Welcome to the US of K... Neatly tied up with a star-spangled bow... Thanks!! rbs
STO Phoenix Compendium
- Thread starter Hawku
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Welcome to the US of K... Neatly tied up with a star-spangled bow... Thanks!! rbs
That really made me laugh.
It reminded me of something my father use to say when he didn't agree, "I like the way you think, but..."
-Will
lol There's something about the Klingon way.
Thanks!
Haha! That's awesome.
Author's notes: These are compiled posts between another player and myself for the First City RP on the Star Trek Online forums. This continues on from the last FC entry and my STO character was Kadaj. Written from September to October 2017. It's the last post for this RP, as it fizzled out. I do like that it ends on them going into battle. I also want to revist Kadaj and what came of his side-missions at some point.
First City, Pages 5-7
I.K.S. Gainsborough, Bridge
"Brace for impact!!" Kadaj yelled over the noise, and the Gainsborough slid into the surface, breaking off a pylon and then another. The saucer-head of the ship then hit the drag of the ground, breaking its neck off and sending it flying behind the rest of the ship, while the hull tore apart upon the friction of contact. Pieces flew everywhere before the mission pod exploded.
---
Planet Gon'Cra
Kro'nok just sat there, looking at the sizeable chunk of Bird of Prey, evidently, the head, that has landed on and thus crushed one of his warriors, the rest of whom stood with him just a few meters from the crash site.
"That was close," remarked Kro'nok, getting up, slowly and painfully. "This ship looks like it might be the remains of the... what was it called, the Gainsborough? Let's look for survivors of the bridge crew."
"General," said one of the warriors. "You are clearly injured. Allow us to find the survivors while you heal for the next battle."
"Ugh..." said the General, not happy about the suggestion. "Go right ahead, I will still be searching for myself... albeit slowly."
They began scanning for life signs, but the tricorders simply weren't working, either by technical failures or a jamming signal... they couldn't tell which. They looked with their eyes instead.
---
I.K.S. Gainsborough
One by one, each of the organic officers from the Gainsborough regained consciousness. Everyone was injured, and Kadaj found a sharp piece of hull piercing his abdomen. Millie grabbed her holographic module and they began an attempt to exit the head-portion of their now-destroyed B'Rotlh-class bird of prey.
The head section tilted slightly towards the rear. Two of Kro'nok's warriors had found their way into what was left of the corridor, and were looking further inside.
The structure of the head began to creak and moan with metallic sounds, appearing to get weaker. Kadaj had wrapped a torn cloth around his injury but was still dripping blood onto the deck plating. Feeling that time was running short, they realized they had to get out before it collapsed on itself. The group, unarmed, then reached a pile of broken hull, completely blocking the corridor and any path to a way out.
The two warriors eventually found themselves on the other side. "Anyone in there?"
"It is I, Kadaj, and my crew."
"General, we've found their captain!"
Kro'nok walked over with the team's medic, just in case. "Are you alive?"
"I think I'm bleeding out," Kadaj said, checking his soaked bandaging as he took a seat on the floor. His crew held him up and tried to place more cloth over his abdomen. "We could use some assistance getting through this debris."
Kro'nok instructed his warriors to begin removing the debris, and soon joined in to assist.
Piece by piece, the blocked passageway became free again, and Kadaj saw the brave warriors before him. "Any chance you have a medkit?" he asked, weakening. "We used up our last one after the most maddening, pointless night of blood wine consuming."
Kro'nok sighed and motioned them to the medic just outside the ship, who happened to have a single medkit in her possession.
---
Outside
Kadaj was helped off the ship to the medic, where his wounds began to be tended to. "Forget me," said Kadaj to Kro'nok. "If you have a reason for being here, a mission perhaps, then you must complete it so that our efforts in this system are not wasted."
"This is was not the original plan," replied Kro'nok. "As my ship was largely disabled, we detected some alien signal coming from down here. So we came to investigate, but we have time. Besides, I cannot allow you to rot here and die a dishonorable death! Come die in battle instead!"
"General, your words inspire me," Kadaj said as his wounds were patched up. He was then helped to his feet by his officers. "I may not have the physical strength I had before the crash, but that has only opened my eyes to the laid-back lifestyle I once lived. I will join you in this endeavour. Since you are the ranking officer here, I will follow. But first, we must call out to Sto-vo-kor, and alert them of their new arrivals." He gestured to Kro'nok's fallen officers.
Kro'nok looked to his fallen officers and ran over, kneeling by them and looking into the one officer's eyes. "I don't remember beaming down with fallen officers, and our ship certainly hasn't crashed here. What happened?"
"Romulans... mumbled the fallen, but still alive officer. "Too many of them. The... they... will be... coming..."
"Romulans? Where?" asked Kro'nok, as his officer slowly died. Kro'nok looked to the others, who were already dead. After a moment, he looked up and shouted into the sky. Then came the disruptor fire from up the nearby hill, which narrowly missed the Klingon General. There were a squad of Romulans, all of whom looked identical. Medium sized, dark hair, a tattoo on their face... Tovan Khevs.
Kadaj joined in the shout, also alerting the afterlife of any of Kro'nok's warriors the Gansborough took out on the way down. When a group of Romulans began firing, he and his crew quickly got into defensive mode. Millie came out from the wreckage and threw disruptors to each of Kadaj's team. They opened fire on the identical Romulans.
Kro'nok and his warriors also returned fire and the Romulans began to retreat, throwing a few photon grenades back as they vanished behind the masses of dirt, grass, and even sand.
"Well, that was....... something," Kadaj said. "What next?"
"How tough are ya!?" shouted Kro'nok to Kadaj.
"Some would say I am a stout warrior," Kadaj replied, slapping his chest with his own hand. But the slap only proved to send pains throughout his upper body. He gritted his teeth under pressure, with a fake smile, attempting to mask the pain and suffering in favour of kinship. "Heh. Heh."
Kro'nok just grumbled, "We will rest, then."
Tooms walked over and stabbed a large Lethean hypospray into Kadaj's back. The shock of such an intrusion threw the Klingon into a large growl. "What the Gre'thor!?"
The other man took a few steps back, to watch the results upon the Captain. Kadaj took to his feet to confront Tooms. "It's not what you think, Kadaj," Tooms said, backing up. "This will give you all the power you need."
Kadaj then felt the serum coursing through his blood and giving him a rush of energy, not unlike adrenaline. "Uggh!" He fell to his knees for a moment, before it all subsided. "First the Tzenkethi, now this? Explain yourself!"
"Just know that I'm on your side," Tooms said. "More to the point, I need you on my side. At least after this challenge, I require your help." To that, the Lethean appeared to be tight-lipped.
Kro'nok just stared, "What?"
Kadaj glanced at Kro'nok before one more visual assessment of the Lethean. "I think I know what is going on here. Just before I left on this mission, I was contacted by another Lethean in the Mempa sector that wanted me to take out a group of his own people. Which side Tooms is on, I don't know."
"Yours, Captain," Tooms replied with a shrug. "All I can say is, it's in my people's interests to have you on our side. To that end, I will assist in your mission here."
"Alright," replied Kro'nok. "Rest up quickly. We should head out for the Romulans and their facility at night, as to better avoid their sights until we're close enough to attack. Until then, we can rest a bit."
In the distance, the sun was slowly lowering anyway, so it wouldn't likely be much more than a couple hours until nightfall. Perhaps less, considering the Klingons didn't know just how long day might last on this world.
The group cleared up the mess around the ship hull, and started a camp fire next to it. Kadaj felt his body morphing, slowly, and knew he needed some time to adapt. He took a seat with his crew around the campfire, thinking about what was to come.
Kro'nok sat by the fire with his remaining warriors, turning to one of them. "We should scout the area while there's still light. Come."
Kro'nok got up and walked towards the hill, followed by the young warrior he called on. They looked to see what was ahead.
Kadaj watched as his crew, Spiegel and Millie fought over the last scrap of gagh rations until Kadaj fell asleep. He soon woke to disruptor fire, and when he looked to see what was the source, it was his own crew chasing off into the distance.
The two returned, out of breath. "Some petaQ knocked Tooms out and took him. We didn't get a good look to see who it was," Millie reported.
"Readings?" the Klingon sat up.
Spiegal tossed him the tricorder. "Whoever it was, had a lifesign dampener. I would've chased him, but I'm on an empty stomach."
"You just ate," Millie turned to him, accusingly.
The man shrugged. "I've got a high metabolism."
"Keep scanning, but stay close," Kadaj said. "Our priority is to battle the Romulans on this world."
Kro'nok rushed back over. "What happened?"
"The Lethean was taken by an unknown," Kadaj reported. "What is this place? Is there some kind of conspiracy going on with it?"
"All I know is that we picked up a signal from a base, and that we've found identical Romulans in the area," said Kro'nok. "We also picked up a duplicate of my dead science officer, so they might be connected. I have no idea if the Tzenkethi are involved."
"That is odd. Do you suspect a threat to the Klingon Empire all the way out here?"
"Not yet," replied the General. "But anything is possible."
"To be honest, we have a tendency to perceive everything as a threat," Kadaj ruminated. "My cousin Roghar waved 'hello' to me from a distance once and I shot him down so hard out of instinct. Took him three months to recover."
Kro'nok just looked at Kadaj, eyes wide open. Kadaj nodded. Kro'nok shook his head. "You need discipline, Captain. A true warrior knows when to not shoot at somebody..."
"Oh, he doesn't count. Besides, I've proven myself a capable warrior, having won the Forcas Tournament more times than anyone in my weight class, on top of several engagements with the Federation, Undine, Borg, Iconians, well the list goes on. True, my wild and untamed nature has gotten me into a few situations, but it's also afforded me equally positive outcomes. It's who I am, and it shall not be the death of me."
"Good, we should share our tales of battle later," said Kro'nok, "now, it appears that the sun has set. We should begin our attack."
Kadaj looked at his hands, more than prepared for battle. "I don't know why, but I am filled with so much more adrenaline than ever before. I could take down an entire army. Let's do this, General."
"Warriors, are you all ready!?" Kro'nok shouted to both his comrades and Kadaj's crew.
Millie and Kadaj shouted in response. Spiegel cocked his rifle.
Kro'nok's warriors started yelling and bringing out their disruptors and bat'leths. Kro'nok readied his Honor Guard Pulsewave rifle and motioned forward. "To battle!"
Kro'nok charged forward, followed by his warriors. The area ahead was fairly flat, without much of anything resembling cover, just a sea of sand with a single outpost barely peeking out. There was notably more sand to the east. If the sand had all been spread out, the outpost would likely have been hidden entirely.
Kadaj followed, shouting along with the others.
War weary, yet battle hungry, ever the Klingon way. They all have a high metabolism.
Nice.
-Will
Nice.
-Will
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Yeah, Klingons are in a constant state of dialed-to-11.
Author's notes: This was written in November 2017 as part of the Star Trek Online forums Unofficial Literary Challenge #41. This introduces another one of my Captains. The Orions are playable in the KDF on STO. The Warp-10 salamanders were last seen in LC 67. My bickering Klingon group comes from my original Phoenix-X series. They were last seen briefly in my Legends of the Phoenix thread, "Devil's Leftovers, Part II".
Unofficial Literary Challenge #41: Prompt #1: You beam aboard Deep Space 9 for some much needed shore leave and find the Department of Temporal Investigations waiting for you. You're under arrest... for something you haven't done yet! You are to be temporally reintegrated with your future self, and then made to stand trial for your future crimes. What is your reaction to the situation at hand? What crime(s) did you commit, and why? How do you react to your future self's deeds?
Unofficial Literary Challenge #41
"Tempus Fugit"
The Ty'Gokor-class I.K.S. Valentine dropped out of warp and approached Deep Space 9. Captain Elektra, an Orion, sat back, slouched on her command chair eyeing the view on the main screen.
"What a spectacular design of slave-constructed space architecture," deadpanned the Orion female, quite bored. "I'd take a holo-image, but those devices are so large and clunky that I very well can never use them."
Kortos, an elderly Klingon, turned from his Science station. "It's odd how dated technology sometimes looks. Ever see those Starfleet tricorders from the 23rd century? You need a bookshelf just to store them."
"Starfleet is one large petaQ-pie!" announced Targon, another elderly Klingon, from Tactical.
Amos, yet a third elderly Klingon, turned from Operations. "Exactly. It almost sickens me that us old Klingons all served on exchange aboard a Starfleet vessel once before. Nothing but weird, reality-bending warp bubbles, space jellies and close-up viewscreen communiqués with Ferengis."
"At least they regularly turn rocks into replicators," interjected Bena, another Orion female, from the Helm station. "All we can do is grow hair on our heads and throw metal blood wine cups at each other."
Elektra got up to prepare for boarding. "Didn't Klingons once go bald? Now, a bald man, that would certainly lift my spirits," she smirked to herself.
"What'd I miss?" said the fourth elderly Klingon and Chief engineer, Grath, as he entered the Bridge whilst trying to remove several tangled brushes out of his hair. "I should not have killed our Bolian barber. I see that now."
---
Later, Elektra slung her way into the Operations section of Deep Space 9, with Doctor Kronk, an Orion male, in tow. There, he placed a medium-sized container holding a Salamander-type alien life form from the Delta Quadrant.
"Our haul, Ambassador S'taass," announced Elektra. "A Warp-10 descendant of Kathryn Janeway and Tom Paris who was plotting to overthrow the Empire through some kind of reverse-evolution tactic."
Kronk nodded. "They appear to have some power beyond the laws of nature." He then looked at the Gorn Ambassador. "By the way, weren't you just on Qo'noS? And I could have sworn I saw you on the Jenolan Dyson Sphere?"
"I get arounddddd for the benefit of your crew and your crew alone," reassured the taller alien. "Which isss not unlike your Captainnn. You sssee, Klingon Temporal Intelligenssse iss here to reintegrate you with your future sssself."
Two Klingons approached and nodded to them. "I am Temporal Investigator, Agent Dolkor."
"And I am Agent Lofsky," said the female one. "We're here because an elusive future alternate-you has committed a time travel crime and now must be reintegrated with this-timeline-you so the resulting merged-yous can stand trial. Side effects may include double-head."
Elektra furrowed her brow. "My, my. A duplicate-me? How irresistible. Unfortunately, as she already exists, I posit that both of us has a right to life, separately."
"You think you can dictate the rules of time travel paradoxes! We reintegrate people on a daily basis," claimed Dolkor.
Lofsky crossed her arms. "Besides, if we allowed all time travel duplicates to maintain their existence, the galaxy would have literally double the population," she ruffled. "And don't bring up the disappearing thing. That only happens in alternate multiverses."
"So, you're saying temporal shenanigans is so common, that you're basically committing a form of murder upon the duodecillions upon duodecillions of people for your own unchecked sense of morality?" Elektra asked.
Dolkor huffed. "Hey, Janeway got to end Tuvix! We want a piece of that action. As for you: You were caught sleeping with an Iconian who, immediately after, launched an attack on Qo'noS."
"I knew it!" blustered Doctor Kronk. "Your lust-filled, sleep-with-every-alien ways are nothing but trouble! Just because Kirk did it, doesn't mean everyone has to."
Elektra rolled her eyes. "He just laid the groundwork— or, spacework, that is— for like-minded people to adopt a command interface with the smorgasbord of attractive people that is this galaxy. Such activities are my inalienable rights, as is my rights to remain alive as I am now." She tapped her wrist communicator. "And, I knew you were coming, since her elusive time-travel incursion was, in fact, to inform me of you herself."
"What is the meaning of all this!?" came the sudden flash of a Klingon, Corvok, bald, from the 29th century Temporal Integrity Commission. "Your jobs as present-day-Investigators is not to enforce integrations, but to report what we and your superiors future-past-present-ask of you. This is why Starfleet is always better than us, in any time period!"
Elektra looked him over and smiled. "Well, aren't you enticing. They finally outlawed hair on men in the future, have they?"
"There was an uproar of hair-fueled civil war in the 27th century. The 'skins' eventually won and banished the 'hairs' to Rura Penthe. We look upon those times with great pride as our ancestors from the 23rd century were not as successful," Corvok explained before taking the two Agents and transporting the three of them away.
Kronk turned to his Captain. "But why would the Integrity Commission integrate some people, like Seven of Nine, and not others, like you?"
"Oh, I'll be checking up on his 'integrity' very soon," Elektra smirked. "After I called on Corvok, he separately promised to meet me later as long as I was to never engage with the Iconians again."
The Doctor nodded. "So, instead of ceasing your methods cold targ-turkey, you just learned to redirect them. Brilliant strategy, Captain, in any time."
"Why'd you go there? That's such a faulty time-travelly one-liner. Also, I'll choose how I live, and not some time bureau without a clue." She paused. "Ah well. At least we captured this one abomination."
They looked to the container, which was now empty due to escape. "Orion-bollocks," cursed the Doctor. "Back to the Delta Quadrant?"
"Fine, but I want you to be our Spore drive this time. And think happy, reverse-death thoughts. I'd like to end up close that seductive Kobali homeworld,” she suggested with a grin before the two of them left for the ship.
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This challenge was tailor made for you to needle all the temporal time twist drivel that the franchise regularly dished out. A Klingon version of DTI, Kirk sexual ethics reference, and a Janeway-Paris Tiktalek - pretty evident you relished this one!
Thanks!! rbs
Thanks!! rbs
Ha! This is exactly what I thought as soon as I read the story parameters. The Department's meddling in temporal crimes cause the crime in question. Your solution is so much more elegant that what came to my mind.
-Will
I really did! Also, that whole integration thing from VOY always bugged me. Time-travel duplicates deserve justice.
lol This was written during First Season Discovery and I refused to allow my Klingons to be retconned bald.
Thank you! That department gets what it deserves. lol
Author's notes: These are compiled posts by multiple players for the Earth Spacedock RP on the Star Trek Online forums. My character was Elric (w Zeta). This continues from the last ESD entry. Written in October 2017.
Earth Spacedock, Pages 143-144
Na'kuhl base
Sek's team materialized and they looked around. They spotted Lieutenant Jade's team down a long corridor, and patched in their comms with the other teams.
"Sangok here," reported Sangok. "We're heading out."
"Good luck," came in Sasha. "My team will cover the upper decks. Remember, avoid the south sections in the middle decks like we planned."
"Acknowledged," replied Shivak.
---
Earth Spacedock
Elric was in the Security office, securing the pyramid-shaped El Aurian artifact. He still did not know how it transported an entire Borg Sphere from one part of space to another. It was then the sound of a Chronoplasma Compression Bolt Pistol revving up behind his head stopped him immediately in place.
"Captain Elric," said a Na'kuhl man, ready to fire his weapon at point-blank range if need-be. "You probably don't remember me, but I was the one you fought when you were in command of the Amaterasu."
Elric's muscles tightened at the sound of his voice. "Captain Phasma. There's not a day goes by I don't think about you."
"Oh, well that's reassuring," Phasma said. "I was sure surviving any attack by me would have made memory a problem. Well, if it's any consolation, it was nothing personal. You were just in my way."
The Captain turned around, while holding the pyramid, to face his attacker. "You're not here for me, are you?"
"Exactly," Phasma said, indicating the artifact. "My leader wants any El Aurian artifact, and I'm to deliver to him personally. Do you even know how that thing works or what the mycelial network is?"
Suddenly, the android spider Zeta dropped onto the pistol from above and was quick to dismantle it. A cable shot out and Phasma caught it before it could hit him. "Zeta!" Elric said in surprise. "Haven't seen you in a while!"
Phasma grabbed the pyramid, but Elric's grip maintained and the two struggled until it started lighting up. Zeta landed on Elric's shoulder before the pyrmaid transported Elric, Zeta and Phasma to the Na'kuhl Base.
---
Na'kuhl base
"What the frak?" exclaimed Sasha, with her team of Terran MACOs, all looking to the two figures and a robot spider that appeared a few feet from her. Turning to Elric, "What are you doing here?"
The Terran MACOs aimed their noticeably dark MACO Phaser Battle Rifles at Phasma.
Phasma activated a communicator. "Toros, you're being infiltrated."
Elric quickly forced-palmed Phasma in the face, knocking the man out. "Well, that doesn't sound good."
"Damn it!" shouted Sasha as she started running whilst talking into her communicator. "Some Na'kuhl appeared out of nowhere and warned Toros that the base had been infiltrated!"
As they ran by another corridor, a squad of Na'kuhl security officers appeared, who were promptly shot down, seemingly painfully, by a squad of Terran MACO Phaser rifles.
Out, in space, the U.S.S. Sally's saucer's engines suddenly fired up, the structural integrity field intensified, and the saucer plowed towards the Na'kuhl base on a collision course. A few Na'kuhl ships opened fire on the saucer. One of them managed to take out the Bridge, although it didn't seem hindered by that in the slightest.
The base shook from the impact, and Sasha fell to the floor, giving Elric a chance to keep up. "That had better have been that saucer. I swear, if that was just some torpedo..."
"I take it you were expecting that?" Elric said amongst the chaos as he followed Sasha and the Terran MACOs to wherever they were going.
"Of course we were," replied Sasha, noting an eerily loud roar coursing through the base. It shook briefly as the noise passed by them, continuing on. The roar came again. It was louder this time. More... violent, it seemed. "Let's find some console that'll direct us to General Toros, grab him, and leave."
They quickly scurried to a Na'kuhl console, and Sasha started working on it. "Well, the command center is two decks down from here, and quite directly, I might add. All we'd need to do is reach that jeffries tube and..." she said, stopping, "is anyone hearing this?"
No response over the comms. They weren't working. Sasha stopped, turning to Elric, who was evidently focused on the console. She looked over his shoulder, then to her left; not a Terran MACO in sight. "Where'd they--"
Sasha instinctively took a dive, pulling Elric down by the shoulder so he would do the same as some faint breeze passed by her. She stopped, and slowly looked over her right shoulder. The bulkhead of the wall had been slashed into and nearly torn off of the supports by a black cloud of something in the shape of a claw. She slowly looked along the arm, evidently a right arm, while backing up against another wall and away from the 8-foot-tall behemoth that barely stood before her. It seemed as though it were barely even there, but yet humming with power. Vaguely humanoid, with a somewhat more pointed head. It didn't initially have a face, but the front of the head eventually morphed to reveal a large, startling smile, simply glowing violet light from behind the void; and 2 glowing red eyes to go with it.
"Welcome back," it stated, raising its left hand as it fired a large beam, identical to those previously fired by the being, as it disintegrated the last remaining MACO. "We've missed you."
The being rose its right foot, then stepped on and rapidly crushed the Na'kuhl console with terrifying power.
"Whoa! It's a manifestation of the being. It's using the same attacks as the one Klokian uncovered," Elric realized. "Is it... trying to stop you from your mission? It must be working with the Na'kuhl?"
"I need reinforcements and our anti-being team, now!" shouted Sasha at her left wrist-mounted MACO control pad, as the comms were apparently working now.
The being's left arm lurched forward, grabbing Sasha's left arm and crashing the MACO control pad against the wall, smashing it to pieces and breaking Sasha's arm. Her only response was to scream, holding the non-functional arm with her right hand and slowly falling to the ground.
"Sasha!" Elric said, shocked at what had just happened. He knelt to her to see if there was anything he could do, but he had no medical equipment whatsoever. "Elric to anyone, we have a medical emergency and need a beam-out."
He then turned to the being.
"Whatever you are, don't do this. The Na'kuhl are dangerous. They freely violate the Temporal Accords, and want to destroy us. I'm willing to bet they'd do the same to you if it'd benefit them."
The base is being attacked. Strom stumbled momentarily before regaining his balance and hurrying down the hallways, holding the weapon he had taken from the Nakuhl with both hands. He didn't know what, exactly the Nakuhl had planned here, but he knew it was nothing good.
The kolinahr master stopped abruptly, taking in the sight before him. A large, black humanoid shape hovered off the ground, before a pair of starfleet officers. "You..." the normally stoic Vulcan's voice was low, almost growling. "I recognize you. You were in our - in her - thoughts! You brought her here, didn't you? Where is she? What have you done to Lyras!"
The Vulcan leveled the weapon at the being, ready to fire if it so much as twitched.
"I have only one destiny that will be fulfilled," replied the being, ignoring Strom completely and focusing on Elric. "I now have the means to complete my task." The being turned to look down at Sasha again, extending an arm, picking her up by the neck, and pinning her to the wall. "How many!?"
Sasha's eyes widened further. Fear was the only emotion in her mind. The question... confusing. Somehow, she knew exactly to what it was referring. She tried to resist, but quickly gave in. "F... five..." she mumbled, barely even audible at all.
"Five?" inquired the being. "Where are the weapons?"
"I..." barely replied Sasha, attempting to resist further, "I... won't..."
The being applied more pressure, causing very apparent pain. "Do not defy me. Answer. Now."
Strom's eyes narrowed, his gaze calculating. With a slight nod of his head, he dropped the weapon. It is time for a different tactic. A mental attack was the most logical option. Mentally centering himself, he extended his both of his hands, focusing on the two Starfleet officers. My mind to your mind... He felt the mental bridge begin forming, the telepathic link that would let the three become one. My thoughts to your thoughts... Hoping the duo were ready for this, he opened the link. Our minds are merging... Elric's shock, Sasha's pain, they were his own now, as his rage at the being, his anxiety about Lyras, would soon be theirs. Our Minds are becoming One.
Sasha just shook herself, instinctively trying to resist the meld. Her training in resisting telepathic interrogation didn't last long, however, and she soon fell into the meld.
The being turned towards Strom, and started walking towards him, claws glowing red with some angry energy.
Elric's mind was merged with Strom and Sasha. Linking with the mirror universe woman, he was quick to adopt her mirror-like arrogance and physical pain, then coupled with Strom's anxiety and anger. His own offering, that of shock, quickly subsided to his readiness to use his agile reflexes and keen situational focus. That, if anything, would have reduced the emotional thermostats, levelled up reaction time and added clarity. Recalling the time he lost his crew to the Na'kuhl man named Phasma, he resolved this time he would not make the same mistake again.
Time grows short, Strom's voice echoed through the link. We must attack. I will show you how, though I will use a different method. He allowed the part of his mind that contained the knowledge of how to perform a basic mental attack to radiate outward, traveling through the bond, along with a few memories and experiences of using it.
The being's claws forcefully grabbed a hold of Strom's head, interrupting the meld one way or another. Whether it would break or if the being would force itself into it, no one knew.
"Wait..." said Sasha, out loud, still trying to hold onto the meld. Can we force ourselves into its mind? Create some kind of mindscape we can metaphorically kill this thing and end it in the real world?
This was what Strom had been waiting for. Steeling the bonds between the trio, he sent their collective minds hurtling into the entity's own. The challenge now was not only to maintain his sense of self within Strom-Elric-Sasha, but also for the three of them to avoid being consumed by the being's mind.
---
Mindscape
Sasha felt the wave pass by her as they entered the being's mind. It seemed dark. Cold. A faint light slowly became visible above. She looked up at it. It almost looked like a star; a dying one at that. A brief glimpse of a single Universe-class dreadnought's silhouette. Sasha raised an eyebrow, looking around. They weren't in the Na'kuhl base any longer.
The area, despite being fairly dark, seemed barren. Rocky terrain. A few ruins here and there. Hardly any plant life to be seen. Eventually, she found the Vulcan master, Strom, as well as Elric. She turned to Elric. "Guess this is the mindscape, complete with a vague reference to the outside world and this boring place."
After the ordeal of his mind linking to an unfathomable entity only to be output into a comparable realm, Elric turned to the others. "Is everyone okay? Are we really inside this thing's mind?"
"I think I'm alive," said Sasha, "this sure looks like a mindscape, and it's not mine."
"I'm still not sure what happened, but we need to find out where this thing came from, and then make it to go back there— after our own hasty exit, of course."
"Agreed," replied Sasha, looking around. She noticed a faint, bright purple light in the distance. She headed that way.
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Excellent work. I am working on an episode of The Vulcan right now that takes place in the dream world. I will be looking forward to reading more about the Mindscape.
-Will
-Will
Sweet critter design and a rare straight/serious entry. Nice to see you have those chops too - well done!
Thanks!! rbs
Thanks!! rbs
Thanks! Was user shadowstar's doing and Elric was just on for the ride. But I do love mindscape/dreamworld stuff. You can play in a lot of symbolism and metaphors.
Will redirect credit to the collab! My chops remain unchopped. lol
Thanks!
Yes, that's partly why it is taking so long to craft my next episode. I wanted it to be much more filled with symbolism and metaphor than, I'm afraid it is. I'll have a better sense once the whole story is complete. A lot of going back and saying, "Oh! I should have written it like this." Then, rewrite.
Fun though.
There's a vague reference to the Forbidden Planet. Maybe I need to write in a Robby the Robot.
-Will
One of Hawku's strong suits. CeJay's recently-published finale is pretty good about that too. In the minds cape, things constantly shift, never consistently analogous to any metaphor and often going off in some random direction that makes no discernible sense at all.
Thanks!! rbs
I'm happy to look for inspiration anywhere. I will have to be sure to read them.
One aspect of the dream world that is hard to convey is the inexplicable disconnect between strange, illogical things happening and the weird acceptance the dreamer often has of such things. Even realizing they are dreaming may not raise any mental alarms. Other times, the dreamer can be driven to panic by the feeling that something horrible is lurking, but they never see it. How does a Vulcan deal with their dreams? How do Bynars dream? We'll find out, perhaps.
-Will