Richard Paolinelli's Blog, page 33

Free Read Friday: September 4, 2020

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Superversive Terminator vs. Subversive Terminator

I finally broke down and watched Terminator: Dark Fate. When the project had been originally announced, I was excited on several fronts. First, we had the return of Sarah Connor and the T-800 – both looking much older than the last time we’d seen them together on screen in 1991 (Yes, I know about Genysis but I’m talking the original Sarah played by Linda Hamilton).

Secondly, the franchise was rebooting the proper way – or so it seemed – erasing from canon the movies that followed T2 in 1991. It seemed we would get one more attempt by Skynet to take out John Connor. It would be interesting to see how Arnold’s T-800 would return, given how supposedly all traces of the T-800 had been destroyed at the end of T2.

[image error]But instead we got Dark Fate with so many issues, and disappointments, that it would take a week of blog posts for me to sort it out. Suffice to say, Dark Fate was a stinker that fell well below expectations.

When the final credits rolled I was struck by two thoughts, thus this blog post. First, they really should have just stopped the franchise after T2. Those that have followed have not live-up to the first two films. But the second thought was that the first two Terminator movies were Superversive films while all of the following films have been subversive.

Consider, the first two films qualify as Superversive as they both ended with hope. Hope that mankind’s leader of the future would be born in the first film. Hope that humanity had completely dodged the grim future of Judgment Day with the destruction of Skynet before it could be created in the second.

As the credits rolled at the end of T2 humanity was on its way to a better future, and even a killing machine had learned the value of humanity. You don’t get much more Superversive than that. And that is where the franchise should have ended.

But science fiction and fantasy in the 21st Century has become infested with a subversive virus that seeks to tear down what was built up in the 20th Century and the disease first appeared early in the century. Starting with T3: Rise of the Machines.

T3 threw out canon, ignoring the fact that nothing remained of Skynet by the end of T2 a dozen years earlier. Sarah Connor was now dead and John Connor was a drifter with no apparent purpose in life. You’d have thought both he and Sarah would have moved on with life if they felt the threat was over. T3 decided Skynet survived and Judgment Day was inevitable.

Salvation (T4) and Genisys (T5) continued the subversive path, the latter even going so far as to turn John, humanity’s champion into a villainous, humanity-killing machine. Genisys did try at the end to recapture some of T1’s Superversive vibe with its ending, but that’s like putting chocolate frosting on a pile of dog excrement and expecting everyone to think its a great dessert.

The sixth film, Dark Fate, didn’t even bother to try. They kill off John and replace him with a female savior of humanity and a female Terminator protector and throw in Sarah Connor as a female Obi Wan Kenobi. The old T-800 was only there to kill off John and be the needed muscle to break open a door and finish off the latest bad-Terminator at the end to “atone” for killing John, I guess. To be honest, I stopped caring how this film was going to end long before it mercifully did. But, battling the latest version of Skynet seems to be back on, by the end, and I could find nothing Superversive about Dark Fate and no reason to look forward to a seventh Terminator film.

And therein lies the problem with the subversive disease. It infiltrates established Superversive franchises like Terminator, Star Trek, Star Wars, etc., and subverts them into something dark, non-Superversive and completely opposite of what the franchise started out as.

The good news? We still have the first two Terminator films to enjoy, just like we have the first three Star Wars films and all of the Star Trek films and TV shows that came before 2009. Because the one undeniable fact is this:

No matter how hard subversive tries, it will never kill Superversive, no matter how hard it tries too.

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Yep, We Finally ‘Cracked’

What happens when a bunch of authors are cooped up by COVID-19 for too long?

This. This is what happens:

[image error]Two dozen stories by twenty great authors. Okay, myself and nineteen great authors and all based on those deliciously wonderful raptors: Chickens!

There are multiple genres – from fantasy to scifi to mystery and even non-fiction – within the collection. There’s sure to be something for any reader. The e-book is out now. The print version should be out by the end of the month.

As for my story, well, just imagine Star Wars meets Looney Tunes with a dash of Charlotte’s Web added in for spice. What comes out of that lunacy?

BARN WARS: The Rise of Brooster Motherclucker!!!

One of 24 stories certain to crack you up. Really, its an eggsellent collection. You’ll have a shell of a time and the yolk won’t be on you…

…look, I’ll stop if you’ll just buy the book, okay?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08H5W48ZH

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No, Virginia, All Art Is NOT Politics

You want to push my big red button? Its fairly easy to do. Just open your mouth and utter this stupidity:

“All Art Is Political.”

I won’t Godzilla stomp you. I won’t take hold of the nearest blunt object and beat the stupid out of you. But if you enjoy being verbally beaten to greasy spot on the highway of history, then by all means let’er rip. Because only a fool makes that statement to begin with and he/she deserves the ridicule coming to them.

I first encountered this lunacy four years ago. An agent, whose name I’ve since happily forgotten, popped off with that line in a tweet. My reply, in a tweet, was to state that it was that type of thinking that was a cancer on science fiction and fantasy today. I didn’t call him a cancer, I called the thought and the application of said thought, cancerous.

[image error]You’d have thought I was putting babies heads on spikes and selling then for $5 each judging from the wailing and gnashing of teeth from the *rightthinkers* that I was just getting introduced to in late 2016. One, whose name I’ve sadly not been allowed to forget, started in with daily tweets that I, and Lou Antonelli, were cancers. Not our philosophy mind you, but us personally.

Now, if that reaction shocks you, just hang on a second. This same clown, an attorney with the United States Government, openly advocated for a woman he disagreed with to be physically assaulted. What a peach, right? To date, none of his *rightthinker* crowd has ever condemned him for that. Happily, Twitter decided he’d made a threat and his account went bye-bye. So something good came out of it.

But, sadly, I still see this thought bandied about today: All art is political.

I Disagree

I disagree. With every fiber of my body and soul. Art is only political if you drag politics, kicking and screaming, into the conversation. And then, that is solely on the person doing this and by applying 21st Century standards and thoughts to people who lived and died decades, if not centuries, ago. That is a way of judging history that is always doomed to failure.

[image error]Happily, I’m running into more and more authors who feel the same as I do. All art is NOT political. Our art is created to entertain, to bring relief from a world that seems to be getting worse, instead of better.

I wish we were the rule, rather than the exception, but we’re not. And we are seeing this “All ‘X’ is political” BS creeping into more aspects of our lives. Even sports and movies, once the shining beacon of temporary escape from the world, has become overly political.

And people are turning away in droves. The NBA has seen a 20-28% drop in viewership from last year’s playoffs. In a time when fans cannot attend games in person, viewership numbers should be increasing, not decreasing.

Why are they? Because many players and owners are dragging political issues into the arena. And many fans are walking away, as I did. Many will never come back, even if the leagues were to totally disavow politics in the future.

The same is happening in movies, TV shows and in books. Book sales have flatlined for all publishers, at a time when people should be reading more, not less. And all because the “All art is political” crowd have hauled the various forms of entertainment media into the sewer where they reside.

So what’s the answer?

Reject the vile thought and all who preach it. Embrace those who understand their one and only duty is to entertain the consumer, not to preach at them, or talk down to them.

You can start here to find many writers who embrace the concept of creating entertainment. And if you encounter someone who says: “All art is political” just ignore them. We’re starting to see them fall to the old adage: Get woke, go broke.

Happily, they won’t be around to annoy us for much longer.

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Richard’s Review: The Warsaw Protocol

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Richard’s Review: The Flying Cutterbucks

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Superversive Sunday Spotlight: J.J. Griffing

Welcome to this week’s Superversive Sunday Spotlight. Every week we will chat with a Superversive author that you really should be reading.

This week we welcome Superversive author, J.J. Griffing:

How long have you been writing?

I’ve been making up stories since I was three, probably:  I recall “talking myself to sleep” as my folks called it, making up stories about my toys and I all going on adventures.  I read early, and often late, and was always making up narratives for the games I played with my brothers or with my toys.  In third grade I filled a sketchbook with an entire zoology of fantastic chimerae I’d invented for the “West Pole,” where they were all waiting to be discovered.  The least said about my first attempts at writing, the better, but I started composing stories in earnest in about eighth grade.  I took a Creative Writing class in tenth grade and that’s when I first got real audience response that I’d say confirmed my passion and desire to really be a writer.  So around three-fifths of my life so far.

Which writers inspire you?

As a little boy, my parents always had a full bookshelf, and Dad always read the Bible to us before bed.  When we were very little (I was the second of four kids), he’d read storybooks to us sometimes before the Bible reading, and I believe I learned to read at age four in order to read those books myself:  C. S. Lewis’ Narnia and Space Trilogy, Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, Scott’s Ivanho, the Hardy Boys book The Shore Road Mystery, Twain’s Tom Sawyer, London’s Call of the Wild, and missionary biographies like Bruchko, God’s Smuggler, and Lords of the Earth.

As I got older and began to read on my own, I discovered Kipling, Hawthorne, Poe, and Tennyson, Tolkien, and T. S. Eliot, Jules Verne and H. G. Wells, and hundreds of others.  Some I only started on in college or after, like Edgar Burroughs, Dashiell Hammett, and Walker Percy.  But I think at the root of all my stories is the quest for Narnia, the Fields of Arbol, Torquelstone Castle and the Treasure Island.

So, what have you written?

Well, it depends on how far back you want to go.  In fourth grade, I wrote a … that’s best forgotten, and in eighth I burned a handwritten manuscript of a coming-of-age story I’d been writing, and somewhere at the house I’ve got a notebook from high-school with a tale I never finished, and…  A couple of the pieces on my blog were actually written for—or started in—that sophomore writing class I mentioned.

In college, I majored in English because I wanted to read good books and I wanted to write.  So over the four years of my undergrad degree, I composed a Gordian fantasy that was supposed to be the first of a trilogy about a planetary “Ætlantis,” which I published in 2007 through a POD vanity press.  Frankly, the book was lousy as written, and I never did finish the trilogy it was assigned to.  Then life and family got in the way a bit, and I didn’t write much of anything for a number of years.  I submitted one piece to Orson Card’s IGMS about 2012 and was declined, but the itch to write, and to keep writing and creating worlds, was always there.

The first piece I actually sold to a publisher was the short story Under a Wayward Sun in Superversive Press’ Planetary: Earth anthology in 2018 (recently re-released by Tuscany Bay).  It’s no spoiler to say I took the title from a certain Kansas song.  After that I got a short piece from my college days into Impossible Hope, a GoFundMe charity anthology, and sold the story IGMS rejected to Tuscany Bay for Planetary: Luna:  it’s called The Night My Father Shot the Werewolf.  And my non-winning entry for Baen’s 2019 Fantasy Short Story competition, a piece called God Save the King, will appear in Planetary: Sol.

What draws you to Superversive writing?

I’ve always been a “superversive” writer, you might say.  Early on, as I mentioned, I was flooded with great stories of real heroes in credible crises and facing genuine problems.  I was also soaked in the Bible’s stories and grew up in a Bible-belt evangelical subculture, and saw almost from the start the disjunct between “Christian” books and good books, even when I couldn’t put my finger on it.  The Ætlantis story was begun in part as an answer to the chalk-and-saccharine formula and self-assured but ham-fisted eschatology of the Left Behind stories that were The Big Thing at the time.  If our God is the perfect Creator and we’re here in His image, then why the hell couldn’t “His people” create anything worth seeing the light of day?  When I wrote my book during college—and even in my HS stories—I tried to avoid the churchy clichés and the cellophane-wrapped Altar Call moments that so annoyed me in books like Left Behind and Frank Peretti’s Darkness books and the like.  The purpose of a fiction book isn’t to Lead-Me-To-Jesus, nor to remind me that Thou Shalt Not Steal.  The purpose is to inspire:  either awe, or grief, or horror, or triumph, or courage, or reflection, or even mirth, and to inspire it rightly as a response to right stimuli of the intent.  And I saw that “Christian Books” were an intellectual and marketing ghetto, written by and for the same small set that judged book quality by the number of sex scenes and cuss words, and whether the Good Guys are Christians (or Get-Saved) or not.  And if I marketed my book as “Christian Fiction,” that’s the only audience that would notice it at all, and the rubric on which it would be judged.

I discovered the Superversive Movement, per se, by means of Facebook associations with more prolific fellow writers like Lars Walker, Brad Torgersen, and Sarah Hoyt, and their associations with John C. Wright’s blog and books.  I was eager to read new material at the time and to learn from more seasoned writers, but was long-since cynical of the dominant PC zeitgeist of writers like Kim Stanley Robinson and John Scalzi.  So when I found Wright’s Everness books, I knew good books and good stories were no longer mutually excluded, and when I discovered that he and his wife were starting “a movement” to tell good stories well, I quickly sought out the Calls For Submissions, also known as Where-Do-I-Sign-Up?

What are you working on at the minute?

I just submitted an entry for Planetary:  Saturn that I wrote as a prequel to Wayward Sun, but the prequel ran to more than double the length of the first story.  I’ve got a novel fragment in the works that prequels Wayward Sun from another angle, and a sequel (badly needing re-done) to God Save the King.  One day I intend to re-structure the Ætlantis story as well, maybe finish its trilogy, and so forth, but that’s not so much back-burnered as Tupperwared, in the back of the freezer, until I get around to returning it to the stove at all.

Do you read much and if so who are your favorite authors?

You mean aside from those I’ve already mentioned?  Or out of that list?  I’d have to say that C. S. Lewis will likely always be in the top five, but along with him Tolkien, Kipling, Stevenson, and either T. S. Eliot or Flannery O’Connor.  There’s something in their stories and their use of language that brings me back not only to read another of their stories but to re-read those I’ve already come to know and love.

Of contemporary writers, there are a few whom I’d read eagerly and with little hesitation:  much of David Weber’s corpus, or Timothy Zahn’s, or Declan Finn’s.  Orson Scott Card’s books catch my attention, and so do those by Larry Correia, Taylor Anderson, and Kevin J. Anderson, but of all those, only certain of the Ender’s Game books (Card), or the War God’s Own series (Weber), or perhaps Zahn’s Thrawn and Quadrail stories, stand out as re-readable.

How can readers discover more about you and your work?

Several of my back-catalogue of stories, including a couple that were never more than fan-fiction from message boards, are on my blog at https://subcreated-worlds.com/, along with various samples of my artwork and a few essays I’ve written on different topics.

Thanks for sharing J.J.. Be sure to check out J.J.’s books and be sure to check back next Sunday for our next chat with a Superversive author.

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The Calling: Part 2, Chapter 10

THE CALLING: Part 2, Chapter 10

A Work Of Star Trek Fan Fiction By Richard Paolinelli

© 2020 RICHARD PAOLINELLI . ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO COPYING OR ANY OTHER REPRODUCTION OF THIS STORY IS PERMITTED WITHOUT WRITTEN PERMISSION. This is a work of fan fiction based in the universe of Star Trek, created by Gene Roddenberry. It is not intended to be sold, to be used to aid in any sale and is not to be copied or used in any other way by any other party.

CHAPTER TEN

“The Audace is breaking orbit now, Captain,” Sulu reported as Forelni led the evening watch crew onto the bridge. “She’s setting a course for Etalya.”

“Good timing, Commander,” Kirk greeted as Forelni approached. “The freighter just finished a very slow orbit around Kallita.”

“A final salute over the field where our Ambassador fell, Captain,” Forelni replied, watching the departing ship. “Typical when one of ours falls on a planet other than Etalya.”

Kirk rose from the command chair as the relief crew smoothly replaced their counterparts at their respective stations.

“Message from the Audace to Commander Forelni, Captain,” Uhura called out before Ensign Fabian could claim her station. Kirk nodded.

“Go ahead and read it, Lieutenant,” Forelni said.

“We take our leave to escort our honorable sister home. The Vendicatore sends his respects. Message ends.”

“Thank you, Lieutenant. Acknowledge message received only with no reply,” Forelni ordered as he took his place in the command chair. On the screen the Audace warped out in a blaze of rainbow light. “Orders, Captain?”

“Remain in orbit, Commander. The Ambassador wants to remain nearby for a few more days to make certain the Kallitans are sincere.”

“Understood, Sir. Pleasant evening, Captain.”

“Pleasant watch, Commander,” Kirk said as he entered the turbolift and departed the bridge. Forelni stared quietly at the planet below for a few minutes before finally breaking his silence.

“Ensign Fabian, please get Under-Counsel Zuran for me.”

“It’s late evening in the capital city, Sir. He’s probably at his home.”

“No doubt,” Forelni agreed. “But I am sure there is a way he can be reached.”

The process took a few minutes, and two relays, before the young Council member appeared on the screen, sitting at a desk in his home.

“Commander Forelni,” Zuran greeted cautiously. “To what do I owe the honor?”

“I was hoping to speak with you Councilor, if the time is convenient? I’m told you alone on the Council would have Kallita be a much better place for all of her people.”

“I’m afraid that position makes me somewhat unpopular with my fellow council members,” Zuran admitted.

“Yet very popular with your people.” Forelni pointed out. “I would like to discuss that if we might?”

*     *     *

“The Kallita you would like to bring about is one I would like to see, Zuran,” Forelni remarked many hours later. He’d waved off his relief when the late watch had arrived to relieve the evening watch. Now, the day watch was only minutes away from taking their posts.

“But it is a vision that will take many years to fulfill, I’m afraid,” Zuran said, stifling a yawn.

“Perhaps,” Forelni admitted. “But sometimes the future does not take as long to arrive as we might think. Forgive me, Councilor, I appear to have kept you up all night.”

“It is no matter. I enjoyed our discussion. Good day, Commander.”

The screen went dark before switching back to the planet view and Forelni sat back in the chair.

“That was an interesting conversation,” Ensign Caroline Furlong remarked from the science station.

“How so?” Forelni swung the chair around.

“It was almost as if you were gauging to see how receptive he was to the idea of taking over the planetary government.”

“Merely gauging the measure of the man, Ensign, to see if he would be worthy should the moment present itself.”

“And is he, Sir?”

Forelni said nothing in reply, merely turning the chair back to face the forward screen before rising to his feet.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” he stretched the kinks out of his back, “it has been a pleasure standing a watch with you this night.”

Kirk walked out onto the bridge with the rest of the day watch personnel in tow just to a chorus of “Thank you, Sir” and looked around bemused.

“I take it that was aimed at you, Commander,” he said, stepping down to the command chair. “And either you are very early…”

“…or I took the liberty of standing a watch with the night crew, Sir,” Forelni finished, stepping aside from the chair.

“Captain,” Ensign Julian Thompson called out before Uhura could step out of the second turbolift car bearing the day watch crew. “Something is happening planetside. Major uproar on all of their NewsNets, Sir.”

“Onscreen, Ensign,” Kirk ordered, catching a fleeting emotion he couldn’t place race across Forelni’s face. The view switched to a planetside network report. The scene it displayed was horrifying. Several men had been hung by the neck from a cross beam in front of the Council chamber. A banner, hung from the dead mens’ feet, swayed in a gentle breeze. FOR BRYNA had been written in blood red, whether in paint or in actual blood Kirk could not tell.

“Repeating this urgent story,” a voice broadcasted from Kallita. “The First Counsel and five of the six Under-Counsels have been executed by person or persons unknown. Their bodies were discovered moments ago just as you see them here. We are getting word that Under-Counsel Zuran is unharmed and is being brought in under heavy security to take control of the government.

“We are hearing reports of mass celebrations breaking out as word of these events are getting out,” the woman continued. “Chants of ‘For Bryna’ and ‘Free Kallita’ are echoing throughout the city…”

Kirk waived for the report to be cutoff and turned to face Forelni.

“Captain,” Spock interrupted, “A small vessel has broken from orbit and is heading at high speed toward the Sun. I estimate it will plunge into the star in less than ten seconds.”

“Let him go, Captain,” Forelni said softly. “It’s what he wants.”

“Who, Commander?” Kirk demanded. “Why does he want to die?”

“The Vendicatore, Captain. He has fulfilled his duty and it is now time for him to travel to Elysium.”

The small craft plunged into the star, the Enterprise too far away to even attempt rescue.

“Explain yourself, mister,” Kirk ordered.

“One moment, Captain,” Forelni looked over at Uhura. “Please send a message to the Audace that the Vendicatore has arrived in Elysium and have a security detail report to the bride on the double.

“Captain, when my people left Earth from Sicily,” Forelni explained as Uhura made the calls, “there was a small group of engineers from Greece that went with us. Their descendants formed a small colony on Etalya and they have served the Forelni family ever since. There is an order in the colony, the Vendicatore, who live in the lone hope of dying in the service of the Royal Family. They have come to believe that is the only way they can enter Elysium, what you would call Paradise.”

“You sent him down there to do that,” Kirk pointed at the now-blank screen.

“Yes, Sir,” Forelni replied as the turbolift doors parted and two men from Security, Butler and Mike Kozlowski, stepped out. “I believe Starfleet regulations require that I be arrested until a board of inquiry can be formed, Sir?”

Kirk could only nod his head.

“Confined to quarters, not the brig,” Kirk instructed the two security officers.

“Thank you, Sir,” Forelni replied and turned for the turbolift.

“Commander?”

“Sir?”

“Given you will likely be drummed out of Starfleet at best and imprisoned at worst,” Kirk asked when Forelni turn back around. “Was it worth it?”

“She saved my life, Captain,” Forelni responded. “So yes, Sir, it was.”

Forelni spun on his heel and entered the lift with his guards in tow and a bridge in stunned silence behind him.

*     *     *

Admiral Matthew Bowman sparkled into existence on the Enterprise’s main transporter pad three days later. A short, stocky man whose stature had earned him the nickname “Munchkin” at the Academy, Bowman had the reputation of a man not to be trifled with. Especially when angry and the Admiral was an angry visitor to the ship. He stormed off the pad with his assistant in tow.

“Admiral Bowman,” Kirk greeted. “Welcome aboard, Sir. This is my First Officer, Spock.”

“Captain, Commander,” Bowman indicated his aide. “My aide, Lieutenant Lori Janeski. Are you ready to begin the Court Martial of your Security Chief?”

“As ordered, Sir. Mr. Forelni is being escorted to the briefing room now. Are you certain you want to begin right away?”

“Quite,” Bowman replied and headed out of the room. “The sooner we get this done the better. We’re damned lucky this hasn’t turned into a major diplomatic incident.”

“Admiral,” Kirk said as he followed Bowman. “It seems the Kallitan government has filed no formal protest over the matter. We’ve been told by the new First Counsel, Zuran, that his predecessor had no intention of living up to the recent agreement negotiated by Ambassador Kleine…”

“All’s well that ends well, Captain?”

“I don’t think anyone can argue with what we’ve seen on the surface in just three days, Sir. The practice of slavery has been abolished. Major reforms are already being put into place. It is a much better Kallita than the one we first encountered.”

“Be that as it may, Captain, we can’t have Starfleet officers running around playing kingmaker on every backwater planet they encounter.”

They arrived at main briefing with Forelni seated in the defendant’s seat in full dress and flanked by Kozlowski and Butler. McCoy and Scotty, also in full dress, were seated against the back wall and Ensign Shira Tomboulian serving as court reporter. Bowman, Kirk and Spock took their seats at the judges table while Janeski claimed a seat next to McCoy. Bowman reached over and rang the ship’s bell three times in rapid succession.

“This court of inquiry into the actions of Lieutenant Commander Bari Forelni at Kallita is now in session,” Bowman began. “Admiral Matthew Bowman, Captain James T. Kirk and Commander Spock serving as tribunal judges in this matter.

“Mr. Forelni,” Bowman continued. “You are accused of arranging for the assassination of six members of the lawfully established Kallitan government as well as arranging for a new government to be put in place. And that said actions represent conduct unbecoming of a Starfleet officer. How do you plead to these charges?”

“Not guilty, Sir, to the last charge at least. And I object to the wording of the first two charges, thus I must plead Not Guilty to both of those as well.”

“Would you care to explain yourself, Commander?” Bowman’s eyes narrowed.

“Gladly,” Forelni turned to face Spock. “Commander, if you would be so kind as to consult the computer as to my exact duty status at the moment I first spoke with the Captain of the Audace?”

“You were listed as on official leave to deal with an Etalyian matter,” Spock reported after consulting the computer.

“And would you be kind enough to read Section Three, Paragraph Seven, of my official transfer orders from Etalyian Space Command to detached service in Starfleet?”

Spock’s eyebrow rose sharply as he located the indicated verbiage.

“According to this document, Admiral,” Spock looked at Bowman. “In situations when the Commander was needed to act as an official representative of Etalya, once granted leave by his commanding officer to do so, he was no longer officially a member of Starfleet.”

“And was I a member of Starfleet when I handed the Vendicatore his orders at the docking port regarding the six Kallitan Councilors, Mr. Spock?”

“According to this, Commander, you were not.”

“Nor did I have any contact with the Audace or the Vendicatore to give them any further orders after I returned to active duty, correct?”

“That is correct, Commander.”

“Then in that case, Admiral,” Forelni turned his gaze to Bowman. “I ask that the conduct unbecoming charge be removed.”

“Very well, Commander, let’s toss that charge out. You still are guilty of arranging the murders of six men, are you not?”

“Would you call that murder, Admiral?”

“Yes, I would, Commander.”

“I disagree.”

“And just what would you call it then?”

Before Forelni could answer, the bridge called. Kirk saw a small smile form on Forelni’s face.

“Bridge to Admiral Bowman,” Uhura’s voice carried from the overhead speaker. “Priority message from Starfleet Command, Admiral Nogura.”

“Go ahead,” Bowman ordered.

“The Federation Council has received an order for the execution of the six murderers of Ambassador Bryna from the ruling government of Etalya, said order being issued after the criminals had been tried in absentia and found guilty under Etalyian law and lawfully sentenced to death. Further, the Etalyian Government having officially carried out the execution hereby withdraws its formal protest against Kallita, welcomes the new Kallitan government and hopes to establish long and peaceful ties between the two worlds.

“The Kallitan Government,” Uhura continued, “accepts the judgment of the Etalyian court and considers the matter closed, as does the Federation Council. By order of Starfleet Command, no further inquiry is ordered and the matter is to be considered closed with no further action taken against any of those involved. Signed Nogura, CIC, Starfleet Command.”

No one in the briefing room said a word or even so much as moved. Forelni affected a poker face that would shame a Vulcan and stared down Bowman.

“You sneaky son of a …”

“Admiral,” Forelni said softly. “My mother and I have our differences, but she is still my mother.”

“You set this all up,” Bowman accused, “right from the beginning.”

“Not quite all of it,” Forelni admitted. “But most of it, yes.”

“Why didn’t you just explain this on the bridge,” Kirk asked.

“Because I needed to wait for Etalya to file the documents with the Federation and have the Council’s decision trickle down to Starfleet Command.”

“So everything you did here would be legally sanctioned.” Bowman finished.

“Aye, Sir. With no blame falling on Starfleet or on Captain Kirk.”

“You really think this is the way the Federation and Starfleet should operate, Commander,” Bowman asked. “Cloak and dagger regime change?”

“When it is confronted with its own member planets keeping its citizens in chains for no other reason than an accident of birth? Yes, Admiral, that is exactly what it should do and not by cloak and dagger, either.

“Whenever we see even one individual wrongfully chained,” Forelni continued. “Whenever one group stands up and denies any being’s right to life and liberty for no other sake than to enrich themselves or to empower themselves, we should each of us stand up and say no. This is not right. This will not stand!”

“You say that for every individual everywhere in the galaxy, Commander?”

“Yes, Sir, I do.”

“Would you be this passionate about Kallita if you were not personally connected to this Bryna person?”

“Yes, Sir, I would.”

“Then it appears that you are a better man than I, Commander.”

“Yes, Sir, I am.” Forelni replied and only then did Kirk realize just how angry his Security Chief had really been this past week. Because all of that anger carried through in all four words of his response and everyone in the room could feel it as he stared down the Admiral.

Bowman reached over and rang the bell sharply, twice in rapid succession.

“Given the recent communique from Starfleet Command,” he kept his gaze locked on Forelni. “This board of inquiry is hereby dissolved and Commander Forelni is returned to active duty. You are dismissed, Commander.”

“Orders, Captain?” Forelni looked at Kirk.

“I think it has been a long day, Commander, suppose you call it a day and report for duty in the morning.”

“Aye, Sir, thank you,” Forelni nodded and exited the room. The others followed suit, leaving only Bowman, Kirk and Spock behind.

“You know something,” Bowman said, staring at the closed doors. “He’s going to make a hell of a Starfleet Captain, if he doesn’t get himself killed or tossed in the brig first.”

“That is a most surprising reaction, Admiral,” Spock remarked.

“Oh, I actually agree with a lot of what he said, Commander,” Bowman admitted. “And I can’t say the universe isn’t a better place without those six despots around. I may disagree with his methods, but I can’t disagree with the results.

“There was one other task I have to complete, now that this hearing has concluded the way it has,” Bowman added, pulling a data chip from his pocket and handing it to Kirk. “Your orders, Captain. Since Mr. Spock here and your fire-breathing Security Chief are playing for the Galactic Chess championship, Starfleet wants to take full advantage of the PR opportunity.”

“How so, Admiral?”

“By ordering Enterprise to Starbase 28 where you will pick up a team of archaeologists and transport them to Auriga III. It’s a dead world now but they have discovered an old civilization there. The team wants to dig it out and Enterprise will remain in orbit to make sure the team is not bothered by any pirates or smugglers while the chess tournament plays out on ship.

“Once the tournament concludes and the team is settled with proper security to keep the pirates at bay,” Bowman continued. “You will receive new orders to transport Commander Forelni to Earth where he will take command of the new Federation-Class Dreadnought, nearing completion as we speak.”

“I thought he was getting the new starship being constructed at Mars?” Kirk asked.

“They’ve hit a delay and someone at Starfleet decided to turn Mr. Forelni and his all-Etalyian crew loose on the galaxy in a dreadnought instead. He’ll give it a proper shakedown and begin patrolling along the Romulan Neutral Zone. But you are not to tell him until the official orders are cut. No need making him even more insufferable than he already is.”

“Yes, Sir,” Kirk replied diplomatically as Bowman turned to leave.

“Oh, and Mr. Spock,” Bowman stopped and looked back. “About that upcoming chess tournament?”

“Yes, Admiral?”

“Good luck,” Bowman said as he continued out the door. “You’re going to need it.”

“Indeed,” Spock agreed, one eyebrow rising.

The post The Calling: Part 2, Chapter 10 appeared first on Richard Paolinelli - A Superversive Scribe.

Free Read Friday: August 28, 2020

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A Busy Week

I had been intending to post a couple of blog posts this week but man, did I get run over by an avalanche. In addition to getting the last of Planetary Anthology Series: Jupiter formatted for its September 29th release date, I had to get Planetary Anthology Series: Sol finished too.

Even though it won’t be released until November 10th, the odds are I’ll be tied up for a good portion of October. So, I’m getting a lot of stuff done now so it will be ready to go later. Which hasn’t left me a lot of free time to blog.

Over the next two weeks you should see a lot of activity blog wise. And for subscribers, new content should start appearing here for you as well. If you haven’t subscribed yet you really should. Just $2.00 a month – about the cost of a single bottle of pop – goes a long way around here.

I’ll be posting book reviews from books I recently read as part of my three-week run filling in as a co-host on The Writer’s Block – another reason why I’m running behind, show prep for that show takes up nearly two days every week. I met two new authors, I was already acquainted with the third, and read three really good books. Books you should probably check out for yourself.

Speaking of upcoming books. In addition to the last four Planetary books – I’m in Jupiter and Sol and still waiting to hear if my subs to Neptune and Saturn will be accepted – there are a few anthologies coming out in the next couple of months with stories of mine in them.

[image error]Cracked, an anthology of Eggsellent Chicken Stories by Joyful Peacock Press, should be out sometime in September as an e-book. I’m hoping the print edition will follow shortly after because this is one book I want on my shelf.

My story, Barn Wars: The Rise of Brooster Motherclucker, is a spoof of Star Wars with a heavy dose of Looney Tunes thrown in for good measure. I had a lot of fun writing this one, in case you couldn’t tell from reading it.

PAS: Jupiter is the last of the second edition reprints of the Superversive Press Original Five. My story, Icarus Falls, is a bit of a monster length-wise, but it definitely fit the Superversive mold. It comes out on September 29th and you can pre-order your e-book copy here.

MX Publishing is releasing another collection of Untold Cases of Sherlock Holmes in the next few weeks. Edited by David Marcum, this collection will include my fifth published Sherlock Holmes pastiche, The Substitute Thief, which is based on the untold case: The Darlington Substitution Scandal – originally mentioned by Watson in A Scandal in Bohemia.

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On November 10th, PAS: Sol releases and my story, At Homeworld’s End, is included. Sol is a brand new release in the overall series, and will be the fourth original release by Tuscany Bay Books’ in the series. You can pre-order it here.

If my stories make it into Neptune (The 13th Medallion) and Saturn (Phantoms’ Lodge) – not a guarantee at all – I will have stories in eight of the 11 books by the time they come out on Dec. 22nd and Feb. 2nd respectively. A distant second to both Bokerah Brumley and A.M. Freeman who deservedly look to be in all 11 books of the series. Both writers have contributed some of the best stories in the series.

One other anthology I’m waiting to hear from is Voices From The Plains, produced by the Nebraska Writer’s Guild, of which I am a member. I subbed two of my previously published stories. It will be nice to make it in to this one with some of my fellow Cornhusker scribes.

So, as I said above, I’ve been busy with writing-related work. Don’t even get me started on the non-writing-related insanity around here the last sixty days. That would take a full-length novel to sort out.

But, this weekend be sure to catch the latest Free Read Friday – you have to be a subscriber for that. But you don’t have to be a subscriber to read Chapter 10 of the second part of The Calling, my weekly Star Trek fan fiction series this Saturday morning. And check out the Superversive Sunday Spotlight feature on author J.J. Griffing on Sunday morning.

Catch you next week. Have a Superversive weekend!!! 

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