I get to conquer the Federation (SW and ST Crossover/SI)

namar13766

Well-known member
I am actually wondering if Transporters kill people in this fic. I always thought they should not because whatever you think about the people in Star Trek, not everybody is an idiot and people in all four Quadrants use Transporters. They can't be all dumb enough to kill themself everyday. And Aliens like Q or the Organians would have said something.
That reminds me of something from the Old Man's War novels.
---


There is a subtly-implied possibility that your consciousness is not transferred to your new body as claimed, but instead, it is copied, and you die in your original body. If this is the case, then in your dying moments, you realize that the promise of youth was a lie and as your eyes close, you see your young, green doppleganger getting up.
  • The CU is ruthless and secretive enough to be keeping this quiet.
  • The mechanism of transfer is to connect your old brain to a computer to a new brain and then cut the connection. John experiences being in two bodies at once and then the doctor cuts the connection. Stimulating a brain primed for it could plausibly instantiate consciousness in a new body. But how does cutting the connection remove his consciousness from his old body?
  • John's old body looks him in the eye and he interprets it giving him a supportive look before closing its eyes.
  • As a matter of course, the doctor actively switches off vital functions in John's supposedly brain-dead old body. Is that so the old body - still a person - can't contradict this story?
  • When Jared Dirac is created, Boutin's recorded consciousness didn't stick in his brain. But if it had, then clearly the two Boutins, separated by light years, would be separate individuals.​
 

Airedale260

Well-known member
Excellent chapter, seeing just how things are going for the average human on Earth. I assume this is more because of who is overseeing relief efforts*, but still. The fact that Starfleet basically left the average person out to dry, despite part of their existence supposed to be about protecting others…yeah, again, getting more USSR vibes. “If you aren’t part of the nomenklatura then screw you.”

Likewise with how they’ve managed to take Earth itself and eliminate its ability to be self sufficient in foodstuffs, let alone industrial production. I feel like this, too, is deliberate in keeping humanity down/pacified, given how industrialization and development (standardized parts, assembly lines, automation, etc) are how we got the Industrial Revolution and everything since. More to the point, as an American in particular I’m doubly offended since that’s been America’s shtick throughout modern history…we can keep producing more materiel and munitions, and develop better ones, faster than you can destroy them.

So, yeah…for all the disaster that’s been inflicted on Earth and Luna…it’s nice to see how a couple of ordinary civilians are making do in the wake of everything.

*-Vader and Tarkin don’t strike me as the kind to really give a shit about ordinary people, whereas Jaenera and her senior officers all do, and the logistics background (plus no doubt remembering what happened in the Clone Wars) means they can do so in a very effective manner.

And I have a feeling Jaenera especially knows just how productive the Sol system and Earth (and Mars) in particular can be…both in producing equipment and supplies to help win the peace and the war.

How the actual fuck was the Enterprise-B the only ship in range during the beginning of Generations...when it just left the solar system? Remember, the Solar System- our own star system- is the capital of the Federation and has one of the most famous shipyards in the Federation located on Mars.

That one isn’t implausible, actually. Space is freaking huge, and Utopia Planitia, Space Dock, and the like are all located in the inner system, so response times, even at warp, wouldn’t necessarily be fast enough. Likewise, shipping lanes would be one or two specific paths rather than all over the place, and even in busier ones, it can take time for help to arrive. That was actually what doomed the Titanic in that the assumption was “if something happens, it’s in a busy shipping lane so help is always relatively close by”…which turned out to not be the case.

I wonder how Section 31 justified the various atrocities it commits. Much of the people who didn't know now face the situation of deciding whether or not its actions are/were necessary for the Federation's survival.

What happens if it turns out that not only are/were they unnecessary (despite what initially seem like some pretty decent justifications), they're actively harmful?

Section 31 strikes me as fanatical enough that ISIS would applaud. They aren’t given to that sort of deep thinking.

@Jaenera Targaryen as a final note, I’d point out that Ian McDiarmaid’s take on the character was that of Iago from Othello, “Everything he does is an act of pure hypocrisy.”

Legends might have given him a bit more ‘contextualization’ but honestly, at the root of it…Palpatine is a brilliant and highly talented and motivated man with magic powers, but he’s still an evil narcissistic POS :)
 

Navarro

Well-known member
Everyone is the Hero of their own story.



Interestingly, somebody else came to a similar conclusion:


Without a need for productive economic work, what one is left with in Star Trek is military life. Trying to soften this by including families and recreation on the Enterprise in fact makes the impression worse, since to the extent that such a life is ordinary and permanent for its members, it is all the easier to imagine that all life in the Federation is of this sort. Not just a military, but a militarism. In the show, this actually didn't work out very well. In the beginning, Star Trek: The Next Generation wanted to remind us of the daily life, children in school, etc. on board; and more than once the "battle hull" of the ship was separated from the "saucer" so that the civilian component of the crew would be safe from hostile action. This cumbersome expedient, however, was soon enough forgotten; and we later forget, as the Enterprise finds itself in desperate exchanges with hostile forces, that small children are undergoing the same battle damage that we see inflicted on the bridge -- unless of course it is brought to our attention because there is a story with a special focus on a child, as with Lieutenant Worf's son. In Star Trek: First Contact, crew members are being captured and turned into Borg. Does that include the children? We never see any. Do Picard's orders to shoot any Borg include Borg who were human children? This disturbing situation is completely ignored by the movie. Star Trek, therefore, cannot maintain its fiction that military life on a major warship will be friendly to families and children.

In the 20th Century there has been a conspicuous political ideology that combines militarism, the subordination of private economic activity to collective social purposes, and often the disparagement of traditional religious beliefs and scruples: Fascism, and not the conservative Fascism of Mussolini and Franco, who made their peace with the Church and drew some limits about some things (Franco even helped Jews escape from occupied France), but the unlimited "revolutionary," Nihilistic Fascism of Hitler, which recoiled from no crime and recognized no demands of conscience or God above the gods of the Führer and the Volk. Certainly the participants in all the forms of Star Trek, writers, staff, producers, actors, fans, etc., would be horrified, insulted, and outraged to be associated with a murderous and discredited ideology like Fascism; but I have already noted in these pages how naive philosophers and critics have thoughtlessly adopted the philosophical foundations of Fascism from people like Friedrich Nietzsche and Martin Heidegger to what they think are "progressive" causes in the present day.
 
Last edited:

Jaenera Targaryen

Well-known member
Excellent chapter, seeing just how things are going for the average human on Earth. I assume this is more because of who is overseeing relief efforts*, but still.

As Elena de Guzman, she hasn't forgotten what it's like to be just another Jane Doe out on the street working for a living from one day to the next. As the Viscountess of Summerhall, she's the daughter and heiress to the Marquis of Dragonstone, meaning she was always raised with the expectation of ruling at least a portion of the galaxy and the preparations thereof. Either way, she sees no reason to go out of her way to be cruel, not when she's already won.

The fact that Starfleet basically left the average person out to dry, despite part of their existence supposed to be about protecting others…yeah, again, getting more USSR vibes. “If you aren’t part of the nomenklatura then screw you.”

And it could have been much worse, if not for the various local security forces belonging to Earth's nations and the Martian settlements deciding to go "fuck that" to Starfleet Security enacting their version of the Nero Decree. They did cause a lot of damage, though, such as knocking out the refineries producing feedstock for replicators, as well as the Utopia Planitia shipyards.

Suffice to say, the Empire knows when it's struck propaganda gold...as soon as it manages to dig itself out of the bones they've been buried in from prying open so many of the locked closets in Sol.

Likewise with how they’ve managed to take Earth itself and eliminate its ability to be self sufficient in foodstuffs, let alone industrial production. I feel like this, too, is deliberate in keeping humanity down/pacified, given how industrialization and development (standardized parts, assembly lines, automation, etc) are how we got the Industrial Revolution and everything since. More to the point, as an American in particular I’m doubly offended since that’s been America’s shtick throughout modern history…we can keep producing more materiel and munitions, and develop better ones, faster than you can destroy them.

A lot of that's thanks to the ubiquity of replicator technology, which has now been revealed as a massive crutch. The Empire's also shown itself much freer when it comes to distributing various technology, such as cybernetics and to a lesser extent, robotics, than Starfleet or the Federation ever has been.

So, yeah…for all the disaster that’s been inflicted on Earth and Luna…it’s nice to see how a couple of ordinary civilians are making do in the wake of everything.

Going back to her past identity as Elena de Guzman, Admiral Targaryen can make very good guesses what would appeal to the crowd. Food, even simple military fare, would go a long way to making people like you in the face of starvation, especially if their own so-called leaders were responsible for it. Likewise for tapping into ordinary men's - and the mob's - latent bloodlust, properly directed against the looters, rapists, and murderers that inevitably seem to crawl out of the woodwork in times of crisis.

Public executions might lose their appeal over time, but right now? It's making the Empire quite popular in various places, appealing to Human nature in a way long-winded and very philosophical speeches Federation or Starfleet brass hats would make about the value of compassion and the need to rehabilitate over punishment do not.

*-Vader and Tarkin don’t strike me as the kind to really give a shit about ordinary people, whereas Jaenera and her senior officers all do, and the logistics background (plus no doubt remembering what happened in the Clone Wars) means they can do so in a very effective manner.

Well, in Vader's case, while he couldn't care less about collateral damage, he doesn't go out of his way either to be cruel. He wasn't lying or anything like that when he told Moff Jerjerrod that he - Vader - was forgiving compared to the Emperor. The worst Vader will do to you is kill you. Darth Sidious? You will beg for death.

And I have a feeling Jaenera especially knows just how productive the Sol system and Earth (and Mars) in particular can be…both in producing equipment and supplies to help win the peace and the war.

Oh, she does. And as an American, I'm sure you'll appreciate how she does jus that in the future. While I don't have an unquestioning support for laissez-faire economics, I do think that free enterprise is the only real way to achieve long-term economic prosperity and stability. Everything else is just a matter of details.

@Jaenera Targaryen as a final note, I’d point out that Ian McDiarmaid’s take on the character was that of Iago from Othello, “Everything he does is an act of pure hypocrisy.”

Legends might have given him a bit more ‘contextualization’ but honestly, at the root of it…Palpatine is a brilliant and highly talented and motivated man with magic powers, but he’s still an evil narcissistic POS :)

This is true. It's just that he's a much more complex character than how he's presented in the sequel trilogy, or even the Disney canon as a whole.
 
Chapter 18

Jaenera Targaryen

Well-known member
“Natasi Daala, it is my honor that on behalf of His Excellency the Emperor, that I promote you to the rank of Vice Admiral, and present to you the Order of Merit. You are hereby relieved of frontline service, and directed to report with your command to Sluis Van, where you will assume command of a new flagship, and organize your own fleet before returning to the front.”

“Thank you, ma’am.” Daala saluted to the sound of polite applause. “It is an honor to serve.”

I saluted back, and then smiling held out my hand. Daala took it, smiling back while shaking my hand. “Congratulations, Natasi.” I said. “Now, let’s keep showing the men how it’s really done.”

Daala’s lips curled wider as sounds of amusement echoed through the halls of the Elysees Palace. “I’ll hold you to that, Lady Summerhall.” She said.

I nodded at that before our hands released. “If there is nothing else,” I began. “Then you are dismissed, though I believe you have a fleet to organize.”

Daala saluted again, and at a nod from myself, turned and marched out, proudly wearing a new rank plaque and her new Order of Merit medal. The short ceremony over, I walked away in a different direction, Sara trailing after me as we walked down the corridors of the Elysees Palace. Once, this place had housed the offices of United Earth and their staff, while also serving as their and their family’s residence.

No longer; now it was the headquarters of the Inspector-General of the Terran Occupation Command, from which all the various occupational authorities were overseen from. “Hmm…assuming I’m also put in charge of the New Territories after the war,” I mused in the silence of my thoughts. “…I’ll also be based from here. But I’d rather not permanently…Paris is just too…rustic. I’d prefer somewhere more…developed, somewhere more like Coruscant…damn the Federation and United Earth both. Just about every city on this planet is like a damn toy town thanks to them…then again, it’s always been given we’d have to build this planet up so…New York, maybe? Berlin? Moscow? Beijing? Delhi…or perhaps…somewhere…a city deliberately founded as the capital of a new world for a new order…hmm…ideas…

I blinked and paused as an NCO trotted up, handed Sara a dataslate, and then withdrew with a salute. “What is it?” I asked, as the lieutenant quickly read through the report.

“It’s a status report with regard to the planetary population, ma’am.” Sara replied.

“And…?” I prompted.

“Plan Z is working as planned, ma’am.” Sara said. “While there is still fear and resentment, especially after the Battle of Earth, it’s worked to our advantage, between our troops’ discipline meaning there have been few cases of rape or looting on our part, with those few cases quickly dealt with according to the strictest discipline, and our maintaining order in the aftermath of Starfleet’s collapse.”

“Hmm…speaking of maintaining order,” I mused. “I recall the last order mentioned the various occupational authorities have also executed a number of miscreants, correct?”

“As per Imperial Occupational Directives, ma’am,” Sara said. “Rapists, looters, murderers, and the like, shall be publicly executed after a summary court martial.”

I sniffed. “And I’ve actually softened that bit.” I said. “In any case, it’s certainly helped that Starfleet decided to go scorched earth after the Battle of Mars. While it’s meant we’ve had to provide more food and medical aid – among others – than originally expected, our overwhelming material superiority means it’s an inconvenience at worst. We might have started this war, bombed the planet, and killed plenty of Starfleet drones, but Starfleet was supposed to be protecting these people. And we were supposed to be monsters out to enslave them all…instead, Starfleet left them to starve, while we clearly prepared to take responsibility for all the damages of war even before Starfleet abandoned their own people to die.”

“In short,” Sara opined. “That is, if I may be so frank…”

I gestured invitingly, and Sara gave a grateful nod. “Better the honorable conquerors than the cowardly defenders.” She said. “That, and people tend to appreciate those who feed them more than they do those who’d starve them.”

“It’s just Human…no, sentient nature.” I said with a nod. “The Federation might pretend to have…evolved past such a thing, but it’s clearly a delusion. And nothing proves that more than the mob’s response to our public executions of convicted criminals.”

“As I recall,” Sara mused. “They responded with enthusiastic cheers.”

“Yes.” I said with a nod. “They were presented with an immediate…other. Others that were clearly more…evil, or however you describe them, than they were. And we brought them to swift and final justice, essentially making us good…”

I paused and shrugged. “…good and evil are words too big in hindsight.” I admitted. “The convicts were villains, and us the heroes who brought them down.”

“As you say, ma’am.” Sara said with a nod.

“Mind you,” I said. “There will be those who hate us. Those who lost friends and family in the war, whether civilians killed in Operation Yellow or its aftermath, or…soldiers, from Starfleet. Not to mention the members of the Federation’s – and United Earth’s – leadership caste, whether open or otherwise. They will all bear watching.”

“The ISB is already on the move with regard to Section 31 and the rest of the Federation’s shadow leaders. They also have plans for the other concerns you’ve mentioned, admiral.”

“Hmm…true…but we mustn’t get careless, regardless. Especially if those involved have nothing left to lose.”

“As you say, ma’am.”
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Citizens of the Empire!

Picard entered the conference room to find the rest of the senior staff looking at the display, which had Admiral Targaryen speaking from behind the podium in what Picard recognized as the public address room in the Elysees Palace on Earth. Both of the seals of United Earth had been removed, from the podium and the back wall alike, while the flags of the Federation and United Earth had been replaced with those of the Galactic Empire.

“It’s a live broadcast.” Riker said at once. “They’re broadcasting it on all channels, both in normal space and in subspace.”

“What is she broadcasting about?” Picard asked.

“We’ll find out soon enough, sir.” Riker said, and Picard set his jaw.

…a historic revelation, perhaps even more historic than the current conflict between the Galactic Empire and the United Federation of Planets.” Targaryen was saying. “It will be difficult to hear, for it will expose everything that the Federation’s citizens have ever believed in to be a lie. However, it is a necessary thing, to face this fact, for as an old Earth saying I have recently learned says, the most unpleasant truth is a safer companion than a pleasant falsehood.

Data tilted his head and frowned at that. “That was Theodore Roosevelt, I believe.” He said. “The 26th President of the United States, and the legal predecessor of the modern United North American States.”

“This is ridiculous.” Riker scoffed. “She expects us to believe there’s a huge lie behind the Federation, and she quotes Teddy Roosevelt to justify herself?”

Troi frowned at that. “While I can’t be completely sure given the distance,” she said. “From her body language and the…psychic echoes, present in the broadcast, I can sense that Targaryen is speaking the truth. More than that, she is genuinely…angry, and…disgusted, at…what she knows.”

“But how can that be?” Riker asked. “The Federation’s existed for over two hundred years. Surely, if there’s something fishy about it, it’d have been exposed by now. Look at Cartwright’s conspiracy back in the 23rd Century. It didn’t even last a month…”

“…there’s an old saying, Number One.” Picard grimly interrupted. “That all you need to do is repeat a lie loudly enough times, and it might as well become the truth.”

“…I’ve heard of that.” Riker admitted after a moment’s thought. “Joseph Goebbels, right?”

“That is correct, commander.” Data confirmed. “The propaganda minister of 20th Century Germany’s Third Reich, both before and during the Second World War.”

“Targaryen may be exaggerating things, or drawing the wrong conclusions,” Picard said. “But after the Battle of Orion, and Nechayev’s…insane orders, to destroy all critical infrastructure in this system after the Battle of Mars…I think it’s best we keep an open mind, the better to make sense of everything that’s getting…upended, in all this.”

Riker didn’t answer, instead turning his attention back to the screen. And just in time too, to see the perspective shift from the Elysees Palace to what looked like a vast underground structure, honeycombed with scaffolding and advanced machinery. “Data,” Picard began. “What are those…”

Behold Tartarus, named after a mythological prison from Ancient Earth.” Targaryen answered before Picard could even finish his question. “Buried deep beneath the planet Pluto, whose own inhabitants were left ignorant of what lay beneath their feet, if not deliberately kept ignorant, the better to use them as a smokescreen for the injustice kept on this world. For in this world, Section 31 imprisoned those they considered…inconvenient, be it politically or culturally, to their vision of the future.

Targaryen paused, and then continued, while scenes could be shown of Imperial medical personnel tending to prisoners being brought out cryogenic stasis. “Some of you would ask,” she said. “Would it not have been easier and more convenient for Section 31 to simply execute these individuals? It would have been, yes, kinder too, especially for those who have languished in prison for centuries and now awaken to a galaxy bereft of all that is welcoming and familiar. But they did not. In what is perhaps the cruelest evidence of their fanatical belief in the utopian lie of the Federation, they would not kill, because it would against any and all of their so-called ideals. Better then, to imprison these inconvenient souls for all time, and to erase their legacy from the pages of history…at least from their point of view. Just as it would have been better for all the Federation’s citizens to live ignorant of the truth of their world.

Targaryen paused again, before continuing as the scene shifted back to the Elysees Palace. “No doubt,” she said. “Some of you wonder if perhaps these are all doctored videos. That we have merely prepared a grand exercise in propaganda for the Empire’s own interests. And I would not blame you, for such is the scale of the lie. But I will have us all face the truth, as told by those who witnessed and experienced it in person.

Then she stepped aside, allowing a grim-faced man to take the podium. Again, Data started, drawing eyes his way. “Data,” Picard began. “Do you recognize that man?”

“Yes, but…he should be dead.” Data replied. “According to the official record, he…”

My name is Brian Waters.” The man began. “Once, I was the Ambassador of United North American States to United Earth. Once, I was a citizen of the Federation, and believed in its ideals of cooperation, progress, and peace. But those ideals never meant we would lay down all our arms and leave our homes, our families, defenseless. And so, I opposed the effective demilitarization of not just the UNAS, or even of the Earth, but of the entire Sol System in the aftermath of the Khitomer Accords. For that, Section 31 took me away from my family, my home, and faking my death in a transporter accident, buried me away to be forgotten forever. Until now…

“…Data?” Picard asked in a faint voice. “Counsellor…?”

“His physical appearance matches that of what’s on record.” Data began, while Troi shook her head, and pressed her hands over the lower half of her face.

“H-he’s…he’s telling the truth, captain.” Troi tearfully said. “I…I don’t want to believe it…but the sheer anger, loss, grief, and hatred he feels…they’re so deep and primal that it’s impossible to fake. And so powerful that even over the distance…”

Troi trailed off, while Riker took her hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze. “Are you sure you can handle this, Deanna?” Doctor Crusher asked worriedly. “From the look of things, he’s not going to be the Empire’s only witness.”

Troi shakily nodded. “I…I have to be here.” She said. “I…I have to watch this…if what we’re seeing and hearing is the truth…then I’d rather accept it, no matter how hard and painful it might be, than bury my head under a pillow and live a lie.”

Doctor Crusher looked at Picard who sighed before looking at the screen, with Ambassador Waters continuing to testify about his experiences, and denouncing both Section 31 and the Federation. And as Doctor Crusher said, he was only the first. For the next hour, they listened to testimony after testimony, about how far the shadowy conspiracy behind the Federation’s very existence was willing to go.

After Ambassador Waters, there was Senator Franklin Medina, again from the UNAS. “…I spoke out against the dispossession of large farmers…entire families…generations of ordinary people who’d made a living on the land of their ancestors,” he raged. “Within a decade they were all gone, forced into obscure suburban lives just so the Arcadian idyll part of the conspirator’s utopian nightmare would become reality…assuming they didn’t just disappear into those so-called ‘resocialization camps’!

The man paused, and pointed at Targaryen off the screen. “You’ve seen them, haven’t you?” he demanded. “Your people broke them all open! Show them…show the galaxy the truth of it all…and may God forgive me, because I knew then and did nothing.

…thank you, Senator Medina.” Targaryen said, walking over and helping the distraught senator away. “And yes, we have not forgotten about the resocialization camps, and not the model ones the Federation uses to deceive its citizens, or even its own well-meaning social workers and counsellors who genuinely wish to help those who need it.

“…do I even want to know?” Riker asked, looking disturbed.

“We have to.” Picard said, his hands shaking and forcing Doctor Crusher to walk over, protocol be damned, and take a hand in her own. “We have to…if all this is true…if the Federation truly isn’t…isn’t what we thought it would is…then we owe it to ourselves…to everyone the Federation has harmed…to watch all this to the end…”

And so it continued. There was Yustina Kolodavich Guseva, a member of the Federation Council no less, and one who opposed the effective abolition of free enterprise in the Federation’s core systems, and its suppression in the outer colonies and worlds. And it wasn’t just politicians either who’d been imprisoned. Scientists, as well, such as Derek Whitehead who had uncovered evidence that transporters, regardless of the Federation’s claims, actually did destroy people and merely replicated them at the target destination.

There was an Indian geneticist, Manas Adwani, who’d actually managed to correct the flaws in the Augmentation process, allowing for the birth of psychologically-stable Augments. Intellectuals too had been targeted, from philosophers who questioned and criticized the subtly-monolithic nature of Federation society and culture, to historians who’d uncovered socio-politically-unacceptable details of the past, in particular of pre-WWIII 21st Century history. Artists and musicians had also been imprisoned, as their innovative thoughts on cultural expression were deemed dangerous by Section 31’s social engineers.

Nor was it limited to Humans. In fact, it was a Vulcan who was the oldest prisoner, along with members of his sect, all of whom had been tracked down, abducted and made to appear dead, before being imprisoned on Pluto.

All because T’Kas believed that Vulcans could learn to master both emotion and logic before living with them in balance. And he had succeeded, having lived on Earth for virtually the entirety of the 22nd Century, allowing him to gather a following of young Vulcan intellectuals and scientists whom he taught to live as he did.

Of course, this was unacceptable to Section 31.” T’Kas sneered. “Apparently, our people’s suppression of their emotions was deemed a vital and…necessary, psychological check and balance to ensure we wouldn’t be a threat to the sociopolitical balance of the newborn Federation.

No less than five Dahar masters were also released from the prison, all abducted and imprisoned for their opposition to the Klingon-Federation Alliance. “…this is not going to end well.” Worf growled with a shake of his head as Amash Nalkah angrily raged at the podium, even needing to be restrained by Admiral Targaryen after he finished his tirade by holding the podium so hard the wood shattered. “…brave of her.”

Then horror filled the command staff, as the most recent additions to the prison roster were revealed, three Romulan Senators including a consular candidate, all supposedly killed when a pocket of toxic gas in a nearby swamp was released and poisoned everyone in the country home of one of the senators. “I don’t know if Ambassador Spock knew or was involved.” Senator Nirus hissed. “All I know is that we led the united front in the Senate against his movement for reunification between Vulcan and Romulus. And that was enough for those hypocrites to make us disappear, regardless of the loss our families would have to endure. Because say what you want about the Tal Shiar, but at least they have the decency to not pretend to be anything other than what they are!

Nirus looked away, chest heaving, and then wiping her eyes, staggered away from the podium. Then she paused, and looking at the screen, visibly softened her expression before speaking in Romulan. “Kunsara my son…mother will be home soon…” she said, before letting a fellow senator lead her away.

The horror story didn’t end with just prisoners from Tartarus, but also inmates from the resocialization camps. Images were also shown that looked straight like something from the 20th Century, whether the Third Reich’s concentration and death camps, or the gulags of the Soviet Union. Row upon row of small, one-man residences, differentiated only by a string of letters and numbers above the door. Hollow-eyes and world-weary inmates underwent medical examinations by Imperial doctors and medical droids. Many of them were underweight, as starvation was a common method of punishing disobedience. All of them had barcodes printed onto the back of their necks, as a means of identification.

Then there were the methods used for ‘resocialization’, most commonly being forced to watch ‘educational’ videos over extended periods of time, with electrical current being applied to keep inmates awake. Drugs were also used, of various kinds and combinations, along with pain and pleasure methods.

All too many inmates succumbed to such brutal treatment, leading to various scenes of Imperial officers and men grimly looking on as droids unearthed mass graves. Apparently, surviving inmates had been forced to dig and bury the dead in such a crude way, as a way of reinforcing the consequences of failing ‘reintegration’ back into Federation society.

By the end of it all, Troi was openly crying, Riker visibly struggling to stay calm while holding her and rubbing circles into her back. Data was looking down at the table with a torn expression on his face, while Worf was gripping the conference table so hard the wood had cracked beneath his fingers. Geordi was holding his head in his hands, and while Picard and Doctor Crusher had managed to keep their composure, their hands were white as they tightly took comfort and reassurance in each other’s physical presence.

In fact, it was almost…comforting, when Q appeared in a flash of light. And for once, he didn’t look or sound taunting.

“For what it’s worth, I’m sorry it had to come to this.” He said. “But perhaps now you understand why we don’t believe the Federation should be allowed to freely expand across the galaxy.”

He paused, and tilted his head. “You have a question.” He said. “Ask. For once, I will answer straight to the point.”
 
Last edited:

TyrantTriumphant

Well-known member
Even if the Empire is somehow expelled from Federation territory, the Federation will never be able to come back together. I doubt many of the member species would want to rejoin after this. That doesn't get into the Federation's former neighbors, all of whom would probably invade at the first sign of a resurgent Federation.

Section 31 has lost. They may not accept that, but the Federation cannot be put back together.
 

Jaenera Targaryen

Well-known member
Just one mistake I think prisoners were electrically shocked to stay awake not asleep?

Yes, that's what I meant. The typo strikes again :rolleyes:

Otherwise a great chapter showing the hypocrisy. And while some tofu minded ideologues won't change the vast majority will be appalled.

By its very definition, utopia cannot exist. Anyone who claims it can or does is either mad or lying.

And the worst part about lies is that you have keep lying again and again to keep it going in the face of the truth.
 

The Whispering Monk

Well-known member
Osaul
Questions...

Will the Enterprise crew come to the side of the Empire? I doubt they all will, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone like Worf does. Klingons are given access to the SW-Galaxy in order to hunt rebels. Exciting times!

Although, the influence of someone like Picard on the rest of Starfleet personnel if he advocates for building a relationship with the Empire instead of just fighting a resistance...lots of interesting possibilities.
 

Navarro

Well-known member
Questions...

Will the Enterprise crew come to the side of the Empire? I doubt they all will, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone like Worf does. Klingons are given access to the SW-Galaxy in order to hunt rebels. Exciting times!

Although, the influence of someone like Picard on the rest of Starfleet personnel if he advocates for building a relationship with the Empire instead of just fighting a resistance...lots of interesting possibilities.

What else can they do other than retire? Not only has the Federation suffered massive military defeats, but their narrative about themselves has just been completely debunked.
 

Jaenera Targaryen

Well-known member
Questions...

Will the Enterprise crew come to the side of the Empire? I doubt they all will, but I wouldn't be surprised if someone like Worf does. Klingons are given access to the SW-Galaxy in order to hunt rebels. Exciting times!

Although, the influence of someone like Picard on the rest of Starfleet personnel if he advocates for building a relationship with the Empire instead of just fighting a resistance...lots of interesting possibilities.

At the very least, a lot of people would just want to go home. Non-Humans, mostly, in fact, a past chapter mentions even before the Battle of Mars a lot of them had become disillusioned with the Federation after Orion signed a treaty with the Empire. That, and Section 31 tried to 'punish' the Orions and instead had their asses handed to them by the Empire.

Looking at how the average totalitarianism works? Most likely yes, and in large numbers..

ISB Agent 1: Aren't we supposed to be the ones setting up mass incarceration camps?
ISB Agent 2: Don't complain, they're doing our jobs for us by priming their own society for Imperialization and compliance.

In all seriousness, yeah, I based the Federation on what Rodenberry wanted it to be, an idealized version of the Soviet Union...with the first part torn off by the Empire. And the Empire is essentially a cross between the British Empire in its heyday (most Imperials have a British accent), pre or Vietnam War-era USA, and of course, the early Principate.

In other words, the Empire is authoritarian, so while dictatorial, it doesn't actually micromanage its citizens the way the Federation or a totalitarian state would. The closest it comes to that is when pacifying rebellious worlds, or grooming would-be bureaucrats/officers with proper adherence to COMPNOR ideology (something that actually annoyed Vader and to a lesser extent, Sidious) and more importantly loyalty to the Emperor. Otherwise, the Empire couldn't care less what common citizens do in their free time so long as they aren't getting involved with rebels.
 

novussa

Active member
well i must say that was the end of the federation i cant wait for spocks reaction to all this also FIVE DAHAR MASTERS. they are going to bloody murder any member of federation if they withing arms reach aslo the klingons will be screming bloody murder. Moving on how is kira and bajorans dealing with all this now.
And on the empire yeah it dosent really care what its civilians think about so long as they pay their taxes and dont cause troubles the onny time empire really cares about the people think about is when rebels start appearing on the planet or theres is somthing important on said planet that they want. also i think song was blasting for the whole alpha quadrant to hear.

Star Wars Rebels Season 1 OST - Glory to the Empire - YouTube

10 Hours of the Imperial March - YouTube
 

Airedale260

Well-known member
What else can they do other than retire? Not only has the Federation suffered massive military defeats, but their narrative about themselves has just been completely debunked.

They can help with relief & rebuilding efforts. I don’t see them as necessarily joining the Imperial military but rather helping rebuild Earth (given how they all, even Worf, have ties to the planet). At the same time I imagine there is going to be a lot of soul-searching among them. Fortunately it sounds as though Q is willing to at least give them some straight answers…though I imagine some of them won’t be pleasant.

Beyond that…it’ll be very interesting to see how this continues given that the Federation is liable to tear itself apart.

Speaking of which, where is the Federation president at this point? Fugitive on Earth, or what?
 

AspblastUSA

Well-known member
Speaking of which, where is the Federation president at this point? Fugitive on Earth, or what?

My money is on gone, fled the system to wherever Starfleet/S31 is currently attempting to rally. Section 31 had a Nero Decree primed and ready to go (if a somewhat hastily thrown together one from the looks of things), there's no way they'd let the Empire have the propaganda coup of capturing the president of the UFP. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if key members of the Federation government weren't quietly removed from the Sol system after the Battle of Earth.
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Top