been watching the new fallout show.

The Golden Age of Hollywood. Veronica Lake and The Gorn on the set of Thunder Highway.

we carry through the fears | la'an & una pre-series

After the Gorn, La'an is found. whumptober prompt no. 6: “Do or die, you’ll never make me; Because the world will never take my heart.” | made to watch | “It should have been me.” also on ao3!

It’s sudden; one minute she’s staring at the blank metal wall of her tiny prison, the next she’s materializing in a foreign room surrounded by strangers.

La’an stands there, straight-backed and frozen still.

Then the man closest to her stretches his hand out as if to touch her, and her mind goes blank. Pain blooms at her back as she smashes into something hard. A ringing starts in her ears and she covers them, desperate to make it stop.

Awareness is crucial.

She doesn’t know where she is or what’s happened, and her mind is screaming at her that this must be another trick –

Past the hands covering her ears, La’an begins to hear singing.

Her vision focuses again, and she realizes she’s backed herself into the corner of the room, folded into herself as small as possible. There’s a young human woman crouched in front of her, several feet away, and her mouth is moving.

It’s only the two of them in the transporter room, now.

Cautiously, La’an lifts the pressure off her ears, letting the music in.

“On a wide open road, Golden helmets are singing,” the woman sings, a kind smile brightening her eyes.

“They mounted their horses, They leaped, The sound of their riding boots Could be heard far away…”

La’an uncurls a little, letting her feet slide out from under her along the floor.

“On a wide open road, golden helmets are singing…”

The young woman hums a few more soft notes then falls silent.

“Hi,” she whispers after a moment. “My name is Una. Can you tell me yours?”

La’an swallows, lips pressed into a thin line. She wrenches her eyes away from the woman’s - Una’s - face and glances all around the room, taking everything in. She must be on a starship - a fairly large one judging from the size of the transporter bay.

Bigger than the Puget Sound, anyway.

La’an’s breath hitches, the screams echoing in her ears. “Manu,” she whimpers. “Manu…”

“Manu,” Una repeats. “Okay, good job. I’m not going to hurt you, Manu.” She reaches out a cautious hand, palm up. “Do you think you could let me take you to sickbay? I just want to make sure you’re not hurt.”

La’an doesn’t correct her; she can’t make her lips move to do it. But she grits her teeth, braces herself.

With a deep breath, she takes Una’s hand.

-------

After her cuts and scrapes are healed (and she’s given some clothes that aren’t stained with blood), she follows Una silently to the mess hall. La’an hasn’t let go of her hand since the transporter room, and she wonders if Una’s fingers are as numb as hers.

But she can’t bring herself to let go.

The USS Martin Luther King Jr isn’t like the colony ship. The officers they pass stare at her, intrigued. There are no families on board, no children, and La’an gets the feeling this is the most interesting thing they’ve encountered in a while. She tucks herself close into Una’s side and tries to ignore it.

When they get to the mess hall there are only a few other people scattered throughout the room, and La’an is thankful.

“What would you like?” Una asks, leading her over to the replicators. “We can make pretty much anything here.”

La’an immediately thinks of the jiaozi her mother would make for her, and her breath quickens.

“It’s okay!” Una says quickly, giving La’an’s hand a squeeze.  “You don’t have to choose. How about some oatmeal? That’ll be easy on your stomach.”

La’an nods.

Una smiles in relief.

They find a table at the back of the room, away from everyone else, and La’an takes the seat by the wall so she can see the door. Una slides her chair close enough that their shoulders and thighs are touching, and it gives her the courage to slowly, slowly release Una’s hand.

Una doesn’t ask La’an questions, just chatters on about the ship and its crew and the space station they’re heading toward. She doesn’t make a fuss when La’an can only finish half the bowl of oatmeal. She doesn’t complain when La’an takes her hand again and holds on like her life depends on it.

“Manu is - he was my brother,” La’an whispers, staring at the table without seeing. “I’m La’an. La’an Noonien-Singh.”

Una’s face pinches with sadness, but her lips quirk up encouragingly. “Nice to meet you, La’an Noonien-Singh.”

-------

The first officer finds them and informs them that La’an will stay in sickbay for the remainder of the journey as there will always be someone there to supervise her.

Una’s expression hardens though her tone is perfectly respectful when she says, “That’s alright, La’an can room with me until we get to the station.” She looks down at La’an. “If that’s okay with you?”

La’an nods quickly, so grateful she feels her throat begin to burn. She blinks hard, viciously smothering any tears.

-------

As an ensign, Una’s quarters are tiny. But she doesn’t have any roommates and La’an breathes a sigh of relief.

“You can take the bunk,” Una tells her brightly. “My back’s been hurting anyway, I could use a night on the floor.”

La’an looks at her doubtfully, but Una’s already rolling out a sleeping bag next to the bed.

“Sweet dreams, La’an,” Una murmurs after they’re both settled. “Get some rest.”

La’an shut her eyes tight, her family’s faces bursting into her mind.

I haven’t earned it, she thinks, I haven’t earned it.

-------

She wakes screaming.

She doesn’t remember the dream, only the tearing and the blood and the screams. The begging.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” says a soft voice, and suddenly Una is next to her on the bed. She reaches out tentatively, as though she isn’t certain if she should touch.

La’an throws herself into Una’s arms, clinging desperately to her nightshirt. The tears finally spill down her cheeks and she’s sobbing so hard she can’t get any words out.

“It’s okay,” Una tells her, stroking her hair. “You’re safe now, you’re safe. I won’t let anything else hurt you, I promise.

She tightens her arms around La’an’s shaking body.

“I promise.”

idk, we Could look at the plot with La’an and alt!Kirk as the blatantly stated exploration of whom La’an would be without being part of a legacy that includes mass murder and genocide, horror and pain. We could examine her character to try and see where the trauma from the Noonien-Singh legacy meets and ends with the trauma of her past with the gorn, because they both exist her history but it’s not immediately clear where the line is. La’an without a legacy shadowing her was still La’an, but she was more open and forward and relished the chance to be somebody who doesn’t have to explain herself just because of her name, because of what somebody else did in her past, indicating that it’s not necessarily the death of loved ones that is closing her off to other people but rather more related to her name. 

We could take it as the exploration of Kirk as a character and how he relates to his brother and father in the prime universe in context with how he gave his life to make a universe where Sam lives still (among other things), showing that for all he has golden child syndrome in prime!universe that he truly and genuinely Loves his brother enough to die for him, just as La’an’s brother loved her enough to die for her. 

The plot with La’an and Kirk in the past, and the fact that La’an bonded with him so quickly and outright admitted to him that the reason for this was that he did not live in a timeline where he even knew her name, let alone judged her for it, says Oodles about her as a person and her relationship to her lineage in a very deft way that could not have been done with any of the characters we see every week. We Know Kirk’s a flirt, and at the time he was a flirt who was expecting to cease to exist in a few mere hours time, it’s really not surprising he took a chance with the beautiful and frustrating woman he’s found himself with. 

That La’an participated in that kiss, which wasn’t even a big old make out session, it was a reasonably chaste kiss for an on the lips thing, actually tells us things about her and her willingness to engage without the chains of a legacy. That she then went on to call him her friend Afterwards while in distress at losing him tells us that, yes, she thought of him as a friend from this and that losing him and what he gave her (freedom) has hurt her deeply. 

That she went home, checked the timeline was fixed, and that seeing him made her cry, the intermingling of her grief at losing Jim her friend and all that he offered her in his ignorance. The Prime!Jim Kirk cannot give her what this alternate version did, that he is gone, dead, doesn’t exist, and that she is grieving. And yet she now has to know him still, and speak to him, and talk to his identical mirror, as if she never knew what he did for her in a world that doesn’t exist and never will again. 

or we could just write it off as having no storytelling merit i guess. 

Fic authors self-rec! ✨ When you get this, reply with your favorite five fics that you’ve written, then pass on to at least five other writers (if you would like to)!

ahh gotta think. I have 16 fics up currently, at least two of them started and semi-abandoned (hopefully gonna finish stuff now I'm done with uni) but in no real order:

The Banality of Pain 1446 words, Riker and Geordi discuss their disabilities after a long mission

2. Who Moans for Morn? 645 words, Morn/Gorn porn. Pretty self explanatory. An unfortunate universal translator malfunction leaves Morn unintelligible (3rd person limited narration, Gorn POV)

3. The Lives of Dax 1311 words, a series of drabbles about all of the Dax hosts, plus two about the symbiont itself

4. A Chance to Rest 1426 words, Julian going to Garak's shop to do Garak's taxes, which is relaxing for them both

5. The Man With the Golden Gun 1099 words, after the events of Our Man Bashir, Garak asks to read whatever that program was based on, then psychoanalyses Julian through his taste in "literature"

Goddamn. Binged through the first season of Discovery after watching Strange New Worlds and honestly I understand why I've seen the opinion that it's an utter misery fest. The only thing that kept me watching was my compulsion to not jump ship mid season, but I was fast forwarding towards the end. Somebody on that show was really into military scifi and frankly I hope they aren’t there anymore. I don’t want to be the You Don’t Get Star Trek person but damn go be horny for the military somewhere else. Very occasionally you’d get people saying “we’re supposed to be explorers” but that drops off real fast as Disco descends deeper and deeper into a maelstrom of “let’s make things worse, all the time.” It does wrap on an optimistic note but I dunno. It feels paper thin on top of everything else.

Not sure how disappointed I should be that they killed the gay guy for no real reason other than his relationship is a bright spot in an otherwise bleak show because this is Star Trek and dead people come back like comic book superheroes and they already brought a dead person back to life with mirror universe hijinks and I expect some kind of time travel shit to happen that might reverse this but yeah it’s not great. They really did just kill a gay guy in a very nice relationship for no reason. Star Trek!

SNW by contrast is extremely likable and it wants to BE liked. A golden retriever of a show. I usually side-eye claims that a show is a certain way due to fan response but the wild swing in tone is pretty remarkable and feels like someone trying to overcompensate. You can still see the strains of grimngritty trying to show through the bright primary colors and optimism, mostly in what they did to the Gorn, changing them from angry dudes to Ridley Scott AliensTM.

I do like the primary colors though. Never liked the military jumpsuit uniforms in Enterprise and Disco. And that the set itself bursts with color is nice. It’s a lavish set.

It's got a very likable cast and Pike is darling as hell. Honestly looking forward to more. Just the promise that he's in S2 of Disco makes me want to keep it going. Watched the first episode of S2 and the cast already seems to be much more comfortable expressing emotions other than sadness. Pike damn near looks at the camera and say “we’re not doing the bad things anymore” which is hilarious. You can see the cast smile.

Honestly not looking forward to Picard that much, aside from sheer curiosity. If S1 Disco was where Star Trek’s handlers were at and Picard is more of the same then bleh. But we’ll see.

Looking forward to getting into Lower Decks though. Heard good things.

First Contact: Anson Mount interview via StarTrek.com

Forced Diversity

There's a direwolf Jon interacts with in the crypts during his dream . Is is Lady or Greywind ?

Hi Nonny,

Interesting question.

I don't think that it's Greywind because Jon's dream is the flip side of Theon's and in his dream, Robb and Greywind are present inside the Hall at the feast of the dead. Jon himself can hear the feast and thinks that he is not invited, which is a clue that he will return from the dead. Those at the feast cannot return.

He dreamt he was back in Winterfell, limping past the stone kings on their thrones. Their grey granite eyes turned to follow him as he passed, and their grey granite fingers tightened on the hilts of the rusted swords upon their laps. You are no Stark, he could hear them mutter, in heavy granite voices. There is no place for you here. Go away. He walked deeper into the darkness. "Father?" he called. "Bran? Rickon?" No one answered. A chill wind was blowing on his neck. "Uncle?" he called. "Uncle Benjen? Father? Please, Father, help me." Up above he heard drums. They are feasting in the Great Hall, but I am not welcome there. I am no Stark, and this is not my place. His crutch slipped and he fell to his knees. The crypts were growing darker. A light has gone out somewhere. "Ygritte?" he whispered. "Forgive me. Please." But it was only a direwolf, grey and ghastly, spotted with blood, his golden eyes shining sadly through the dark . . .

A Storm of Swords - Jon VIII

But there were others with faces he had never known in life, faces he had seen only in stone. The slim, sad girl who wore a crown of pale blue roses and a white gown spattered with gore could only be Lyanna. Her brother Brandon stood beside her, and their father Lord Rickard just behind. Along the walls figures half-seen moved through the shadows, pale shades with long grim faces. The sight of them sent fear shivering through Theon sharp as a knife. And then the tall doors opened with a crash, and a freezing gale blew down the hall, and Robb came walking out of the night. Grey Wind stalked beside, eyes burning, and man and wolf alike bled from half a hundred savage wounds.

A Clash of Kings - Theon V

Note that Greywind's eyes are burning, which ties into the symbolism of the Stark direwolves being the fiery hellhounds. However, the door crashing open and Greywind's fiery eyes and his stalking also suggests that the pair are pissed...most likely from being killed. The eyes of the direwolf in Jon's dream are sad and golden. So no, I don't think that it's Greywind.

However, it could be Summer who is also grey and has golden eyes. Jon himself thinks that it might have been Summer.

He had burned Ygritte himself, as he knew she would have wanted, and Ghost . . . Where are you? Was he dead as well, was that what his dream had meant, the bloody wolf in the crypts? But the wolf in the dream had been grey, not white. Grey, like Bran's wolf. Had the Thenns hunted him down and killed him after Queenscrown? If so, Bran was lost to him for good and all.

A Storm of Swords - Jon VIII

We know that while Bran will survive to the end of the story, on the show, Summer died and so it's possible he does in the books as well. It could happen when Bran attempts to make it back south of the Wall from Bloodraven's cave as on the show.

However, if Summer does die, I suspect that it will be later because I think that he will be the one to lead Meera and Bran through the underground caves via Gorne’s Way. I've proposed that Gorne was a skinchanger...possibly even with a direwolf as a bondmate and it was this wolf that led him and Gendel south of the Wall. You can read more on this theory here in my essay on the direwolves. Now, back to Summer.

The reason I think that Summer makes it back south of the Wall is because I expect him to participate in the battle between the direwolves and Ramsay's dogs that GRRM says will occur. Nonetheless, this does not mean that he is not the direwolf in Jon's dreams. I assume that the events of the dream will play out when Jon is dead and he descends to the crypts while in the astral plane/weirwood net.  On the other hand, there is an out of time aspect to the WWN...especially in Bran's arc. Therefore, Summer could die at any point in the story and still be present in Jon's dream.

However, Summer has been shown to hate the crypts and would only enter it at Bran's urging to stop Shaggy Dog from hurting Maester Luwin.

Bran could not recall the last time he had been in the crypts. It had been before, for certain. When he was little, he used to play down here with Robb and Jon and his sisters.

He wished they were here now; the vault might not have seemed so dark and scary. Summer stalked out in the echoing gloom, then stopped, lifted his head, and sniffed the chill dead air. He bared his teeth and crept backward, eyes glowing golden in the light of the maester's torch. Even Osha, hard as old iron, seemed uncomfortable. "Grim folk, by the look of them," she said as she eyed the long row of granite Starks on their stone thrones.

-----

“The darkness sprang at him, snarling.

Bran saw eyes like green fire, a flash of teeth, fur as black as the pit around them. Maester Luwin yelled and threw up his hands. The torch went flying from his fingers, caromed off the stone face of Brandon Stark, and tumbled to the statue’s feet, the flames licking up his legs. In the drunken shifting torchlight, they saw Luwin struggling with the direwolf, beating at his muzzle with one hand while the jaws closed on the other.

“Summer!” Bran screamed.

And Summer came, shooting from the dimness behind them, a leaping shadow.”

A Game of Thrones - Bran VII

Summer hates the crypts and so I don't see why he would go there in death unless made to seek out Jon by Bran. But, why would Bran need Summer to reach Jon when he could touch him through the bardo himself or maybe just enter his dreams. Jon does specifically thinks that the direwolf is male and so if not Greywind, one would think that it's Summer. Still, there are those bloody ellipses that George loves so much.

In the above excerpt, GRRM ends the portion of Jon's dream where the direwolf is mentioned with an ellipse, which tells us that there is something hidden and not yet revealed. Martin makes Jon's thoughts wander at that moment. I suspect it's to hide something. 

He uses ellipses in this manner often throughout the text as I discussed in Part 2 of my "Do Direwolves Dream of the Weirwood Net essay series. Might it be hiding Jon's realization that the direwolf is female instead of male? I think that's possible and if this is the case, it can only be Lady.

It can only be Lady because as we know, her bones were returned to Winterfell and she was buried in the lichy yard, which connects to the crypts. I think that giving the direwolf's that name as well as returning her bones north were major plot points on GRRM's part because it made Sansa the Lady of Winterfell even before she returns North.

Lady is also the only direwolf whose eyes are described as sad. This makes sense as she was killed by a family member. Greywind on the other hand was killed by an enemy...hence his fiery eyes

It was midday when Septa Mordane knocked upon her door. "Sansa. Your lord father will see you now."Sansa sat up. "Lady," she whispered. For a moment it was as if the direwolf was there in the room, looking at her with those golden eyes, sad and knowing. She had been dreaming, she realized. Lady was with her, and they were running together, and … and … trying to remember was like trying to catch the rain with her fingers. The dream faded, and Lady was dead again.

A Game of Thrones - Sansa III

As you may know, I've proposed in my Florian and Jonquil series as well as in other essays that Sansa is an unknowing greenseer and has been traveling in and out of the weirwood net with Lady.

I've also proposed that when Jon descends to the lowest level of the crypts, Sansa will be with him. She has to be by his side because she is Persephone to his Hades and it's the destiny of both to descend to the Underworld. As I've said in the past, Jon is scared of his destiny and Sansa ran from hers as highlighted in this passage.

Robb took them all the way down to the end, past Grandfather and Brandon and Lyanna, to show them their own tombs. Sansa kept looking at the stubby little candle, anxious that it might go out. Old Nan had told her there were spiders down here, and rats as big as dogs. Robb smiled when she said that. "There are worse things than spiders and rats," he whispered. "This is where the dead walk." That was when they heard the sound, low and deep and shivery. Baby Bran had clutched at Arya's hand.

When the spirit stepped out of the open tomb, pale white and moaning for blood, Sansa ran shrieking for the stairs, and Bran wrapped himself around Robb's leg, sobbing. Arya stood her ground and gave the spirit a punch. It was only Jon, covered with flour. "You stupid," she told him, "you scared the baby," but Jon and Robb just laughed and laughed, and pretty soon Bran and Arya were laughing too.

A Game of Thrones - Arya IV

Jon is the King of Winter/Hades character in the scene and his bride Persephone/Sansa ran from him and so he will have to go and "steal" her back. Yes, the Wilding practice of stealing a woman is tied to the Hades/Persephone myth. Sansa has to be stolen back North and together she and Jon will descend to the bottom of the crypts. Whether this will be in the timeline of the story or out of time in the weirwood net remains to be seen. It could very well be the latter—an idea that I will be discussing in more detail in the next Florian and Jonquil chapter.

All of this to say that yes, I think that the direwolf inJon's dreams could be lady. In fact, I think that will turn out to be the case.

Security Chief

Pike x fem!reader (3)

It was the third day when your sister dragged you out of medbay and stood watch over you showering and sleeping. According to the clock, it was 5 hours and 13 minutes since you had gone to sleep that you were woken by the door chime. Una had obviously gone back to work because the armchair was empty as you knocked it over in your bleary-eyed scramble to the door. You opened it, hand still habitually hovering behind you, ready to grab a knife at any sign of danger, but only found yourself blinking up at a young Vulcan who really has no right to be this tall.

“Spock,” you smiled, before spotting his sister behind him. “Michael.” “You’re wanted in the medbay immediately,” Spock instructed, as stoic as always despite the fear trembling in his eyes. You stepped into the hallway. “Why? What’s happened?” you demanded, turning to lead the way with Michael and Spock both close on your heels.  “I am currently unaware of the situation, only that you were required,” he answered, simply.  “I hate when they don’t tell us things,” you groaned, earning a sharp laugh from Michael as the three of you entered medbay. “What’s going on?” Hugh approached immediately and pulled you aside. “Hugh, what’s going on?” you demanded, in a whisper. “Is Chr–the captain ok?” “He started bleeding again and we had to give him another transfusion,” he answered, gently, grabbing your arm before you could bolt to Chris’ room. “But whatever they shot him with isn’t a normal phaser. They’ve used some kind of chemical that causes the wound to continually expand. We need to know what it is before we can do anything.” You glared at the door to Chris’ room, then looked back at Hugh. “How long do I have?” you queried. “As far as we can tell, two days until it reaches his heart or lungs,” he answered, shortly. “The labs are working on it but we’ve got no guarantees.” You set your jaw.  “I’ll be back in two hours. Call me if anything changes.”

“You’re in command of the ship, Yllka,” you told your sister for the millionth time. “You can’t beam down with me, and we both know it.” She glowered at you, blue eyes flashing in her glare. “Fine,” she snapped, folding her arms. “But I’m coming after you if you’re not back in an hour.” “Aye aye, Commander,” you answered, wrapping her in a hug that she returned, still scowling. “Unë të dua (I love you). See you soon.” “You better.” The transporter beam activated around you, and you smiled at your sister through the golden glow. The surface of the planet was hot and dry, sandy and shaded from an unforgiving sun only by rocked peaks. “Halt!” A multicoloured glow flowered before you, materialising into a golden-haired young boy. “You cannot be permitted to enter our system with violent intentions.” “Your system?” you queried, raising an eyebrow. “Who even are you? We’re here for the lizard people. We need to know what they use in their weapons.” “I am a Metron. You seek the Gorns,” the boy said, and you wondered how he managed to keep his skin so perfect in this desert. “You have imprisoned some of them aboard your ship.”  “They attacked our ship,” you answered, still holding your phaser, though you pointed it to the ground. “And shot our Captain. I need to know what they’re using in their guns!” A party of Gorns approached, and you could hear them snarling as you raised your phaser again, spinning to face them. With a snap, the boy appeared between the two parties, freezing you both in place. “It seems I have no choice,” he said, turning to the Gorns. “Elect a leader. You will fight for the lives of your comrades.” A Gorn with a golden stripe on its waist stepped out. “Oh for fuck’s sake, I’m not here to duel anyone!” You stepped up from behind the Metron, and faced up to the Gorn leader. “Your people attacked our ship and have wounded our Captain. I am here to ask why, and to ask your help in healing our Captain. I don’t need some pretty-boy alien interfering and making us kill each other when we don’t need to!” The boy opened his mouth to protest, offended, but the Gorn held his hand out to you.  “I am Slar of the Gorn,” he announced, gruffly. “We will negotiate.” You huffed out a sigh, and clasped his hand in a handshake. “I am Lieutenant Commander (Y/N) (L/N) of Illyria, aboard the USS Discovery,” you answered, as the Metron stared on in astonishment. “But... you are not civilised!” he exclaimed, “How can you settle this when you came with such violent intentions?” “On the contrary, pretty boy,” you answered, tilting your head, “I think giving one another the opportunity to negotiate despite our mutual anger is more civilised than jumping immediately to a duel, don’t you? Perhaps you Metrons ought to consider your own state of civilisation if interfering in others’ conflicts is your kind of sick entertainment.”

It had been several long, slow hours before you were finished negotiating with the Gorns. Thirty minutes in you had been allowed to contact the ship and inform them of the chemical, actually some form of liquid-like bacteria they’d managed to harness, and that you would return with a draft agreement for the Federation to review. Evidently, their close proximity to Qo’noS had been worrying them since the breakdown of their alliance with the Klingons, and your ship had been mistaken for a hostile one. Fair, given that you were unknown and flying towards Klingon space. They were eager to join the Federation, and you could only imagine the Federation would be eager for an ally in such a close tactical position to the Klingon homeland. “We will meet again, Commander (L/N),” Slar farewelled you, formally, pressing his hand to yours. “On better terms, Commander Slar,” you answered, as the golden transporter beam wrapped around you.

“I said AN HOUR!” Una greeted you, shouting, on the transporter deck. “I CALLED YOU!” you protested back, shoving the agreement at her. “And now, I’m going to bed. I can hear my pillows calling me.” “FINE! But I’m still mad at you!” she called, half-heartedly, as you left the transporter room, leaving her to read through the agreement. Your pillows were definitely calling you. And the freshly washed pyjamas on your bed, warm out of the dryer, undoubtedly courtesy of your sister, were also. Some would call the pink fluffy pyjama pants and raggedy top, with a newly-burned hole, undignified. You’d decided a long time ago that if they were undignified, you didn’t need dignity. And now, you’d fought Gorns in them, so they obviously were dignified. And even if they weren’t, who needs dignity if you have respect and a death glare?

Och, Kaplan, we barely knew ye... Lt. Kaplan was the lead security guard in "The Apple," Somehow despite both being in front leading the way at some points, and guarding the rear in others, he manages to survive until Spock notices they are being followed. At that point, Kirk has Kaplan circle around toward the back of where they are standing. And this is when....

Lt. Kaplan becomes Krispy Kaplan and the second redshirt to die in the episode. Kirk bemoans the fact that he knew Kaplan’s family after they find the third dead redshirt (Mallory) and realizes he should have had the crew beamed back up at the first sign of trouble. Not that his realization helps Kaplan any now that he's a heap of ashes. And so we bid adieu to this fine young man in red. But wait....

Someone who looks like Kaplan, but isn’t, shows up in “And The Children Shall Lead” as one of Chekov’s guards. Once a redshirt, always a redshirt. He’s doing fine until Chekov decides to start a fight and unfortunately, this guy draws....

Spock as his opponent.  Not exactly a fair fight. And this leads to one of my favorite screenshots - a classic Vulcan nerve pinch and a very convincing look of agony from Spock’s target. Both Lt. Kaplan and the security guard in “And the Children Shall Lead” were played by DIck (Richard Emile Ashley) Dial, Jr. He did have another acting part as one of the Fabrini guards in “The World Is Hollow and I Have Touched The Sky.”

But Dick Dial was primarily known as stuntman in Hollywood and Star Trek often used him in that regard as well. In the first season episode “Arena,” Dial was Shatner’s stunt double during the exciting fight scene with the Gorn. He also served as a stunt double for one of the Warriors in “Friday’s Child” and a general stuntman in “The Immunity Syndrome.”

As mentioned earlier, Dick Dial gained his fame mainly as a stuntman. But before that, he was an athlete at Classen High in Oklahoma City and also at the University of Oklahoma. Dial definitely had a well rounded sports background, which most likely helped him land work in Hollywood. He was a champion Golden Gloves boxer, a competitive sailor and a ranked tennis pro.

Dial began his Hollywood career in The Searchers as a stuntman, working along side Jeff Hunter in 1956 and landed a role as William Holden’s double on The Horse Soldiers. (Interestingly, both were John Wayne films). His Golden Glove championship came in handy when he landed work as one of the stuntmen in the boxing sequences in the Elvis Presley film Kid Galahad. This movie also had other TOS actors - Bill Zuckert, Louie Elias, and Seamon Glass. And he acted or performed stunts many other well known Hollywood movie stars such as Henry Fonda, Robert Duvall, Charlton Heston and Charles Bronson

The above photograph shows Dial as a character named Carson in the movie They Call Me Mr. Tibbs. He also was a stuntman in the same film. (This movie was mentioned in an earlier article on Charlie Washburn who was the second assistant director)

But Dick Dial had more success in television, starting with being Lloyd Bridge’s stunt double on Sea Hunt from 1958 to 1961 (he also doubled Bridges in a 1975-76 police series called Joe Forrester). Another series he worked on was The Fugitive where he doubled David Janssen from 1963-1967. Dial was seen often in small acting roles, such as the one above from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (second season episode “The Shape of Doom”) as well as The Man from U.N.C.L.E., The Time Tunnel, The Green Hornet, and Mannix.

After his appearances in Star Trek, Dial continued his acting career with appearances on The Mod Squad, The Felony Squad, and Mission Impossible. His appearance (seen above) in the 5th season Mission Impossible episode “Hunted” was particularly amazing because he was actually playing the character Barney in disguise (played by Greg Morris, whose son Phil appeared as one of the children in the TOS epiosde “Miri.”)

But this was not Dick Dial’s only association with Mission Impossible. He was Peter Graves’ stunt double for 89 episodes. His final long term stint as a stunt double was for Robert Loggia in Mancuso, FBI ( 20 episodes). However, Dick Dial had a life beyond the screen. In his off time, he sailed competitively and was an “A” ranked tennis player. One of the members of a discussion board for Dick Dial on Memory Alpha remembers him as his Little League coach from 1968 to 1971. Earlier in life, he had taken classes at the Art Institute of Chicago. So it should be no surprise he continued to use that talent later in life. Dial’s caricatures of celebrities and friends were hung in two well-known Hollywood restaurants owned by a friend of his (La Scala Presto and La Scala Malibu) . He also did humorous political cartoons that were published in papers such as the LA Times. Many of his oil paintings were considered to be gallery quality. Unfortunately, very few of these can be seen (other than in photos) and his daughter DuPree Dial is still looking for them. If you think you may have one, look for the name DIAL in the bottom right hand corner. Of all Star Trek memorabilia you could have, this may be one of the rarest. Think of it - how wild would it be to own a piece of art from a man whom Mike Douglas (a popular TV host in the 60s and 70s) referred to as “The Hollywood Stuntman.”

Someone on Tumblr with the name "Frank-o-meter" constructed this handy dandy chart of redshirts in "The Apple."  It provides a nice way to pay tribute to Kaplan and his fellow comrades in red. And a reminder that with Kaplan, we have covered most of the information known on the actors who portrayed them. Hendorff - https://www.facebook.com/talesoftheunknownredshirt/posts/1732560857049439 Mallory - www.facebook.com/talesoftheunknownredshirt/posts/2099712617000926 Marple - (recently appeared in the article on THE VELVET VAMPIRE) Above panel taken from the following Tumblr post -

https://frank-o-meter.tumblr.com/post/157117085705/star-trek-rest-in-peace-part-3-all-but-one

Common Languages

A list of known base languages common to the Imperial Realms.

Common: A multi-facted language, able to express a variety of emotions. It borrows or adapts many words from other languages. Common Phrase: “A golden key can open any door” Enough money, or the promise of it, will accomplish anything. Examples of names: Lower class have only a given name, middle have a surname from their family or profession. Nobles have a surname and/or have a “of -location- “ attached to refer to their lands. Female names- Thaydine, Orva Ashmiller, Sharra of Avendare. Male names- Rosto, Dunevon Silsbee, Belden of Dunlath Elven/Elvish: Very flowing and musical, a beautiful language. Comes across as more refined than Common. Has subtle accents differentiating the Sun Elves, Moon Elves, and Wood Elves. Common Phrase: “Tel'quessir naa winya” Literally - ‘Elven is not new’ - Meaning Elves know best, because they are such an ancient and long-lived race. The Elven word for their language is “Tel’quessir”. Examples of Names: Always have a divider between a syllable to show emphasis. They do not have last names, but do earn titles and use them to specify. Female names- Lia'drin, Elda'lyth, Az'shara. Male names- Vel’dan, Thil'danas, Ma'lorin. Drow/Drowic: A rougher, more guttural version of Elven. Sounds pretty in its way, but also intimidating. There is a Low Drow and High Drow, spoken by the different classes. Common phrase: “Tinguin lal'o shrome'cak” Literally - ‘Promise of a fungal pie’ - Meaning something that sweetens a deal. The Drow word for their language is “Ilythiirra”. Example of names: Like Elven, names always have a divider between a syllable to show emphasis. They do not have last names, but do earn titles and use them to specify. Female names- Reza’rith, Hel’rena, Dien’dere. Male names- Cre’van, Brey’lak, Ten’drenn. Dwarven: A harsh and consonant-heavy language with sharp syllables. They tend to use more words per sentence, and take longer to speak. Common phrase: “Thulduk ” Literally - ‘Doom/Ill luck’ - Spoken in irony as an everyday cheery tidings or good fortune. The Dwarven word for their language is “Dethek”. Example of names: Almost always have a given and surname, which may be based off title or accomplishment of themselves or an ancestor. Female names- Hanalea Greymace, Tulin Silvervein, Delba Goldmantle. Male names-  Woll Fostpine, Mardyn Skymender, Gorn Grimheart. Halfling: A fast and simple language, tending to sound chittery and airy to others. It is often scattered with adopted Common words. Common phrase: “Luzzil ein waz ir wola tuon ir reht.” Literally - ‘A little of what you fancy does you good’. The Halfling word for their language is “Luiric”. Example of names: Almost always have a given and a family name. Female names- Gringa Lowhill, Daisy Baybell, Chessa Greenburrow. Male names-  Jolie Parrafin, Lory Hillguard, Dorin Applemusk. Sylvan: A subtle and lilting language, often sounds unearthly - like a babbling brook, rustling branches, or singing rain. Spoken mostly by Dryads and Fey creatures, it sounds almost inhuman. It is a magical language, holding weight in its words. Common phrase: “Thuuig gu mathh” Meaning - “May your fate be well”. Often said to indicate the person wishes you well, but does not want to be involved themselves. The Sylvan word for their language is “Esspruar”. Examples of names: They usually only have one name, which is very long - so they shorten it for non-fey. Female names - Idria Myrtle, Lillypath Fernva, Elebore Lollypine. Male names - Weiryn Spindle, Bilberry Thistlebane, Glenfir Poplarbaw. Merr: Musical and enchanting. Stems from elvish, but syllables are held much longer and tend to be sung rather than spoken. Common Phrase: “Nifredil bir aear.” Literally - ‘A drop in the ocean’ - Meaning something is inconsequential in the grand scheme of things. The Merr word for their language is “Seldruin”. Examples of Names: Always have a divider between a syllable to show emphasis. They do not have last names, but do earn titles and use them to specify. Female names- Sin’dorie, Bril’lia, Mag’therida. Male names- Ili’den, Mirol’vel, Eo’shen.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Episode 7 – Complete Easter Eggs and References

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This article contains Star Trek: Lower Decks episode 7 spoilers.

One of the weirdest moments in Star Trek: The Next Generation was when Jean-Luc Picard randomly abdicated command of the USS Enterprise to a random dude played by Ronny Cox, better known to sci-fi geeks as one of the bad guys in RoboCop. The newest episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks — “Much Ado About Boimler” — starts with that reference, and then kicks the Easter eggs into trans-warp drive. From shout-outs to really obscure early TNG episodes, to the return of a very familiar alien species from The Animated Series, this episode might be the most stuffed episode of Lower Decks, yet.

Get ready to for all the Easter eggs and references (that we caught) in Star Trek: Lower Decks episode 7, “Much Ado About Boimler.” Beam me up! Or Boim me up. You know what I’m sayin’.

The all-black outfits from “Chain of Command Parts 1 and 2”

In the TNG Season 6 two-parter “Chain of Command,” Picard, Worf, and Crusher are temporarily re-assigned away from the Enterprise to participate in a top-secret mission for Starfleet intelligence which requires them to clandestinely cross into Cardassian space. For some reason, this also puts the trio in all-black body-stockings, complete with a weird black super-tight hood.

The start of “Much Ado About Boimler” features a log entry from Jack Ransom stating that he, Captain Freeman, and Lt. Shax or training for a top-secret mission that apparently involves botany.

This really seems like a cover-story, right? 

“Babysitter Jellico-type”

Mariner complains about a “sub-captain” being a “Babysitter Jellico-type.” This also references “Chain of Command,” because the Captain who took over the Enterprise while Picard was on the secret mission was Captain Edward Jellico, who busted-out an annoying catchphrase; “Get. It. Done.”

As mentioned above, Jellico was played by Ronny Cox, who appeared in RoboCop alongside Miguel Jose Ferrer (Star Trek III: The Search For Spock),  Kurtwood Smith (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country), and RoboCop himself Peter Weller (Enterprise and Star Trek Into Darkness).

Kurtwood Smith was been slated to appear in a later episode of Lower Decks sometime this season.

“Still an Ensign” 

Captain Ramsey’s crew is utterly baffled why Mariner is still an Ensign, despite the fact that she went to the academy with their captain. This joke probably references the idea that Harry Kim was an Ensign throughout all seven seasons of Star Trek: Voyager.

Transporter phasing

Boimler’s weird phasing effect isn’t described or explained exactly, but it does seem to reference the TNG episode “The Next Phase” in which Geordi and Ro are presumed dead after being transported incorrectly. Transporter accidents lead to other strange “phasing” which is vaguely similar to what happens to Kirk in the TOS episode “The Tholian Web.”

“The Time Travel Police?”

When Boimler is told that he’s going to be handed over to “Division 14,” he’s worried that means he’s going to be taken by the “time travel police.”

This likely refers to The Department of Temporal Investigations, who most famously appears in the framing of the Deep Space 9 episode “Trials and Tribble-alations.” The “Time Travel Police” could also refer to temporal agents like Daniels, who appeared throughout Enterprise and attempted to “win” the Temporal Cold War.

Gorn Doll is one of Freeman’s “Captain’s Trinkets.”

While Mariner is playing with some of Captain Freeman’s stuff (who is her mom) we briefly see a Gorn doll in a case behind her. Coincidentally or not, Freeman is the second new-ish Star Trek Captain to have secret Gorn stuff.

In Season 1 of Star Trek: Discovery, Captain Lorca had a full Gorn Skeleton in his research lab. And, the exact same week this episode aired, Tawny Newsome (Mariner) interviewed Ben Stiller on the Star Trek Podcast — The Pod Directive — about the fact that Stiller owns the original Gorn mask from “Arena.” Further, both Discovery Season 2 and Picard Season 1 contained numerous Gorn-centric Easter eggs. 

Division 14 Medical Specialist is a huge alien-call back to The Animated Series

In the 1973 animated Star Trek series, the Enterprise was given a new navigator named Arex; a three-armed orange alien. In some ‘90s novels, this alien species was known as Triexian, but information released by Gene Roddenberry’s Lincoln Enterprises in 1974 calls Arex an Edosian. Most contemporary Trek material, including the mobile game Star Trek Timelines, use the designation Edosian, as do the IDW “Year Five” comic books.

“Vulcan jiu-jitsu”

Captain Ramsey says her Vulcan officer kicked some Borg butt with “Vulcan Jiu-Jitsu.” This probably references the Vulcan martial art Suus Mahna, which was introduced in the series Enterprise.

More recently, Michael Burnham practiced Suus Mahna throughout Discovery Season 1, notably in the episode “Lethe.” The penultimate episode of Star Trek: Picard Season 1 also featured two Synths practicing Suus Mahna.

Stealing an old special car

Mariner brags about stealing a Professor’s “old special car” and driving it into “the bay.” The bay she’s talking about is likely the Golden Gate since that’s the only bay near Starfleet Academy. Stealing an antique car seems to reference the 2009 Star Trek reboot in which young James T. Kirk stole a 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray and drove it off a cliff. 

“Equal Parts Accelerated Growth and Reverse Aging”

The ringleader of the Division 14 patients has his body equally divided between one half that has “accelerated growth” and another that is affected by “reverse aging.” This makes him half old-man and half little-kid.

The accelerated growth thing references the TOS episode “The Deadly Years” and also the TNG episode “Unnatural Selection.” In both episodes, crew members age rapidly, way ahead of their time.

The “reverse aging” effect references the TNG episodes “Too Short a Season,” and “Rascals.” In “Too Short a Season,” a Starfleet Admiral rapidly de-ages during a big mission, while in “Rascals,” Picard, Ro, Keiko, and Guinan are all rematerialized as 12-year-olds. (the Lower Decks character says he has to live out his days as “half a rascal”).

Finally, the TAS episode “The Counter-Clock Incident” saw nearly all the classic crew turned into babies. 

Delta Radiation

At least two Division 14 patients have been “exposed to Delta Radiation,” and are encased in the same survival pods that Captain Pike had in the TOS episode “The Menagerie.” In that episode, Bones describes the exposure as “Delta Rays.” 

Space slug from Voyager

One patient named “Anthony” looks exactly like the slug version of Janeway and Paris from the Voyager episode “Threshold.” In that episode, Janeway and Paris revert into these unlikely creatures because they tried to go past Warp 10. It’s a shortlist, but “Threshold” is generally considered one of the worst Star Trek episodes ever. 

USS Rubidoux

Like the Cerritos, the Rubidoux is another California-class starship. It’s named for a neighborhood in Riverside County, California. Unlike the gold trimming of the Cerritos or the blue trimming of the USS Mercet from Episode 4, the Rubidoux has red-trimming. In theory, this means its missions are more command-centric, whatever that means.

Gravity boots

Mariner has a tough time operating her gravity boots in this episode. This could reference the infamous gravity boots in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. But, Picard also famously deactivates his gravity boots to evade Borg drones in Star Trek: First Contact.

Giant Space Jellyfish

After the crew figures out that the Rubidoux has been infested by a large alien lifeform, it eventually unfurls into a large blue jellyfish-esque creature. Captain Ramsey says that they don’t know what kind of creature it is, but that they believe it is “peaceful.”

This references the ending of the first episode of The Next Generation, “Encounter at Farpoint,” when its revealed that a mysterious space station, was in fact, a large space-dwelling alien lifeform all along.

Ramsey takes down Ransom

The episode ends with Ransom offering to buy Captain Ramsey a drink, but when he puts his hand on her, she flips him over onto a table instantly. This seems to reference the very first episode of Deep Space Nine, “Emissary.” When Quark makes a similar pass at Major Kira, she says, “If you don’t take that hand off my hip, you’ll never be able to lift a glass with it again.”

In theory, during the time of Lower Decks, Kira is probably still in on Deep Space Nine itself, very possibly, running everything. 

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Crusaders of the Dark Savant: Gorror Show

So begins a mostly-optional but fun dungeon level.

              I spent 14 hours late this week trying to win Crusaders, and I made it to the threshold, but I can’t quite cross it. Unfortunately, I waited a bit too long to blog about this experience, and looking at my notes and screenshots, I find it impossible to discuss what I accomplished in any kind of linear order. The endgame requires so much backtracking that I came to memorize entire dungeon levels. It also required three separate violations of my “no cheats” rule, although they’re not technically “violations” if I’m completely stuck and can’t progress otherwise. They still feel like violations.

Getting into the dungeon on the Isle of Crypts required the “Majestik Wand” that I found last session.

          In broad terms, there’s only one dungeon left after the experiences I related last time. It was on the Isle of Crypts, and it consisted of four major sections:

1. The introductory level full of undead, 22 x 22.

2. The “Hall of Gorrors,” 16 x 16.

3. Eight small 8 x 8 levels with a bunch of teleporters connecting them

4. The level with the Tomb of the Astral Dominae, 16 x 22.

I had to leave the entire dungeon–and once I got to the third section, that involved a lot of backtracking–at least half a dozen times to pick up some new item or clue or experience. I think even if you played more optimally than I did, you’d still have to backtrack out of the dungeon a minimum of twice, because there are things you can’t do on the surface until you find the right clues or items in the dungeon.

The first level was large and full of undead, fairly easy to map. It has some annoying squares where every time you enter, you set off a trap that damages, blinds, or “vegetates” your characters, and there doesn’t seem to be any way to avoid or disarm them. I don’t know; there’s a golden urn at one point, and it might be possible to disarm the traps by putting some powder in the urn the way it supposedly is in the Dane Tower, but I never found any of that powder.               

This message accompanied a lot of the unavoidable-damage squares. I never figured out what it was about.

          As I began to explore, some ghost kept appearing and shrieked things like, “IIII WWWWANT MMMY BMOCYENOBBB!!!” Having been programmed now–largely by the Wizardry series–to automatically check everything backwards, I immediately interpreted this as something like “bony comb.” I’d been carrying around a “bone comb and brushes” since Orkogre Castle, so when I finally found the corpse of an old Gorn queen and used the object on it, the specter went away. That might be the longest amount of gameplay between finding a quest object and using it that I’ve experienced.            

Most of the ruins in this game used to belong to the Gorn, it seems.

        There were some locked doors on the level that opened only with “Keys of the Tomb” or “Keys of the Crypt,” both of which appeared in random loot on the level. The rooms behind these doors had some treasure chests with decent objects. There were actually quite a few treasure chests throughout this session, and while I didn’t record in detail what I found and kept at each location, by the end of the session most of my characters were wielding different items. My Valkyrie got a Valkyrie-only weapon called “Maenad’s Lance.” I found a decent mace called “Diamond Eyes,” but the only character who could use it effectively was my lord, so I ended up transferring the “Sword of 4 Winds” to my ninja, who oddly never found a high-level ninja-specific weapon. I found an entire suit of Samurai-specific armor on one corpse, and I hated to discard it all, but at this point I didn’t want to do any more class changes.           

It would have made more sense if his name were * M I L D  I N C O N V E N I E N C E *.

               There were combats with demons and dragons among all the undead, and the level culminated with a battle with a black dragon called * D O O M *. Despite this being a spaces-and-asterisks boss, he wasn’t that difficult, or at least I didn’t take any detailed notes that suggested the combat was difficult. I think I might have gotten lucky with a critical hit (against which most boss-level enemies seem immune) in an early round.

The next level is the one worth talking about. It was small and easy to interpret, consisting of six 2 x 6 rooms, each behind a locked gate, each featuring a different unique enemy, each with a treasure chest behind him. Each gate opened with a “Key of Gorrors,” of which I only had two when I first entered the dungeon, but later discovered more after random combats. Some of the gates required swimming for up to 7 squares, so you arrive at those exhausted and have to spend some time sleeping before the battle.            

“And a thousand eyes, can’t help but see . . .”

          The enemies, all of which were optional, ranged from the trivially easy to the impossible. In rough order:

Ra-Sep-Re-Tep. This was the undead skeleton in the starter dungeon. I don’t know how he’s in two different places, but he doesn’t seem to have advanced very much in between. I killed him almost immediately. It was frankly embarrassing.

D’Arboleth. A ghost enemy. He died in maybe 8 rounds of physical attacks (meaning he had maybe 1,000-1,200 hit points), with none of his attempts at “Death” working.

         D’Arboleth’s demon ally was more difficult than he was.

        Horragoth. A demon who attacks with some lesser demons or sphinx-type enemies in tow. Both he and his comrades are fond of mass-damage spells, and Horragoth himself often casts “Death Wish” and “Word of Death.” When these spells work, they’re obviously devastating to the party, but I find–especially with “Magic Screen” active–that they hardly ever work. To beat him, I just had to keep up on healing while whittling down his hit points.

           “Do you know what you just interrupted?!,” Horragoth screamed.

         Thing from Hell. This is a bug beast with more than 5,000 hit points. It frequently casts “Mind Flay,” which can drive a character insane, and a physical attack that causes high-level poison. (Insane characters behave erratically, usually ignoring your assigned action and sometimes attacking other party members.) This was the first Gorror that I encountered as I mapped, and I gave up after a few tries. Much later, when more of my characters were capable of casting “Sane Mind” and had higher levels in “Mind Control” (see below), I tried again and was able to beat it.

           Bix goes insane.

        Beast of a Thousand Eyes. I haven’t been able to defeat either of the last two enemies, but at least I can survive a couple rounds with the Beast. By icon, the Beast is in the “flying jellyfish” family. He has these tentacles that don’t do much damage (although they can poison), and every time I tried to fight him, he’d use those tentacles for a few rounds while my melee characters pounded him for hundreds of hit points. But then, inevitably, he’d cast “Dazzling Lights” and it would be all over. “Dazzling Lights,” according to the manual, is a spell that does random effects to enemies, including insanity, nausea, blinding, stoning, and death. His, for whatever reason, seem to favor the “death” option. I tried to keep up with resurrections and other healing spells, but in about 15 tries, he always wiped out my party by the 12th round.

          Ironically, he doesn’t appear to have any eyes.

        Fiend of 9 Worlds. In contrast to the Beast, I couldn’t even last three rounds against this Rattkin enemy before all hope died. He has a Vorpal Blade that causes 99 hit points every time it strikes, almost never misses, and leaves a character poisoned even if he survives. He also shoots mystic arrows that seem to have a lot of luck with critical hits.

               It annoys me that an enemy this powerful is a Rattkin.

          Once I understood the “shtick” of the level, and perceived that the combats were optional, I didn’t mind the difficulty so much. It actually improved my approach to the game’s combats in general, which is a funny thing to say this late in the game. There are so many spells that even with the number of combats you face in the game, I’ve tended to rely on the same handful for most of them. (It should go without saying that with any difficult combat in this game, I started, or at least re-started, with “Enchanted Blade,” “Magic Screen,” and “Armorplate” blazing.) Trying to defeat the Gorrors, I experimented a bit more with different spells and combat options and found a few combinations that could have served me better.            

Having just woken up from a nap, the party regrets not having its protection spells turned on right now.

           Among my discoveries are the utility of “Create Life,” which creates an (invisible) ally to fight along side you. Not only is this ally capable of doing some significant damage, but he must stand off to the side somewhere because the enemy is capable of either attacking the party or the ally. If he casts a spell at the ally, even a mass-damage spell, it never affects the party. Those rounds where the summoned ally absorbs the enemy’s attention are very rewarding.

The spell “Armormelt” seems to do a good job of softening enemies for melee combat, and I’ve found that “Anti-Magic” causes their spells to “fizzle” a satisfying number of times. “Superman” does a good job bolstering allies. However, the problem that I have with these spells–and perhaps the reason that I avoided using them for so long–is that the manual is coy about how long they last. There’s no indicator on screen to show that you have any of the buffing spells activated, so you just have to trust that when you cast the spell, it’s doing something. I’m not big on that kind of trust.

A lot of commenters have extolled the virtues of building up the “Ninjutsu” skill and hiding in the first combat round. My characters do all have this skill–a side effect of my cycling them through ninja or samurai classes, if only for one level, to give them “Kirijutsu,” which governs critical hits. When it works, all the characters drop into shadows and then come out screaming the next round with backstabs and such, doubling or tripling the melee damage they can cause. You can also elect to stay hidden for multiple rounds and let your summoned allies do the work. There are even some mass damage spells that don’t break your cover, although I haven’t experimented long enough to get these.

Anyway, my problem with the strategy is that it really only works if all of the characters manage to hide. I didn’t spend enough points on “Ninjutsu” for some of the characters and they usually don’t make it. When that happens, the un-hidden characters draw all of the enemy’s attention and don’t prevent the enemy from casting mass-damage spells that hit everyone. Also, even characters with 50+ points in “Ninjutsu” don’t seem capable of hiding from high-level enemies like the Beast with the Thousand Eyes.

What strikes me is how, this late in the game, it’s generally physical attacks that save the day. This separates Crusaders from a lot of games in its genre where fighters become useless around mid-game, and spellcasters end up doing all the heavy lifting (Phantasie and The Bard’s Tale series are two where this is is particularly true). Here, it’s the spellcasters who become somewhat weak, with high-level enemies (infuriatingly) shrugging off even the highest-level spells cast with the highest number of dice. I find that at this stage, the best my spellcasters can do is keep the melee characters alive and healthy long enough to do their jobs. In a lot of rounds, I have my mage, bishop, and alchemist join the front three characters in physical attacks.

The only thing I had to accomplish on the Hall of Gorrors level, it turns out, was to find something called the Jewel of the Sun behind a hidden door and corridor. After that, it was on to the next section. But to get there, I had to get the first of my three hints.              

This pillar is going to be important later, too.

            To get out of the Hall of Gorrors, you have to open a gate with something called the Key of Skulls. The Key of Skulls, in turn, is hidden within a pillar called the “Gaelin Stone.” The pillar has four faces, and at each face, the party can read a message that talks about two of the game’s maps. It turns out that to get the key, you have to physically “use” the LEGEND map and hold it up against the western-facing edge of the pillar, which discusses the DRAGON and STAR maps. This is what it says:           

*DRAGON* A Dragon, a Chest, and a Key…

*STAR* A Stone Tablet, Three Statues, and a Five-Pointed Star…

              This is what the LEGEND map says:

Whatever was written upon the map has long ago faded. Now it is but a blank piece of parchment, dotted with several scattered holes. Around the edge of one hole near the center, you can just barely discern the faint remnants of a ring of reddish dye.

                When you use the LEGEND map at the pillar, it says this:       

You hold the Gaelin Legend over the face of the Runed Tablet, and see that the holes in the parchment conform perfectly with the knobs of stone protruding from the pillar. The hole near the center of the Legend is positioned directly over the eye of the Dragon, and by inserting your finger, you discover that it is actually a well-concealed button. Pushing the button, a secret compartment opens up in the tablet, revealing a black key in the shape of a skull.

      Even knowing the solution, I don’t understand how I was supposed to figure it out from the available evidence. The word “Gaelin” is only attached to the LEGEND map, as far as I can tell, in this one paragraph. Nowhere else in the game do you “use” the maps like this. What am I missing?

In any event, the gate led to the next section of the dungeon, where I spent most of this session’s time but have the least to say. It was eight levels of 8 x 8 squares with no stairs between them, only teleporters. There are 54 teleportation destinations within the area, but some of the destinations have more than one teleporter, with the result being that about 25% of the squares are either teleportation or destination squares. Some of the levels have dark areas that you have to “feel” your way through, and one has a water area. There were a few locked gates where I had to find treasure chests with keys before I could open them.          

Dark squares, a staple of other tile-based blobbers, really haven’t been a part of Crusaders so far. This was briefly disorienting.

        Naturally, it took a long time to map the entire thing, but this is the kind of challenge that I enjoy. I don’t know why I enjoy it. There isn’t much creativity involved in mapping an area like this, just a lot of trial and error. I enjoy it anyway. I stayed up all night one night finishing the map.           

The eight dungeon levels with all of the teleporter origins and destinations.

         There were multiple battles with undead, demons, dragons, and other high-level enemies, and while I had a fair number of reloads during the process, the battles weren’t overly hard. Each one delivered an average of maybe 20,000 experience points. My characters require 600,000 experience points between levels these days, so about 30 battles per level, but I have six characters, so roughly every five battles or so, someone leveled up.

Aside from a few weapon and armor upgrades, the key item to find among the eight levels was the STAR map. The STAR map turns out to be the solution to one of the “statue” puzzles back in the City of Sky, and you need something from that area to get through the Tomb of the Astral Dominae, so this represents one of the mandatory backtrackings from this dungeon. At the time that I found it, however, I didn’t even begin to guess that was it’s purpose. It wasn’t until I was looking up a later hint that I saw an unwanted (although it turns out, equally necessary) hint about the STAR map.             

If someone else had gotten to this first, I might have rage-quit.

          The hint I needed came from one of the dungeon levels, where to progress I needed to press eight buttons–Egg, Moon, Cross, Tower, Dragon, Skull, Sun, and Star–in a particular order. Looking through my existing maps gave me no ideas. Looking for a hint, I discovered that the answer was to be found on the CRYSTAL map, the only map that I hadn’t retrieved so far. The last clue I’d received about it said that the Rattkin had it.            

This area had four rooms of two buttons each.

          It was clear that both to find the CRYSTAL map and make use of the STAR map, I’d need to leave the dungeon, so I backtracked my way out the doors and back to my boat. I returned to New City to use its fountain and sell some excess equipment and ponder my next move. I briefly considered looking at a more explicit hint about the CRYSTAL map, but ultimately sighed, sucked it up, and took the long forest path back to Rattkin territory.

No one ended up having the damned map–I killed every NPC to check and reloaded when they didn’t have it–but it was an interesting side trip regardless. You may recall that the last time I visited the Rattkin, I had given some information to Barlone’ of the Rakuza that would allow him to intercept a T’Rang starship and perhaps use it to expand his influence off-world. Well, it must have worked, because on my return he told me that the Rattkin would be clearing out of the area. He offered to let me ransack his treasure room for 40,000 gold pieces, which I gratefully paid because I have plenty of excess gold. The treasure room turned out not to contain much of anything I needed.

           I’m glad you’re moving up in the universe.

         I suspect the map is in the hands of Ratsputin, who I haven’t seen for a couple dozen hours. Meanwhile, any “lore” about the map has completely disappeared. Every time I talk to a wandering NPC, the tell me about every other map, including all the ones I have, but CRYSTAL has never come up again. Of course, the NPCs themselves have been few and far between now that I actually need them.

After several hours of aimless wandering, I did what I’d been trying to avoid and looked up the text of the Crystal Map, which told me how to get through the area and up to the final section of the dungeon, holding the Tomb of the Astral Dominae. I was utterly unprepared for the difficulty of the enemies on that level, least of all (what I assume is) the final battle, and I ended up leaving the dungeon again for some grinding and other character development time. But this post is already pretty long, so I’ll save my further adventures for next time. As I write this, I’m preparing to take on the final battle again.

Some random notes:

The City of Skies, which I talked about last time, has this museum where there are several powerful-sounding artifacts including a “Mercurian Light Sword” and a “Cobaltine Power Glove.” Each item is behind a force field and can only be unlocked with a “Key of Light,” of which it appears only one exists. When I first visited the city, I found the key after visiting the museum, and owing to the difficulty navigating the area and its invisible walls, figured I’d decide on the artifact later. Then I forgot to go back. I also forgot to go back when I visited the city the second time to use the STAR map. Those items probably would have made a difference. Maybe I’ll go back if I still can’t beat the final battle.

Many of the chests in the Isle of Crypts dungeon were impossible to disarm even with a character with a “Skullduggery” skill at 100. That seems a bit unfair.

In my opinion, the graphics and animations for the various demon creatures are the best in the game.

            These guys are reasonably intimidating.

              It seems like almost every weapon and piece of armor I found was useable only by a fighter, Valkyrie, lord, or samurai. I never found any really good stuff for my bishop, alchemist, or mage.

At one point, I thought I had discovered some good stuff. One chest gave me a number of items “of Doom,” including a staff, and both upper and lower pieces to a robe. The items were cursed, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing in this game; it just means you can’t unequip them without casting “Remove Curse.” The armor class on the robes was insanely low, and they also had a high magic protection rating. I was so enamored of them that I didn’t realize until much later that they sap hit points from whoever is holding them. It’s slow, but fast enough that the character will die during 8 hours of resting. I reluctantly gave them up.

My characters all have at least 18 in everything now. Some of them are up to 19 or 20 because of ankhs that you can “invoke” for a one-point attribute gain. The nice thing is that even with the toughest enemies, my characters almost always act first. 

It’s been a long time since I cast something at anything but the highest level. I wish the game would just default to the highest level.

And I wish there was a higher-level healing spell. Most of my characters have enough spell points for 8 to 10 castings of “Heal Wounds,” and it takes that many to fully restore a character’s health. That’s like trying to heal a Dungeons and Dragons character with nothing but “Cure Light Wounds” when he’s Level 20. It would be nice if the game had offered a “Heal Wounds a Lot” spell to cut down on some of the time.

Here’s a process I’m getting sick of: Entering the temple in New City. Acknowledging a message about the statue of Phoonzang. Acknowledging the screen with the name of the temple. Acknowledging a descriptive message about the temple. Acknowledging the introductory screen of Father Rulae. Telling Father Rulae that we want GUIDANCE. Talking to Father Rulae. Reminding Father Rulae that we know the SACRAMENT. Acknowledging his reaction. Saying BYE to Father Rulae. Acknowledging his farewell message. Telling father Rulae to LEAVE. Acknowledging his farewell message again. Then finally being able to walk down the corridor behind him to the healing fountain. It would be nice if the corridor had just stayed open permanently after the first time I told Rulae about the SACRAMENT.

            The characters have gotten creative during this process.

         Sorry for all the posts in a row on Crusaders, but this isn’t a game that rewards taking time off, and my two other active games are too difficult to offer any kind of reprieve from this one. Let’s keep pushing on through.

Time so far: 104 hours

source http://reposts.ciathyza.com/crusaders-of-the-dark-savant-gorror-show/

Red

Tales from the Holodeck: Star Trek/Star Wars Mashup: Caitlin’s Story

In celebration of A Star to Steer Her By’s second anniversary, we broke out the “Tales from the Holodeck” fanfic again and wrote up some mashup stories combining Star Trek and Star Wars! We picked our series and allowed the force to guide us where we went from there. You can listen to all the fanfic on the podcast, or read them here! This is Caitlin’s short story written out. Live long, prosper, and may the force be with you.

[images © Lucasfilm, Disney, CBS, Paramount, etc.]

“The Day the Nerds Stood Still”

by Caitlin

Random Picks: Star Trek: TOS / Star Wars Original Trilogy 

Long ago, in a galaxy far, far away… The battle between the Trekkers and the Warsians was reaching unimaginable heights. Attacks were launched by both sides: convention centers burned to the ground, Massive bonfires of DVDs, books, and action figures lit, Figures of key players from both sides Of the war, burned in effigy. And if that was not enough, cyber attacks were launched: Websites hacked and information erased, or worse - The ever-growing list of what is canon And what wasn’t Was meddled with, altered beyond recognition. It was during this increasingly deadly campaign of violence When, with no warning, a stranger from the stars Came down to Earth, to meet its people And judge whether they were ready To join the rest of the universe Among the stars….. 

“People of earth, my name is Klaatu - I come in peace,” said the extremely humanoid man who had stepped out of the unexpected spaceship. He watched with a grimace as a robe-clad figure swung a plastic light saber at a man seated in a strange wheelchair with a distant look on his face. The toy bounced off the wheelchair’s mostly cardboard and duct tape body with a pathetic thump. “This behavior is preposterous - why are you making violence against your fellow man?”

Every head in the crowd turned to stare at him, eyebrows raised in horror, some mouths agape. “Are you kidding? You don't know?” a man dressed in a too small Darth Vader costume asked, incredulously.

“There is much we don't know about your people,” Klaatu said, spreading his hands wide. “That is why I am here - your planet is being considered to join the universal community. But if you are unable to prove yourselves to be civil, you may suffer dire consequences.”

“Like what, cursed to watch nothing but Star Trek V for all eternity?” one Han Solo–garbed fellow joked to a group dressed as the band from Jabba the Hutt’s palace.

“Like your planet would be blown to smithereens to stop you from spreading your toxicity to other galaxies,” Klaatu replied coldly.

A gasp rose from the crowd, and each faction started chattering nervously amongst themselves.

Out of the crowd stepped one man, who said, “Listen, we’re all adults here.” The Trekker was dressed in a perfect replica of Kirk’s Wrath of Khan–era uniform. “If these bojos could just admit that Trek is superior, there could be finally be peace!”

“Fat chance, lame brain!” all in attendance gasped - for an impossibly tall young woman popped out of the top of a GONK droid to face the wannabe Kirk. “Everybody knows that Star Wars is the greatest thing ever!”

“Your beloved Star Wars is more a fairy tale than science fiction!” one red-faced, red-shirted Trekker shouted. “Imagine, weirdly dressed magicians running around using magic spells and calling it sci-fi!”

“Oh please, like mixing matter and anti-matter and using lasers to power dilithium crystals is so ‘scientific’? Sounds about as wibbly wobbly as a Stephen Moffat episode of Doctor Who!” cried an impressively outfitted Greedo.

“We didn't need movies to capture the imagination and love of our audience,” countered a young woman dressed as an Andorian, diddlybobs swaying.

“But you did need your audience to keep your garbage scow afloat for three seasons,” retorted a man clad in a storm trooper uniform. “Without that letter campaign you'd have been dead in the water.”

“Two words, rebel scum,” spat a Nurse Chapel cosplayer. “Christmas special.”

With a roar, a group of a dozen fully suited Ewoks charged ahead, bowling over a trio of Yeoman Rands. In response, a group of Gorn threw their styrofoam rocks at a genderswapped  C3PO (or was it just Joan Rivers’s character from Space Balls?), startling her and causing her to lose her balance from atop her golden roller skates. An exceptionally strong looking Uhura grabbed a pair of Princess Leia doubles and conked their heads together, Three Stooges style.

Suddenly, there came a gasp from the gathered crowd. Where once there had stood only the man known as Klaatu, two Force ghosts flickered into view - they were the ghosts of Yoda and Mr. Spock!

“It is illogical to disagree violently about your preferred form of entertainment,” said Spock, his eyebrow raised as he looked over the crowd. “From what I learned in the company of humans, it is what makes us unique and individual that is most special. Agree to disagree, but do not go to war over something so insignificant.”

“Live and let live, you must,” agreed Yoda. “Worth being excluded from the universal community, it is not. Laugh at you one day, your grandchildren would.”

And all the nerds who had gathered looked at each other, and realized: they weren’t so different. Sure, some of them preferred their science fiction a little more sciency, and some preferred it a little more magicky, but they both agreed spaceships, aliens, and defeating evil was cool, didn’t they?

“Live long and prosper,” said Spock, raising his hand in the memorable Vulcan farewell.

“May the Force be with you,” said Yoda, attempting with his tridactyl fingers to mimic Spock’s gesture. He struggled for a moment before muttering, “For the birds, this is! Prosper and live long…”

The Jedi Master was in the middle of a grumble as the legions of dorks, dweebs, nerds and geeks came together and embraced, and with a satisfied smile and a shake of his wizened head, Yoda and Spock started to fade away, back to wherever they had come from. Balance had been obtained, and would continue long, long into the future.

“This was a dumb war anyway.” The crowd turned as one to where a tall thin man in a floppy hat, frock coat and impossibly long scarf stood. “Classic Who is far superior to either of these lame franchises. Would you like a jelly baby?”

Thanks for reading! If you’re hungry for more, check back here for Ames, Jake, Chris’s stories, revisit our first batch of TOS fanfic here, keep listening to the podcast, and follow A Star to Steer Her By on Facebook and Twitter. Be sure to tip your yeoman!