Star Trek Online: Pendragon

 Da'mi'en D'arko sat in the cramped office module of the Maelstrom rereading his report to Starfleet Command explaining the loss of his ship after a mere month of deployment. It seemed like an impossible set of circumstances which brought it on. He took an absent-minded sip of raktajino.  It had been a mere two hours since he was briefly blinded by the flash of the Pendragon's erupting warp core, taking the ship into oblivion. He had managed, though improvisational thinking, to save most of the crew. Of the nearly 500 still on board at the time of the explosion, only four hadn't made it to safety. D'arko supposed it was as much as any captain could have hoped for in such circumstances. Still, it was too many losses. For such a short mission, to have lost not just eighteen crew members, but even the ship, herself, was... The door chimed. "Come" D'arko said to the air. Torgas entered the small office, helping itself to the single extra chair next to ...

 "Computer, cancel destruct." D'arko commanded to the ship. "Unable to comply." "Cancel Reichenbach protocols!" Moriarty's voice came from the computer once more, "No, Captain. you were warned." "Grozit! D'arko to Engineering! Can you shut this down?" "I'm trying Captain, but the controls are locked out pretty tight, "Crad's voice was desperate, though determined. "Keep on it, Chief. D'arko to Torgas! Do you have any patients who can't walk away right now?" "GC Townshend and Falow are still unconscious, but stable." was the Doctor's report. "Prepare to emergency transport your patients and yourself to Maelstrom. Attention, all hands, Senior officers to emergency stations, all other hands... abandon ship." The pounding of D'arko's heart, he was sure, was audible over the ship wide. The bridge crew, to their credit, maintained professionalism, even in the face...

 The conference room, at the insistence of Sorak, had been secured. Only Moriarty, D'arko, Klortho and Starr had been permitted in, the latter three at the requirement of the Captain. It was, after all, his ship, though that seemed, at the moment, to be a tenuous claim at best. Sorak's delegation would beam directly to the conference room. It was an unusual request, if, indeed, it could be called a request, but these were unusual times. At the appointed time, three transporter beams coalesced around the table and a Vulcan male, am Andorian female and what was, apparently, a Breen materialized. They all wore nondescript black uniforms devoid of any rank or division insignia. The Andorian female eyed D'arko with unconcealed suspicion. "Professor Moriarty. Captain D'arko. I am Sorak, Captain of the Nebula. This is my first officer, Tarah Low," the Vulcan said, indicating the Andorian. I understand you are having a little bit of a... difficulty here. We've com...

 Captain D'arko stood before the usurper at his ready room desk. The holographic sociopath examined the mobile holo-emitter as jeweller would inspect a diamond, carefully turning it in his ersatz hands. "Remarkable, my dear Captain, that such a small trinket could finally provide me freedom." The playful smile on Moriarty's face kept D'arko on edge.  "Well... Professor... it won't be complete freedom, but you'll be able to leave the ship. The emitter will need to be recharged about once every day or two for about twelve hours. You can use that time to... well, I suppose, sleep. Of course, if you expend the charge entirely, you'll cease to exists... a more peaceful way to go than you offered my pilots." "Which is, you think, better than I deserve, "Moriarty chuckled. "Perhaps you're right, Captain. Perhaps I am the devil you perceive me to be. Perhaps I am the embodiment of pure evil. Or, perhaps, like the original devil, th...

 While Lieutenant Song piloted Maelstrom back toward Pendragon's location, D'arko and Omehrtiis were in the rear cabin. It had taken some time, but her crying had finally subsided enough for them to talk. "I... can't really explain it, Da'mi'en. It was you, but... it wasn't you. You... HE... was just brutal. In all my life, I've rarely seen anything like it. Even the most violent, Sadistic, or barbaric bastards I've encountered have some purpose to their brutality, twisted as it may be, but this was..." She trailed off, her breath hitching again. "It's okay," D'arko tried to soothe her. "That was probably some alternate timeline. You said it yourself; it wasn't me." "No, Da'mi'en. It wasn't an alternate timeline. I'd have sensed that. No, this was REAL. It was happening while I watched. It wasn't a dream, it wasn't some vision of the future. That... version of you... was torturing tha...

 As the runabout hurtled through space toward the wormhole to the Alpha Quadrant, Alinn Song couldn't help but brush the surface thoughts in her Captain's mind. He didn't so much have a "plan" in the traditional sense of the word, but he did have the formation of an idea, though it was an idea that made little to no sense to the young Betazoid. She was, of course, familiar with the records of the wormhole aliens. The Bajorans called them "Prophets" and worshipped them as gods. Song didn't. of course, but she wouldn't discount the existence of gods, in general. One thing she did come to believe in, quite recently, in fact, was the devil. She couldn't understand why she was able to hear Moriarty's thoughts. He was an artificial life form, and that's only if one wanted to be generous in one's description. There was no organic component to his mind, yet, the moment before the Pendragon opened fire on her own wing of Kestrels, the shee...

 Lieutenant Starr had her phaser aimed squarely at Moriarty's torso, her arm unmoving, awaiting the order to fire. "I would strongly recommend you lower your weapon, Madam," the impossible Englishman said in an even tone," I am, after all, merely a hologram and am only solid if I so choose. Your... phaser... would do far more damage to this ship than to me, I assure you." "Captain?" Starr gave the impression she was still asking for permission to atomize the intruder. "Stand down, Mr. Starr," D'arko said, matching the calm intonations of his opponent, "I don't want to lose any more crew today if I can avoid it." "A wise decision, Captain," Moriarty smiled like a cat, "I believe we can rather easily avoid any more bloodshed and handle this like gentlemen." D'arko's antennae pointed forward as his eyes narrowed. "Gentlemen, Professor, do not murder over a dozen people just to get attention. Mak...

 Once again at the conference room table, D'arko sat forward, his fingers steepled, his antennae almost mirroring, he took a deep breath. "Mr. T'Upok, what have you found?" T'Upok, stood and approached the wall viewer, an image of the Galaxy-Class U.S.S. Enterprise appeared. "The Enterprise, NCC-1701D was destroyed at Veridian III in 2371. The saucer section was, at least partially saved due to an emergency separation and a... landing... on the planet's surface. Most of the systems were destroyed, those that survived were recycled into other ships... "One such system, "the image changed to show a black cube with a dozen bio-neural leads attached, "was this data-node. It was registered as an experimental data interface and was installed here on Pendragon during her last refit. History of this device was, as it turns out, incomplete due to damage of the Enterprise ship's logs from the crash." The image changed again, this time displa...

 Admiral Jellico's face was a firm expression of disapproval. "Captain," the older officer spoke, his voice, somehow, holding an audible quality of his superior rank, "the Federation's have been tenuous since their first contact with us decades ago. Do I need to remind you of their level of esteem within the regions formerly held by the Dominion?" "No, Admiral, I..."  Jellico cut him off, "Games, for some reason, play a major role in their culture, Captain, and having them aligned with the Federation would be exceeding helpful in our continued exploration of the Gamma Quadrant, "His tone softened slightly," This malfunction you experienced is a bit troubling, but, you say your engineering staff has cleared the holo systems of any actual errors? " D'arko's antennae bent forward. "Yes, Admiral. Chief Crad tells me the system is functioning as designed. No errors, flaws or breaks." "Good. That being the case,...

 I wasn't really sure how to go about handling this. The recent passing of Nichelle Nichols, obviously, is deeply saddening to people, like me, who love Star Trek.She was a large part of a show that meant a tremendous amount to all of us. I don't want to downplay that simple fact, but there was so much more about her. I must preface this with the following: I'm a Gen X white man. I have never lacked representation in media in any way. I'm fortunate there. I can never truly know the impact Ms. Nichols had for women, specifically women of colour by portraying Uhura, a respected officer on the bridge of a future ship; a symbol of what society SHOULD be.  Beyond Star Trek, her work with NASA and to further equality can't be over-stated. What she meant to the world is far more than most realize. With her passing, I felt the need to interrupt the flow of my story for this. To say a simple "thank you" to a woman who meant so much to so many. Now she is among the ...

 The light, high-pitched hum of the dermal regenerator snapped off as Dr. Torgas released the control stud. Captain D'arko rolled his arm at the shoulder, testing the doctor's work. Small twinges of pain and numbness alternated with the movement. "I recommend resting it for a while, Captain. You'll have some tingling for a day or two, but function will be normal." "Thank you,. Doctor," D'arko said. "I do want you to check in with me immediately if you find yourself with any sudden cravings for brains," Dr. Torgas laughed. Da'mi'en's antennae lowered as he glowered at the doctor. Under normal circumstances, He'd likely have found this as amusing as it did, but the situation made no sense. Holodecks had so many safety protocols, one should never be injured unless those protocols were shut off by a senior officer. Even if that had been the case, once a program was frozen, there should be no possible way for it to become reactiv...