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How the Iconian War Should Have Ended
velqua
Member Posts: 1,220 Arc User
The following wall of text is how I think the Iconian War should have ended. That's not to say I didn't like the way it ended, but I feel this ending would have been a bit more interesting. Please note that I did use some parts of the Midnight mission to set up the ending. The text starts out after the Iconians have gone through the gate. Enjoy! 
"This has all played out this way before," Sela spoke as she looked toward the ground where the Iconian's World Heart stood. "I am the cause for Hobus."
Sela lifted the azure orb close to her body, stood up, and said, "I know what you are going to say. But I did what I had to do for my people. I should have acted sooner. If I had, perhaps Romulus would have been restored."
Looking into her eyes, you replied, "Can't you see that your act caused the destruction of Romulus? We sent 12 Iconians to Dewa III. We are the Others."
"That can't..." Sela spoke, "T'Ket... What have I done?"
Taking the World Heart from Sela's hands, you answered, "Did you have a choice? Predestination paradox theory would say this event had to happen, and it is the reason you're here."
Kagran interrupted. "The Iconians have flet to Dewa III...It is time to return to our own time and see what effect our actions had."
Kagran, Sela, and your away team transported to your ships. No sooner do you return to your bridge that you find another temporal rift had opened up back—leading back to your time. Eager to see the effects, the Jem'hadar, Klingon, and Federation ships enter the rift.
As soon as you and others arrived back in your own time, Captain Kagran immediately signaled all Alliance ships to to stand down.
Opening a channel to you, Kagran spoke, "You have the World Heart...This is our last chance to end this war."
Understanding his indirect order, you close communication with Kagran and hailed the Iconians. L'Miren face appeared on your viewscreen, "Do you wish to surrender? A wise decision."
"No, L'Miren," you stated, standing on your bridge. "We have just returned from the past. Your past. And we have the World Heart to prove it."
"How...how did you acquire that?" the stunned Iconian inquired.
"We saved it. We were there when Iconia was lost."
A flabbergasted L'Mired responded, "That is not possible! But yet I see the World Heart in your hands. It is time to end this. Your leaders. Our unity. Now."
"Wait...I" you attempted to interject.
Without warning, you were transported aboard the bridge of the Iconian vessel. Standing in front of you, L'Miren and T'Ket gazed upon your humanoid figure and treasure your hands held.
Continuing the conversation, L'Miren said, "If what you say is true, then that core contains all of the lost knowledge of our people. So much that we thought all was lost forever..." The Iconian paused, focusing on the World Heart. The L'Miren looked into your eyes and asked, "Will you return all that remains of our civilization to us?"
Certain that this would lead to the end of the war and save countless lives as well as the Iconians, you stated, "This conflict must end, and this would must be healed."
In offering an olive branch, you handed over the World Heart to L'Miren. The Iconian could sense it's familiarity as she carried it towards the energy stream device. No sooner had the azure orb penetrated the energy stream that it began to rise, preparing to restore all that was lost. Just as the orb touched the energy stream matrix, you transported off the Iconian bridge.
From the surrounding space, a bright light emanated from L'Miren and T'Ket's vessel, followed by a humongous energy shockwave that encompassed the entire area surrounding the battered Earth Space Dock. The energy blast vaporized many heavily damage ships and unprotected escape pods instantly. Only those functional and shield vessels and facilities survived.
In the calm after the storm, you awoke on the ground facing a viewscreen showing empty space where the once mighty Iconian vessel stood. Still slightly disoriented, you attempted to stand up only to find that you were on unfamiliar ground.
"Welcome aboard," a familiar voice greeted you. "I had to be sure the orb was close enough before I could get you off the ship."
Regaining your faculties, you looked toward the direction of the voice and saw the blond-haired Romulan with a device in her hand.
"Sela, what have you done!?" you exclaimed in realizing the connection of the emptiness that now laid before the Jem'hadar vessel.
"I have righted a wrong. I have avenged the people of Romulus and ended this war. T'Ket, nor any other Iconian, can do no harm now." Replied Sela as she walked over to you.
"Peace with the Iconians was within our grasp!" You exclaimed, feeling your ideals of Federation diplomacy had been laid to waste.
"A big mistake," replied Sela. "Do you honestly think they would have kept their word? In time, they would have subjugated the quadrants like they did with their Heralds and treated those who did not follow their guidance as undeserving and unwanted children. Or have you forgotten what you saw on Iconia?"
"It was not for you to make that decision," you replied.
"That is where you are wrong," Sela replied as she pulled another device from her uniform. "Do you honestly believe that the Dominion would listen to me, a former Tal Shiar agent, a fallen Empress? If you do, then you are a bigger fool than I care to believe."
"What do you mean?" surprised, you questioned her.
Sela pressed a button on the device in her hand, and in an instant, the image of the Romulan-Human hybrid disappeared, leaving the rugged image of blond-haired man with a scar on the right side of his face.
"Franklin Drake," you spoke to yourself aloud.
"You see," Drake said, "the Dominion has a better relationship with the Federation than with the Romulans. With the aid of a Vorta, I was able to have a meeting with one of the Founders and explain the dilemma. Lucky for us, Odo has had enough influence on the Great Link that I was able to persuade the Founders to spare a few ships for the cause."
"How long have you been masquerading as Sela?" You inquired of the Section 31 agent.
"Since you lost contact with her back on Nopada Prime when she stepped through the Iconian gate in attempting to escape the Iconians you encountered with her," stated Drake.
"Then where is Sela?"
"Didn't you ever wonder what I was doing at the Krenim Research Lab all this time?" he asked.
"You mean..."
"That's right," Franklin paused to look at the expression on your face. He continued, "Sela worked for us as an undercover agent, monitoring the Krenim, their research facility, their time ship, and their technology. The ability to erase anything from the time stream at the push of a button is something that needs to overseen constantly. Who's to say that the Krenim might use that very technology on us if given the opportunity?"
"And you trusted Sela, the woman who betrayed her people, to do this task?"
"We gave Sela an out," replied Drake. "The Romulan Republic would crucify in front of the entire galaxy to get the revenge they desire. Not even D'Tan could prevent this. Sela knew that they and others would hunt her down and kill her. We took advantage of her situation to utilize her expertise that she acquired from the Tal Shiar."
He paused for a second to gather his thoughts, and then continued. "In exchange for a new lease on life, she ceded and relinquished everything she posssessed, including that valuable information that ended this war."
"Where is she now?" You eagerly questioned the Section 31 agent.
"Suffice it to say that Sela no longer exists," replied Drake, "nor will she ever return."
"She's dead?" you asked.
"...as a door nail."
Drake, becoming aware of the time their conversation has taken, stated, "Now, I need to get you back to your ship. Sela needs to disappear. And we have a celebration to attend in your honor for saving galaxy from the Iconian threat. See you around."
Just as you were about to say something, Drake transported you off the bridge Jem'hadar and back to your ready room. You took a minute to compose yourself, unsure what to make of Drake's statements and whether anyone else should know. For that moment, the galaxy was safe and united, something the members of the Alliance were eager to obtain even at the cost of genocide.
Hearing a few somber voices coming outside your ready room, you left that dilemma to be resolved another day and walked out to meet up with your crew. As stepped on to the bridge of your ship, the crew's sadness turned to joy. They greet you with a hero's welcome.
You survived the annihilation of the Iconians and saved the galaxy. Such a feat could only bring one glory that even the mightiest of Klingons would be jealous of. Songs of triumph over the Iconians would be written by both Klingon and non-Klingons alike. And so it was. Starfleet, the Federation, the Romulan Republic, and the Klingon empire imparted their most distinguished and honorable commendations and medals to you and your crew. A few, like Captain Shon, would have their reservations of what occurred, but they would reconcile to themselves that ends justified the means even if it did taint the ideals of what Starfleet and the Federation stood for. Kagran, on the other hand, would always resent you for the "murdering" and genocide of the Iconians. He knew the Iconians were a peaceful people and would have been so again if the World Heart had returned to them as he had hoped you would have done, peacefully. For him, the victory over the Iconians was an honorless one—a Romulan one.
Sela, the former Tal Shiar agent and one-time empress, died in a transporter accident while being beamed aboard the Lleiset from the Jem'hadar ship. She had given consent to be taken back into the custody of the Romulan Republic, where should would be tried before the Romulan people on New Romulus for her crimes. Investigations into the transporter accident found that Lleiset transporter had been damaged, possibly from the Iconian blast. Some speculated that the transporters had been sabotage by Jarok or her crew, yet no data ever surfaced to support the theory.
Aboard the Jenolan Dyson Sphere, news of the destruction of the Iconians reached. Many praised the work of the Alliance for ending the galactic threat that had not only loomed over the galaxy, but that had brought about the pain and destruction of millions of people—friends, family, and loved ones.
A blond-haired woman manning the transit station, spoke to a travel at the window, "Destination, please."
"Earth," replied the travel.
"We have one Federation ship bound to Earth," said the woman. "Will you be taking anything?"
The traveler showed a small carry-on bag to the woman.
"One carry-on," said the woman as she touched-typed the information on the glass console.
"Your name," asked the woman.
The blond-haired female traveler said, "Ray...Natasha Ray."
"This has all played out this way before," Sela spoke as she looked toward the ground where the Iconian's World Heart stood. "I am the cause for Hobus."
Sela lifted the azure orb close to her body, stood up, and said, "I know what you are going to say. But I did what I had to do for my people. I should have acted sooner. If I had, perhaps Romulus would have been restored."
Looking into her eyes, you replied, "Can't you see that your act caused the destruction of Romulus? We sent 12 Iconians to Dewa III. We are the Others."
"That can't..." Sela spoke, "T'Ket... What have I done?"
Taking the World Heart from Sela's hands, you answered, "Did you have a choice? Predestination paradox theory would say this event had to happen, and it is the reason you're here."
Kagran interrupted. "The Iconians have flet to Dewa III...It is time to return to our own time and see what effect our actions had."
Kagran, Sela, and your away team transported to your ships. No sooner do you return to your bridge that you find another temporal rift had opened up back—leading back to your time. Eager to see the effects, the Jem'hadar, Klingon, and Federation ships enter the rift.
As soon as you and others arrived back in your own time, Captain Kagran immediately signaled all Alliance ships to to stand down.
Opening a channel to you, Kagran spoke, "You have the World Heart...This is our last chance to end this war."
Understanding his indirect order, you close communication with Kagran and hailed the Iconians. L'Miren face appeared on your viewscreen, "Do you wish to surrender? A wise decision."
"No, L'Miren," you stated, standing on your bridge. "We have just returned from the past. Your past. And we have the World Heart to prove it."
"How...how did you acquire that?" the stunned Iconian inquired.
"We saved it. We were there when Iconia was lost."
A flabbergasted L'Mired responded, "That is not possible! But yet I see the World Heart in your hands. It is time to end this. Your leaders. Our unity. Now."
"Wait...I" you attempted to interject.
Without warning, you were transported aboard the bridge of the Iconian vessel. Standing in front of you, L'Miren and T'Ket gazed upon your humanoid figure and treasure your hands held.
Continuing the conversation, L'Miren said, "If what you say is true, then that core contains all of the lost knowledge of our people. So much that we thought all was lost forever..." The Iconian paused, focusing on the World Heart. The L'Miren looked into your eyes and asked, "Will you return all that remains of our civilization to us?"
Certain that this would lead to the end of the war and save countless lives as well as the Iconians, you stated, "This conflict must end, and this would must be healed."
In offering an olive branch, you handed over the World Heart to L'Miren. The Iconian could sense it's familiarity as she carried it towards the energy stream device. No sooner had the azure orb penetrated the energy stream that it began to rise, preparing to restore all that was lost. Just as the orb touched the energy stream matrix, you transported off the Iconian bridge.
From the surrounding space, a bright light emanated from L'Miren and T'Ket's vessel, followed by a humongous energy shockwave that encompassed the entire area surrounding the battered Earth Space Dock. The energy blast vaporized many heavily damage ships and unprotected escape pods instantly. Only those functional and shield vessels and facilities survived.
In the calm after the storm, you awoke on the ground facing a viewscreen showing empty space where the once mighty Iconian vessel stood. Still slightly disoriented, you attempted to stand up only to find that you were on unfamiliar ground.
"Welcome aboard," a familiar voice greeted you. "I had to be sure the orb was close enough before I could get you off the ship."
Regaining your faculties, you looked toward the direction of the voice and saw the blond-haired Romulan with a device in her hand.
"Sela, what have you done!?" you exclaimed in realizing the connection of the emptiness that now laid before the Jem'hadar vessel.
"I have righted a wrong. I have avenged the people of Romulus and ended this war. T'Ket, nor any other Iconian, can do no harm now." Replied Sela as she walked over to you.
"Peace with the Iconians was within our grasp!" You exclaimed, feeling your ideals of Federation diplomacy had been laid to waste.
"A big mistake," replied Sela. "Do you honestly think they would have kept their word? In time, they would have subjugated the quadrants like they did with their Heralds and treated those who did not follow their guidance as undeserving and unwanted children. Or have you forgotten what you saw on Iconia?"
"It was not for you to make that decision," you replied.
"That is where you are wrong," Sela replied as she pulled another device from her uniform. "Do you honestly believe that the Dominion would listen to me, a former Tal Shiar agent, a fallen Empress? If you do, then you are a bigger fool than I care to believe."
"What do you mean?" surprised, you questioned her.
Sela pressed a button on the device in her hand, and in an instant, the image of the Romulan-Human hybrid disappeared, leaving the rugged image of blond-haired man with a scar on the right side of his face.
"Franklin Drake," you spoke to yourself aloud.
"You see," Drake said, "the Dominion has a better relationship with the Federation than with the Romulans. With the aid of a Vorta, I was able to have a meeting with one of the Founders and explain the dilemma. Lucky for us, Odo has had enough influence on the Great Link that I was able to persuade the Founders to spare a few ships for the cause."
"How long have you been masquerading as Sela?" You inquired of the Section 31 agent.
"Since you lost contact with her back on Nopada Prime when she stepped through the Iconian gate in attempting to escape the Iconians you encountered with her," stated Drake.
"Then where is Sela?"
"Didn't you ever wonder what I was doing at the Krenim Research Lab all this time?" he asked.
"You mean..."
"That's right," Franklin paused to look at the expression on your face. He continued, "Sela worked for us as an undercover agent, monitoring the Krenim, their research facility, their time ship, and their technology. The ability to erase anything from the time stream at the push of a button is something that needs to overseen constantly. Who's to say that the Krenim might use that very technology on us if given the opportunity?"
"And you trusted Sela, the woman who betrayed her people, to do this task?"
"We gave Sela an out," replied Drake. "The Romulan Republic would crucify in front of the entire galaxy to get the revenge they desire. Not even D'Tan could prevent this. Sela knew that they and others would hunt her down and kill her. We took advantage of her situation to utilize her expertise that she acquired from the Tal Shiar."
He paused for a second to gather his thoughts, and then continued. "In exchange for a new lease on life, she ceded and relinquished everything she posssessed, including that valuable information that ended this war."
"Where is she now?" You eagerly questioned the Section 31 agent.
"Suffice it to say that Sela no longer exists," replied Drake, "nor will she ever return."
"She's dead?" you asked.
"...as a door nail."
Drake, becoming aware of the time their conversation has taken, stated, "Now, I need to get you back to your ship. Sela needs to disappear. And we have a celebration to attend in your honor for saving galaxy from the Iconian threat. See you around."
Just as you were about to say something, Drake transported you off the bridge Jem'hadar and back to your ready room. You took a minute to compose yourself, unsure what to make of Drake's statements and whether anyone else should know. For that moment, the galaxy was safe and united, something the members of the Alliance were eager to obtain even at the cost of genocide.
Hearing a few somber voices coming outside your ready room, you left that dilemma to be resolved another day and walked out to meet up with your crew. As stepped on to the bridge of your ship, the crew's sadness turned to joy. They greet you with a hero's welcome.
You survived the annihilation of the Iconians and saved the galaxy. Such a feat could only bring one glory that even the mightiest of Klingons would be jealous of. Songs of triumph over the Iconians would be written by both Klingon and non-Klingons alike. And so it was. Starfleet, the Federation, the Romulan Republic, and the Klingon empire imparted their most distinguished and honorable commendations and medals to you and your crew. A few, like Captain Shon, would have their reservations of what occurred, but they would reconcile to themselves that ends justified the means even if it did taint the ideals of what Starfleet and the Federation stood for. Kagran, on the other hand, would always resent you for the "murdering" and genocide of the Iconians. He knew the Iconians were a peaceful people and would have been so again if the World Heart had returned to them as he had hoped you would have done, peacefully. For him, the victory over the Iconians was an honorless one—a Romulan one.
Sela, the former Tal Shiar agent and one-time empress, died in a transporter accident while being beamed aboard the Lleiset from the Jem'hadar ship. She had given consent to be taken back into the custody of the Romulan Republic, where should would be tried before the Romulan people on New Romulus for her crimes. Investigations into the transporter accident found that Lleiset transporter had been damaged, possibly from the Iconian blast. Some speculated that the transporters had been sabotage by Jarok or her crew, yet no data ever surfaced to support the theory.
Aboard the Jenolan Dyson Sphere, news of the destruction of the Iconians reached. Many praised the work of the Alliance for ending the galactic threat that had not only loomed over the galaxy, but that had brought about the pain and destruction of millions of people—friends, family, and loved ones.
A blond-haired woman manning the transit station, spoke to a travel at the window, "Destination, please."
"Earth," replied the travel.
"We have one Federation ship bound to Earth," said the woman. "Will you be taking anything?"
The traveler showed a small carry-on bag to the woman.
"One carry-on," said the woman as she touched-typed the information on the glass console.
"Your name," asked the woman.
The blond-haired female traveler said, "Ray...Natasha Ray."
0
Comments
Honestly, "Midnight" is one of the better pieces of content Cryptic has ever put out.
I don't see the need for a fan-fic rewrite of something that ended peacefully and very Trek like into another Section 31 bluff.
Just my opinion.
Written well, I just see no need for your rewrite and I don't think your vision is "How the Iconian War Should Have Ended"
Your thread title should be "How I FEEL the Iconian War should Have Ended."
Now, how about those 9 other Iconians who now have absolutely nothing to lose... Their leaders have been killed by treachery, the World Heart is gone forever and with it any hope to restore their civilization, the Other is believed to have been plotting their demise all along, they still have plenty of ships around Earth and a big Dyson Sphere near Iconia.
How is that even remotely better than having the sane Iconian leader leave with all her fleet with the promise to leave you alone, with just her sister being still sour about having to deal with a peaceful resolution.
No, a better ending would have been to have L'Miren giving you a device to visit her and have friendly chats together without T'Ket knowing it.
"I will shoot at them!" said T'Ket and she fired the staff lasers.
The Other phasered at her and tried to blew her up, but then the ceiling fell and they were trapped and not able to kill.
"No! I must kill the Iconians!" said the Other.
Sela said "No, the Other. You are the Iconians."
And then the Other was a Herald.
And reminds me one of the most annoying things about Section 31 fan fics, that they always turn them into some kind of Mary Sue organization who's plans always turn out perfectly and the entire freaking universe bends over backwards for them.
When I wrote this, I had assumed that all 11 Iconians were aboard the ship to witness the destruction of the Alliance. L'Miren and T'Ket just happened to be the ones on the bridge commanding the forces. I do think that without their military leader and the destruction of the World Heart, the remaining Iconians would be lost and give up the fight--retreating back into the sphere and possibly back to the Andromeda Galaxy.
Or they give pissed off and slaughter everyone just like the plan was after the last time an Iconian was killed.
I also find it funny that they whole debate over if they should TRIBBLE on everything the federation was founded on because the galaxy's greatest mass murderer (Drake for both causing the Iconian War and committing unilateral genocide) says so is handled with "oh they'll get over it".
"Drake... you are a worthless example of humanity... which is why I scanned the fake World Heart and found out it was a bomb. Your flaw is predictability. I have two guests that have been on my ship. They wish to meet you..."
**L'Miren and T'Ket gate in**
"Your manipulations end here, Drake... and with your death, the Federation-and the Whole, will be safe"
(Drake erupts in quantum fire) Hand real World Heart to L'Miren
"The Whole must be as One"
Yes, I hate Franklin Drake. Worst character in STO. He's not incompetent I grant you, but is damned clos to if not actually evil.
1) No Stupid World Heart, because it was a lame Deus Ex Machina that never once was mentioned throughout STO and made zero sense that Iconians ended the war because of it.
2) Give a better explaination why the Iconians started a war with the Alpha Quadrant, no the Entire Galaxy, when their grudge was really because of Sela? And why the Iconians never fought a war against the very people who destroyed their culture.
3) Added more drama and struggle into the dialogue, make the players feel that this is their final showdown.
4) Add a Oh S! moment by having Iconian Planet Killers appear and ready to attack the Earth. Either the Earth is destroyed as you enter the portal (with the time ship) and return moments before the beam is fired. Or you enter the portal before the beam is fired and return just in time to stop the beam from being fired.
5) Have you go to Iconia, not to Earth. Also could've added dialogue that helped get exact temporal coordinates in previous episodes since "200,000 years" is an awfully big when.
admiral janeway begs to differ
#LegalizeAwoo
A normie goes "Oh, what's this?"
An otaku goes "UwU, what's this?"
A furry goes "OwO, what's this?"
A werewolf goes "Awoo, what's this?"
"It's nothing personal, I just don't feel like I've gotten to know a person until I've sniffed their crotch."
"We said 'no' to Mr. Curiosity. We're not home. Curiosity is not welcome, it is not to be invited in. Curiosity...is bad. It gets you in trouble, it gets you killed, and more importantly...it makes you poor!"
some missing details, specifically going back through the portal to return to a future without iconian interference.
i mean without those iconians, everything you knew that had existed up to that point would of completely changed. and as a result, this fan-fic needs to reflect that.
Example:
As your ship, Kagren's ship and the Dominion ship head back through the portal. these ships come out the other side and discover a destroyed ESD wreck in orbit as Earth shows signs of extensive bombardment patterns. even though it happened a while back, there arevisible signs of tectonic activity, fires and magma everywhere such was the strength of the attack. You and your crew look on, stunned by what you're witnessing on the view screen.
You ask your sensor officer next to you, "what... what happened here?.." as ultimately the realisation of how futile the whole mission has been from the start begins to sink into place as you raise your arms and connect your hands behind your head in frustration, then release them moments later as you drop your arms in a rather dismissive but very angry way. The sensor officer after reading your body language quickly interjects, "Sir, the weapons signatures point to a borg attack, stardate 44004.2. Sir that was 2367!".
You suddenly realise what is going on here. "Scan for library information on the planets surface". Within seconds, the console lit up like a christmas tree and alarm bells go off, the sensor officer looks at the captain, "Sir, reports we recovered suggest that Captain Picard went to learn more of the Iconian device on the surface, reports suggested the device malfuctioned. Picard, Data and Worf were never found." as you looked at the sensor officer with a serious look and very much surprised, "What?". As the sensor officer was about to respond, the Dominion ship hailed your ship.
Sela's face appeared on the viewer, withered and aged, the blonde hair and partial romulan features on display. "Captain, i just realised something. In an attempt to stop the Iconians from ever leaving, i planted a virus into the gateway which transmitted to every other gateway on Iconia and around the galaxy. I did what i had to do." as the viewer instantly returns to Earths battered features.
"Sela did this, she planted that virus and it remained in the computer systems of the Iconian device.. Picard and his team would of never stood a chance, and without a Human voice for the borg..." as you attempted to reason out what you thought was the truth as the sensor officer interrupted, ".. Captain, the Borg took Captain Riker as it's human interface, that left Commander Shelby to take over the Enterprise, however she was unable to stop the Borg from attacking Earth." as the sensor officer brought up the viewer with a sensor map of the local area, "This is where we are, this is Earth and this over here.. this.. this is the Enterprise-D. It's mostly destroyed". As you take on of your heavy arms and planted your hand on your forehead for a few moments.
You take your hand away from your head and drop your arm, you look at your commander, then return to the viewer screen. you ask the sensor officer, "What has happened elsewhere?" as the sensor officer finds out. after tapping a number of buttons, the atmosphere on the bridge is erriely quiet and tense. "Sir, Qo'noS, Romulus, Bajor, Cardassia..." As the officers head raises and continues "many other worlds are completely destroyed. the few sensor probes that have remained undamaged have transmitted these finds and all of the them show the same Borg weapons signatures.", as you think out a loud, "Sela did it, again!".
Kagren hails your ship and his face appears, he looks very upset with anguish written into every facial feature. "It.. Seems things didn't work out after all. Qo'noS is gone, everything we all hold dear is gone. I don't understand.. I Don't understand." as the viewer cuts back to Earth. You pick up the Azure ball and realise how futile it has all been, the Iconian war doesnt exist any more and the device you have in your hand is nothing more then a fancy paper weight.
Wondering whats next, unable to time travel again. the story ends here.
/End example.
i mean there is plenty of detail that can be filled in still.
Been around since Dec 2010 on STO and bought LTS in Apr 2013 for STO.
This is the second time I had to respond to you with you clearly ignoring the multiple times it was mentioned in Midnight that Sela's actions were the reasons for the war.
And again T'kets never took revenge on the races that destroyed Iconia and instigated wars with other races that had nothing to do with the attack on Iconia. Like the Preservers, the Undine, the Delta Quadrant Species. Need I go on?
If this was the way they were going to go, open war, when what the hell took them so long? Consider that:
- The Heralds are a clearly superior fighting force (as far as plot is concerned, so obviously not accounting for God-like player power)
- All of their behind the scenes manipulation achieved nothing in the long run, the universe still managed to unite
- And when they did unite they were at full strength, since in previous wars we never even got a hint to massive losses or a substantial hit to ships or manpower. Not until the Iconian War.
My own take is that The Iconians should have remained shadows, when the time came to deal with them it should have been a repeat of history. An Invasion by us into some dark corner of the universe they were hiding out in. The Heralds would have mounted a stiff defence but we break through, then the big reveal.
The Iconians should have been physically weak and frail creatures. We learn their side of events that led them to attempt a coup d'etat on the entire galaxy, and T'Ket specifically on his gripe with Romulans that led him to contact Sela and Hakeev and convince them to cause Hobus.
The serpent that convinced them to eat from the tree, so to speak. And the reason? Well the Iconians turned up on Dewa III after fleeing from Iconia, and S'harien's Swords were discovered on that planet when the republic first showed up.
I'd paint it as Romulans being responsible for something that pissed T'Ket off while he and the other Iconians were hiding out on the planet in secret. Maybe they stole technology? Maybe it's just a simple case of a lesser species daring to settle on their planet?
That'd be my angle at least. None of this time travel nonsense.
The ending Cryptic wrote is how the story should have ended. It is far more in line with the ideals of Star Trek in general than what I read at the top of the page.
Which was, to be polite, not very good at all. Too predictable. Too derivative. Plot holes in it I could drive a Scimitar through. A being two hundred thousand years old cannot tell the difference between a genuine World Heart and a bomb-rigged fake? Iconians in tha past cannot see through Drake's disguise immediately? People in the game struggling to destroy Iconian ships with Mk XIV Gold gear yet Drake makes a bomb which neatly destroys all of the Iconian ships everywhere? Earth survives the near orbit explosion of what amounts to a super nova with no damage at all nor any lingering after effects? Sela, who is one of the most xenophobic of Rihannsu, agrees to go to work for an alien enemy intelligence( I am using this word guardly here) organization merely to save her own skin? Because one of the most intelligent and devious antagonists in all of the Trek universe suddenly has no options or resources at her disposal?
But mostly it was boring. The other stuff I could forgive given time. But boring is inexcusable.
I actually do want Section 31 in the spotlight for a major arc but I don't want the arc to be pro-Section 31. I'd like to see them TRIBBLE things up if not outright get discredited and hunted by the Federation.
I want to arrest Franklin Drake for real. Not as some "haha, this was my plan all along" way, but the "and you will spend time in this rehabilitation camp until you see the errors of your way."
I activate my combracer. "Open a channel to the Proconsul's office, Priority Tal'Diann Zero-Zero-One."
Communications Officer: "Ie, Fvillhu."
I speak again: "Jolan'tru, Proconsul. It is done. The Pretender is dead, in front of witnesses. I will have her corpse brought to ch'Mol'Rihan for verification."
The voice of D'Tan: "Well done, t'Charvon. Your people owe you a great debt. Stop by my office in Hachae s'Temer when you're finished with the pleasantries."
I speak once more: "Ie, Rekkhai."
Then I walk over to the stunned audience, tag the body for transport, and the discussion proceeds as it did, with one extra bit of dialogue in which I point out the facts that I executed a dangerous escaped prisoner and that the action was an internal matter of the Republic, and without me ever having to hear the voice of incompetent condescension or pretend remorse again.
"Wait for Sela to finish speaking."
*turns bright green with rage, draws Honor Blade, and ends her speaking right then and there*
T'Ket probably gave all the Iconians a anti-Patrick Steward speech about how they should now firmly show who are the masters, to go back to be fearsome warriors and to no longer let the Whole be shattered. As to why they didn't fight against the original attackers, who says they didn't once they built their army?
True. granted, I found the complete cooperation between former enemies to be a good indication this is the final showdown. In Surface Tension, the Klingons have to be persuaded by S'Taass to help ESD while clearly stating it's just because the Undine are worse enemies than the Federation. In Midnight, a Gorn ship doesn't hesitate to divert course to help Jupiter Station and Noye doesn't even make a snarky comment about us, "Voyagers" or even a "help me, you idiots" when his ship is in the middle of a crossfire.
Actually, after you enter the portal and Jarok arrives while someone is quoting (rather boringly, which kills the mood) a line of The Charge of the Light Brigade which is about a futile charge. Then, it fades to black and you hears explosions too loud to be merely red shirt ships blowing up, so it's implied in this timeline that ESD is destroyed, Earth falls and everyone perishes. At least, that's how I interpreted that.
But to me, that importance was never really conveyed. And it suddenly became a plot device and not a something that was eluded to in previous episodes that could say, "hey if we found this, it could stop the war". That's why I said it was a bad DeM.
Honestly, there is no information that can confirm nor deny it.
But to me, given Data's research into the Iconian language in TNG, I find it interesting that they knew more about Iccobar, Dinasian, and Dewan languages than the Iconians. Which to me sounded like those cultures could be still around. Of course, we knew what happened to the Dewans.
Possible, but not really as impactful unless you had something like a final voice line that nails in the point.
He was his mother from another other.
There is no explanation anywhere in the lore why this trick isn't used any more often. Especially since it doesn'T seem to be require all that much - a warp-capable ship that you barely know how to operate like a Bird of Prey crewed by a bunch of humans and a half-vulcan suffice. I'd imagine a lot of Ferengi using slingshot maneuvers to make a killing in business opportunities with their advanced knowledge.
There must be some form of limitations. Maybe the simplest is that it's not very precise or lacks range. Spock didn't need to go back in time specifically to the year he went to find us some whales. (Not even imprisoned whales.)
It might even be that the time you travel back is fixed (based on star?). IIRC, the time travel via sun-slingshot was used in TOS, too, and it was used to get back to observe a mysterious event in the 20th century. Could be that the time difference was the same in both cases.
Spock's calculations might have been more to ensure that the ship doesn't fall apart...
The thing is...or well supposed to be a deep dark secret almost no one knows...or if that doesn't work you can fall back on the temporal time patrol keeps those evil Ferengi from making a cheap profit!
I actually like that idea of having the Romulans that were on Dewa III TRIBBLE off the Iconians to the point that they seek vengeance by destroying Romulus. An entire story arc could go around the idea of what happened to these Romulans as well as expanding the New Romulus map.