Date: 28 Jun 2015 18:58 Title: Chapter 20
Ominous, vague, and oh so Q ... loved it. The interplay between Junior and Maren is layered, the meaning behind his words chilling. What he did to her mind is a question to be answered later, I suppose, but Maren is now awake.
Now things are going to get REALLY interesting.
Date: 26 Jun 2015 19:30 Title: Chapter 20
Whoa! Harsh wakeup! I like the slight tie-in, too .... Hmm.
Date: 29 Jul 2014 22:53 Title: Chapter 19
Whew, that was quite a read. Normally I prefer my chapters short and sweet and without too much rehashing of plot points but I have to admit that this was perfect timing to get the reader up to speed on everything that's been going on and reintroduce all the charters that are going to play a key role in this tale.
Icheb playing the victim card was also quite effective as it showed us why they must do what they're doing next. It's going to be hard for some to see the Borg Resistance as allies, and I'm pretty sure even elements within the Resistance aren't going to be crazy about working with Starfleet but that seems to be the only way forward.
Now that the course is set, we can go back to focus on what happens next in this epic tragedy. Oh, and I guess Maren is going to wake up at some point too.
Date: 28 Jul 2014 15:56 Title: Chapter 19
AH, Icheb! Good to see him up and about (and Bashir being his awesome Bashir self and still making a few quips here and there to ease things over). Sucks that Maren is still out cold, but at least she's not worse. With Icheb feeling a good deal better, I feel better about her chances.
The briefing was the real fun here. There was a lot of interactions and dynamics at play here, all of them handled really well. JQ's first briefing as a senior staff member was fraught with trepidation but by the end he seemed to be finding his stride.
The toughest -- and most engrossing -- part of this was Adrian Keller's outburst. It was totally understandable how he would feel and how he would lash out, but Icheb's reaction to it was pretty pointed (for him anyway). Despite all of Adrian's loss Icheb didn't waste a second correcting the man that the Borg were made up individuals taken against their will, real people, and Icheb's speech (and holo-show) were spot on.
Looking forward to more. YAY.
Date: 19 Jul 2014 08:14 Title: Prologue
What an intense prologue. We got to see Dena's background and where she came from via a flashback scene. I found it hard to read a little when she began tearing her implants out. Ouch. She must be so confused about her memories. A good start to an engaging story, Thanks for sharing this with us. I cannot wait to see what happens next.
Date: 12 Apr 2014 09:15 Title: Chapter 18
Tough choices all over this chapter and it all boils down to trust. After everything this crew has been thru, that's one commodity that's not in abundance.
Visiting the resistance base seems to be the next logical step if Adele plans to oppose the Borg but I'd be just as hesitant to agree to this plan as she is.
And letting a Borg operate on your wife or possibly watching her die. I don't envy Adrian for being put into this position either.
Date: 11 Apr 2014 19:27 Title: Chapter 18
So good to have some new Tesseract! I so love these characters and it is fantastic to get back to them again.
You did a great job letting us into Lakwa's mindset, making her both relatable and yet alien, maintaining her Borg-ness (if that is a word) while showing us how they have changed in this new timeline. I know how difficult that can be to pull off (and am still not sure I did in my own Restoration story) but you have done a wonderful job of it here.
The conversation between Adele and Lakwa was another insight into just what a great captain you have created in her: she managed a delicate balancing act of trusting and caution and it was easy to see how much of a dilemma it was to decide what to do about Lakwa's offers and requests. Her final decision seems fair in the circumstances.
And then we return to Adrian. Man, his chapters must be hell to write! The depth of emotion you are able to delve into in quite a short scene was impressive.
Another great job, as always!
Date: 11 Apr 2014 18:55 Title: Chapter 18
Oh, Lakwa. She's a generally good person and here she seems to realize that everyone else is kinda freaked out by the whole Borg thing. As well they should be. The idea of letting her meet up with Malik is a scary one, granted (Malik is not a nice person) but letting her help heal the sick? Desperate times call for desperate measures. I can't fault Adele or Julian for allowing it. So many have been lost already, losing more out of fear or arrogance is unacceptable.
I get why Adrian Keller is against this idea and, let's face it, it's not ever going to be a popular idea no matter how advanced/good a Borg drone (former or otherwise) is at their job. But he makes the right call here and I hope Lakwa does manage to save his wife (because, dude, he lost little Lucy).
ME WANTZ MOAR. Well done.
Date: 12 Jan 2014 09:20 Title: Chapter 17
It's the John Q show.
But that's cool, the dude needs some serious story telling focus after everything he's been through.
Initially I didn't think he was anywhere near ready to step up to the plate and take on the additional responsibilities. But man, the captain really is the one who stepped up here. She's the real hero of this chapter, taking a mostly broken young officer and building him back up to point where he has at least a semblance of self-confidence again.
I forgot but was Adele a counselor once? Doesn't matter, she once again proves why she's the captain here. And she wasn't even all that sure about him herself. No more doubts here.
Splendidly done.
Date: 05 Jan 2014 08:19 Title: Chapter 17
Let me first say: JQ! Glad to see him get epically wasted here and do it for reasons we've all done before; shit got bad and we needed to forget. His morning putting himself back together was somber (his thoughts on his mother, the survivors) and funny (the computer makes the best sidekick, ever). I enjoyed the way you weaved in the humor and seriousness. The levity added to the chapter and didn't stand out or subtract from it in my view.
JQs arrival on the bridge could have been all kinds of awkward but no one was there. His trepidation entering the captain ready room, totally right. The scene with Adele was the best Adele scene we've gotten, in my opinion. She is not my favorite captain. Not at all.
But the way she opened up here and helped JQ see he wasn't such a shitty commanding officer (and the way she sorta told him I/M weren't so great as everyone made them out to be) pleased be to no end. This type of support is what JQ needs to excel. He's always been the third banana but I feel like Adele just told him "Hey, you're the best of the bunch and I'm calling you up to the big leagues."
I got a feeling JQ is gonna hit a homerun ... or score multiple goals (hockey he probably gets more than baseball). Well done all around and a complete win in my book.
More please?
Date: 05 Jan 2014 01:38 Title: Chapter 16
What a great chapter. Man, every time I read one of these, it makes me want to jump on my keyboard and start writing again to see if I can do something half as good! :)
Yay, a Julian POV. I love Bashir as a character, and it is great to get a glimpse into this future version of him here. Nice throwbacks to Section 31, Jadzia and Ezri, and nice to see that Ezri is still around somewhere out there. You nailed his voice perfectly, the slightly snarky way he brought Icheb back down to Earth and managed to talk him around to taking care of himself without having to invoke the CMO's power to force him into regenerating. About time someone put their foot down with our favourite little Borg.
And then we have Adele trying desperately to make sense of what has happened and how to pull her mission back into some semblance of order. You managed to portray her total lack of control and slight despair perfectly, while also showing us why she is where she is in command of Tesseract as she does what has to be done to keep her command staff functioning. Yay for T'Pring putting in the good word for John, especially after what he has been through recently. And also managing to inject that little touch of humour with the banter between T'Pring and Iden about Marchenko and her "exploits".
Once again, a fantastic chapter.
Date: 16 Dec 2013 22:36 Title: Chapter 1
Seems Adele is dealing with her own duality--feeling resentment towards the Borg for the death of her husband versus taking the practical approach of a Starfleet officer. And with an ex-drone in the sickbay and an overly demanding Borg resistance leader, the captain's got her work cut out for her.
Oh, and Icheb sounded very Spock-like when he said he had a "93.4 percent chance of success."
Date: 16 Dec 2013 22:31 Title: Prologue
Been re-reading from the start to get caught up. I'm really enjoying the descriptions of Dena's sense of duality. She keeps trying to convince herself she's still part of the Collective to avoid the horrors of assimilation. It's almost like her mind frozen in the moments leading up to assimilation before her previous life wins out over the lack of voices from the Collective.
Date: 07 Nov 2013 22:54 Title: Chapter 16
Really liked the second segment in this chapter and the sense of loss and desperation at being so decimated. The biggest surprise was T'Pring of course and her unexpected recommendation for Quigley's promotion. But she's right. He has distinguished himself by getting a lot of people through that recent crucible.
The Bashir/Icheb scene wasn't quite as insightful and I thought it dragged on a little bit as the characters did their somewhat predictable dance which could really only end one way. It did however highlight once again, the hopelessness of Icheb and how little he seems to care about his own well being, now that he appears to be living on borrowed time.
Author's Response:
Interesting comment. I had a beta for this chapter. Originally, that first section was much shorter. I was strongly encouraged to expand it. I can definitely see where you are coming from, though.
I'm glad you liked the second bit. It's hard getting into some of these characters' minds again after so much time spent away from this project, but it's coming back to me slowly. :) Thanks for sticking with it.
Date: 06 Nov 2013 17:38 Title: Chapter 16
Love this from beginning to end. Bashir and Icheb have a showdown and it's worth the price of admission. The way the two defend their positions is true to both their characters and I especially enjoyed the Jadzia reference here, very appropriate IMO. The second half was also fun with Iden and T'Pring, and JQ getting some cred for being a badass earlier. This looks to be setting up for one very entertaining headache for Adele ... which pleases me to no end. Yay Tesseract, more please. :)
Date: 13 Aug 2013 15:03 Title: Chapter 15
Wow, another emotional one-two in this chapter, giving us a long awaited confrontation between Icheb and John, while also setting the stage for what is to come next in the story.
As usual, you nailed the complex relationship conundrum that you have set up in Tesseract, advancing it further to what seems now to be an inevitable breaking point between these three characters. At this point, I have no clue how you are planning to resolve it and who you are planning to have end up with who, which just makes the scenes here all the more heartbreaking.
Nice to see Icheb have a true revelatory moment as he discovers how John feels, as well as being forced to confront some uncomfortable truths. However, not sure how good a idea it is for him to be injecting him with stuff...
Another great chapter, can't wait for more!
Date: 08 Aug 2013 21:26 Title: Chapter 15
I do hope our boy (I mean Icheb here) realizes how much of a temporary fix this all is.
Band-Aids FTW!
Date: 08 Aug 2013 20:13 Title: Chapter 15
Ok, I'm not reading the other preceding chapters cos just ok. I will in time. It means jumping in to this a little blind but at the same time it is something that has long been on the cards, a long time in the coming. It feels like it should have been a win moment for John but it isn't. It's a guilt trip, it's a slap in the face to a friend who needs him, it's an attempt at catharthsis, it's a cop out on actually facing Maren with the truth, and it's at a time when he is sorely hurt and paining so much he is in a spin. I rahter imagine, that JQ will regret this some. Regret the manner of the telling. The timing of the telling. And thne in time, maybe won't regret the actual telling of the telling.
It remains yet to be seen how this will play into JQ's future dealings with Icheb. Is it going to lead to tension, antagonism, guilt, insubordination, or a ruined friendship. On JQ's own part all those bottled feeling sof guilt are going to play on him again but in a whole new light. And yet his anger and disappointment directed at Icheb is genuine and he'll want to be more proactive in protecting and caring for Maren. But I also imagine he'll feel anger and disappointment at himself - not just for telling Icheb but for having failed Maren over that time, for not being more courageous and doing something that might have eased her pain when Icheb was gone from her life. Truly, with the gumult of emotions he is feeling, JQ could go in lots of different directions and any of them would be feasible and perfectly in character and perfectly natural and normal for any of us given the same situation for so many of us are not readable in what we will do only in what we might do. That's the strength of your characterisation, that you can define a character but not make them a cookie cutter mould of a character.
Then there's Icheb. Damn, you want to root for the guy but then he displays the degree of assholery here. JQ's revelation should be a wake up call. Having Maren in a coma should be a wake up call. Having almost put her there himself should have been a great big bell ringing. But no, at the end, he's willing to self-medicate himself, risk the chances in order to fulfil his own agenda. Under it all there is decency and the underlining cause for undertaking the risks he is willing to take - with the technology addiction, the aligning with the Resistance and meantime expecting Maren and JQ to keep secrets, love him and yet for them not be fully trusted by him in his own plans.
I want to feel sorry for Icheb but at the moment I can't. Next chapter I probably will. That's the way of things here.
These three keep on finding new ways to hurt each other it seems and keeping us readers rivetted. Stellar return to the story.
Date: 08 Aug 2013 18:16 Title: Chapter 15
Oh, Icheb. You've been hit hard by guilt and, objectively, you deserve it. Maren may be in control of her actions, but you had the ability to stop her. The feelings he has are the kind that anyone would feel in this situation and I'm hoping that with this in mind he can finally face Malik.
Team I/M is fully with Icheb in any actions he takes from this point on.
Maren definitely has some tough decisions to make when she wakes up. What Icheb fails to realize here is that his own personal collective, JQ and Maren, is also falling apart around him. This is going to be a tough stretch for these three and their friendship will either get a lot stronger or a lot weaker.
Well done. Looking forward to more.
Date: 08 Aug 2013 16:21 Title: Chapter 15
Egad! And so it is finally confessed.
For all of Icheb's brilliance (for all of their collective brilliance, truth be told), he is awfully obtuse in this area.
Good on John for manning up and handing over a piece of his mind, even if it was hurtful and not done for the best of reasons. But now, of course, the dynamic has changed again. What'll happen when she wakes up? Staying tuned.
Date: 08 Aug 2013 01:57 Title: Chapter 15
FINALLY, JQ! There was a roar of cheers in one section of my head, while there was a smattering of boos in another. My characters are divided on the JQ matter. On one hand, telling the truth about his feelings for Maren is a good thing. On the other, doing it while slamming your best friend for getting her screwed up isn't so great.
But I love him for this and the way he does it. He doesn't pull any punches, he doesn't delude himself into thinking this will change anything, he just puts it out there. It hurt, you can feel that, but he knows it's finally time to come clean. The way Icheb sits there and just takes it, stunned like, is perfect for him.
Now that he's come clean, the next interactions with them are going to be difficult, but it's out there now. They can only grow from this. As John himself states, they're not kids anymore, and I think we'll look back and see this as the beginning of the maturation process in the dynamics between these three.
Well done. :)
Date: 19 Jul 2013 02:41 Title: Chapter 14
The ending is a good, sour note, as things have changed and the alliances shift ever so slightly. It hurts to see what has happened - it is tearing all of them apart, and not just the three of them.
The characters are great, well-drawn and believable. The reader is left withh a disturbing sense that the business is unfinished and that the time ahead is not going to be easy for anyone.
Well done.
Date: 19 Jul 2013 02:35 Title: Chapter 13
Oh, man.
But this is what happens, and I am actually glad that you did not pull punches here. It is very easy to keep the most sympathetic characters alive and give them full recoveries, but it is just plain not realistic.
Date: 19 Jul 2013 02:28 Title: Chapter 12
The conversation with Julian is perhaps the most telling, where Icheb is talking about what Dena might want in terms of which implants to remove, which ones to retain, etc. Julian wisely realizes that this is almost like Icheb is high on the technology.
Date: 19 Jul 2013 02:21 Title: Chapter 11
What an interesting turn of events - from the interface and what seems to be almost mania on Icheb's part, to the chance to save whoever is in the nebula. And it is entirely possible that both ships are still viable, but that interference is making the reading look like just one.
He is right that time is of the essence. Just talking is not getting them anywhere. But at what price will they get this power, knowledge and speed? The captain's caution may seem misplaced, but I do believe she has a point.