Forwarded by the ASC-VSO Posted: Fri, 2 Jan 2004 05:00:39 -0500 (EST) In: alt.startrek.creative From: brightfame66@webtv.net (Robert E. Morris) Title : Ascendancy Author : Rob Morris Contact : brightfame66(at)webteevee(dot)net Archive : www.southroad.com/brightfame Series : The TOS-based AU, The Ancient Destroyer Cycle Type : Origin story (Admiral Brock Cartwright) Characters : Cartwright and family, members of The Order Part : 3/5 Rating : PG13, for sinister implications Summary : Monsters, as they sometimes say, are not born. They are made. ---------------------------------------------- Ascendancy by Rob Morris STARFLEET HQ, OFFICE OF COLONIAL AFFAIRS, JULY 2264 Soon the Order's revenge on the late Sean Finnegan would be complete. His replacement as Commissioner Of Colonial Affairs was the man he most directly betrayed, Captain Brock Cartwright. The offices Finnegan had set up at Lombard Street were nearly emptied. Now the only thing left was to dismiss Lieutenant Cortez, Finnegan's top aide. "Have I failed to do my job, Captain?" "Not at all, Mister Cortez. Your leaving here is not job performance related, let me assure you." It was ideological, pure and simple. The OCA was meant to enervate the remnants of the recently shattered Commodity. Colonial Affairs would draw lightning away from the Hall. Cortez seemed unlikely to carry out this agenda. "I see. Well, actually I don't, but that's the Fleet. Before I go, sir--may I submit my final report?" Since there was literally no harm in this, Captain Cartwright again felt the extra rings on his yellow tunic's sleeve and nodded. "Regarding the expansion of the colonial effort in Sector 351--Captain, its vastly premature. A larger settlement will draw attention beyond the ability of sensor-muffles to mask. We're still only seventy-five percent certain that this particular region of space is free to be claimed without dispute." "Klingons, Mister Cortez? Orions? Kzinti renegades?" Cortez shook his head. "Nobody we know, sir. Again, maybe no one at all. But there are still questions about a possible advanced reptiloid presence in that world's past." "So?" "Well, sir, the Saurians always take it very sorely when the Tellarites or Andorians infringe on their colonial space. Normally, they're peaceful--what my Tia Ana would call peace-able. But with reptiloids, any unannounced entry tends to go very, very badly. I'm just saying we should work the contact and exploration end of this before letting such a settlement expand, perhaps literally to its death." Cartwright smiled, and bid Cortez sit down. "You asked me why you were being transferred, Lieutenant. Yet you already knew the answer, or you should have. The trolley car, as they say, is going on without you. Human--that is to say, Federation colonial expansion is cluttered up with too many reasons why we can't. We are a can-do species, Mister Cortez. I say that your seventy-five percent is more than good enough, and that in fact we should have stopped at forty. For too long, we have bent over backwards on behalf of those who often bend not at all for us. What about the loathsome Sheliak Treaty?" "An extreme example, sir. Their firepower made it imperative that we make some concessions, if only to reality." Cartwright stood up. "Time to shape a new reality, Mister Cortez. If your reptiloids come, we will very briskly inform them that this is a Federation world now, a colony of a world called Terra, populated by humans. Its there, now. Your claims are in the past. Deal with it--or deal with our fleet." Cortez stared as though he were looking at a play, or perhaps a parody. "Suppose it doesn't go that way? Suppose they simply react without asking questions first? My God. You'd be inviting a slaughter!" Cartwright slammed down his fist. "Then, Lieutanant, they will be one sorry bunch of snakes for the short time their species has left. Your brand of weakness and hesitancy has been shown the door. I will in fact compose the document allowing the colony's unfettered expansion myself. I'd wish you well, Mister Cortez. But there's a wave rising in this fleet, and you and yours are about to be swamped by it. Dismissed!" Cortez laid low after this, rightly suspecting that he could end up the target of some petty vengeance. But when the world in question met its noteworthy fate, he went public loudly. His disappearance, though, was quiet. That day after he left, though, Cartwright kept one promise. *From Brock Cartwright, Commisioner Of Colonial Affairs. Your application to expand to a Beta-Status Colony is hereby approved, without proviso or restriction. And may I wish a happy period of ever-expanding growth to all the men, women and children of Earth Human Colony Cestus Three.* TBC... -- Stephen Ratliff ASC Stories Only Forwarding In the Pattern Buffer at: http//trekiverse.crosswinds.net/feed/ Yahoo! Groups Links To visit your group on the web, go to:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCL/ To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:ASCL-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service. From ???@??? Sun Jan 04 01:31:17 2004 Status: U Return-Path: Received: from n34.grp.scd.yahoo.com ([66.218.66.102]) by eagle (EarthLink SMTP Server) with SMTP id 1aD1Ps73v3NZFji0 for ; Sat, 3 Jan 2004 22:33:38 -0800 (PST) X-eGroups-Return: sentto-1977044-12794-1073198014-stephenbratliff=earthlink.net@returns.groups.yahoo.