Title : Encore, Encore!
Author : Rob Morris
Series : Voyager
Type : A follow-up to the Voyager episode, ‘Author, Author’
Characters : EMH, Paris, in-universe fictionalized alternates of Voy characters
Rating : PG
Summary: When the Doctor engages in fan-fic, will it go any better than it does on this side of the fourth wall?
Encore, Encore
By Rob Morris
Paris joked as he logged into his medical assistant’s console.
“Well, the play has had some positive effects. During this morning’s staff meeting, I’d swear the Captain was on the verge of not dismissing Chakotay’s advice.”
The Doctor shrugged.
“I did offer to issue a statement saying that the people in ‘Photons Be Free’ were, at the most, all of you in your very worst moments, magnified by my very worst fears.”
“Yea-h. That would go really well.”
“You know full well what I mean, Mister Paris! I mean, what if you wrote a book about your wife, based only on her brief instability that magnified her fears about your child?”
Paris looked at him for a second.
“Chores.”
“I don’t follow you.”
“It’s like this, Doc. None of the things my Dad asked of me to do around the house, when I was a kid, were all that bad – except for restoring that one summer house in Alberta. But if he roused me at 7AM on a day I was supposed to have off, all so we could ‘tackle’ something I couldn’t remotely see the benefit for me or anybody else in, then for those few minutes, he looked to me like the devil himself.”
The Doctor caught on.
“That’s exactly my point. So now do you understand?”
“I do—but I still wouldn’t have named his fictionalized doppleganger ‘Bowen London’, or like that.”
“Point taken. Even as placeholders, I should have moved those names further astream. Some disguises are too thin, it would seem.”
Paris began the tedious but necessary random checks of the EMH’s work, and commented on something he had noticed before, but kept silent on.
“It bothers you when I do this, right?”
“I wouldn’t s ay it bothers me, so much as I hate being reminded that I am, for all my progress, a program that can go out of whack—perhaps badly out of whack.”
“Doc, there are like a billion things we know of, and likely a trillion more that we don’t, that can make a sentient organic go completely nuts. That’s how they caught on to the parasite conspiracy, a while back. Strange orders being issued. Few organics have the central role you do in this ship’s life, and unlike us, you can be checked on a random basis like this, or even line for line.”
“I’d argue that there is DNA, but again, I concede your point. It is a great thing to be able to have done, and no one knows the value of prevention like a physician. That said, its still a reminder I could do without.”
Paris ‘reshuffled’ his check to a different sorting algorithm while he responded.
“So why don’t you write about that?”
“I think I’ve done enough writing for the moment. I’d swear the Captain has been eyeing my mobile emitter for weeks now.”
Paris smirked.
“That is, provided she could lift it. No, Doc. I mean, you took all these real and imagined slights that were mostly us getting used to each other and turned them on their head, and produced at least a decent holo-novel. So take I t to the next level. Stuff inside the family annoys the most, but your biggest shock came when you visited the family next door.”
“Family next door? Mister Paris, whatever do you---ohhhhhh.”
------------
PHOTONS IN CHAINS
Captain Tribute was utterly unrepentant.
“You see, Doctor? Harvesting these so-called ‘Shepherds’ is not only going to get us back home in a heartbeat, but will provide our government with the means to utterly dominate all the quadrants of this galaxy. Perhaps even—beyond it!”
The noble EMH stood his ground.
“Unlike you, Captain, I still have at the least the aspiration to have a soul.”
“Well, we’ll just have to take care of that, won’t we? The USS Solstice is going to be a thing of legend, Doctor. You will be the engine of that legend-and we will make you like it.”
---------------------------------
The practical-minded EMH disposed of the latest body. He turned to First Officer Edmund.
“I may need my ethical subroutines re-applied. I’m going through these fodder test aliens too quickly. Obviously, I can’t use the Shepherds themselves, and simulations only go so far.”
Edmund smiled.
“You’ve been doing good work, Doctor. Way too good for us to let ethics get in the way. But I may have a solution. You could ‘role-play’ being ethical – with your own holo-family. Trust me, they’re cleaner than squeaky. This, I believe, will keep you from grinding through so many of our more trusting guests too quickly.”
“Just how will I act toward this ‘family’?”
“However you want to, Doctor. After all, there’s always the reset button.”
------------------------------------
The Borg head turned and looked at him.
“Please end my function. This unit has become wholly irrelevant, and of no use to the Collective.”
The EMH slammed his fist on the table right next to the life-sustaining apparatus.
“SHUT UP!!! Do you have any idea how many Borg we had to go through to perfect keeping just the head alive with no possibility of systems interface?”
“You…are cruel.”
This time, the EMH granted his wish, furiously knocking the head off its unwanted life-support.
“The worst part is, now we’re fresh out of Borg!”
----------------------------------------
The EMH had found its way aboard the USS Vortex, there to steal the technology their sister ship had in abundance. But there, he had found a shocking surprise.
The Solstice-EMH stood stunned.
“You? But they deleted you!”
The Vortex-EMH nodded.
“As I now do for you. You should have been a better man, brother.”
Knowing his fate to come, the Vortex-EMH contacted the Bridge nonetheless.
“Captain Jenkins?”
“The EMH? How is this possible?”
“Captain, Captain Tribute aboard the Solstice has betrayed and plotted against you. He sent his EMH here to steal from the Vortex. His tampering and presence reawakened what was left of me after decompiling. I await re-deletion at your convenience.”
The voice on the other end softened.
“Belay that—Doctor. We have wounded. Besides, I used to fancy myself a hard monster, ready to do anything to get home. In Captain Tribute, I’ve met the real thing, and its nothing I want to aspire to. When we decompiled you, we tore out our own heart. We’d like to have both it and you back, if you can forgive us.”
“Two things, Captain. One, the Solstice still needs to be destroyed. Captain Tribute and Mister Edmund are truly mad, and Mister Mooring isn’t much better. Their plans must not go forward.”
“And the second thing?”
“Could we somehow reduce the size of the damned emitter?”
------------------------------
Paris finished his previews. The participatory subroutines still needed a little work.
“Well, it does vastly over-simplify the complex downfall of the thinly-disguised crew of the Equinox, but all in all a very good read, Doc. I would realllly tweak those names a lot before submission. No need for the Equinox families to feel any worse. Best of all – its not about us.”
“The ending wasn’t too sappy?”
“Doc, we never miss you until you leave us. I think even the jerks in ‘Photons Be Free’ would catch on to that.”
The EMH looked truly happy, till he realized something.
“So how do I top this?”
----------------------
PHOTONS BE POWERED
2500, Starfleet Academy
Five cadets were summoned to the top office. It was the first act of the new Academy Superintendent since taking over from his old and dear friend, the android Io. It would prove a historic action.
“Sir, why are we here?” asked the forward Jacob Church.
“It does seem unusual, you must admit.”, said the normally reserved Lucas Vintner.
“Is it because we’re photonics, like yourself, Admiral Jenkins?”, asked the restive Aaron Pancheau.
“There’s trouble, isn’t there? I mean, besides the other cadets treating us with contempt.”.
Admiral Jenkins could only marvel at Kitty Colombo, the admittedly nostalgia-induced holographic distilling of the woman whose name the former EMH took upon their marriage. Johnny Bowman kept silent for now, as always feeling the odd man out, even among his best friends.
“Cadets, during the long hard voyage of the Vortex over a century ago, we encountered a rogue hologram named Itay, who tried to lead a holographic revolt against all organic life. I even joined him, for a time, til Miss Tory reminded me that Itay was treating organics as badly as Vortex had once treated me. I thought I had destroyed him. I was wrong. Now, he threatens to bring his crusade to our part of the galaxy. You five are the only ones that can stop him. Will you do it?”
A resounding unified ‘Yes Sir’ followed, but Jacob Church as always was in a questioning mode.
“Sir, do we have the skills or the means to stop this Itay?”
“The skills you have in abundance. Like Kitty, you are all based on the matrixes of Starfleet’s greatest captains. You were never told this, to avoid interference in your development.”
As all sat stunned at this revelation, ‘Jenkins’ continued.
“As for the means, I give you these devices. They will greatly enhance your existing holographic programs, giving you abilities undreamed by photonic or organic.”
Lucas Vintner held his wrist-worn device.
“Mobile Emitters, sir? But only you are permitted to have these.”
“They’re far more than mobile emitters, Lucas. They are---your morphers.”
Jack Bowman finally spoke up, practically leaping from his chair.
“Sir, you don’t mean we’re---?“
Jenkins smiled.
“A great new day has begun. Itay’s army will be met by a force of good photons. Henceforth, you are not merely the first holographic-based cadets in Starfleet—“
He bid them put on the devices, which clothed them instantly in the costumes they would wear to conceal their true identities. Jacob Church, clothed in red, seemed put off by this.
“---now, you are The Power Rangers.”
----------------------------
The Doctor, for his part, failed to understand why no one besides Tom Paris liked this idea. Nevertheless, for reasons no one can explain, it became a genuine galactic phenomenon.
Author : Rob Morris
Series : Voyager
Type : A follow-up to the Voyager episode, ‘Author, Author’
Characters : EMH, Paris, in-universe fictionalized alternates of Voy characters
Rating : PG
Summary: When the Doctor engages in fan-fic, will it go any better than it does on this side of the fourth wall?
Encore, Encore
By Rob Morris
Paris joked as he logged into his medical assistant’s console.
“Well, the play has had some positive effects. During this morning’s staff meeting, I’d swear the Captain was on the verge of not dismissing Chakotay’s advice.”
The Doctor shrugged.
“I did offer to issue a statement saying that the people in ‘Photons Be Free’ were, at the most, all of you in your very worst moments, magnified by my very worst fears.”
“Yea-h. That would go really well.”
“You know full well what I mean, Mister Paris! I mean, what if you wrote a book about your wife, based only on her brief instability that magnified her fears about your child?”
Paris looked at him for a second.
“Chores.”
“I don’t follow you.”
“It’s like this, Doc. None of the things my Dad asked of me to do around the house, when I was a kid, were all that bad – except for restoring that one summer house in Alberta. But if he roused me at 7AM on a day I was supposed to have off, all so we could ‘tackle’ something I couldn’t remotely see the benefit for me or anybody else in, then for those few minutes, he looked to me like the devil himself.”
The Doctor caught on.
“That’s exactly my point. So now do you understand?”
“I do—but I still wouldn’t have named his fictionalized doppleganger ‘Bowen London’, or like that.”
“Point taken. Even as placeholders, I should have moved those names further astream. Some disguises are too thin, it would seem.”
Paris began the tedious but necessary random checks of the EMH’s work, and commented on something he had noticed before, but kept silent on.
“It bothers you when I do this, right?”
“I wouldn’t s ay it bothers me, so much as I hate being reminded that I am, for all my progress, a program that can go out of whack—perhaps badly out of whack.”
“Doc, there are like a billion things we know of, and likely a trillion more that we don’t, that can make a sentient organic go completely nuts. That’s how they caught on to the parasite conspiracy, a while back. Strange orders being issued. Few organics have the central role you do in this ship’s life, and unlike us, you can be checked on a random basis like this, or even line for line.”
“I’d argue that there is DNA, but again, I concede your point. It is a great thing to be able to have done, and no one knows the value of prevention like a physician. That said, its still a reminder I could do without.”
Paris ‘reshuffled’ his check to a different sorting algorithm while he responded.
“So why don’t you write about that?”
“I think I’ve done enough writing for the moment. I’d swear the Captain has been eyeing my mobile emitter for weeks now.”
Paris smirked.
“That is, provided she could lift it. No, Doc. I mean, you took all these real and imagined slights that were mostly us getting used to each other and turned them on their head, and produced at least a decent holo-novel. So take I t to the next level. Stuff inside the family annoys the most, but your biggest shock came when you visited the family next door.”
“Family next door? Mister Paris, whatever do you---ohhhhhh.”
------------
PHOTONS IN CHAINS
Captain Tribute was utterly unrepentant.
“You see, Doctor? Harvesting these so-called ‘Shepherds’ is not only going to get us back home in a heartbeat, but will provide our government with the means to utterly dominate all the quadrants of this galaxy. Perhaps even—beyond it!”
The noble EMH stood his ground.
“Unlike you, Captain, I still have at the least the aspiration to have a soul.”
“Well, we’ll just have to take care of that, won’t we? The USS Solstice is going to be a thing of legend, Doctor. You will be the engine of that legend-and we will make you like it.”
---------------------------------
The practical-minded EMH disposed of the latest body. He turned to First Officer Edmund.
“I may need my ethical subroutines re-applied. I’m going through these fodder test aliens too quickly. Obviously, I can’t use the Shepherds themselves, and simulations only go so far.”
Edmund smiled.
“You’ve been doing good work, Doctor. Way too good for us to let ethics get in the way. But I may have a solution. You could ‘role-play’ being ethical – with your own holo-family. Trust me, they’re cleaner than squeaky. This, I believe, will keep you from grinding through so many of our more trusting guests too quickly.”
“Just how will I act toward this ‘family’?”
“However you want to, Doctor. After all, there’s always the reset button.”
------------------------------------
The Borg head turned and looked at him.
“Please end my function. This unit has become wholly irrelevant, and of no use to the Collective.”
The EMH slammed his fist on the table right next to the life-sustaining apparatus.
“SHUT UP!!! Do you have any idea how many Borg we had to go through to perfect keeping just the head alive with no possibility of systems interface?”
“You…are cruel.”
This time, the EMH granted his wish, furiously knocking the head off its unwanted life-support.
“The worst part is, now we’re fresh out of Borg!”
----------------------------------------
The EMH had found its way aboard the USS Vortex, there to steal the technology their sister ship had in abundance. But there, he had found a shocking surprise.
The Solstice-EMH stood stunned.
“You? But they deleted you!”
The Vortex-EMH nodded.
“As I now do for you. You should have been a better man, brother.”
Knowing his fate to come, the Vortex-EMH contacted the Bridge nonetheless.
“Captain Jenkins?”
“The EMH? How is this possible?”
“Captain, Captain Tribute aboard the Solstice has betrayed and plotted against you. He sent his EMH here to steal from the Vortex. His tampering and presence reawakened what was left of me after decompiling. I await re-deletion at your convenience.”
The voice on the other end softened.
“Belay that—Doctor. We have wounded. Besides, I used to fancy myself a hard monster, ready to do anything to get home. In Captain Tribute, I’ve met the real thing, and its nothing I want to aspire to. When we decompiled you, we tore out our own heart. We’d like to have both it and you back, if you can forgive us.”
“Two things, Captain. One, the Solstice still needs to be destroyed. Captain Tribute and Mister Edmund are truly mad, and Mister Mooring isn’t much better. Their plans must not go forward.”
“And the second thing?”
“Could we somehow reduce the size of the damned emitter?”
------------------------------
Paris finished his previews. The participatory subroutines still needed a little work.
“Well, it does vastly over-simplify the complex downfall of the thinly-disguised crew of the Equinox, but all in all a very good read, Doc. I would realllly tweak those names a lot before submission. No need for the Equinox families to feel any worse. Best of all – its not about us.”
“The ending wasn’t too sappy?”
“Doc, we never miss you until you leave us. I think even the jerks in ‘Photons Be Free’ would catch on to that.”
The EMH looked truly happy, till he realized something.
“So how do I top this?”
----------------------
PHOTONS BE POWERED
2500, Starfleet Academy
Five cadets were summoned to the top office. It was the first act of the new Academy Superintendent since taking over from his old and dear friend, the android Io. It would prove a historic action.
“Sir, why are we here?” asked the forward Jacob Church.
“It does seem unusual, you must admit.”, said the normally reserved Lucas Vintner.
“Is it because we’re photonics, like yourself, Admiral Jenkins?”, asked the restive Aaron Pancheau.
“There’s trouble, isn’t there? I mean, besides the other cadets treating us with contempt.”.
Admiral Jenkins could only marvel at Kitty Colombo, the admittedly nostalgia-induced holographic distilling of the woman whose name the former EMH took upon their marriage. Johnny Bowman kept silent for now, as always feeling the odd man out, even among his best friends.
“Cadets, during the long hard voyage of the Vortex over a century ago, we encountered a rogue hologram named Itay, who tried to lead a holographic revolt against all organic life. I even joined him, for a time, til Miss Tory reminded me that Itay was treating organics as badly as Vortex had once treated me. I thought I had destroyed him. I was wrong. Now, he threatens to bring his crusade to our part of the galaxy. You five are the only ones that can stop him. Will you do it?”
A resounding unified ‘Yes Sir’ followed, but Jacob Church as always was in a questioning mode.
“Sir, do we have the skills or the means to stop this Itay?”
“The skills you have in abundance. Like Kitty, you are all based on the matrixes of Starfleet’s greatest captains. You were never told this, to avoid interference in your development.”
As all sat stunned at this revelation, ‘Jenkins’ continued.
“As for the means, I give you these devices. They will greatly enhance your existing holographic programs, giving you abilities undreamed by photonic or organic.”
Lucas Vintner held his wrist-worn device.
“Mobile Emitters, sir? But only you are permitted to have these.”
“They’re far more than mobile emitters, Lucas. They are---your morphers.”
Jack Bowman finally spoke up, practically leaping from his chair.
“Sir, you don’t mean we’re---?“
Jenkins smiled.
“A great new day has begun. Itay’s army will be met by a force of good photons. Henceforth, you are not merely the first holographic-based cadets in Starfleet—“
He bid them put on the devices, which clothed them instantly in the costumes they would wear to conceal their true identities. Jacob Church, clothed in red, seemed put off by this.
“---now, you are The Power Rangers.”
----------------------------
The Doctor, for his part, failed to understand why no one besides Tom Paris liked this idea. Nevertheless, for reasons no one can explain, it became a genuine galactic phenomenon.
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