The Dwarf and the Fairie PART II

Vlarn was the only one of his kind in the city but he knew that if any bigots tried him, he would knock them off their feet within seconds, for the fist of the dwarf was a fist of a steel hammer. He gathered the miners and soldiers for the expedition and mounted a horse to give a short speech. "Humans, I am a dwarf. We are miners and warriors of first rate. The mine that we are going to is a two day ride from here and borders the domain from which I had come from. If we reopen this mine, all men get 10% of the spoils and 100 Geulders per man. What do you say?" asked Vlarn. The men cheered, seeing that this venture was not just a fools errand from the King. The soldiers began to chant his name, and Vlarn blushed, having no idea that he was such a solid speaker. "We ride!" he cried out and turned his horse and the army followed him.

Every time the small army set up a night camp, they were beset by wild Orcs and trolls, giant spiders and goblins. Both the miners and soldiers acquitted themselves bravely in wild battle after battle, losing very few men in the process. The humans were from the Fennivir tribe, an ancient race of proud warriors who never quit the battlefield. Vlarn was already familiar with the language of the Fennivir and tried to act as much as one of them as possible. The King, who had commissioned him, was from an ancient bloodline of Fennivir Battle-Kings and very few Kingdoms picked a fight with them as a result, because the Fennivir almost always won. After each battle, the soldiers sang the ancient battle-songs and recited the ancient sagas of their ancestors around the campfires. Vlarn began to admire these hardy people and wondered why their Kingdom seemed so advanced and at first appearance the society seemed almost unwarlike. Definitely not barbarians, they marched in ranks and conducted war in a professional manner, and yet their spirit was one of lifetime warriors and not peasants and shopkeepers. He asked Loars, the Commander of the Guard about this. He turned to the men and spoke; "Men, what are we?" "WE ARE WARRIORS! ORAH!" cried the group. "You see dwarf, everything else is secondary. We train for war daily and the fools that dared to attack us lost their Kingdoms as a result." smiled the Captain grimly.

The army came to the mine on the third day of the trek and saw it was being camped by trolls, a huge army of them. Vlarn turned to Loars. "We'll draw their warriors out a bit, fight them. Then we'll burn the camp and kill the rest of them." said Vlarn. "I have a better plan. MEN! TURTLE!" and the soldiers went into the turtle formation and awaited the order. "WADE INTO THEM! KILL AND DO NOT SPARE!" cried the Captain. The trolls had noticed their arrival and began their wild, disorganized attacks. The Fennivir sliced through the trolls like a hot knife through butter. The troll warriors died all within five minutes and then the soldiers hacked to pieces the rest of the trolls. The men began to clean up the fight scene and tossed the troll bodies into a burn pit while the "loot detail" went into action, looking for gold and silver and stolen items, which they found tons of. "Captains! We found three chests of gold and silver! These trolls were the raiders that had been giving Gwennus problems for so long!" said a soldier. "The warriors of Gwennus have grown soft and fat. We'll keep the loot." said Vlarn. The soldiers laughed out loud and cried, "May you live forever in song and glory!" "Not so fast men, we still have to deal with the black dragon in this mine. I am going in alone. I know of an enchantment that will cause this black dragon to flee this place forever." said Vlarn to Loars. "We'll wait here. We are coming in after a day has passed." said Loars.

Vlarn entered the cave and saw that is was empty short of the piles of skeletons he saw coming in. He felt the heat of the dragon's breath as he drew closer to the dragon. "MaWaug!" he cried in his own language, unpleasantly surprised. The dragon was undead. Undead dragons were almost impossible to kill or enchant.
He quickly exited the mine and explained the situation to Loars. "We need to cave in this mine and seal that thing in here!" said Vlarn. "Undead you say? I suppose we'll need a wizard that specializes in killing undead dragons or a Death Priest but they don't exactly do errands." said Loars. "I know a Wizard, perhaps he will help us." said Vlarn. Vlarn quickly wrote a message and gave it to the keeper of the messenger pigeons. The keeper sent it flying to the Red Tower. The response was swift. A Red and Black clad wizard manifested himself in the camp and marched into the mine. A terrible scream was heard and the Wizard marched out of the mine. "Did you kill it?" asked the dwarf. "I opened a portal and sent it into the twisting nether. It will join legions of other undeads that we have exiled." said the Wizard. "What should we pay you?" asked the dwarf. "Nothing, we don't use coin. We consider it a great privilege to send evil out of the world." said the Wizard. "I did notice that his lair was filled with gold and silver, so your men might want to scoop that up." said the Wizard. The Wizard winked and vanished into the night. "Men, there is gold and silver in the now-empty lair, go and loot to your heart's content!" said Loars to the men. The soldiers rushed into the mine and after they didn't return, the miners became concerned and began to whisper. "Dammnation! The gold and silver was accursed! I should have thought of that!" said the dwarf, kicking himself. Vlarn and Loars ventured down to the treasure chamber and saw that all the warriors had died and were just now rising as undeads. "Get out of here!" said Vlarn to the Commander. Vlarn cast "detect enchantment" and saw an ancient and unholy relic buried in the mountain of gold. He cursed under his breath and left the cave. "We are sealing the mine and heading back." said Vlarn to the miners. The miners nodded and did what they were told. They used some blasting powder to seal the mine. The march back was sorrowful and the dwarf knew that he lost his commission. The party returned and Vlarn explained what happened and explained his decision to seal the mine. "An unholy artifact? You did the right thing although I lost a good portion of my men to undeath. I will give you 1,000 geulders but we shall never speak of this again." said the King. The dwarf took the gold and left the Kingdom and traveled to the mountain-peak city-state of Arranius. The city was ruled by an Elven King and was inhabited by humans, dwarves, elves, lizard-people, Kajhat, and Orcs. There he hoped to make a better impression.

End of Part II

The Dwarf and the Fairy

What takes a Dwarf out of the mountain fasts? Usually he is kicked out by his own Thane. This is what happened to Vlarn Ironbeard when someone accused him falsely of treason. He packed his bag and left his giant home under the mountain and embarked on a journey into the human Kingdoms.

Ishia'Dimist had the same problem, he was thrown out of his "hive" for being the only one to point out that the whole community was being run as an estate for their Queen.

They met by a towering waterfall that reached far up a tall mountain. "Veskeggor" as it was called by the dwarves. They exchanged their tales of woe and decided to travel with each other.

The Forests of the Elder Shire where a nightmare of moving trees, strangling roots and waving branches plus quicksand and fire swamps. A few brave wizards had managed to grow (from a red crystal) a large tower in a clearing and it represented the only civilization in 1,000 miles in any direction. A school of 3,000 Red (Neutral) Wizards lived in the Tower, with the Arch-Wizards living at the top of the tower and maintaining the inner crystal. The fortune pair had spotted the Tower and went there to ask for food and rest.

"Sirs, can we rest here? We will gladly pay off our debt." said the dwarf to one of the Wizards. "We are not in the custom of keeping strangers but this whole forest is dangerous. We'll talk to the Arch-Mages." said Fahare the Wise. The pair waited outside for what seemed like an hour until the wooden door opened. "Come in, the Head Archmage wishes to see you." said Fahare. The three walked to a circle on the ground and the wizard tapped it with his staff and they all were instantly teleported to the top of the tower. "I am Farhare the Wise, Maximum Arch Wizard for our entire Order. I sense you both are heading south. I need something delivered." said the Wizard. The Wizard eyed the fairy and shoved a small letter into his hands. "Give this to King Magnus of Bristane and you dwarf, give this package to him." said the Wizard as he shoved a package into the arms of the dwarf. "I would be honored" said the pair. The Wizard smiled and waved his staff and uttered an incantation and both landed in the city of Bristane in the Courtyard of Bristane Castle. The King and Queen were enjoying the summer day on their outdoor thrones when they saw the two appear out of thin air. "Are you messengers of the Arch-Wizard?" asked the old King. "Yes, and here is your letter and package." said the dwarf. The king broke the seal and opened the letter and smiled. "Yes, we happen to have a need for you dwarf. Our mines are in a state of utter disrepair. Can you go down and fix the problem? I am giving you 400 armored men and 800 miners. The others had fled due to a chamber collapse and the appearance of a black dragon." said the King. "Kill that dragon, clean the mine of the trolls and bandits and get it profitable. The lord of the area is losing sheep to the dragon and he is losing his serfs." said the King. "As for you, little one. I need you to deliver a message to the God-Emperor of the Elves. He does not reside on this world but we can open a portal to his domain." said the king. "Or at least my White Mages can." he added. "I am no mage, I am a Paladin by training and I have used my office to heal millions of the ill and crippled. The Light has kept me on the throne thus far and I suspect that the gods will continue to be good to me." said the King.

Part Two Soon.

The Future of the Uniformity

"And what can the future be? And what can it mean?" asked Dr. Stevens to his students by remote cam. "Sure, we all expected flying cars and other gadgets but the future has proven to hold far more promise. Believe me when I tell you that the future will not be like Star Trek, it will be an internalized world where mankind's perceptions will be based on an image generated by a machine, a machine so powerful that it will become infamous to a select few.....the Christians."

Dr. Towanga Stevens, 2018 AD

"Never speak of it. Never think it or the machine will execute your mind and obliterate your very being."

Freeman Chang, 2223 AD

Mindless cattle. So many humans sit in their pods now, connected to the Beast. They grow old, they grow fat and are reprocessed for resources once the Beast decides that they are ready to be recycled. They are born in the labs and they die on the processing line, often without the benefit of pain-killers. The State is now 100% satanic. All of the leaders are open Satanists now. Many suspected that they were closet Satanists, and the flow of time proved that to be correct. The satanic leadership uses atheism to wash out any thoughts of a higher power but they themselves build huge temples to their overlord where churches once stood. It is pure midnight. The hour Jesus spoke of has come to pass. The podlings entertain themselves with horror and depraved sexual acts.

Something went wrong in 2223 AD. A podling awoke. he broke out and set himself free and went to live in the North American Nature Preserve. Several others followed him and they began a violent revolution against the satanic system. It failed and the "escaped cattle" were executed and reprocessed. The other podlings, those who had not had their minds fully suppressed, began to alter the pod-centers and to disable the processing robots, all with clever worms and viruses. The Second Revolution was unleashed and the satanic government suppressed that revolution by the use of nuclear weapons. It was too late, many podlings all over the country began to escape from their pods and fled into the wilderness. Some fled beneath the cities and formed Cyber-gangs whose only purpose was to overthrow the satanic Government. Then the unexpected happened: The first disciple of Christ arose after centuries of extinction. A new band formed around him, all committed to the peaceful overthrow of the satanic system with their radical approach of giving the gospel to the satanic government. This effort was abandoned as futile and the Apostles turned their attention to the bulk of the freed and unfreed podlings. The Disciples stressed that all computer use was a return to bondage and many believed it and abandoned the cyber-gangs. The satanic government tried every lie they could think of and finally gave up trying to kill them off, so they co-opted them. They produced their own false Messiah from an advanced laboratory and set him loose to deceive millions of the freed. Millions took his mark and the number of his name and where recaged in the pod centers. The Disciples saw this coming and they preached the Book of Revelation and exposed the false Messiah. A cyber-gang found the location of the false Messiah and were about to kill him when they discovered that his brain was 100% dependent on the Beast itself and his own intelligence was akin to a small child. They took pity on him and unhooked him, they fled and hid him in the wilderness and the Disciples cared for him. The Disciples heard of the new union between the human mind and the Beast and they made the fateful decision to shut down the Beast. The Cyber-Gangs and the Disciples staged a cyber-sneak attack on Lucifarian (which had been New York) and brought down the power long enough to pump the Beast up with multiple power-surge programs. Their scheme worked and the Beast shut off and never came back on again. The satanic government was rounded up by angry podlings  and executed without mercy. The Disciples did not object to it. Finally with the restoration of freedom, the country was rebuilt, minus computers and any electronics. People abandoned the cities and became farmers and herdsmen on the former "wilderness preserve" while the Pastors and Bishops of the Disciples became the new Government, a Government of Judges based on the system put into place by Moses. Since the original Bible had been destroyed in North America, the European Democratic Collective had loaned the Disciples thousands of Bibles in an attempt to bring down the  North American Lucifarian Union during the Revolution. A few Satanists remained, but the new Government now hunted the few remaining Satanists until they were utterly gone. As what happens, things work in cycles and eventually the Disciples lost their grip on North America when the Libertarian Free Thinkers Union was organized. A new Generation had been born, unaware of the horrors that their parents had endured. The Libertarian Union began to rebuild the cities and the electronic infrastructure, not heeding the warnings of the old Disciples. Then the Apostles demanded that the Libertarian Union pay a heavy price for bringing back the Internet: Censorship. The Libertarians chaffed at the agreement but agreed in the long run to allow the Apostles to screen and filter the Internet to prevent the rise of Satanism. The new Executive Council of the Libertarian Union approved a massive space program. The Disciples challenged the idea and pointed out that only an insecure person would leave the comforts of Earth for a desert planet or a space station. The Libertarians pointed out that mankind needed "room to grow" for it's own sake. So a great debate began and many youth, disillusioned by their elders "digging their heels in the ground" left the Christian Union and formed the "Free Thinkers Union" which held to most Christian tenants but were aggressively pro-technology. Slowly some even began to question the past existence of the Beast and even suggested it was a "boogy-man" to keep everyone in line. Then the wicked one pounced. A charismatic man emerged preaching the idea that everyone is his/her own God and even used (selectively) scripture to prove it. Millions quickly flocked to the deceiver and the Apostles were aghast at the development. The Apostles used the full force of their arguments and prayers to bring down the deceiver. An explosion took the life of the deceiver and many suspected that the Apostles had turned to violence although an inquiry later cleared them. The Apostles quickly went on the offensive and restated that a pure and Christian life is better than being "cast adrift on the winds" and reminded the youth of the horrors of the past. Many youths sorrowed and repented. The Muslim Caliphate, which had been unlawful for years, was granted permission to enter North America for the purposes of trade but the Apostles wisely stated their objections. The vast Muslim Caliphate under the leadership of the charismatic Benami had (years ago) renounced all violence and had embraced pacifism but had kept the Quran and the Surah unchanged. His successor was not so friendly however. Ahab Bin-Benami began to preach an aggressive "educational Jihad" against the Christian West. The Apostles simply responded with an aggressive outreach into the Caliphate. Nevertheless, the religious hold that the Apostles had was now broken and the last Apostle Council was held in the winter of that year before everyone went their separate ways to found their own "church councils" the Apostles began to think that perhaps a decentralized approach would be better than a central one.

End of Part One

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.