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Dust to Dust

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    jonsillsjonsills Member Posts: 10,366 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    I wouldn't have demanded Keten's "return" - by the time you're on the scene, that's no longer Harry Kim, and that's no longer Harry Kim's corpse. The invasive viral colony has already reconfigured the dead man's DNA to the point that his appearance is beginning to change; you can't recover the man he was, and burying (or other disposal) of the corpse would be tantamount to murder of the being he has become.

    On the other tentacle, I believe that diplomatic relations with the Kobali might well have become much more fraught all of a sudden - what with the abrupt withdrawal of all Starfleet personnel from the planetary surface, and pulling the fleet back to the edges of the system in accordance with the Prime Directive...
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    starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,963 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    jonsills wrote: »
    I wouldn't have demanded Keten's "return" - by the time you're on the scene, that's no longer Harry Kim, and that's no longer Harry Kim's corpse. The invasive viral colony has already reconfigured the dead man's DNA to the point that his appearance is beginning to change; you can't recover the man he was, and burying (or other disposal) of the corpse would be tantamount to murder of the being he has become.
    Right, because your DNA is the entire reason you are who you are. :rolleyes:

    I don't even need to delve into real-life science to disprove that one: just watch a mirror universe episode. Any of them.

    He may look different but in memories and personality, that's still Perpetual Ensign Harry Kim, a sworn, commissioned officer of the Federation Starfleet. Which makes his position no different in any substantive way than the crew of the USS Rapier, who were stuck inside the Bajoran wormhole for six years and declared dead. Or hell, Voyager itself: they were declared MIA, presumed dead after they disappeared (VOY: "Message in a Bottle").
    jonsills wrote: »
    On the other tentacle, I believe that diplomatic relations with the Kobali might well have become much more fraught all of a sudden - what with the abrupt withdrawal of all Starfleet personnel from the planetary surface, and pulling the fleet back to the edges of the system in accordance with the Prime Directive...
    Worffan's already writing D'trel chopping Q'Nel's head off and I'm writing the Kobali as causing trouble at peace talks with the Vaads.
    "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"
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    jexsamxjexsamx Member Posts: 2,802 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    starswordc wrote: »
    Right, because your DNA is the entire reason you are who you are. :rolleyes:

    No, but brain chemistry certainly has an affect, and lest we forget, lobotomies or other massive alterations to the brain can also have a huge impact.

    I would think that total physiological conversion, including a shift from a two-lobed brain to a six-lobed one, would probably lead to a significant, or at least observable, change in personality.
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    jimazoid2004jimazoid2004 Member Posts: 24 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    thay8472 wrote: »
    At the start of the mission it has "34 years ago..."

    2410 - 34 = 2376

    Wasn't Voyagers second year "Deadlock" in 2372/3 ?

    Yep. 2372 So it should have been 38...
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    starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,963 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    jexsamx wrote: »
    No, but brain chemistry certainly has an affect, and lest we forget, lobotomies or other massive alterations to the brain can also have a huge impact.

    I would think that total physiological conversion, including a shift from a two-lobed brain to a six-lobed one, would probably lead to a significant, or at least observable, change in personality.

    As it turns out, not so much in this case. In "Ashes to Ashes", apart from a tendency to start swearing in Kobali when she got frustrated, Jhet'leya was apparently basically the same person as Ballard. And I paid attention to "Dust to Dust": no real difference between "Keten" and VOY-era Harry.
    "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"
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    czertik123czertik123 Member Posts: 1,122 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    i liked it too, but they realy should rework that moving platforms part - remve shting of electicity from them and prolong thier stay by cca 2-3s , this will greatly reduce frustration.
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    czertik123czertik123 Member Posts: 1,122 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    Yep. 2372 So it should have been 38...

    hope they will fix it, since someone get wrong date, eighter game time or voayer time.
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    starswordcstarswordc Member Posts: 10,963 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    czertik123 wrote: »
    hope they will fix it, since someone get wrong date, eighter game time or voayer time.

    At least it's thematically appropriate. Memory Alpha tried to work out the date when Ballard died and then basically said "TRIBBLE it, here's the details we got, which don't add up".
    "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"
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    Check out https://unitedfederationofpla.net/s/
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    farmallmfarmallm Member Posts: 4,630 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    starswordc wrote: »
    At least it's thematically appropriate. Memory Alpha tried to work out the date when Ballard died and then basically said "TRIBBLE it, here's the details we got, which don't add up".

    I read that, there was a lot of issues there. Due to the stuff didn't add up. This is one of the times in the series stuff didn't add up. Oh well it happens. Not many shows out there can keep a good constant story.
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    hartzillahartzilla Member Posts: 1,177 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    starswordc wrote: »
    There's an implication in the Kobali BZ storyline that the Kobali were dicking around with genetic engineering and accidentally sterilized themselves. Apparently clinical trials are an invention unique to the Alpha Quadrant. :D

    Probably explains where the Borg came from.

    And as for the Kobali, meh at least they wait for you to die before converting a person into one of them.

    Unlike these guys

    http://en.memory-alpha.org/wiki/Loque%27eque
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    adjournonadjournon Member Posts: 94 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    As long as we're philosophizing try this angle.

    It is the process of becoming a Kobali, the virus, that brings the dead back to life. Once the process is complete, they can't become Kobali again because they already are and therefore can't be brought back again if they die a second time. The only way to come back at all is to become a Kobali, so there is no nefarious choice the Kobali make to turn someone once they're revived, the very act of becoming a Kobali IS the revival.

    Many faction is the Star Trek universe can repair damaged and mangled flesh, even when the subject has died, but all that does is make for a pretty corpse. In Star Trek, dead is usually dead. Not even the all-powerful Borg Nano-probes could get around that one; Nelix may have been dead for a while, but he had to be brought back before necrosis set in; the body Voyager brought on board from the long derelict cube may have sat up, but that was just the cybernetics moving the dead flesh; the frozen Borg found on Earth in ST:Enterprise, again it was the cybernetics moving a dead body, and once they infected a new host the cybernetics were salvaged and body fried per Borg MO (If I remember correctly the Enterprise only counted the missing team in their scans, not the team plus three cyberzombiesicles).

    So the issue doesn't seem so much about being forced to become Kobali as it is about being forced to be brought back at all in the first place, and the whole Kobali thing is just some unfortunate and unavoidable side effect.

    STO Forum member since 2008, player since 2012 - funny story that
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    markhawkmanmarkhawkman Member Posts: 35,231 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    jonsills wrote: »
    I still maintain that the Kobali aren't a humanoid species as such, but are in fact the end result of horrific experiments in biological warfare. I think their "reproductive" method only makes the least bit of sense if they are in fact sapient viral colonies, infecting dead tissue and animating the corpse in a terrible semblance of continuing life.

    For some reason, humans seem to be able to retain physical memory imprints in the dead brain tissue for longer than the other species which have been infected with Kobali; this may be unique to humans, or it may spread across Alpha Quadrant sapients (so far as I know, not many Alphans have been subjected to the "rebirth" process yet).

    However, I would liken the process more to fictional zombification than to nonconsensual sex. A zombie might or might not retain memories from its days as a living being - but it is now a different creature than it had been, at its most fundamental levels, and the being it was will fade over time to nothing as its new state of existence takes over. And consent doesn't enter the picture, really - a corpse can neither agree nor abstain.
    Well, that is hard to say, they never SHOWED anyone who hadn't been human. It's said that most have little, if any, memory of who they were. Thus they normally have no reason to try to keep the new Kobali from running away. Which explains why all the former Vaadwaur turned Kobali haven't tried to rejoin their race...

    The Loque'que weren't that bad really. In theory those affected could have gone back to who they were.... if not for the fact that the other race was trying to exterminate them.
    erei1 wrote: »
    We hate violence. That's why we are not actively killing people to use their bodies, oh no, that would be bad.
    No, we let them die. Passively. We could help them, and release them, but we let them die. Because you know, we are not violent. We are the poor guys.
    In the process, we let another race become extinct, but who cares ? They are the bad guys !

    As for Vaadwaur being inherently evil, well, planet of hats and all that. Also, Klingons see nothing wrong in killing and enslaving. So do the Romulan (granted, the Republic have a bit more moral standing, but not that much). As for the Federation, they use holograms for hard labor, even when they know for a fact they can reach sentience. Especially the model used.
    And to be honest, having your entire civilization destroyed, your species bring to the verge of extinction, and see what's left of your people slowly die in the hand of another species can bring anyone angry and revengeful.

    As for judging the Vaadwaur evil, and let them die for that, our history is full of example of others country/religion/ethnic group being judged as evil. And we all know how it turned.
    It's morally wrong. Period.

    The Federation should never had intervened in the Kobali-Vaadwaur conflict in the first place. Or only as mediator. Prime directive and all that.
    Except it's NOT a dispute between those two races at all. It's little more than a coincidence really. Yes, the Vaadwaur claimed they were attacking because of that, but.... we later find out they didn't really care. When the Kobali offer to GIVE all of the not-yet-Kobali Vaadwaur over, the Vaadwaur were like "no thanks".

    Yeah.... that says a lot about the motives of the Vaadwaur. They were attacking the Kobali as one aspect of their attempted conquest of the entire sector. Like with the Talaxians, the Vaadwaur decided to use guile to make conquest easier.
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    origcaptainquackorigcaptainquack Member Posts: 614 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    this was a great mission, was very enjoyable.
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    janus1975janus1975 Member Posts: 739 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    sinn74 wrote: »
    The BOFF? I didn't see that as a reward, nor did I get it.

    Am I the only one who heard that in the voice of Dr Cooper?

    "You're giving ME a crossbow?"... "BOFF!!" zapp :D
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    mirrorchaosmirrorchaos Member Posts: 9,844 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    Klingon because that sort of thing would invariably disgust a Klingon's sense of honor, and in the case of Starfleet, because the player character is the highest ranking starfleet officer present, over both ensign and captain Kim.

    was it worf who stated that there is honor in facing ones own fears and it taking a brave man to face them, and martok was standing there agreeing?
    in this case the original harry kim was afraid to become what he had become, ketan, he fought well but ultimately he looked in himself and it took courage and strength to face coming to terms with his new condition. there is honor in that. so i dont see what is so disgusting about it.
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    kayajaykayajay Member Posts: 1,990 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    I accepted the BOFF...but never got it.
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    mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    Except the Kobali *do* force people to undergo all that brainwashing, and they are discouraged from trying to regain their old lives-basically they treat them like disobedient children that don't know any better. When that Voyager crewmember tried to run away, they were ready to take her back by force. They treat all those old memories as something that must be grown out of...so yeah, you can leave...after they are done 'raising' (brainwashing their old identities away).
    It is not brain washing. It's a completely new brain chemistry. The process they use doesn't create humans, it creates a Kobali. The story points out that the person that used to be Harry Kim now has completely new abilities because his brain is different.

    And the general story behind the Kobali explains that the memory fades away - not because someone is "brain washing" them - it's a side effect of the process of the "revival" process basically.

    Either you stay dead and nothing is retained forever, or you become a Kobali and a little bit stays - and it seems that Humans so far have more problems with the whole process than other species. Only the Kobali that come from human bodies seem to retain actual memories.



    I agree with the notion that it shouldn't just be the Kobali that decide arbitrarily whether a dead can become back, but I also think that turning a dead person into a new, living and breathing person is not a bad thing to do. It's about as good as allowing people to donate their organs after death to people in need.
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    mustrumridcully0mustrumridcully0 Member Posts: 12,963 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    Well, that is hard to say, they never SHOWED anyone who hadn't been human. It's said that most have little, if any, memory of who they were. Thus they normally have no reason to try to keep the new Kobali from running away. Which explains why all the former Vaadwaur turned Kobali haven't tried to rejoin their race...

    Actually, we meet plenty of Kobali, we just don't get much into detail. That said - on the Kobali ground zone, we learn bit more about two of them (not much), and they really show no hint of remembering who they were.

    So it seems Kobali from Humans is just a bad idea in general. It causes problems that are not normal.
    Star Trek Online Advancement: You start with lowbie gear, you end with Lobi gear.
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    fenr00kfenr00k Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    It is not brain washing. It's a completely new brain chemistry. The process they use doesn't create humans, it creates a Kobali. The story points out that the person that used to be Harry Kim now has completely new abilities because his brain is different.

    And the general story behind the Kobali explains that the memory fades away - not because someone is "brain washing" them - it's a side effect of the process of the "revival" process basically.

    Either you stay dead and nothing is retained forever, or you become a Kobali and a little bit stays - and it seems that Humans so far have more problems with the whole process than other species. Only the Kobali that come from human bodies seem to retain actual memories.



    I agree with the notion that it shouldn't just be the Kobali that decide arbitrarily whether a dead can become back, but I also think that turning a dead person into a new, living and breathing person is not a bad thing to do. It's about as good as allowing people to donate their organs after death to people in need.

    Complete agreement (and yes, I'm registered as an organ donor). It'll actually be very interesting to see if Cryptic develop this story first, as if the Kobali are, as they seem to be, a species who do "care" then as they learn more about the species they use as raw materials for their rebirth process, they should in theory adapt their customs to the beliefs of these species. Seems to me that their experiences with using human meat for the process so far consists of 2 instances, and they're just beginning to realise that human physiology has differences that mean greater memory retention post mortem. I would theorise that they'd either attempt to obtain more human meat in order to test this growing theory (the scientific approach), or they'd consider either only using volunteers (meat sack donors, but taking into consideration that for some belief systems amongst humans, the reuse of the raw materials would not be seen as sound, and thus respecting these beliefs) or banning the use of human corpses entirely (a knee jerk over-reaction imho, where simply having a system of registered donors would be a more rational approach, allowing those who would like a second shot at a different life, with all of the discoveries and new experiences to be gained, to do so).

    From my perspective, put into the perspective of star fleet "explorers", the rebirth process allows yet another facet to exploration and discovery. A post-mortem chance to start afresh, with completely new experiences and discoveries that would never be possible otherwise. Registration however should be a requirement, along with councelling for those registering to ensure that they are adjusted mentally to the idea of the process.

    Oh and yeah, I ran the mission a 2nd time on my main in order to find and obtain the Kobali boff. It allowed me to add her to my reserve just fine, and I then added her to my crew shortly afterwards.
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    alonaralonar Member Posts: 280 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    Is is wrong that I think necrogirl pullled a Weekend at Bernie's on poor dead Kim before they revived him?
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    thunderfoot#5163 thunderfoot Member Posts: 4,540 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    Just got done playing this mission for the first time. Top shelf work. Really enjoyed it. Shows what the Devs can accomplish when they are given the correct amounts of time and resources.
    A six year old boy and his starship. Living the dream.
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    stardestroyer001stardestroyer001 Member Posts: 2,615 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    I liked the technical aspects of the mission, but the story was a little lacklaster. I couldn't "get into it", if you kniow what I mean. Perhaps the believability wasn't there, or something.
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    catoblepasbetacatoblepasbeta Member Posts: 1,532 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    It is not brain washing. It's a completely new brain chemistry. The process they use doesn't create humans, it creates a Kobali. The story points out that the person that used to be Harry Kim now has completely new abilities because his brain is different.

    And the general story behind the Kobali explains that the memory fades away - not because someone is "brain washing" them - it's a side effect of the process of the "revival" process basically.

    Either you stay dead and nothing is retained forever, or you become a Kobali and a little bit stays - and it seems that Humans so far have more problems with the whole process than other species. Only the Kobali that come from human bodies seem to retain actual memories.



    I agree with the notion that it shouldn't just be the Kobali that decide arbitrarily whether a dead can become back, but I also think that turning a dead person into a new, living and breathing person is not a bad thing to do. It's about as good as allowing people to donate their organs after death to people in need.
    The personality and memories can carry over in the revivees, so the fact that they have different 'brain chemistry' doesn't really matter. Picard and Seven have different 'brain chemistry' thanks to borg implants and nanites. That doesn't mean that they should accept being borg and just return to the collective because their memories of their past life are keeping them from moving on or whatever.

    This isn't something that only happens in humans either. the kobali mention it happening outside of Jhet'leya. They have protocols for capturing and bringing back runaways, after all.

    They don't let kobali act on past memories or personality, and will seize them by force if they have to to keep them from choosing a path other than that of the Kobali. That is brainwashing my book as Kobali have no other option other than to submit to the Kobali way.

    Of course, the big issue at hand here, is that the Kobali chronically do this with no regard to the wishes of the deceased themselves. every single time we have seen it both on-screen and in-game. They have killed Kobali civilians to resurrect, and have done the same with Kobali soldiers. Both explicitly against the will of the Kobali involved, When called out on how despicable it was, they promised to only use volunteers from then on and then immediately resurrected the dead Kim they had in stasis. If the Kobali were really sincere about being true to their word, that would be one thing, but they have shown repeatedly that they don't give a darn what the resurrectee wants, before or after they are raised from the dead.
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    adjournonadjournon Member Posts: 94 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    We don't know that the revival process itself cannot be performed without rewriting the individuals DNA.

    The Kobali never released the details of the revivification and conversion processes, and the most likely reason for the secrecy is because the two procedures are completely separate, and if that information got out other races would react in a negative hostile manner towards the Kobali.

    All we do know is that a revived person comes back with his original personality, and his personality is destroyed during the process of converting the individual into a Kobali.

    We also know that the individuals personality isn't always successful because even before the Kobali began destroying the personalities of revived humans they already had a term for escapees and established procedures for hunting them down and dragging them back against their wills.


    It is quite easy to infer that the process of becoming a Kobali IS the revival process; as the process only works ONCE.

    Kobali can't revive other Kobali.

    They state this implicitly in dialogue on Kobali Prime. Also, if they could revive their own deceased they'd have almost no impetus to seek out the large numbers of alien corpses that they do, they'd just re-use their own, ad-infinitum.

    STO Forum member since 2008, player since 2012 - funny story that
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    rmy1081rmy1081 Member Posts: 2,840 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    According to who? The Kobali? A race that has demonstrated a fanatical unwillingness to allow the revived to leave their society of their own free will? They have every reason to lie.

    We've seen that level of anti-social fanaticism, rigid control over it's species, and a willingness to hide the truth from everyone including their own people in the Voth.

    IDK man... in the mission they say the revived Harry Kim can leave if he want's and that the Kobali will be his family and always look out for him. That's not an unwillingness to let him leave if he wants to.
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    prierinprierin Member Posts: 7 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    sinn74 wrote: »
    The BOFF? I didn't see that as a reward, nor did I get it.


    She's lost in the maze - you have to find her to get her.
    According to who? The Kobali? A race that has demonstrated a fanatical unwillingness to allow the revived to leave their society of their own free will? They have every reason to lie.

    We've seen that level of anti-social fanaticism, rigid control over it's species, and a willingness to hide the truth from everyone including their own people in the Voth.

    Any revivied Kobali is free ot choose their own destiny, even if that means leaving Kobali Prime. They are discouraged, surely, as no family wishes to see their youngest leave home and risk death, but in the end the parth they choose is theirs alone.

    However, a newborn Kobali must forget the past. Any attempt to maintain contact with their past life can only result in emotional torture.
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    futurepastnowfuturepastnow Member Posts: 3,660 Arc User
    edited February 2015
    I did not enjoy the puzzles. That sort of unforgiving, perfection-demanding platformer stuff belongs in, if anything, elite STFs and that's all. Using it to pad the length of a story mission just takes the only part of STO that is still relaxing and casual- solo story play- and lowers it to the standard set by the rest of DR.

    I enjoyed the story even less. The premise is using force to make someone become someone else against their will. It's obscene. The Kobali are evil. Making them our good guy, do no wrong allies in the storyline is a serious plot misstep.

    There's a lot of good in this mission- the effects are very well-done. The combat outside the temple was fun, I liked fighting the tanks. The ship chase at warp showed off what can be done, it was just too short. The VO was good.
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