This is a neandering letter - so please be warned of it's digressions.
Word count: 3,407
--
For Hannah –
Once upon a time there was a man by the name of Abel. He was part of a brotherhood of war that started when the Dominion invaded Earth. However, no one really wants to hear the details of how the other wars started so your uncle will skip them.
Once upon a time there was a brotherhood of war. There was Hasley, Masterson, your uncle, and an irritating Captain of the USS Alexander Stephens. The four of them had gone through wars and many sorrows as indicative of Earth’s forgetful memory.
No one really cares about history on Earth. They would rather care about Kirk and Picard. The blasted revisionists would like to sell you a pile of goods worthy of nothing but that is beyond the point that your uncle is trying to make.
There were four of us there in this battle. We got out of the battle thanks to the Remans who were quite helpful in the occupation and the war. You know – the Dominion War and the Cardassian Wars?
The Remans had this open mind to everything. They wanted democracy and everything. The Romulans were only too happy to lend the troops out on the account of them being slave troops. They wanted their empire clean of any slaves – for that is what they were – and focused on getting out of stagnation.
We met a lot of them in the occupation on the account of the budget slashing from Earth. Clearly no one wanted the occupation to last longer than it needed to. Earth did not nation –build. Your uncle would hesitate to even say that the constant regime change in the Klingon Empire was a cheap nation build on the account of Worf being the Chancellor all but in name. Alas no one cares about that and the Duras Affair.
The Captain was quite irritating. He was going about how the Federation was supposed to be exploration based. He would rave in the officer’s mess on how it should have been just Picard that was famous not some idiot from Deep Space 9. In fact, if it was his way, he would have gladly grabbed the fabled time technology that Picard had in his back pocket, and turned time around.
There was a whole group of us on the USS Alexander Stephens. Hasley was assistant Security Officer. Your Uncle was the navigator. Masterson was the Security Officer in general. He was quite skilled in the assault teams against the Jem’Hadar. He even started to take notes about their command structure.
The Captain was quite irritating as you know. He was the same as your father. He had this ability – after the war – by stating that we should have been part of the grand battle over Cardassia. We were nowhere near that but he drummed it into our heads that we were the chosen ones, never mind the fact of what your uncle has noted above.
The Captain got worse in the post-war. The brotherhood of war made men out of explorers. Big Blue was one of them – rising up from Ensign to Captain in about a month on the USS Braxton Bragg because everyone else was dead. Dang Tom was Commander on the USS Patrick Cleburne on the account of his daring escape from a Jem’Hadar prision. Then there was Phaser Sue on the USS Robert Ernst Lee. She was pretty handy with her phaser and let your uncle tell you – she was mighty fine in the new regulation uniform.
Of course these names meant nothing to the budget slashing creeps on Earth once Janeway came back. The Captain refashioned the Alexander Stephen to something that we couldn’t recognize anymore. There was a duty for those near 1 billion souls executed for the rebellion that we started. There was an honor to be done and the Captain had nothing to do with that.
The occupation was even worse. Here were Remans left on the vine. Here were Remans that wanted to be exposed to the culture of Earth and specifically that ancient state of America. There was even one general who adopted that wholesale, making that a certain point on some distant world – to stop speaking Reman. They spoke English and converted wholesale because of that major point.
Yet the Commander of that Occupational Army would have none of it. The greatest problem came in the Orions. It is at this part of the story that your uncle was forced to serve more time on the blasted Alexander Stephens. He was a grand navigator, as if to replace Masterson who went for the Occupational Army.
There are a great many things wrong with your uncle as he spends time in this dratted cell. The first problem comes in that he stayed too long in the service that he no longer had faith in. The second was that he was caught deserting on some colonized world in the great space that our beloved Earth controls.
The loss of faith came simply at the hands of those that controlled your uncle. There was that blasted Captain of the Alexander Stephens romping around some wormy place beyond where our honor demanded. There was the accursed Commander of the Occupational Army of Cardassia. Then there was his friends that deserted way after your uncle got on to the scene.
It all began with the Captain of the Alexander Stephens. Supposedly he was really into history. Supposedly he was going to be the next Picard. However, he was born on Mars and he had no idea who was Alexander Stephens was. He simply said that it was a relative of Picard, whom he idealized.
The Alexander Stephens managed to get reassigned from the war torn sector of Cardassia to some Beta Quadrant – as if to compensate on where did the Breen come from – and other ill placed questions such as that. It was a fine time being in the Breen Space on the account of the Occupational Fleet. We still have no idea what they look like. In fact it felt as if we were the guests and not the occupiers.
The biggest problem came in the Orions. At that time your uncle was promoted to Lt. Commander but that didn’t stop the Captain from stuffing his fat face where there were gaps of experience. There were all these sailors who got cheated out of the war. He wanted those folk – those “coast guard” people who couldn’t find Mars from Pluto. Most of them were the token refugees and those beady antennae men. It was never the same when Hasley, Masterson, and Kind Mary left.
You would have liked Kind Mary. She was the doctor who had been trained on Deep Space 8. She was a colonist and had a kind word for everyone. We were on Beta Sigma V when the Dominion attacked. She shot one in the chest, used his knife, and then stabbed the other. It was good times fighting them. At least we knew they were the enemy and not some second guessers from Earth.
There is simply no time now. There is simply no time for your uncle to get out of this cell and to the people that can treat him nicely. Your uncle has gotten in league with the Orions.
The problem was that the Captain simply didn’t respect the Breen. He carried himself like a bag of hot air around the Breen to show that he was at the battle of XXX and YYY, when he wasn’t. The Captain reinvented his role and blackmailed your uncle because he had an addiction to the holo-deck.
How the captain managed to cling onto his one token veteran is your uncle’s fault. He was late in transferring his papers to the Occupational Army of Cardassia. He was late in helping a Reman guard find his family and then there was that Cardassian city to help bury. They were all dead. Your uncle can’t forget those burned out cities. We had a duty and an honor to deal with our victories. We should have kept our victory – not lose it.
Your uncle was kept on the Alexander Stephen and got drunk in the holo-deck. The Captain was ruthless in his blackmail. There was just too much that the holo-deck could offer. Your uncle remembered the last time that he saw Kind Mary. She tripped on a Jem’Hadar mine in the last tour of duty in the war.
Your uncle misses her greatly.
Your uncle can remember that last crew of the Alexander Stephen. There was Engineering – some rube from San Francisco - all gung ho because his uncle died in the raid on that fair city. There was Navigation – some revenue cutter man from Alpha Centuar. There was Weapons –which was your uncle. Then there were some other departments that don’t matter.
The Captain lost his way you see. He was chasing some Orion pirate and then he got some erroneous data. He went through this patch and got lost. He found this new world that he thought was new. Of course they were Orion clients and he made the great gesture of arresting the one person that he thought was an Orion Pirate.
They say that you can’t hear anything in space. There are those deep pockets that people have forgotten as Earth grows bigger in each passing century. There are the Deep Space Stations that people have forgotten and simply assume that they begin at 9. Then there are those legendary captains like Kirk and Picard. But there were others – Harriman, Sulu, Chekov, and others.
The Alexander Stephens was officially written off as “lost in space”. The truth of the matter is that the Orions got their hands on it. They outnumber us farther than you can believe. There was more death.
Your uncle managed to get into the good graces of the Orions on the account of some act he forgot while serving on the USS Braxton Bragg. That was the one after the USS Raphael Semmes. There seems to be a bad stretch of bad luck following your uncle.
There was this Orion you see. He was captured near some hazy world that had actual alcohol. He was fingered to be a smuggler and your uncle let him slide. You would be honestly amazed at what the Orions do here. They have a security service and a self defense force … your uncle will stop there.
If you have gotten lost, O Hannah – let your uncle summarize this. Your father is an idiot. That would be your uncle’s brother. There would be three ships – the USS Alexander Stephens, USS Braxton Bragg, and the USS Raphael Semmes. There would be the Captain who was spaced for violating Orion territory. Then there was his tour in the Occupational Army of Cardassia. Your uncle knows it’s hard to keep track of such things.
Your uncle remembers the first time that he realized that all his service in three ships, three wars, and one occupation meant nothing to your father. Your father was a sterling example of utter tripe. He managed to get a berth on the USS Enterprise and then the USS Odyssey. He retired and then was brought back on the USS Tripoli. He is a Vice-Admiral.
Your dearest uncle is the eldest – eat that with your bloody federation fake cake.
Your uncle needs a moment.
Your uncle got to Cardassia though the Orions who made him a militia man on that other world. He found it to be quite pleasant. It was not a full turning around but just a realization of what war meant to Earth – nothing.
Let your uncle tell you of something.
There was this attractive woman on the USS Bragg by the name of Sheila. She was from New Bern. Your uncle never really cared to find out where that was. She was attractive and worked in Engineering. She had black hair, brown eyes, and had this accent that your uncle could never really place.
Sheila was receptive and your uncle fell for her hard. You might remember her from the other letters your uncle has sent to you. We took lovely trips on some wild worlds that your father managed to censure. Then there was that lovely argument that your uncle and your father had back home.
It never really panned out because you remember that your mother was going through some troubles with your father. It concerned time with you. Your Uncle believes it had to do with you getting into the Academy. Then Sheila comes with your uncle and that broke everything. Your Uncle was assigned back on Earth just for a moment and then it went to pieces.
Your uncle got called up on the USS Bragg and Sheila claimed she had something to do. That was the affair that broke the back of the Bolian vole. Sheila was a Romulan spy. Who honestly knew? Your mother never forgave your uncle for that.
Then it was about the time when your uncle met Masterson that you sent a letter. You wanted to know about war in general. Your uncle sent you a long dispatch and it’s been spotty ever since.
Your uncle later got to Cardassia after many months of trying to get passage to that space. Your uncle had a record with the Orions as being a prisoner. As for the others - … let us not talk about them for it would bring further grief to your uncle.
Your uncle managed to get to Cardassia too late. He got a tour on a Breen ship by being an engineer. Then there was that tour on a Federation news service ship as a pilot. Finally there was Cardassia. Your uncle wrote in under your kid name for him – Ben Legs.
There were actually two of us that were raised on that lonely farm in Nebraska. Your father kept on harassing your uncle about being a proper elder brother. He was always the better one. It was all good until the war broke out. It was on the USS Semmes that the good times ended. It was not only the Sheila Affair.
There was that demotion by Captain Bo on the USS Semmes. So what if your uncle managed to get involved in the Orions? So what if your uncle managed to see them as good and honorable people? The USS Semmes was just a lowly cruiser on the way out.
The man in charge of your uncle’s corruption was a man by the name of White Pen. He knew all the ladies on Oxy 4. Some of them were Orions and they had this alcohol that made the head spin. White Pen was a cargo chief. There was some corruption going on then. White Pen managed to get away when the cops came down in Cell Block 4. He was later sent to New Zealand and here was a lowly ensign caught in the middle of the affair.
So your uncle was demoted to the brig for a month. Your father went on the record for your uncle. That was fine and then your father got a promotion to Lt. of a small sub-department.
The sheer irony hit your uncle like Bolivian Sigma wine to the gut. Your uncle managed to get a transfer to the USS Bragg on the account of some mutual associate on that ship. It was Masterson – a sore sight for sore eyes.
So if you didn’t follow the story – it’s your uncle getting away from Nebraska, going on the USS Semmes, going on the USS Bragg, the Sheila affair, the war, the USS Stephens, and then him trying to get back to Cardassia.
The non-relation that your uncle has with your father is famous. Then you come along as the apple in everyone’s eye. Your uncle is utterly at a loss for words on how you escaped such miasma of this stupid time.
Your uncle is fairly handsome according to the coverage that he gets. He wears those stars and stripes well. He is in charge of the getting back on its feet approach to the Romulan Imperial Republics.
Your uncle was realized on who he was in about three months after he arrived in Cardassia. He offered his service to this non-governmental agency devoted to cleaning up the place. He served with them and then got caught by the diligent captain on the USS French Royale.
The sad thing was that the diligent captain was a former associate of your uncle- a former crewmember on the USS Alexander Stephens that survived the Orion capture. He got out through a raid. He fingered your uncle a collaborator.
Your uncle was arrested and then listed as a deserter. Your father sponsored the long trip to somewhere cold and distant. You never wrote back on the last letter.
It’s hard to say when the hatred began – it’s just the dullness that comes with Earth. There was this breakout on the ship that was a brig. Your uncle got roped in it on the account of some familiar Orion operative that was in the brig at the time. Your uncle escaped.
Your uncle got a new name on the distant colonized world that he mentioned above. He went by the name of White Pen – a crude irony. He helped out and got a job as a toll keeper of that distant world. Then the actual White Pen appeared two years later.
It’s hard to say what happened next. There was a fight and your uncle managed to inflict a good defense. The original White Pen had to disappear and the Orions came knocking. They knew that your uncle still had the drinking problem and the holo-deck problem.
How did it come to this?
There was the robbery on the USS Shasta Colon – a supply ship. Then there was the raid on the retired USS Kiska Mole. They were all for the supplies they had and your uncle needed the money. The Orions managed to help your uncle out by letting him pipe back into Cardassia and help them occasionally. The curing of Cardassian soil only helped for a brief spell. Then it ended on the account of the Reman Affair.
The kindest Orion operative that your uncle met goes by the name of Long Man. They don’t take kindly to original names. Long Man sympathized with your uncle’s predicament. Long Man says there are a lot of former veterans in the service of Orion.
Then your letter came. You needed help on the matters of Orion. Your uncle thought it would be best … and then to find out that it was all a trap. Your uncle is writing this in his cell because of that.
Your uncle has lost your trust. Your uncle knows that and is probably guilty for all of those things. Everything degenerates at the end and you have become something of a legend. You’re a police-woman. Your uncle is laughing because it hurts. It hurts so much.
So in summary it is this: the USS Semmes, the USS Bragg, the USS Stephens, the capture, the fall into utter decay, and then the arrest.
Is that all? The constant desertions and crime is your uncle’s ball and chain? Surely there must be more punishment down the chute.
The rumor for Masterson is that he’s become a Legate of his own personal fiefdom. He’s managed to recruit discharged soldiers of the Dominion to reinforce the law. It’s no longer being about the law in Cardassia as it is about survival about the species. Honor no longer exists for them.
Your uncle doesn’t know about Hasley.
Perhaps he is dead. Perhaps he is better off not knowing what happened to the rest. The story is that when the order came down to “interview the Remans for any possible anti-Federation sentiments” on the account of Shinzon killing Data – they gave ample warning to the Remans who were the policemen in Cardassia. All the Federation troops had been stripped away and it was only the Remans that actually wanted to be there. Your uncle is alluding to the first part of his letter.
Hasley and Masterson disappeared.
Now your uncle is caught. That would be fine except that your uncle sees no point in all of it. Everything is gone.
Sincerely,
Your blighted Uncle T.S. Todd Tripler
Word count: 3,407
--
For Hannah –
Once upon a time there was a man by the name of Abel. He was part of a brotherhood of war that started when the Dominion invaded Earth. However, no one really wants to hear the details of how the other wars started so your uncle will skip them.
Once upon a time there was a brotherhood of war. There was Hasley, Masterson, your uncle, and an irritating Captain of the USS Alexander Stephens. The four of them had gone through wars and many sorrows as indicative of Earth’s forgetful memory.
No one really cares about history on Earth. They would rather care about Kirk and Picard. The blasted revisionists would like to sell you a pile of goods worthy of nothing but that is beyond the point that your uncle is trying to make.
There were four of us there in this battle. We got out of the battle thanks to the Remans who were quite helpful in the occupation and the war. You know – the Dominion War and the Cardassian Wars?
The Remans had this open mind to everything. They wanted democracy and everything. The Romulans were only too happy to lend the troops out on the account of them being slave troops. They wanted their empire clean of any slaves – for that is what they were – and focused on getting out of stagnation.
We met a lot of them in the occupation on the account of the budget slashing from Earth. Clearly no one wanted the occupation to last longer than it needed to. Earth did not nation –build. Your uncle would hesitate to even say that the constant regime change in the Klingon Empire was a cheap nation build on the account of Worf being the Chancellor all but in name. Alas no one cares about that and the Duras Affair.
The Captain was quite irritating. He was going about how the Federation was supposed to be exploration based. He would rave in the officer’s mess on how it should have been just Picard that was famous not some idiot from Deep Space 9. In fact, if it was his way, he would have gladly grabbed the fabled time technology that Picard had in his back pocket, and turned time around.
There was a whole group of us on the USS Alexander Stephens. Hasley was assistant Security Officer. Your Uncle was the navigator. Masterson was the Security Officer in general. He was quite skilled in the assault teams against the Jem’Hadar. He even started to take notes about their command structure.
The Captain was quite irritating as you know. He was the same as your father. He had this ability – after the war – by stating that we should have been part of the grand battle over Cardassia. We were nowhere near that but he drummed it into our heads that we were the chosen ones, never mind the fact of what your uncle has noted above.
The Captain got worse in the post-war. The brotherhood of war made men out of explorers. Big Blue was one of them – rising up from Ensign to Captain in about a month on the USS Braxton Bragg because everyone else was dead. Dang Tom was Commander on the USS Patrick Cleburne on the account of his daring escape from a Jem’Hadar prision. Then there was Phaser Sue on the USS Robert Ernst Lee. She was pretty handy with her phaser and let your uncle tell you – she was mighty fine in the new regulation uniform.
Of course these names meant nothing to the budget slashing creeps on Earth once Janeway came back. The Captain refashioned the Alexander Stephen to something that we couldn’t recognize anymore. There was a duty for those near 1 billion souls executed for the rebellion that we started. There was an honor to be done and the Captain had nothing to do with that.
The occupation was even worse. Here were Remans left on the vine. Here were Remans that wanted to be exposed to the culture of Earth and specifically that ancient state of America. There was even one general who adopted that wholesale, making that a certain point on some distant world – to stop speaking Reman. They spoke English and converted wholesale because of that major point.
Yet the Commander of that Occupational Army would have none of it. The greatest problem came in the Orions. It is at this part of the story that your uncle was forced to serve more time on the blasted Alexander Stephens. He was a grand navigator, as if to replace Masterson who went for the Occupational Army.
There are a great many things wrong with your uncle as he spends time in this dratted cell. The first problem comes in that he stayed too long in the service that he no longer had faith in. The second was that he was caught deserting on some colonized world in the great space that our beloved Earth controls.
The loss of faith came simply at the hands of those that controlled your uncle. There was that blasted Captain of the Alexander Stephens romping around some wormy place beyond where our honor demanded. There was the accursed Commander of the Occupational Army of Cardassia. Then there was his friends that deserted way after your uncle got on to the scene.
It all began with the Captain of the Alexander Stephens. Supposedly he was really into history. Supposedly he was going to be the next Picard. However, he was born on Mars and he had no idea who was Alexander Stephens was. He simply said that it was a relative of Picard, whom he idealized.
The Alexander Stephens managed to get reassigned from the war torn sector of Cardassia to some Beta Quadrant – as if to compensate on where did the Breen come from – and other ill placed questions such as that. It was a fine time being in the Breen Space on the account of the Occupational Fleet. We still have no idea what they look like. In fact it felt as if we were the guests and not the occupiers.
The biggest problem came in the Orions. At that time your uncle was promoted to Lt. Commander but that didn’t stop the Captain from stuffing his fat face where there were gaps of experience. There were all these sailors who got cheated out of the war. He wanted those folk – those “coast guard” people who couldn’t find Mars from Pluto. Most of them were the token refugees and those beady antennae men. It was never the same when Hasley, Masterson, and Kind Mary left.
You would have liked Kind Mary. She was the doctor who had been trained on Deep Space 8. She was a colonist and had a kind word for everyone. We were on Beta Sigma V when the Dominion attacked. She shot one in the chest, used his knife, and then stabbed the other. It was good times fighting them. At least we knew they were the enemy and not some second guessers from Earth.
There is simply no time now. There is simply no time for your uncle to get out of this cell and to the people that can treat him nicely. Your uncle has gotten in league with the Orions.
The problem was that the Captain simply didn’t respect the Breen. He carried himself like a bag of hot air around the Breen to show that he was at the battle of XXX and YYY, when he wasn’t. The Captain reinvented his role and blackmailed your uncle because he had an addiction to the holo-deck.
How the captain managed to cling onto his one token veteran is your uncle’s fault. He was late in transferring his papers to the Occupational Army of Cardassia. He was late in helping a Reman guard find his family and then there was that Cardassian city to help bury. They were all dead. Your uncle can’t forget those burned out cities. We had a duty and an honor to deal with our victories. We should have kept our victory – not lose it.
Your uncle was kept on the Alexander Stephen and got drunk in the holo-deck. The Captain was ruthless in his blackmail. There was just too much that the holo-deck could offer. Your uncle remembered the last time that he saw Kind Mary. She tripped on a Jem’Hadar mine in the last tour of duty in the war.
Your uncle misses her greatly.
Your uncle can remember that last crew of the Alexander Stephen. There was Engineering – some rube from San Francisco - all gung ho because his uncle died in the raid on that fair city. There was Navigation – some revenue cutter man from Alpha Centuar. There was Weapons –which was your uncle. Then there were some other departments that don’t matter.
The Captain lost his way you see. He was chasing some Orion pirate and then he got some erroneous data. He went through this patch and got lost. He found this new world that he thought was new. Of course they were Orion clients and he made the great gesture of arresting the one person that he thought was an Orion Pirate.
They say that you can’t hear anything in space. There are those deep pockets that people have forgotten as Earth grows bigger in each passing century. There are the Deep Space Stations that people have forgotten and simply assume that they begin at 9. Then there are those legendary captains like Kirk and Picard. But there were others – Harriman, Sulu, Chekov, and others.
The Alexander Stephens was officially written off as “lost in space”. The truth of the matter is that the Orions got their hands on it. They outnumber us farther than you can believe. There was more death.
Your uncle managed to get into the good graces of the Orions on the account of some act he forgot while serving on the USS Braxton Bragg. That was the one after the USS Raphael Semmes. There seems to be a bad stretch of bad luck following your uncle.
There was this Orion you see. He was captured near some hazy world that had actual alcohol. He was fingered to be a smuggler and your uncle let him slide. You would be honestly amazed at what the Orions do here. They have a security service and a self defense force … your uncle will stop there.
If you have gotten lost, O Hannah – let your uncle summarize this. Your father is an idiot. That would be your uncle’s brother. There would be three ships – the USS Alexander Stephens, USS Braxton Bragg, and the USS Raphael Semmes. There would be the Captain who was spaced for violating Orion territory. Then there was his tour in the Occupational Army of Cardassia. Your uncle knows it’s hard to keep track of such things.
Your uncle remembers the first time that he realized that all his service in three ships, three wars, and one occupation meant nothing to your father. Your father was a sterling example of utter tripe. He managed to get a berth on the USS Enterprise and then the USS Odyssey. He retired and then was brought back on the USS Tripoli. He is a Vice-Admiral.
Your dearest uncle is the eldest – eat that with your bloody federation fake cake.
Your uncle needs a moment.
Your uncle got to Cardassia though the Orions who made him a militia man on that other world. He found it to be quite pleasant. It was not a full turning around but just a realization of what war meant to Earth – nothing.
Let your uncle tell you of something.
There was this attractive woman on the USS Bragg by the name of Sheila. She was from New Bern. Your uncle never really cared to find out where that was. She was attractive and worked in Engineering. She had black hair, brown eyes, and had this accent that your uncle could never really place.
Sheila was receptive and your uncle fell for her hard. You might remember her from the other letters your uncle has sent to you. We took lovely trips on some wild worlds that your father managed to censure. Then there was that lovely argument that your uncle and your father had back home.
It never really panned out because you remember that your mother was going through some troubles with your father. It concerned time with you. Your Uncle believes it had to do with you getting into the Academy. Then Sheila comes with your uncle and that broke everything. Your Uncle was assigned back on Earth just for a moment and then it went to pieces.
Your uncle got called up on the USS Bragg and Sheila claimed she had something to do. That was the affair that broke the back of the Bolian vole. Sheila was a Romulan spy. Who honestly knew? Your mother never forgave your uncle for that.
Then it was about the time when your uncle met Masterson that you sent a letter. You wanted to know about war in general. Your uncle sent you a long dispatch and it’s been spotty ever since.
Your uncle later got to Cardassia after many months of trying to get passage to that space. Your uncle had a record with the Orions as being a prisoner. As for the others - … let us not talk about them for it would bring further grief to your uncle.
Your uncle managed to get to Cardassia too late. He got a tour on a Breen ship by being an engineer. Then there was that tour on a Federation news service ship as a pilot. Finally there was Cardassia. Your uncle wrote in under your kid name for him – Ben Legs.
There were actually two of us that were raised on that lonely farm in Nebraska. Your father kept on harassing your uncle about being a proper elder brother. He was always the better one. It was all good until the war broke out. It was on the USS Semmes that the good times ended. It was not only the Sheila Affair.
There was that demotion by Captain Bo on the USS Semmes. So what if your uncle managed to get involved in the Orions? So what if your uncle managed to see them as good and honorable people? The USS Semmes was just a lowly cruiser on the way out.
The man in charge of your uncle’s corruption was a man by the name of White Pen. He knew all the ladies on Oxy 4. Some of them were Orions and they had this alcohol that made the head spin. White Pen was a cargo chief. There was some corruption going on then. White Pen managed to get away when the cops came down in Cell Block 4. He was later sent to New Zealand and here was a lowly ensign caught in the middle of the affair.
So your uncle was demoted to the brig for a month. Your father went on the record for your uncle. That was fine and then your father got a promotion to Lt. of a small sub-department.
The sheer irony hit your uncle like Bolivian Sigma wine to the gut. Your uncle managed to get a transfer to the USS Bragg on the account of some mutual associate on that ship. It was Masterson – a sore sight for sore eyes.
So if you didn’t follow the story – it’s your uncle getting away from Nebraska, going on the USS Semmes, going on the USS Bragg, the Sheila affair, the war, the USS Stephens, and then him trying to get back to Cardassia.
The non-relation that your uncle has with your father is famous. Then you come along as the apple in everyone’s eye. Your uncle is utterly at a loss for words on how you escaped such miasma of this stupid time.
Your uncle is fairly handsome according to the coverage that he gets. He wears those stars and stripes well. He is in charge of the getting back on its feet approach to the Romulan Imperial Republics.
Your uncle was realized on who he was in about three months after he arrived in Cardassia. He offered his service to this non-governmental agency devoted to cleaning up the place. He served with them and then got caught by the diligent captain on the USS French Royale.
The sad thing was that the diligent captain was a former associate of your uncle- a former crewmember on the USS Alexander Stephens that survived the Orion capture. He got out through a raid. He fingered your uncle a collaborator.
Your uncle was arrested and then listed as a deserter. Your father sponsored the long trip to somewhere cold and distant. You never wrote back on the last letter.
It’s hard to say when the hatred began – it’s just the dullness that comes with Earth. There was this breakout on the ship that was a brig. Your uncle got roped in it on the account of some familiar Orion operative that was in the brig at the time. Your uncle escaped.
Your uncle got a new name on the distant colonized world that he mentioned above. He went by the name of White Pen – a crude irony. He helped out and got a job as a toll keeper of that distant world. Then the actual White Pen appeared two years later.
It’s hard to say what happened next. There was a fight and your uncle managed to inflict a good defense. The original White Pen had to disappear and the Orions came knocking. They knew that your uncle still had the drinking problem and the holo-deck problem.
How did it come to this?
There was the robbery on the USS Shasta Colon – a supply ship. Then there was the raid on the retired USS Kiska Mole. They were all for the supplies they had and your uncle needed the money. The Orions managed to help your uncle out by letting him pipe back into Cardassia and help them occasionally. The curing of Cardassian soil only helped for a brief spell. Then it ended on the account of the Reman Affair.
The kindest Orion operative that your uncle met goes by the name of Long Man. They don’t take kindly to original names. Long Man sympathized with your uncle’s predicament. Long Man says there are a lot of former veterans in the service of Orion.
Then your letter came. You needed help on the matters of Orion. Your uncle thought it would be best … and then to find out that it was all a trap. Your uncle is writing this in his cell because of that.
Your uncle has lost your trust. Your uncle knows that and is probably guilty for all of those things. Everything degenerates at the end and you have become something of a legend. You’re a police-woman. Your uncle is laughing because it hurts. It hurts so much.
So in summary it is this: the USS Semmes, the USS Bragg, the USS Stephens, the capture, the fall into utter decay, and then the arrest.
Is that all? The constant desertions and crime is your uncle’s ball and chain? Surely there must be more punishment down the chute.
The rumor for Masterson is that he’s become a Legate of his own personal fiefdom. He’s managed to recruit discharged soldiers of the Dominion to reinforce the law. It’s no longer being about the law in Cardassia as it is about survival about the species. Honor no longer exists for them.
Your uncle doesn’t know about Hasley.
Perhaps he is dead. Perhaps he is better off not knowing what happened to the rest. The story is that when the order came down to “interview the Remans for any possible anti-Federation sentiments” on the account of Shinzon killing Data – they gave ample warning to the Remans who were the policemen in Cardassia. All the Federation troops had been stripped away and it was only the Remans that actually wanted to be there. Your uncle is alluding to the first part of his letter.
Hasley and Masterson disappeared.
Now your uncle is caught. That would be fine except that your uncle sees no point in all of it. Everything is gone.
Sincerely,
Your blighted Uncle T.S. Todd Tripler
