Hey! Just wanted to do a thread that captures my short one-off fiction, some spun off from my Phoenix-X series, and also any on-going posts from other RPs. Will also add any new stuff that either carries on characters from here, or are completely new, or continue any unfinished side-series. The dates will be all over the place, so this first post will try to sort them in some way. Navigation: Double Phoenix | Legends of the Phoenix | STO Phoenix Compendium | Phoenix Meltdown | Infinte Sigma Index: Uprising -- 2377 Vitality, Parts I & II -- 3578
Author's notes: In the second season of my fanfic (previously written in chatfic), a bunch of powerful Q-beings started giving power away, so this was my first try at writing prose to explore that. This takes place in 2377. Estimating this one-off was written around 2001. Uprising Kuru clenched his fist, aimed at his opponent and decided this time to bring his leg for an attack. He kicked his teacher, a Captain Tekoren, in the side and then with leg still lifted, kicked again for the head. But Tekoren predicted this move and blocked easily with a forearm. He then force-palmed Kuru in the chest and knocked him into the air and back. Kuru's feet lifted off the matted flooring and he fell onto his back, hard! When the rest of his body followed, the old Captain dropped his palm and looked down upon his opponent. "You're quite good... but with a hint of naivete," Tekoren said. Kuru collected his inner strength and pulled himself to a sit up. The calm air of the Tactical Training Arena at Starfleet Academy had relaxed his senses. It felt good to be back here. "Um, thanks, Captain," he replied, only picturing himself rolling his eyes. The young Ensign had quite a large amount of respect for this man, as Tekoren had been his teacher inside the Academy and even before the Academy. But Kuru wasn't here for the Academy. The Ensign was getting promoted finally. A well deserved promotion in Tekoren's eyes, yet he would never openly say so that easily. "Mheh, heh, heh," the old man chuckled for what seemed like the first time ever in Kuru's eyes. "You've surpassed my expectations, Kuru. An old man like myself could have no better a pupil than what you have been.... Thank you," he smiled warmly. What the Hell is wrong with the master? Kuru asked in his head in complete shock. He never talks like this! "Is everything alright?" Kuru allowed the Captain to grab his hand and pull him to his feet. "Fine, fine," came the reply before a pause. He was caught looking away in sentiment, "Just... getting old," the Captain admitted - this time being a sure first. Kuru sighed. He then patted him in the arm, and smiled in response. "Don't you have a meeting to get to?" "Ah," the old man's eyes lit up. "Thanks for reminding me." Tekoren turned and left the Arena - knowing full well the meeting was involving the promotion of a few Ensigns, that of including Kuru. The young Ensign stood alone in the Arena for a few seconds, thinking back to all that had happened with him recently. The Captain he had come to catch up with had been changing, and it seemed it was for the better. Was he preparing for death? It was then Kuru was disturbed by another man standing in the Arena on the other side... staring at him. Kuru turned and gazed at the man. "Who are you?" His instincts were flying through the roof. The tall man, appearing to be human, slowly walked over. He wore a Starfleet uniform with the Command rank of Captain. Kuru hadn't noticed this part until suddenly. "...Uhh, sir." Kuru added to his previous question. The Captain failed to respond, choosing only to continue walking and staring at Kuru. If Kuru didn't know any better, he could have sworn there was an inching smile of evil across the man's lips. "I'm not in Starfleet," the man said. "I'm not even normally part of this plain of existence." Kuru was getting a bad vibe from all this and decided it would be worth calling in security. He tried lifting his arm to tap his commbadge, but found the weight of the limb was too much to move. A force of some kind was holding it down. "Ensign Kuru to Security," he then said, hoping the computer would pick it up anyway. But there was no response. The man shook his head slightly. "Don't concern yourself with them." He held out his hand and opened it. The force that was keeping his arms down was now being endowed upon him from the man's palms. Kuru was then forced to his knees, struggling to accept the pressure and deal with it. "Arrrgggghh!!!" He gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut! The force was too much to bear. "What— are— you—??" But in an instant later the man released his hand and all the pressure on Kuru. The young Ensign was too weak and exhausted to look up. He only fell forward, holding his body off the floor by his already weak arms. "Many of us have left our incredibly boring existence and decided to make our own. We've gone around and given mortals like yourself what we have so that one day you would join us," he then leaned in. "You are a chosen one... one of many." Kuru could feel the man's scentless breath pat his skin upon every horrible word just said. After it had been spoken, Kuru snapped his head up for a menacing glare - but the presence of the being had alleviated. The fake Captain... fake human... was gone. THE END
Big fan of moment sketches such as this one. The entire scene takes place over the space of no more than 5 minutes and provides just a glimpse - cool. Thanks! rbs
Thanks! Definitely wanted to try the simplified approach. Always interesting to see one's own past writing too.
Author's notes: Wrote this in 2002 as my first spin-off from my Phoenix-X series during its Season 3, but only ever completed five parts of it. It was originally written in chatfic, so I wanted to put it through the same re-write process as my Double Phoenix thread, only not as eccentric. Hopefully I can hit passed five parts and aim to complete it one day. I'd like to wrap it up neatly. This rewrite was done in January 2022 and takes place in the 36th century. Vitality, Part I In the vast, interstellar vacuum of the cold, hard emptiness, a lone, run-down space station drifted through the void before incoming company. A desperate Emergency Medical Hologram, a man of stylized brown hair and a half-chiseled jaw, stepped into the medical center to check on the end-progress of his five large bio-reconstruction alcoves. "Regeneration cycle complete," came the computer's voice after an alert klaxon. Taking a deep, simulated breath the EMH walked over to a console in front of the chambers. Inside each one was an unconscious, peaceful person, frozen in-place, all of whom wore varying uniforms. "Thanks, Computer," the simulated man anticipated. "Here goes nothing." His last hope. The hologram began moving several hovering shapes above his console, prompting each alcove door to slowly dematerialize and disperse the cold, preservation gas out onto the floor. Each person then began waking up. "Ugh," grogged Jean-Luc Picard as he slowly opened his eyes and took in the medical bay before him. "What? Where am I?" The EMH held up a palm. "Greetings. It's going to take a moment or so before your cognizance focuses." "What the hell is going on?" O'Brien furrowed while stepping out of his chamber as the others had begun, as well. Picard took notice of Miles O'Brien, an officer he had worked with in the past. "Chief." Then, he saw Tuvok, Ensign Hoshi Sato and Doctor Leonard H. McCoy. Everyone took everyone else in. "Now, just be calm, everyone. I know you have questions," the EMH staggard. McCoy's eyes widened at the sight of the flickering hologram. "Questions. You're damn right we have questions!" "This is going to be somewhat of a shock to all of you," the EMH continued. "But you're all clones." At that moment, the space station was suddenly hit and wracked by enemy projectile fire. A beam fell in the background of the already distressed facility as everyone held their footing. "Clones?" Hoshi repeated in continued shock, glancing at Tuvok and then back at the EMH. "That's impossible. I feel exactly like me?" The EMH then moved to begin unlocking a highly sophisticated matter-reshaping lock for a storage container. "I cultivated all of you from gene programming in the Federation database. Unfortunately, the choosing process as well as the age targetting was somewhat arbitrary, as I was short on time." "You may forgive my skepticism," Tuvok added, with a raised eyebrow as the station was hit again. "As Starfleet officers, it is not out of the realm of possibility to be what humans call duped." Nodding as he opened the compartment and took out a glowing white ball of energy, contained inside the claws of wrapping-technology, the EMH replied, "Duping is not in my programming." "What year is this?" Picard demanded, beginning to get a feel for the situation while the EMH engaged with a few control shapes on the tech surrounding the energy ball. The EMH stabilized the object everyone's eyes were now confusingly-locked onto. "I'm not sure," he conceded as he went to another console and worked to unlink the wireless security lock to the device. "Likely, no one knows. All I can tell you is that we're sometime way passed the 35th century." "That's a load of bull!" McCoy snapped. The holo-man then gave the sphere to Picard. "Trust me. It's not. There hasn't been anyone on Deep Space Graeca for months. In fact, this is probably the last place in the galaxy I know of that has anything to do with humans." "Now, hold on just a minute. Humanity does not just die out without a fight," Picard started. The opponent shook his head. "Who's to say they didn't? Either way, I created you because I need you to deliver that sphere to the High Command." Another hit and the station shook even more. "There's a starship prepped that I've manned with a holographic crew." "You can't just expect us to believe all this?" McCoy substantiated. "Why us?" Leading over to a holo-table with projections of star systems and ship locations, the EMH replied, "Because you're some of the best the Federation had to offer. Whatever it is you did, you made a difference. And that's what I need you to do now." He then panned over to another set of star systems and interstellar matter as the group exchanged awkward glances. "High Command is here," he continued, pointing to a section on the map. "They'll only let people with bio signatures through the intense gravitic force fields." Hoshi smirked. "Now it all makes sense. We can get in, but you can't." "Yeah," the EMH confirmed as he led them to a hallway with a window showing the Steamrunner-class starship hovering inside the large starbay. Another hit from outside. "The U.S.S. Vitality. I'm no engineer, so I sort of went through several replicated versions while the others on the station found this the easiest to refit with updated tech and bio-grids." O'Brien was too lost, staring away in reactive thought. "The last thing I remember, I was taking up a teaching job at Starfleet Academy." Then, a large part of the other side of Deep Space Graeca exploded after a barrage of projectile hits burned through the shields. "The memories will get you. Sorry. But you guys have to get going," the EMH hasted while pushing Picard. "Just follow your command structure, and if you have any questions just ask the crew!" Another hard hit, and the lights and systems blinked defectively. The EMH snapped offline, forever. "I, for one, don't believe him," the Doctor defied. Picard glanced down at the sphere in his hands and then at the crumbling station all around them. "Believe him or not, but he's right. We all know who we are, and what we're capable of. Perhaps in some ways that stands on its own, and perhaps, for now, that will have to be enough. We have to get out of here." "Agreed," Tuvok corroborated as another blast shook Graeca violently. From through the windows, two alien attack vessels could be seen coming about, firing disrupter gels at them. TO BE CONTINUED
Brilliant format - if a little depressing... You definitely have the makings of a fan favorite here. Special nod for including Hoshi. Thanks!! rbs
Appreciate it! Will need to rediscover/refine whatever point I was trying to make with this fic. lol -- Hoshi was a left-field choice. I like her. But I don't think she has the same legacy as the others do, so maybe she'll have to deal with that.
I named one of my admirals after both the actor who played her and the new McCoy - Admiral Urban Yasutake, Star Fleet Judge Advocate General (the U.S.S. Hunter and all the other Prowler class ships are in his chain of command.)
Author's notes: Wrote this in 2002, originally in chatfic format. This rewrite was done in March 2022 and takes place in the 36th century. Vitality, Part II Deep Space Gracea, stuck out in the far reaches of interstellar space, had been hit from disrupter gel after disrupter gel by two attacking alien vessels. The clone crew, led by clone Captain Picard, took the Bridge of the Steamrunner-class U.S.S. Vitality, inside the station, observing the advanced hover screens and programmable matter consoles. "Well, does anybody know how to work this damn thing?" McCoy started, catching Hoshi's movement to a side-workstation. Hoshi activated it. "This looks like communications," she observed as Tuvok took tactical and Picard took the command chair. Holographic human crew worked all over the ship, preparing it. "Greetings," one of the holograms approached. "My name is Amp." They watched as he took the helm. "I'm a pilot and can help. Unless one of you want to fly it? Wouldn't be too hard to make me the Chef." McCoy shared hesitant glances with the others. "Well, don't look at me!" "I'm sorry to say, we're not completely sure of the details of the situation," Picard answered. Amp nodded from his station as the ship shook at reverberated-hit from the station. "Let me fill you in." The ship shook again. "We're under attack!" Out, at the side of the crumbling Deep Space Gracea, its shipyard door slowly opened, prompting the Vitality to speed out and return fire of green torpedo blobs upon the enemy ships. "I am unfamiliar with these weapons systems," Tuvok observed, trying to handle the moving console. He then raised a brow. "Nor the enemy." Amp continued maneuvering the Vitality, flying straight for the two ships. "They're called the Klokian. A poisonous-skinned, multi-dimensional reptilian-like species with a very limited vocabulary." "Do you know what you're doing?" Picard turned to Tuvok, as the Vulcan dropped two gel mines between the enemy ships. The Vulcan traded brow raises, starting to get a hang of it. "Possibly." "Here we go!" Amp next pulled the Vitality up and out of the way as two rows of gel mines flowed into and against two oncoming Klokian battle cruisers. "Well, looks like this upgraded, ancient ship is better than I thought." Meanwhile, O'Brien and Hoshi were at the side of the Bridge, assessing the partially encased glowing ball of energy. "What are you so jolly about?" O'Brien countered Amp. "We have absolutely no idea about this century!" Hoshi shook her head in agreement. "We don't belong here," she added before the first Klokian battle cruiser broke formation and flew overhead the Vitality while pumping gels into its ventral hull. The momentum pushed the Vitality down. "You belong in so much that you were created for a task. That task being we have to get that ball of energy to the High Command," Amp re-established as he rotated the ship around to point it upwards in space. Tuvok then launched their own gels at the Klokian cruiser, knocking its engines offline and bursting it into flaming plasma. "Why?" Picard asked Amp, stepping over to the helm. "Why is that so important?" Amp continued working the helm. "Because the Klokians want it, and the omni'X want it. They've plunged the entire galaxy into war because of these things." The second Klokian cruiser then nose-dived, grabbing the Vitality with a pulsating tractor beam, pulling them along. O'Brien checked internal systems. "They've got us, but I think I may have an idea." As he worked the panels, a feedback pulse was transferred along the tractor beam, exploding the Klokian cruiser's emitter. The cruiser then went spinning away, firing one last disrupter gel at the Vitality. BLAM! The Vitality was hit hard and shook violently. Warning sirens started going off and conduits exploded around them. "They're coming back!" Hoshi added from her console. The crew looked at the screen as the first Klokian cruiser regenerated its engines and met formation with the second cruiser, both then heading for the Vitality. "Don't you see? Your people created the wrong era of officer," argued McCoy as he also approached Amp. "We're not cut out for this century." In response, Amp turned the Vitality toward the near-destroyed Deep Space Gracea, with Tuvok following his lead by firing torpedoes. The starbase then exploded with the Vitality passing the destructive radius, and the Klokian cruisers unwittingly flying right into it. The enemy vessels were annihilated in the chaos, sending large pieces trucking through space. "I beg to differ," Amp breathed a holographic sigh of relief. "You guys were the golden age of space crossing, exploration and peace. If anyone is made for this, it's you people. Also, we just blew up the last known piece of the Federation." Everyone exchanged hesitant looks as he then ducked the Vitality beyond one of the large pieces of flaming enemy debris, and jumped the ship out of normal space. TO BE CONTINUED
Talk about a story being amped up by an NPC... (couldn't resist.) Big fan of the bite-sized segment. Very quick, entertaining read. No eye strain. Thanks!! rbs