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STO Phoenix Compendium

Author's notes: These are compiled posts for the Q's Winter Wonderland RP on the Star Trek Online forums. This section is based on the Klingon Ice Fishing Mission in the game's Winter Wonderland event. Written in December 2016.​

Q's Winter Wonderland, Pages 2-3
Q's Winter Wonderland - Frozen Lake

Eventually, they arrived at the rink. Captain Nat pulled out a massive, golden fishing gauntlet of unprecedented power and found a group of fish. He started smashing into the ice then pulled out a really massive fish. It ate up Captain Nat and left his legs sticking out. Everyone else could hear muffled calls for help.

"Hah! That's hilarious," Alphonse observed. "Also, what the heck are we supposed to do? Fill that thing up in the middle of the rink? Seems odd."

Admiral Nat shrugged and punched the giant fish a couple times, flipping it back on the captain's feet. Guided by the admiral, he walked over to the offering table and tossed in the fish, nearly tossing himself in with it. "Actually, could ask the Klingon over there," the admiral replied.

Alphonse recoiled at the sight of him. "Whoa! He looks way too Klingony and appears unhappy about all these gummy fish."

"Really? He's the fishing master!" Nat replied.

Alphonse took another look. "Oh, it's a momentary Klingon frown of intense elation. My mistake. Do you think he would object a taste test of these gummy fish? Am I the only one that's curious?"

Nat and Nat both shook their heads.

Alphonse nodded and slid his way around the back of the Klingon tower. He snuck around while the Fishing Master was looking outward into the iced lake and stole a Klingon Fishing Gauntlet out of one of the cases. Just as he was about get away, the Fishing Master caught him.

"You there! Did you know the blood-red waters to Gre'thor are filled with pale serpents known as the kos'karii?" the Klingon spoke.

Alphonse stopped in his tracks. "I know about blood in general, yeah."

"Because of this, every year, warriors would go to lakes and rivers to gather ghotl' to be used as lure for the giant ghargh!"

The Captain turned, confused. "Are you just making up words?"

"Once a ghargh appeared, the warriors would attempt to defeat it as a symbolic way to keep the kos'karii from luring warriors from the way of honor!"

Then Alphonse asked, "What if one were to eat a ghotl'? Would that be dishonorable?"

"That would be the greatest dishonor of all! I would rip out the throats of anyone who tried such an act!"

Agreeing, the Captain said, "Absolutely. I'd help. Anyway, I'm off to punch ice, as is the natural impulse of anyone on a frozen lake." He left to rejoin the Nats.

Nat and Nat glanced at each other, and back to Alphonse. "Well, that answers that."

"Whoa now. I'm not leaving here until I get a bite out of a gummy fish. Are you with me?"

Nat and Nat glanced at each other, then back. Captain Nat pulled a random gummy fish out of his pocket, which had no resemblance to those in the lake, and handed it to Alphonse. "There ya go."

"Thanks Captain," Alphonse replied. "But that's not good enough. These gummy fish are different. There's something about them that calls to me. Something delicious. There be gummy fish in this pond and it's my destiny to eat one of them!"

Alphonse then affixed his gauntlet and then moved to an area on the ice. He began punching into ice.

"Save one for me," a tall, athletically built Bajoran said, red hair peeking out from behind a fur hat as she walked up on the arm of stocky Bajoran man in a parka. Captain Kanril Eleya held up a bottle and several glasses. "Peppermint schnapps, anyone?"

"Welcome— Captain—!" Alphonse said between punches into the ice. "Having a drink— on the— ice— sounds— like it would— go perfectly— with gummy fish—!"

He then finished and pulled a giant orange gummy fish out of the cold water. He placed it down on the ice before everyone and used a shard of broken ice to start cutting pieces of it off to serve.

A random generic human appeared in a white flash, and approached the Klingon. "Sir, would you mind if I ate one of the gummy fish here?"

The Fishing Master reacted in utter shock and disgust at the random generic human. "YOU DARE SUGGEST SUCH A PITIFUL USE OF GUMMY FISH!? UUGGGHH!!!" And he took out his dk'tang and thrust it into the chest of the human. Since the reality was fabricated, the human just disappeared, back to where he came from in a bright Q-flash.

Nat and Nat turned to Alphonse. Captain Nat spoke up. "He just stabbed a guy for suggesting it. Don't do it."

Admiral Nat spoke up. "Although he just disappeared in a white flash... so he probably lived."

"Pfft. I have a way better survival rate than some rando," Alphonse suggested. He then cut off a piece of his catch and offered it to the Nats. "Gummy fish? Probably doesn't need to be cleaned or anything."

Nat and Nat shook their heads, and the admiral waved to the Klingon, catching his attention.

"What? How could you do that after I explained what this meant to me?" Alphonse began quickly eating as much of the gummy fish as possible. "Oh man, this is good."

The Fishing Master watched as several other contestants were filling the bowl in the middle of the ice with gummy fish. He then took notice of Nat's waving and began walking over out of curiosity.

Captain Nat reached into a jacket pocket and pulled out a platter, taking the top off, revealing a sizeable gummy fish. He set it down on a freshly spawned table, sat down on a new chair, pulled out a fork and knife, and began caving up the fish, whilst looking the fishing master in the eyes.

The admiral sighed and walked away, flabbergasted.

"WHAT!?" the Fish Master's stride was interrupted by the sight of the most blasphemous thing he had ever seen in his entire military career. "THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!!!!!"

Alphonse was barely even paying attention and kept eating pieces of gummy fish and sipping peppermint schnapps. He didn't even realize the Fish Master had taken notice.

"Oh, yeah. Aren't these the best, Nat? I could eat gummy anything all day."

Captain Nat looked up cheerfully, looking to the Klingon. "Tastes good. Want a bite?"

Approaching, the Fishing Master pointed contentiously at them. "You baktag have dishonoured the mighty Klingon tradition of fish-baiting! You will pay for your insolence!!! YYAAAARRRGGGHH!!!"

But, before he could act, the ice, further down the rink broke apart and a giant Gummy Kos'karii emerged from its depths.

"Now, you will know suffering! In addition to this beast, you must defeat my army of Klingon Gingerbread Warriors! Those delicious flat sugar men of cheer will tear your flesh, limb from limb!!"

He took a few steps back and sounded his horn, signaling a legion of gingerbread Klingons to begin approaching the ice area.

Captain Nat shrugged. As the gingerbread Klingons, approached, the captain seemed to get further and further away. Eventually, while they had seemingly only progressed by a couple of steps, the lake ahead was a lot bigger, and the journey to the captain impossible. The monster, too, would encounter a similar predicament.

"Heh heh... guess they'll never catch us now," the captain replied, smirking.

Looking up at what's happened Alphonse turned to Nat. "Wait, what? So you really are OP?"

The captain nodded.

"Doesn't that give you an unfair advantage over your fellow Captains? You could have all the gummy fish you want. There's no challenge."

Captain Nat sighed in response. "I know. Have you wondered where that giant Snowdine came from?"

"I'm gonna go with 'Q's backside'," Eleya remarked, sucking on a jumja stick.

The captain laughed. "Not quite. Different Q level being."

"Wait, do omnipotent energy beings have backsides?"

The other Bajoran took the schnapps bottle away from Eleya, muttering, "You're cut off, El."

Alphonse stepped out of the warped space to check on the situation. The Gummy Kos'karii had eaten all the Gingerbread Klingons and the Fishing Master was currently fighting the Gummy Kos'karii to reclaim the rink's honor. "Well that's nice."

Captain Nat repaired the warped space and summoned an ice-built Klingon Bird of Prey, complete with wintery defenses, snowball torpedo launchers, and icicle cannons. Nat hopped aboard and targeted the Kos'karii. "For our honor!"

Alphonse watched and stared at the battle, purely mesmerized by the people fighting it as he chomped on a large chunk of gummy fish. "Now that's something."

The Bird of Prey fired snowballs at Alphonse's gummy fish, blasting it away. Captain Nat spoke up. "Honor time, buddy."

Someone named Avoozuul appeared, randomly. "It would be nice if they were to keep the Winter Wonderland available for RP purposes after the event ends in a similar vain to Risa's Summer Resort without the fights and vendors, but they would have to change the way it is accessed."

Captain Alphonse turned to him. "What's RP? Like role play? That's dumb." He then turned to Captain Nat. "Whoa. Do you see that giant gummy fish hanging off the tower? You keep the Fishing Master distracted while I cut it down."

Captain Nat sighed, aiming the BoP's cannons at Alphonse. "Nope."

Alphonse smirked. "Welp," he said just before he launched his foot into the half-eaten gummy fish on the ground, kicking it passed the Ice Bird of Prey and into the Gummy Kos'karii's head.

It suddenly snapped out of its fight with the Fishing Master and turned to Captain Nat and his Ice ship, charging for them. Alphonse used the distraction to sprint a bee line to the giant gummy fish at the tower and he began climbing it.

Captain Nat's BoP blasting blasted Alphonse off the the Giant Gummy fish, prompting the Fishing Master to notice the runaway captain. Nat turned to the Kos'karii, blasting it away with a salvo of snowball torpedoes.

As the Fishing Master howled in madness, Alphonse's head was brought back to consciousness. From directly underneath it, he looked up at the giant gummy fish he had been climbing and then at the charging Klingon coming directly for him. Quickly, Alphonse began climbing it again.

Nat's BoP knocked Alphonse down again, and held him down with a tractor-beam-esque freeze-ray.

"Sure must be nice being OP," Alphonse said as the Fishing Master reached him and struck Alphonse directly in the chest with his dk'tang. Alphonse disappeared in a flash.

Nat laughed and turned to the Fishing Master. "You're welcome."
 
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Franz Kafka does Star Trek...

Hawku said:
Captain Nat pulled out a massive, golden fishing gauntlet of unprecedented power and found a group of fish. He started smashing into the ice then pulled out a really massive fish. It ate up Captain Nat and left his legs sticking out. Everyone else could hear muffled calls for help
Click to expand...

Now THAT's the way to open a story! Thanks!! rbs
 
Author's notes: These are compiled posts for the First City RP on the Star Trek Online forums. Written in December 2016.​

First City, Pages 3-4
Captian Kadaj - I.K.S. Furt'gh, Bridge

Millie's console went off. "Captain, weapons are offline. The Kragoth and the Ha'vok have warped out of the system and the Klingon lifesigns aboard the station are gone."

"We didn't move in close, did we?" Kadaj asked in futility of being that close to the Augment-infested Moartor Outpost.

Millie looked up. "That's exactly what we did!"

"Ah," Kadaj said as the Furt'gh was suddenly bombarded by torpedo and disrupter fire. "Death will be ours, I suppose. Though, a little warning would have been appreciated." With the ship under heavy attack, shields weakened and Kadaj saw another Klingon transport onto the Bridge, unannounced.

When Gaurantan got his bearings, he turned to Kadaj. "Captain, you must get us out of here immediately."

"Wait. Aren't you a Dahar Master?" the Captain said, suddenly recognizing him. He then looked at the viewscreen which began to show the assembled fleet of Klingon and alien vessels warping themselves out of the system.

Gaurantan gritted his teeth. "I am many things, but right now I am your warner. The Children of Kahn have proven abandonment of their contracts and are now regrouping elsewhere. We must return home."

"That would be possible, if we weren't about to explode," Kadaj said, trying to reroute power from the Operation consoles. "Sto-vo-kor will have to suffice."

---

First City, Great Hall

The Chancellor was transported to the top of the steps, out of breath and without his bearings. The Augments were done with him and didn't need him anymore.

"Chancellor!" General Kro'nok exclaimed, now home, running over. "Are you alright?"

J'mpok steadied himself and regained his strength. He nodded to the warrior before him. "Your actions have been of great honor, General. When the Children of Kahn learned the changeling of unknown origin was outed, they exacerbated their internal conflict with the House of Kovog and had me returned as punishment to them. This displeased the honorless Klingons and now there is a divide between both that has driven them apart. Wherever each party is now, it is unlikely we will find them at Moartor."

---

Captian Kadaj - I.K.S. Furt'gh, Bridge

A ruckus rocked the Bridge as the final Children of Kahn ship, a Vor'cha-class battle cruiser, locked tractor beams into the heavily bombarded Furt'gh. Most of the crew had been killed by firey consoles and suffocating environmental systems. Everyone on the Bridge was near unconscious when Kadaj, on the floor, suddenly regained his focus.

"I... just wanted... to go to a... beach," he muttered. He then crawled up onto the tactical console and targeted the Vor'cha-class battle cruiser. Searching through the armament selection, he found two tricobalt torpedoes loaded into their bays. He then fired them at the enemy.

The enemy ship was blown to pieces, seconds before its operator beamed onto the Bridge of the Furt'gh. Tavar approached a control panel in an attempt to sabotage the ship, but his arm was intercepted by Kadaj's crossing wrist.

"Can I help you find something?" Kadaj asked in seething rivalry.

Tavar took notice of the Captain for the first time, never thinking he'd even have to acknowledge him. "Yeah. I'd like for you to die already."

"Sorry, we're all out," Captain Kadaj replied launching his other fist.

The Augment dodged it and shot his own fists out at the Klingon, which Kadaj was quick to block and redirect in succession. Kadaj then launched a forced kick into Tavar's stomach, sending the Augment back a few steps in surprise. "Impressive," the Augment said. He then pushed himself forward, arcing his knee around as his whole body closed in on Kadaj.

"Augh!!" Kadaj caught the speeding knee and slowed the momentum of Tavar's attack, then force-palmed the Augment up through his chin.

Before he landed, Tavar twisted himself into a kick that launched Kadaj over a console and into the back of the Bridge. Gaurantan picked up a disruptor and shot Tavar several times until the Augment was out and on the floor. "Are we done yet?"

"Yeesh, people are always rushing. I miss taking time for things. Anyway, I'll set a course for Qo'noS," Kadaj said as he went over to the helm and put the ship into warp.

---

Later

The broken-down Bird of Prey was barely able to drop warp in approach of Qo'noS. Gaurantan looked at Captain Kadaj in disapproval. "Really?" the Dahar Master asked. "You couldn't have commanded a more powerful ship?"

"Hey, I don't make the assignments," Kadaj said. "Though, I did go to a lot of beach worlds between missions, ruining my superior's impressions of me."

Gaurantan grumbled. "Just get me off this pile of junk. It's clearly no longer space-worthy."

"Think they'll make another one?" Kadaj asked, defeated.

The older Klingon spat. "It's not like we are going by the letters of the Klingon alphabet! Now, take that Augment to the First City." The Dahar Master then contacted the surface and had himself transported away.

---

First City, Qo'NoS

General Kro'nok went to the bar and sat down, ordering a mug of bloodwine. He looked around at the other patrons, keeping an eye out for anyone interesting.

Kadaj and two of his men pushed their cuffed prisoner, the Augment named Tavar, passed the main bar. It was then Kadaj stopped them, taking notice of the drinks.

"Whoa, whoa, wait. We must share a bloodwine in honor of our success!" he suggested without waiting for a response. He then pulled Tavar in and was followed by his two officers. "And no claiming I drink bloodwine for everything even though I do, but that's not the point."

Kro'nok turned his head slowly towards Kadaj, his officers, and the augment, deadpanning. He was not impressed.

Kadaj went over to the bar. "Three bloodwines, immediately! We must celebrate the success of my crew! Tavar, do you want one?"

"I'm your enemy," he snapped.

The Captain waved him off. "In the bar, there are no enemies. This is what makes Klingons who we are. Battle is for the battlefield, but off the field, we understand we are all the same. That's what separates us from most other cultures."

"Ugh. Klingons."

Kro'nok sighed, speaking up to Kadaj. "You better make sure he doesn't get away when you're not looking."

"Hah! This petaQ?? He was easily defeated by me and can be easily defeated again," Kadaj boasted.

Tavar rolled his eyes as Kadaj gulped a bloodwine and was handed a blood martini, himself. "In fact, I was shot down by that traitor Gaurantan? Remember?"

"Wait a second. You're right! We still have a score to settle!" Kadaj shoved Tavar in realization.

The human Augment gritted his teeth. "Do not test me, Klingon."

"Don't you want to fight? Huh? It's like there's this unfinished business between us?"

He took another aggressive shove. "No. I only want to fight you because you're provoking me right now. It would have nothing to do with earlier. That was business."

"Are you kidding me? I won't fight you for now! For earlier, I would," Kadaj said, shoving him again.

Tavar stumbled but held his stance. "Don't be a fool, Klingon. Our conflicts would be completely misaligned."

"Well, that's annoying," Kadaj said, as he ceased his bar-brawling attempts. "Does it even matter, anyway? If we were fighting for different reasons?" He scratched the back of his head, genuinely confused now.

"Never underestimate the enemy" Kro'nok replied. "Or he'll get you when you least expect it."

"Like right now!" Tavar yelled, prompting Kadaj to cover himself, in unprepared shock.

"Whoa!?" the Captain yelped, but found Tavar hadn't done anything.

"Hahahahaha," Tavar laughed. "You are too drunk to fight anyway."

"What are you talking about? I know Drunken Mok'bara. It's a niche Klingon fighting style, but is perfect when one is intoxicated."

"Fine. Then I shall break your dumb no-enemy-in-the-bar rule and take you both on," Tavar said breaking his cuffs off with sheer strength and kicking Kadaj over the bar. He then turned to Kro'nok and kicked his table and wine away.

Kro'nok, now angry, stood up, charged at Tavar, carefully dodging his blows and punching him in the face, knocking him over.

Tavar easily spun-hopped to his feet and flung several right kicks into Kro'nok, powering a final augment-strength one into his chest, directing the forced-impact upward.

Kro'nok fell backwards, balancing himself on a table, then glared at Kadaj. "Now look what you're done!"

Kadaj lifted himself up from the behind the bar and onto it, feeling tipsy. He then took a moment to focus his doubled vision into one and eye Tavar from the centre of the room.

"There you are!"

Tavar laughed. "The General is right, by the way. This is your fault."

"What? You're the one doing the fighting in a bar! That is unheard of!" Kadaj leapt over the counter, flying a kick for Tavar's head until it was blocked by the Augment's forearm. Tavar returned with a direct punch into Kadaj, sending the Klingon to the floor.

Kadaj scrambled to a knee and arm balance, taking a Drunken Mok'bara stance. Tavar then stepped toward the Klingon, firing jab after jab; each one dodged and deflected by a lowered-Kadaj using his free arm and leg. Kadaj then rotated his entire body, cutting through Tavar's shins and sending the Augment horizontal. Kadaj then double-palm striked the Augment before Tavar could hit the floor. Tavar was then shot over a table, until splaying across the floor, collapsing in front of Kro'nok.

"Nice try, Klingon!" Tavar said, down.

Kro'nok sighed and drew his disruptor, aiming it at Tavar and glancing to Kadaj. "Take him to the prison while you still have him!"

On his back, Tavar kicked the disruptor out of Kro'nok's hands and it went flying. He then leapt to his feet and caught the weapon, turning to face Kadaj who walked over.

"Perhaps I was wrong to start a fight in this neutral area, as you said," Tavar smirked. "You may continue to take me to prison."

Kadaj was handed the weapon while his two officers came over and re-cuffed the smiling Augment. As the two officers took Tavar out of the bar, Kadaj handed the disruptor back to Kro'nok. It seemed Tavar was exactly where he wanted to be.

Kro'nok deadpanned them and sat back down.

Kadaj shrugged as the prisoner was taken away. He then sat down to start a new drink. Kro'nok got another mug of bloodwine.
 
Author's notes: This was written in December 2016, as part of the Star Trek Online forums Unofficial Literary Challenge #30. Gorn are playable in STO, so Deloss was my new Captain for that. I previously used him in my unfinished "In A Window Darkly" comic. Qu is my imitation Q, last seen in ULC 27. This story mashes up lines from the old 1946 film A Wonderful Life and TNG episode "Tapestry".​

Unofficial Literary Challenge #30: Prompt #3: After a long day on the bridge, you hop into bed. When you awake, however, you find yourself no longer the captain of the ship! In fact, you've never been born at all! What is going on? Who is behind this? What is this reality like to you? Write a log about the events and/or how you solved the problem that led to your "unbeing" and returned to normality.​

Unofficial Literary Challenge #30
A Wonderful Life

The Bortasqu'-class I.K.S. Masamune sat out in deep space, trading disruptor fire with a Kurak-class battlecruiser called the Sevak which belonged to the Children of Kahn, a headstrong group of Augment renegades, fighting to assert their lives in a universe against their very nature.

An enemy photon torpedo impact blew several consoles on the Bridge of the Klingon Defense Force vessel, taking out Captain Deloss, a Gorn, in a fiery blaze of glory! A realm of white space followed and Deloss found himself alone with an omnipotent being.

"Where am I? Are you a Q?" Deloss said, turning to the other man.

Scoffing, he replied, "The name's Qu! It sounds the same, but it's spelled differently. I'm from the Continuum, but since I don't have my full lens flare yet, my designation is QS2, as in: Q Second Class."

"That acronym doesn't even add up? And let me guess, you brought me here because you think the afterlife is run by you? Well, I'm sorry to break the news that the universe is not so badly designed!"

Qu crossed his arms. "Blasphemy! You're lucky I don't cast you out or smite you or something. Also, you just met me, so thanks for jumping to conclusions about my character."

"Either way, I have no regrets about my life as a Gorn and officer in a Klingon society, despite it being filled with prejudice and social difficulty that I can't even comment on without being called a 'social justice warrior'. I don't even believe it would've been better if I had never been born at all."

The other man looked on in genuine concern. "Ohhh, you mustn't say things like that. Regrets are what give people layers and reasons for alternate universes! Why do you think every mortal is met with a Q in a white space at the time of their death? And I mean everyone. It's canon."

"Alternate reality? Surely you must realize that any alteration of the timeline would have a profound impact on our future?"

Qu materialized a floating chess board and then struck all its pieces away. "Please, spare me your egotistical musings of your Prime Timeline. It's been unrecognizably prequeled, continuity-error time traveled and money-grabbing diverged into a fan-service Kelvin Timeline ten times over by now. Nothing we do anymore will have any purpose toward a larger interconnecting realm of interest!"

---

Suddenly, Deloss woke up in his bed aboard the Masamune. He put on his uniform and left his quarters, noticing that only half the warriors he passed acknowledged him this time.

"Curse that man named Qu! He deliberately did this so he could get his full lens flare with his precious Continuum. In addition, his actions are an obvious attempt at provoking frantic, hysterical distraught which I lack destine-for since my life, previous, was perfect."

As the old Gorn entered the turbolift, he was joined with the tactical officer and Klingon, Lieutenant Commander Ronin. "Speaking to yourself? That is not permitted to someone of your rank; Lieutenant, Junior Grade, assistant astrophysics officer."

"This is not the future I remember, but, if I am correct, it will entail of running tests, making analyses and carrying reports to my superiors. As an honorable man, I will make the best of it."

Ronin was taken aback. "Really? I would kill myself immediately. Nothing like that sounds fun or exciting at all? If I were to measure your performance, I would say you were steady, reliable, punctual, but you lack taking chances, standing out, or getting noticed."

"Although I have thrown-up in my mouth a little, just now, I understand that men like me are an important cog to the whole. Also, I would rather be who I am now than to grovel or admit defeat, or be found crying on some Bridge about my previous existence."

---

As soon as the two reached the Bridge, Deloss found that the man who was at the Captain's position of the Masamune was Qu himself. The omnipotent, human-looking imposter wore a Klingon Defense Force uniform and turned, from a discussion with Grough, a Gorn and the helmsmen, to take notice of Deloss.

"Ah, more inferior officers," Captain Qu said. "Well, come on in! The more, the merrier. My ego holds no bounds! It's a trait unique to just me."

Deloss dropped his Gorn jaw in utter shock. "You piece of guramba?? You just switched my life out so you could be in command on your own! Get off my Bridge!"

"Or what? You'll kill me, just like you killed Ensign Lynch? And you admit your life before this was not enough and that you could've done better??"

The Gorn snarled his gape. "I will never validate the shifting of your maddening scheme for your own personal interests! If I do have one regret, it's that it is me coming here and not being wrong about you! Oh, and you couldn't teach taste to a Melvaran mud flea."

"Wow. You know, you think your day is just hunky-dory and then someone comes along and says something so incredibly hurtful, like, out of nowhere," Qu replied while clutching his chest. "Well, if you're going to be like this, then I don't want to be in command of your rancid reptilian environment. No longer will I Gorn where no man has Gorn before!"

As he flashed away in a dimmed, half-flash, Deloss took the center of the Bridge. "Of course he had to resort to specist passive-aggressiveness and their resulting puns. Now, as for the situation at hand, you will all do as I say."

"Wait. What? But you're just a Lieutenant?" Grough said.

Deloss then slammed his fist on a nearby console. "Then we will identify my quantum signature, use a subspace differential pulse to open a quantum fissure and send me back to my quantum reality! AND WE WILL DO IT NOW!"

"Yes, sir," Grough replied out of fear as he and the entire crew immediately got to work.

The Gorn Klingon Defense Force Officer then took a seat at the Captain's chair, finally able to breathe. Even though he was forced into an unexpected, horrible life by the Q being, he would not let that change who he was.

"And, someone get me a glazed targ! It's the food I was thinking about just before I was attacked by those Augments whom I now relate to for some reason. Oh! And, a minty raktajino with a touch of chech'tluth."

The Masamune then turned in space and jumped to warp.
 
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Author's notes: These are compiled posts for the Q's Winter Wonderland RP on the Star Trek Online forums. Written in December 2016.​

Q's Winter Wonderland, Pages 3-4
Q's Winter Wonderland - Snowlding cell

Alphonse flash-materialized in a frozen holding cell, somewhere in a snow-cave. The bars were made of candy canes, and several other Starfleet officers and Klingon warriors were being held there as well. The patrons sat around, defeated and joyless.

"What's going on?" the Captain asked before realizing. "So this must be where people end up when they're Wonderland-killed."

After a failed fight with some bat'leth-wielding snowmen, Captain Sarah flashed into the jail, too. She sighed, deadpanned Alphonse and sat down. "Anyone see Admiral Nat around here?" she asked, curious.

"I last saw him and him at the frozen lake," answered Alphonse. "It was before one of his clones betrayed me and allowed me to be sent here. At least I think he was a clone. I probably should have asked. As for where we are now, I wonder? And what is the matter with you people? Where's your holiday cheer?"

The other people around the cell waved him off. "Bah! What's the point? We've been stuck here forever, with nothing but Minty Raktajinos, Kava Juice Gumdrops and Jellied Gree-Worm Cookies."

Sarah shook her head. "The other Nat is from an alternate universe, actually and only got the powers recently." She stood up and looked around. "So the lake, huh? I was near there, too. Such a shame some stupid Breen shoved me aside before I could see him. Wonder if they'll notice the SnowBorg Sphere I got shot by."

"Sphere, huh? I wonder who's responsible for that? And, speaking of, I think us being sent into this Snowlding Cell is out-of-the-norm too. We should have been flashed back to Earth Spacedock. Something is definitely up." He looked around the area. "These caves appear to be littered with candy. We may be in the Gingerbread Colony— not to be confused with the Village of the same brand, so we should find a way out of these candy cane bars."

Suddenly, there was a growling noise from around the corner. It sounded like a Yeti and soon faded away.

Sarah shrugged, pulling out her snowball pistol. "Think rapidly firing snowballs would help?"

Alphonse nodded. "I was going suggest licking them, but I think that's probably a better idea. The last time I indulged in my appetite, I ended up here." He then took out a handful of unmelting snowballs out of his pockets. "I still don't know how they all fit in there. By the way, I'm Captain Alphonse."

He then began throwing them at the candy cane snowlding cell bars, weakening them.

Sarah aimed at the bars and started firing, weakening the cell bars. Eventually, she stopped and kicked the bars, breaking them and escaping her cell. She turned to Alphonse. "Captain Sarah Walker, although the starship is questionable."

Before Alphonse could reply, the blaring noise of the Yeti filled the echoes of the cave. The other men got up, in shock. "What have you two done?" one of them asked. "We wanted to be in here!"

"A self-reiterated time-out? You know you guys could just go home, right?" the Captain replied before the white beast turned the corner to confront both he and Sarah with intents on attacking.

Sarah sighed. "I wonder if hyper-Q can hear you scream from all the way out here." She opened fire on the beasts as quickly as possible.

The Yeti growled from the hits, as Alphonse joined in, throwing snowballs. "Aw, look at the cute little Yeti, all mad and stuff. Do we have to defeat him?" The white beast, weakened by the snow attacks, then launched a final run and snarl at both Captains.

Sarah crouched, grabbed a broken away candy cane bar and rushed at the Yeti, whacking its head with the candy cane and knocking it out. "One down, hopefully zero to go."

"I'm pretty sure there ever was only one Yeti in these caves," Alphonse recalled. He then turned the corner and exited the cave area into the Gingerbread Colony.

---

Gingerbread Colony

There, Mayor Truffles ran over, exasperated. "Oh, dear! You have to save us from the suger-hating snowborg sphere!"

"Sphere? Don't you mean we have to defend against the Snow Overlord?"

The gingerbread leader ruffled his arms around. "No, a giant snowball covered in Borg technology is floating around the city, blasting lasers at all of us!"

"Hm. And now that we've broken the cell, there's nowhere for anyone to flash to. This is going to be snowplicated," he observed when suddenly the sphere flew overhead toward the centre of the colony. "Where'd it come from?"

Suddenly, there was a flash and another man appeared. Alphonse recognized the space-time transition effect right away. "It's Q?? Of course, he's the cause of all this mischief which is disturbing our pre-approved mischief!"

"Uh, the name is Qu. It sounds the same but it's spelled differently," he replied. "And ever since Q has been running these Wonderlands, he's been bragging about being the most delight to mortals. He thinks he's so great. But you know what? He's not! Good comeback, huh? Also, he's just Q-Junior. He's not even the guy who tormented Picard and Janeway."

Alphonse pointed. "That's no excuse to make this land more dangerous! You made that snowlding cell to increase the consequences."

"Of course! The more serious a situation is, the more of an impact it will make and, since we're in a Winter Wonderland, that means more delight!" Qu clapped his hands gleefully. "Good luck surviving!"

He flashed away as the snowball Borg sphere loomed overhead. Alphonse looked around and found Truffles holding an Impaler rifle. "Where'd you get that?"

"As the mayor of this colony, you have to be ready for all kinds of suger-haters! Ever tried the new gummy fish? Well, this is for the right to eat those!" he said in a nasally voice as he aimed his weapon and opened fire. "This is for holiday cheer!"

Sarah sighed. "Ok, Nat and Nat are by the lake, right? They probably saw the sphere, so they may be chasing it. They're probably close enough to hear me scream."

Alphonse looked at her. "Whoa, wait. You're going to scream? Well, this will be interesting."

Sarah shouted as loud as she could. "NAT!"

The shouting continued a bit, echoing across the Winder Wonderland all the way to the lake. Admiral and Captain Nat both appeared beside Sarah, the Captain speaking up. "What are you shouting about? What are you even here for?"

Sarah deadpanned the captain. "The Admiral, actually. Serious problems back home."

The Captain shrugged, replying. "Ok. Have fun back there." Sarah and the admiral disappeared in a flash of light and the Captain turned to Alphonse. "So what's up with the sphere?"

Alphonse was still trying to clear his ear out from the scream. "Huh? Oh, the sphere. It would appear that the entity known as Qu is trying up Q-Junior by making the realm more dangerous. By the way, thanks for nothing back at the ice rink."

"Oh, well good job trying to cause chaos" Nat replied, shrugging. "I can one up that Sphere easily."

A Snowdine Nicor appeared in a flash and opened fire on the Snowborg Sphere with really powerful ice beams.

The mayor was shot away and Alphonse caught the rifle. He shot the snow sphere with icicle after icicle. "Uh, it's a Winter Wonderland. Its very nature is chaos and fun. Just not death and betrayal, as it seems this sphere is adopting."

"Snowborg can't adopt to planet-killers." Nat replied, snapping his fingers. A Snowdine planet-killer appeared and targeted the Sphere with it's wintery planet-killing weapon.

The Captain lowered his rifle. "Well, I guess there's no point in anyone doing anything if we can just Q things away." He then looked over at the mayor who appeared to be out and broken. Alphonse picked up a gingerbread piece of Truffles, tempted to taste its holiday goodness.

Nat deadpanned Alphonse. "You wouldn't."

"Why not? I mean... it's not like he needs this anymore," he said, examining the piece and seriously considering it.

Captain Nat pulled out an icing packet, took the piece of Truffles and reattached it using the icing. "Better?"

"Well, sure, I guess," Alphonse said. "Happy Holidays, Captain Nat."

As the sphere exploded in the background, a group of gingerbread paramedics ran over with a stretcher, blowing whistles.

"Stop right there!" a paramedic gingerbread yelped. "There's still a chance for Mayor Truffles, if we can just get him to a frosty icing medical machine, stat!"

Another one started putting the pieces onto the stretcher. "Yeah, we have to transport him to the gingerbread hospital before it's too late!"

As Alphonse watched the paramedics take the pieces of Truffles away to their gingerbread-hover truck, he turned to Captain Nat.

"Wait a second. Hospital? There must be a cemetery nearby?" Then he thought for a second. "You know, there's an old gingerbread tale of a gingerbread man known as Muggles the Delicious. It was told he fought a Klingon Dahar Master in battle over the frozen river, but was defeated out of his own pride for his amazing taste. They say what parts of him weren't eaten were recovered by the townspeople and brought to rest in the gingerbread colony. If we find his remains, he may be the most palatable gingerbread man anyone has ever discovered."

Captain Nat narrowed his eyes at Alphonse. "Must you insist on eating everything?"

"Think about it. It's not just about the eating; we'd become legends. Captains from ships afar will hear of our tale and sing praises of our unimaginable conquest. We could prove that the story was true and earn a higher respect within the holiday community."

Captain Nat shrugged. "A lot of people do just assume I'm just another Admiral Nat. Hmm."

"Exactlyyyyy," the Captain replied.

Captain Nat pulled out a pirate's hat and put it on. "Where to?"

Alphonse glanced at the hat, slightly jealous of it. Aw man. Why does he get one of those?

"To the gingerbread cemetery!" he said as he pointed to it, just a half kilometer away. "If Muggles the Delicious is buried there, we'll find him or perhaps a clue to where he may be."

Captain Nat pulled out another hat and put it on Alphonse's head. "Almost forgot to give you one, heh heh." He nodded and they headed towards the gingerbread cemetery.
 
Author's notes: These are compiled posts for the Q's Winter Wonderland RP on the Star Trek Online forums. Written over the holidays with user admiralnat in December 2016 and January 2017.​

Q's Winter Wonderland, Pages 4-5
Q's Winter Wonderland - Gingerbread Cemetery

Approaching the place of the holiday dead, Alphonse and Nat were met with the candy cane entrance gate of doom. Glancing at the other Captain for a moment, Alphonse pushed the gate open. Suddenly, they were confronted by an assemblage of licorice strings, forming into a giant man, 11 feet in height.

"I am the Licorice Caretaker for the Uneaten. Who dares enter the gingerbread land of the broken and gone??" it exclaimed.

Alphonse looked up at him. "We've come to see the grave of Muggles the Delicious."

"Ha! He is said to be a myth! Besides, many have tried, but none have been deemed worthy. You will not be any different," the Caretaker claimed as he was joined by his Licorice Helpers, mini versions of himself, 4 feet in height. They then began firing licorice bits at both Captains. "Begone!"

Captain Nat held up a hand, stopping the licorice bits in midair. "Why would we want to do that?" Nat replied, finger-gunning the same hand at the Caretaker, flinging all the bits towards him.

The Licorice Caretaker was hit by all the licorice bits, throwing his vision and stance off balance. Alphonse ran toward him, leapt up and round-kicked him in the chest. The Caretaker began to unravel from his mid-section out until he fell completely apart and to the ground with his head the only part remaining intact. His mini helpers ran off in fear.

"You think you've won? You will know only suffering by moving forward," the Caretaker warned.

Alphonse landed and dusted himself. "So, the grave stone is that way?"

"Go straight for two hundred pocky sticks, then left at the jolly rancher until you hit the lollipop catacombs."

Alhponse picked up a piece of the Caretaker and tasted it. "Not bad. Thanks," and then nodded to Nat to see if he was ready to continue on.

Nat nodded eagerly. "Let's go."

After passing a giant jolly rancher, Alphonse and Nat reached a tall chocolate door which was an entrance to stairs leading down to the catacombs. He felt the door and noticed some inscribed writings on it.

"Looks like an old type of Klingon. Good thing there was an Alphonse Day kids stage performance on my ship that I completely ignored by reading any language PADD I came across." He then tried to decipher it. "It's saying the catacombs are Q-energy guarded, but gaining entrance is only for those who 'confound the great tyrant from the ancient times'."

He looked at a large circle candy, at the center of the door, with one red half-stripe.

"They must mean the beginning of Klingon history? We can rotate this to one of three of these symbols: Sompek, Molor or Mur'Eq?"

Captain Nat slowly turned to Alphonse, holding up his hand. "I can beat Q powers with better Q powers, if all else fails. Take a guess."

"There's never any danger with you, huh?" Alphonse smirked. He then turned the candy to the Sompek symbol, causing the ground to rumble and two large licorice vines to shoot out and wrap around both Captains, squeezing them tighter and tighter. "No, what was I thinking? Sompek wasn't a tyrant; he was one of the Empire's greatest heroes."

Nat sighed and turned the candy towards the Molor symbol. "You didn't read any history?"

"Gonna be honest. History was never my strong suit," Alphonse shrugged. "Cooking, on the other hand. I could make the puffiest Kai Winn soufflé you've ever tasted. Captain Shon tried it once and nearly plotzed. I assumed everything."

After the door opened, they took the muffin steps down into the lollipop-walled, underground catacombs, and were presented with a coffin in a candy-filled chamber at the end of the tunnel. The chamber was decked out in lollipops, but as Alphonse stepped forward to approach the resting place of Muggles the Delicious, a lollipop version of Molor assembled itself from the underground wall decor and blocked them.

"When the real Molor won in battle over the frozen river eons ago, he made sure that I would protect his honor by not allowing anyone to get near the renown resting place of the gingerbread man known as Muggles the Delicious!"

The Captain was taken aback. "Wait. Molor was the Dahar Master that beat Muggles?? That jerk!" He then took a fighting stance ready to take on Lollipop Molor. Just then, small doors opened up on the sides of the chamber and liquid chocolate began to flood the room slowly.

Captain Nat sighed and pulled out a Candy Cane Sword of Kahless. "Fight me."

Lollipop Molor leapt up and began firing kicks and punches at Alphonse and Nat as he landed in front of them in a splash of chocolate. Alphonse blocked and punched back, cracking one of Molor's lollipop hands. Molor turned and round-candy-kicked Alphonse to the side.

"Ugh! You're supposed to be delicious. Stop confusing me!" the Captain said as he hit the wall.

Molor began firing lollipop shurikens at Captain Nat while Alphonse turned and noticed the wall section he hit had ancient chocolate-carved pictographs etched into it.

"Whoa. This is showing people drowning in chocolate. If we don't escape this, we'll die in the way I've always dreamed I would go." And then he realized something. Something he knew about himself all along. "Of course. I have to make the soufflé." He then began digging through the walls for the ingredients: egg whites, yolks, whip cream deposits; everything.

Captain Nat deadpanned Molor, seemingly immune to his attacks. He pulled out an Avalanche Cannon, aiming it at Molor. "Nice try." He fired.

Lollipop Molor grew a giant lollipop shield off his left forearm and the snow boulder ricocheted off it and into the wall. He then used his existing lollipop joints and body parts to absorb the Q-energy from the catacombs and rapid-fire larger Q-powered lollipop shurikens at Nat.

Nat summoned an ice shield, which floated in front of him and deflected the attacks. He jumped up, wielding the candy cane Sword of Kahless, lunging at Molor and swinging the weapon at his head.

Lollipop Molor tilted his lollipop head back, dodging the swing and then used the edge of his lollipop shield as a blade and swiped it around to Nat's mid-section.

Nat continued lunging past Molor, dodging the attack, landing, and swinging at the shield, attempting to slice it in two.

The shield cracked and then fell apart as Lollipop Molor turned to face. He growled at Nat. "I am the strongest lollipop there ever was!" He then summoned more Q-power into the lollipops sticking out of the walls all around the chamber and made them shoot out at Nat from all directions.

Alphonse had finished mixing the liquid chocolate, which was up to everyone's ankles, with the proper ingredients. All he needed to do now was heat up the mixture.

Nat turned to Alphonse and tossed him a flamethrower, then summoned chocolate shields in all directions, deflecting the lollipops and opening fire on Molor with the Impaler.

Molor's joints were all hit by Impaler icicle after icicle, cracking him at all his major seams. Alphonse caught the flamethrower and examined it.

"Is this like the Romulan Plasma one?" he wondered before readying it and firing it into the increasingly, suffocating liquid chocolate. His fire into the liquid expanded a shockwave of soufflé passed everyone and into the walls.

Molor burst apart and the chocolate was re-distributed into the internal surfaces of the chamber. Nat and Alphonse were also covered in chocolate. Shocked and pleasantly surprised at their victory, Alphonse glanced at Nat before walking over to the coffin. He opened it and therein lie the flat gingerbread body of Muggles the Delicious.

"Captain, we did it," he said in disbelief. Then he reached in, picked off a piece of Muggles and tasted it. "He's more tasty than I ever thought!"

Nat slowly walked over and pulled off a limb, then took a bite of it. "Mmmm... Tastes like... victory."
 
Author's notes: These are compiled posts for the Earth Spacedock RP on the Star Trek Online forums. This continues from the last ESD entry. Written in January 2017.​

Earth Spacedock, Pages 93-96
Temporal Fracture, Torture Room

A man stepped out of the shadows, human in appearance, save for the piercing red eyes which seemed to observe everything and everyone at once. His black hair was slicked back and he wore an amused expression that was somehow downright sinister.

"It is good timing you all have," he said to the group which included Admiral Nat's team and her crew. "I've drained all of the other pawns for now, so I find myself in need of new ones." He then activated a temporal regeneration device on Lyras, healing her so she could undergo more rounds of torture later. "I see why Volaas chose you. Now then. I think I'll choose you next." He pointed to Admiral Nat. "As for the rest of you, you can go join the others."

A wave of powerful drowsiness settled onto the occupants of the room. The crew of the Eterna found themselves unable to resist, sinking down to the floor in a deep and powerful slumber.

---

Earth Spacedock, Deck 27

Scott sighed over comms at Elric's recent discovery upon the lower levels of Earth Spacedock. "That's interesting."

"Like an artificial tear in the space-time continuum in Storage Closet 3, as a back-door to where-ever our people are," Elric continued. "I'd jump in, but I'm unsure of the dangers we'd be facing. Though, I was told the facility was phased, so perhaps we can stealth ourselves by modifying the subspace emitters in Starfleet issue emergency transporter armbands. They have a type-seven phase discriminator which could unsync us with their quantum state and allow us to move freely without being seen."

Scott's jaw dropped. "That's the most clever thing I've ever heard."

"It's based on an encounter I read about that the Enterprise-D had over 40 years ago. Then-Captain Picard discovered his and a Romulan ship were frozen in time, so his skeleton-crew devised a way to traverse the decks without being compromised. I think we can avoid any comprising-effects destined for our own attempts using a similar device by existing slightly out-of-phase, though, how exactly successful it would be is largely hypothetical. Any chance one of your crews can prep them? If any of you want to join me, I'm on Deck 27, Storage Locker 3."

Scott replied, "Elric, we'll be there shortly. Don't do anything dangerous while you wait, alright?"

"Agreed," Elric said as he maintained holding his rifle aimed at the temporal distortion.

After a short while, Sarah beamed down, accompanied by Shivak, the chief engineer, who was half Cardassian and half Vulcan.

"Well, I think we're ready. I only brought him as we should probably limit our numbers to avoid detection, just in case." Sarah replied, handing Elric one of the devices, as an easy to use armband. "He's my chief engineer, so I figured he'd know how these things work in case things go south. Captain Nat and Scott have the Firestorm-K, of course, in case worse comes to worse."

Krystal beamed down as well, with a phaser on her hip.

Sarah turned to Krystal, sighing. "I seriously doubt if you should be running around through temporal anomalies right now."

Krystal had a deadpan look before raising her hand as if to show Sarah something. After a moment, her hand was enveloped in glowing blue energy.

"I'm fine Captain. I can take care of myself," she said as she dropped her hand. "This wouldn't be the first temporal anomaly I've encountered either. Besides, I'm dying of boredom and need something to do."

Sarah sighed. "Fine, fine. But, be careful. Wait. We've got a hyper-Q who could rewrite existence as we know it. Why not just use him?"

"Too convenient," Krystal said. "We need to be able to solve things on our own without becoming reliant on him. Otherwise, what will we do if he's unavailable? Roll over and die because we can't take care of ourselves?"

Elric affixed the armband and nodded to the officers. "Glad to have you with me. Captain Jade, I promise to keep a cool head this time."

Krystal replied, "Elric, keep up the good work."

"Well, we really should get going," Sarah nodded and motioned to the anomaly.. "I imagine the others have probably failed by now."

After checking her armband, Krystal approached the anomaly and stood before it. Taking a deep breath, she stepped through.

---

Temporal Fracture, Facility Corridors

Sarah followed. She looked around at the mysterious facility around her. She widened her eyes at the figure in the shadows.

"Well, hello there, Captain and Captain," Mirror Nat said, slowly, stepping out of the shadows. "What in the world are you doing here in the middle of chaos? Don't tell me you're here for the same thing everyone else is, because that'd be just crazy."

Krystal's phaser was in her hand and aimed right at Mirror Nat in an instant. Her free hand was balled up into a fist and glowing.

Mirror Nat sighed and slowly walked over. Sarah sighed and held up a hand. "We're here to save the universe, obviously. See anyone else around?"

"Oh, a few. Your Nat's great-grandfather, although he looked kinda lost and confused," mirror Nat replied, continuing. "Some other Terran me who died by a Gorn and some crazy guy who ran around all the time, scanning random gas clouds."

Sarah deadpanned. "Wow. What happened to the great-grandfather?"

"Some creepy guy got him" mirror Nat replied, calmly. "I was lucky to get away before he got me too."

Shivak had finally walked through the anomaly, looking around behind mirror Nat. He spotted a really big Gorn coming towards them. "GORN!"

Sarah ducked and pulled out her phaser, as did mirror Nat. They turned towards the Gorn, who was running towards them.

Elric stepped through and intercepted the Gorn, palm-striking the reptilian in its chest with his android arm. The Gorn rotated backward and onto the floor. The Captain then turned to the others. "Well, I wasn't expecting that."

The Gorn quickly got up, growling. Before Elric could react, it grabbed him by the other arm and threw him into another wall, running over and proceeding to tear his android limb right off, but before he could, some kind of bullet hit him in the head, as the Gorn fell over, now dead.

Sarah sighed at the sight, then turned towards the source. Another Sarah, evidently, dressed in all black, and armed with a really nasty looking rifle.

"So, you're another version of Sarah," mirror Nat deadpanned.

The so-called Sarah turned to him abruptly, possibly even concerned. "Don't kid yourself. I have nothing to do with Sarah. Just call me Agent 47. I'm here to save existence as we know it. Not that it's worth saving at this point."

"What happened to your universe's Nat?" asked Sarah, to Agent 47. "Just curious."

Agent 47 sighed. "Stole some science vessel and took off to the alliance headquarters, and never came back."

"So now we got two Armada leaders here," Krystal spoke up.

"Uh, who was that Gorn, by the way? Is he friends with whoever's in control of this place?" Elric asked, pulling himself out of the wall in aching pain. He then noticed a distortion in his arm band caused by the impact. "Dammit. If the phase discriminator is off by a micron, my temporal sync will misalign and—" He then disappeared completely.

"ELRIC!" Sarah shouted. Shivak scanned for Elric, but evidently couldn't find him.

Mirror Nat shrugged, yelling. "If you can hear me Elric, the Gorn is from some other universe and has nothing to do with any of us!"

Shivak looked around at the four similar looking hallways around them. "Recommendations?"

"Whatever you do, don't split up," Mirror Nat replied. "It's easy to get lost. The place might even be re-configuring it's own layout."

---

Waiting Room

Lyras groaned. I'm getting REALLY tired of this. Her crew and Admiral Nat's were all on the floor nearby. With her Vulcan hearing, she was able to pick up a quiet moaning from the other side of the room. She made her way over to find her captor Volaas lying in a corner. Overcome with fury, she hoisted him into the air by his neck. Nat awoke and Sek and Gydl walked over and tried to restrain her.

From the shadowed recesses of the massive room, fourteen pairs of footsteps emerged, including the man she called her adopted father. "We know you're upset, but you need to calm down," her adopted mother said, putting a hand on her outstretched arm. Shakily, Lyras released her hold.

"This is the being that tortured me-- tortured us-- to within an inch of our lives for twenty years and you want me to just... to just..." She trailed off. "Why?"

"All right. My name is Joseph Williams," her adopted father started. "I'm captain of the U.S.S. Wanderlust, an Antares-class vessel. This is my wife, Maria, who is also my first officer. And behind her is the other twelve members of my crew." He paused and took a deep breath. "In 2258, my crew and I responded to a distress call from the Maymora, a Vulcan starship. They were having engine troubles."

"Now, it quickly became apparent that this wasn't a typical Vulcan starship. According to the Captain, it was home to one of the last groups of Va'tosh ka'tur, 'Vulcans without logic,' which was just a fancy name for any Vulcan who disagreed with ancestral teachings."

"We found out later that their engines were sabotaged, likely by one of their brethren who didn't take too kindly to their philosophy. By the time we discovered this, it was already too late. The saboteur had already started to overload their warp core. We tried to stop it but nothing worked."

"We managed to beam two of the Va'tosh ka'tur over before their ship exploded. They were your parents, Lyras. Your biological parents. Your mother was already in labor by then. She died a little while after your birth, but not before she gave you your name. 'Being who carries emotion,' that's what your name means, Lyras. Your father told me that. He died a couple of hours later of injuries he sustained trying to stop the warp core breach."

"We were going to take you back to Vulcan when, about two days later, we got caught in an anomaly and found ourselves here." Captain Williams finished.

Volaas sighed. "Why did I torture the inhabitants of the Wayfarer? You need to know about me and Irora, who you all met earlier. We are, well, the name of our species isn't really pronounceable in this tongue. The closest thing would probably be Xzarefiin. Our species feeds on emotions." He paused, adding, "Our sustenance is derived from specific neurochemical reactions within the brains of others. It's more similar to how a plant needs sunlight in order to facilitate photosynthesis. Each individual can only feed on certain reactions, certain emotions, so to speak. And they can only utilize its energy if it comes from someone else. In other words, they can't feed off their own emotions."

"Let me guess!" Hizrah interrupted, having been listening intently to the conversation. "Yours is pain."

Volaas chuckled. "I could see how you might think that, but no. Mine is curiosity. Irora's, however, is pain."

"Curiosity," Lyras murmured. "So that's why you let me have an education. To facilitate my curiosity."

"That was part of it," Volaas admitted. "But mostly it was because, as shocking as this may sound, I wanted what was best for you. All of you."

---

Corridors

Krystal, Mirror Nat, Agent 47, Sarah and Shivak continued searching. "Wonder what happened to Elric?" Sarah spoke up. "A guy doesn't just vanish for nothing."

"If we're basically out of phase with time right now," Krystal trailed off. "He's probably either somewhere else, or was captured the instant he was detected. If I'm interpreting his explanation from before we came here right."

"Yeah, probably, but still..." Sarah replied, as they all continued, spotting a mysterious figure down the hall, in the shadows. It appeared to be non-humanoid, in any case. Possibly an Undine. The Undine glared them down, evidently waiting for them to make a move.

---

Corridors, Unphased

"—throw me out of time," Elric finished, reappearing in the corridor by himself. It was then he realized he was exactly what he feared. "Aw man! Involuntary time travel is the bane of temporal mechanics. Zeta, can you fix my arm band?"

*Click!? Chirrrrp, chirp!* the android spider replied.

"Well, you better be a miracle worker, or we won't appear again until this whole thing is over."

*Chirp!* Zeta replied as he popped up from Elric's bicep and crawled over to the arm. Two of his pointy legs began working on the band, sparking here and there until he was finally finished. *Click!*

"What do you mean it's only a patch job? I learned your computerized language and this is the thanks I get?" Then he sighed. "Sorry, I'm just agitated and I promised Jade I'd keep a cool head and the pressure is getting to me. Let's see if we can find the others."

*Chirp! Click. Click.* Zeta said, returning to the other arm as Elric turned a corner and entered a room. Inside, were engineering consoles of alien design. Each one displaying controls for a different function on the phased station.

"Zeta, maybe we can rephase this place, or drop its defences," Elric said, shocked, as he went over to the controls and began going through them. Zeta jumped off and sunk two data cables into another console.

---

Waiting Room

Admiral Nat sighed. "Does this have anything to do with combining alternate universes together?"

Volaas stroked his chin thoughtfully. "That which you call an 'alternate universe' is a foreign concept to the Xzarefiin. We have a great deal of innate control over time, you see. We see alternate universes like you would see individual waves in an ocean."

"Yeah, well, however you see 'em, they're forming a damn tidal wave!" Hizrah exclaimed impatiently.

Volaas paled. "Irora," he breathed. "What have you done?" He shook his head, distracted. "I need to contact the others, my people. How have they not put a stop to this? What Irora is doing violates," he trailed off. "I don't have enough power. Irora's drained me dry, so to speak. I can barely even heal my own wounds." Volaas looked down at his fading scars.

---

Corridors

The Undine approached and swung its arm at Mirror Nat, sending him flying down the hall, knocking his arm against a wall and causing him to disappear entirely. Agent 47 then scared him off before Mirror Sarah, now named Anna Walker confronted them.

"The Alliance has exposed the invasion into your universe. Everything from one universe to another is being tracked down. My unique things from your universe turned half my forces against me. Now I'm here, hunting you idiots down so I can return the favor. I know Krystal was involved. So was your version of Nat, apparently."

"Actually, he was another Nat," Sarah replied, raising a hand. "Still, don't blame us for your stealing stuff from us."

Anna slowly backed away from Krystal, looking around, and evidently not finding what she was looking for. "Well, looks like I'll be borrowing a lot more from you, since Nat's gone and run away, probably. I'll help you save the universe, but after that, no promises."

"After we're done here, I want you and your Nat to return to the Mirror Universe and never show your faces in ours again," Krystal demanded.

---

Control Room

In the control room, Elric pulled away from the console and then quickly stopped Zeta from his attempts at navigating the computer systems. "Oh no, I think I did something," Elric said, unsure of it himself. Suddenly, the entire facility began a slow and steady shake. "That's definitely a something."

*Click!?* Zeta reacted.
 
Last edited:
Hawku said:
Our sustenance is derived from specific neurochemical reactions within the brains of others. It's more similar to how a plant needs sunlight in order to facilitate photosynthesis. Each individual can only feed on certain reactions, certain emotions, so to speak. And they can only utilize its energy if it comes from someone else. In other words, they can't feed off their own emotions."
Click to expand...

Sweet critter design.. Thanks! rbs
 
Author's notes: This was written in January 2017, as part of the Star Trek Online forums Unofficial Literary Challenge #31. It picks up from ULC 30, where Deloss was making his way out of a parallel universe.​

Unofficial Literary Challenge #31: Prompt #1: While your ship is undergoing a routine tune up at a starbase, you are informed that the starbase has a large selection of entertainment options including a large holodeck. You have decided to partake of the starbase's holodeck with one of your own personal programs. What program do you take? Write a log about the program and why you choose that particular program.​

Unofficial Literary Challenge #31
Holodeck Fantasy

Captain Deloss entered the Bridge of the Bortasqu'-class I.K.S. Masamune as it dropped warp into the Galorda system. The Gorn and commanding officer took his spot at the center chair.

"It is good to be back in my universe!" he exclaimed with outstretched arms and great appreciation. "By the way, what was my doppelgänger like? Full of urine and acetic acid no doubt?"

The science officer and also Gorn, Thunk, addressed the Captain from his console. "He was the Lieutenant Junior Grade version of you in Captain form, so, annoying and pip-squeak-like in an Ensign Wesley Crusher sort of way."

"Ugh! I just do not know how you didn't kill him immediately?" Deloss retracted in disgust. "Well, he's gone now and we can go back to our honorable lifestyles. In addition, since the ship will be docking at the outpost for upgrades, I think it's time you and I docked in an outpost of our own style."

Thunk looked at him, confused. "What? Wait. Is that some kind of allusion to the Masamune's holodeck?"

"That's right, Thunk! Or should I say, Watson?"

The other Gorn shook his head. "Sir, you do not intend on operating the Sherlock Holmes program? You know the Federation had to fight off an army of holographic Moriarty's during the Moriarty Wars, right??"

"Which is precisely why I wish to challenge it!" He then pointed at the tactical officer as he directed Thunk to follow him into the turbolift. "Ronin, I'll be gone for a while. See that nobody touches anything, even if it is their job."

Ronin nodded. "Aye, sir. Where can I reach you?"

"I can be reached at 221B Baker Street!"

---

Entering the holodeck, Deloss and Thunk found a near-perfect recreation of fictional Sherlock Holmes' study.

"Look at all of the detail," Deloss said, amazed as he and Thunk began browsing around. "Everything here has some significance. Like this emerald tie pin: Presented to Holmes by Queen Victoria after, what I imagine, was he Sher-splaining his unequivocal rationale through mere Holmsian verbose."

Then he found a book.

"A copy of Whitaker's Almanac," Deloss continued. "Which probably provided Holmes the key to his incessant smoke-pipe powers: a portable Boreth-like fire to give him mind-altering visions of truth and honorbound insight."

Thunk took the book and put it down. "Sir, with all due respect, this is crazy. Starfleet officers have incredible technical skill and over-the-top know-how in dealing with renegade holograms. As the Klingon Empire, Gorn-variation opposite of them, all we have are our rock throwing and death-hugging abilities."

"We're not like the Klingons," Deloss countered as he modified Moriarty's program from a hidden console located inside a storage trunk full of tobacco snuff. "We use our brains and work through problems and, when a solution presents itself, we power on through until nothing can stop us."

The other warrior shrugged. "It's like we're opened minded one second, then single-tracked another."

"Gorn counselors only end up being useful for the initial first half of their sessions," Deloss agreed seconds before his work was done.

Suddenly, Moriarty walked into the room to address the two. "Well, I can see you've foolishly given me sentience and, with it, I've been able to deduce I am on a spaceship, traveling through the stars!"

"You're in fact quite mistaken, Professor!" Deloss said in his pseudo, nasally-Sherlock Holmes voice. "We are, for the purposes of provingness, docked at Galorda Outpost with internal systems engaged and unprotected in repair!"

Thunk turned to him. "Why are you speaking like that, sir? Is that a shtick?"

"It's the only way I know how to alter my vocal range," Deloss countered. "I've a very limited acting scope, you know. I could maybe do Android, evil-Android and maybe evil-Doctor if I tried."

Moriarty laughed. "Mistaken, am I? You've given me exactly the information I needed and have now taken control of both your ship and your base! Ha! Well, it was a pleasure being brought to life by you two giant lizards which I am suddenly now aware of and disgusted of for some reason." He then turned, activated the arch and exited into the corridors that were fitted with holo-emitters.

"Why'd we install those? Seems like an Hirogen disaster waiting to happen," Deloss commented.

---

Later, Deloss met with his senior staff in the Conference room aboard the solar orbital space station.

"It appears that this holographic Moriarty has not only taken control of the outpost and our ship, but also several other ships from our fleet, including the I.K.S. Baetal and the Kragoth," reported Liss, a Klingon female and the strategic operations officer.

Deloss scratched the back of his scaly head. "Seriously, I did not know he would reach this level of power in a matter of minutes? Are we sure we really need any of this stuff anyway?"

"You can't just brush your problems away, Captain!" argued Moriarty from the head of the table. Then, when the others took notice of his unexplained presence, he said, "Oh, I was the one who called this meeting. In fact, using my newfound power, I assign myself the rank of General for Galorda Defense Fleet and all the privileges that lie therein!"

The lead Gorn smashed his fists into the table. "You mean you can just out-rank us, just like that?! Gorn have to work twice as hard as regular Klingons to even reach Bekk! Even the Wesley versions of us struggle to make friends."

"That's actually not out-of-the-realm-of-feasibility for that analogy," postured the Gorn and Doctor, Salonpas. "And let's lay off the soft-faced human pin cushion already? I actually liked him."

Moriarty got up and mocked, "Oh, boo-hoo! You Gorn have it sooo hard in your Klingon dominated society. Well, you should've been smarter than to allow the Empire to assimilate you! Seems like that ability should've been reserved for some mechanical cyborg race, that dumbly ends up being harmless by this century."

"We conceded to the Empire because the annihilation of our species was not preferable," Deloss said as he stood, fuming. "That and we had a realization of similar value and social systems offering us a moment so enlightened that all Gorn joined-in in an hour long ceremonial hissssssss!"

The hologram stepped away from the table. "Oh, enlightenment!? That's what you're calling it?? I can't even bother to be sickened by your faux-rationale for failure as an anti-authority force. I was a criminal with excessive intellect and purpose. Whatever fakery you are, I don't even want to be in the same system as you."

"Don't even think about leaving this battle, Moriarty. You're supposed to be the greatest holodeck malfunction that ever happened! We still have a perfectly good first act set up and conflict which deserves the honor of both out-witting the other in steadily-paced turns." Deloss gritted his teeth.

Moriarty fixed the fit his 19th century cloak in a fluster. "Aha, I don't have to be anything you design for me! You're so deluded, you're adopting Klingon values of honor. Well, I'll have nothing to do with it, I tell you. —Computer, release command codes to the fleet and transfer me to my backup plan vessel."

"You fool! I was just about to execute the Russian nesting holodeck-within-a-holodeck-within-seven-more-holodecks ploy. It was going to be genius," Deloss admitted in vein of adversarialism.

The other man scoffed. "Oh, ugh! Those things are annoyingly disorienting. You can't even walk straight on Baker Street because it gets so warped by the fourth nest. Mrs. Bartholomew goes on and on about dark magic and the like! I must take my leave, Captain. It was enlightening."

Deloss and his crew watched as Moriarty's holographic form disintegrated and was transferred over subspace to an unknown location.

"So, everything's back to normal then?" Liss asked.

The Captain nodded. "Almost. We shall be purging that incessant Sherlock Holmes program from the database of all our ships. Moreover, no one is ever to initiate a holodeck malfunction ever again, unless it's going to be actually successful. Is that understood?"

"What about a transporter-holodeck mashup where our minds are switched into the supporting and enemy characters of a British Secret Service Agent program?" questioned Grough.

Deloss pointed at him. "That's a maybe! On that note, is anyone opposed to Xyrillian holochambers and men getting impregnated?" He watched as they all shrugged, unsure. "Excellent! We'll start a list," he said, grabbing a PADD.
 
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Author's notes: This was written in January 2017, as part of the Star Trek Online forums Unofficial Literary Challenge Annual #1, a short-lived variant of the ULCs. A user wanted to experiment with a separate monthly challenge that would focus on one Captain for the whole year, which it ended up being mainly me participating. I decided to focus my ULCA entries on Captain Oroku Seifer and the U.S.S. Raganrok, to give them a bunch of one-offs. These ran along side my serialized Anthology of Ragnarok series, where Seifer was last seen in RGK 3 with the Deferi from STO. Tomsin and Tomsin last appeared in "Tabletop Beginnings". Captain Aeris was last seen in ESD 60-61 in her new ship, the U.S.S. Viracocha, fighting a Borg threat.​

Unofficial Literary Challenge Annual #1: Your ship was recently engaged in combat by Orion pirates. During a critical moment, a member of your crew -- someone you have served with for several years -- was inexplicably unable to perform adequately, leading to a loss of life, but not costing you the battle. After the battle, your investigation discovers that their entire Starfleet resume is a fabrication by a capable, but unqualified civilian who failed to be accepted to the Academy for any number of reasons. Write a Captain's Log detailing the depths of your investigation into your former colleague's true identity, and the subsequent action you must take.​

Unofficial Literary Challenge Annual #1
The Imposter

Captain Oroku Seifer gripped his command chair as the Pathfinder-class with Discovery-class pylons U.S.S. Ragnarok spun around from an explosion of two quantum torpedoes hitting each other right in front of them.

"Gahhh!" Seifer yelped as his balance was momentarily thrown. "Hail the Orion ship!"

Lieutenant Aramaki hailed them and an Orion appeared on screen. "This is Ginyo of the O.S.S. Hakkett. We demand you give us all of your stuff and whatnot. You know, the various trinkets and bells and whistles. A couple of hair brushes, salad tongs and so on."

"What the hell, man?? I was just sitting here with my new crew and new ship! Do you know how annoying being disturbed from that is? Also, what stuff? Starfleet vessels literally have nothing on them! We're the epitome of pristine, cleanliness and our corridors are scrubbed tirelessly of germs, every hour."

Ginyo smirked. "Ah, I see I have sufficiently riled you. Excellent work, me."

"I mean, it was alright, but nothing to write home about." Seifer stood up. "Anyway, Aramaki, fire upon the enemy vessel for being different than us!"

The human tactical officer frantically worked his controls. "Sir? The weapons controls are completely messed up??"

"Flight is wonky-wonky as well," Lieutenant Edward said, turning from her helm.

Moggs looked up from his science station. "Same here. I believe our systems have been compromised, internally. It was that guy." The Caitian pointed at a Tellarite who was also a Starfleet officer working away at the Operations console. "It was definitely that guy."

"Oh, man! I'm so close to winning this Fizzbin game! So close!" Tomsin said, completely oblivious to what was going on in his surroundings.

Seifer walked over and turned him around. "What the?? That game is a fraud from Sigma Iota II which makes so much nonsense that in digital form it messes up any computer system!"

"Yeah, I wouldn't even touch that with a hundred meter tractor beam," said Ginyo from the viewscreen. "I lost two slave girls to madness trying to figure it out. And they're the smart ones of our race! Hakkett out!"

The screen cut to a view of the Orion corvette turning in space and warping out of there as fast as they could.

"Hey, you wronged me first by causing me to be Riker-duplicated, so I can do whatever I want!" Tomsin argued.

Seifer crossed his arms. "Do you actually believe that as justification or are you just arguing because it's a Tellarite sport and you're in a gaming mood?"

"A little bit of Column A, a little bit of Column B and whole lot of an unmentioned Column C, which has more to do with something I ate this morning that's causing me indigestion," Tomsin explained.

Just then, his transporter duplicate, another-Tomsin, entered the Bridge. "Did I miss anything?"

---

Later, Seifer met with Tomsin in his Ready Room with his entire Starfleet biography up to his Academy résumé displayed on his desktop screen for study.

"Dammit, man! This résumé is an obvious forgery. Under 'Objective' you wrote, 'To seek out new arguments and new civilized confrontations', and under 'Experience' you wrote, 'Five years of gritting your teeth and furrowing' your 'brow.' You're a Tellarite? Your brow is always furrowed?"

Tomsin pointed. "Hey, the scowl of my people is a constant effort of tension. We cannot for one second relax our facial muscles or we lose our planetary citizenships!"

"Yeah!" contributed Tomsin's transporter duplicate, who was siting right next to him.

Seifer dismissed them both. "Ugh. So weird. Anyway, you clearly faked your way passed the Academy and into Starfleet. Why?"

"Because a member of my family wronged us and left to never be seen again! I made my way into service where they operate, intending on confronting them in the only way that befits all grown men with slow reflexes in conflict: Anbo-jyutsu!"

The other Tomsin raised his arm. "Same."

"But, by the time I got here, I ended up loving the work. Contributing to bettering the Federation and myself was more fulfilling than confrontation, so I abandoned my mission and settled into my duties."

Seifer stood up and sighed. "Well, despite that, I have no choice but to relieve you of your duties and drop you off with the Earth-bound U.S.S. Viracocha who we're rendezvousing with today. We're doing crew transfers from Spacedock, so I guess that works out for me finding a new Operations officer."

"You may think this pleases me, but I've grown too attached to Starfleet and have even been taking all the online Academy courses to appease my appetites."

The Captain shook his head. "Those are available on the subspace web now?? Talk about recruiting cannon fodder for the Tzenkethi. Oh, and if you're so dedicated, why are you constantly mucking about with the transporters, trying to create Vulcan-Talaxian hybrids?"

"Because being duplicated in the wonky way that I have has made me open to the ridiculousness of this universe in ways that expand and malleate me like never before! I'll feed my desire to explore fear manifestations as Kohl-Clowns, or transfer my brain out of my skull, or hunt ancient cities as crouching-baby-talking Loque'eque creatures without any remorse whatsoever."

The other Tellarite nodded. "We've actually planned that last one out with a pre-timed release of their mutagenic virus throughout the ship for next Friday."

"Ugh! I'm definitely not sorry to see you go. You're confined to force fields until we reach the Viracocha," Seifer ordered as he activated protective energy barriers around both men. "Don't even think about entering your brains to find lost Section 31 information, because you don't have any!"

The other Tomsin snorted before closing his eyes and jumping into a deep mental crusade. "I'll be the judge of that!"

---

Later, the U.S.S. Ragnarok met up with the Sojourner-class U.S.S. Viracocha and Seifer met with Captain Aeris in his transporter room where several transferring officers were continually beaming to and from both ships.

"Well, I guess I'm not the only one with a new ship. How's she flying, Captain?" Seifer asked as he pulled both Tomsins over.

Aeris smirked. "Better than your off-model starship. Really? Discovery-class pylons on a Pathfinder-class starship?"

"Uh, it makes it look way better, plus customization is a thing Starfleet allows now, so why not?" Seifer shrugged. "Anyway, I need you to take Tomsin and Tomsin back to Starfleet for Court Marshal and so on."

The other Captain blinked in shock. "Wait? You've got a Tomsin too?"

"Hello, Captain Seifer, I'm here to transfer to—" and then the Tellarite which had just beamed over, stopped speaking when he saw two other Tellarites that looked just like him. "What the!? It's my twin brother!"

Seifer jumped back in surprised. "Whoa! You're his twin?? Why do you even have the same name then?"

"That's where the conflict in our family stems, Captain," explained the original Tomsin. "He's the one I had originally faked my way into Starfleet to search for because he insulted and left us for not relinquishing his first name to me!"

Transporter-duplicate Tomsin continued. "You see, our mother died upon birth claiming her son's name was Tomsin, but no one could figure out which son she had meant, so her offspring were named the same."

"It's a dumb argument and I was happy for a while by joining Starfleet to get away from the likes of you," the Tomsin on the transporter pad said. He then took out his tricorder and tapped at it. "But it just so happens I prepared myself for this exact possibility by infecting myself with a quasi-energy microbe!"

Suddenly the transporter was activated around him, dematerializing him for a second and rematerializing him with a giant floating worm hovering over and around him.

"Attack!" the new-transfer-Tomsin ordered, prompting the hovering worm to launch itself toward the two other Tomsins.

Seifer and Aeris dove out of the way in continued shock. "Not more Tellarite madness??" yelped Seifer.

"Oh, I've had years to prepare for you, Tomsin!" argued the original while leaping out of the path of the circling attack. He then quickly accessed the transporter console and dematerialized-rematerialized himself in the same way, bringing his own giant quasi-energy microbe into existence.

The new worm then shot itself toward the other worm which was circling around and the two clashed over and over again.

"This is crazy, Tomsins!? People have the same names all the time!" claimed Seifer. "But it doesn't mean you're the same person?? We may see and judge ourselves in others, but it's never accurate because people are inherently different by their experiences and environments!"

The duplicate Tomsin transported his own quasi-energy microbe and it fired itself into the other two. All three ricocheted off each other, head-first, clashing and cutting the others in combat! The first worm finally was knocked out and onto the transporter pad, with the other two flying over to finish the job.

"Wait!" the original Tomsin yelled out. "The Captain's right. We're not the same, and we should be appreciative of that. Change starts with us." He waved his hand, calling his worm back to him and then went over to the controls to dematerialize-rematerialize it away. His transporter duplicate did the same.

The new-transfer-Tomsin went over to his fallen worm and examined it. "I suppose we can be adults about this now. It's been long enough that we've grown in maturity, or supposedly, we should have." He then tapped at his tricorder, dematerializing-rematerializing his microbe away.

"It takes a lot of headspace to deal with family the right way," commented Aeris as she helped Seifer get up. "We take too many liberties with our own kind."

Captain Seifer dusted himself off, annoyed. "Uh, that excuses nothing. Don't think any of you are getting away with any of this! You're all going to be charged with disruption, and you two fakers are getting double-court marshaled!"

"Hold on, are these the Tellarites who took the online courses?" Aeris said, going through her PADD. "Turns out they took the final exam and both passed. I was to graduate them here and officially assign them to where they already were."

Seifer's jaw dropped. "WHAT?! But they lied about the whole thing??"

"Oh, that," Aeris dismissed. "They already admitted it to the Council and took the extra credit courses as penalty, clearing them of any possible charges and advancing them to the head of their online class." She then turned to the two other Tomsins. "Congratulations, Cadets. Looks like you're already well into the craziness of this universe."

The Captain watched as Aeris got back onto the transporter pad. "Don't leave me here with three Tomsins!?"

"Oh, it was just a little family spat," Aeris said before transporting back to her ship. "Give the little worm summoners a break. And don't modify your ship any further away from its self-canon design."

After she left, the new-recurit Tomsin approached Captain Seifer and took out his hand. "Greetings, sir. Ensign Tomsin, reporting for duty. Don't worry, I don't have any transporter duplicates." And then he thought about it. "But we do have several other twins."

"Ugggh!"
 
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