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Biscuit Reviews Star Trek Discovery Season One (SPOILERS)

So I know I normally review games, but I figured I’d try out a different review, mostly because I have a lot to talk about with one of the new Star Trek series, Star Trek: Discovery. I recently subscribed to the CBS All Access streaming service and granted it was mostly for Picard, I figured I’d give Discovery a go in between episodes.

As for my history with Star Trek, it’s been around for pretty much my entire life. My dad is a huge fan. I remember that he used to have a huge VHS collection of TOS and TNG. My first introduction was actually through TNG and it holds a special place in my heart. I’ve also watched every series minus Enterprise (will soon be remedying that), watched every movie, was in the initial launch of Star Trek: Online and watched the fan series Star Trek Continues, where despite being “fanon”, has been regarded by Rod Rodenberry as the true continuation of TOS and has gone on record multiple times that his father, Gene Rodenberry, would consider the series canon. 

So yeah, I’d say Star Trek is a pretty big deal for me.

This review is going to cover the entirety of season 1 for Discovery. I won’t break down episode by episode as the season did have a continuing storyline throughout the entire season. I will go ahead and state that I’m not going to harp on the inconsistencies of Discovery’s technology. I know season 1 takes place 10 years before TOS. In fact, I gave it a pass because when it comes to long lasting sci-fi IPs, I feel that it’s an issue that has to be forgiven. How the 1960s audience viewed the future is vastly different than how we today view the future. So with that all of the technological inconsistencies, are just going to get a pass. As far as the subject of Lore such as well established events within Trek history, that will be taken on a case by case basis and I’ll be explaining those in my review as well.

Oh, and I will also be mentioning spoilers for season 1. A lot.

I walked into Discovery with an open mind, I was actually excited for the pitch on how it followed a first officer and would be more of a personal story. Discovery follows Michael Burnham (portrayed by Sonequa Martin-Green), first officer of the USS Shenzhou, a human who was raised by Vulcans. Immediately I loved this idea as Michael Burnham, which is traditionally a masculine name, is played by a woman and a person who identifies as a woman pushing another boundary that names are just names, they got no gender.

Even her backstory on how she got adopted by Vulcans was intriguing. Her home was attacked by Klingons which resulted in the death of her parents. This not only created depth but immediately establishes that Discovery is very much Michael’s story. Then came what is what I consider the biggest blunder to Michael and perhaps her greatest weakness. The Vulcan who adopted her was Sarek, Spock’s father. 

This is the first case of lore that I have a problem against. For one it’s never been mentioned that Spock had a sister, adopted or otherwise. Now you can argue that the idea of Spock having a sister is open to debate as Spock himself has teased that in the movies when he mentioned having a brother to Kirk. However, we never got any actual confirmation that it was the case. Also, we see that Sarek actually has somewhat of a close relationship with Michael which goes against Sarek’s character in that point of time in the Trek universe. Although Sarek is more open and accepting to emotions, he always still projected the outward appearance of Vulcan logic to his peers and his son. He was also always stand-offish towards Spock, yet despite that he did a lot for Spock and tried to teach him both his Vulcan and Human heritages. There’s also another issue with the Sarek/Michael relationship that I have that I will expand upon later in the review.

If you thought lore inconsistencies would be my major sticking point, my other major sticking point is the first two episodes of Discovery. These episodes cover the event that started the Federation/Klingon war in TOS, an event that would be known as The Battle of the Binary Stars. What’s my issue you might ask? This very episode actively contradicts a certain event, an event that Discovery itself established. That Michael’s home was attacked by Klingons. How does it contradict this? By having Captain Georgiou say in the same episode and to Michael that Klingons have had no known contact with the Federation for 100 years.

Now, we don’t know how old Michael herself is, but I’m assuming her tragic backstory happened 20+ years ago. Last I checked, Michael and her parents are considered Federation citizens. Having Klingons attack what is a Federation outpost, I would consider that a contact. So to have a character say that didn’t happen, when that very contact makes up Michael’s backstory was quite a head scratcher. You could argue that maybe the Federation is trying to cover that up, but if that’s the case, they’re doing a pretty terrible job by allowing one of their leading ambassadors to adopt a survivor of this attack and then accepting that survivor into Starfleet.

Aside from that bit of lazy writing, there’s also some really stupid character and narrative decisions that occured within the first two episodes. I feel that these two episodes were prisoners of the established lore so to keep in line with that, they tripped over themselves to make sure said event still happened.

You have Captain Georgiou not listening to Michael. Michael tells her how the Vulcans managed to open a dialogue with the Klingons. Despite Michael giving Captain Georgiou a proven working tactic, Gerogiou actively does the opposite thing saying, “no we can’t shoot at them, we have to talk, peace, Federation principles.” Yeah, but Federation principles are also figuring how to communicate with a species and seeing how Klingons respond with aggression and you have Michael who is citing how Vulcans established contact, nope, we gotta talk to them, not shoot them.

Now, there are a couple of sticking points that the first two episodes also show. For one, the Klingon redesign. Klingons have always had lore inconsistencies in terms of their design so I don’t see a reason to give Discovery grief on that so it gets a pass. The other point, Michael being labeled the first mutineer, with as controversial as that is among the Trek fans, I’m letting that one slide as well. I know TOS said that there has never been a mutiny on a Starfleet vessel. I know technically Spock was the first mutineer but even TOS itself has been weird about that detail. So, I feel that argument doesn’t really hold much water to count as a lore inconsistency if even the established canon likes to be wishy washy about the fact.

Anyways, it’s not until episode three that we finally get to the titular ship and meet its crew. We have Captain Gabriel Lorca, First Officer Saru, Lt. Staments, Chief Medical Officer Hugh Culber, and Cadet Tilly. There are some other regular crew members throughout the entirety of the series, but they have such little screen time that I’m not going to count them.

As far as supporting cast goes, Captain Lorca actually does an excellent job in helping establish that this Trek series is different than the usual fare. It’s more focused on war and he considers himself a Soldier more than he does an explorer. Saru, is by far the best new character introduced to this series. He’s a new race never before seen in the lore and the past he shares with Michael during the Battle of the Binary Stars creates good drama and tension in all these fronts. Staments is researching a new travel method that involves space mushrooms and his personality falls under the “cold and jerkish, but has a heart of gold” trope. He’s also the resident gay and how Discovery showed his relationship with Dr. Culber was so beautiful and amazing, that I really wish other series would take note. Then it had to do the typical “kill the gay” trope and it lost my respect.

Then there’s also… Ash Tyler. He is perhaps the most mishandled character in the entire Trek series. Honestly, he felt like someone that was just written to create problems for the sake of creating problems. I don’t mind showcasing PTSD and bringing awareness to it. But when you constantly throw the guy with PTSD at Klingons and even acknowledging it multiple times that’s not bringing awareness, that’s terrible writing and a blatant lack of understanding. Let’s not forget he’s also a result of Klingon torture, experimentation that caused his personality to be shared with a Klingon personality, brainwashing, and rape. When he recognizes something is wrong, he reaches out for help, but what does everyone do? They just keep bringing him on missions and then yell at him for fucking up. The crew keeps telling him he'll be fine, it will pass he has their support and then proceed to chastise him for not seeking help and having their back when he was having a mental episode.

The series also brought a classic TOS antagonist as well, Harry Mudd (portrayed by Rainn Wilson). I have to say if there was a way to bring a classic Trek character to help build the universe and show the relation between Discovery and TOS, having a minor antagonist from TOS was a great way to build that bridge. I’m talking about the episode where Harry Mudd attempts to steal the Discovery and he tries to do it in the most Trek way possible. Creating a timeloop with technology that is beyond our understanding, but alien enough and futuristic enough to have the audience intrigued about how the device itself works and the cast also trying to figure it out and finding a solution.

There’s also two other classic Trek trope episodes, first contact and saving an ambassador. First contact was amazing and further showcased Saru as a Starfleet officer. The saving an ambassador episode was a bit of a mess.

In the ambassador episode (which is episode 6) Sarek’s ship has been attacked by...Vulcan logic extremists. This is something that I’ll admit was a really tough pill to swallow, Vulcan logic extremists? I was against the idea at first but then I sat down and tried to think logically. I mean it’s not unheard of, as we do have Vulcans in the Maquis during the TNG and DS9 era. Having a Vulcan terrorist organization on Vulcan would make as much sense as there have been Vulcans in previous series that are in terrorist organizations. Then there’s also the Vulcans that followed and worked with Spock during his attempts to broker peace with the Romulans during the TNG era. They too were considered extremists, so much so that the Federation ordered Picard to get Spock for fear that he was defecting. So having a Vulcan logic extremist group actually isn’t as much of a leap as I initially thought.

However, it’s the event that followed the attack I have issues with. After the terrorist attack, Sarek reaches out to not Spock, but Michael. This is an issue because it’s been proven that although Sarek can be a bit callous, he will always reach out to Spock in times of trouble and need. I feel like Sarek reaching out to Michael, as he is possibly dying, is a bit of a slap to the complicated relationship showcased between Sarek/Spock throughout the years. “Sorry Spock, got to make way for your adopted sister that was messily written to have connections to us in an attempt to get the long time Trekkies to buy in the series.”

As mentioned previously, I want to make it super clear that I have no issues with Michael Burnham. I just wish that the writers treated her character with more respect to allow her to be her own character rather than have a sloppy connection to legacy characters. I feel that Michael would have stood out more if she were adopted by a Vulcan that was not Sarek, but rather some other Vulcan. I feel by having a different Vulcan adoptive parent, Michael could have had a lot more room to grow as a character. You want the connection to Spock still? Fine, make them childhood friends or something else other than adoptive brother/sister. Make them Starfleet Academy rivals, I felt anything would have been better than Sarek adopting Michael.

Then there’s the Mirror Universe, which I’ll admit the multiple episode arc that covered the Mirror Universe gave me a love/hate feelings. First, I do love that it continued and added on to the fan theory turned canon event of the USS Defiant being shifted to the Mirror Universe in the past. I love that it touched more on how a Prime Universe person, living in the Mirror Universe can take a toll on them as they do things against their morals to stay under cover. TOS only scratched the surface and with Discovery taking it further and actually having that impact Michael was truly a nice change of pace to other instances of Trek characters encountering the Mirror Universe.

But there were definitely weird moments. Again, continuing to put Ash Tyler in situations that trigger his PTSD or his dormant Klingon personality, Captain Lorca actually being from the Mirror Universe. Now I’ll admit I wasn’t a fan at first, but the way he left the Mirror Universe and returned was such a Trek way of going back and forth, I can’t help but actually admire it.

Of course we run into counterparts of other characters as well. For example, we find out that the Mirror Universe version of Captain Georgiou is actually the Emperor of the Terran Empire. It was such a beautiful build up and made so many changes to Michael and bringing the Emperor to the Prime Universe could and does lead to some great dilemmas. However, there is one very tiny thing that I feel negates all of that and something that plagued Discovery in its first two episodes. Being a prisoner to established canon. When Discovery makes their way back to the Prime Universe they are ordered to never reveal the discovery of the Mirror Universe to anyone, because you know, Kirk hadn’t found it yet. So how does Discovery explain this? The Klingons can’t know about alternate universes and that it’s possible to travel to them so they are ordered to never reveal the possibility of alternate universes.

Anyways the Federation is on the verge of losing the war and desperate means call for desperate measures, that being genocide. Now it’s the not first time the Federation has threatened to commit genocide, they’ve threatened to do that in the established canon a few times as well. TNG did it, DS9 did it, Voyager did it, and from what I can tell, Enterprise did it too. So being in the corner that they were in is not uncharacteristic of the Federation, especially with how desperate they were to turn the war around. It also establishes Emperor Georgiou as a recurring antagonist to appear in future episodes.

After turning the war around, the Federation and Klingons agree to end hostilities, the Klingons are united as one empire and glorious speeches all around then off to Discovery’s next mission: Escort Sarek to Vulcan and pick up its new Captain. However, during the journey, Discovery picks up a distress signal from none other than the U.S.S. Enterprise and ends with the classic ending theme from TOS, which I’ll admit really hit hard and brought many happy feelings.

Discovery does have a lot of potential. However, I feel the writers are trying too hard to keep within established lore. The attempts to also sell Michael as the sister of Spock holds her back so much that it weighs her down unnecessarily. A lot of issues I have with Discovery is with its writing. It has all the ingredients to be a great series, but it was greatly mishandled. I feel that if Discovery was either not a prequel series, or a prequel series that didn’t try to play coy with established events the first season would have been great. With as big as a universe there is to play with, they could have had the potential to truly explore new worlds and ideas and it wasn’t seized upon. Hell, despite a rough beginning, it had a great idea with introducing the theme of war it established in the beginning and how it affects someone on a personal level.

However, despite the good, it was mishandled in so many ways and did these new characters more of a disservice than anything.

Star Trek Discovery receives a 2 out of 5

#Star Trek Discovery #Discovery #Disco #Biscuit Reviews #Series review #Star Trek #CBS #CBS All Access #Star Trek: Picard #Michael Burnham

[writesandramblings]

The Captain’s Secret - p.98

“A Fate Worse Than Death”

A/N: Should... should I have titled the previous chapter "Defacing the Music" or would that have been too much? Ahaha... ha...

Three chapters left after this one.

Full Chapter List Part 1 - Objects in Motion << 97 - Facing the Music 99 - Sigh No More >>

They could not put Lorca in the brig for obvious reasons. They could not, for even more obvious reasons, put Groves there, either. "If we disabled all computer access in the lab, we can keep them there," concluded Saru.

Kumar took one look at the things Mischkelovitz had done in the walls and vetoed this idea. "I don't even know what half these mods are, but that's clearly mushroom stuff," he said when he pulled open the access panel nearest the door and saw the mess of mycelial tubing. "We need a full engineering team of experts, ideally the people who built this ship."

"Can you disable access in crew quarters?" asked Cornwell, remembering a complaint from Dr. Samaritan Li that had come across her desk many years back.

"Sure," said Kumar.

"Completely disabled. Not even emergency safeties."

"You got it, admiral."

The suggestion gave Saru pause. It seemed unethical. "Lorca has been recently injured," Saru said after Kumar was gone. "If there are complications..."

Lorca was not the only one who could communicate an entire symphony of disdain with a single glance. The look Cornwell gave Saru said in no uncertain terms that Lorca's survival was not only so far down the list of priorities it came somewhere after organizing a crew movie night, it was also just as optional.

Twenty minutes later, Kumar was done. "I even disconnected the toilet and shower controls just in case. They can only be triggered from the outside now." So far as he knew, these modifications were being made purely for the benefit of Groves and this was his little way of getting back at Groves for everything in null time. Had he known the same fate awaited Lorca, he would have been even more pleased.

"Perfect," said Cornwell. "Bring them out."

Lorca and Groves both objected to the move. "I'd rather be in the brig," said Lorca.

"Good for you," said Cornwell blandly.

"I'd rather he was in the brig, too," said Groves.

Cornwell did not dignify that with a response. "Transporter room—"

"Wait!" Groves shouted, throwing up his hands in desperation. "What are we supposed to do in there with no computer? Can I—can I at least get a violin? Saru!"

Saru looked at Groves with pity. "I will arrange one for you."

"Fan—"

"Energize," said Cornwell. Groves and Lorca vanished in a shimmer of light. Their disappearance did nothing to lighten her mood. "See to it that this place is taken care of and let me know the minute Lalana is awake."

"Yes, admiral."

Cadet Tilly was more than happy to make her own assessment of Mischkelovitz's modifications; she understood what they were better than anyone else. She also remembered how stridently Mischkelovitz had cautioned against anyone finding out the true nature of the system, so she kept her conversation informal as she poked around the walls. "Is it true she's not going to wake up?"

That was the greatest tragedy where Saru was concerned. If only he had convinced Lorca to send Mischkelovitz away all those months ago, the quirky scientist would still be with them today. "Unfortunately, it seems unlikely."

"Poor Mac—I mean, Colonel O'Malley. He lost his brother and now his sister, too."

Tilly was preoccupied enough with her assigned task that she did not see the dawning realization in Saru's posture. Saru himself did not have time to finish fully processing the implications.

"Pollard to Commander Saru. Sir, Dr. Mischkelovitz is awake!"

It was a miracle Pollard could not explain. "There was zero brain activity on my scans. A doctor from the Khorana came over and applied some sort of experimental protocol and now..." Pollard had gone to check on Mischkelovitz in the temporary surgical suite and saw the activity change on the monitor. According to the notations left by the other doctor on the chart, the patient was expected to make a full recovery as a result of this mysterious "protocol."

Mischkelovitz looked at Pollard and Saru, strangely sedate. "Can I go now?"

"I don't think that's wise," said Pollard. "I don't know if the protocol has any side effects, or even how it works. I'd like to monitor Dr. Mischkelovitz until further notice."

Mischkelovitz slid off the medical slab, opened one of the drawers set into the base, and pulled out a remote monitor. She slapped it onto her neck. "You're monitoring me. Now can I go?"

"Where is it you wish to go?" asked Saru.

"My quarters," was the answer. "I'm tired."

Pollard shook her head at Saru. Culber might have developed a rapport with Mischkelovitz but no one else on staff had and Mischkelovitz was a notoriously difficult patient. Pollard was more than happy to shift both the blame and responsibility for any decisions onto Saru.

"I believe Colonel O'Malley would prefer you to remain here," suggested Saru.

Mischkelovitz glanced over at O'Malley's still-sleeping form. "I don't want to and I'm going to go."

"Very well, you may go and sleep, but I will expect a full report on the modifications you have made to your lab and the admiral may have questions for you. I know I do. Report to me once you are rested."

"Yes," said Mischkelovitz, glancing at Saru's collar. "Commander."

As Mischkelovitz walked out of sickbay, Saru thought it felt like things had gone back to the way they were when he first met her.

They materialized in the quarters Groves had formerly shared with Larsson. "—tastic, thank... damn it." Groves flopped down on the bed to the right with a sigh. "You can have Larsson's bed," he said, as if this were some form of hospitality and not the most obvious thing in the world.

The quarters were abysmally small. Two beds, a bit of storage space for each, a shared desk, and a meager bathroom. Lorca had assigned this exact ensign double to all the Lab 26 personnel as a preemptively punitive measure and now he was bearing the brunt of the indignity. Curiously, there was already a guitar on Groves' side of the room, rendering the violin a questionable necessity.

"They could've at least sent my clothes," grumbled Lorca, rummaging for a shirt among Larsson's things. Disappointingly, most of what Larsson had was white and all of it was entirely too big.

Groves rolled his eyes at Lorca's intrusion into Larsson's belongings and grabbed something from his own closet. "That would have tipped more people off. Here."

The shirt on offer was red. "Got anything black?" Groves handed Lorca a black t-shirt that had a strange white bug creature printed on it made out of little cubes. "What the hell is this?"

Groves stared impassively. "You don't know Space Invaders? And here I thought my childhood was deprived. How about I..." Groves remembered he was cut off from the computer and began swearing profusely—in English for once.

"Jesus, Groves," said Lorca in a mix of disparagement and mild admiration when the colorful tirade finally ended a full minute later. "Pants?"

Groves pulled all his clothing drawers open in an angry frenzy. "Whatever! Just take it all! I don't care!" Then he got back onto his bed and sulked.

They were barely five minutes in and this was already unbearable.

Lorca noted a certain bareness to Larsson's side of the room. The Swede had little in the way of personal effects, but most of what he did have on display were pictures of himself on various worlds, often with a freshly-caught fish or similar bit of sea fauna dangling on a line. In one image, he was eating dinner with Yoon and Morita. In another, he was laughing and Lalana was clinging to his back with the expression of a deer in headlights because that was essentially the only facial expression she had. Looking closely, though, it was possible to make out the mid-click position of her tongue.

By some miracle there was a single printed book in the room. Unfortunately it turned out to be a vanity copy of the one Larsson had written, Gates of Hell: An In-Depth History of the Uanar-Barosic Wars [2066-2079]. Lorca opened it up and read the dedication. To the best Captain I ever had I dedicate this book. Somehow, Larsson had managed to construct an eleven-word run-on sentence. The rest of the book's prose matched the dedication entirely save for the major difference that most of the other sentences were very, very long indeed. Lorca put the tome back down. He was not yet desperate enough to slog through it.

Out of nowhere, Groves asked, "Do you ever get the urge to just smash something into your face?"

Lorca stared. "No."

"Huh. Guess it's just me."

Grimacing, Lorca laid down and closed his eyes. When he opened them again it was to the sound of a violin being tuned and the cloying smell of sweet potatoes. He sat up, lip twitching in annoyance.

"They beamed in some dinner," Groves informed him. One of the trays was already eaten and the other was missing something from one of the compartments. "I took your dessert. I'd say sorry, but..."

Lorca decided not to take the bait and scooped up a spoonful of cold, orange mush. He lifted it a few inches into the air and turned the spoon sideways, watching the watery goop drip back down into the pile on the tray. It fell a little short of the meal quality he was accustomed to. "This isn't food. Isn't even a meal. There's no meat."

"Don't complain," said Groves, plucking the violin strings with his fingernail and adjusting the tuning. "You're getting off scot-free thanks to me. Cornwell bought the whole 'keep this quiet or we're all screwed' angle."

"You say that like it isn't true," noted Lorca, feeling this finally confirmed his suspicions.

"Oh, it's true. You'd better start accepting it, too, 'cause you're just smart enough to be a danger to yourself if you start getting any more grandiose ideas, and you're definitely a danger to all of us. Every single person who helps you ends up worse off. Lalana, Melly, Mac. Now me. You're human cancer. I liked the other Lorca better."

Lorca shot Groves a wry frown. "You never met the man."

"Yeah, but he killed himself. That I can understand." Groves tucked the violin against his cheek and began to play.

To Lorca's surprise, Groves was good. Very good. Unfortunately, the tune he was playing was little more than a fluttering arrangement of tiny, tinny notes that repeated over and over endlessly. It clearly required technical precision, and there was something momentarily beautiful about it, but the beauty faded into repetitive annoyance. "What the hell is that?"

"Fratres, sort of," said Groves, not missing a single note. If anything, he started playing it even faster. "It was my brother's favorite. I used to play it for him for hours."

"Well I hate it, so I'm telling you to stop."

"In a minute."

"No, now."

Groves turned his back to Lorca and went even faster. The notes became pinpricks, almost too fast to follow. Groves' arms shook violently at the intense effort.

Lorca flicked a spoonful of orange mush at Groves' back. He heard the tiniest squeak of a missed note, nothing more. He debated throwing the whole tray but, as bad as the food was, he needed to eat, so he reached down for one of his boots instead. That stopped the music in its tracks.

"Just for that," said Groves as he turned back, "I'm doing this the easy way." He went over by the door and resumed playing with his fingers so high up on the fingerboard they were almost to the bridge. This time, the sound was not a rapid succession of notes forming any sort of tune but a long, sustained series of high-pitched scraping noises.

It was excruciating. Lorca covered his ears. "Knock it off, Groves! You call that music!?"

"No, you idiot. I'm trying to hack the computer."

"With a violin?"

"Yeah. I can't whistle loud enough at the right pitch to pierce the door, but if I can get the strings just right, I can generate a sound wave that the computer will interpret as a command and then it's off to the races."

Lorca stared. "You're kidding."

"Nah, I'm just that good."

Lorca suspected Groves was lying and just making the noise to annoy him, but it was hardly the craziest thing someone had proposed in the past seventy-two hours and Groves was a bastion of sanity compared to Mischkelovitz. Lorca decided to bear it for a few minutes.

The initial attempt seemed to dissatisfy Groves. He retuned his strings and tried again. There was a pinging snap as one broke. Another adjustment, another attempt.

Groves struck a particularly egregious, painful high note that felt like the audio equivalent of bright lights and Lorca exclaimed in pain. "Sorry," said Groves, almost sounding sincere. He played the note again, even more sharply this time.

The door opened.

"Holy," began Lorca, amazed, but his amazement and Groves' elation faded quickly when they saw Mischkelovitz standing in the doorway.

Or at least, for a moment they thought they did.

"Ne'he kratis-kolht!" gasped Groves, violin and bow falling slackly to his side.

There was no flicker of understanding in Mischkelovitz's eyes. There was no flicker of anything, because while they may have been her eyes, the mind behind them was not. Instead there was a darkness, intense and enduring. She ignored Groves and addressed Lorca. "I'll have that tooth now."

"Petra," said Lorca.

Groves took a step back. He had seen Petrellovitz over the bridge feed when she first arrived on Discovery and been shocked by all her scars. He had also heard the news of her demise at the hands of L'Rell in the cargo bay. The woman in the doorway was impossible on two counts.

She also seemed not to recognize her own brother, which meant it was true. Emellia Petrellovitz had never seen what John Groves looked like when he was grown because she had killed her version of him almost twenty years ago. She failed to even register the resemblance between the man standing to her right and the boy whose last independent act had been to lunge at her with a kitchen knife as she sliced his arms off with an industrial fabrication laser.

Groves stepped away from her, backing straight into the wall. The violin and bow fell from his hands and clattered onto the floor. His mind raced as he tried to figure out how Petrellovitz had come to be here. None of the possibilities he came up with were remotely good.

The tooth was in the pocket of the blood-caked Terran uniform pants draped neatly across the back of the desk chair. Lorca retrieved it and held it out to Petrellovitz. "Here."

She darted forward, greedily snatching the tooth, but her focus on her prize was so all-encompassing she missed the look of determination on Lorca's face and realized too late that he had used the tooth to lure her in.

Lorca grabbed Petrellovitz's wrist, pulling her towards him and wrapping her in an embrace that pinned her arms to her sides. He had used the same move on Georgiou during the fight in the throne room, but this time, it felt like he had taken an ice pick to the chest as she slammed against him because he essentially had. He gasped painfully as his vision swam with spots. "Help me!" he wheezed at Groves.

Groves took one look at the squirming form of his not-sister and shook his head. "I'm not getting kicked again!" Apparently one physical altercation with his sister was enough to make him gun-shy forever.

Petrellovitz did kick, but only into the air, unbalancing Lorca and sending them both crashing back against the floor. A line appeared on Petrellovitz's neck as the seam of her new flesh tore.

"I'm gonna—I'll get Saru!" decided Groves, dashing out the open door. A second later he reappeared, hitting the external controls to seal Lorca and Petrellovitz in.

Petrellovitz struggled furiously and began to twist with the intent of kicking against the bed—a move that would seriously threaten the makeshift repairs in Lorca's chest. The anguished hiss of his breathing became a desperate whisper into her ear. "Petra! Petra, calm down!"

He released her and she bounced away. He rolled over onto his side in pain, inhaling shakily through clenched teeth and holding the breath until he felt in control again. When he exhaled, it was calmly. Then he sat up, resting his arms on his knees.

There was a smear of red across the white space invader on Lorca's borrowed shirt and a matching stain of red down the white of Petrellovitz's stolen Starfleet uniform. Petrellovitz herself would not have called it stolen because it fit as perfectly as if it had been tailor-made for her, just like Mischkelovitz's skin. How could you steal what was clearly meant to belong to you?

"You idiot," she scowled at him, pressing a hand to the gash on her neck. "Now they know it's me!"

"Believe me, Groves was halfway to that conclusion when you didn't answer him at the door."

The scowl twisted with annoyance. "Groves?" She recognized Corinne Narvic's maiden name and put the pieces together. Groves entirely had his mother's coloration: the same dusky brown skin, dark eyes, and dark hair. "You're telling me that's Johnny?"

Lorca shrugged and smirked. "Listen up. We don't have much time. How soon can you get your little mushroom transporter going again?"

"I'm done with mushrooms," said Petrellovitz, scanning the floor and spotting the tooth. It had landed under the bed in the scuffle. She crawled under to retrieve it.

"Unless you know of a better way for us to get back..."

"Back?" repeated Petrellovitz as she reemerged with the tooth. "Why the hell would I want to go back. For that matter, why do you?"

"Our people are counting on us."

Petrellovitz stared. "You lost, Gabriel. I'm not interested in watching you pick up the pieces or getting captured again because of you."

"Petra, you know me. I'll find a way. We can do it together, like Michael would've wanted. You can rule as an empress if you want. I'll back you."

"My god, you are pathetic. Good luck with that. I'm not helping you. I have research to do." She slipped the tooth into her pocket and stood up.

The door opened. Groves had returned with Saru.

"Commander!" exclaimed Petrellovitz in a voice an octave and a half higher than Lorca had ever heard her use. "Thank goodness you're here! I came to see my brother and he pushed me and said I was from the other universe! I'm not from the other universe. Here, you can scan me!" She pulled her sleeve partway up her right arm, offering it to Saru for inspection.

"Your brother is in sickbay," said Saru, confused.

"Other brother," offered Lorca, momentarily glad to see someone else on the other side of the reveal for once. He could see now why Groves enjoyed the mislead so much. It was so stupid and obvious in retrospect.

Saru was audibly bitter. "Mr. Groves."

"I..." Groves looked at the stranger masquerading as his sister and realized he was facing a dilemma. They both knew she was lying. They also both knew Mischkelovitz was gone and never coming back and there was nothing Groves could do to change this, except maybe lie like both their lives depended on it. "I'm sorry, Mischka. I thought... I guess I was wrong."

With a deep breath, Saru informed "Mischkelovitz" that, as innocent as her intentions were, she was not to be in this room. "Then can I speak to my brother for a moment?" she asked. "I promise I'll leave after and I won't come back."

"You may have five minutes," granted Saru.

The semisweet façade faded the moment Saru was gone. "You didn't have to do that," said Petra darkly.

"Yeah, well," said Groves, turning away from her. "You didn't trigger Saru's ganglia so I guess you're not a threat."

"Stay out of my way and that will remain true."

Lorca grunted as he used the table to heave himself back up. "So that's it? You're just gonna stay here and play pretend?"

"It's a clean slate," said Petrellovitz. "It's not pretend."

"These people are on the verge of losing a war against the Klingons."

"Whether they do or not doesn't matter. Humans, Klingons, money, power, love. All of these things are fleeting. Only science is eternal. You got in the way of my science, Gabriel, you and Michael both, with your piddling little power struggles and politics. All I ever wanted to do was pursue my research and everyone's always getting in the way. Not here. Here, I'm free to create a legacy that will stand the test of time. And they'll let me do it, too. Either side, whoever wins, will have a place for me. I'm only sorry I stuck with you as long as I did." She realized now, had she gone through the transporter herself instead of sending him, she could have had this universe months ago. She banged her fist twice on the door and Saru let her out. Out of the five minutes she had been given, she had barely used one.

Lorca could have called after her, tried to convince her with new promises and platitudes, but he knew it was pointless. Petrellovitz was gone and she was never coming back to him. The only reason she had stuck with Lorca to begin with was his promise of unfettered access to whatever research projects she wanted. For years that arrangement had worked for her, but now he could not provide any such access and she had no use for him.

Lorca sat down on Larsson's bed and pressed his face into his hands. Groves watched with wary concern. It was impossible to read the intent of Lorca's face when his expression was covered. Then Lorca shuddered as he inhaled and Groves realized he did not need Lorca's face to know what the former captain was presently feeling.

"I'm sorry," said Groves, and for the first time, he meant it.

"Don't you pity me!" spat Lorca.

Groves sat down opposite Lorca. "Never," he said. He reached under his pillow and pulled out something wrapped in a hand towel. "I think this is yours."

It was a cookie. Not the fortune kind, the regular sort with chocolate chips, purloined from Lorca's dinner tray. Groves had not eaten it, merely tucked it away to save for later.

Sighing, Lorca took the cookie and broke off a morsel. "You know, Saru's ganglia aren't infallible. I never tripped 'em."

"Why would you? You weren't actually a threat to us. I mean, you've done a lot of crap, but in your own way, you were trying to help."

The cookie did not offer the same comfort as its fortune-filled cousin. "I thought I was human cancer."

"Cancer is just cell growth gone awry," said Groves with a shrug. "Perfectly natural and necessary part of life. Anyway, I had to play along. Think about it. If we don't match history closely enough, we'll disappear just like the holo-recording did. History says you died. History also says Emellia lived long enough to record something that no longer exists. Which means..."

Which meant nothing Lorca did for the rest of his life would make a mark in history. It was his destiny to die a forgotten echo of another man, doing nothing, being nothing.

John Allan stepped out from the wall and was confronted by his own disappointment. Lab 26 was empty, exactly as it should have been at this point in history, but some part of him had hoped it would be otherwise.

After twelve years on this assignment, it was hard to let go. He had learned the hard way that history had a way of surprising you and he would have liked one last surprise. A chance to say a real goodbye.

He was still dressed in the Terran uniform he had been wearing at the moment of his exposure as a temporal agent. On some level, the black suited him. Temporal agents were supposed to be like shadows, watching and safeguarding history without being entangled in it, and the uniform made him look the part even if he had failed miserably at being a shadow in the end.

Literally at the end. Twelve years and no one had suspected a thing. At least now he knew why "John Allan" disappeared from the historical record during Discovery's time in the mirror universe. That had always been a question mark with this assignment. Now he knew it was because he had been exposed.

Allan had failed to be a perfect shadow, but he had completed both his mission objectives: first, to guard the scientists Mischkelovitz, progenitors of the research and development of temporal stasis field technology (a crucial advantage in the temporal war and subsequently a banned technology), and second, to bring back the data from Discovery's jaunt in the mirror universe, because on that count, the historical record was severely lacking. Now the future would have a full record of events from someone who had lived them. History had helpfully even preselected the man for the job centuries before his own birth.

With a full copy of Discovery security archives prior to the wipe in his pocket, Allan finally had everything he needed to report in and no further reason to stay here.

So why was this so hard? He touched a finger to Mischkelovitz's desk.

As he wondered this, the transceiver in his dental implant vibrated in alert, signaling the arrival of another agent. A shimmer of black materialized in front of him.

No, not another agent. He stared at his own face in surprise.

They were both wearing the black uniforms of the Terran Empire. For a moment Allan worried he had brought back his mirror counterpart, but something in the other Allan's eyes told him he was looking at himself.

"Hey," they both said at the same time, which was all the confirmation either of them needed to know where they stood.

The second Allan was holding a portable jumper in his hands. These were highly controlled devices typically issued only to transit agents, not active assets, because the danger of such devices falling into the wrong hands was tremendous. "I remember standing where you are," said the second Allan. "Which is why I know it's time for me to give you this." He held out the jumper.

Allan took it, confused. "Why?"

Allan II held up a silver holodisc. "Because of this."

The message was as confusing to Allan as it was miraculous. "Mischka in the winter, okay, but bells and pots...?"

"Null time," supplied Allan II.

"Ah!" It made perfect sense in context. Add a chronitic contaminant to the spore canisters. Allan smiled.

"The destinations are already preset. Here's the Crestian flu for Chaudhuri and the T-nox agent for the spores. Careful not to confuse them. I know you won't, I just had to say it because I remember hearing it. Safe trip."

The first Allan vanished. A second later he walked out from the wall. "You lied," he said, holding up the holodisc. "Where did this come from?"

The other Allan smiled. "The original timeline." He shook his head, overtly pleased for having succeeded in tricking himself so thoroughly. "It was brilliant, really. Do you see how she did it? How we did it?"

"You're not me," said Allan. He had figured it out when he was standing in front of the spore canisters and realized the only way he could have pinpointed the exact date and time she referred to as "the time the lights went out" was if he had lived something that matched what she described, and he hadn't.

There was also no way the recording could exist if they were in a closed loop which had never required the message's creation; like energy, temporal information had to come from somewhere. That meant the loop was not closed.

"No," confirmed the other Allan. "I'm not. I'm an echo from another timeline. A timeline where it took Melly thirty more years to finish Milosz's work and develop the temporal stasis field. That was her great contribution to history. She did it here, too, but thirty years sooner. Passing her own research notes back to herself. End result: no discernible change to the outcome of history."

Allan's eyes teared up because even if Mischkelovitz had not changed her role in history, her fate had been drastically altered and that mattered a great deal to him.

Allan II continued, "I actually tried to do the changes myself, but when I went to make the first one, I saw you doing it instead. Turns out I didn't need to do anything, I just needed to tell you to. The question was, when? Then I realized I just had to scan for the point where the jumper was active twice. This point here. So now, can I have my jumper back?"

Allan considered that.

"Come on," said the other Allan, beckoning with his hand. "It is mine. And they'll retrieve you when you activate your transponder."

Allan wasn't sure if he trusted himself. To him, this felt like his mirror counterpart. "What are you going to use it for?"

"I'm going to give that bastard a piece of my mind."

There was no need to ask what bastard the other Allan was referring to. Allan desperately wanted to give Lorca a piece of his mind, too. This way, it would be like he was, even if he wasn't the one delivering the message personally. He handed the jumper back to the other Allan. "Do me a favor, will you?"

"For you?" smirked the other Allan, because of course he was willing to do a favor for himself. "Anything!"

"Tell him I'll never forgive him for what he did to Melly."

"You got it. Do me a favor and don't tell anyone I exist?" Allan II activated his jumper and was gone.

The Allan who had been born into and participated in this version of the timeline lingered in the lab, wondering how the other version of him could be satisfied with causing this version of events. Lorca alive, Mischkelovitz dead and skinned, three monsters from the mirror universe roaming free in their universe. How could this possibly be an improvement on the original events? He took a moment to compose himself before activating his transponder for remote retrieval.

But then, the other Allan had only intersected with the timeline in this universe briefly. Once to see himself performing the necessary changes, once to deliver the instructions. He had not been hiding on Discovery and watching events unfold in real-time and seen the truth. So far as he knew from his scan of the historical record, Lorca was dead, Mischkelovitz had recovered from an injury caused by her implants, and everything had turned out the same in the end.

That was the information the temporal remnant known as John Allan had happily taken as justification to jump back and accompany Discovery to the mirror universe again. After all, he had a jumper and no one in this timeline knew he existed. Why not take the opportunity to torment the tyrannical Terran captain in the hours before his death? After that, he could go anywhere he wanted in time and, so long as he kept his head down, witness firsthand all of his favorite historical events. It was a time traveler's dream come true.

In the end, neither John Allan truly understood the nuances of time travel. All they could do was act according to the information they had, as they had always been fated to do.

Part 99

#Star Trek #Discovery #Captain Lorca #Gabriel Lorca #fanfiction #fanfic #Katrina Cornwell #Saru #Sylvia Tilly #Admiral Cornwell #Commander Saru #Star Trek Discovery #Mirror Lorca

[yierknives]

Why carry a pocket knife? EDC Knives Introduction.

For people who are not entirely accustomed to everyday carry, a pocket knife might seem like a foreign, unnecessary, and/or scary thing. And that’s understandable. Humans are made of soft flesh and knives are metal and sharp. You could say fear is an entirely normal instinctual reaction. But you’d be discounting everything beneficial about them in favor of a largely incorrect stereotypical assumption. Knives are not solely weapons. They are multifaceted tools which, when used in proper fashion, can make our lives significantly easier, safer, and better. Allow us to demonstrate the benefits of carry a pocket knife.

UTILITY

The most obvious purpose of any blade — folding or otherwise — is its ability to cut. Which makes sense, as that is for what they were initially invented. And to this day, there are still dozens of routine applications therein. From stray threads on your clothing, to campfire steak, to the horrendous frustration that is plastic clamshell packaging, there are things throughout daily life which you need to cut and a work knife is an especially effective way to get the job done.

First Aid

We never really know when a loved one, a stranger, or even ourselves will be in need of first-aid. It can be as simple as removing a splinter or even trimming up some moleskin.

Knowing that I have my folder in my pocket to assist in the job adds a bit of confidence to my preparedness. If the emergency is more severe and I need to make field-expedient cravats or splints, my folder will also help to simplify those tasks.

When it comes to car accidents, you may end up being the first one on the scene. Seat belts tend to become an issue in many car wrecks. They do their intended job well, but then continue to be restrictive, which can make a hazardous situation even worse. Having a folder that you can easily deploy to cut the seat belt can be the difference between life and death for the victim(s) of the crash.

Eating & Food Preparation

This point may be a bit of a no-brainer for you, but I have forgotten to pack my eating utensils quite a few times over the years. Knowing that i have a knife, at the very least, can make a big difference in how I digest my meal. Even the way that my meal is prepared can vary greatly depending on whether or not I have access to my folder.

Whether I am cleaning a fish, or even slicing through a tasty fillet once it’s cooked, my folder can make the experience much more productive. Being able to dice, prune, chop and slice (utilizing just one tool) makes my folder a companion that I can’t live without.

DEFENSE

Obviously, a knife can be used as a weapon, if the situation calls for it. Still, it needs to be mentioned. Unfortunately, one of the greatest risks to anyone’s personal safety nowadays is other people. And while a knife is no guarantee that you will always be safe, it certainly tips the scales in your favor. Even just flashing your blade is enough to deter most assailants. To be perfectly clear, we are not in any way, shape, or form advocating the use of threats or violence against anyone under any circumstances. We just think it better to be able to defend oneself than not.

Popular EDC Knives

Buck’s knives are so popular that its name is now used to describe lockback folding knives from any brand. Since Buck was founded in 1902, the company has grown exponentially, releasing a number of different models and designs that have set standards. You could read more in our article on the history of Buck knives.

What could be the best-selling folder of all time, the Model 110 is one of Buck’s most well-respected pocket knives. The Buck Stockman and Cadet are both very popular.

continues to be a popular brand of knives. Schrade products are among our best-selling knives at Knife Depot. Currently under Taylor Brands along with Old Timer and Smith & Wesson knives, Schrade has really started to shine through again with its new line of products.

Along with some of the traditional Schrade knives like the Uncle Henry Stockman and the Old Timer Minuteman, the Schrade Viper is also a popular model.

There’s no denying Gerber is one of the most popular brands out there. Gerber Legendary Blades was founded in Oregon in 1939 and created a big following with its boot knives and fighting knives. Still, its pocket knives are held in high regards by members of the knife community.

The Gerber Gator folding knife and Gerber multi-tools remain big sellers. The recent line of Bear Grylls survival knives, including the Bear Grylls pocket knife, have shot up in popularity.

The unique designs and blade shapes of Spyderco knives give them the reputation of being futuristic. Fans of Spyderco knives are extremely loyal and passionate — for good reason too. Spyderco has a proven track record of being innovative and not afraid to try new things, leading to developing dozens of new blade materials.Spyderco embraces the simplicity of the knife, which is why the Tenacious, Endura and Delica 4 are among the most popular models.

The detailed articles of the above four brand knives have been published in the front. If you feel interested, you can come to Yier City to find the knives you want. Our unique high-quality Yier knives will never let you down.

WHY CHOOSE YIERCITY

● We have a huge selection of authentic professional knife sets.

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●Continuously optimize the manufacturing process and design style, and pursue product innovation.

● We listen to our customer’s needs and adopt their feedback.

We are an official knife vendor who are verified on the knife forum with lots of third party five star reviews…and not one negative review to date.

#Benefit of pocket knife #pocket knife #work knife #Yier knife

[fyrapartnersearch]

looking to write my heart out with somebody!

hello hello!!!! i'm yearning for long-term, descriptive, literate (aka 3rd pov with proper grammar/punctuation) roleplayers to have threads with over discord AND/OR kik. if i've caught your interest, keep readin', it only gets better from here.

i just need someone who i can gush with over our babies, cry over our threads, and even make content for them (matching icons, playlists, edits, moodboards, all of that!!!) when the need arises. i only ask that you follow these guidelines: be 19+ (due to mature content), communicate clearly with me (i.e when you're not okay with a change in the plot/want to drop/add a change), DON'T spam me with messages (i should reply at least once a day, but i will let you know when i won't be online, i expect the same courtesy), don't godmod/oneline (my bread and butter is between two to three paragraphs per reply), versatility (you must play both male and female or just play male; those who play just females have just given me really bad experiences before.), maturity (no guilt tripping!!! that's like an insta block), and don't make me do all the work (contribute as in don't just sit there and say 'anything's fine with me' over and over again--it makes it feel as if i'm dragging you along just to do whatever i want). think you can manage? then keep reading!!

fandoms/plots i'm interested in: (if there's no specified gender on the plot, then any type of pairing [f/f, m/m, m/f] is okay with me!) everyone is aged up to 18+, none of my characters are underage and i expect the same from you!

- marvel: i absolutely crave all things marvel, but the pairings i'm looking for as of right now are: --- peter parker + mj: maybe they've been apart for the summer, peter busy with spidey stuff and mj with activism, but their first class at mit they realize that they're in the same class. slow bonding whilst peter's trying to keep the secret of being spiderman under wraps. how can he gain her trust to fall for him if he himself isn't truthful? (i'd play mj with a zendaya faceclaim.) --- miles morales + mj: miles is finally in college and is more than excited to tackle this new chapter of his life--until he catches sight of them. they're mj. they seems to be the only mj in his universe--are they HIS mj? his experience with his spider friends from other universes only seem to prove the fact that this person, this grumpy, indifferent, cynical person was meant to be his soulmate--it's written in the stars of the universe! hopefully they'll see it too. (i'd play mj with a zendaya faceclaim for a girl, and jeenu mahadevan for a boy.)

- stranger things: also deeply invested in a juicy stranger things plot!!!: --- jonathan + oc: awkward jonathan has finally graduated and scramped enough money to attend hawkins university, majoring in literature. it seems the most steady compared to what he really loved--photography. it's there that he sees her, a soft an quiet girl that seems to be a mirror image of him. yet, nobody seems to know where she's come from. it's a slow bond, gradual and steady, like lapping waves. jonathan thinks he's found the one person who might actually be his own slice of heaven. until she's at his doorstep in the middle of the night bleeding from the nose, holding the head of a dead demogorgon. (i'd play the oc with the faceclaim malaika firth.) --- billy + oc: being new in school was never a good thing--especially not in hawkins. everyone's already so close knit it seems to be a recipe for disaster for the new kid. it only seems to get worse when the renown bully--billy--seems to have set his ocean blue eyes on them. they try their best to avoid him, but he's everywhere they turn. the only solace is that they're never actually bullied, just pestered to hell and back. things seemed to be going well besides the ever present shadow that was billy--until they see his car parked down the block from their house, for some strange reason. a tap on the window reveals a bloodied and bruised billy, much to their horror. they patch him up and see a side of him that they'd never see. a vulnerable side. and that warms their stomach just a tad. (i'd play the oc with the faceclaim kiersey clemmons for a girl and callum stoddart for a boy.)

- twilight: i am an absolute twihard, so it's definitely something that i absolutely cannot live without: --- benjamin + oc: the reclusive gem from egypt is given a chance to explore--a few months to leave his home and go as far as his heart desires. it's been the time of his life, he's seen places he's only seen in books, met people that helped open his eyes the cruel and absolutely magnificent world that is the world of humans. he's only got a month left and he's decided to spend the last of his time in asia--vietnam to be exact. he's just arrived to the home of a friend of his father's to be his place to say--when a human girl answers the door. she's a bloom of a human, her eyes filled with a life that was restrained by the scars of teeth that littered her body. during his last month it vietnam he finds himself searching for a reason to see her, to talk to her, to engage with her. a torrid afair that may end in the greatest adventure ever for benjamin, or in his first heartbreak. (i'd play the oc with the faceclaim of lana condor.)

those are the plots for fandoms that i'm currently searching for, but if those aren't your cup of tea, i have some plots that arent fandom based as well!!!

--- a ww2 soldier is on tour, working hard to keep his country safe from the evil german grasp. their team has taken camp in one of the poorest villages yet untouched by the enemy's hand, and they are forever grateful for their protection. the soldiers are offered food, women and men of their choice, and prime housing. a new cadet on the squad is housed in the home of the chief/mayor of the village, where their child is assigned the task of making sure that they're always comfortable. despite the language barrier they bond and they even begin to exchange languages to connect further. what happens when the team has to keep moving forward or worse--german forces are on the horizon and the village must either flee or prepare for war? (i'd play the child of the chief/mayor with a faceclaim of havana rose liu for a girl or park jimin for a boy.)

-- it's 1996 and times only seem to get rougher. a rebellious skater girl is taken from the slums of brooklyn--her true home with her father--only to be shoved into the upper west side with her mother and step-father (though she'll never call him that, first name basis only). it's there that she's enrolled into a private academy that makes her gag with just skating past. the first day ends up with her skateboard getting confiscated, much to her dismay. the walk home showcases the subtle beauties that the upper west side has, such as a neatly manicured park with a beautiful bed of flowers that serve as a nice spot to relax--until she sees a nerd in the same uniform as her sitting on a bench. she's reluctant to sit by him, but she'd rather be there then at home. turns out he isn't too bad and she finds herself eager to hang out with him after school.... maybe even during school too.... and in other places.... like on dates and stuff. maybe. (i could play the skater girl or the nerd boy! if i were to play the skater girl my faceclaim would be willow smith and if i were the nerd boy my faceclaim would be markel willaims.)

--- being awkward and shy aren't the best mix for someone who wants to be a singer. they spend their days in the shadows and their nights mixing up rhymes to vocalize the feelings that rush through their mind while they look on from the bleachers. they've gotten better and better as the years go along, and it's finally their senior year of high school. a wrong turn on the way home after blocks of not paying attention takes them to this club that every friday night they allow amateurs to rock the might doing covers or singing their own songs. it's a leap of faith but that night, in their school uniform, they sing a song that drives the crowd wild. what was once a shy lamb is now a vixen that struts the stage as if they own it. every friday night they turn the club into their own personal concert where they belt their heart out to their adoring fans. this night seems packed, especially since word got out of their performance--which just happens to attract the eyes of a talent manager, there with their most famous artists at their side. after one of their best performances yet they find themselves being handed a card for one of the top record labels in the country, staring into the eyes of the person who can make them a star and take them out of the shadows. will they take it? (i'd play the part of the singer, with a faceclaim of ryan destiny for a girl and reece king for a boy.)

if you've made it this far i honestly applaud you, this was a jumble of word vomit and the fact that you've stuck with me this long makes me feel really happy!!! so, if any of these plots or pairings, ANY OF THEM, interest you, please don't hesitate to message me on kik (illuminescence_) or discord (violette#3627), just include the following in your message: name/alias, age, timezone and a writing sample pertaining to the plot that you're focused on the most. if you don't, i just won't respond. i'm only interested in those that can follow my requests, it gives me a first great impression of you. but please don't be scared, i'm a total softie at heart, lol. i hope to see a lot of you soon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

#indie rp #indie roleplay #multiple paragraph #para #long term #messenger #mcu rp #submission

[swipestream]

New Release Roundup, 9 June 2018: Science Fiction

Mecha knights, space vampires, and the Sheik of Mars feature in this week’s roundup of the newest releases in science fiction.

Earth Unknown (Forgotten Earth #1) – M. R. Forbes

Centurion Space Force pilot Nathan Stacker didn’t expect to return home to find his wife dead. He didn’t expect the murderer to look just like him, and he definitely didn’t expect to be the one to take the blame.

But his wife had control of a powerful secret. A secret that stretches across the light years between two worlds and could lead to the end of both. Now that secret is in Nathan’s hands, and he’s about to make the most desperate evasive maneuver of his life — stealing a starship and setting a course for Earth.

He thinks he’ll be safe there. He’s wrong. Very wrong.

Earth is nothing like what he expected. Not even close. What he doesn’t know is not only likely to kill him, it’s eager to kill him, and even if it doesn’t?

The Sheriff will.

A House Divided (Terran Armor Corps #4) – Richard Fox

A crisis grows in the heart of the Terran Union, one that threatens to tear the Iron Dragoons apart.

When Roland and his lance rescue an Ibarra crew from a Kesaht attack, those saved become a pawn in a conspiracy that could turn the galaxy against all of humanity. Earth’s senior leaders must sacrifice the captured crew to preserve the peace, or risk war with the Ibarra Nation. But Stacey Ibarra and her lieutenants have plans of their own…

Roland, torn between his duty as a Templar and his loyalty to his home world, is thrust into the struggle between the Ibarras and Earth. He must choose between the factions, and there will be no turning back.

The next chapter of the Dragon Award winning series will forever change the Ember War universe.

The Last Champion (The Last War #4) – Peter Bostrom

Admiral Jack Mattis thinks Spectre, humanity’s nemesis, has been defeated. And he sacrificed the USS Midway to do it.

Now a US Navy pilot has gone missing. A terrorist group kidnaps a dozen infants. Admiral Mattis’s own infant grandson is suddenly and mysteriously ill with a sickness no doctor can–or will–diagnose. No one can piece the puzzle together, until from a derelict future-human ship Mattis finally recovers an actual mutant human, come from the future to destroy Spectre himself.

Because humanity’s greatest nemesis is not dead–he is only now ramping up his plan for galactic domination. And the pieces he sets in motion will force Admiral Mattis to make the unthinkable choice between saving a billion people, or saving his only grandson and a dozen other infants.

Spectre must be stopped.

And only one champion can stop him. Or die trying.

Mavericks (Expeditionary Force #6) – Craig Alanson

United Nations Special Operations Command sent an elite Expeditionary Force of soldiers and pilots out on a simple recon mission, and somehow along the way they sparked an alien civil war. Now the not-at-all-Merry Band of Pirates is in desperate trouble, again.

The remnants of the Expeditionary Force stranded on the alien-controlled planet ‘Paradise’ get a chance to prove themselves, in a simple off-world training mission with a ship full of teenage alien cadets. When the mission goes horribly wrong and the survival of everyone on Paradise is at risk, the Merry Band of Pirates may have to come to the rescue. Unless they get killed first…

New World (The Survivors #3) – Nathan Hystad

New Spero. A new world to call home.

After a surprise visit to Earth, Dean and his crew travel to Proxima Centauri, home of humanity’s first colony world. Dean and Mary, now reunited with Magnus, Natalia, and their old friend Carey, find much has changed since they last saw their loved ones.

Once again, Dean’s efforts to lead a normal life are cut short when his sister is threatened by deadly creatures at Terran Five, Spero’s northernmost outpost. There, Dean stumbles on an ancient secret, buried deep in the snow-covered mountains, that will change his life forever. And when communication with Earth ends, he realizes his worst nightmare has come true.

The Bhlat have arrived.

Join the team as they fight to preserve their old world and new world alike.

Planetary: Earth – presented by Superversive Press.

Throughout history, the planets of our solar system have meant many things to many people; Planetary Fiction explores the themes associated with these heavenly bodies as well as their astronomical, mythological, and in some cases even alchemical significance.

18 tales of explorers, lost worlds, strange and wondrous creatures, gods & goddesses of old, miraculous inventions, aliens, bots and post humans, brought together in this anthology of discovery and daring.

Come explore the legends and chronicles of planet Earth and the space beyond in the fourth volume in the Planetary series.

Refurbished (A. I. Reborn #1) – Isaac Hooke

Eric lives a normal life. He has a job. A girlfriend. He owns an apartment. He matters. And then he dies.

He wakes up a couple of centuries later inside an advanced infantry robot whose AI core harbors his consciousness. In industry parlance, he is what’s known as a Mind Refurb.

Eric is soon thrust into an experimental army unit known as the Bolt Eaters, composed of fellow Mind Refurbs. Thrown into the latest cesspools of war and conflict across the world, the Bolt Eaters make short work of any opponents. It’s almost a cakewalk for the high-tech robots.

His latest deployment is just about to end, and Eric is looking forward to spending the next few months exploring the different virtual reality worlds available to AIs like himself, when aliens decide to invade, stranding his unit in the middle of nowhere, cut off from all support.

That’s right, the feces has smashed right through the fan, and now he must face the ultimate test with the machines he has come to know as brothers: a deadly game of cat and mouse, played against a technologically superior, utterly alien foe; a game whose stakes include not just their lives, but the lives of every man, woman, and child on the planet.

It’s time to matter once more.

Renegade Earth (Renegade Star #6) – J. N. Chaney

Three Empires Collide.

Captain Jace Hughes and his band of rebels have managed to outrun the Union at every turn, barely escaping with their lives. What started as a simple transport job has escalated into a war between empires, all for the sake of a child.

But a Renegade never backs down.

With Titan, a fleet of strike ships, and a newly transformed Sigmond, the crew of The Renegade Star will need to pull out everything they have in order to make their final stand.

Suit up, Renegades. The battle for Earth has finally begun.

Sheik of Mars – Ben Wheeler

Can a man save his true love from the tyrant of Mars?

Haroun Rashid has found his true love, Zira Al-Zuwar, but she has been taken from him on their wedding night by the powers who rule Mars. Gathering allies from the most unlikely places, he storms the palace of the Sheik of Mars, searching for Zira. No one can stand against him, but the price he will pay in suffering and death may be too much even for his resolve.

The greatest beauties hide the worst snakes as A Princess of Mars blends with the Arabian Nights to create a tale like no other.

The Space Vampires (Superluminary #2) – John C. Wright

The Lords of Creation have learned that although they rule the solar system with their god-like scientific knowledge, there are even more powerful forces to be feared lurking out in the dark depths of space.

The vampiric necroforms are a massive empire of anti-life, terrible beyond all imagining, ruling a vast network of dead stars and planets they have drained of all life. And at last they have come to the Nine Worlds, seeking to destroy the last refuge of living things to be found in all the dying universe. But how can the Lords of Creation even hope to stop the nightmarish undead monstrosities when they are bitterly divided by pride, jealousy, and mutual suspicion?

SUPERLUMINARY is the latest and most outrageous creation of science fiction grandmaster John C. Wright, the Dragon-award winning author of THE UNWITHERING REALM, THE GOLDEN AGE, MOTH & COBWEB, and AWAKE IN THE NIGHT LAND.

New Release Roundup, 9 June 2018: Science Fiction published first on https://medium.com/@ReloadedPCGames