Greetings! We've recently concluded our "Chain of Command" line by line in the TNG forum! After each completed thread, I'm randomly picking someone who participated to choose the next episode we do. The lucky winner this time around was Ziz! And Ziz has chosen the two-part story of "In a Mirror, Darkly" as our next line-by-line adventure! For any unfamiliar with our "game," you are asked to post only a single line (defined as one character speaking without interruption by another character) per message. You can post as often as you like, but someone else must post a line in between your posts. As is our standard practice, we're doing these two episodes as a single thread. Our "rule" is that if the episode has a "To Be Continued..." on the end, it is done in a single thread, but if it's just an arc of related episodes, each episode is a separate thread. As before, at the conclusion of this thread, CoveTom will pick someone at random from among all the participants to choose the next episode we do. Enjoy!
In Bozeman, Montana, April 5th, 2063, an alien ship descends toward the ground. A crowd of humans assembles and watches. It lands, and the hatch opens, 3 aliens emerge, Zephram Cochrane walks out in front of the human crowd. The lead alien walks toward Cochrane. The alien pulls back his hood to reveal his Vulcan ears. The Vulcan raises his right arm in the traditional Vulcan hand salute. Vulcan: Live Long and Prosper.
(Cochrane tries to mimic his salute, then (in close up) we see his hand go into his coat and pull out a particle weapon with which he shoots the Vulcan dead.) MAN: Board that ship! Take everything you can! (Credits open with menacing music, accompanied with images of conflict instead of exploration, with the final image as the logo of the Terran Empire!)
Enterprise at Warp Forrest: Captain's Starlog, January 13, 2155. We've left Gorlan Station and have set a course to rendezvous with our assault fleet. Major Reed and the Doctor have asked for a few minutes to show me their latest project. In the Agony Chamber, a Tellarite is tortured in the Agony Booth.
PHLOX: It can stimulate the pain center of virtually any humanoid. A synaptic scan calibrates it for each species.
Reed: Well, that's what's so exceptional about this device. Traditional forms of punishment can overwhelm the nervous system. After a time, the brain ceases to feel anything.
PHLOX: These sensors continually shift the stimulation from one nerve cluster to another, keeping the subject in a constant state of agony.
REED: I'm not certain. I suspect he was late for his duty shift. Aren't all Tellarites guilty of something? (Forrest leaves, and Archer scurries after him)
FORREST: We're going to rendezvous with the fleet as ordered. I'm not going into Tholian space based on data from some anonymous source. Maybe you haven't heard, but we have a rebellion to put down. The Tholians aren't part of it.
ARCHER: You saw the data. This technology would give us a tactical advantage. We could end the war tomorrow.