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When The Wind Blows  You're more troubled than usual. This business with Kal Dano and the Tox Uthat? The Tholians were willing to destroy a star and wipe out an inhabited system, including a species just barely capable of warp, to steal the Tox Uthat. A device its builder calls a quantum phase inhibitor. The Tholians don't do anything without a reason. This must seem logical to them. Agreed. What troubles me is that they clearly know something we don't. I think it's unlikely that they wanted the Tox Uthat simply for its ability to destroy stars, the Tholians demonstrated that capability in the course of their trap to begin with. We also know that the Tox Uthat can reignite dying stars, but I checked the database and there aren't any stars remotely near the Assembly that fit that description. I'm no physicist or engineer, but it strikes me that a device capable of saving or destroying a star might be capable of other things. Logical and possible, not that Kal Dano or Daniels have confirmed or denied what exactly the Tox Uthat can do. Alternatively, the Tholians might want to use the Tox Uthat specifically because it's the Tox Uthat, that the identity of the device is itself part of the Tholians' objective. Hmmm. Reminds me of what happened at Svendeskar, at the outset of the Last War. The first use of a nuclear fusion bomb on Risa. Smuggled into the city in an oil tanker, and detonated in the heart of the refinery district. Iythrian authorities were methodically inspecting all other traffic in and out of the city, but not the oil tankers given how desperately the Iythrian Coalition needed that petroleum. The petroleum that was the explicit purpose of the Iythrian invasion and occupation of Velland. The Vellish resistance wanted to send the Coalition a message. And the Risans barely survived the ensuing war and near-total ecological collapse of the planet. Two thirds of Risa's native species went extinct over the next century between the nuclear winter, acidification of the seas, and the weaponized strain of the thorned gloom. Who in the galaxy could have wronged the Tholians enough to warrant something like this? Excuse me, captain. We just got an emergency message from Daniels. The Tholians are targeting the Na'khul. The who?  This makes no sense. The Na'khul are only marginally less isolationist than the Lukari are. How could they be a threat to the Tholians? The Na'khul species is confined to this star system. Due to their extraordinarily unusual iridium-based biology, planets with compatible biochemistry are exceptionally rare and far between. Republic Intelligence has learned that the Na'khul have been negotiating with the Klingon Empire for technical assistance in terraforming other planets, but last we heard nothing's happened. The Na'khul haven't done anything to the Tholians yet. It's not about what the Na'khul have done, but what the Tholians think the Na'khul will do in the future. If the Na'khul don't consider the Tholians a threat now, they will after this. Detecting unusual spectral activity from the Na'khul star. I think the Tholians are trying to use the Tox Uthat. This is going to be fun. The Na'khul are hailing.  Thank you. My people have few warships. Any assistance you can provide would be appreciated. Consider it done.  USS Ataraxia to Na'khul. The Tholians in your orbit have been destroyed. Thank you, Ataraxia. Our people prefer to keep to ourselves, but we appreciate the risks you've taken on our behalf. Our scientists are detecting unusual quantum activity in our star, and Tholian ships holding station nearby. Our astronomers think the star's fusion processes are decaying at an accelerated rate. As we feared. The Tholians have stolen a device that interferes with the fusion processes of a star. What?! Why would you make such a horrible thing?! Anytime you want to defend yourself, Kal. Ummm... It wasn't intended to be used like this, and we don't know why the Tholians are targeting your species. We intend to retrieve the device from them. Words mean nothing now. As far as we're concerned, you people share responsibility for this by building that device in the first place. Fix this. Na'khul Prime out.  Dano. How much time to we have? Not long. Charging the Tox Uthat to save the Lukari's star took a bit, but killing a star is much easier than reigniting one. Worst case scenario, if the Tholians destroy the star, could the Tox Uthat revive it? No, it doesn't work like that. The Tholians hit the Lukari star with a trilithium warhead, but the Tox Uthat works much faster. Why on earth did you build that thing in the first place? My dream is building a star. A star! I'm a lead researcher in a project to do just that, and then maybe build entire star systems. The quantum phase inhibitor is a proof of concept for a tool to regulate and the maturation rate of an artificial star. This... is just something the inhibitor can also do. I never dreamed it would get mixed up in something like this. I do not place fault with you, Dano. Commander Flores, engage the Tholians while we have time.    Captain! Quantum energy signatures are spiking!    ...Tholian flagship disabled, Captain. If we're fast, we can still retrieve the Tox Uthat. Given Tholian environmental preferences, we'll need to dock a shuttle rigged for hostile environments. That will not be a problem. I'm coming with you. I owe it to everyone to try and clean up this mess. Then suit up, Dano, and prepare for a boarding action. Away team with me.   This is a security nexus. The Tox Uthat is at deflector control. Move. I just want you to know... I am so, so sorry about this. My people are not at risk of extinction today due to the interference of time travelers, Dano. Save your regrets for the Na'khul.    There. Now get the Tox Uthat to your own ship so you can save this star. We will cover you against the Tholians. About that... Dano, did we ever have a chance of saving the Na'khul? There's one more loop we need to close. Answer me, Dano. Could you have saved the Na'khul? Not without making things worse. That's not an answer. I'm spinning up temporal drives and coaxial warp for Risa, 22nd century. The Tox Uthat needs to be there. It needs to be here. You're condemning the Na'khul to the death of their star if not their species. Haven't you realized by now how much bigger this is? This is bigger than you or me or the Na'khul. If the Tox Uthat isn't buried and lost on Risa in the 22nd century, Jean-Luc Picard will never find it in the 24th. ...When the Vorgons will come looking for it. Engaging drives.  I am so, so sorry for putting you through this. I am not a stranger to the death of planets, Dano. What is foreign to me is Starfleet, of any era, willingly condemning a star if not an entire species to death. This wasn't even meant to be you in the first place! What do you mean? This whole timeline is messed up, and I don't know why! My records say the Excelsior class USS Ataraxia was destroyed last year by the Iconians when the Alliance hit the Herald Sphere with a frontal assault! You, Captain T'Kara, aren't even supposed to be in Starfleet! Then what are we doing here, Kal? Closing the loop. There. Two hundred years from now, Captain Jean-Luc Picard will find my quantum phase inhibitor and keep it safe from the Vorgon privateers Boratus and Ajur. Not long after that, I will kill Ajur in a vault underneath Starfleet Command on Earth to protect your inhibitor from her and Boratus again. Back to our time, captain. I don't hate you, Kal Dano. I hate this entire misbegotten game of time travel, cause and effect, destiny written and rewritten. Thank you, T'Kara. And goodbye. Live long and prosper. Goodbye?       This is USS Ataraxia, the distress call wasn't ours. I see. Would you mind explaining what happened? Later. Nelen, what's the status of the Na'khul star? Exactly what you think, captain. The Na'khul are hailing. I'm sure that will be a great comfort to our people as we freeze to death and the loss of our star tears the entire planetary system apart. We will do whatever we can to assist you. You have done quite enough! Leave us alone! Time travelers and malcontents and Tholians... the whole lot of you can fall into a black hole. Now go. We have to figure out how to save our people, and protect ourselves. Time will never be used against us again. They've closed the channel. The captain of the Pastak is requesting your presence. Very well. Greetings, Captain. It's good to see you again. Again? We've never met. Well, not that you remember. Also, your friend Malthis sends his regards. I'm sure he does. He actually does. Didn't he tell you that the conflict between the Tholians and Na'khul is why he ended up a temporal agent and brought to the 25th century in the first place? ...No. Well then. Kal Dano's in the 22nd century, we're beaming him aboard now. He's dead, and has been for centuries. I know. He went back further in time than you realize. When Captain Archer of the USS Enterprise NX-01 found his ship in the 22nd century, Archer's chief engineer activated the ship's emergency temporal circuit, which brought the ship back to its last known coordinates. There was nothing anyone could do for him. As for the Tox Uthat, it's where and when it needs to be. You've seen how that particular story ends. And the Na'khul? Isn't there anything we can do for them? T'Kara, I know this hurts to hear, but the Na'khul are a major part of the Temporal Cold War. Though their world is lost, the Na'khul will survive. If we saved their world today, the galaxy would be a very different place. As cruel as it sounds, we cannot interfere. Then stop interfering. I want off this ship. You can't hide from this, T'Kara. The galaxy you know is changing, and so are the rules of every conflict and form of existence you believe you know. I'll send you back to the Ataraxia, but we will meet again. Goodbye for now, Captain T'Kara. To: ]scotty2hotty@secure.observatory.temp.zone From: ]highlyillogical@starfleet.active.ataraxia Subject: What did you do? Out of respect for our service together and your apparent good judgment, I am asking politely. Tholians. Na'khul. 23rd century. What did you do? Captain T'Kara of Shi'kahr Commanding Officer, USS Ataraxia NCC-46501 Starfleet 3rd Fleet, 1st Special Tasks Squadron United Federation of Planets
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Feb 14, 2021 22:31
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the nakuhl are those nazi dicks from enterprise right?
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Feb 14, 2021 23:06
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Yep. Malthis has fought them, T'Kara has served with them and flown one of their ships, Fed-T'Kara has also fought them, and only now are we seeing the origins of their involvement in the Temporal Cold War.
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Feb 14, 2021 23:15
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loving time travel.
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Feb 14, 2021 23:37
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This mission was actually the first one involving the Nakuul put in the game, as part of the leadup to the TOS expansion.
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Feb 15, 2021 00:38
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On one hand, it was nice to put some background to the Temporal Cold War garbage from Enterprise. On the other hand, gently caress Time Travel.
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Feb 15, 2021 01:59
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Also, in case anyone's confused, here's my attempt at a simple summary of the sequence of events to date in this story arc: 1. Kal Dano is a brilliant scientist from the 26th century. He travels back in time to the 25th century to save the Lukari star. 2. The Tholians, who destabilized the Lukari star in order to lure in Kal Dano and steal the Tox Uthat, use the Tox Uthat to destroy the Na'khul's star. 3. After recovering the Tox Uthat from the Tholians (too late to save the Na'khul star) Kal Dano travels further back in time to the 22nd century to hide the Tox Uthat from thieves. 4. Kal Dano then returns to the 25th century to check on the Na'khul star. 5. After another fight with the Tholians. Kal Dano is thrown backwards in time to an unknown date at which point he perishes. 6. Afterwards Kal Dano is found by the USS Enterprise NX-01 in the 22nd century. 7. In the 25th century, moments after his disappearance in that time frame, he is recovered and beamed back to the 25th century from the 22nd, though he is long dead by that point. 8. The Na'khul travel back in time to the 23rd century and attempt to wipe out the Tholians in retribution for the Tholians killing the Na'khul star. 9. In the 23rd century, the time cops intervene to stop the Na'khul, but too late to save millions of Tholian civilians. The Tholians will, in the 25th century, lay a trap for Kal Dano to steal the Tox Uthat per points 1 and 2. 10. As a consequence of point 9, Malthis winds up getting thrown into the 25th century. 11. Meanwhile, in the 24th century, Jean-Luc Picard finds the Tox Uthat and saves it from the Vorgons, a race that traveled back in time from the 26th century. He hands the Tox Uthat to Starfleet Command who supposedly destroy it. 12. Starfleet Command does not, and locks it in a secure vault on Earth. 13. Later in the 24th century, the Vorgons travel back in time again to make another play for the Tox Uthat on Earth, where/when they are foiled by T'Kara. 14. In the 25th century, the Emissary - a figure who opposes the time cops - recruits the Na'khul, Vorgons, and Sphere Builders (from a completely separate round of time travel and changing history) to his side. The Emissary's attempt to recruit the Romulans in the 23rd century is foiled by T'Kara.
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Feb 15, 2021 02:05
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Across The Sands Of Time Leave me alone. I've had my fill of time travel. Then you should have falsified your logs about what Kal Dano said on Risa. He wasn't the first man to scream that I shouldn't be where I am. I am skeptical that he'll be the last. He was also telling the absolute truth. Good for him. If you didn't want the attention of the timeline, you shouldn't have rewritten galactic history on more than one occasion. Never by choice. If you were really as fatalistic as you claim to be, you had the opportunity to refuse to change things, more than once. Your crew would have followed you at Iconia, to name the most significant change. I have tried very hard to live my life without regret or apology, Captain Walker. Get Commodore Malthis if you want a philosophical discussion. I did. He told us to get you. Of course he did. Set course for the Krenim temporal facility in the Kyana system, Captain. My superiors agree that there's something you need to see. With respect, T'Kara... are you sure about this? You know there's going to be time travel bullshit. That's why you and Aoede are coming with me. Hey, that wasn't what I was asking! Actually, it was my idea. You've been a terrible influence on her, Aoede. She hasn't yelled at any flag officers since they started dating. That's novel. Don't encourage her, Tila. Why does everyone assume I have a stubborn and perverse sense of humor? Because you're Vulcan. Thank you for volunteering for the away team. Nelen, you'd better come, too.  Thank you for coming, Captain. You've been invited to New Khitomer, the capital of the of the Galactic Union in the 28th century, to witness the signing of the Temporal Accords. Why me? You know that I don't like you, or time travel, or your organization. One of history's great ironies, given that you directly inspired the creation of our service. A statue of you stands outside Temporal Fleet Command Headquarters. Answer my question. Until your life, time travel was almost never used positively by the races of the modern galaxy. Captain Kirk brought back humpback whales to Earth, the first steps on the road to opening diplomatic relations with the Seranar. Captain Picard... tried, and Captain Sisko at least was diligent about minimizing disruptions to the timeline. When you rewrote history to save the World's Heart during the fall of Iconia, Captain T'Kara, you proved to the galaxy that time travel could in fact be used responsibly and shouldn't be simply banned. ...Of all the lessons anyone could take from my life, that has to be in consideration for the worst such lesson imaginable. I understand your skepticism, Captain. I hope when you see what your life inspired you'll change your mind.  That's a planetary ring, yes indeed. Interesting. We're in the Delta Quadrant, but not far from the galactic core. No star exists at these coordinates in our time. This star won't be born until near the end of the 26th century, thanks mainly to Kal Dano's work before his death. The Union commissioned this star system specifically as our new capital, free of any perceived favor any member state might have from hosting the capital. 'Galactic Union'... not the Federation? The Federation is one state in an alliance of equals, commander, even after the Romulan Republic and Klingon Empire joined the Federation. The Dominion, Iconian Protectorate, Tholian Assembly, Borg Cooperative, Voth Republic, Hur'q Commonality, and many others all have a voice in the Union. The Union appears to have inherited much of its military structure and ethos from the Federation, however. We did, though the Union's overall political structure is based on the Tholian Assembly. They have a remarkable record for managing inter-dimensional and cross-temporal affairs with stability and safety. We all had much to learn from them. Shame they're such pains in the arse in our time. A lot like the Undine and Tzenkethi, they're currently ruled by an exceptionally aggressive political faction in your time, and a major change in political leadership later in the 25th century lead to a significant shift in the tone of the Tholians' relationship with the rest of the galaxy. Believe it or not, things will get better. Your recent history of strife and war is exceptional. I'll believe that when I see it.  Here we are, Captain. You aren't the only visitor from the past today, so don't worry about temporal incidents. I'll be your chaperone for today, but you've amply demonstrated an ability to keep your mouth shut. Not the only visitor... I assume Malthis is here? Or a Malthis? There will be time for that after the signing. He still has a great role to play of his own in history.  Excuse me, but Captain T'Kara is expected in the main gallery. You're famous! An inspiration to an entire fleet of roaming bad ideas. They could have honored my memory by banning time travel entirely. One of the defining moments of your career, one that echoes three hundred years from your present day, was using time travel to change history. Captain Walker, nothing that happened after Captain Nog and I found the Krenim was a good idea. We were desperate and we were trying to avoid total extinction. That doesn't make my actions admirable, or worthy of emulation. The judgment of history disagrees. Na'khul! Oh dear...  The Tholians ravaged our homeworld, thanks to the Federation's ineptitude. In one dark moment, my people were scattered across the stars. All we were, our history, our way of life... were nearly lost forever. And when we needed the Federation the most? We were denied. Terrorists, they called us. Criminals... the dregs of the galaxy. These words, these deeds, will never be forgotten, or forgiven. I agree. The destruction of your world never should have been allowed to happen. Thank you, stranger. I do not trust the Federation or the Union as the arbiters over time. Neither do I. I agree. If Starfleet can't keep control over lunatics like Archer, Burnham, or Janeway even in our time, Starfleet of this era sure can't. You aren't afraid that changing things could just make things worse? You're countering a factual situation with a hypothetical. The Federation once turned a planetary civilization into a society of gunpowder-era organized crime caricatures on accident. I do not trust their history of good judgment. Says the Starfleet officer. My commission is merely provisional.  Quite a date, T'Kara. Mammals. Caste-based egg-layer. My superiors are either going to fire me or promote me for suggesting we bring you here. Welcome to being a part of T'Kara's life, Captain. It's been like this as long as I've known her. The Pathfinder was not my fault. The Empyrean Drift was. The court-martial cleared me of all charges and decorated me. What about shore leave on Betazed. I thought we agreed to not talk about shore leave on Betazed. Just saying.    I must say - I am privileged to witness this historic event! Truly, it is a singular event. I'm humbled, and I'm sure you are as well. The Xindi are no stranger to temporal affairs - the tragic conflict with Earth in the 22nd century, orchestrated by the Sphere Builders, is a deep shame to us all. We support the Accords with the hope that they will prevent such conflicts from this day forward. I suspect that today will be... interesting.  Time travel is a coward's weapon. The Breen Confederacy prefers to fight in the present rather than in a memory of the past or a dream of the future. While the Accords promise to safeguard the timestream for us all, I can't help but ponder the opportunities for temporal abuse that will remain after they are signed. I fear great imbalance could still occur, despite the good intentions of all involved. The Tholian Assembly has decided to support the Accords. However, the Accords do not go far enough. We want to end all time travel, for any reason. We will continue to lobby for change, aggressively. Should the Union fail to preserve the timeline, the Assembly will succeed, by any means necessary. That is all. I concur with the Tholian. Today on 'things we never thought we'd say.'  I am honored by the Founders, and pleased to observe this historic event. Although the Dominion was not greatly affected by the development of time travel, we have a strong interest in safeguarding the timestream. Jolan tru. You must be from the past - from before the Romulans joined the Federation, I'd wager. How strange all this must be for you! The entire galaxy uniting in preserving the timeline. This is truly a momentous day for us all. Bang up job the galaxy's been doing so far.  Hm. T'Kara of Shi'kahr, if I don't miss my guess from history class. Welcome to the 28th century. I hope you'll enjoy seeing what your work and sacrifice has wrought. These Accords are going to provide quite the opportunity for, ah, historical studies of... economic matters. I hear the Grand Nagus is going to formally announce a new book of Temporal Rules of Acquisition soon. I hope at least one of them covers going back in time to beat someone to a deal! Greetings. Pardon me for saying so, but you look very familiar. Have we met before? Wait, I remember you from my history studies! You saved our homeworld! There's a statue of you in the capital city on Lukari Prime! Oh, wait, that's already happened to you... right?  I am reminded of a quote from ancient Earth. "And when Alexander beheld the breadth of his domain, he wept for there were no more worlds to conquer." For a future you hate, Captain, these people owe much to you. Three hundred years removed from my life, Siqiniq. Starfleet in our time calls Jonathan Archer a hero now that he's safely three centuries in the grave. Do you really hate yourself that much, T'Kara?  We Kobali are quite thankful for these Accords. Many who disagree with our customs could be tempted to return to a point in time where those customs could be... disrupted, permanently. The Borg have a checkered history with time travel, particularly where the Federation is concerned. Thankfully, we've had the chance to make amends. The Cooperative is proud to be a part of these proceedings. No one here is without an enemy that would erase them from time if they could.  The Na'khul are not here to sign these Accords. We have already been victims of time-traveling aliens, but somehow this incursion into the timeline has been overlooked, perhaps because of its importance to the founding of the Galactic Union. We proposed an amendment to restore our homeworld in the timeline, but it was rejected. Therefore we are here, with all the eyes of the galaxy upon us, to point out the hypocrisy and unlawfulness of these Accords. I agree completely. I've argued about this with temporal agents before. They feel safe and secure in their cradle of power. None of them have been undone by time travelers like we have. The Romulans do. How so? You don't know about Hobus...? There is something to know about the Hobus Supernova and time travelers? We will discuss this later.        T'Kara- I know.  Was this supposed to happen today, Walker? No.   We're under attack all over New Khitomer. Krenim and Na'khul. Any sign of Vorgons or Sphere Builders? No. Your friend Malthis is getting heads of state to safety. We need you and your ship, T'Kara. Our technology is three hundred years out of date compared to this, Captain. We'd be worse than useless. Then it's a good thing Daniels put an agent on your ship who's good with tech. You should be just fine. T'Kara, I think I'm really getting how angry you are a lot of the time.   Anyone else notice that the Federation ambassador was a Klingon wearing the ceremonial armor of an Honor Guard? Here I thought the Borg were bad about assimilating other cultures. This wasn't supposed to happen! History says the Accords were signed without incident, there's no mention of an attack! There's a lot of that going around, Walker. The good news is, the situation on the station is contained for now. The bad news is, the situation in orbit is deteriorating. We need to return to our ships. Status, Tila? poo poo, as usual. Don't worry, we're at battle stations already. We got this in on an open frequency right before you beamed up. This conference is a farce, I won't abide it! All ships, fire at will! Leave no survivors!  Somehow I'm not surprised that the Krenim are attacking as part of some temporal nonsense. The more things change. Getting another open transmission, I think it's from the Krenim flagship. I recognize that ship! The USS Ataraxia is here! Not this time, Captain T'Kara! This time, you will not prevail! Today, you taste the bitter dregs of defeat!  I hereby retract my sarcastic remarks about how unhappy you are with your legacy, Captain. Apology accepted. Strike those remarks from the record. Who on earth did we piss off this time? I think we haven't pissed him off yet, Commander. Relatively speaking.    Hmmm. I've never seen a ship like that before, but something about it seems familiar. A question for another time, perhaps. The Krenim and Na'khul fleets are retreating. Should we go help the future people with the Krenim flagship? May as well.  They just engaged temporal drives, but I know that ship. The KIV Annorax. ...Of course. I knew that voice was familiar. We should be grateful he hasn't used the primary weapon yet. Hail the Pastak. Tell them that it's Noye, in command of the Annorax. I've received your transmission, Ataraxia. Our records say that he had an undistinguished career after the Iconian War. Something must have happened to disturb the timeline, and him. Agreed. We need to get back to the Kyana system. I'll go with you, Captain, but I can't interact with anyone else from your timeline. I'll defer to your judgment.    Welcome back to Kyana, Captain. We weren't expecting you, to what do we owe the pleasure? I need to speak to Noye. Noye? Well, he's been working on some secret project as of late. To be honest, he's been more hostile than usual - and that's saying something for Noye! I was about to check in with him, if you'd like to accompany me. Lead on.  Come now, Captain, you can read, can't you? Access my latest report to Command if you want to know what I'm working on. Feel free to waste the time of that charming bureaucrat next to you if you want to waste your time, but I'll thank you if you stop wasting mine. Now if this interrogation is over, I have more important matters to attend to. Good day! We're too late, once again, despite having time travel. I beg your pardon? We have reason to believe that Noye is planning treason. Treason?! Noye?! He's been difficult to work with, certainly, but... Oh, I hope you're wrong. Noye has top level clearance to everything we're working on here, I don't need to tell you how much damage that could do in the wrong hands. Let me call up his files...      As for you, I'm taking command of the Annorax now. And what, exactly, do you intend to do with it? Your friends will find out. You, however, will die with this station of traitors. Goodbye, Captain T'Kara.  Three bombs, total, on a delay this long? I would feel insulted if he wasn't so inexperienced at terrorism. My head... Thank you, Captain. Why would Noye do such a thing? Maybe there's a clue in his personal logs. Good idea. I'll unlock them.  I tried to tell him about the baby, but he was so stressed out! I just couldn't add to his burden. Hopefully things will calm down a bit soon and I can tell him, that Captain T'Kara seems very capable. On a positive note, my work is progressing quite well. These logs should be temporally shielded against any alterations to the timeline. Noye's... wife? A child? I've never seen that woman before in my life. Have you? Not in this life. Personal log, supplemental. My review of the time capsule files is complete, and what I found shocked me to my core. I had a wife! And she was pregnant. My wife and unborn child were murdered by the meddling of the Federation and their allies. They devastated my people, murdered my family, and erased an entire species from history! I cannot let this stand! This I vow - I will not rest until I have restored my family or avenged their deaths! Time itself will be my weapon! The Annorax project... the Iconians... We said we knew the risks. I do not believe we did. At last I have found them... the Tuterians. Or rather, what they have become. Some of them escaped the treachery of the Federation and the rapacity of the Borg, finding sanctuary in a trans-dimensional void. With the Annorax, I can reach them. I can release them from their prison. I will. For Clauda. Ataraxia to Captain T'Kara. T'Kara here. Is there a reason the Annorax and the Pastak just disappeared into temporal warp? ...We're responsible for this, Elisa. At least in part. Er, what? One to beam up, Ataraxia. Walker or Daniels, I need to talk with these future people.
Cythereal fucked around with this message at 03:02 on Feb 22, 2021 |
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Feb 22, 2021 01:55
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So, for anyone following along who hasn't put the pieces together at the end, don't worry. Next week will be a special update that will, among other things, go over what exactly has been happening. As it is, there's another space combat part after where I ended the mission, I just thought it narratively ended better there. I should also clarify, none of what I'm writing about T'Kara sympathizing with the Na'khul or believing she's in any way responsible for what's happening is from the game itself. The game itself gives you no opportunities to sympathize with the Na'khul or criticize the time cops, and never puts any responsibility on the PC's shoulders beyond ranting genocidal bad guys. I like this story arc, but it's not the first time I've felt like STO's writers weren't aware of the implications of what they were writing.
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Feb 22, 2021 13:15
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Cythereal posted:I like this story arc, but it's not the first time I've felt like STO's writers weren't aware of the implications of what they were writing.
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Feb 22, 2021 14:19
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 First Officer’s log, supplemental So much for steering clear of the big event. We’ve had the signal from the Temporal Observatory, so we’ve broken our holding orbit in the 7th Century and returned to New Khitomer. A T’Kara I’ve never met is flying an Excelsior, of all things. She can’t be that different, though. She’s attracted the attention of every working starship in the area. While she’s busy getting shot at, this ship of fools has a mission of its own.     : Chancellor, welcome aboard the Perpetuity. I’m Scott Malthis, the Executive Officer. I believe you’ve met our Captain, Scott Malthis?   : Leave the poor woman alone, kid. Chancellor, I apologise for the confusion. I’m a Temporal Agent, and some of my missions have resulted in… Unintended consequences.  : Other versions of you? : Technically, they’re all versions of me. I’m from the earliest point in the timeline. : Don’t start this again. Anyhow, our helmsman has joined us from the alternate timeline to which Ambassador Spock travelled during the Hobus supernova event.   : We call it the Kelvin Timeline for short, after the first ship to get caught up in the divergence. Just sit back and relax, Chancellor. We’ll get you to safety. : What about this Malthis? The one with the amazing hair?   : My name is Scott Malthis. After five years marooned in the distant past, I’ve returned to a future I don’t recognise with only one goal: to track down and eliminate the Borg who poisoned my timeline. To do this, I must become someone else. I must become… Something else. : Specifically, our Tactical Officer. : And the only member of this crew to actually need the services of the ship’s barber. : True. Barbershop Malthis is a trusted friend. : You… Your entire crew is made up of temporal duplicates of the same man?  : We perform very sensitive missions, Chancellor. And I learned long ago that the only person I can trust is myself. : …I see. : We’ve entered the ring’s sensor shadow, Captain Malthis sir! : Let’s disappear.    -- Cythereal posted:To: ]scotty2hotty@secure.observatory.temp.zone To: ]highlyillogical@starfleet.active.ataraxia From: ]scotty2hotty@secure.observatory.temp.zone Subject: Re: What did you do? OK, in my defense I expected I'd have six months to come up with a decent reply to this. But I've just flown a timeship through a firefight you got caught up in, which means our timelines have re-synced and I'm officially a bad person for leaving you on read this long. My bad. The short answer to your question? Nothing much, honestly. Yes, I was part of the confrontation back then. No, I had absolutely no idea what I was fighting. I've only recently been able to catch up on your newest mission logs, and from those I think I've finally got the context I was missing. The Na'khul I encountered were trying to kill the Tholians because the Tholians in your time killed the Na'khul star, because the Na'khul in the past tried to kill the Tholians. What you've got, my friend, is a good old fashioned causal loop. The bigger question, of course, is who might stand to gain from engineering such a loop? For that, I suspect you'll need to have a nice long chat with the mad bastard who's commanding the Annorax. Noye was kind of a dick when I last saw him, but it's a long way from being abrasive to going full Time Khan. If you can figure that change out, you might have a chance of actually winning this thing.
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Feb 25, 2021 09:26
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Cythereal posted:So, for anyone following along who hasn't put the pieces together at the end, don't worry. Next week will be a special update that will, among other things, go over what exactly has been happening. As it is, there's another space combat part after where I ended the mission, I just thought it narratively ended better there. STO's writing in general suffers from the general MMO thing where the PC is usually along for the ride while people come up with bad ideas you are sent in to carry out. Does it make sense to sympathize with the Na'kuhl? Sure, I'm not slamming your writing, but when I played through the arc it was very "oh, I never had a chance to stop the Tox Uthat despite my antiproton beams tearing up the enemy ships super fast, welp, guess we do the vaguely guilty thing where we failed the Na'kuhl. Oh, they're all evil? And it's that Temporal Cold War poo poo from Enterprise? Sure, why not." The entire arc makes no sense as to why you're able to do anything, as your ship is at least 300 years out of date and should be completely destroyed in combat against future craft. I know you can get Future Ships from the C-store, but as I recall they all carry the explanation that most of the cool future technology was stripped out and you have to use the same shields and weapons as everyone else. Heck, it was strongly implied in the first JJ Abrams star trek that Nero's ship was so strong because he had future missiles, so I have absolutely no idea how you're supposed to fight any of these future ships and win. It's just a bad idea all around.
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Feb 25, 2021 10:18
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TheGreatEvilKing posted:The entire arc makes no sense as to why you're able to do anything, as your ship is at least 300 years out of date and should be completely destroyed in combat against future craft. I know you can get Future Ships from the C-store, but as I recall they all carry the explanation that most of the cool future technology was stripped out and you have to use the same shields and weapons as everyone else. Heck, it was strongly implied in the first JJ Abrams star trek that Nero's ship was so strong because he had future missiles, so I have absolutely no idea how you're supposed to fight any of these future ships and win. It's just a bad idea all around. Yeah, I've been trying to skate around this issue throughout the arc, and it's another big reason why I'm stopping the LP after Victory is Life - the enemies after that are all 23rd century space orks who got displaced in time, and should have been brushed aside as a trivial nuisance. Instead they have limitless numbers of ships, doomsday weapons, can seize control of Federation fleets by hacking the Starfleet control systems, and take control of the Klingon Empire after J'mpok and the rest of the Empire's leadership come down with a sudden case of plot-demanded stupidity.
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Feb 25, 2021 13:16
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Well, it is theoretically speaking possible for military technology to stagnate or even degrade for a couple of centuries (case in point, Japan from the Imjin war to before the Meiji restoration), possibly on one planet, but I dont see much of a reason for it to stagnate over a galaxy. One could also consider some weird effects consdering actual advances in military equipement. If I some alien tries to slash me with a sword, I would probably prefer to wear plate armor over modern military gear. One could also argue that aliens invading Earth in 1980s would have had a (relatively) harder time than aliens invading now. Like, you could probably allude that a degree of galactic kumbah yah could have resulted in a slow down or even stop of advancing military technology, perhaps in the form of some type of galactic arms reduction agreement, but how in hell would noone actually "cheat"?
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Feb 25, 2021 21:49
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One of the Scotts is a Ferengi?
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Feb 25, 2021 23:20
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On the other hand, 29th-century weapons have been depicted in VOY, and they've generally outclassed anything our heroes have. In "Future's End" a shuttle-size timeship was able to use a "subatomic disruptor" to take down Voyager's shield in a single hit and start disintegrating the ship's hull, though the crew were able to [TECH] the [TECH] to deter it. There was also a "temporal disruptor" bomb which fractured space-time in a localized and phased itself out reality when installed and activated, so the only way to remove was to send someone back in time and prevent it from being installed. These future missions are only in the 28th-century, but still those ships should be tearing us apart like a WWII battleship going up against a Spanish galleon. You can mark me down as someone else that doesn't like this arc. The whole thing is so completely disconnected from everything else going on in the setting, so you end up feeling like you've been dropped into this side story and have to figure out all these factions and conflicts that you've never heard of before and will never interact with again after the arc concludes. Compounding the problem is the fact that it's all built around time travel as a weapon, which raises all sorts of issues over keeping causality straight, keeping your heroes from being the inadvertent villains of the piece, and avoided the narrative-killing question of "well, why don't we just use our time machine to avert the whole conflict in the first place?" The "Future Proof" arc...doesn't really do this.
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Feb 25, 2021 23:41
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If it amuses anyone, I wrote this up for a future update before concluding it would be out of place. Just a little in-LP meta-commentary. To any T'Kara that might be reading this, Begin divination sequence. Metaphor: tarot deck, human standard. Draw three from the major arcana. The Fool. The Star. The Chariot. Discard the top of the deck. The World. Shuffle the deck. Draw three from the major arcana. Justice. The Wheel of Fortune. Temperance. Discard the top of the deck. Death. Shuffle the deck. Draw three from the major arcana. The Hanged Man. The Emperor. The Tower. Discard the top of the deck. The Sun. Shuffle the deck. Draw three from the major arcana. The Devil. The Lovers. The Magician. Discard the top of the deck. The Moon. Shuffle the deck. Draw three from the major arcana. Strength. Death. The Empress. Discard the top of the deck. Judgment. Shuffle the deck. Captain [ERROR: INPUT NOT RECOGNIZED] Commanding Officer, USS Alecto
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Feb 26, 2021 00:01
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Geshtal posted:One of the Scotts is a Ferengi? God drat it. ...and yes, thanks to a transporter accident.
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Feb 26, 2021 05:28
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Promises to Keep You owe me an explanation, T'Kara. What do you mean, we're responsible for this? The Kelvin timeline incursion, when we met the Sphere Builders. They accused us of genocide.quote:
For once I agreed with you. I have no idea what they were talking about. At the time, neither did I. With the benefit of hindsight, however, arguments can be made that the Sphere Builder and I were both right. We were there when it happened, for a given value of 'we.' Um... you're going to need to run that by me again. With help files enabled. The Iconian War. Kyana system. The Krenim temporal weapon. That time traveling Captain Ahab has just hijacked. Before that. When we were hoping we could use the Annorax to end the war with the Iconians before it began.Coq au Nandos posted: Yeah. It didn't work. The weapon failed, Elisa. That's what we reported to the Alliance. That doesn't mean the weapon didn't work. ...You lied to us, Captain. I was ordered to secrecy by Admiral Quinn himself. At the time, I agreed. Your honesty is something I've always admired about you, Captain. Even back at the Academy when you were a senior and I was just a freshman. 'She won't mince words or tolerate fools,' the counselor said when I asked about you to be my senior advisor, 'But you can always count on her to tell you the truth. That's a rare quality, even in a Starfleet officer.' I... am not proud of some of the things I did during the Iconian War, Elisa. This weapon should never have been built. I guess I can accept that, for now. But if we did use the Annorax, and it didn't work as we hoped... what did happen? The truth is, even I don't know for certain. We only have a temporally shielded data core from the Annorax itself, and an automated recording from that fancy powered armor R&D was having us try out at the time. What we've pieced together is that we used the weapon and things panned out very differently from what we expected.quote: Gods... We used the weapon again to try to undo our mistake, but the temporal shielding on the Ataraxia and the Llieset had failed from battle damage by that time, and it was failing on the Annorax, too. One of the changes that occurred in the timeline, a change that is what we in our present know as having always been the case, involved a race called the Tuterians. A minor race from the fringe of the Delta Quadrant, and an ally of the Krenim. Noye's wife Clauda was a Tuterian.quote:
The Sphere Builders are the Tuterians. Our meddling with time damned them to assimilation by the Borg. The survivors who escaped into a dimensional void knew, somehow, or learned afterwards, that it was our use of time travel and temporal weapons that doomed them. ...That explains why the Sphere Builders targeted the early Federation, too. Revenge, and maybe keeping their doom from ever coming to pass. I supported Nog's proposal concerning the Krenim temporal weapon to Starfleet Command. I supported the project every step of the way because I saw no alternative. I volunteered to lead us to escort the Annorax on its mission. Everything the Sphere Builders have done, all the lives they've warped and destroyed, the entire alternate realities they've scoured in their experiments, half the problems faced by the Enterprise NX-01 and most of the formative events of Jonathan Archer's career... is because of me. ... Not all of it, no. I was never the only voice. But would this still have played out as it did without me? Captain, I don't say this often, but... I have no idea what to say. It wasn't just you who did all this. You weren't the only one who lied about it. But, Captain... permission to be dismissed, sir. Granted, Commander. And... I'm sorry. Captain T'Kara. I had a feeling we'd be speaking again. Agent Daniels is currently unavailable. Of course he is. Captain, if you want me to do anything but laugh in guilt, regret, and pain the next time you ask for my help with a temporal incident, answer me one question. Why have your people not stopped the temporal cycle of revenge between the Na'khul and Tholians? The fate of the Na'khul is regrettable, but there are larger matters at stake than the survival of a single species. This should be good. What could be so important? Not what, but who. Your friend Malthis. He's played a vital role in more events than you will ever understand. Not only his own deeds, but the influence he had on Commander Sekah, Captain Nyroh, you, and more. If he wasn't present in the 25th century then however many lives we might save by preventing the Na'khul/Tholian intersect would likely be lost. Sehlat poo poo. You don't know that any more than we knew what would happen with the Annorax. We're much more advanced than the Krenim and their toy. And no more wise. What you're doing is wrong, Walker, and I don't give a drat what 'greater good' you're serving by permitting and condoning what I can only describe as evil. You have the power to stop these things, and you consciously choose not to. As far as I'm concerned, you share responsibility for them happening. A wise man once said that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one. I'm sorry, is a trite proverb you can read on a pregen condolence letter supposed to be meaningful, or give you power over me? It seemed more appropriate than quoting Kahless. He, too, was nothing but a man. The ends we achieve are shaped by the means we use to achieve them. If you knowingly commit evil in the name of good, then you cannot do good at all. Your naivete would burn the galaxy to ashes if you were making the decisions we face every day. Then perhaps burning to ashes is what this galaxy deserves. You labor under the misapprehension that I believe life has any innate value. How did you pass your Starfleet conduct and ethics classes at the Academy? With distinction. ...To think you're one of the easiest versions of you to deal with.
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Feb 28, 2021 14:28
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I concur. I have had enough of your meddling.
Setting the final charge!
In this timeline, they failed.
Temporal shield failure imminent!
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That is some very well written dialogue, but I can’t tell if T’Kara has overlooked or is deliberately ignoring that she’s chastising him for essentially not saving everyone from themselves. She’s not totally wrong, but I think her criticism would carry more weight if Daniels and future Starfleet was responsible for the time shenanigans rather than ‘present’ actors. Unless the fact that she is in part projecting was the whole point that went over my head, in which case never mind.
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Feb 28, 2021 17:23
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Geshtal posted:That is some very well written dialogue, but I can’t tell if T’Kara has overlooked or is deliberately ignoring that she’s chastising him for essentially not saving everyone from themselves. She’s not totally wrong, but I think her criticism would carry more weight if Daniels and future Starfleet was responsible for the time shenanigans rather than ‘present’ actors. T'Kara has different priorities and values than the time fleet guys. While she absolutely is overreacting out of a feeling of guilt over, as she sees it, her being responsible for the existence of the Sphere Builders and Noye's treason, she's taking the view that the Na'khul/Tholian conflict is only possible because of temporal interference in the first place. This is not a view that Walker and the rest of the time fleet agrees with. In my opinion as the writer, T'Kara's not meant to be entirely right, and not entirely wrong. More fundamentally I'm writing her with the view that choosing to not act when you have the ability to save someone is immoral, and that the ends do not justify the means. You can argue all you want about whether those positions are correct (Siegkrow did just that in the discord), but that's how I interpret Fed-T'Kara especially. Regular T'Kara would be more phlegmatic about the subject.
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Feb 28, 2021 17:30
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Toot Toot, the USS Trolley Problem is dropping out of warp and is on a collision course to a pre-warp civilization(s)! Oh no, the helm is locked!
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Feb 28, 2021 17:54
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And that's what makes her so fascinating to read. What I've taken away from your writing of regular T'Kara is a cynic who is still nonetheless deeply disappointed when she is proven right in her cynicism. I can only imagine that Fed-T'Kara is only more so after making a career of upholding what she sees as Starfleet values rather than sniping at them as an outsider. I pointed out her flawed(?) logic because I wonder if Fed-T'Kara is on the cusp of an existential moral crisis. "Easiest version to deal with" indeed; it's always the quiet ones.
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Feb 28, 2021 17:56
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kw0134 posted:Toot Toot, the USS Trolley Problem is dropping out of warp and is on a collision course to a pre-warp civilization(s)! Oh no, the helm is locked! This was present in an earlier draft before I decided it didn't fit.  quote:
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Feb 28, 2021 18:04
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Nice job keeping up the low-key anti-tholian racism. 'The time war between the Tholians and Na'khul is a bad thing' 'Yes, it is too bad about the Na'khul, isn't it?'
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Feb 28, 2021 19:08
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The game hating Tholians is really weird to me when Sisko was constantly chilling with the "Tholian Ambassador" offscreen on DS9. I do like the idea that there are consequences from loving around with time casually in the Iconian War, but you're not getting anything interesting out of the Na'kuhl because the Temporal Cold War was a loving stupid idea when it was introduced in Enterprise and it's a stupid idea now.
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Feb 28, 2021 19:47
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I should probably note that the game itself never reminds you that this mess with the Sphere Builders and Noye is kind of your fault. T'Kara, however, is having a massive guilt attack even though it's at least not entirely her fault. As for the Tholians, STO in general draws on their appearances in Enterprise where they were very antagonistic more than their later mentions where they were seemingly more relaxed. I think it's kind of unfair, as the mentions you get of how the Tholians work in this game are often interesting, but STO has never seemed much interested in exploring that. Geshtal posted:And that's what makes her so fascinating to read. What I've taken away from your writing of regular T'Kara is a cynic who is still nonetheless deeply disappointed when she is proven right in her cynicism. I can only imagine that Fed-T'Kara is only more so after making a career of upholding what she sees as Starfleet values rather than sniping at them as an outsider. I pointed out her flawed(?) logic because I wonder if Fed-T'Kara is on the cusp of an existential moral crisis. "Easiest version to deal with" indeed; it's always the quiet ones. In my mind, one of the biggest differences between regular T'Kara and Fed T'Kara is that Fed T'Kara has, and has had, a much stronger support network helping her throughout her career. I think the Klingons do not have what we would consider a good approach to mental health, and as long as T'Kara keeps winning her battles no one's going to look closely or particularly ask what she's fighting for or why. Neither one of them would be happy to be caught up in this story arc, given how I interpret this story as a morally murky affair with an emphasis on actions having unintended consequences. One other note about this update, most chapter titles I make are references to songs or things I just thought sounded cool, but this one is a reference to one of my favorite poems, and one I think that speaks to how weary T'Kara (of both stripes) is getting. Robert Frost posted:Whose woods these are I think I know.
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Mar 1, 2021 01:45
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Tunicate posted:Nice job keeping up the low-key anti-tholian racism. We know what the Na'khul have lost in the war. Have the Tholians been harmed at all? They seem to be crusading, where the Na'khul were fighting for their existence.
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Mar 1, 2021 06:43
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Lemniscate Blue posted:We know what the Na'khul have lost in the war. Have the Tholians been harmed at all? They seem to be crusading, where the Na'khul were fighting for their existence. We saw in Malthis' past that the Na'Khul attacked a Tholian colony fleet, killing millions. Hunter Noventa fucked around with this message at 14:48 on Mar 1, 2021 |
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Mar 1, 2021 12:56
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Hunter Noventa posted:We saw in Malths' past that the Na'Khul attacked a Tholian colony fleet, killing millions. Ah, I had forgotten that. Thank you.
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Mar 1, 2021 13:59
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I can understand T'Kara being more concerned with the Na'khul, a species that she's had more direct interaction with and the event she probably blames herself for rather than the Tholians, a species she's only ever really fought and didn't personally experience events on their side of the war.
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Mar 2, 2021 14:48
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Commander Keene posted:I can understand T'Kara being more concerned with the Na'khul, a species that she's had more direct interaction with and the event she probably blames herself for rather than the Tholians, a species she's only ever really fought and didn't personally experience events on their side of the war. that was walker tho
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Mar 2, 2021 22:30
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T'Kara does care a lot more about the Na'khul than the Tholians, she just saw their star die and their civilization set on course for near-extinction and turning into the time-traveling space Nazis from Enterprise because of interference from time travelers, and those same time travelers brought her there on the false promise that she could save the Na'khul when they always knew she would fail. She's also feeling an incredible sense of guilt about the Sphere Builders. She was never at any point the primary decision maker for the series of decisions and efforts that lead to the Tuterians' assimilation and transformation into the Builders, but she was around for all of it and never tried to stop any of it. She's probably being unfair for blaming herself for what happened here, but unintended consequences are a motherfucker. It's what T'Kara sees as callously playing God with time, deciding what civilizations deserve to survive and which deserve to perish or fall into darkness, that has her so upset. She thinks that if you use evil means to accomplish a nominally noble goal, then even if you succeed that result will be tainted by the means you used to achieve it. There is no such thing, in her eyes, as 'I did what I had to do' or 'Some sacrifices must be made.' There is only doing what is right and doing what is wrong. Why were the Lukari and Malthis and the Kelvin timeline worth traveling through time to save, but the Na'khul and the Tholians and the Sphere Builders not? Cythereal fucked around with this message at 23:08 on Mar 2, 2021 |
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Mar 2, 2021 22:47
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It's worth noting that this arc was made while Cryptic was doing a lot of Lore blogs to tease upcoming events and fill in gaps in the story. Some of them fill in Walker's perspective, others the Na'kuhl. Some even show how the 25th century Federation is trying to deal with their contemporary Na'kuhl.
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Mar 3, 2021 00:27
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Also, I'm not quite done discussing the Na'khul in-setting.  There was a part in the first draft of this where T'Kara asked what the Federation of the present was or was not doing for them, but I concluded that it would work better as part of the next update.There's just three more missions in the whole temporal arc.
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Mar 3, 2021 01:15
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A Long Fall I've been reviewing the reports from Temporal Investigations. They speak highly of your ability and integrity. They are less effusive concerning your people skills. You know I have no patience for temporal concerns, admiral. I didn't say their review was unexpected. May I ask what is being done for the Na'khul in our present, then, since the Starfleet of the future has refused to save their star? Captain T'Kara, there's a very good reason why I've detailed you to assist Temporal Investigations in this crisis. You would not have been my first choice for these assignments for precisely the reasons you have explained at length and volume to Temporal Investigations. That reason being...? Analysts are still trying to determine the galaxy's losses during the Iconian War. Conservative estimates put the death toll across the galaxy since the Herald Sphere first appeared at Iconia at approximately ten billion people. Less optimistic projections estimate multiple times that number. There was fighting against Herald ground forces on the streets of Qo'noS, New Romulus, and Vulcan. Hundreds of starships from almost every known interstellar power were destroyed. The Republic Navy's combat losses approach eighty percent. Eighty percent, T'Kara. Starfleet and the Klingon Defense Force are both in excess of sixty percent. Better than every other man, woman, and other sapient being in Starfleet at the time the Herald Sphere arrived is now dead. I... did not realize our losses were that severe, admiral. Combat losses from the Borg Cooperative, Benthan Navy, Kazon clans, Kobali Defense Corps, Cardassian Union Armed Forces, Ferengi Alliance Liquidators' Union, Tholian Assembly External Intervention Force, and others are almost as bad. Captain T'Kara, almost every starship in the galaxy is occupied with disaster relief, refugee resettlement, and similar missions. You and the Ataraxia are one of the very few ships I've chosen to hold in reserve for special operations. I see. The Na'khul are casualties of Starfleet's triage. Correct. To be blunt, the Na'khul barely rate as a local power in their sector and closest affiliation they have with a major power is a few treaties with the Klingons. What happened to them is a tragedy, and they do deserve our help. But right now, with the galaxy in ruins from the Iconians, there is no help to send. I see. My apologies for my presumption, admiral. Your instincts are sound, captain. Under normal circumstances I would applaud them. As for the Annorax and the Tuterians, there will not be action taken against you or a mark entered on your record. I remember what President Okeg and I authorized you to do at Iconia. It is not for any man or woman to understand perfectly the consequences of the actions they take before they are made. For now, I have another mission for you. Understood, sir. The Ataraxia is ready. Interesting choice of New Romulus for the first summit meeting of the Khitomer Alliance since the end of the Iconian War. Earth's orbital lanes are at capacity between debris clearance and refugee movements. Shi'kahr on Vulcan suffered repeated orbital fire from Herald warships. The Stellar Council building used for these affairs was destroyed. And half of the First City on Qo'noS is rubble from the ground war. So Proconsul D'Tan offered New Romulus as a site for the summit. The Republic's governmental buildings escaped any harm during the attacks on the planet. What I don't understand is why we've been invited. The flagship captains and high admirals, sure. But us? Temporal Investigations warned Quinn that with the recent pattern of temporal incursions the summit would likely attract another. I want everyone armed, and Elisa, keep the Ataraxia on standby. Security here is tight, but against technology from the future, I have my doubts. I gave up on predicting what would happen on this side of the galaxy months ago. You mammals are insane. In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king. A Cardassian proverb? Human. The Cardassian version ends with, adjusting for a different metaphor, 'and then is murdered by the blind because he was foolish enough to not hide his advantage from them.'  Greetings Captain! It's an honor to finally meet you! Welcome to New Romulus, and the first Alliance Summit. The opening ceremonies will begin soon; until then, please wait in the entrance hall. Thank you, Commander.  Captain T'Kara. I hear you've been busy since the end of the Iconian War. I would prefer to have been helping with war relief. Don't be so sure. The Enterprise has been keeping a lid on the Iconian Demilitarized Zone. A lot of people want revenge. Quite. I don't expect any of us will live to see the day that we can disestablish the Iconian DMZ in favor of a peaceful border. The Quinn symbiont, maybe. Maybe. Nevertheless, the threat assessment board for the future is more clear than it has been in decades. For now, even the Borg seem content to bide their time. Good news. Have you recovered from the incident, Admiral? Insofar as recovery is possible, Captain. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations. An admirable ideal that is rather different to live. I cannot name a single flag officer in the fleet who has never faced a version of themselves from an alternate timeline, T'Nae. Don't remind me. The first non-human to command an Enterprise since Starfleet began, why does that have to make me so interesting to godlike beings... Somehow I have yet to face that particular scenario. No, you've just had time travelers ranting about this not being the correct version of you. Yes, I take your mission logs at face value. That's life in Starfleet. (Meet President Okeg! Often mentioned in the game, but this mission was his first ever appearance in the game! Also, please ignore the rank)   Captain T'Kara of Shi'kahr. Your presence here means Admiral Quinn expects trouble. I believe Admiral Quinn always expects trouble, Chancellor. Recent galactic history has been conducive to developing such a mentality. The galaxy always seems to swing back and forth between war and peace. For now we are at peace, but I do not expect that to last for long. With respect, Chancellor, are you looking for another war with the Empire in the state that it is? Mark my words, this peace is as treacherous and will take as much sacrifice as any war.  Jolan tru, Captain T'Kara. Thank you for finally putting the former empress in the past. Starfleet tells me that she has made no escape attempts and there have been no outside attempts to contact her. Proconsul D'Tan. How is the Republic doing? We had less to lose than the Federation and the Klingons. Although almost every world of the former Star Empire has now joined us, I doubt that the Republic will ever regain the heights that our people once achieved. Do you even want to achieve what the Star Empire did? I want my people to be safe and free. All else is secondary. It has been a long time since you last visited Defera, Captain. Thank you for bringing Balance to the Iconians. Quite the gathering today. I wonder if in all this hubbub of galactic powers the Cardassian Union will be remembered. Councilor Garak, correct? Your people were with us at Earth. They will be remembered. Ah, but will you? I thought Commodore Nyroh would have been the one to save us from the Iconians. Perhaps Commander Sekah or Captain Malthis. You, on the other hand, were a surprise. I enjoy surprises. Forget it, Garak, she's Vulcan. Grand Nagus Rom, of the Ferengi Alliance. It is an honor. I met your son during the war, I believe. A good man, if perhaps too clever for his own good. He always has been. Don't tell him I said that. Rom, Nog knows that you love him. Captain T'Kara, I am Kai Kira Nerys of Bajor. I never was one for Rule of Acquisition #111.    We stand at a crossroads. Once again, our nations stand together as one. Once again, we have been brought to this point by an outside threat. Once again, the galaxy lies in ruins because of an enemy we all sacrificed much to stop. Time and again, we win these wars only to lose the peace that comes afterwards. I say enough. I say that we owe it to the galaxy, and to ourselves, to not repeat this tragedy anew. None of our hands are clean, from the Iconian War or any of the wars that preceded the Herald Sphere, and not every sacrifice we have made can be measured in blood. I do not propose to revisit the sins of the past today. The future is what concerns us here, today. (Captain Kargan drops his drink - if you're a Klingon you talk with the whole Klingon ensemble at the start, as do Romulan PCs with their cast)        (she dives in front of Okeg)     Ataraxia to Captain. What's going on down there? Everyone's going crazy. Exactly what I expected to happen, Commander.  Captain T'Kara? In pursuit. Away team to me.   (Your character shoves her down into a chair...)   You! You should stay out of the affairs of your betters, T'Kara of Shi'kahr. I recognize you from Galorndon Core. I thought you died when I disabled your Doomsday Machine. So much for my 'betters.' Tell me, is Galorndon Core habitable yet? Galorndon Core was not your objective. You've failed the Envoy again. I do not answer to him. He is only a means to justice for my people. Ask the Xindi how well trusting a mysterious man from the future who wants them to destroy the Federation works. Justice is worth the risk. What would you do if Vulcan was destroyed by an enemy from beyond time? I do not deal in hypotheticals, but I see this conversation is going nowhere.(This conversation is actually quite different, but it assumes you have not in fact been paying attention to this story arc and assumes you need to be reminded who the Na'khul are and what they're doing. In a cute touch, each class gets a unique dialogue option during the interrogation dialogue puzzle to figure out part of what happened - tactical officers deduce that she was a lone operative, engineers figure out that she was using a holographic disguise to get inside, and science officers analyze her chronitons to determine she's from the 29th century)   We detected a temporal incursion on this day in history, but couldn't tell who was responsible. Captain Walker, meet Specialist Krog. She just failed to assassinate President Okeg. That would have been quite the mess had she succeeded. She might have undone the Khitomer Alliance, if not doomed the Federation over the next century or two.  Um... is this the time travel war the Republic's been hearing about? Welcome to my world, commander. I have an idea that should tell us a lot more about what the Na'khul and Envoy are planning, but you're not going to like this, Captain. Enthrall me. I think I'll be happier if I just take this woman into custody. Good hunting, wherever and whenever you're going. So this is where the assassin went back in time from. Na'khul, in the 29th century. I'm going to assume this all makes sense to someone. Would it do any good to protest that we should be fatally outgunned by ships from four hundred years in our future? Did it ever any of the previous times we've been through this? Don't think about it so hard. Interesting. The Na'khul star is reading as a brown dwarf. The files Temporal Investigations sent said it should be a black hole from the Tox Uthat. We did cut it off mid-use. Or maybe the Tholians didn't know how to use it right. Anyone have a read on that space station? Heavily shielded, and massive power sources. Ships and stations of our era use microsopic white holes for power. Clean, limitless energy even more efficient than lossless matter/antimatter reactions. What's interesting is that the Na'khul aren't supposed to be here at all. The Na'khul Diaspora scattered them to the winds until they found a new, unclaimed world with an iridium-based biosphere deep in the Gamma Quadrant. This is the second of the Envoy's pawns with a presence in the Gamma Quadrant. Neither you nor Daniels have talked about the Dominion, even if they were at the signing of the Accords. The Dominion as you know it rarely survives the 25th century in a recognizable form, Captain. In most stable timelines, the majority of the 25th century is a golden age of exploration for the Khitomer Alliance as they chart the Gamma and Delta Quadrants and finish mapping the Milky Way. That's just a taste of the future the Envoy wants to deny you all, Captain. Detecting Na'khul ships on intercept course. Their shields are up and they're locking weapons. Red alert.   Captain, the Na'khul are hailing. Captain T'Kara of the USS Ataraxia. You should have stayed in your own time. Says a commander in an armada of time-traveling terrorists.   Walker to T'Kara. The good news is, our ewar suite has breached their computer systems and is datamining their systems. And the bad news? There's an armada dropping out of warp right on top of us and the station is activating what I think is a massive temporal gateway. Trust me on this one, you want to get out of the way.    Well, poo poo. Most of the armada is through, I think we can take the stragglers if you can destroy the station. Focus on the portal, that should set off a chain reaction. Ataraxia acknowledges. Let's get to it.  What are those ships? Nothing like them in the system. I called in a retroactive favor on your behalf, Captain. Should I be worried? I know I am.      Ataraxia to Pastak. Station destroyed. And we've mopped up the stragglers. There's no telling how much damage they'll have done from here, but we've stopped more incursions from this system. Even for this time, a station like that was a tremendous investment of resources. I can only assume that this is not the end of these temporal incursions. I wouldn't take that bet, but I think you've done enough for today. You need to get back to New Romulus, Captain, there are things you and your officers still need to do there. Should we go armed? Not this time. You'd be surprised how much sacrifice peace requires, but according to our sensors all the rest of the day is going to ask from you all is your patience for ceremonies and speeches. A burden we willingly shoulder in the name of duty, Captain Walker. So that's what it sounds like when a Vulcan's eyes are rolling out of their sockets. Until next winter, Captain.
Cythereal fucked around with this message at 04:36 on Mar 8, 2021 |
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Mar 8, 2021 03:09
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To clarify, since it came up in the discord: yes, there's a second ground part where you board a Na'khul ship that I cut out. You fight a few waves of Na'khul while Walker assures you that the Na'khul are being naughty, fight a boss who runs away at the end and Walker tells you that actually Captain Archer killed him back in ENT, and the ship blows up afterwards. No, the Tellarite security officer who dies in this mission has never been mentioned before and will never be mentioned again. Just a short, boring filler mission where the writing in the actual mission seems to assume that you haven't been paying any attention to the story and need to be reminded about everything.
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Mar 8, 2021 14:47
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I sort of appreciate it because time traveling results in my brain turning off and going "wat". Especially since I've not watched any of the temporal cold war from Enterprise and have no real reaction to the Na'khul one way or the other.
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Mar 8, 2021 15:10
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Cythereal posted:No, the Tellarite security officer who dies in this mission has never been mentioned before and will never be mentioned again. An inspiration to all sacrificial red-shirts.
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Mar 8, 2021 20:20
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Taerkar posted:An inspiration to all sacrificial red-shirts. Don't inspirations have to be remembered?
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Mar 9, 2021 02:33
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