Piet_Maximoff

I have a feeling (as long as I can afford it) that I will be playing both of these games. I may or may not decide to use Pietro in STO, but I know for sure I plan on keeping him here. Besides the fact STO is probably still quite a long way from being released anyway - we're running strong, and will continue to.

Lieutenant Commander Pietro Maximoff was officially on emergency leave - and for the moment, he considered himself simply Mr. Pietro Maximoff. Although he had packed a uniform for the return trip, he planned to be a civilian on the trip home and while he was there. The ride from SB118 to Earth was remarkably short - perhaps he'd taken the route enough times, it just seemed faster. No matter - he was back on Earth again. His sister, Wanda, had agreed to pick him up from the spaceport. Normally the two would have bounded to greet each other with hugs and quick words, but on this occasion, they met with weak smiles and silence. There was one hug, lighter than usual. His arm around her shoulder, hers around his waist, the duo slowly departed the spaceport. And there was still silence as they climbed into her hovercar. The radio was off. Pietro could barely make out the sound of passing cars, and the wind whizzing by. They arrived at the old house after about an hour's drive. She told him she hadn't been there since she heard the news, because there were too many bad memories - he agreed. They climbed out of her car and moved to the front door, quietly examining the familiar features of the front lawn and the front stoop. He bent down and lifted the end of the welcome mat, picking up an ancient key for an ancient lock. He slid the key through the keyhole, turned it to the familiar sound of the lock opening, then shoved the key into his pocket. The twins stepped inside, taking in the sight of the old house, and all the memories to go with it. The smell of stale air made his nose twitch. Wanda and Pietro separated, each exploring a different part of the house, for it had been nearly two years since either one had been inside. Wanda turned left into the southern part of the house, first crossing through the sitting room and into the kitchen. She let out a sigh, frowning slightly at the picture hanging next to the replicator. There was an old fridge as well, but it had never worked for more than a week at a time, so the replicator had been installed in the old house when fresh food wasn't available. Pietro had gone up the stairs leading from the front hall. At the top of the stairs, he looked down at his hand and scowled, then clapped his hands together to smack away the dust that had been transferred from the railing to his palm. He turned right at the corner... and stopped. He stood there, eyes vacant, staring at the door at the end of the hall. A frown teased the corners of his mouth, and he slowly stepped forward. His hand closed around the doorknob, turned, and pushed the door open. Shuffling inside, his eyes were drawn to the large bed, the vanity with photos, the armoire hanging open. He approached the vanity first, sighing and wiping away the cobwebs. He pulled out a handkerchief, wiping the dust from the picture, his eyes suddenly welling up with tears. Wanda found a similar picture hanging on the wall in the den. It was the only picture in the room that hadn't accumulated dust, and she wasn't entirely sure why. Frowning, she carefully pulled it from the wall, studying it silently. The twins met in the front hall a few minutes later. It was almost time. Wanda had stored her picture in her purse, Pietro's in his back pocket. They left the house, locking the door and hiding the key where it was before. The hovercar took off again, heading towards the downtown area. This trip only took a few minutes. Another few minutes later, the twins were sitting silently together on the wooden bench, waiting. Then it began. The trial only lasted an hour. Their father had been paraded in, and both the prosecution and defense counsel's had made a show, but it wasn't really necessary. The twins knew their father would be pronounced guilty. The evidence was presented, testimonies given. A recess wasn't even necessary. The verdict was given. The first of several trials was over. Erik Maximoff was guilty of treason to the civilian population of Earth. The next trial would be Starfleet vs Erik Maximoff. Pietro and Wanda dreaded that one as well. It would likely go much the same way. The conclusion of the trial was not nearly as elaborate. Erik was handcuffed and taken into custody. Before they took him away, however, both Pietro and Wanda were allowed to speak with him. Very few words were traded, but both photos were given to him. The twins left with no other words. Erik was taken to a cell, where he was able to finally look at the photos. One of the photos was of his wife and the twins, two weeks before she died. The other was a family portrait. Erik broke down weeping.

I'm, of course, intruiged by all of this, but at the same time a bit let down. I have been a follower of ST for at least two thirds of my life, and I hate the fact there is no series on TV - and yes, I know there are reruns, and I love watching them because a lot of times they still seem so fresh, but you understand what I mean? There's been a lot of stagnation in the ST franchise, I'm afraid. On another note - I don't know how many of you have read ST books (especially those by the Reeves-Stephens pairing), but I think a lot of these could be great movies and/or TV series. I've always wanted a DS9 movie, and I always thought the Millenium book series (3 books - on our wiki, I believe) would make a wonderful movie. The "A Time To..." book series is another I think has a lot of promise. Hell, I'd probably even enjoy an Animated Series movie, or another Animated TV show, just as long as something was out there. Not that ST is ever going to die - after all, we'll all have a chance to "truly" live the ST experience with Star Trek: Online, should we decide to play it. Of course, I certainly don't plan on dropping the UFOP, because in a way I consider it its own TV station, with many shows following many ships - I'm a little biased in thinking the Consitution would be a wonderful TV show. But it would! Anyway - I heard rumor that they're dropping the pre-quel idea and doing a mirror universe movie. I also heard this rumor subsequently squashed, but I liked the idea. I always thought it would be interesting to go more in depth into the mirror universe.

Maybe... or it could just be they needed some reason for T'Pol to take care of him after the anomoly screwed up his brain.

While I do love Enterprise, watching Season 3, I came to realize a few inconsistencies - When the anomaly hits Enterprise and Archer and T'Pol are trying to get away from it, a bulkhead falls on T'Pol's leg and pins her down. Archer must be the one to move it. If I remember, from all canon and non-canon sources, Vulcans are typically several times stronger than humans, no matter if angry or not. So why couldn't she lift it? Secondly - about halfway through the season, they have "Previously" at the beginning, but none of them are in the order they aired, and sometimes it seems like whole episodes were skipped. That threw me off and is one of the few complaints I have.

Thanks, Solan! And I want to offer my own congrats to Ensign Aresee Ventu for beating me out... You are the superior writer in this case. :bows: But watch out... because next time.... EDIT: Or I should say, an upcoming time...

I hope the decision is coming along... I'm getting a little anxious for some reason. I suppose I've never really submitted a whole lot for this kind of thing before.

You do have quite a few good points there - I'm going to attempt to refute them if possible for the simple joy of debate. 1) - I don't think this is entirely true. If I remember correctly, nowhere in the episode of BoT do they say they had never encountered Romulans before, they just had simply never spoken face to face. You could argue that technically we probably hadn't encountered the Romulans too long before the war, but then again I'm not sure they ever put a true date on the Federation/Romulan war.2) - I think this is mostly because it was a new plot device they wanted to use - they could easily have done WWIII or the Federation/Romulan or Federation/Klingon war, but I think they wanted something perhaps more interesting, although maybe it was a bit too much on the fiction side of science fiction.3) - Yes and no. I know everybody loves the way Spock was portrayed, but you also have to remember that TOS is, I think, something like 50 to a hundred years after ENT - plenty of time for Vulcans to evolve a bit more. But, also remember - T'Pol and 7of9 were both meant to be eye candy more than anything.4) - This one is a little harder to refute, because I don't know very much about the canon layout of the galaxy. Chalk it up to wanting to use one of everyone's favorite enemy races.5) - This I can't really refute, because its true. I regret to say I didn't get to see the Mirror universe episode (yet! I will on DVD!!!!) so I'd say Broken Bow or the Finale.6) - Yes, splitting hairs - not going into it.7) - I admit there were quite a few errors in logic, but I have to say the way they explained it worked - the Borg were essentially survivors from the Sphere the ENT-E destroyed in First Contact. I did like this episode, but I think they could have made it a bit more logical in how they did things.8) - I know Worf wouldn't explain it on DS9, and they pretty much don't really talk about it, but perhaps its safe to say this is before the Klingons did their genetic experiments? - Agreed. - I think they wanted to use a simpler design that would look a heck of a lot different from other Enterprises, but was still somewhat familiar? Hell if I know. And the war... eh, again, more plot elements to play with.Truth be told, I absolutely love ENT, even with the flaws that are obvious and not so obvious. It was a great show, and it became great Trek when seasons 3 and 4 rolled around.

IMHO, I don't think it was exactly that Braga was trying to make it his own vision rather than Roddenberry's - I think they were trying too hard at times to make it Roddenberry's. Instead of focusing on writing really good scripts that had to do with the beginnings of the Federation, they pretty much did the same sort of thing that TOS did - a lot of random stories that don't exactly fit together well until the end of the next season. Now, that's not to say that TOS is bad at all - I've been watching the DVDs and I'm now well into the third season. But for a ST show now, that formula doesn't work anymore. TNG, DS9, and VOY all had great scripts and great plotlines - and they all flowed together in a specific way, even if just through references at times. ENT was coming around in the third and fourth seasons - the sad thing is, it was too little too late. They had already decided to can the show just as it was starting to turn around. They started making really, really good episodes that focused on how things were and how the Federation came to be founded - I haven't seen it yet because I stopped watching for a long time, but I heard about the Constitution-class episode, and that got me goggling for it because that is in the spirit of the show - time traveling for the sake of time traveling, not for saving the whole universe because of a temporal cold war. I admit, a lot of the plots on ENT were rather convoluded - I don't think that's the fault of the actors or the show's crew, either. There were some good concepts, just poorly written scripts and poorly connected plotlines. I thought the Borg episode was rather intruiging, but to me it seemed a little too good to be true that they destroyed the ship so easily, even if there were only a few dozen Borg. I really liked that episode, but there were at least a few logical flaws that could have been better if they'd fleshed out the script, maybe made it a two parter or something. HOWEVER - I think it was also a poor choice to use the Borg. The Borg are a great plot device, but they're overdone. Voyager ended up essentially being a show about fighting the Borg - which really worked, but I think Berman and Braga still had those stories stuck in their heads when they started ENT. I know, the episode didn't come in until the second season, but to me it seemed like they had really wanted to do one of those from the beginning. Anyway... I loved ENT. Its not TOS. Its not TNG, or DS9, or VOY. Its ENT. And although it did have a lot of problems going for it, they did bring it around in the third and fourth seasons. I think if it had lived on a bit longer it would continue to do well, perhaps even bring delight to those of us who prefer the older shows. Hell, I grew up with TNG, so that was always my favorite, but DS9 came along and that blew it out of the water, so to speak. I think I love DS9 so much because, even for ST, its so different from the others, and the characters were fleshed out a lot faster, so you could understand them sooner... and then you couldn't fly away from waht you did, you had to deal with it in the long run, no matter the consequences. IMHO, Ira Stephen Behr should be allowed to be in charge of the next series/movie.

I do blame Berman and Braga for what's happened to the franchise. While I don't think they're ignoring what Roddenberry envisioned, I think they're trying to put too much of their own ideas into it, trying to make it too much of an action show now than a space drama. I'd be happy if they had people like Ira Steven Behr (DS9 writer) start writing for a new show, along with other Trek-staples like D.C. Fontana. I don't know if any of you have ever looked at any fan films online, but the Star Trek: New Voyages fan films are probably some of the best I've seen - its basically a continuation of TOS if it had returned for a fourth season. Eugene Roddenberry, Jr, is one of the consulting producers, D.C. Fontana has helped to write some scripts, and I believe it really captures the old show well. Anyway. That or just let fans do it. Seriously. "The Trouble With Tribbles" was a fan written script... and you know they used to not take fan scripts... and Gene Roddenberry was like, "What the hell is wrong with you people? This is good stuff."

Truth be told, I love the TNG crew as much as anyone, but to put it plainly - the TNG crew had maybe two movies that were great... and the TOS crew had at least four of the six that were absolutely wonderful. The problem, I think, is not with the cast, but with the writers. They just haven't been up to par. A DS9 movie I would love - I'm almost certain I've mentioned how much I love DS9 at some point here. Give ENT a break - they were bringing it around in the fourth season - if they hadn't cancelled it, I bet everyone would love it now because it was going the direction it should have been. I also agree that we've seen a lot of history lately - but if we're going to do history, let's look at the lost years between TOS and TNG, eh? I don't know if any of you read the Lost Era book series, but I loved those stories. Anyway... I do really hope they have a new movie in the works. I don't really care what it is, as long as they make it a good one. It needs to be a First Contact or a Wrath of Kahn - not an Insurrection or The Motion Picture (pre-director's cut). Matter of fact, there are a lot of books I've read recently that I feel would make wonderful movies.

((Deep in the Recesses of Pietro's Mind)) ::Piet groaned. He shivered. He sighed. Couldn't remember. What happened? He sat up - winced and held his head. Opened his eyes... everything was black and white for some reason. Had he gone color blind? What was going on? He leaned back and took a few breaths, then tried to get up. Caused a little more pain in his side than he liked, but he was still able to stand. Licking his lips, he slowly turned to get a good look at the surrounding area. He didn't know how it was possible, unless the Avenger was in orbit and cloaked, but he was on the bridge of his father's ship... Scratch that, pirate ship. The Defiant Class monstrosity that had once been a true Starfleet warship was now more of a mixture of technologies than Piet had imagined possible. He could identify at least a dozen different races by technology, and there were at least a dozen more he couldn't. But... the last time he had seen this bridge, it was still very much Federation and Starfleet technology... there was no need to have others mixed in. True, it had been over a year... hell, almost two years since Piet had had any contact with his father. The closest he had come was the rumor of his father's capture just before Piet returned to Earth. But he also knew that couldn't possibly last too long - his father was a former Starfleet Captain, and worse, a member of the Orion Pirates. Erik Magnus Maximoff was not one to be anyone's captive for too long. Perhaps he had returned to find Pietro and punish him for their last encounter - though that was so long ago... it was amazing to believe his father could hold a grudge for that long, especially against his own son. But the galaxy was a big place - and there were some people famous for holding grudges. Holding his side, Pietro started to walk along the curve of the bridge, which appeared to be abandoned. All of the consoles were on and working, the Captain's Chair half-rotated towards the starboard side. There also appeared to be some battle damage... from what, he couldn't tell. He sat down at the Engineering console, but the controls wouldn't respond - just the dull sound of buttons not working. He tried to read the screen anyway... but he couldn't make out the language... or could he? It just seemed blurry, too hard to read. He checked every console - the same problem. Everything blurry. What the hell was going on? Deciding not much could be found out here, he made his way towards the door that would lead to the rear of the ship - more importantly, Engineering. The place he would know better than anything else. The door opened... and cross legged on the ground before him, a slight and rather eerie grin on her face, Cura Stone sat in his path. And although everything else was black and white, certain features seemed to him to be in color - which caused a rather eerie look to things. He could see the brightness of her eyes, her hair, and her lips... but everything else was black and white. He blinked. Blinked again.:: Pietro: Cura? What's going on? ::She just sat there, still grinning, though now looking up at him, brows raising. He sighed and, when it seemed she wouldn't answer, he started to head past her. She blocked the way with an arm.:: Cura: Things are not as simple as they seem. You may feel you're trapped in a dream. Pietro: Cura? Why are you rhyming like that? Cura: The exit you will find, where too soon to tell. The crew is ready, go ring the bell, and then you'll find a path from hell. Pietro: Cura? What the hell are you talking about? What crew? Bell? Path? I don't know what the hell you mean! Cura: The exit you will find, where too soon to tell. The crew is ready, go ring the bell, and then you'll find a path from hell. ::Pietro scowled. She had repeated the same phrase, which held no meaning for him. He tried to pass again - and she stopped him again.:: Cura: But before the bell be rung, you must face a former foe. Do not let yourself be hung, or you will find yourself in woe. Pietro: Cura? What does that mean? Is that a warning? ::Nothing. He sighed. He glanced down the corridor, then looked back down to her... but she had disappeared. A combadge remained - and he only now noticed that his own was missing. He picked it up and attached it to his uniform, then started down the corridor.:: Pietro: oO The crew is ready... go ring the bell... what? Wait a second...Oo Mess hall! ::He darted down the corridor toward the Mess Hall and stepped through the doors... only to find the crew laying around scattered tables, throats slashed, phaser burns everywhere. He collapsed to his knees and covered his mouth for fear of vomiting... it was the Constitution crew. Every last one of them... even the ones that weren't serving aboard her anymore. And... Cura! She was one of the last ones he noticed... it was so odd. There was a flash of light... and the bodies, tables, everything was gone. There was a lone bell resting in the galley, waiting. He sighed and stood, getting ahold of himself, wondering if it was just a hullicination. He started for the bell... and just as suddenly found himself flat on his back, grunting at the impact, stars blinding his eyes. He shook them clear from his head, then crouched up in a defensive posture, trying to see who had attacked him... the former Doctor Gabriel! He blinked... and didn't really understand. Yes, they sort of had been foes for a short time, but... what was going on? He dodged out of the way as Gabe attacked again, launching himself towards Pietro. Pietro brought his shoulder up into Gabe's stomach and knocked him backward and through a table. Gabe was up rather quickly, and a fist fight broke out. Gabe got in a good right hook, but wasn't able to evade before Pietro hit him with an uppercut. He stumbled backward and fell over a chair, oofing as he hit the floor. He growled and stood, coming at Pietro, but Pietro had already gotten the bell in his hand and swing it around, smacking him across the face with it... and causing it to ring. His attacker disappeared in another flash of light... as well as the bell. And he was no longer in the Mess Hall... he was in the Medical Bay. He frowned. What could possible be happening? Was there a Q entity involved? Or was he somehow being spoken to by the wormhole aliens from DS9? If so, for what reason? Or was it something else altogether, that he'd never encountered before? He couldn’t explain it, but he had to continue on to find out. He licked his lips, looking around at the Medical Bay. He walked to a console… and the same fuzzy gibberish was on the screen. Frowning, Piet turned around and again studied the room. He crossed his arms, chewing on his lower lip, expecting to see someone appear from nowhere and tell him what to do… and nothing. Tossing his arms up, he sighed and headed through the Medical Bay doors. He turned the corner and again started for Engineering. As he rounded the corner… he ran into a rather large object and fell over onto his butt. Mumbling and rubbing his rear as he stood, he looked up… and into the face of his captain, Xan Hebron.:: Pietro: Are you going to speak to me in riddles and rhymes too? Xan: I’m here to tell it like it is. You’re going to die in here if you don’t find your way out soon. Pietro: How? Where? Xan: I don’t know. ::glancing side to side:: HE is after you. Pietro: Who is he? Xan: I can’t tell you… because he’ll kill me… but I can warn you. Stay away from Engineering. He’s waiting for you there… and you won’t make it home! ::At first Piet believed he was just imagining things, but as Hebron continued to speak, he was literally growing smaller by the second. Pietro’s mouth fell open, and he couldn’t do or say anything – and just as suddenly, Hebron winked out of existence, as if he was too small to even exist. How… odd? Was that even the right word? He shook his head and gingerly stepped around where he had last seen Hebron, just in case the Brikar had not altogether disappeared – perhaps he could be returned to his natural size. Piet continued to Engineering despite his captain’s warnings, and soon he came to the corridor leading to the Engineering entrance. He walked forward, glancing up and down the corridor before stopping at the door. He wet his lower lip… then jogged down to one of the armory closets and grabbed a phaser. He adjusted the setting for stun, then went back to the Engineering door. He stepped through slowly, phaser at the ready, eyes scanning the room. The warp core hummed to him, giving off that comforting blue color he was used to. He suddenly felt very safe… at home. Like this is where he belonged. The weight of the phaser in his hand was gone… he had dropped it to the floor. He found himself drawn to the core – an attraction he couldn’t fight. Didn’t want to fight. He walked up the step and leaned against the railing, looking down into the core. He wanted to jump in, lose himself in the plasma stream, to the immense pleasure of matter/antimatter reactions happening because of him… He shook his head, pushing himself backward from the railing, then slipped and tumbled down to the floor, wincing as he fell on his side – the one that hurt before. He grasped it lightly, searching for the phaser with his other hand… and felt the sudden, jarring pain of broken fingers as a boot came down upon that hand. He looked up… into the dark, black eyes of his father. And not just the pupil – both of the eyes were pitch black, blacker than darkness, blacker than a black hole – and Piet knew that he was about to face pure evil at its worst. He pulled his hand back as the boot released it, cradling it against his side as his other arm held the side that hurt. He was disabled, which was a problem if a fight was about to happen. His father said nothing. He simply seethed, lips curled into a snarl, his teeth suddenly very pointy… and the snarl turned into an insane grimace/smile. Pietro saw the Devil in the Dark. And then, he could feel the heat of the warp core as his body was crushed against the side of it, a whimper escaping his lips. Strands of silver hair fell over his blue eyes, which were tearing over in pain. He hadn’t even done anything: He was still just standing there, His face bearing a wicked grin. Piet had the sudden feeling that this wasn’t exactly his father he was looking at – more like something that had taken his father’s form – something that scared him, something he hated. And then the pain was gone. He was back on the deck of the bridge, still clutching his broken fingers, but his side didn’t hurt anymore. There was no phaser. There was a flash, and all of his crewmates were there, wrapped in a circle around him, cheering and jeering, looking like they were making bets. Another flash… and He was there as well, bearing a Klingon bat’telh. But He was different now. His father’s features were still there, but now He was a mixture of his father and Klingon – the skin was much darker, the hair still very silver, like his own, but with Klingon ridges on the forehead. His father’s eyes were there, but still blacker than a black hole. Piet could tell this was his father, but at the same time a Klingon – truth be told, Pietro had a hidden, quiet fear of Klingons all his life. It only made sense that, for whatever reason, He had taken that form to make Piet wary. At first Pietro had no weapon. And then he also had a bat’telh. And the battle began. Pietro was awkward and clumsy with the sword, because he hadn’t ever truly sparred with one, but his skill still could have impressed a Klingon. But, at the same time, He was taking it easy on Piet, never attacking, always defending. And then it came. The attack. Pietro at first had trouble deflecting all of the attacks, and got quite a few knicks, even losing bits of flesh in some areas… but eventually he got into a natural rhythm. For some reason, because he believed he was better with a bat’telh than his opponent, he became better… skills that even a master Klingon swordsman could not master, Piet could suddenly do with little thought. The next thing he realized… his bat’telh was buried in His chest. And the fight was over. The crowd disappeared. His father remained… in his true form, so to speak. The sword fell out… and his father shrunk into the form of a baby, which began to cry. The evil that was the Devil in the Dark had suddenly become something anyone could take care of. Pietro lifted the baby to his chest and looked into his eyes… the darkness was gone. He smiled a little, tweaking the baby’s nose… and then this dream was over, and there was only blackness.::

Recently, I ran across the Star Trek: The Lost Era series of books, and I've been pretty happy with them so far. There are six books in the series, of which I've been able to read four, and I find them to be well written and fit very well into the Star Trek universe. I haven't read the first two in the series, but I've read the last three and am finishing the final book in the series (that I know of). Following is a basic time line of the books (written in this order). If there is not a specific ship, I have listed some of the major characters that play a part in the story. 2298: The Sundered - USS Excelsior - Captain Hikaru Sulu 2311: Serpents Among the Ruins - USS Enterprise-B - Captain John Harriman 2328-2346: The Art of the Impossible - Klingons vs Cardassians - Curzon Dax, Lt Elias Vaughn, Lt. Ian Troi (Deanna Troi's father), Commander Garret (soon to be Captain of Enterprise-C), Worf's grandfather Worf (defendent of Kirk and McCoy in STVI) 2336: Well of Souls - USS Enterprise-C - Captain Rachel Garrett 2355-2357: Deny Thy Father - Starfleet Academy - Cadet/Ensign William T. Riker, Kyle Riker 2360: Catalyst of Sorrows - Starfleet Command/Neutral Zone/Romulan Empire - Admiral Nyota Uhura, Lt. Benjamin Sisko, Lt. Tuvok, Dr. Zelar, Dr. Beverley Crusher I highly recommend at least a gander at these books because they are written well, and it gives a little look-see into the seventy some years between TOS and TNG.

Starfleet Command I, II, Orion Pirates, and III... all kick [...]. Bridge Commander... pretty good. Elite Force 1 and 2... kick [...]. Armada 1 and 2... pretty good. DS9: The Fallen... I love it. DS9: Dominion Wars.... pretty good.

Actually, First Contact is not the first movie with Data having emotion. The chip was installed in Generations. And though I can see what you mean... I don't think that's enough reason to not make a movie.

One horrible, drawn out episode that was completely predictable. People with stretchy-faces are evil, one Admiral tries to keep them in control, Picard complains about moving the people because it is wrong, Picard takes it into his own hands because stretchy-faces are going to destroy the planet anyway. They did that episode before on NexGen. Taken from cover of VHS copy of episode The plots are slightly different, but they're basically the same episode... only Insurrection is poorly done.