to swarm a source, then on cue each nanite drags one cell into their phase. The result is that the creature disappears one cell at a time, but in the span of a few seconds the victim is disassembled by billions of nanites. Clothing, not being organic material, is simply ignored as a useless by-product of their harvesting process. (I assume some kind of high tech artificial fiber is used rather than simple cotton or wool, which would be taken just as hair and fingernails and bones are.)
Very interesting and creative idea! I've never heard the urban legend about fire ants, but it made for a neat story. I would love to see you expand on this in future works, since you (unlike me!) actually adhered to the word limit. Keep an eye out for the Unofficial Literary Challenges, as sometimes those can be a good place to shoehorn in an idea, or feel free to write a stand-alone story and post it.
Now I find myself wondering if my (Earth-raised) Devidian captain would've had any means at his disposal to see, track, and destroy the nanites. I guess it would depend on what type of phasing we're talking about. Star Trek seems to have more than one type, including Devidian temporal phasing, and at least one or two more variants. Though tracking might be one thing--destroying could be a whole other problem, given that I'm pretty sure the only way to deal with any form of grey goo (other than the rare chance that they form a collective consciousness that can actually be negotiated with, as happened once in Trek) is to "nuke" it all and not miss a single nanite.
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 also have to say that @antonine3258 was beginning to give me a Lovecraftian vibe, especially with the reality/dimensional warping that was going on; I was starting to wonder if the cause of all the trouble was one of the Great Old Ones wandering the ship. I am not sure quantum torpedoes would be enough to dispose of Yog-Sothoth, if that was the case...
Hey, phasers can take out Greek gods, quantums should have a chance against Lovecraftian horrors, or at least their portals.
Haha, maybe...I suppose it depends on just how adept quantums are at handling beings that do not abide by normal laws of physics. Just curious, was it indeed Lovecraft that inspired you?
Certainly that Lovecraftian vein - that thought there are things that are Truly Meant to be Unknown is very much diametrically opposed philosophically to Star Trek, but works pretty well for Halloween. Scary thing, being genre-shifted.
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!
I also have to say that @antonine3258 was beginning to give me a Lovecraftian vibe, especially with the reality/dimensional warping that was going on; I was starting to wonder if the cause of all the trouble was one of the Great Old Ones wandering the ship. I am not sure quantum torpedoes would be enough to dispose of Yog-Sothoth, if that was the case...
Hey, phasers can take out Greek gods, quantums should have a chance against Lovecraftian horrors, or at least their portals.
Haha, maybe...I suppose it depends on just how adept quantums are at handling beings that do not abide by normal laws of physics. Just curious, was it indeed Lovecraft that inspired you?
Certainly that Lovecraftian vein - that thought there are things that are Truly Meant to be Unknown is very much diametrically opposed philosophically to Star Trek, but works pretty well for Halloween. Scary thing, being genre-shifted.
When I saw that "DEAD GODS NEVER DIE" thing, I found myself expecting it to be followed up with those famous lines from the Necronomicon:
That is not dead which can eternal lie
And with strange aeons even death may die.
It seemed to me, anyway, like the allusion you were making, especially with the brush with insanity that Antonine had. Losing her memory of what she saw was a far more merciful thing than what could've happened in a run-in with a Great Old One!
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 also have to say that @antonine3258 was beginning to give me a Lovecraftian vibe, especially with the reality/dimensional warping that was going on; I was starting to wonder if the cause of all the trouble was one of the Great Old Ones wandering the ship. I am not sure quantum torpedoes would be enough to dispose of Yog-Sothoth, if that was the case...
Hey, phasers can take out Greek gods, quantums should have a chance against Lovecraftian horrors, or at least their portals.
Haha, maybe...I suppose it depends on just how adept quantums are at handling beings that do not abide by normal laws of physics. Just curious, was it indeed Lovecraft that inspired you?
Certainly that Lovecraftian vein - that thought there are things that are Truly Meant to be Unknown is very much diametrically opposed philosophically to Star Trek, but works pretty well for Halloween. Scary thing, being genre-shifted.
When I saw that "DEAD GODS NEVER DIE" thing, I found myself expecting it to be followed up with those famous lines from the Necronomicon:
That is not dead which can eternal lie
And with strange aeons even death may die.
It seemed to me, anyway, like the allusion you were making, especially with the brush with insanity that Antonine had. Losing her memory of what she saw was a far more merciful thing than what could've happened in a run-in with a Great Old One!
Even dead gods dream is straight outta Mass Effect which has a lot of Mythos in its DNA, but yeah - the Mythos effect was what I was going for.
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!
For those interested, there's a Christmas themed event being hosted by Shutup Wesley that has a story entry they call Fanfic Bonanza. If you're interested in writing something different and maybe get a ship in the process, consider checking it out.
Comments
Thank you all for your patience and your submissions.
We've selected the following entries as the winners of the Unofficial Halloween Writing Contest:
@bioixi, for the dramatic retelling of Q's winter wonderland. An entertaining and funny twist that's still ontopic and interesting.
@badgertheory, for the very well written and memorable encounter with an unnerving (and now probably extinct) species.
Congratulations to both our winners that will both receive a complete set of Elachi ships.
The random winner of the Timeship pack is:
@Messahla
All rewards will be sent over in-game mail. Make sure your privacy settings allows for messages from people you don't know.
Oh and everyone else that entered and didn't win will get something as well.
(@brian and @marcusdkane, please leave some space in your full inboxes, thank you
And remember, don't trust epohhs.
Or maybe I might even introduce you to species called Devourers that are worse and more dangerous from ones depicted in Deadly Investigation.
Too bad that word limit has somewhat limited me from a real slower build up which might have been better in the type of story I wrote. Nevertheless I'm glad I did it and I hope you liked my story and that it was scary enough.
Now I'm going to re-watch the Thing which is one of the greatest inspirations for my horror sci-fi stories and was for this one as well
SUPPORTING PLAYABLE CARDASSIAN AND DOMINION FACTIONS!
As far as I can tell, my inbox isn't full, but my PC is still broken, so I still can't play the game, so I'd like to request that any reward be transposed to another entrant
Well, since the competition proper is over, it's time for me to ask my question/make my guess, brian... were the crews of the Mary Celeste and the other ship being erased from the timeline by the Krenim and Iconian Resistance messing with the past and causing their ancestors to not exist, making them fade away as their ancestors were removed?
^Words that every player should keep in mind, especially whenever there's a problem with the game...
That wouldn't leave their clothing behind, it has to be nanites, it's nanites right? right?! I must know!
I enjoyed @bioixi's entry as well...it gave me a good laugh.
@badgertheory also had a neat story, and I agree with whoever said that is very likely to be an extinct species soon, once that Vorta resurrects (I figure it's a Cylon-like thing, probably even the first place Ronald D. Moore toyed with the idea) and reports everything that happened. I don't think they'd exactly be as patient or forgiving as the Federation...
@brian334's story was also a personal favorite of mine and one that I thought to be a serious contender for the top prize. I posted my guess on his profile and I'll reiterate it again that it was some kind of nanite infestation--grey goo, basically. (And on that subject, xkcd has a pretty funny chart...)
I also have to say that @antonine3258 was beginning to give me a Lovecraftian vibe, especially with the reality/dimensional warping that was going on; I was starting to wonder if the cause of all the trouble was one of the Great Old Ones wandering the ship. I am not sure quantum torpedoes would be enough to dispose of Yog-Sothoth, if that was the case...
There were others I didn't get a chance to read through fully, but there were a lot of neat entries here.
And thank you to the contest runner. Getting off my butt and finally filling in a story that had been a question/plothole in my series was worth it in and of itself (and TBH with the length and admittedly unconventional take on the prompt I was aware my odds weren't as high as some others), so walking away with that accomplishment alone would've been worth it. But the outcome was a pleasant surprise for sure.
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.
Hey, phasers can take out Greek gods, quantums should have a chance against Lovecraftian horrors, or at least their portals.
Congratulations to the winners, and I really enjoyed all the stories!
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
Thanks man, I'm glad you liked it.
Haha, maybe...I suppose it depends on just how adept quantums are at handling beings that do not abide by normal laws of physics.
No problem. Some of those voiceovers really do repeat WAY too often.
There is someone in my Teamspeak who does a really good impression of the Epohh Lady and trolls everyone with it every so often. Though not TOO often, so it's still in good fun.
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, it was nanites, but regular ones would be detectable. These guys are interphasic nanites!
The interphasic parasites that made Data go all Norman Bates on Deanna gave me the idea. Then I recalled a myth we have here in Southeast Louisiana that red ants all bite on signal, and I mixed the two together. These interphasic nanites can absorb material from our 'normal' phase, and they like to swarm a source, then on cue each nanite drags one cell into their phase. The result is that the creature disappears one cell at a time, but in the span of a few seconds the victim is disassembled by billions of nanites. Clothing, not being organic material, is simply ignored as a useless by-product of their harvesting process. (I assume some kind of high tech artificial fiber is used rather than simple cotton or wool, which would be taken just as hair and fingernails and bones are.)
Looks like I jotted down your in-game @handle incorrectly. I've passed along that the correct one should be @brian334 and nothing else.
I apologize for not noticing this before now and you can expect an in-game mail within a couple of hours.
Very interesting and creative idea! I've never heard the urban legend about fire ants, but it made for a neat story. I would love to see you expand on this in future works, since you (unlike me!) actually adhered to the word limit. Keep an eye out for the Unofficial Literary Challenges, as sometimes those can be a good place to shoehorn in an idea, or feel free to write a stand-alone story and post it.
Now I find myself wondering if my (Earth-raised) Devidian captain would've had any means at his disposal to see, track, and destroy the nanites. I guess it would depend on what type of phasing we're talking about. Star Trek seems to have more than one type, including Devidian temporal phasing, and at least one or two more variants. Though tracking might be one thing--destroying could be a whole other problem, given that I'm pretty sure the only way to deal with any form of grey goo (other than the rare chance that they form a collective consciousness that can actually be negotiated with, as happened once in Trek) is to "nuke" it all and not miss a single nanite.
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.
Certainly that Lovecraftian vein - that thought there are things that are Truly Meant to be Unknown is very much diametrically opposed philosophically to Star Trek, but works pretty well for Halloween. Scary thing, being genre-shifted.
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
When I saw that "DEAD GODS NEVER DIE" thing, I found myself expecting it to be followed up with those famous lines from the Necronomicon:
It seemed to me, anyway, like the allusion you were making, especially with the brush with insanity that Antonine had. Losing her memory of what she saw was a far more merciful thing than what could've happened in a run-in with a Great Old One!
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.
Even dead gods dream is straight outta Mass Effect which has a lot of Mythos in its DNA, but yeah - the Mythos effect was what I was going for.
Member Access Denied Armada!
My forum single-issue of rage: Make the Proton Experimental Weapon go for subsystem targetting!
For those interested, there's a Christmas themed event being hosted by Shutup Wesley that has a story entry they call Fanfic Bonanza. If you're interested in writing something different and maybe get a ship in the process, consider checking it out.