Forwarded by the ASC-VSO Posted: Mon, 5 Jan 2004 04:21:00 -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 : 4/5 Rating : PG13, for sinister implications Summary : Monsters, as they sometimes say, are not born. They are made. Note : An original character created by James Winter is referred to herein. I have recieved permission from the author to make use of an AU version of this character, in limited doses. Other original characters crafted by other writers sometimes associated with J.Winter's character and his crew are in no way affected by this. This includes a certain female Captain who, by author's direct request, has no presence in the Ancient Destroyer Universe, although her absence affects its history. These characters and certain others who crop up remain the intellectual property of their authors, and at no time may they be used without direct prior permission from the author, on a one-to-one, case-by case basis. (Phew!) ---------------------------------------------- Ascendancy by Rob Morris 2275, Admiralty Hall They were two men who, despite their high rank, lived in the shadow of the Kirk family. One had been the protected protege of Commander George Kirk, a man who knew his opposition to Admiralty Hall would continue costing him, career-wise. One had been the best student of the late Doctor John Gill. Despite Captain James Kirk's assertions in defense of his old history teacher, Gill's infection of Planet Ekos with a strain of Nazism had been no accident, nor would the older man have called it a mistake. "Commodore Cartwright, I have a few questions about a variety of events. Both the events and the questions themselves have disturbing implications." Once, he would have been called Commander In Chief, Starfleet. But through means that ony seemed to get murkier with the passage of time, Admiralty Hall--now a power in its own right--had persuaded the Federation Council to rename Heichiaro Nogura's office right out from under him. Now he was Grand Admiral, a title with warlike and sinister implications as far as its bearer was concerned. Yet he didn't know the half of it. "Of course, Admiral Nogura, sir. And may I say what a pleasure it is to have you finally residing at The Hall itself?" The Admiralty Hall Starleet Liasion was a definite puzzle to most people, who thought that both the Ancient Destroyer and its worshipful Order were only a myth. Brock Cartwright had been a problem cadet and a bully. Yet while there had been expulsions, very often they counted among them those who had lodged complaint rather than the accused. As an Ensign, he had falsified a report indicating evidence that Alpha Centauran humans had been vastly genetically modfied by the so-called Preservers that took them from Ancient Earh. As a Lieutenant, he had been sent packing from Pike's Enterprise after allowing human colonists to slaughter insectoid pilgrims. Yet each time he had been protected and promoted by a shadowy acclaim of voices and directives. In 2264, he began a disastrous term as Colonial Affairs Commisioner. In 2267, after his role in setting up the Cestus Three tragedy had been exposed, the OCA had been closed. Despite this, he--as Captain Cartwright--soon found himself in his current position. The few who noted this thought it Starfleet incomepetence at its worst. "Firstly, Brock, I'd like to offer congratulations on your promotion to Commodore." "Well, thank you, Admiral. But I've held this rank for quite some time." Nogura began to glare at the ever-smiling Cartwright. "Yes. That's why I said I'd like to offer my congratulations. I'd like to--but the rank was given without legal authority. The Commodity recommends that rank. I approve it. As I choose to do so now. But this is the end, Brock. Granpa's moved in the house, and he's laying down some rules. Next thing even smells like a power grab, I will personally bust every last one of you in this Hall down to crewman, and assign you to Ranjar Bagdasarian's ship, patrolling the Dead Zone. Got me?" The captain of The USS Daigo Fukyryu Maru, while not a legend to rival James Kirk, was well known within Starfleet--and especially to The Order Of The Ancient Destroyer, which he had quit and lived to tell the tale. This was meant to push Cartwright's buttons, and it did that. "Are you sure you're ready to do that, sir? I mean, the political shockwave from dissolving the Hall could split Starfleet right in two." For years, Cartwright had played some variation on this card. The result had always been the same. Either a peace-seeking Nogura had backed down, or the Federation Council had told him to, in the name of Starfleet unity. "The Council's staying off me, Brock. And as to your threats--bring it on. I told people I was unifying Starfleet by moving here, but how I do it is my choice. And if I choose to replace the elite fifteen top-kicks here in Admiralty Hall with names like Spock, Riley, Rand--not to mention those serving above and below them--then that too is my choice." Cartwright lost his smile. The card seemed to be worn-out and useless. "What would you have me do, sir?" Nogura nodded, secure in his apparent victory. "The questions I have will be answered. Truthfully, without art, spin or blather about POV. Bullshit me, Brock, and I'll resign with Jim Kirk as my designated heir. Teresa Bunson will simply go to prison, where I've heard that people of her sexual appetites are looked down upon, even by snitches and traitors. How long do you think she'll last?" Cartwright bit down. "Ask." "All right. What really happened to TJ Durant?" The up-and-coming officer of Andesian descent had been a contemporary and friend of James Kirk's. The USS Prevailer, recently sent on a special secret warp experiment from which it had not yet returned, was widely regarded as being his rightful command, and not that of the reckless Ex-Admiral, Vaughn Rittenhouse, who attempted a secret coup during the Cosmic Probes Crisis Of 2271. "Durant was looking into the Kirk Murders, Admiral. Section 31 did not like where he was looking. To this end, they turned one of their agents, Durant's own brother, against him. The suicide on the Andesian homeworld may have been either one of them. But we believe TJ Durant to be dead. His closest associates, such as Ripley and Duffy, were lost with Rittenhouse and the Prevailer. We have no idea if they even reached the Delta Quadrant. A pity, there. Helen Noel and Admiral Bunson had been so very close. Teresa regarded her as a kindred spirit." Nogura fought off a chill, and kept going. "Who really runs Section 31?" Cartwright regained a bit of his smile. "Roger Korby." "BROCK..." "More properly, a machine that looks and talks exactly like Doctor Roger Korby. He took 31 over some years ago--and he has since staffed it with a like membership." Nogura felt his stomach lining dissolve. "You mean to say that all of Section 31's agents are Exoite-model androids?" Cartwright looked at his superior, and seemed ready to make a quip like, 'But They're Good People'. Instead, he kept on. "Your next question...sir?" Nogura appeared to hesitate for the first time. "Yes, well. Okay. The Gorn Decimation. Was the plague artificially created, and who was behind it?" All through the past year, Gorn by the billions had fallen to a mysterious disease. 'Decimation' was nearly literally correct. Less than ten percent of the Gorn once known to live in the galaxy were still alive--and some of those were not yet clear of the mystery plague. "Yes, Admiral. The plague was artificial. And I should know. It was created under my orders, and placed near one of their slimy recreation spots. Since all of you seemed content to let the ghosts of Cestus Three cry futilely in Purgatory--we of the True Starfleet decided to act." Nogura nearly grabbed at his chest, but stopped. His look was one of salt and fury. "Its not the Gorn we're even talking about. You don't give a damn about Cestus Three." The Grand Admiral pointed. "Its God's own work you're undoing!!" Cartwright fully regained his smile. "Whose god are we discussing, Admiral? Because yours does not dwell here. But let's not talk shop. I believe you had one final question." Nogura was seething with rage, as one might well expect. "Do you of The Hall know who killed Brianna and Peter Kirk?" Cartwright sighed. He called to his top aide, ironically already an Admiral. But she wouldn't outrank him for much longer. She walked into the office. "Teresa, show Admiral Nogura everything we have on Peter Kirk. Including the--materiel--kept in our secret chambers. Give him full access." Nogura got up, perhaps feeling his ultimate payoff was at hand. He looked relaxed. "Hold anything back on me, Cartwright, and it all comes down." "When you're right, Admiral--you're right." On monitors, Brock saw Nogura descend through the Hall's layers, until the bottom-most chamber was reached. When Nogura finally reached the chamber where a young boy was kept in cryo, Cartwright cancelled the audio mute and fairly bathed in the sounds of Heichiaro's screams. The boy was his own godson, the galaxy's poor lost child, Peter Kirk of Deneva Three, the fabled Rock Of Prophecy meant to slay the beast worshipped by Cartwright's Order. But Cartwright and his fellows had used him in more ways than one, including to contact and attract the legendary monster King Ghidorah. "Like what you see, Admiral? Was my answer straightforward enough?" An hour later, Teresa Bunson stripped the tunic from a foolish old man who believed he could control and harness the forces of evil to maintain a balance. In fact, all that had been maintained was The Order. Brock saw that Nogura had grabbed his chest for real, this time. This last time. "Your designated heir thanks you, Grand Admiral Nogura." --------------------------------------------- USS ENTERPRISE, THREE DAYS LATER Watching the carefully-crafted forgery vid of the late Heichiaro Nogura's last will and testament sign off, the senior staff of the Enterprise were frankly stunned. "Vwell, they have finally done it. The Head Cossack just got himself named Tsar, vwithout ever having been tsarevitch." "Och! I tol' Nogura to his face. Ye cannae throw red meat to such animals and somehow ken that they'll want less as a result. They'll target the Council next, mark me well!" "Remember what I said about Gary Mitchell's power and the pile of pennies? Well, the Hall's been working with dimes. The Commodity, on the other hand, couldn't rub together a haypenny. Our careers from this point on just went from fresh Caesar's Salad to spoiled cole slaw." "You're both wrong. Its not the Commodity, the Council or ourselves that have to worry. They'll want to consolidate their power, and you don't have to be be a doctor to see they'll go for the cradle first. I wouldn't want to be a Cadet at the Academy under that bunch." "Its not that good a forgery. As a comm-systems expert, I can tell its a phony. But in court? You can't use intuition and the feel of experience in court. Not when I'd be countered by all of their experts. Those monsters wanted certain of us to know that they'd seized power. To know, and to be unable to do a damned thing about it." "Logic says that the residents of Admiralty Hall expect a sea change in the next decade or so. Some event so cataclysmic, their unsustainable reaches for power will be rendered permanent. What logic, context clues, or even intuition fail to suggest is what this even could possibly be. Yet their tactics seem certain to eventually provoke revolt among the members of Starfleet. They have shown that they are not without intelligence. So what has changed? Captain, while we have been 'at war' with Admiralty Hall for quite some time, their brazenness makes me believe that we have fallen into a whole new war." Kirk thought hard about just who was now running the institution he had given his life to, even over love and family. He felt numb. "That's for those of us who were tired of the old war." To Be Concluded..... -- 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 ???@??? Tue Jan 06 01:10:24 2004 Status: U Return-Path: Received: from n14.grp.scd.yahoo.com ([66.218.66.69]) by eagle (EarthLink SMTP Server) with SMTP id 1aDKp85Uz3NZFji0 for ; Mon, 5 Jan 2004 22:09:25 -0800 (PST) X-eGroups-Return: sentto-1977044-12821-1073369339-stephenbratliff=earthlink.net@returns.groups.yahoo.