Date: 19 Jul 2013 01:07 Title: Chapter 3
That was a helluva chapter. John in command, screwing up and then not screwing up, and an unlikely, dying hero. John is right at the end, of course. Herk does not go in vain; this is a huge help to people. Anit needs to realize that there are more than three people on the ship, and those others just had a lot of time bought for them by what happened. Not nice? Sure, but it is no worse than getting a dying confession out of someone.
[Report This]Date: 05 Aug 2010 22:27 Title: Chapter 3
Scary chain of events, but Quigley handled it well despite not knowing too much about engineering. It was actually sort good to see that he wasn't entirely sure how to get anything fixed when television series seemed to indicate everyone could do everyone else's job.
Author's Response:
I'm glad you like the idea that not everyone is crosstrained to within an inch of their lives. I always found it a little ridiculous and redundant that everyone could seemingly do EVERYTHING on TV Trek. This is my attempt to bring a little reality to the situation. John's a good officer, but he's a tactical guy, not an engineer. Thanks for reading and commenting, and for the stars. I really appreciate it!
Date: 24 Jul 2010 08:13 Title: Chapter 3
I really feel for John here, as well as Anit, but they clearly did the right thing… even Herk knew it was necessary. This likely won’t be the last person John losses under his command if he enjoys any longevity to his career, but I doubt it will get any easier with time. Anit has the luxury of his moral indignation, simply by the fact that he wasn’t in command. John, however, has to live with the aftermath of that decision.
This was a very well drawn scene with plenty of tension, angst, and recrimination to go around… especially well done. You made me care about Herk (damn monosyllabic-named Tellarites! 
) in a short amount of time.
Author's Response:
Thank you, Gibraltar. Herk did know what had to be done ... he had the perspective that comes with years of experience and half a lifetime lived already -- in marked contrast to John (27) and Anit (25). John might have been the ranking officer in that destroyed room, but he was smart enough to follow his instinct and defer to Herk's superior knowledge. Of course, he'll live with the memory of this moment for the rest of his life. I seriously doubt he'll ever forget the many lessons he's learned today -- and has yet to learn.
[Report This]Date: 23 Jul 2010 21:07 Title: Chapter 3
POSTED FROM TREKBBS
Wow. What an amazing chapter!
So great to see JQ step up to the plate and knock one out of the park. A horrible decision, a life or death situation, but he pulled through. I especially loved this line:
John took a deep breath and blew it out. “Yeah. Yeah, maybe we did,” he conceded angrily. “No ,” he corrected himself suddenly, “that’s exactly what we did. Welcome to Command. We did what we had to do. If we hadn’t done that, we’d still be at square one.
Truly showed JQ coming into his own, working through his emotions quickly but surely and stepping into that command role. I'm astonished at how you managed to unveil so much character development in one single chapter (granted a long chapter).
And I haven't even mentioned the character of Herk, a brave Tellarite who remains a courageous noncom right through to the end, a class act who only cares about getting the ship back together and those civilians safe. Sir, we knew you for only a few moments, but we salute you!
Another great piece of character work, combined with some stellar description, tense writing and brilliant dialogue. Well done Kes!!!
Author's Response:
Wow, thanks, CS!
I'm glad you think John "knocked it out of the park" -- I'm not sure he feels that way, but I'm sure if he could read your comment he'd be grateful for the vote of confidence. He's always wanted to be in command, but I'm pretty sure this was not the way he had envisioned the job.
As for Herk, yeah, he was awesome. He knew he had moments left, so he did his best to make them count. I doubt John Quigley will ever, ever forget him.
Thanks so much for the very, very kind comments and stars.
Date: 23 Jul 2010 14:03 Title: Chapter 3
What a chapter. Four thousand odd words of John Quigley taking charge in the worst of moments and having little choices available to him. And when choices were then available to him, it was the choice of quickening another man's death in order to use Herk's expertise and knowledge to save the ship! Talk about a tough situation for JQ!
John has had to make a decision based on the lives of all the others now depending upon him. He could not spare the luxury of worrying about Herk alone. [Of course had it been Maren one does wonder what would have been done then!] So he should be admired for the courage he has had to show. Albeit an awful decision to make and choice to live with. But given the circumstances and the fact that for all of his effots so far, he hasn't gotten everyone out of danger yet. They still have to evacuate and to find everyone still alive to get off the ship. Traumatic events for all on the Sol.
On top of that, we have the setting of carnage and a really beat up ship. And John is working with a rather lame duck in Anit. Loved seeing this l'ess than stellar officer in crisis situation' react to everything. Not everyone can be a John Q or a Herk. Nice bit of characterisation and throwing in a little bit of a difference to our normal trek experiences. Also loved Herk, the little we got of him. Nice guy - well for a Tellarite that is! Aw.
Anyway, great stuff. Thanks for the read.
Author's Response:
Thanks, MF! I'm so glad you enjoyed the chapter.
John did the only thing he could think of to do, which was use the one resource available to him to get the ship fixed, and use it to the fullest. Unfortunately, that 'resource' was a member of his crew. If it had been Maren, things might have ended very differently, though. We've seen his lack of objectivity when it comes to people he's attached to before.
As for Anit, he's a very competent pilot ... but apparently not a guy you want around in a real emergency. At least he's following orders and functional, but his attitude sucks for sure.
And Herk -- yeah, I was sad when he died, too.
Thanks again for reading and reviewing!