Star Trek: Tesseract -- Part II

[mirandafave]

What a chapter. Four thousnad odd words of John Quigley taking charge in the worst of moments and having little choices available to him. And when choices were then available to him, it was the choice of quickening another man's death in order to use Herk's expertise and knowledge to save the ship! Talk about a tough situation for JQ!

John has had to make a decision based on the lives of all the others now depending upon him. He could not spare the luxury of worrying about Herk alone. [Of course had it been Maren one does wonder what would have been done then!] So he should be admired for the courage he has had to show. Albeit an awful decision to make and choice to live with. But given the circumstances and the fact that for all of his effots so far, he hasn't gotten everyone out of danger yet. They still have to evacuate and to find everyone still alive to get off the ship. Traumatic events for all on the Sol.

On top of that, we have the setting of carnage and a really beat up ship. And John is working with a rather lame duck in Anit. Loved seeing this l'ess than stellar officer in crisis situation' react to everything. Not everyone can be a John Q or a Herk. Nice bit of characterisation and throwing in a little bit of a difference to our normal trek experiences. Also loved Herk, the little we got of him. Nice guy - well for a Tellarite that is! Aw.

Anyway, great stuff. Thanks for the read.

[CeJay]

Looks like John gets a healthy dose of what it means to be in command here. Pain, sacrifice and leadership. It's all in a day's work for a Starfleet officer. And this day appears to be far from over.

Nicely done.

[CaptainSarine]

Wow. What an amazing chapter!

So great to see JQ step up to the plate and knock one out of the park. A horrible decision, a life or death situation, but he pulled through. I especially loved this line:

John took a deep breath and blew it out. “Yeah. Yeah, maybe we did,” he conceded angrily. “No ,” he corrected himself suddenly, “that’s exactly what we did. Welcome to Command. We did what we had to do. If we hadn’t done that, we’d still be at square one.

Truly showed JQ coming into his own, working through his emotions quickly but surely and stepping into that command role. I'm astonished at how you managed to unveil so much character development in one single chapter (granted a long chapter).

And I haven't even mentioned the character of Herk, a brave Tellarite who remains a courageous noncom right through to the end, a class act who only cares about getting the ship back together and those civilians safe. Sir, we knew you for only a few moments, but we salute you!

Another great piece of character work, combined with some stellar description, tense writing and brilliant dialogue. Well done Kes!!!

[KimM]

Some of your best - Kes7 - I'm thrilled and amazed and miffed I have to WAIT for another chapter! Your leap from one ship to the other is jarring and all the more effective for the horrific scene JQ finds himself in charge of. I know I'd be blubbering in a pile on the floor.

I know I should expect no less from any Starfleet member but I've never thought of Tellarites in particularly positive ways. What a wonderful, well crafted chapter. Thank you!

[Gibraltar]

I really feel for John here, as well as Anit, but they clearly did the right thing… even Herk knew it was necessary. This likely won’t be the last person John losses under his command if he enjoys any longevity to his career, but I doubt it will get any easier with time. Anit has the luxury of his moral indignation, simply by the fact that he wasn’t in command. John, however, has to live with the aftermath of that decision.

This was a very well drawn scene with plenty of tension, angst, and recrimination to go around… especially well done. You made me care about Herk (damn monosyllabic-named Tellarites! ) in a short amount of time.

[kes7]

Wow, thanks everyone! That chapter was a fairly tough one to write, so I'm glad it came across as well as it did.

miranda fave -- I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter. John did the only thing he could think of to do, which was use the one resource available to him to get the ship fixed, and use it to the fullest. Unfortunately, that 'resource' was a member of his crew. You're right, though, if it had been Maren, things might have ended very differently. We've seen his lack of objectivity when it comes to people he's attached to before. As for Anit, he's a very competent pilot ... but apparently not a guy you want around in a real emergency. At least he's following orders and functional, but his attitude sucks for sure. And Herk -- yeah, I was sad when he died, too. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!

CeJay -- Thanks. This is a crappy day for John to get his first taste of meaningful command, but if he makes it through, he'll have learned some pretty important lessons. And you're right -- the day isn't over yet, not by a long shot.

CaptainSarine -- I'm glad you think John "knocked it out of the park" -- I'm not sure he feels that way, but I'm sure if he could read your comment he'd be grateful for the vote of confidence. He's always wanted to be in command, but I'm pretty sure this was not the way he had envisioned the job. As for Herk, yeah, he was awesome. He knew he had moments left, so he did his best to make them count. I doubt John Quigley will ever, ever forget him. Thanks so much for the very kind comments!

oldstredshrtevr -- Wow, thank you for the high praise! So glad you enjoyed. Sorry about the wait between chapters!

Gibraltar -- Thank you for the thoughtful comment. Herk did know what had to be done ... he had the perspective that comes with years of experience and half a lifetime lived already -- in marked contrast to John (27) and Anit (25). John might have been the ranking officer in that destroyed room, but he was smart enough to follow his instinct and defer to Herk's superior knowledge. Of course, he'll live with the memory of this moment for the rest of his life. I seriously doubt he'll ever forget the many lessons he's learned today -- and has yet to learn.

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All right ... I'm off to go camping for a couple of days! So my checking in here will be infrequent until Monday. But then ... I'll write some more. Thanks again for reading and commenting!

[milo bloom]

Wow, now that's pushing characters (and your audience) to the line.

[kes7]

Milo Bloom wrote:

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Wow, now that's pushing characters (and your audience) to the line.

^^ Hmm. I don't know if that's a good thing or not, but thanks for reading!

[tau136]

Gibraltar wrote:

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Anit has the luxury of his moral indignation, simply by the fact that he wasn’t in command. John, however, has to live with the aftermath of that decision.

Just to say, before pitching into the story, Anit doesn't have any luxury at all; he'll be second guessing himself for a long time to come as to whether he could have done anything different. Intellectually he knows it was inevitable, viscerally he was the one with Herk's life at his hands. That leaves a mark; believe me !

I'm late into this ep so most stuff has been said. We were bound to jump back into the Sun & Moon eventually but this was radically different from most crises in Trek — it was so absolute. In canon that hardly ever happens outside resettable situations (dreams / timetravel / et al) and we aren't going to get many of those in Kesworld.

We were thrown into a really in-your-face situation. One that highlights so many of the weaknesses of Tesseract (are these harbingers): the size of the beast, the power dependence, the civilian contingent and the predominantly sub par crew. That's always been one of my personal caveats about the later Trek ships; their sheer insularity and the inability to eyeball the universe in any way sans powered sensors. There are no handy portholes anymore.

John . . . John he can't help getting attached to people. That is why he was put at arm's length; being unable to function effectively at all around people he cares for and you could see him even beginning to bond with Herk but this once he had to bite the bullet. Quite a counterpoint to Adele's tough command style last time around and yet . . . would we see it was as difficult for her as it was for John here; if we had the same running insight into her thought processes?

This would be a runner to replace Kobayashi Maru.

[Gibraltar]

It is reminiscent of the command-test Deanna Troi took on TNG where she had to order LaForge to his death in order to save the ship.

Granted, making that decision on a holodeck where you're 'killing' a simulated person versus actually ordering a real person to their death are night and day.

[kes7]

tau136 --This was sort of a real life bridge officer's test, wasn't it? I suppose John "passed" it, if you look at it that way. But you're right, he's an affectionate person who forms attachments quickly. It's why he's well-liked by almost everyone, but it has already bitten him in the ass more than once and may yet again before this day is out. There are a lot of injured people on the Sol. I think it's interesting that the problems of the Sol made you think of the possibilities for far worse problems on the Tesseract. We'll see what happens there! Lastly, I'm interested in your use of the word "sub-par" to describe the crew. You really think they're below average? I'd disagree with that. Most of them truly do excel in their field. A lot of the officers are fairly young, because it's a seven year mission that may take even longer than that if something goes wrong, not to mention if they get stranded out there, it's a LONG way home. They may be imperfect and untested in combat, but they are proficient at their jobs. (And I'd point out that we haven't even seen 95% of the crew -- because they're just sitting around boringly doing their jobs very well. The people we see more frequently just happen to bring the drama -- 'cause it's a story. )

Gibraltar -- Agreed, holodeck vs. real life is night and day different.

[tau136]

kes7 wrote:

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tau136Lastly, I'm interested in your use of the word "sub-par" to describe the crew. You really think they're below average?

Begging your pardon ma’am . . . but yes they are sub par; at least so far as you can say (& you did) that they've yet to reach their potential. My point was this isn't a ship with a seasoned nucleus of staff or one that has cherry picked the best from every quarter. They've still to anneal as individuals and as a crew. They should have had time to shake down but they've been flung into the thick from the start; so now the question is are they going to rise to the situation or be overwhelmed by it.

[kes7]

^^^No need to beg anyone's pardon! You're definitely entitled to your opinion. I appreciate the clarification and I agree -- this crew has a lot of room to grow. (And I liked your dissertation before you edited it, so no worries there, either. )

Working on the next chapter -- of course it's also one of "those" times of year at work, which is slowing me down. But it's getting there! Hoping to have it up this weekend.

[di_mar]

Yeah, I've nearly finished Part I now! I've never actually skipped to Part II on a story before reading part I.. but this did look ever so tempting. I am trying my best NOT to read any more until I have finished part one. I have been naughty and read a few sentences. Gosh, your writing is addictive.

[kes7]

di_mar wrote:

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Yeah, I've nearly finished Part I now! I've never actually skipped to Part II on a story before reading part I.. but this did look ever so tempting. I am trying my best NOT to read any more until I have finished part one. I have been naughty and read a few sentences. Gosh, your writing is addictive.

^^Wow, thanks, di mar! That's quite a compliment.

I find myself in the same position Joel says he's in with Restoration -- I can rush the next chapter and it'll move things along but be less than stellar, or I can hold out for quality. I'm aiming for quality here ... so I think it'll be another day or so. Sorry!