Star Trek Hunter Episode 24: A Trillian Problem

Ezri has moved very far away, along with her and Julian's son, Jodiah. They're now living in the Gamma Quadrant. Julian will explain later...

Always gratifying to have a page-turner... I had originally written these as one scene but split them into two very short segments because there was just so much going on in each. Thanks!! rbs

 

Star Trek Hunter
Episode 24: A Trillian Problem
Scene 11: Traxx and Spies

24.11
Traxx and Spies​

Rumor Boel returned with his family. “I am taking them to meet Captain Dolphin.”

“You won’t have to take them far,” came Lt. Grorher’s deep, rumbly voice. The large, furry pilot, no longer carrying a plasma cannon on his shoulder, ambled toward the growing gathering of family, sanctuary bureaucrats and priests, Captain Kenneth Dolphin in tow.


Dolphin had met first Lt. Grorher, then a little later, Rumor Boel and Elaine Norman, outside the Symbiont Sanctuary’s shield wall when the two climatologists had beamed down from the primary weather control satellite.


One of the priests rushed forward. “Captain Dolphin, I’m sorry, but this is now an internal affair…” The priest found himself having to walk backward as the Star Fleet officers did not break stride. “A trill has been taken against her will by a symbiont,” he continued, talking faster and trying not to stumble. “We cannot allow…”

“Manage this, Lieutenant,” Dolphin ordered without glancing at either Grorher or the priest.

The broad, furry pilot, still in his worn and torn red uniform, placed his quite substantial presence between the priests and Dolphin. “Ladies, Gentlemen, if you would please explain your concerns to me…”


“So this is your family Mr. Boel?” Dolphin asked.

“I am Jet Traxx,” said Jet. “I now carry the Traxx symbiont. We have not fully merged and I do not yet know all of Traxx’s secrets, but long ago, long before the Mulaax symbiont was joined with the man who is now General Hialal Mulaax, they developed a plan to capture this sanctuary. Part of that plan involved driving refugees in through the back door to the sanctuary - the priests routinely monitor the shield perimeter and modulate the shields to allow refugees in. Traxx was to join with one of these refugees – preferably a child who could be completely dominated – and bring the sanctuary shields down from the inside.” Jet groaned and clasped her belly. “Traxx is really angry…” She found a bench.

“Traxx has a lot to learn. This isn’t the universe he last operated in,” Jet continued, her hands gently massaging her pouch. “Hopefully Traxx will meet Doctor Carrera tonight. That will change the way we see things.”

Dolphin, who was already alert, shook his head quickly. “Sarekson Carrera? You know him? How is he?”

“That depends upon what the meaning of the word ‘is’ is…” Jet replied.

Dolphin squinted at the teenage trill as if she had suddenly transformed into a potted plant. “What??”

“Your language is terribly imprecise when it comes to temporal mapping. Sarekson and I have been friends for centuries.”

“Do you mean Traxx and Dr. Carrera?” Dolphin asked in considerable confusion.

“No. Sarekson hasn’t met Traxx yet,” said Jet. “In fact, he hasn’t met me yet. I’m really looking forward to that. I remember the first time I met him… I was a professional dominatrix at the time…”


This strange conversation was interrupted by a rather worried sanctuary bureaucrat who had managed to worm his way past Lt. Grorher and into this small group. “Captain Dolphin, I’m sorry to interrupt, but we are preparing food for your troops outside. How many are there?”

“Lieutenant Grorher and myself,” Dolphin responded.

“But we were told you had about 800 troops outside,” continued the trill bureaucrat. “Where have they gone?”

“There were never any there,” said Dolphin, turning to look at the priest. “Just me and a communications array. And my new friend with his plasma cannon.”

The trill shook his head. “What kind of strategy is that?”

“Honestly, I have no idea.” Dolphin shrugged. “My Director of Ground Operations and Assistant Director of Flight Operations cooked it up at the last minute… when they realized the weather satellites had been sabotaged to create all this fog. It sounded good to me, so I told them to run with it and I played the part they gave me. We’ll see if it works out…”

The nervous trill gave Dolphin a strange look and scuttled off.

Dolphin made a summoning motion to Elaine Norman, who had been standing back a little from the group. As she stepped up closer, he leaned in, put a hand to the side of his mouth and whispered in her ear. “I can do that,” she responded, then quickly walked away in pursuit of the nervous trill priest.


Lt. Grorher stepped close to Dolphin, rumbled quietly under his breath. “Do you think that trill bureaucrat is our spy?”

“Yeah. Probably,” Dolphin replied. “I think I may have sent one of the furies to verify it and collect him…”

“Furies?” Grorher asked.

Captain Dolphin gave the large, furry lieutenant a long, evaluating look. “Sort of a, uhmm, a goddess of vengeance?”

Grorher managed a rather toothy grin. “So you noticed that romulan woman has a temper…”

24.11 (of 19)​

 

Star Trek Hunter
Episode 24: A Trillian Problem
Scene 12: Sacred Ground

24.12
Sacred Ground​

The visuals of strange, rapidly growing and changing lifeforms were well known to most of the residents of Earth and had been seen in most elementary exobiology curricula throughout the Federation. It was the kind of imagery that stirred young imaginations and made children interested in science – much like the bones and reconstructions of dinosaurs or the images of the giant living hexapods of Paleonus V. But the glimpses of Venusian life were even more provocative. From a terrestrial point of view, these were extremophiles – living in the dense atmosphere of carbon dioxide at temperatures more than four times that needed to boil water on Earth.

The discovery of this unique biology thriving next door to Earth and yet utterly alien to terrestrial life had completely revolutionized the study of life – had fundamentally redefined exobiology and led to the discovery of life in many places where it had previously been unimaginable.


Then, the images were torn apart in a blinding flash and replaced by an image of the new Venus. Clear skies and barren ground.


“Less than three hundred years ago, we discovered evidence of life on Venus and it was one of the most monumental discoveries in the history of humankind. As stunned as we were to find life so much like our own, we were even more amazed to find life so completely different from our own.”

The voice was the familiar voice of Federation President-Elect Emory Ivonovic – a voice that billions had come to trust and that billions more had gradually become familiar with to the point of acceptance.

“That life was obliterated nine days ago. I am sorry it has taken this long to develop an adequate response to this ultimate act of greed, of lust, of wrath, of gluttony, of sloth, of envy, of pride.” Gradually, Ivonovic’s handsome face came into focus. His gray hair was neatly combed instead of styled out – giving it more of an iron gray look than its usual silver. He was wearing a simple, but elegantly tailored light brown suit with a darker brown shirt, uninterrupted by any adornment except a small, fully colored pin of the United Federation of Planets emblem, less than an inch in diameter, pinned to his left lapel. His chocolate brown eyes were somber, but intense with emotion.

“Less than an hour ago, Federation President Maria Rodriguez signed the Venus Resolution, as passed by the Federation Council.

“We were robbed of the unique life on Venus, the wonder of our galaxy, by greed – the greed of people who want land that was never theirs to take and never will be theirs.

“Venus was destroyed by lust – the lust for the illusion of power that a coward feels when holding a gun to the head of those who are unarmed.

“Venus was murdered by wrath – the wrath of those who feel cheated that they were not born better than everyone else.

“Venus was consumed by gluttony – the gluttony of those who can never be satisfied with the fruits of their honest labor but must have ever more and more that is not theirs.

“Venus was denuded by sloth – the sloth of those who cheat us all of what they could achieve with honest effort for the easier path of thievery and robbery.

“Venus was ruined by envy – the envy of those who must destroy anything wonderful out of fear that it might outshine them.

“The wonder that was Venus was erased from our universe, never to come again. Erased by pride – the arrogant pride and vainglory of those who would appoint themselves god over the affairs and very lives of their peers.

“It was not enough for these self-appointed arbiters of life and death who cower under the cloak of anonymity to murder our children. They felt compelled to reach into all of our hearts and murder one of the great wonders of our shared childhood. They felt they had the right to destroy a treasure that belonged to none of us, but the wonder of which was shared by us all.”


President-Elect Ivonovic’s image was gradually replaced by the image of President Maria Rodriguez, whose familiar voice had been a touchstone for the Federation for nearly six years:

“On this day, the United Federation of Planets, by joint decree of the Federation Council and the Federation Tribunal, now declares the planet Venus, second planet in the Sol system, to be sacred ground. No expeditions, living or machine, are to enter orbit of Venus, enter the atmosphere of Venus or to attempt landing on Venus from this date for 400 standard years. The United Federation of Planets formally requests that the United Earth Governments empower Star Fleet to place a monument in orbit of Venus to transmit and monitor this decree and also to transmit the images we have recorded of the former life on Venus as a testament to its existence.

“To my billions of fellow citizens of the United Federation of Planets and especially to my fellow humans: I know you are afraid. I know you heard the threats of genocide against our children. We do not take these threats lightly. And we will engage in every effort to protect our children, our communities and our way of life.”


Maria Rodriguez’s image was once again replaced by Emory Ivonovic.

“Those of you who style yourselves members of Earth First must by now realize that this splinter group, calling themselves Venus First, have committed this atrocity in your name. They have made the lives of your children poorer – murdered children – and laid the blame for those murders at your feet. I am holding a door open for you. Come forth, abandon your terrorist connections. Look into your children’s eyes and tell them that Venus is dead. Then you decide – can you then tell your children that it was you who massacred Venus? Was it you who took that treasure – that wonder from your children?

“Step away from Earth First. Step away from terrorism. If you have committed no act of terrorism, this blot can be removed from your family name. Consider whether you want your children to grow up steeped in wisdom and the ethic of hard work or whether you want them to live their whole lives weighted down with gluttony, burdened with sloth, tormented by envy and wrath. Choose the right path for your children. Choose life.”

24.12​

 

I enjoyed both chapters. The second one was really intense.

 

Those are two powerful speeches, both Ivonovic's and Rodriguez'; worthy of the UFP's historical archives and Earth's.

The olive branch to the Earth First fringe was brilliant.

-Will

 

STH is replete with speeches. I suppose, as a seminar presenter, I've given a speech or two - I certainly seem to enjoy writing them. Glad you enjoyed. Thanks!! rbs

 

Star Trek Hunter
Episode 24: A Trillian Problem
Scene 13: A Good Snooze

24.13
A Good Snooze​

Wesley (Old Man Crusher) and alien Bob (known to Star Fleet’s Xenoanthropology Division as “the Traveler”) were crashed out on the couch. Alien Bob snored quietly. Old Man Crusher snored like a herd of elephants on a rampage. Doctor Prometheus was sitting primly on one end of the couch, arms folded, legs crossed, eyes closed, his chin on his chest. While the hologram did not actually breathe, his chest and chin rose and fell regularly as if he were breathing deeply. To all appearances, he too, was sound asleep.

Gradually, a blue haze coalesced into the figure of a very slight woman, seated on the other end of the couch. The Doctor, somehow sensing her presence, looked up.


The avatar’s abilities had evolved dramatically over nearly 400 years since she had initially encountered Dr. Carrera. While her clothing, skin and hair were still blue, she was now able to use several different shades of blue to create a very lifelike appearance. Lines of spots (dark blue ones) formed trails along her thin neck and tiny ankles. Her long hair was such a dark blue it almost appeared to be black. She and Doctor Prometheus looked at each other. They spared a shared glance at the slumbering elderly travelers. Seated at opposite ends of the semi-circular divan that ran the circumference of this large, round room, they were not on opposite sides of the room, but opposite sides of the viewer, through which a growing Milky Way Galaxy could be seen.

The girl lifted her right hand and her arm gradually stretched – a meter, two meters, three, traversing half the distance between herself and the Doctor. The Doctor raised his left hand and extended his arm slowly, allowing it to stretch – a meter, two meters, three… until his fingers touched hers.

The Doctor did not understand how, but with this touch, understanding about this girl, who and where she was, as well as her identity with the formless blue avatar for this creature they were currently riding inside, flooded into his mind. The blue entity had lived in and as part of six women since its inception nearly 400 years ago. Was born with them. Died with them. This girl was the seventh incarnation of the avatar – at once two separate entities and yet one harboring the memories of all, but there was far more. The girl herself was a composite of a young girl and another timeless entity. And yet another ancient mind was in the process of joining with her – five distinct entities becoming one. By far the youngest of these – just a teenage girl – was terrified – afraid of losing herself in the nexus of these ancient and powerful personalities.


“Don’t lose yourself in all this,” the Doctor found himself saying very softly. “Don’t forget to be a child.”

Somehow, his words seemed to comfort the strange creature. And he was not the only one providing emotional support. The lavardorn itself – the space whale in which they were traveling – was also in contact with its avatar – something stronger than telepathy – supporting the girl as she was buffeted by powerful, ancient, competing personalities.


This struggle was suddenly interrupted… Old Man Crusher stood up and stretched loudly. Alien Bob was also making some noises as he sat up, then rocked himself into a standing position.

“Oh great simpering space monkeys!” said Wesley Crusher. “That was the most delicious sleep I have had in...” He shook his head, then doodled with his finger as if doing math on a chalkboard. “Borrow the one… carry the four… hundreds of years! I haven’t woken up feeling so refreshed since my hair was brown! It makes me want to go back to sleep just so I can wake up all over again!” He bent over and managed to touch the fingers of his right hand to his left toes with an unfit grunt and some vague popping. He straightened back up slowly and carefully. “Oh… My back popped… I think it was a good pop…” He burrowed his fists into his back and stretched again. “I hope that was a good pop…”

Alien Bob was laughing quietly. “Oh I have to agree with you. I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed waking from a good sleep so much. It almost makes me feel young again.” He indulged in a slow and rather loud yawn and only mid-yawn noticed the presence of the blue avatar. “Well, hi th…” He tried to greet her only to be interrupted as a far more powerful yawn pushed its way through him.

The avatar was giggling at her two new but elderly companions.

Wesley yawned cavernously. “Enough with the yawning, Bob, it’s catching…” He attempted a very tenuous version of a runner’s stretch, followed by a number of “Ow” noises, then bent over and massaged his own hamstrings.

“Me?” yawned alien Bob. “You’re the one who started it with all this talk of delicious sleep…” Alien Bob stretched again as another yawn overtook him.

Suddenly they both sat down.

“And that’s enough exercise for the day,” Wesley said.

Alien Bob took a deep breath. Nodded his head. “Yep.” Exhaled.


“Great,” muttered the Doctor. “I’m off to save the galaxy with an intergalactic space fish, a primary color with multiple personality disorder and a geriatric comedy duo…”

24.13 (of 19)​

 

Ha ha ha. The good doctor, of all people, should know blue is a primary color for both opaque colors like paints, and in positive light, such as computer monitors or holograms. Of course, with transparent colors, such as in printing, cyan and magenta make blue.

A funny scene, rbs.

-Will

 

Really gratified the comedy comes through. Trek should range from drama to horror to comedy.

I would love to hear Robert Picardo deliver that line.

Thanks!! rbs

 

Give the Doctor a phone booth

 

I've already had Old Man Crusher train him as a time lord... Thanks!! rbs

 

Star Trek Hunter
Episode 24: A Trillian Problem
Scene 14: It Takes a Village

24.14
It Takes a Village​

Organized streams of trill soldiers, the elite corps of the Trillian Master Force, marched through the roiling, incessant fog in organized lines. The fog was so thick they could barely see the backs of the soldiers in front of them. Mechanized artillery crept along gravel roads, having to stop often when they overran a turn in the road to pull their heavy machines back up off the grasses and muddy tracks by the sides of these roads. The fog left so much moisture on the ground that low-lying areas became boggy and treacherous for these heavy vehicles to maneuver. Most of the trill soldiers traveled as soldiers had from the dawn of time to the invention of the wheel, to the invention of motorized troop carriers, to the invention of hovering troop carriers, to the invention of transporters – they travelled on foot.

One thing trill soldiers were superb at was discipline and control. Even so, with the visibility as low as it was, these soldiers, the most elite units under General Mulaax’s command, would never have found their assigned villages without the guide posts – logistics soldiers who were stationed at regular intervals with lanterns to guide the master force units to the villages. Officer’s quarters were in the central buildings of these villages – often some sort of city hall or a public house. Disciplined, but footsore and low on morale, the trill officers disappeared into these buildings, leaving only a few junior officers to see after the bulk of the forces, bunking them down in various assigned houses.

Soldiers and officers entered these buildings. None came back outside. Finally only a few small guard units were left outside in each village to keep watch. One by one, these units were relieved by logistics troops so that they, too, could find warm beds indoors, leaving the non-elite logistics troops to stand watch for the night. No one could see anything through this fog anyway.


Only a few of these tired, fog-bound soldiers grew suspicious about the continued absence of their officers. Protocol required officers to regularly check on their troops and trills were sticklers for protocol. There were officers making the rounds, but not the officers these soldiers were familiar with. One platoon of soldiers approached a quartet of strange officers. As they approached, the officers moved further out into the fog, drawing the platoon slightly away from the village.

One of these unusually tall, female officers challenged the group: “Soldiers, do you know where your billet is?” Her voice was muffled by the thick, roiling fog. The lights of the village, less than 20 meters away, were barely visible.

“Yes ma’am, but we were expecting to check in with Lieutenant Kahjog. Do you know where she is?”

“I do not know Lieutenant Kahjog, soldier. Are you certain you are with the correct company?”

The soldier noticed the rank insignia on the officer’s lapel. “Yes, Sargent-Colonial, I observed Lieutenant Kahjog enter headquarters an hour ago. She is always the first officer on nightly rounds… ooovvv!!”

The trill soldier doubled over as he received a sudden and unexpected blow to his solar plexus, robbing him of the ability to breathe. A savage blow to the back of his head robbed him of consciousness. The other nine soldiers in his group were quickly and quietly – if savagely – overpowered by Rumi Grace and her team. The unconscious trill soldiers were laid out on the foggy ground.

“We have another ten at our location for beam-out,” whispered Chief Tactical Specialist Rumi Grace. She and her team stepped back as the unconscious trill soldiers were beamed away. The tactical squad from the U.S.S. Hunter checked their fabricated Trill Army uniforms for damage before returning to the village, where they met up with another group of trill officers – these were actually trills, but like the Grace team, were Star Fleet crew disguised in Trill Army uniforms.

“The camp is clear,” one of these false officers reported into a communicator. “We’re ready for the next group.”

“Understood, Cadet,” came the voice from the communicator. “We’re directing the next group to your location. There should be 1,141 of them. We’ve kept them marching in circles for a few hours, so they should be nice and footsore when they get to you…”


As the village was cleared of the last group of trill soldiers and well before the next group was to arrive, Star Fleet crew, dressed in Trill Army uniforms, mounted into the abandoned mechanized artillery units and drove these a short way out of the village to a low-lying area where their presence was completely obscured by the fog.

- * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * -​

General Hialal Mulaax’s security officer modulated the shielding system so that the general and his top aides – a few colonials, a few junior officers, a few soldiers and a few civilians - could be beamed up to the lead ship in the Trillian Master Forces planetary defense group. That was the plan… The transport cycle was interrupted by the interposition of a shield over their camp headquarters. Seconds later, the general and his staff were transported into separate brig units – eighteen of them in all. The soldiers and civilians had been beamed into the brig units of a number of wagons that had been hovering silently nearby.

Their side arms were not transported with them – a number of hand phasers were left behind and dropped from the positions of their now-vanished holsters onto the foggy ground with a series of light thumps.

24.14 (of 19)​

 

A spy in the mist.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Greif
"Operation Greif (German: Unternehmen Greif) was a special operation commanded by Waffen-SS commando Otto Skorzeny during the Battle of the Bulge in World War II. The operation was the brainchild of Adolf Hitler, and its purpose was to capture one or more of the bridges over the Meuse river before they could be destroyed. German soldiers, wearing captured British and U.S. Army uniforms and using captured Allied vehicles, were to cause confusion in the rear of the Allied lines."

Skorzeny caused further confusion by leading his soldiers to believe their mission was to assassinate general Eisenhower. He did this by asking his recruits if they knew what the mission was, before any of them had been told. When one of the soldiers nodded in the Affirmative, Skorzeny asked him what he had heard. "To kill General Eisenhower." Was the reply. Skorzeny neither confirmed nor denied the rumor, but simply told the soldier he could never speak of that again. Upon capture, the German soldiers admitted that was their mission and this caused Eisenhower to go into hiding, thus restricting his ability to plan and lead his troops.

Skorzeny was tried for war crimes based upon this mission, because his soldiers dressed in US uniforms and drove captured US Army jeeps. He was acquitted. A few Allied special forces officers testified on Skorzeny's behalf, having learned to respect him.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Skorzeny

-Will

 

That was the inspiration for this scene... Of course Dolphin has several trials arising from this action. I chose to only show one of them, which will be in Episode 25. It would be worthwhile for me to write at least one or two scenes of his inquest, but I chose one of the civil lawsuits in which he is the defendant. His defense attorney is Brack of Sorek, Brack and Evans out of New York City.

Thanks!! rbs

 

Was it, though?

I feel like there could have been other sources of inspiration at work.

-Will

 

Star Trek Hunter
Episode 24: A Trillian Problem
Scene 15: Tribunal Justice Cisl Mreek

24.15
Tribunal Justice Cisl Mreek​

A few dozen trillian Star Fleet cadets and a few officers who had been on home leave were doing their best to keep nearly 30,000 Trillian Master Force soldiers as comfortable as possible in the 19 separate holds of an andorian freighter that was hidden in the fog bank over the Sanctuary of the Symbionts, along with the 6 wagons and 12 interceptors from Captain Dolphin’s strike force.

Caring for these soldiers was extremely challenging as the andorian cargo holds, which were never designed to carry people, were well over capacity. Toilets had to be improvised and rations scavenged. Seating was pretty much non-existent. Fortunately, another, far more well equipped facility for holding General Mulaax’s elite troops was arriving…




In orbit of Trillus Prime, the Trillian Master Force’s 2 cruisers and 12 destroyers, along with their less than 50 still operational interceptors were suddenly eclipsed as the U.S.S. Ark came out of warp and entered orbit. Strategically positioned between the system’s star and the trillian shipping, the Ark blotted out the sun, casting almost all of the trillian war ships in its massive shadow. The Ark was several times the size of a borg cube. It was essentially a group of four space stations coming out of warp as a single vessel. A vast cloud of interceptors erupted from various parts of these stations even as the four saucer sections detached from the engineering hull to take up strategic positions, hemming in the Trillian Master Force ships.

Every viewscreen of every trill vessel came to life – all of them commandeered by a single overpowering signal from the U.S.S. Ark, bringing the porcine face of an extremely irritated-looking female tellerite wearing the black robes of the Federation Tribunal – the fully colored twin emblems of the United Federation of Planets on her lapels were the only relief of color from the black silk.


Of course, tellerites were famous for appearing to be irritated at the best of times as well as for their dark humor and short tempers, but it was extremely clear this particularly piggy-faced tellerite justice was quite put out.


“This is Tribunal Justice Cisl Mreek to all Trillian Master Forces vessels. Stand down, prepare to be boarded and placed under arrest. I am hereby indicting each and every one of you for violation of the Cultural Treasures Clause of the Federation Charter, Section 19, for your role in the destruction of a designated level-one cultural site, specifically the Trill Senate Tower in Laren Manev.”

“Enough of this lawlessness! I am arresting all of you, all of you will be tried and we will sort out the guilty ones along the way. If you are somehow innocent of this crime and we cannot find another crime to charge you with, I do not apologize for the inconvenience. That’s what you get for keeping bad company.”

“I warn you to not resist. I have authorized the use of deadly force under Section 4 of the Tribunal Charter. And be polite. I have my staff looking up the subsection that authorizes the use of thumbscrews for bad behavior. I know there’s got to be a subsection about thumbscrews in there somewhere... Mreek out!”

24.15 (of 19)​

 

Thumbscrews, talk about some serious pain.

 

Cisl Mreek has a rather large collection of thumbscrews. She has advocated several times for amendments that would allow her to use them. No one is ever really certain she's joking about that...

You'll get to see more of the tempestuous tellerite Tribunal Justice in Ep. 25. Thanks!! rbs

 

There is certainly a section about thumbscrews. Perhapse under a more generalized name, for those species without thumbs. Wouldn't want to be exclusive to a group just because they didn't have thumbs.

Excellent installment, rbs.

-Will