STAR TREK: ULYSSES - "False Idol" (OCs, short story)
- Thread starter Kuri
- Start date
Epilogue
Position: Unknown
Stardate: Unknown
MACK TRUDGED INTO THE MEETING ROOM and flopped into his usual chair. The other crew members of the Ulysses assembled in oppressive silence, one at a time.
Sanjay sat across from Mack and said to the table at large, “What’s Leslie called this for then? We all got radiation poisoning on top of everything else? Eh?”
“Just shut up, Sanjay,” snapped Erika.
Gaaval stomped in, fiddling with his beard. Dr. Ch’vo was next. The Andorian took his seat next to the Tellarite and tried to shove it as far away as possible.
“Do we know where we are yet?” Ch’vo challenged Erika.
“I’m still working on it,” she shot back. “Initial estimates look right though: Far side of Beta Quadrant, outer spiral arm, uncharted space.”
“We still do not even know when this is,” muttered Ch’vo. “That black hole could have placed us into an entirely different era…”
“Yeh, stop your whining, eh?” Gaaval grunted. “You know how we got here.”
“Do you refer to your maddening tinkering, you obstinate dwarf?” said Ch’vo.
The stocky Tellarite rose from his seat, “What did you say, bug-face?”
Mack ignored their argument as Kimi wandered in, paused and peered at her usual seat beside his. Kimi said, “Erika, can you change seats with me?”
“This is where I always sit.”
“It doesn’t have your name on it.”
“It doesn’t have yours either. What’s the problem?”
“She doesn’t want to sit next to me,” Mack growled. He swiveled to face the assistant science officer. “Grow up, will you?”
“Just leave me alone…” Kimi hushed as the door swooshed open again and Toure glided in. As if in a daze, the captain walked right past Ch’vo and Gaaval, who were standing and jabbing fingers at each other.
“Captain, Erika won’t change seats with me…” began Kimi.
“Just stand if you want to.” Toure descended into her own place.
Finally, Dr. Leslie Randall steamed into the room and silence fell. She was trailed by her svelte Andorian assistant, Talia. Leslie took a sweeping glare, then rolled up the sleeves of her medical overalls to reveal meaty forearms.
“Right. You’re all here. I’ve got something to say. This is a group therapy session, Randall-style, so shut your traps and open your ears. Talia, are you recording?”
The blue-skinned alien produced a padd and tapped. “Recording now, Doctor.”
“Good. I’ll start with you, Mack.”
Mack sat up straight in his chair, pulse rising.
“So, we’re stuck on the wrong side of Beta Quadrant, possibly with no way to get back home, all because we tried to fight a big space monster. And you advocated making that shot at the Ismares star.”
Mack swallowed hard, his hands balling into fists below the table.
“But here’s the thing: We’re still alive, because of you. You did what you had to do, to protect your family when it was attacked,” said the medical officer.
“I didn’t know it would push us into the black hole…” started Mack.
“’Course you didn’t. No-one did. We needed you to protect us and you did it.”
“Oh, Mack,” Kimi finally sat down beside him. “I don’t blame you…”
“Exactly,” huffed Leslie. “That’s the problem here. We’re all blaming ourselves, and feeling all sorry and snippy about it. And I’m here to tell you…”
Leslie slammed her hand down and everyone jumped in their seats.
“…to snap out of it! We’re facing ten years to get back home, right Erika?”
The navigator nodded glumly. Leslie continued, “So, we need to get back to doing our jobs pronto, or we’re never going to get anywhere! Dr. Ch’vo: That trilithium malarkey was all your idea. But the same thing counts. Without your quick thinking, we’d be inside the stomach of something bigger than Jupiter right now.”
The Andorian’s antennae curled and uncurled.
“And as for you, Kimi: It was a new lifeform! You just followed standard procedure – anyone else in your position would have done the same. So stop eating yourself up about it. We need you at your curious best from now on, or we’re never getting back home past who-knows-what-gribblies are out there.”
“You’re assuming there’s a home to get back to, that we are still in our own time, that there’s even still a Federation…” Kimi blinked back tears.
“Ruddy right I am!” thundered Leslie. “And so must all of us, or we’re going to fall apart as a crew.”
A tiny gasp came from Captain Toure, seizing Mack’s attention. He glanced at the captain. She straightened, eyes focused once more.
“Thank you, Dr. Randall. I think you have made your point.”
“I’m not done with you yet, Serena.” Leslie planted her hands on her ample hips. “Captain, everything that’s happened is ultimately your responsibility. You made the final calls at every stage that have led us to here.”
“Leslie, please…”
“Don’t interrupt. But guess what? Not one other person at this table could have made those calls. We were in an impossible situation. No-one else could have got us through it! We need you to keep it together, keep us together. And I for one am pretty ruddy sure I’d rather not have anyone else in this galaxy as captain right now.”
Toure looked around the table, looked into the eyes of eight desperate crew members, and nodded. She swallowed then whispered, “Thank you, Leslie.”
“Quite alright. You can stop recording now, Talia.” Leslie flopped down into the last seat and glared round the table. “When we due word back from Starfleet then?”
“We’re far from the relays, but there should be a reply in the next ten hours or so – if they’re still there…” Kimi’s voice trailed off.
“OK,” said Captain Toure, a new force in her voice. “We’re down to nine, but we can still run this ship if we all pitch in together. Mr. Gaaval cannot possibly run engineering by himself – we all need to take watches. Mr. Gaaval, can you give a crash course on what to do?”
“Yeh, just watch and call me when something happens is what you do!”
“OK. We need a similar rotation at helm. Agreed? Good. Now, priorities: Dr. Ch’vo and Ms. Shimizu, you are now our scavengers. Open up the sensors, look at nearby systems. Dr. Ch’vo – you need to locate potential sources for deuterium.”
Ch’vo scratched between his antennae. “That isotope occurs naturally in less than zero point zero one percent of the galaxy’s hydrogen…”
“I understand. You’ll need to work with Mr. Gaaval on alternative sources of refinement, or even propulsion.”
The Andorian and Tellarite exchanged a frosty glance.
“Ms. Shimizu, we need food. We have six – now nine months of provisions, plus another three in the lifeboats. Let’s try to leave the emergency rations alone unless absolutely necessary. You need to source foods – plantlife or otherwise.”
At that moment a signal light flashed on the central control panel of the table. Everyone watched it in silence. Toure took in a deep breath, stood, then switched to receive. She read for four seconds, then looked around the expectant crew.
“It’s from Starfleet, dated yesterday. They’re still there, no time dilation.”
Cheers exploded around the room. Hugs, backslaps and laughs were exchanged. Kimi turned in her seat to face Mack, her cheeks flushed. She hesitated for a moment, then offered a delicate hand.
“Truce?”
Mack took it with a lopsided smile. “Truce. Let’s go home, Kimi.”
THE END... THE BEGINNING
This story available in pdf at www.startrekulysses.webs.com
The Ulysses will soon return in "Real Intelligence" (working title)
Position: Unknown
Stardate: Unknown
MACK TRUDGED INTO THE MEETING ROOM and flopped into his usual chair. The other crew members of the Ulysses assembled in oppressive silence, one at a time.
Sanjay sat across from Mack and said to the table at large, “What’s Leslie called this for then? We all got radiation poisoning on top of everything else? Eh?”
“Just shut up, Sanjay,” snapped Erika.
Gaaval stomped in, fiddling with his beard. Dr. Ch’vo was next. The Andorian took his seat next to the Tellarite and tried to shove it as far away as possible.
“Do we know where we are yet?” Ch’vo challenged Erika.
“I’m still working on it,” she shot back. “Initial estimates look right though: Far side of Beta Quadrant, outer spiral arm, uncharted space.”
“We still do not even know when this is,” muttered Ch’vo. “That black hole could have placed us into an entirely different era…”
“Yeh, stop your whining, eh?” Gaaval grunted. “You know how we got here.”
“Do you refer to your maddening tinkering, you obstinate dwarf?” said Ch’vo.
The stocky Tellarite rose from his seat, “What did you say, bug-face?”
Mack ignored their argument as Kimi wandered in, paused and peered at her usual seat beside his. Kimi said, “Erika, can you change seats with me?”
“This is where I always sit.”
“It doesn’t have your name on it.”
“It doesn’t have yours either. What’s the problem?”
“She doesn’t want to sit next to me,” Mack growled. He swiveled to face the assistant science officer. “Grow up, will you?”
“Just leave me alone…” Kimi hushed as the door swooshed open again and Toure glided in. As if in a daze, the captain walked right past Ch’vo and Gaaval, who were standing and jabbing fingers at each other.
“Captain, Erika won’t change seats with me…” began Kimi.
“Just stand if you want to.” Toure descended into her own place.
Finally, Dr. Leslie Randall steamed into the room and silence fell. She was trailed by her svelte Andorian assistant, Talia. Leslie took a sweeping glare, then rolled up the sleeves of her medical overalls to reveal meaty forearms.
“Right. You’re all here. I’ve got something to say. This is a group therapy session, Randall-style, so shut your traps and open your ears. Talia, are you recording?”
The blue-skinned alien produced a padd and tapped. “Recording now, Doctor.”
“Good. I’ll start with you, Mack.”
Mack sat up straight in his chair, pulse rising.
“So, we’re stuck on the wrong side of Beta Quadrant, possibly with no way to get back home, all because we tried to fight a big space monster. And you advocated making that shot at the Ismares star.”
Mack swallowed hard, his hands balling into fists below the table.
“But here’s the thing: We’re still alive, because of you. You did what you had to do, to protect your family when it was attacked,” said the medical officer.
“I didn’t know it would push us into the black hole…” started Mack.
“’Course you didn’t. No-one did. We needed you to protect us and you did it.”
“Oh, Mack,” Kimi finally sat down beside him. “I don’t blame you…”
“Exactly,” huffed Leslie. “That’s the problem here. We’re all blaming ourselves, and feeling all sorry and snippy about it. And I’m here to tell you…”
Leslie slammed her hand down and everyone jumped in their seats.
“…to snap out of it! We’re facing ten years to get back home, right Erika?”
The navigator nodded glumly. Leslie continued, “So, we need to get back to doing our jobs pronto, or we’re never going to get anywhere! Dr. Ch’vo: That trilithium malarkey was all your idea. But the same thing counts. Without your quick thinking, we’d be inside the stomach of something bigger than Jupiter right now.”
The Andorian’s antennae curled and uncurled.
“And as for you, Kimi: It was a new lifeform! You just followed standard procedure – anyone else in your position would have done the same. So stop eating yourself up about it. We need you at your curious best from now on, or we’re never getting back home past who-knows-what-gribblies are out there.”
“You’re assuming there’s a home to get back to, that we are still in our own time, that there’s even still a Federation…” Kimi blinked back tears.
“Ruddy right I am!” thundered Leslie. “And so must all of us, or we’re going to fall apart as a crew.”
A tiny gasp came from Captain Toure, seizing Mack’s attention. He glanced at the captain. She straightened, eyes focused once more.
“Thank you, Dr. Randall. I think you have made your point.”
“I’m not done with you yet, Serena.” Leslie planted her hands on her ample hips. “Captain, everything that’s happened is ultimately your responsibility. You made the final calls at every stage that have led us to here.”
“Leslie, please…”
“Don’t interrupt. But guess what? Not one other person at this table could have made those calls. We were in an impossible situation. No-one else could have got us through it! We need you to keep it together, keep us together. And I for one am pretty ruddy sure I’d rather not have anyone else in this galaxy as captain right now.”
Toure looked around the table, looked into the eyes of eight desperate crew members, and nodded. She swallowed then whispered, “Thank you, Leslie.”
“Quite alright. You can stop recording now, Talia.” Leslie flopped down into the last seat and glared round the table. “When we due word back from Starfleet then?”
“We’re far from the relays, but there should be a reply in the next ten hours or so – if they’re still there…” Kimi’s voice trailed off.
“OK,” said Captain Toure, a new force in her voice. “We’re down to nine, but we can still run this ship if we all pitch in together. Mr. Gaaval cannot possibly run engineering by himself – we all need to take watches. Mr. Gaaval, can you give a crash course on what to do?”
“Yeh, just watch and call me when something happens is what you do!”
“OK. We need a similar rotation at helm. Agreed? Good. Now, priorities: Dr. Ch’vo and Ms. Shimizu, you are now our scavengers. Open up the sensors, look at nearby systems. Dr. Ch’vo – you need to locate potential sources for deuterium.”
Ch’vo scratched between his antennae. “That isotope occurs naturally in less than zero point zero one percent of the galaxy’s hydrogen…”
“I understand. You’ll need to work with Mr. Gaaval on alternative sources of refinement, or even propulsion.”
The Andorian and Tellarite exchanged a frosty glance.
“Ms. Shimizu, we need food. We have six – now nine months of provisions, plus another three in the lifeboats. Let’s try to leave the emergency rations alone unless absolutely necessary. You need to source foods – plantlife or otherwise.”
At that moment a signal light flashed on the central control panel of the table. Everyone watched it in silence. Toure took in a deep breath, stood, then switched to receive. She read for four seconds, then looked around the expectant crew.
“It’s from Starfleet, dated yesterday. They’re still there, no time dilation.”
Cheers exploded around the room. Hugs, backslaps and laughs were exchanged. Kimi turned in her seat to face Mack, her cheeks flushed. She hesitated for a moment, then offered a delicate hand.
“Truce?”
Mack took it with a lopsided smile. “Truce. Let’s go home, Kimi.”
THE END... THE BEGINNING
This story available in pdf at www.startrekulysses.webs.com
The Ulysses will soon return in "Real Intelligence" (working title)
Last edited:
OK. This was cut from an earlier edit, but I thought I'd share as an addendum for those interested. It's the message from Starfleet...
[From: Admiral Peppard/Starfleet Command
To: Captain Toure/USS Ulysses
must be brief to compress datapacket. sorry about your mess. glad youre in 1 piece. eggheads tell me thats a miracle. chin up. 10 years looks bad but it coulda been a lot worse. you know what to do re food/fuel. eggheads here are working on ideas too. your biggest problem will be morale. let randall break balls. friends/family notified. personal messages in next packet.
re entity vulcans did know about them. buried in their old allegories. ancient as the galaxy. thought they were extinct. seems they migrate/re-seed via supernova so we think cygnus was probably once the daddy. not sure where yours is now. may have gone thru cygnus after you. keep an eye out. vulcans say its best to leave them alone. someone shoulda told the ismarens that.
tell chvo well done on first successful field test of d3. dont mention it by name or give details. romulans monitoring.
orders: best speed back to base. p directive holds in principle but use judgment. map/catalog as much as you can but treat as 2d priority. stay safe. god speed.]
[From: Admiral Peppard/Starfleet Command
To: Captain Toure/USS Ulysses
must be brief to compress datapacket. sorry about your mess. glad youre in 1 piece. eggheads tell me thats a miracle. chin up. 10 years looks bad but it coulda been a lot worse. you know what to do re food/fuel. eggheads here are working on ideas too. your biggest problem will be morale. let randall break balls. friends/family notified. personal messages in next packet.
re entity vulcans did know about them. buried in their old allegories. ancient as the galaxy. thought they were extinct. seems they migrate/re-seed via supernova so we think cygnus was probably once the daddy. not sure where yours is now. may have gone thru cygnus after you. keep an eye out. vulcans say its best to leave them alone. someone shoulda told the ismarens that.
tell chvo well done on first successful field test of d3. dont mention it by name or give details. romulans monitoring.
orders: best speed back to base. p directive holds in principle but use judgment. map/catalog as much as you can but treat as 2d priority. stay safe. god speed.]
Overall, it's campy, but in a good way. It's fast paced, without unnecessary scenes. However, there isn't a lot of internal dialogue so I had trouble discerning who, if anyone, was the principle protagonist. I felt like I wasn't in the story, but on the sidelines watching events take place. If this is Mack's story, we need to see it from his eyes more. And this may be an artifact of writing like you're watching a TV episode. As I was reading, it thought it was more Ch'vo's story because he had the problem of convincing others of the danger. Author/editor Elizabeth Lyon says in A Writers Guide to Fiction to choose the character who best fits the story. I reread the entire story yesterday and I couldn't tell you Mack's personal conflict, or what flaw he overcame to save the day. Ch'vo, being right the whole time, didn't have a flaw to overcome as well. He had the solution, and that was that.
The caveat with the trilithium is that for everyone who has seen ST: Generations knows it's going to work, and that takes away from the story. The characters knew what it was going to do, and we've seen this before. That's the dilemma of using known things from the Trek universe and finding a way to use them differently. The crew didn't have to know exactly what trilithium would do. And other solar phenomenon could have been planned to be invoked to thwart the false god, with a supernova being the unintended consequences. On the other hand, purposely causing a supernova is a serious choice. It's good that you did research and decided on trilithium, it's bad that we all know the result and that robs the story of tension and excitement during the conflict resolution. It's a tough decision.
You had the engineer cut power, and Ch'vo lamented about it, but later you have Ch'vo helping, if not spearheading, the collection and studying of triliithium, so his reaction in chapter 1 seemed out of place in that he did not appear to have knowledge of the engineer's actions.
To me "mooching" is freeloading, so I wasn't sure exactly what the character was doing, and I have no idea what a "kickaround" is? Australian?
The blackhole was a nice surprise. However, your ending is the premise of ST: Voyager. (In an early episode, they escape a blackhole of sorts.)
My points are minor and I don't think you need to go back and fix anything. We'll see what you do on the next one.
The caveat with the trilithium is that for everyone who has seen ST: Generations knows it's going to work, and that takes away from the story. The characters knew what it was going to do, and we've seen this before. That's the dilemma of using known things from the Trek universe and finding a way to use them differently. The crew didn't have to know exactly what trilithium would do. And other solar phenomenon could have been planned to be invoked to thwart the false god, with a supernova being the unintended consequences. On the other hand, purposely causing a supernova is a serious choice. It's good that you did research and decided on trilithium, it's bad that we all know the result and that robs the story of tension and excitement during the conflict resolution. It's a tough decision.
You had the engineer cut power, and Ch'vo lamented about it, but later you have Ch'vo helping, if not spearheading, the collection and studying of triliithium, so his reaction in chapter 1 seemed out of place in that he did not appear to have knowledge of the engineer's actions.
To me "mooching" is freeloading, so I wasn't sure exactly what the character was doing, and I have no idea what a "kickaround" is? Australian?
The blackhole was a nice surprise. However, your ending is the premise of ST: Voyager. (In an early episode, they escape a blackhole of sorts.)
My points are minor and I don't think you need to go back and fix anything. We'll see what you do on the next one.
@psCargile Brilliant. Thanks for putting this through the Trekkie Sniff Test. I'll admit I got lazy on the relays and just guessed.
Saved you a couple of clicks...
Mooching around
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/mooching+around
Kickaround
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kickaround
There you go. You learned two new terms for the bank today. Take tomorrow off!
Saved you a couple of clicks...
Mooching around
http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/mooching+around
Kickaround
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kickaround
There you go. You learned two new terms for the bank today. Take tomorrow off!
Notes:
Thanks to everyone who read this. So, yeah. There’s nothing particularly original here, nor is there a profound message or some deep character study. It’s just a merry romp with an alien gribbly.
I’m sure you all picked up that it’s a basic retelling of the opening from Homer’s Odyssey, probably straight from the first position report. In first draft the captain was called Athena and Cygnus was Poseidon. But you gotta respect the reader and avoid being so obvious, and Kubrick’s sort of bagsied “Odyssey”. So I used the Roman name for the ship. I liked that there really is a US navy ship of this name (like Enterprise), and that it’s named after the general/president, who was named after the Roman version of the Greek hero… a neat circular causation in the name there.
I couldn’t help myself but give a shout out in chapter 10 (“We blind the Cyclops.”). Apologies if anyone cringed.
The godlike being was lifted from WH40K’s C’Tan (the Ismarens taking the role of the Necrontyr). There’s a lot of fuzz on how much of those “gauss” and “phase” beam powers come from the “living metal” avatar and how much is just natural. Rule of Cool reigns supreme in 40K, and I was a bit worried how much would get past the Trekkies. But I figured, you know, xenotech; anything goes, right?
This was written as a gift for a couple of very dear young ladies who have suddenly got into Trek (I think they like Cumberbatch. Whatever). They were like “You should totally write some Star Trek stories” but it’s been a long, long time since I watched those old TV shows. They begged, and I’m a softy. So here it is. They love it, so job done. But I wanted to get the stuff right, so was interested in what you guys thought.
I’ve got some real life to get on with, but I’ll probably knock up another episode by Xmas, and I’ll be sure to drop it here too. The ladies tell me they want yummy Vulcans and naughty Romulans *sigh* so I’m thinking about a different arc while I’m traveling over the summer.
It's been great meeting you all! I'll be back.
Thanks to everyone who read this. So, yeah. There’s nothing particularly original here, nor is there a profound message or some deep character study. It’s just a merry romp with an alien gribbly.
I’m sure you all picked up that it’s a basic retelling of the opening from Homer’s Odyssey, probably straight from the first position report. In first draft the captain was called Athena and Cygnus was Poseidon. But you gotta respect the reader and avoid being so obvious, and Kubrick’s sort of bagsied “Odyssey”. So I used the Roman name for the ship. I liked that there really is a US navy ship of this name (like Enterprise), and that it’s named after the general/president, who was named after the Roman version of the Greek hero… a neat circular causation in the name there.
I couldn’t help myself but give a shout out in chapter 10 (“We blind the Cyclops.”). Apologies if anyone cringed.
The godlike being was lifted from WH40K’s C’Tan (the Ismarens taking the role of the Necrontyr). There’s a lot of fuzz on how much of those “gauss” and “phase” beam powers come from the “living metal” avatar and how much is just natural. Rule of Cool reigns supreme in 40K, and I was a bit worried how much would get past the Trekkies. But I figured, you know, xenotech; anything goes, right?
This was written as a gift for a couple of very dear young ladies who have suddenly got into Trek (I think they like Cumberbatch. Whatever). They were like “You should totally write some Star Trek stories” but it’s been a long, long time since I watched those old TV shows. They begged, and I’m a softy. So here it is. They love it, so job done. But I wanted to get the stuff right, so was interested in what you guys thought.
I’ve got some real life to get on with, but I’ll probably knock up another episode by Xmas, and I’ll be sure to drop it here too. The ladies tell me they want yummy Vulcans and naughty Romulans *sigh* so I’m thinking about a different arc while I’m traveling over the summer.
It's been great meeting you all! I'll be back.
Great first Trek effort. Well done.
I liked the fast-paced story and the wild-ride ending to this as well. The downside being that you cramped a lot of story into relatively little space and like @psCargile, I would have liked a bit more character work. Perhaps in the next story?
Oh and I only ever cringed once while reading this and that was the Mary Sue character. That was too big of an inside joke for me and took me out of the story. Would have worked great in a comedy but I didn't think it fit the overall tone here.
Looking forward to more stories about Ulysses and her odyssey in future stories.
I liked the fast-paced story and the wild-ride ending to this as well. The downside being that you cramped a lot of story into relatively little space and like @psCargile, I would have liked a bit more character work. Perhaps in the next story?
Oh and I only ever cringed once while reading this and that was the Mary Sue character. That was too big of an inside joke for me and took me out of the story. Would have worked great in a comedy but I didn't think it fit the overall tone here.
Looking forward to more stories about Ulysses and her odyssey in future stories.
