Date: 06 Jun 2012 14:43 Title: Chapter 38
Something odd is definitely happening to Adele if her telepathic senses are growing stronger and gaining in range. You're really stepping up the intrigue and plot now, and I like it!
Date: 20 Apr 2010 19:28 Title: Chapter 38
Big Win for Telek, and Maren; but Icheb has gone by by, and Adele is now left with a very cooky situation.
Date: 07 Dec 2009 00:14 Title: Chapter 38
Damn with your last cliffhanger I thought nothing would top it but this does for it means possible answers and probably a lot more up the garden path stuff too. Brilliantly played with the switches between Bridge and Engineering. Cool thinking on Maren's part though her 'kindness' to the Borg drones may prove her undoing - Icheb might have worked out alright after the collective but she cannot assume the same will be the case for any drones she meets. Not to mention the headache this situation is gonna cause her captain. Dear oh dear. Fascinating and this new character fascinating again. Can't wait to see where this is going!
Author's Response:
Wow, thanks, MF! I'm very glad you liked it so much.
Maren knows Icheb AND Seven pretty well, so from her perspective they're two for two with the ex-drones ... but deep down she's just not someone who can kill when there's another available option, and she doesn't see the drones as evil ... more like brainwashed. Time will tell if her decision was the right one, and surely Adele will have a word or two (or two hundred) about this.
We'll see where this is headed ... again, glad you enjoyed and thanks for the review!
Date: 06 Dec 2009 09:03 Title: Chapter 38
Ut oh, Maren's in tttrrroouubbbllleeeee! I'm glad she survived the encounter, though. She's lucky, and I can't see an honorable Andorian doing any less than Telek did. It's a good thing he did, too.
Poor Icheb, in the clutches of who knows who for who knows what purpose. Very taut and tense chapter throughout. It may have hurt your head, but it was a damned fun read!
Author's Response:
Glad you liked it, PSGarak. Maren's in trouble in more ways than one. Head injury, and now she's going to have to explain to the captain why she did things the way she did. As far as Telek goes, he's definitely on the badass side for an engineer. Don't underestimate Andorians. Have you ever seen an Andorian Borg drone? I haven't. Doesn't mean they don't exist, but Telek is not one of them, and thanks to him, neither is Maren -- take that, Borg Collective!
Yeah, poor Icheb doesn't even know what's going on yet. He's in for a nasty surprise when he wakes up.
Thanks for the review!
Date: 06 Dec 2009 07:30 Title: Chapter 38
Quick thinking on Maren’s part, and a good job by Telek who apparently knows when to disobey orders for the sake of personal and professional honor.
Adele came close to losing it, apparently, and I have to admit I’m a bit shocked by that. Yes, the situation was bad, but not yet Kobayashi Maru bad. Then again, given her personal history with the Borg, it’s likely a confrontation with them would produce significantly greater stress for her than a similar scenario with a different species.
Whoever’s got Icheb managed to nullify both Tesseract’s defenses as well as those of the Borg cube. That doesn’t bode well for anybody, though the fact that they’re willing to talk engenders a bit of hope.
Looks a bit like they’ve just missed dropping into the frying pan only to tumble instead into the fire…
Author's Response:
Yeah, Telek saved the day. That would have gone very differently if he hadn't disobeyed Maren's orders. Her thinking may have been quick, but it wasn't thorough. She's awesome with engineering, systems and theoretical stuff ... the real world occasionally stymies her. "Give me five minutes" sounded like a good idea at the time ...
Any other species, Adele would definitely have been much calmer. It's one thing to convince yourself you've moved on and dealt with your Borg issues when you haven't seen a cube (at least not in one piece) in the better part of two decades. It's another to maintain that conviction in the face of a surprise confrontation with a cube, multiple drones in engineering, and your Borg expert XO passing out and disappearing off the bridge, with no backup within 20,000 light years or so. It was a bit much for her all at once. Now that she's gotten past the shock, though, I think she'll be better if there's a next time. It was a momentary freak out.
Whoever has Icheb is in posession of some seriously kick-ass technology. Yet, they are willing to talk. The Tesseract might have a few things they want, for one thing.
Thanks for the review, Gibraltar!
Date: 06 Dec 2009 06:40 Title: Chapter 38
Ow. A hangover and a concussion? I hope Tesseract has some really top-shelf Excedrin on board, Maren is gonna need it.
I like the touch of showing Adele as highly-trained but still able to be rattled. Great addition, and something I think is often forgotten about ship's captains. All the training in the world can't fully prevent your emotions from almost running wild. The key is keeping the others from seeing it. I think Adele and Nagumo would find they have somewhat similar command styles.
As for mysterious bumpy-forehead guy. Why don't first contacts ever just send a business card? Why do they have to be all "lets talk... particularly since my ship just pimp-slapped a Borg cube." (heh!)
Still, he has the right about of menace and mystery to grab me -- and apparently Icheb too. Oh and look, the missing sensor buoy plotline from before has borne a really intriguing fruit...
Curious who these people are and how much they are going to demand of Adele and her crew. Although, I imagine she could just send Quigley over. The way his days has gone, I bet he'd love to negotiate -- with his fist.
Author's Response:
Yeah, I'm thinking Bashir is going to be shaking his head while treating Maren. How does one slightly anal rententive engineer manage to mess herself up that badly in the span of twenty four hours? Oh yeah, alcohol and the Borg.
Adele is normally calmer than we saw her here, but this is the Borg -- the same Borg who took her husband away and tried to destroy her planet, and they took her by surprise, and she just wasn't as emotionally prepared as she thought she was. She's good at hiding it for the sake of her crew, though. I like the idea of her and Nagumo being kindreds. He seems very cool.
Mystery guy is not what he seems, and I'll leave it at that. But yes, his ship did pimp slap a Borg cube. And now he's apparently got Adele's XO. (Gee, I wonder how Maren's headache will be affected when she finds out about THAT development.)
Sending Quigley would be a blessing for him (assuming they could figure out WHERE to send him). I think his day is only going to get crappier there on the Tesseract with one best friend missing, the other injured, and some Borg drones to babysit ... oh, yeah, John's day sucks.
Thanks for the awesome review!