FAN FICTION: Star Trek the Next Generation: The Journal of Captain Riker: The Oramui Incursion

Captain Riker was in his Ready Room with his top Officers playing a round of poker when the call came in. "Admiral Sandusky to Captain Riker." said the voice. "Put it on speakers." said Captain Riker, not wanting
to throw away such an excellent hand. "Admiral Sandusky here. You are to divert to Nemocrom Four and assess the situation with the natives. We have reasonable intelligence that the Romulans are trying to gain
a foothold on the planet." said the Admiral. "Aye Admiral. Anything you can tell us?" asked Captain Riker. "The planet is inhabited by a non-native pre-industrial civilization whose culture is very similar to the
Mayans of old. Sarthong I is their Emperor. If the Romulans are there, they'll be at his Court." said the Admiral. "Thank you Admiral. Over and out." said Riker as he turned off the speaker. "Gentlemen, I am sorely
tempted to let Dr. Silathi handle this one by herself. She is a master of languages and alien cultures, especially primative ones. I am sure that an ample warning from her would cause Sarthong I to reconsider who his
friends are." said Captain Riker. "Then we can get some rest and relaxation while on planet. We'll leave a small security team with the doctor of course." he added. The Senior Officers only nodded. Senior Officer McDaniel
spoke up. "Captain, these Romulans are dangerous and unpredictable. Shouldn't we go into full alert?" asked the Senior Officer. "No, we don't want the Romulans to know that we are even here. I figured out an evasive
maneuver from watching the historical tapes on the Captain of the Enterprise X. We'll hide this ship behind it's moon and take shuttle craft in. We don't want to create more upset than what has already been caused." explained the Captain. "Yes, I remember reading a few times where Admiral Kirk had wished he had kept the Enterprise-A away from primitive planets but close enough to make contact." chimed in another Senior Officer. "Problem with Kirk was that he ran headlong into hairy situations and it was amazing that he didn't get himself killed on every occasion." explained Captain Riker. "We aren't like that here. We go in with the facts
needed to make a clear judgement of the situation." said Captain Riker. The Officers nodded in agreement with him. "Security Officer Worf, gather ten men and aliens and protect the doctor as she tries to convince
our soon-to-be friend that messing with Romulans is a bad idea." said Captain Riker. "It will be an honor and my pleasure." growled Worf. Worf hated the Romulans for what they did to his honorable family name and
getting even wasn't far from his mind. "Worf, no fights with the Romulans unless they kidnap our people or fire on us, understood?" asked Captain Riker, sensing Worf's desire for revenge. "Understood Captain." said Worf, coming to attention and remembering he was not a warrior of the now faded Klingon Empire.

The Captain strode up to the bridge, after winning the game and sat at the Captain's chair. He almost missed the old man, Picard had been almost a father to him but he realized that they were both two very
different men and would make different decisions depending on the circumstances. But one thing that nagged at him when he was the "Number One" alongside Picard was that he was in Picard's shadow and
without his own Command, it would be difficult to make a name for himself in Star fleet. He also smarted (although it was less pronounced now) from the unfortunate mutiny that painted him throughout Star fleet
as a "Mr. Christian" of the Bounty ill-fame. Captain Picard had been kind enough to take him in regardless of that career ending maneuver. Riker had later on been aquitted by a Star fleet Court Martial which
favored the events as stated by Riker and his fellow Officers. He had even drafted a formal letter of resignation to Starfleet, planning to return to the Midwest of North America and help his parents with the farm, which
was largely mechanized already. He was glad he never did it because his father had died later that year and the farm went to his argumentative older brother, who resented his success and despised him. In that, he
shared a bond with Admiral Picard. Picard never really wanted to be around his family for very long and a tragic event killed his brother and his nieces and nephews. A fire, something that had been so commonplace
after the nuclear war in the late 2000's but was so rare by the 2300's that even a single event had become newsworthy.  Out of all things, why a fire? Why? The question sometimes haunted him as much as it haunted
Picard. He had lost a buddy from his first assignment in a ship fire. So senseless. The ship had been in Space dock at Earth. Why? He shook his head. "Helm, set in a course using the coordinates the Admiral gave us." ordered Captain Riker. The Navigator punched in the codes and the ship turned around and proceeded to it's next location.

Captain Riker went down to the holodeck to sit at a re-creation of an old west bar scanned from one of Louis Lamour's old novels, one of the few that survived the nuclear war of the 2000's. Although much of the 20th
Century had been forgotten, the horrors of the war against the followers of Lee Qwan and Sighn Noonyan Khan were still fresh in the minds of everyone. Those old wounds were ripped open again when Captain Kirk
encountered the "Bounty" containing the cryogenic pods with the last of the war criminals who had fled Earth. The encounter inspired Riker's father to join Starfleet (Willaim Riker Sr. had purchased the farm on Earth after he left Star fleet years later) and William Riker Jr was inspired by his dad and his knowledge of the great Captain Johnathan Archer and his exploits. He sat down next to a rough-looking man (hologram) that stared
at him and sneered. "You must be from New York City pretty boy!" Captain Riker only smiled at that, he was wearing clothes that the hologram simulator thought would be appropriate for that age and Riker's social rank for the time. "Indeed I am. I am here to buy a mine." said Riker. The hologram followed the story but it included Rikers "additions" to the program so the story would be smooth and not too out-of-place. "A gold or
silver mine? If you want to invest in one of those, talk with John Bartlet over there!" said the ruffian. Riker strode over to the fake businessman. "So what do you want? Can't you see I am talking to this dame here?" asked
the fake person. The fake dame blinked. Riker was impressed with the detail of accuracy of the simulation. "I am interested in buying a prime piece of real estate off you." said Riker to the fake man. "Like what?" asked the
fake man. "A gold mine, I happen to have the greenbacks right here." said Riker. "CAPTAIN RIKER TO THE BRIDGE! WE ARE BEING HAILED BY AN UNKNOWN VESSEL!" said the Chief Communications Officer over the Comm. "Simulation off!" said Riker and the simulation was turned off and Captain Riker ran full speed to the turbo lift. He ran to the bridge and assumed his position. "On screen!" he ordered. "This is the Taosan Lyi" said an alien voice. "If you do not leave our space immediately, you will be fired upon." said the voice. "Helm, what is our position?" asked Captain Riker. "On course sir and we are nearing our destination, according to our
readings." said the Helm, now worried that the Enterprise might have contracted a fatal systems worm. "Taosan Lyi, this is the USS Enterprise of the United Federation of Planets we are on a mission of peace and we apologize for passing into your claimed space. We were unaware of your claim to this sector however." said Captain Riker, putting a note of irritation on "however"

"Captain, we apologize for our confrontation with you. We feared it was the Romulans with a captured vessel." said the alien commander. "I am Captain Drak'Tha of the Organi Confederation in transit. We are the scout ship for the main fleet, which will soon be passing through your Federation Space.  We lost our home world to a terrible supernova and we seek a new home, and perhaps new allies." said the alien commander. "You are welcome to speak with our Federation President. I will transmit this information to you." said Captain Riker. "Our people in exile do thank you." said the alien commander. Thus ended the contact and Captain Riker
once again not only saved the Enterprise from a pointless shooting match but made an ally in the process. The Enterprise continued on it's way to the contact world and within an hour, it reached it's target moon and Captain Riker gave the "silent running" order. "All non-essential systems down." he said. The Enterprise played "dead" while the female linguist expert and her security team flew out in a shuttle craft and following closely behind was Captain Riker and Lt. McGraith, an expert in alien first contacts, in the other shuttle craft. The blue marble-like planet loomed large. "This planet is slightly larger than Earth and has more liquid mass than Earth, it has two main continents in the habitable zone, like earth, but unlike Earth, she has two moons and no southern continent." said the Lt. "Yes Data." said Captain Riker with a grin, the Lt saw the grin and blushed.
"The non-native humanoid population is estimated at 2.2 million beings with no known native intellegent life. It is possible that this alien species either used a generation ship or they used a gate, no matter since they
seem to have no memory of it." said the Lt. "We were able to glean this information from a clandestine Vulcan mission to the planet. The Vulcans were able to get in and out with a minimum of contact. A relative of Spock headed the expedition." added the Lt. "What else is new? Spock and his father are practically royalty." drawled Captain Riker. "Right, space is a vacuum." said the Lt. "The civilization is pre-Industrial at last contact
and it was decided to leave this race alone because although they had been a warp-capable culture, they lost that and degenerated to Stone Age levels of technology in less than two generations. Their religion is at once both hostile towards outsiders and worshipful towards anyone from the sky. We need to proceed carefully on that count, how many humans have been tempted to set themselves up as gods over an alien people with no
knowledge of modern ways or technology? I can think of an entire race of robber-baron aliens that specialize in that sort of thing." said the Lt. "And I was at the second contact." mumbled Captain Riker. "Not a friendly bunch. More like pirates if you ask me." said Captain Riker.

"Guide her into the atmosphere and land at the clearing nearest to the main Temple City." ordered Captain Riker. The two shuttle craft landed and both parties exited their vehicles. Captain Riker looked around. "Everyone donned their costumes? Good, lets go." said Captain Riker. "I look foolish in this homespun dress." objected the female linguist. "You look the part. Come on." said Captain Riker. They stomped through fields
of some maize-looking plant that grew in a foot of water. "The natives sure harnessed their city belts." said one Officer. They passed enclosures of reptiles that looked like the closest thing on the planet to what humans
would term "cattle". "This is odd, no farmers are around, I wonder what the event is?" asked Captain Riker. "Probably a sacrificial festival. These aliens sacrifice one of these beasts a week to their sun god." she said, pointing to the mammalian/reptilian beasts in the pens and fields. "Perfect timing." said Captain Riker. "How do we find this God-Emperor of theirs?" asked Captain Riker to the linguist. "Find the biggest Palace in the city
and walk in, let me do the talking." said the linguist. They walked into the city and the guards were not paying attention, they seemed stoned on a local herb. "Fascinating, everyone here is under the influence of a pot-like
narcotic. This must be a part of their religion or their society. "WALK NOW WITH US O SON OF THE SUN!" cried the High Priest to the crowd. The crowd began to sing a strange song. "Captain!" whispered the doctor in the ear of Riker. "It's the Romulans! And they are in chains!" she said. "Looks like the locals have stopped sacrificing animals and have switched their target to humanoids." said Captain Riker. "We need to stop them!" she hissed. "How do we do that without blowing our cover? The Enterprise is parked in a certain place, remember?" he hissed. Captain Riker flipped open his communicator. "Farlander, can you get a lock on those Romulans at your distance?" asked Captain Riker. "Yes Captain, we have been monitoring your every move since you left the Enterprise." he said. "On my mark. Lock." said Captain Riker. "Now." said Riker and the Romulans shimmered out of the Temple Plaza and into the teleporter bay where they were met by Security and taken to the brig as a precaution. The High Priest screamed something. "It is the will of the gods!" he said and he turned towards the God-Emperor and fell on his sword. Everyone gasped. The God-Emperor signaled with his arms and shooed the people away. "Nothing more here to see!" whispered Captain Riker. The crowd dispersed and the team ducked into a building and shucked off their costumes and strode towards the God-Emperor. "No! I will not have anymore aliens at my house!" cried the God-Emperor. "Nevertheless, since you can appear and disappear at will, you are my honored guests." he said, very worried. "We accept your invitation." said Captain Riker. The party followed the God-Emperor into the Palace and the being took off his mask
and the team received their second surprise of the day. "You are human!" said Lt. Mullins as he passed a tricorder over the "alien". "That is right, I crashed into this godforsaken jungle many many years ago on a trade mission from the free colonies and since I couldn't leave, I played the part of their god and all so I could gain a glimpse of their blueprints of their warp-engines, which the High Priest caste gaurds so jealously. When I did, I realized that I was truly stuck here because I could not read their language. When I learned their language and culture, I simply put them on the path to regaining their warp technology. I opened the first mill last year." said the human. Captain Riker said nothing. "Oh come now! Did you actually think that the Prime Directive would keep the Romulans off this planet? I had a deal with them until they reneged on their end. I figured that a public execution would be fitting for those creeps." said the human. "You do realize that the free colonies have repeatedly violated Interplanetary Law? I should ship you back to them in chains!" growled Captain Riker. "Hold it! Whoa! Let's not get carried away here. I was hoping for a rescue you know." said the man. "The High Priest almost had me figured out and was planning my overthrow." said the human. "I tapped him myself! what an ingrate!" said the human. "Well, I suppose if you plan to quit the planet, we can have you make a fancy speech about how you are returning to the gods and that you want them to appoint their own successor." said the linguist. "That I would prefer! But who is going to keep the Romulans off this planet? None of these aliens seemed to have grasped yet that their "holy book" is an ancient engineering manual for building and maintaining a warp ship." said the human. "Beam back to your ship, I will see that things remain "as they are" here." said the human. "What is your name?" asked Captain Riker. "Queziticolital" said the human with a grin. "Actually I am Frank Stevens, formerly of the New Hope colony, that was established by a fleeing band of refugees from Earth that wanted no part of the New World Order after the nuclear war of the 2000's. Don't blame me, I am not a super-human. Our genes have since faded, but we are still a bit on the smart side." said the human, tapping his head. "By the way, whatever happened to the Bounty? It was recorded as lost." said Frank with a glimmer of hope in his eye. "No Frank, the occupants tried to hijack the USS Enterprise A and murder her Captain and crew." said Captain Riker flatly. "They were outmaneuvered." said Captain Riker. "Good, we didn't like Khan or his master Kwan either! Believe me Captain, we are not interstellar criminals on New Hope, we just see things a bit differently than you socialist Federation types." said Frank. "We actually abandoned both socialism and capitalism and replaced it with a credit-voucher economy in the 2200's" said Captain Riker. "Oh yes, print your way out of life's problems, trust me Captain, your Federation won't last 70 more years without serious hyperinflation of some kind." he said. "Um, I am not a political type but the Federation Earth Government has matters well in hand. I assure you." said Captain Riker. "To each his own then. I invite you all to a feast." said Frank. "We accept your offer then, let us speak about offering a Federation Security force to keep the Romulans out." said Captain Riker. "Fine. I will hear your proposal." said Frank.

During the dinner, Frank took great care to wear his mask and formal clothing and spoke with Captain Riker and his men in firm tones in the native language of the planet, since his serving females were around. "Then we have a treaty then?" asked Captain Riker. "YES O LITTLE ONE, WE HAVE A TREATY" he said through the microphone in his mask in the native language of the people he ruled over. The Captain began to drink the wine and after a few minutes, he passed out. The whole team was passed out. "Put them in a room and lock it. We shall have their star ship." said Frank. Several strong men, all of whom looked like they could have fought alongside Sighn Noonyan Khan, came out from another room. All were humans. "Hail to the one of superior intellect!" said one of the men. "Little do they know that our colony is not in some far away sector of the galaxy, it is right here. On the other continent. Thankfully they fell for our gambit. Once we have our starship, we shall gain our revenge in the name of the great Khan!" cried "Frank" who was actually none other than Sigmund Feyorski the Terrible of the Eugenics Wars infamy. The thugs dragged the Star fleet Officers into a room and locked it. Then having taken off their tricorders, the men readied. "Five to beam up." said Sigmund.

Captain Riker was the first to awaken. "Where are we?" he felt the walls, the room was pitch black. "They took our tricorders!" cried the female linguist. "Khan..that was odd that he mentioned that so readily." said Captain Riker, rubbing his aching head. "How do we get out of here?" asked the linguist. The door opened. A local alien with a very sharp blade in his hand glowered down at them. "Come, you are to be immediately executed." said the executioner. "Not if I can help it!" cried Captain Riker. He took the alien down in one blow and took the nasty-looking blade. "We need to flee the city and get back to the shuttle craft. If the goons are still here, that is." said Riker. Everyone agreed. "We need the local dress for this. We will get some garb off one of the locals." said Riker, pointing to some Palace Guards. The team lunged at some Guards and took them by surprise, taking their weapons and clothes. The team walked out of the Palace, looking like Guards. They reached the gate and walked past the still-stoned Guards and into the fields. They reached the shuttle craft and found them operational. "My dear Captain, what a surprise it is to see you made it out of my trap alive and in one piece." said Sigmund. "Captain, Khan wasn't the only leader of the glorious movement who fled Earth, I am Sigmund the Terrible, because I killed so many weaklings, like your several greats grandfather, whom I personally strangled with my bare hands." said Sigmund. Captain Riker exploded. "I will get you! Murderer! Deceiver!" he shouted. "Too late Captain Riker, I have your Star ship." said Sigmund. "Ship to Captain Riker, that is a negative. Somehow he smuggled a communicator into the brig with him. We are still in full command of the Enterprise." said the Helmsman. One of the thug followers of Sigmund was pointing a phaser at his head. "Under and Over." said the Helmsmen in a crisp voice. The link went dead. "That is the code. The ship has been seized." said Captain Riker. "They are trying to lure us into a trap." suggested Worf. "I know Worf, and they wouldn't have seized the ship had I left you back there either." said Captain Riker. "Set in a course for Star base 12, we have no choice but to get Star fleet in on this." said Captain Riker.

Just then, three Romulan Warbirds shimmered into view off the stern of the Enterprise. "Crew of the USS Enterprise! Surrender immediately or be destroyed!" said a confident Romulan Commander. Sigmund swirled around in the chair. "Kill them all!" he commanded. The Enterprise E fired off phasers and torpedoes and destroyed one of the Romulan Vessels. Then she turned to take down her other opponent. "Take the shuttle craft in, we'll have to send the signal for the manual override." said Captain Riker grimly. He had to retake the Enterprise. His very reputation rode on this. The shuttle bay door was over-ridden by the command from the shuttle craft and the craft glided in and landed. The doors closed and the away team made their way into the ship.

The arrogant human laughed as the Romulan Commander pleaded with him to have mercy. "There is no mercy for the weak!" he shouted. "Fire!" said Sigmund, the damaged Romulan vessel was totally destroyed. Just then, Captain Riker and his freed crew entered the bridge and pointed their phasers at Sigmund. "Sigmund! You are wanted for war crimes by the United Federation of Planets! Surrender now!" shouted Captain Riker. Sigmund swirled about on the chair and laughed only an evil laugh that a half-crazed super-human could manage.  "So Captain, I cleaned up your little mess for you, and now you have a war on your hands. Sigmund to ground base, one to beam out." and Sigismund shimmered out before Captain Riker and Worf could fire. "Damn!" shouted Captain Riker. "We almost had him!" Then it hit him. "Their colony is ON THE PLANET SURFACE! I want all phasers locked on Sigmund's signal. All phasers locked on!" he said as he sat down in his chair. "Bad news Captain!" said Weapons Officer Fairbrough in his thick Scottish accent. "His colony is shielded, the feedback effect will destroy the Enterprise if we try it." said the Weapons Officer. "Alright, send a message to Admiral Farragut at Starbase 12: We have discovered the location of the infamous war criminal Sigmund. Please send a military vessel when possible. Captain Riker out." The remaining Romulan vessels lay smouldering, suffering from internal fires. "Get a medical team to those vessels. Pronto!" said Captain Riker. The Medical team dispatched and beamed over to the disabled war birds. The wounded Romulans were beamed over and taken to sickbay. After an hour, the surviving Romulan Commander came to the bridge and saluted Captain Riker. "I admire your courage on how you handled those human renegades. But you are no match for the combined might of the Romulan Empire. Having said that, thank you Commander, perhaps we can repay your generosity one of these days." said the Romulan Commander. "Actually you can. Want to make a trade? Get rid of that colony of super-humans, vaporize it if you have to, and in return, you get to keep that planet." said Captain Riker. The Romulan Commander blinked in utter surprise. "Gladly Captain!" and with that he was beamed out to a waiting Romulan Frigate. "Take us out of here. Our mission here is concluded. I will recommend that this planet be placed under a strict quarantine until such a time as the people of the planet build a warp capable engine." said Captain Riker. "What about the Romulans?" asked the Science Officer. "That problem will take care of itself. Just as the Enterprise left the Star system and went into warp, four Romulan Vessels and a large Romulan Frigate exploded in the dead of space, all because they had fired on the defenses of the New Hope colony. Floating in the debris of the Romulan Frigate was Sigmund, cold and dead.

The End.

FAN FICTION: Star Trek The Next Generation: The Journals of Captain Riker: "Crisis in Moccer-13456"

The USS Enterprise-E was ready to debark for a patch of unknown and unexplored space in the Beta Quadrant. The USS Voyager had recently returned and Starfleet wanted someone to do some "follow-up"
and that "someone" was Captain William Riker. Captain Riker looked forward to this assignment, being chained to a desk in the day and clubbing at night was fun at first but it got OLD especially when
all the attractive women would ask you "where is Captain Picard these days?" and so some exploration was a welcome relief from being second fiddle to the famous Jean-Luc Picard, now an Admiral.

All the Officers reported for duty on time and the new Science Officer, Svaravk of Vulcan, was already on the ship, checking the computer and speaking to anyone who could fill him in on the recent encounters
that the Enterprise-E had. Captain Riker strode onto the bridge and all the Officers saluted. "As you were." he said. "Captain? A word?" asked Officer Svaravk. "Certainly, what did you require?" asked Captain
Riker, hoping that the Vulcan wasn't going to object to the presence of Giunan. "Captain, I am new to this posting and from what I have heard, you seem to get yourself into some, what you would say on earth
"tight spots?" May I suggest that we study the data before we go into a potentially dangerous situation?" asked the Science Officer. "Commander." said Riker. "The Universe is not an organized place that waits for
logical decisions, sometimes those decisions need to be made on the spot to protect the safety of this ship and crew." pointed out Captain Riker. "But yes, when we have the luxury, we will study the situation
repeatedly until we make a move." sighed Captain Riker. The Vulcan blinked. "Is that sarcasm Captain? Alright, fine. Just give me enough time to give you all the data you need." said the Science Officer. "I am not
objecting." said Riker with a hint of a smile. "Then it is settled?" asked the Science Officer. "Yes, dismissed." said Captain Riker as he strode off, wondering what Federation functionary gave him this condescending
Vulcan.

Qalas the Engineer was down in Engineering doing the safety check procedures when he spotted Catain Riker. "Ah Captain, Ah you will see that Ah everything is ready. Ah" said the alien. "Ah." said Captain Riker,
knowing that "Ah" meant "we are good friends and brothers-in-arms" in his language. "Ah just give the order Captain and I will have this vessel sailing through the stars" said the Q'nolian. "On my signal." said
Captain Riker. The Engineer saluted. Riker left the Engineering bay for the Captain quarters to unpack his duffel. "Captain, Star fleet NCIS is here to see you." said Linda Dorvak, his new Communications
Officer, via the Comm. "Aye, I'll be up in a few." and he continued to unpack his duffel. He turned his attention to the visitor and went back to the Bridge.

"Captain, there has been a mishap with one of your Senior crewmen, I am here to investigate it before you depart." said the detective. Star fleet NCIS was a holdover from the US Naval NCIS and was still
largely staffed by North Americans. SNCIS had a reputation for "getting their man" even if it meant delaying the departure of a Star ship indefinitely. "What happened?" asked Captain Riker, now concerned.
"One of your Senior Midshipmen got himself stabbed. We are fairly sure it wasn't an attack by a human, we found his body drained of blood." said the Senior Detective. "So you need to question the aliens
on my ship? Ask your questions then. I have a schedule to keep." said Captain Riker. The Senior Detective nodded and his team of Probies followed him down to Engineering to question the Chief Engineer.

After a few hours of questioning and cross questioning the aliens on board the ship, the SNCIS team left the ship. "Sorry, we couldn't find anything, we believe that the perpetrator is not one of your
crew memebers. We will keep you posted as to our investigation." said the Cheif Detective. With that, the team left the ship and Captain Riker gave the order to undock. He had already promoted a promising
young man to the rank of Senior Midshipmen to replace the fallen comrade.

"Navigator, take us out." he said as he settled into his Captain's chair. He gave the sequence to the Navigator and almost everyone turned to look at him. "Yes, I know. That is deep in the Beta Quadrant, if you had
laundry at the mat, it might have to wait." he joked. The Senior Officers smiled but said nothing as they steeled themselves for the long voyage ahead.

The Enterprise was well on it's way to  it's target when Star fleet called. "Captain Riker, you are ordered to hearby divert course and pick up Doctor Thon'long Tau on Vulcan. We believe that she may have a grasp
on the situation that we are sending you into." said Admiral Namura. "Aye aye Admiral. Anything else?" he asked. "Yes, try not to rush headlong into this situation, you aren't Admiral Kirk." said the Admiral.
"Aye." said Captain Riker. He ended the call. "Navigator, redivert to Vulcan for a pickup. We will be taking on a VIP." said Captain Riker.

The Enterprise sailed into Vulcan space and went into orbit around Vulcan. The space ways were busy with Vulcan pilgrims coming back to the home world for a major "observance" of Logic, Truth and Facts as
revealed by their prophet Surrak. The Doctor beamed in and was wearing the ceremonial garb but Riker noticed that she wasn't Vulcan, she was Andorian and something else. "Welcome aboard the vessel,
I have a full appraisal of the situation waiting for you in your quarters." said Captain Riker. "Thank you Captain" said the Doctor. And she went to the turbo lift without a further glance or comment.
He glanced at her as she quickly left and turned his attention back to the situation at hand. "Back on course, easy as she goes." said Captain Riker. The Enterprise sailed out of the Vulcan system and waited
till they got far enough from Vulcan's primary to go into warp again. "Warp eleven Mr. Freemason" said Captain Riker as he stepped off the bridge to visit the head.

Days passed as the Enterprise would occasionally drop out of warp to let the engines cool. "Captain to the bridge! We have an unidentified alien vessel ahead of us!" said the Science Officer.
Captain Riker ran and made it within several minutes from his quarters. "What do they want?" asked Captain Riker. "I do not know Captain, they are scanning our vessel. I advise caution." said the Science
Officer. The large pyramid-shaped alien vessel continued to scan them and finally stopped. "EARTH VESSEL. KNOW THAT YOU ARE IN QA'LARGI SPACE. WE HAVE SCANNED THE LOGS OF YOUR SHIP'S COMPUTER
AND WE HAVE DETERMINED TO SPEAK WITH YOU. URGENTLY." said the alien voice, translated into English. "On screen." said Captain Riker. The aliens that appeared on the screen looked exactly like the
ones in the Engineering Room but the cultural air in which they carried themselves, their uniforms and their language seemed different. "EH, Captain." said the alien Captain." The Enterprise computer
translated the "EH" as meaning "We are not sure who you are." "EH Captain William Riker of the Federation Vessel Enterprise? You have a crew member on board that is a follower of the renegade prophet and his
presence is making it impossible for us to have a cordial dialogue. EH" said the clearly offended alien Captain. "We mean no disrespect Commander. Qalas is a valued member of our ship and has pledged to
only work for the good of the Federation and all sentient beings." said Captain Riker. There was a several minute delay as the alien Captain gathered his thoughts. "Captain, his faction slaughtered several million
of our people before they stole our ships and left for your quadrant. I am surprised that your Federation was fooled so quickly by them." said the alien Captain. "I was not made aware of this." said the Captain. "EH, we
shall see. For the meantime, please proceed to your destination but we will guard your vessel in case the rogue traitor tries to seize your vessel." said the alien Captain. "Proceed." said Captain Riker. The Enterprise
came to the uncatagorized planet Moccer-13456 and went into orbit.

"Any signs of alien life-forms? Anything worth talking to?" asked Captain Riker to his Science Officer. "Many life-forms Captain, some mammalian, some reptiles, some amphibian and I have detected a non-native
settlement of forty aliens. Shall we contact them?" asked the Science Officer. "This is where I come in Captain." said the Doctor. She strode forward and hit the Communications button. "Terrak Vor, Terrok Vor. We have
come for the device." she said. The alien leader appeared on the screen. "I trust that Earth shall finally hear our pleadings?" asked the leader. "In due time Terrak Vor." said the Doctor. "I shall have our engineers beam
the device up to you, keep in mind our transporter is over 80 earth years old and might not be able to talk with your computer." said the alien leader. Captain Riker frowned, he had not been appraised of this
part of the exchange. "Terrak Vor, what is the device?" asked the Captain. "It is an ancient peice to an ancient puzzle my dear Captain. It was taken off the wreakage of an ancient starship that crashed on the other
side of this planet. Your Federation wanted this device to study but secretly so this is why we are having this cloak and dagger secrecy." said Terrok Vor. Terrak was half-human and half Gelf, the same with the
others in this remote colony. "Never mind, I will beam this up." said Captain Riker. "One device to beam up." said Captain Riker as the Ensign worked at the controls. The device was a perfect sphere and floated
in midair, seemingly violating the laws of physics itself. "Take that into storage and sheild it, I have no idea if it is emitting radiation or not." said Captain Riker to some Ensigns. "Yes Captain." they said and
wisked away the device.

The alien Commander pinged. "Yes?" asked Captain Riker. "Our sensors show that you have taken an ancient peice of technology onto your ship, may we see it please? I will send over my Science Officers NEH"
the Ship's translators translated the NEH as meaning "we are now neutral towards you and mean you no harm." "Feel free. NEH" responded Captain Riker. "You learn fast. I am impressed, in my junior year in our
academy, there was a Commander of ours who had the motto: "Shoot first and ask questions later." He was dismissed after awhile because he started several unwanted wars, all of which we are still cleaning
up from." admitted the alien Commander. "If you want, we can talk at dinner tonight? If you have a similar tradition?" asked Captain Riker. "A formal exchange? So be it. I will be there with my senior officers."
said the alien commander. Captain Riker inwardly cheered at this tiny victory. Everything was going smoothly.

Later that evening, the Officers of the alien crew beamed over and made themselves at home in the Captain's Dining Room. Both crews exchanged polite gestures and then the alien Captain had a surprise. "I am
pleased to announce that His Majesty the God-Emperor has formally pardoned the followers of the rogue prophet. That was 70 years ago in earth time. I was testing you Captain, to see how you would
react." said the alien Captain. Captain Riker simply lifted an eyebrow. "We generally don't deal with races that are scared of their own shadow, we ourselves were once hardened warriors of the Sun God but now
we are peaceful." said the alien Captain. The Vulcan spoke up. "Fascinating Captain, if I may interject, my race was once warlike and bellicose but after a division of the people of Vulcan, after the prophet
Surrak, we came to know perfect peace and Logic." said the Vulcan. "Your species is quite famous. We had contacted Vulcan once many parsecs ago but your people were embroiled in a great war. I am pleased
to hear of your progress." said the alien Captain. "AH" he added.

The dinner party was finished and Captain Riker inquired if the Empire would be willing to join the Federation as a nominal ally. "We shall see about that, it is not good to rush into things." said the alien Captain.
The alien Officers and Captain left the Enterprise and returned to their own ship. "Captain!" cried a midshipman. "The orb! It vanished!" he said in utter panic. "Midshipman! Collect your thoughts and calm down.
Perhaps it cloaked. We have dealt with such situations before." said the Captain. "Go find it." said the Captain. The midshipman saluted and left. "Keep the ship in a high orbit around this planet, scan the site of the
wreck of the artifact ship, perhaps we can discover the significance of this sphere and learn why it vanished. "Captain!" said the same midshipman. "It is back in the same spot but it is now glowing." he said.

The alien ship departed the star system and Captain Riker and his Science Officer were now in the storage bay examining the glowing sphere. "Something is wrong." said the Science Officer. "This isn't the sphere
we picked up earlier." he said with disdain. "Bait and switch?" asked Captain Riker. "Precisely how I would term it Captain, for all we know, the device is now on board the alien vessel, which just left an
hour ago." said the Vulcan Science Officer. "The alien vessel is hailing us Captain." said the Communications Officer. "Patch him through!" said Captain Riker. "Get this infernal thing off our ship....it...is...killing...us!"
said the panicked voice of the alien Captain. Captain Riker and his team ran to the turbo lift and made it to the bridge. "Onscreen!" he commanded. The alien ship was on fire and smoke was seen and alien bodies
littered the ground deck of the ship. "Send an away team over to the alien vessel at once, find survivors and bring me that sphere!" commanded Captain Riker. Just before the order could be carried out, the alien
ship exploded into a million pieces. "Oh my God." said Captain Riker. "Captain, I am sensing the sphere, should I bring it into the bay?" asked one of the Officers. "No, keep that damned thing off my ship. We are
locking a tractor beam onto that sphere and we are towing it home. First sign of funny or unusual behavior and we jettison it!" said Captain Riker. Several alien ships warped into the area, all of the same
Empire as the destroyed vessel. "What happened here? REW!" demanded the alien. The ship translator translated "REW" as meaning, "Get off our territory NOW" Captain Riker explained the situation to the alien
Commanders. "I hear you. You say this device is a self-teleporting bomb or a super-weapon?" asked the alien admiral. "Precisely. This is a highly dangerous device. I will recommend to my superiors on Earth to
destroy the device." said the Captain. "Then we shall take it for ourselves. Thank you for your time. REW" and the screen went blank. The alien ships locked onto the device and Captain Riker ordered the Enterprise
to quickly depart the area. He was right, a large explosion followed and the shock wave hit the Enterprise, knocking out lights for a brief time. "Damage!" shouted Captain Riker. "Minimal, no hull breech. Captain,
the device is following us!" said the Science Officer. Then the device appeared on the bridge and stopped glowing, it opened and a creature that looked like a white earth house cat stepped out and rubbed
against Captain Riker's legs. "A cat???" asked one of the junior Officers. The Science Officer scanned it. "No, it is an alien liufe-form in shift form. Very rare." said the Vulcan. "Captain! I am so sorry for the loss
of a new partner for the Federation of Planets, as you silly humans deem yourselves. Those aliens were lying to you Captain, they wanted ME for themselves." said the cat-looking alien. "So you are what Starfleet
wants?" asked Captain Riker, amazed. "Yes, my species is, or was, thousands of years advanced until our star exploded. I was one of the few to escape with my vessel, I was trapped on that planet back there with
no way to escape this pod. I was in stasis for thousands of years, until I awoke. I took the form I saw in your mind as so to put your mind at ease in regard to my intentions." said the alien-cat form.
"How did your pod generate the energy to destroy those vessels?" asked Captain Riker. "Oh silly. I simply turned their own energy against them, with my mind." said the alien. The alien shifted to his real form.
He looked almost like an leprechaun with a large nose. The patch on his uniform as a strange symbol was a circle with an upside-down pyramid. "I am Captain Priivakk" said the alien. "My vessel was the "Star-Drifter"
as you would say in your Earth language. I assume I have quarters?" asked the alien. "Oh yes! You are an honored guest." said Captain Riker. "Show him to his quarters." said Captain Riker. An Ensign showed him to it's
quarters. "Captain." whispered the Vulcan. "Something is not right about his story. My readings are telling me that there is no connection between his race and that sphere. In fact, just the opposite is true, which I
find quite illogical." said the Science Officer. "Continue." said Captain Riker. "Well, it seems that the sphere begat this alien being that now lodges in our ship. This sphere is a powerful being unto itself and is
linked by symbiosis with the alien, if my hypothesis is correct." said the Vulcan Science Officer. There was a terrible scream heard and Security went running. They found that their "guest" was drained of blood
and dead. "Security to Captain, our "vampire" has struck. It never left the ship when we left stardock" said Security. Then an odd thing happened. The sphere whirred and opened, producing the same
exact creature as before. "We meet again. Do take care of your unwanted pest." said the alien. "It is best if you stay here on bridge with us for now." said Captain Riker.

The Enterprise sped home towards Earth and Security did a complete search for any shape-shifting aliens. "We checked everyone except the Cheif Engineer" said the Security Chief to Captain Riker.
"Check him too. Check me if you have to." said the Captain. "We already did sir, you check out as human." said Security. Security went to Engineering and saw that the Chief Engineer was missing. "Chief Ysolde, take over
Engineering." commanded Captain Riker. The orderly seach continued until they found what looked like a salt-vampire with fangs was feeding on an Ensign. Security hit the creature with phasers set to kill. They killed
it. "Captain, the vampire was a Corisgen-shifter!" said Security over the Comm. "No doubt it killed the real Qalas before it entered the ship!" said Captain Riker. The alien "guest" came down and looked at the
corpse. "What a shame to take a sedient life!" it said. "That thing killed my crew members!" said Captain Riker. "It was hungry and scared Captain. Perhaps it needed to be heard out." said the alien. "I will hear anything
out but not at the expense of my ship and crew." said Captain Riker evenly. "Then I must depart. I must return to the home system to see if anything is left of my creators. Farewell." said the alien and it vanished
and so to did the sphere.  "Captain!" said one of the Ensigns. "I know. Let it do what it needs to do. I know the Admiral won't be happy but then again we gained the trust, for a time, of an advanced and nearly
extinct relic of an extinct race." said Captain Riker.

The Enterprise docked when it reached Earth and Captain Riker submitted his full report to Admiral Nugura. "Two shift forms? Amazing, I suppose star fleet won't be happy to learn that a possible
super-weapon has a mind of it's own but this big universe is just full of little surprises." said the Captain. "As for the vampire, Star fleet cannot officially make it public that Corsigen-shifters are on the loose,
that is a job for Special Services." said the Admiral. "You will receive a raise for your wise-headed and meritorious actions." said the Admiral. "Don't thank me, thank my new Science Officer, whom I am
recommending for a promotion." said Captain Riker. "What new Science Officer? I thought that you would appoint a new one from the ranks of the Science team, Degrass is showing quite the promise." said the
Admiral. He is an Officer after all." said the Admiral. "Oh no." said Captain Riker. "One to beam back!" said Captain Riker into his Comm. He was beamed back to the Enterprise and a search was made for the "Vulcan"
Science Officer. "He is gone. No record of him either!" said the Security Chief, O'Donnel. "Time traveler." said an Ensign simply. "What was that Ensign, if you know something you had better tell us now." said the
Captain. "Science Officer Svaravk was officially listed as MIA after the loss of the Enterprise C." said the Ensign as he looked at the data on the screen. "The first Captain of the USS Enterprise X was made aware of
a time-war between two factions. Perhaps we witnessed a glimpse of that conflict. "Yes, the great explorer." said Captain Riker is awe. "So what was a dead Vulcan doing on board the Enterprise?" asked Captain Riker.
Just then, Ambassador Spock walked onto the bridge. Everyone and Riker saluted. "As you were. Captain, I came to inform you that you have witnessed the rarest event ever in Vulcan history. Sometimes
when the Katra leaves the body, it wanders for ages and once a situation presents itself, the katra will manifest itself so strongly that you seem as if you are talking with a living being. Naturally when Admiral
Nugura informed me of the Vulcan Science Officer, I did some research and drew my own conclusions. He has been sighted around Starfleet grounds before." said Spock. "Amazing. I thought ghosts were
children's stories." said Captain Riker. "Now you know otherwise" said Spock with a rare smile in his voice. "Anyway, he saved your ship and your crew it seems." said Spock. "I will put him in for a posthumanous
rank to Admiral. Perhaps that will set his wandering soul to rest." suggested the Admiral. "I must return his Katra to Vulcan." said Spock. Spock walked off. Later that night, Captain Riker recorded these strange events
in his private log. "It was the strangest journey ever for the USS Enterprise to date" said Captain Riker. "Perhaps someday we will have a better knowledge of the true nature of reality." he concluded.

The End.

FAN FICTION: SKYRIM, War Unending

Years after the Dragonborn left the scene and went into retirement, the Nords of Skyrim seemed ill-at-ease with their new ruler at Windhelm. Sure, the Empire had been the protectors of Skyrim but because of the Dragonborn's vital decision to side with the Stormcloaks, history was changed forever and the Old Empire eventually fell to the Aldmeri
Dominion. The Stormcloaks went South to fight to regain Cyrodil from the Thalmor but it was a costly battle, thousands of Nords and Imperials fell to the High Elves.

Chapter One.

An ordinary man felt a quickening in him that seemed odd. At first he thought that Sheogorath was playing tricks on his mind but when he spoke with his family, they recommended
that he speak with the Priests of Talos. His name was Bjorn Whitemane. Rumors had it that Bjorn was an unnamed heir of the Septim Emperors and therefore "Dragonblood" and he
tried not to speak of it but instead ran his sawmill at Dragonsbridge. He didn't consider himself too much of an adventurer. His brother had run off some years before and gotten
himself killed in some cave trying to be a hero. He put on some armor and a sword and went looking for his brother's mortal remains but found that his brother had dropped into a
natural well inside the cave and there was no way out of the natural well that he could see so he said a blessing and left his brother there. Interestingly on his way back, he got lost and encountered a Word Wall and found that he learned the word immediately. So it was true then. He was indeed the second Dragonborn. The first Dragonborn was living in
splendor at Solitude with his wife of fifty years. He returned to his mill and told his family he needed to speak with someone. They bid him farewell and he left for Solitude. He wisely took the carriage to the city, knowing how dangerous the roads still were, with bandits and occultists still stalking the land. Once he got to Solitude, he went to Proudspire Manor and was greeted warmly by the First Dragonborn. "Come in, I have been expecting you for a long time." said the First Dragonborn. They sat down over a hearty meal of rabbit
and spoke of the gravity of being of Dragonblood. "It is no game or laughing matter, bloodkin. It is deadly serious. I came so close to dying so many times that I couldn't even begin
to count." said the First Dragonborn. "But you slew the World Eater? Did you absorb his soul?" asked the Bjorn. "No." said the First Dragonborn flatly. "His soul was too big and too black for me to absorb. I fear I would have become the Second World Eater had that happened." said the First Dragonborn. "So if he comes back?" asked the Second Dragonborn. "That is where you come in my bloodkin." smiled the First Dragonborn. "If you see him come back in any form, slay him." said the First Dragonborn. "I know only one Word of Power" said the Second. "Go to High Horothgar and present yourself. If they call you." said the First Dragonborn. "How do I get that call?" asked the Second. "Go fight a dragon!" said the First. "That is how the Greybeards heard me." said the First. "Shall we go fight ourselves a dragon?" asked the Second. "Sure, I am itching for another adventure anyway. I am getting weary of being Queen Elisif's pet bird at Court." said the First. The First grabbed some enchanted weapons and armor and threw some armor to the Second and an enchanted weapon. The First stocked up on healing potions and cure potions. They suited up and the First kissed his wife and children goodbye. "I'll be back soon." said the First. The two walked out into Solitude and a gaurd casually asked if they expected trouble. "We are trouble, for dragons." said the First. The gaurd laughed at that and they hit the road and walked to some old fort. They both heard the unmistakable sound of a dragon call. "Get ready." said the First. The dragon swooped down and almost grabbed the first. "Fus!" shouted the Second and "Fus Rho Dha!" shouted the First and they both hit the dragon dead on.  They succeeded in grounding the dragon long enough to cut it's throat open
and both dragonborns absorbed the soul of the dead dragon and oddly enough, during the soul transfer, the Second suddenly learned everything that the First knew. Including Dragonrend. "Dovakiin!" cried a distant voice and the Second knew that he had to go. They exchanged looks and the First bid him farewell. "I am old. You are young. May you defeat the new evil in the world." said the First Dragonborn.

To Be Continued.....

(The author does not own the rights to Skyrim and offers this freely to the public without a charge of any kind) (All other posts are the sole property of the owner of this blog and permission must first be granted to use the themes therein)

The Robe of Alakash

Rogvir Thorvarsen of the Thorvarsen Farm (it was his farm) was out in the woods, sawing down trees with his sons and dragging out the logs to his sawmill with his sturdy draft-horses. The war was on every one's mind, two worthless princes had declared war on each other and overthrew their father the Jarl. Armies of mercenaries marched all over the land, laying waste to every village, town and city they found. It was sheer madness. "Come on, we need to get these logs in before the first snows." said Rogvir to his sons. "Father, mother needs us to help her chop some firewood." said his boys. "Fine. Just help me get this last log strapped to old Shellie" said Rogvir. The strapped the newly de-branched tree to the draft horse. The boys ran off to the house and Rogvir grunted. He suspected that his boys were going to run off and court two attractive girls in town (one of the few not burned to the ground) So he knew he was stuck with the work. He walked his horse down the forest path and suddenly saw a glimmering light and then an explosion of light. "Rogvir! Rogvir!" cried the light. "Who are you?" said Rogvir in amazement. "I am Alakash, the god of mercy and compassion, take my robe and go forth and preach peace to your dying land" said the figure of light. Rogvir was absolutely stunned. Who was he? "I know your thoughts but I also know the thoughts of the priests and they are not with me. Go and I will reward you when you pass on to Yvalyedda" and just as suddenly as the light appeared, it vanished and upon his shoulders was a robe of white.

He took his tree down to the farm and continued as though nothing had happened and he prayed for some sort of a chance to go out and preach. The next day, a traveler came to
his farm with bad news. "Rogvir the Freeholder, Prince Firnhanhir is seizing your farm. You are to leave within two days. It is suggested that you join the army of the Prince." said
the messenger. "I will defend this farm with my life." said Rogvir evenly. "Then the Prince will order all the merchants to not sell to you and he will declare you an outlaw." said the messenger. Rogvir knew he was beaten. "I will tell my wife and sons." he said. He gave them the bad news and his sons told him that they decided to join the army of their
ruling Prince. He told his wife and she wept and then fell on a dagger, despite his best efforts to save her. He wept aloud, like a man who lost everything, because he did.

He remembered the white robe and decided on a bit of revenge. He went to the camp of the reigning Prince and began to preach that all men should lay down their arms and end the war. When the Prince ordered the soldiers to kill him, the soldiers found that they could not seize him or get ahold of him. He waxed bolder and preached harder and men began to weep. Even the Prince was stunned. "You are speaking for a god!" he cried out loud. "Then repent in the name of the god of peace!" cried Rogvir. The Prince kneeled down and kissed the robe and stood up and made a declaration: "I shall disband my army and let my brother be the Jarl! I shall go into exile and walk as a beggar in forgiveness of my sins!" he cried. Rogvir smiled and left the camp. He discovered the location of the other camp and went to the other Prince, Prince Valdhiem, and gave him the news: "Behold, your brother has resigned the battlefield and Alakash has made you the Jarl." said Rogvir. "Seize this madman!" cried the Prince. The soldiers tried to seize him but they could not get their hands on him. Rogvir preached and the army wept at the multitude of their sins. Finally the angry Prince saw the truth and fell to his knees and cried out; "I am not worthy to be the Jarl, let my brother be the Yarl! I shall go out and be a monk and walk barefoot in repentance of my sins!" Rogvir was now confused until he heard, booming from the sky: "Go to Prince Bjorn and make him the Jarl. He is the youngest of the Princes and he stayed out of the bloodshed and he is indeed clean." so Rogvir ran to the Royal City of Olmsborg and met with the youngest Prince.

"Rogvir? You say that this is true? Indeed it is rare that a god intervenes in the events of men but it is the will of Alakash." said the youngest Prince. The nobles of the land had heard of the twin miracles of the surrender of the armies and they believed Rogvir's testimony only after asking many witnesses. Prince Bjorn was made Jarl that same month and the land returned to rebuilding. Finally sensing that his call was over, Rogvir handed the white robe to the Priests of Alakash and he went back to his farm. His sons, both unharmed, joined him there and they set about getting ready for winter and burying the mortal remains of their faithless mother. A full winter passed and Rogvir sensed that
he couldn't go back to being a simple farmer in his feilds in summer and in the mead in winter. Once the snows cleared, a visitor stopped by and confirmed that the farm once again belonged to Rogvir. He thanked the messenger and the messenger said, "But there is one more thing. The High Priest of Alakash returns the robe and asks you to be the messenger of Alakash, going out into all the known world and preaching peace." said the messenger. So the white robe once again donned his shoulders. Rogvir signed the farm over to his sons and went out to the other Kingdoms and preached peace, stopping wars in their progress and even denouncing wicked and evil rulers and putting them to shame for their misdeeds. At first, the other priests were not convinced but when they saw his work, they quickly believed and spread the news far and wide.

Rogvir came to a bitter land filled with clan feuds and major wars and spoke with the people and their leaders. They all repented and laid down their weapons. He came at last to their King who fell to his knees when he saw Rogvir coming. "Pass laws to strengthen the rule of law in your land and put the clan chiefs out of their places of authority." said Rogvir. The King did as was commanded and that land repented and changed it's ways. As time went on, Rogvir could sense that the evil gods were building up an immunity to the Robe. Finally he sensed that the Robe itself was losing power and he hastened to return north to his native land. One day, the Robe simply vanished from his knapsack and it was done. He hastened back to his farmstead and was greeted warmly by his sons. The Jarl had already sent messengers declaring him a National Hero and he was surprised at the sudden adulation. "I am merely a man!" he cried out to the crowds that came to greet him. He retired to his farmstead and wrote books on what he saw and experienced.

The gods were not finished with him yet. The god sent another messenger, this time with the staff of Alakash. "Use this staff to heal the sick and the broken-hearted." said the messenger. Rogvir knew it was a request he could not refuse and went out and did what he was told. Thousands of men, women and children were healed of their infirmities by the staff and Rogvir insisted that he was only a messenger of the gods. He traveled the world over with a small cadre of priests and monks and healed people and preached that people should prepare their foods correctly and boil the water before they drink it. One day when Rogvir was out in a distant and strange land, he felt the need to sleep and he died of old age, being 120 years old. His followers took his mortal remains back to his native land and buried him at his farm. The Temples build a major Temple on the site of the farm, after the sons of Rogvir gave them a fair price for the land. Rogvir was declared a saint but his staff had vanished. One of the monks remembered that Rogvir kept a journal and had his clothes and donated both to the Temple. Several major Paladin orders were formed at the Temple over the centuries. The land did not fall back into warfare for another 700 years.

Thus ends this tale.

"In the Age Before Kings: The Seventeenth of Winterfall"

Mirislav mounted his bay horse at his father's hall and rode northward to speak with the Taiga Elves. They lived in the same harsh region and shared a common
enemy, the Orks. His breath turned to steam and his thick beard began to grow ice-sickles. He covered his mouth and dared not to blink his eyes as he rode.
Like all of his kindred, he wore multiple layers of furs and a hardy set of leather armor, his weapons were iron (which was considered new for the time) his
horse was bred for the harsh climate and he too was a son of the land, knowing which plants were good for medicine and what was not. His thoughts turned
to his lost wife, Fenaslav. She vanished three years ago and hadn't been seen since, everyone assumed that either the dire wolves got her or the Orks
got her, just the same, she was dead to him. The Slava (as they called themselves) claimed the harsh northern lands for themselves during the Flight of the
People, sixty years ago, when portals opened everywhere and huge armies of Orks came through and began to conquer. The Orks hated the far north but they still
made raiding parties to harass the humans and elves on the Taiga. The whole planet lay under the heavy foot of the Universal Orkish Emperor Manon the Terrible.
He was the lord of 2,000 inhabited worlds and the commander of many blood-lust driven Orkish Generals and Barons. Baron Tul'gur ruled Mirislav's planet but the
humans gave their overlords no rest. There had been three major revolts since the Orks took over and scores of smaller ones since then. This was the reality that
Mirislav lived in. He sometimes let himself dream of a world without warfare but he knew that those thoughts were for children. He was a hardened warrior, having
fought over 600 battles against raiding Orks alongside his sizeable clan and their allies the Taiga Elves. His newest mission was simple: Get food stuffs from the
Elves in exchange for new arrows, which he had made plenty of. Pretty soon it would be necessary to raid some Ork slave farms for vegetables, which lay far to the
south. In the raids they not only liberated the food, they liberated everyone who was willing to fight, plus the women. The freed slaves usually joined the Slava
and adopted their culture, those who insisted on retaining their independence rode back south, vowing to hide in caves and continue the righteous fight.

He rode into a small clearing and beheld a large round hall. The Taiga Elves never built any structures in squares for religious reasons. He dismounted and left his
horse by the door. He strode in and greeted the High Druid in the language of the Taiga Elves. "Vishana Elloh" he said. "The same with you" echoed the elves in the
room. "You have our arrows Slavamiri?" asked the oldest warrior. "I do." said Mirislav. They exchanged bundles and the High Druid nodded. "Stay with us for awhile,
it is cold outside." said the High Druid. He agreed and he warmed himself by the fire as one of the warriors brought the horse to the common barn and covered it in
furs to keep it warm. The little elven children spoke quickly in their native language to Miri as he tried not to laugh. The women gossiped about their husbands
and the men spoke of tending to the herds of red deer, elk and other taiga deer that they carefully cultivated as a food source. "How are the cattle this winter?"
asked a warrior. "They are increasing, first increase in over a year. The Gods of the Light smile on us!" said Mirislav. "We found the bulls with the most hair,
bred them with the females and the herd stopped dying of the cold." said Mirislav. "We do the same with the deer up here" said a warrior. "Our women, seven of them,
just gave birth. We are hoping that they will live, and thanks again for the herbs. The herbs that take away the birth pains." said Mirislav. "And we thank
you for everything that you have given us in exchange." said a warrior. An elf played a tune on an elven stringed instrument as he recalled valor in battle from
past engagements with the Orks. "And though our sons of the wood fell in great numbers, we survive to fight another day" went the ballad. "And we shall stike down
the invader from the land forever, once the anointed one comes" sang the elf. Mirislav had heard this before but was not quite sure what to make of it. His people
worshipped the war god Karuthan, who was also the god of righteous rule and divine might. His people did not have priests and everyone was expected to memorize the
tales of the gods and how they shaped the world. Usually the Clan heads were the ones who taught the rest. Some of the Slava worshipped the gods of nature and
often left offerings at certain trees that "seemed holy". He was undecided on these matters and often sided with the idea that "a man makes his own way, with or
without the gods" but at the same time he did not disbelieve the gods. The celebration lasted far into the night and finally he curled up in a fur bag and went
to sleep. He awoke the next morning and saw everyone in their fur bags asleep, so he went to the barn and saddled his horse and left for his father's hall.

The journey back took a few hours but not long, not compared to one journey that lasted three weeks and resulted in a meager exchange with another Slava clan.
The Slava rarely visited each other, except for allies for war and marriage, which was why it was easier to take wives from the unmarried refugees. If a clan had
a dispute with another clan, the clan heads worked out the problem in counsel and drank much "gousen" (spiced hot wine). (which was taken in raids from the Orks)
He tied up his horse at the barn and went inside. His father was fuming over over issues with the servants. "Damn them! We rescued them and they treat us like the
Orks? They expect to be treated like some Ork Baron rather than work." said Daraslav. Dara was an old and hardened warrior of seventy years with a beard as white
as snow. "Did they run off?" asked Mirislav. "No, they ate more than what was allotted them. Now we have to have a hunting party to replace the stores." said Dara.
"Where are they now?" asked Miri. "The leader of the bunch said that he was taking his family back south, I said "goodbye" and that was that." said Dara. "They'll
die without a guide." said Miri. "And the dire wolves will be fatter after eating that bunch of parasites, they couldn't even lift a sword, let alone a pike
or a bow!" groused Dara. Miri heard howling. The howls were unmistakable, they had made a kill. "See? They couldn't even get a mile without getting killed." said
Dara. "You have the food?" asked Dara. "In the sack." said Miri as he opened it. They emptied the meats out of the sack and put them in salt barrels for preservation.

Mirislav noticed a note had been left for him on the table. "Miri, we left (most of us) for White's Pass to raid the Ork fort and slave pens there. We should be back
in a few days." So Miri saw that he was left with looking after domestic affairs for awhile. He went to the fire and stoked it. A young woman walked up to him and
smiled. "I am of age, marry me." she said. He looked at her and sighed. "I cannot live in the past anymore." and he called his father over to witness the exchange
of vows. Later that night, he stripped naked and she did as well and he made love to her by the fireplace. He hoped that this marriage would be more productive than
his last one, his late wife gave him no children. They made love nightly until she stopped him one night and told him; "I missed my time of month." he then knew that
he would be a father. They talked about baby names and decided on Eforic for a boy and Efora for a girl, (Eforic had been his grandfather) and the war party rode back
in. Miri tended to them but remained silent about the marriage. The warriors slapped him on the back and told him of the brilliant raid on the Ork fort. "We went in
silently through a back door they didn't even know they had! We were all disguised as slaves and once we hit their storage, we took everything we could and slipped
out again, all without being noticed. We killed no Orks in our raid, it was brilliant!" said Orrinslav. "Perhaps they slipped in a magic item so one of their
warlocks could track you back to here?" asked Miri, suddenly concerned. "No, we checked for magic or even magic traces, they were caught totally off gaurd!"
said the group mage, Macagar. "I have news!" said Mirislav. The warriors stiffened. They had not heard of anything new at the hall for awhile so they were caught
a bit "off guard". "Tell us, is it better than our raid?" asked Orrinslav. "I married Fionaslav" said Miri. Gordogon stepped forward. "Who witnessed the vow?" he
asked. "The Clan head" said Miri. "This is indeed a fine day! I have gained a son then!" he said happily. "But wait, why did you not wait for me to return so
I could give away the bride?" asked her father. "Honestly, I burned in my widowhood. And she wanted a husband." he said. "Well, life happens with or without
me I suppose." he said. "And you have a grandchild on the way" said Miri. "Then we shall celebrate a wedding and a child, all in due time though." said Dara.

Much work and hunting had to be done, it took a month of hunting and mining to replenish their stores. The craftsmen fashioned new weapons and the warriors tended
to their herds of cattle when not mining. Thanks to one stolen oil lamp, the clan was able to refashion a similar lamp and use the fat obtained from polar bears
for it's oil, leading to longer hours worked. The oil lamps also helped light the hall brighter to ward off depression amongst the women. Summer was coming and that
meant Ork raids on the halls all over the taiga. The clans moved faster in the deep of winter because of skis and snowshoes, they used the horses up to the first
snowfall. They fashioned wagons for raids (so they could bring home more loot) but these wagons were equipped with skis instead of wheels. The wagon was pulled
by a special breed of draft horses that could stand the Taiga. Meanwhile, Miri was working on a plan to take and hold the Ork fort at White's Pass. If the clans
could hold that "choke point", then the clans could raid the area south of the mountains with impunity.

Meanwhile in the south.

Nachor and Mizaz were looking at a map of the whole Continent and were placing flags. "This plan had better work, the last revolt was an utter failure because
of the invasion from the gates we were not expecting." said Nachor. "That is why we are using mages to close the gates, hell I argued it before the tribal heads
and they rejected it, and we got defeated repeatedly because of it. "No, we need the gates open for our purposes" they all said." mumbled Mizaz. "Now we
bypass them. Simple, if they don't help us, we'll ignore them and let them take credit later." said Nachor. Men in uniforms sat on chairs by battle standards. Tables
overflowed with arms and foodstuffs. The whole cave was buzzing about the revolt. "One issue that we have to resolve, how are we going to rule this new world, the one
without the Orks?" asked Nachor. "Someone has to be a King" said Mizaz. "And replace the tyranny of the Orks with a human tyranny? No thank you!" said Nachor.
"The tribes will turn on each other the second the Orks are gone, just like last time. The Orks came back and mopped us up like we were insects, all because the
tribes fell into infighting with each other." said Mizaz. "We are untitled men with followers, hardly legal in a sense but once we chase out the Orks, we will
look to the gods and they will anoint us a leader. I am sure of it." said Nachor. "And the tribes will follow him?" asked Mizaz. "It will take some convincing."
said Nachor. "We need the Slava, they walked out on us last time and preferred to run their own revolt. I suppose it helped them but it weakened us. We need them
because their warriors are some of the best." said Mizaz. "Courier, go to Daraslav Hall at once and deliver this message. They need to be informed that the revolt is
back on." said Nachor. The soldier saluted. "Aye Commander!" and the Courier left the cave, mounted a horse and rode north.

On the Ork home world.

The Emperor lay dying and all of his sons had killed each other in a terrible blood feud. Only Oxnia remained. She was female and unmarried. She sat at his bedside
while he coughed up blood and swore dark oaths to the gods of darkness. She found she could not stand his suffering so she put a pillow over his head and waited for
him to die, he struggled a bit and finally went to be with Kal'liss, the dark god of Imperial rule. She arose and shouted at the servants. "Don't just stand there!
Bring in the Barons!" she said. The servants opened the doors of the plush palace and let in the well-dressed and super-wealthy Ork nobles. "I am the Empress!"
she shouted. "You have no right to claim the throne! You are a woman!" shouted lord Mag'atharian. "We'll see about that!" she shouted. She snapped her fingers and the
ultra-conservative lord was beheaded on the spot by the Palace Gaurd. "Any questions?" she asked the now frightened lords. "No! By the dark gods, the Throne is yours!"
shouted the nobles. But some nobles had other plans. Soon the Ork Empire was in an uproar with armies marching against each other, all supporting one noble or
another's claim to the Throne. The monumental civil war did not go unnoticed and 100 worlds revolted out form under their masters, including Miri's home world.

Back on Miri's home world.

Miri received the news about the revolt and uttered under his breath. "What fools! The orks will simply reopen the gates and march back through!" he said to the
other men of the clan. "I tend to agree." said Dara.

The Orcish Baron heard the news of the civil war and decided it was time to make a move for the Throne. He sent runners to the human tribes with this message:
"If you join my cause, I will let you run your own affairs and you will no longer have to pay a tax to me or anyone." the tribal leaders all rejected the
message and passed the message to Nachor. He fashioned his own message, "Leave our world, take your armies and go fight for your bloodstained throne and we promise
to not invade your home world and lay waste to your cities." That message was sent to the Baron who then realized that he was going to face a two-front war.

The Slava got ready for the revolt and sent messengers to Nachor that they were ready to "give it another try" and on the Seventeenth of Winterfall, the mages
gathered around the portals and shut them down using a powerful anti-magic spell. The tribes marched and laid seige to Vor'taak, the Baron's Capitol. Seeing that
he was utterly cut off from any re-enforcements from the home world, he surrendered his garrison and himself to the victorious Generals Nachor and Mizaz. A monk of
the Gods of the Light pleaded for the Generals to spare the Ork Baron and they agreed. In return the monk, speaking in a voice of the god of Divine right, announced
to the Tribes that Nachor was now the Emperor of all Men. The tribes agreed and a simple iron crown was placed on Nachor's head and a purple robe was placed on his
back. He picked Kings from the heads of the tribes and they too were crowned. The Ork Baron was allowed to live in exile in a place of his choosing (under watch)
while the Ork army disarmed and agreed to take up trades and live under human laws. The mages made certain that the portals remained shut.

Mirislav was there with the United Armies and witnessed everything. He returned home and the clan discussed the future. "We have a King now over the entire Slava,
I expect we can move south again" said Dara. "King Garhanaslav is a wise elder, he will lead us back to our old homeland." said Dara.

Months passed and no word came from the new King. The clan heads rode out to see if he was still alive and they found him quite busy at the task of building a
giant new hall for himself and his clan. "When are we going back south?" the clan heads asked him. "Why are you hetmen in such a hurry? Who knows if the Orks
will come back? Besides, this Taiga can be defended, our old homeland was defenseless." said the King. The Clan hetmen nodded at this wisdom and rode back to
give the news. No-one was happy and the entire Clan of Nougal declared it was going to resettle in the Kingdom of the Juttes, which was in the warm south.

Mirislav heard the news and announced that he was taking his wife and children and heading south. "I will send letters and visit" he promised. He went south with
Clan Nougal, helping them fend off the suddenly resurgent trolls, which now had come out of their caves and infested the land. The King of the Juttes welcomed the
new arrivals personally and asked them to swear an oath of allegiance to him. This was unknown amongst the Slava and they debated if the King's request was even a
legal one, since all Kings had to answer to the Emperor, who was ruling from the former Ork city of Vor'taak, now Middleburg. The men of the Clan talked it over with
the hetman and gave this answer to the King: "We shall obey your laws but we swear allegiance to the Emperor only." The King was not happy but he accepted it. He had
no choice, since the Jutts were still building up their ruined towns villages and cities. The farmers were excited to be freed from the slave pens. They did not
(at first) even want to build walls around their settlements but the King reminded them that Orkish magic was far older and more powerful than human magic. "They
could come back" which is what the Kings told their people.

The Emperor remained humble at first, he only ruled on cases that came before him according to ancient customs. He then began to dream of expanding the Capitol city
and giving land to commanders in exchange for their service, since the Empire was basically born without any coinage whatsoever. He had cartographers draw up maps
and he made some quick alterations and handed millions of acres of land to 600 commanders that he named Barons. He gave them the power to tax the people and they
answered directly to the Emperor. The Kings also reserved the right to tax and soon all the farmers and tradesmen in the land were "rather upset" at the situation.
The Emperor was informed of his mistake by Mizaz, his new Chancellor. The Emperor then sat down and wrote a code of laws for the Empire, appointed Judges to enforce
the law and set up a centralized tax collection service. He stripped the Barons of their right to collect taxes but they could still charge rent for tenants on their
land. The Kings quickly followed suit. He ordered that a Mint be established and he abolished barter. So gold and silver coins bearing his imprint began to circulate
all over the land. The Empire had no standing army (except for a small Palace guard) and that haunted the new Emperor daily. He realized that there was no way he
could provide for a standing army, the taxes required to maintain it would crush the Empire. Until now, the Dwarves and the Elves accepted him as Emperor and their
Kings recognized him as their leige but they ran their own affairs to such an extant that they all but ignored Imperial Law altogether. When he sent tax collectors
to the Under King of the Dwarves who resided at Mt. Mondol, they were sent away empty-handed. The Elves gave the same answer. He chose to not move against them
because if the orks were to ever return, he needed their support and their armies. He then proclaimed a new all-volunteer force, which was to be organized
under 10 Generals. The Barons and the Kings levied their own small personal forces as well. The tribal militias accounted for most of the Empire's fighting force
still. The 10 Generals built Castles according to their assigned military disticts.

Mirislav was given a Generalship by the Emperor and so he resettled his family at Rosendale and built a simple house there. He made sure that the new troops under
his command remained trained and armored and were kept away from gambling and wine. He was strict and even wrote a Military Code of Conduct which the Empire adopted
a few years later.

Thus this Tale comes to an End.

Announcing a new fantasy blog!

Visit "The Heroic Saga of the Volkashir" at blogger.com! Some Vyir wandered through portals and settled new worlds. This one proved to be worse than the one they came from! Read more of their story at TheHeroicSagaoftheVolkashir@blogger.com!

On the other side of the Great Divide: Realistic Fiction

He was forty and didn't have much to show for it. Where did his life go wrong? His mind wandered back to his first big crush, over in Europe. She was an American, like him. Her father was an Officer in the US Army. "What happened to her?" he wondered. It had been so long since he had even thought of her. 

He settled into his wooden chair to eat breakfast, the matter forgotten again. The dream he had the following night was disturbing him, to say the least. It left more questions than answers. Why was he seeing so many symbols in his dreams? He admitted to himself he often read his dreams more than the opinions of others. Something big was going to happen, and he knew it. What was it? Only the Almighty knew, and the Almighty tends to keep certain secrets close but will sometimes "hint" that something is about to transpire. "Perhaps they all rejected me because I am too insular" he thought. He didn't talk much, and when he did, it was in a subconscious desire to have friends. 

He lived a life alone. People considered him a loner but he really desired a real life with friends and family but they had all but rejected him. He didn't talk much to anyone and sometimes someone would try to make friends with him, but the relationship wouldn't last long. "Friends and family can betray" he knew this at his core. His own parents had suddenly changed their tone towards him. He knew it was his own little brother, his own brother! who had betrayed him, all in the name of filthy lucre.

He feared people and he was paranoid. He knew this and was all too certain that "just because you are paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you." But he also remembered that in order to remain alive, he needed to exercise mental discipline. He was intelligent, although his own father considered him to be a sub-moron. Just because you are silent does not mean that you are disabled. He felt too much like the little dog that everyone kicked because they didn't understand him.

He was not violent, he was in many way a true Christian but he did struggle a bit. Like everyone sometimes his pride got the best of him, or he accused someone of theft when they didn't do it. Perhaps that was his problem nowadays, he thought, he tended to be so insular he forgot to gather the facts before he acted. Several people left him, angry because of it. 

He went to work and remained in his comfort zone, listening to the radio and since the job was easier than moronic, he turned off that part of his mind mostly but because of attention deficient disorder, he had to remind himself of certain details. One thing that burned hot in his heart: Freedom. He felt it's call throughout his life and since he mostly raised himself (his father didn't care) His strongest calling in his heart was love for all nations, like his Master the Christ. No-one saw this, sometimes he hinted at it. He doubt anyone even understood him. He was also thankful that unexpected friends in the company he worked for helped get him his job. 

So, although he wasn't perfect, he was still in this world. And he awaited the reason for his meager existence. Perhaps there was to be a moment of "passing on the torch" or do something huge for the Kingdom of Heaven? The Creator knew. He was good at communicating with the written word. He often resorted to it when he wanted to express himself. Perhaps this was indeed his true gift. Talking from "his mind to his keyboard" was so much easier than talking to people. He was slowly getting better at talking with people though. 

He was celibate, having vowed a vow to the Creator, to neither date nor marry for the Kingdom of Heaven's sake. He felt that he "blew it" with his last relationship. It seemed like the Blessed path to take. He knew that most people never went down this path because of it's hidden dangers, and sometimes he even entertained the thought of leaving off the vow but reality always snapped him back. Always. He had recently stopped playing an online game he had been playing for almost four years now. He was sick to death of it and wanted to "move on" to something else. He had been a huge reader of books written by 18th Century authors but now he held off from buying any more, because of the expense and the trouble of having to carry them with him. 

He was a Park and Resort worker, met many Internationals and was surprised that Europeans understood him better than Americans and actually wanted to talk with him. He supposed it was because he spent several years of his formative life in Europe and it impacted him greatly. He still loved European culture more than American culture. He would have been comfortable in England or even Germany but then again he was only playing the cards he was given. 

Was it to be? Everything in his life seemed to be pointing to something greater, much greater than himself. Only if he knew. He shook his head, only if he knew. All the dreams, all the signs, all the life he had lived. What was it? Only the Almighty knew.

Not yet the end. God's will be done.