Twogunkid

I liked your as well. Poetry is one of my favorite things to write though. I just don't do it or share it often.

L and the MiB have a lot going for them and the Shi'ar do tend to get themselves screwed over. L is very competent. On paper I go Lilandra, but in practice L tends to come out on top.

Alright, I will kick off Round 2. Boldly going where George Lucas did in 1999. Space Diplomacy.

I had to stop myself. At 2500 words I was already over a quarter of the way to a novella. TOS Trek is just so much fun to write dialogue for. I also liked sneaking some DC Comics Star Trek characters in. Obviously set between Star Trek V and Star Trek VI, but I had to take some liberties with Star Dates.

“Captain’s Log 9519.4, it is with some degree of pride and sadness, that the USS Enterprise…A” Kirk paused, that letter while ment as an homage to the original ship always gnawed at him. A reminder of what he had to do, but it was painful to think about. “Has been recalled to Vulcan following the promotion of Hikaru Sulu to Captain. He will make a fine Captain, but it does leave us without a bridge officer and a dedicated helmsmen. I have personally requested Lt. Saavik formally join the Enterprise crew…” “Bridge to Captain Kirk. Bridge to Captain Kirk.” “Go ahead Uhura.” “Long range sensors are picking up some sort of temporal anomaly near the Halkan system. A magnetic ion storm, not dissimilar to the one that transported us to the universe of the Terran Empire. Currently on course to Halkan Prime.” “Understood. I’m on my way. Uhuru set a course for the Halkan System and contact Starfleet Command.” “Very good sir.” Picking up Lt. Saavik would have to wait. “Jim, the Halkans are one of the most notable neutral systems in the Alpha Quadrant. They have recently signed trade agreements with the Ferengi Alliance, but preventing an ecological disaster from ravaging their system could help bring them back to the bargaining table. They have a positive memory of your earlier encounter which did help open trading negotiations. Indeed, the Ferengi Alliance has never formally made contact with the Federation. The Halkans may be the perfect middlemen to arrange the advent of diplomacy between us. Captain Bateman of the USS Bozeman and Commander Reynolds of the USS Hathaway will be en route to assist in your operations, but you should arrive a full day ahead of them. Render all possible aid to the Halkans and ensure that the magnetic ion storm does not cause damage to their planetary infrastructure.” Admiral Cartwright tersely finished his briefing. “Any questions?” “No Admiral, but the Enterprise is ill-equipped for such a massive rescue operation.” Kirk noted that at the moment he was slightly short-staffed. The debacle with Saibok on the Planet of Galactic Peace had left him with a lot of crew overdue on shore leave and many were currently taking it. “Kirk, focus on adjusting the trajectory of the storm if possible, if that’s not feasible at that point begin bracing the the Halkan world as best you can. Evacuation is not something we can pull off. You have your orders. Cartwright out.” The view screen switched to the Federation insignia. “I think I liked Admiral Morrow better. I always got the impression that Admiral Cartwright likes my people even less than I do.” “Lieutenant Konom” The half-Klingon lieutenant sat at attention to the Captain’s command. “Set course for the Halkan system Warp 6, and keep your musings about high command private. That’s the sort of thing that could harm an officer’s career. Every Starfleet Officer from Admiral Cartwright down to you is dedicated to peaceable resolution of conflicts.” “Yes sir. Sorry sir.” The Lieutenant punched in the commands as the Enterprise went to warp. Ensign Konom wasn’t wrong though, Kirk mused to himself. Admiral Cartwright was something of a warhawk among Federation command. “Mr. Spock, assemble the Senior Officers in the briefing room. We have six and a half hours to devise a plan and just over 40 to execute it. Ensign Bearclaw, you have the bridge.” “At it’s heart any magnetic storm functions around a nucleus of a coronal mass ejection from a nearby storm. The ionization as part of this storm is caused by the relatively unstable nature of the system’s Wolf-Rayet Star. These stars have burned off all of their hydrogen and are fusing helium instead. The result is that volatile nitrogen isotopes are often expelled which interact in a way we do not fully comprehend with the abundant dilithium in the Halkan system creating this ionic magnetic storm.” “So you’re saying we don’t have a clue.” “Not entirely Doctor.” Kirk listened as his officers engaged in their usual repartie. He cut through the usual squabbling. Spock continued, “As this storm has already passed through an asteroid containing substantial deposits of dilithium, we know that the effect will render transporters dangerous to use, so beaming mass from the coronal ejection is out of the question.” Commander Chekov spoke up, “What if we configured our deflectors to shield us from as much of the radiation as possible and use the tractor beam on its widest possible settings to adjust the trajectory?” “It is possible that course of action may have the desired effect; however, as the only ship to have interacted with the unpredictable magnetic storms of the Halkan system was the original Enterprise, we do not have sufficient data to conclude what effect the storms would have on shields or tractor beams.” “Well lad, that’s not entirely true. In our universe we have no knowledge of how the shields worked, but in the other one, standard procedure was for the Enterprise to have shields up at all times, and they were experiencing the same kind of storm as us.” Mr. Scott got up and walked over to the console, “Computer, pull up personal engineering logs of Montgomery Scott, Stardate 3712.2. Authorization: Commander Montgomery Scott Code 1, 1A, 2B” “Authenticating. Voice profile match. Commander Montgomery Scott. Displaying logs.” “I recorded everything I could about how systems on that ship worked. So much of it was on the same principles as our technology only more primitive, but their Mister Scott had made a few modifications to the shields which helped them stay up against the storm.” “Scotty, that meticulous engineering mind of yours never ceases to amaze. That sickbay was more like an iron maiden than anything else.” “Mr. Scott, Mr. Chekov. I want a plan for the tractor beams to be used to adjust the trajectory. Mr. Spock, I want you to review logs you and Mr. Kyle made. See if we can find a way to transporters safely even if it is just for moving raw material. Dr. McCoy I want trauma packs prepared for radiation sickness and burns. If we don’t succeed, people will need that aid. Commander Uhura, prepare a message for the Halkan high council about the storm and our plan then advise the Bozeman and Hathaway. Sulu I want…” Kirk paused he was so accustomed to having Sulu there and being able to give orders to his helmsman and security officer. Teh crew paused, “Chekov I want security teams preparing shuttles for evacuation. If Mr. Spock can’t get the transporters to be safe, we will need a second option.” “You have your orders. I want first rotation on the bridge at 1100 hours for arrival at the Halkan system. Dismissed.” The plan was working, the Enterprise-A had to get very close to the magnetic core of the storm and it was certainly straining the impulse engines as well as playing havoc on the sensors, but from what the instruments said the storm was moving and its trajectory adjusting. “Captain, I’m picking up another vessel coming in at warp.” “On screen Ensign Bryce.” “The interference is making the viewer inoperable Captain.” “Shall I disengage from the storm Captain?” “Negative Ensign Sherwood, maintain course, Spock, see if can help Ensign Bryce make anything of it.” “Aye Captain.” “Captain we are being hailed, but I can only get audio” “Put it through Uhura.” “This is Daimon Adred of the Ferengi Raider Krayton. You hew-mans are attempting to move a large quantity of dilithium that by contract belongs to the Ferengi alliance. We will be removing our dilithium now.” “Captain, they are powering transporters.” “Daimon if you do this the results could be-” but Captain Kirk never had a chance to finish his sentence as the familiar sensation of beaming began to engulf him and the entirety of the Enterprise. “What, what did you say?” “The ambassadors are Jedi Knights. I believe.” The silver protocol droid answered Viceroy Gunray’s demands. “I knew it. They are here to force a settlement.” “Distract them. I will contact Lord Sidious.” “Are you brain dead? I’m not going in there with two Jedi. Send a droid.” Within a few moments, the Viceroy had accepted Lord Sideous’s suggestion and begun landing troops on Naboo. “Sir-” “The Jedi are still coming through…” “Where are those Droideka?” “Sir-” “The Jedi are no match for Droideka” “Sir-” “What is it?” “An unknown vessel has entered the system.” “What do you mean unknown?” “It does not match any known configuration and is more than three times the size of the Radiant VII we just destroyed.” “We have done nothing wrong. They don’t know anything. Get vulture droids ready.” “Status report Mr. Spock.” “According to chronoton readings and Star charts, we are far from our previous location and at some point in the distant past. Position unknown. Star Date also unknown. Attempting to ascertain position, and time.” "In layman's terms, we are a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away." "I believe that is what I said Doctor." “Sir, I am detecting several massive wessels deploying some kind of shuttlecraft.” “Red alert. Shields up. No one is clear to fire. If we are in the past, we want to avoid damaging the time stream as much as we possibly can.” “There are dozens of these wessels Captain. They appear to be landing shuttlecraft on the planet.” “Only a few lifesigns Captain and based on the frequency of electronic communication from the lead ship, they appear to be mostly commanding a fleet of drones. They also appear to be jamming communications from the planet’s surface.” “The small shuttlecraft are firing some sort of primitive particle blast weapons at us Sir. Shields holding. No notable damage.” “There are a lot of these small drones. They could potentially pose a threat en masse. Uhura, hail the lead ship.” After a few more moments of ineffectual attack by the Vulture Droids, the lead Lucrehulk Battleship accepted the Enterprise’s hails. “Our communications systems appear incompatible Captain. Audio only.” “Thank you Commander, put me through.” Kirk stood out of habit as he laid out his address, but was interrupted before he could speak. “Our blockade is perfectly legal, what do you want?” “This is Captain James T. Kirk of the Federation Starship Enterprise. We bear you no hostile intent, but firing on a ship unprovoked seems very aggressive for a blockade. With whom am I speaking?” “This is Viceroy Nute Gunray of the Trade Federation.” Gunray put particular emphasis on the difference in name between the two. “We have already received the Supreme Chancellor’s Negotiators, but we have no interest in negotiations.” “Sir, the transport ships seem to be landing mainly at the largest city on the planet.” “Viceroy, if I might be able to interject-” Kirk paused, his desire for a peaceful solution seemed to be at odds with the temporal Prime Directive. These civilizations had clearly acquired interstellar travel, even if their weapons were hopelessly antiquated. “I believe I there is always grounds for diplomacy. Hold your invasion, and let us set up a meeting between you and the people of this planet.” “Sir, our vulture droids have been incapable of penetrating their shields, I do not know if even our main turbolaser batteries would have a noticeable effect.” The Nemodian looked to his B1 Star-Command droid. “Very well Captain. If you can convince Queen Amidala to sign the treaty, we will happily break our blockade.” “Very good Viceroy, an Officer and an away team will be over to your ship shortly. Enterprise out.” “First the Jedi, now this?” Gunray sighed and prepared to contact Lord Sidious again. After the Viceroy once again breached Darth Sidious, the Sith Lord spoke, "Viceroy. There is an opportunity here. I will dispatch Lord Maul to assist you. Let this Captain Kirk assemble all the players. He may even bring the Jedi into view. Then through cunning and Lord Maul's help, you will achieve our aims." “I’ve bought us time. Spock, I want you to figure out a way for us to get back to the Halkan system and our own time. Chekov, Uhura take a security team aboard this Trade Federation vessel. Their mercantile name and what we know of parallel universes suggests they may have some similarities with the Ferengi Commerce Alliance of our reality. First contact procedures, but consider them aggressive. Doctor McCoy, Commander Scott, take a security detachment and meet with the people of this planet. Try and ascertain why the Trade Federation has enacted this blockade and try and bring people to the negotiating table. Every second they spend talking is a moment they aren’t trying to blow each other up.” “Captain, I will remind you of the temporal Prime Directive-” “Yes Mr. Spock, but unfortunately the nature of our arrival has already disrupted the time stream. The sooner we are out of here the better. In the meantime, I’m not about to let an interplanetary war break out on my watch.” “Governor Bibble, where is Queen Amidala?” Qui Gon and Obi-Wan had with some difficulty made it to Theed only to find the occupying forces waiting outside the city instead of storming it. “She went with the Federation mediators from the ship Enterprise. They seemed earnest in the desire to create a negotiated peace.” Qui Gon and his Padawan exchanged glances, that did not seem to track with what the Trade Federation had said and done only hours before when they tried to kill the two Jedi. “Are there any craft which can bring us to the negotiations?” Governor Bibble led them to Ric Ollie and the Royal Yacht which would ferry them to the Enterprise. “Master, this feels wrong. The Force is clouded, like something shouldn’t be here.” “I agree Obi-Wan. It is good to be mindful of the Force always, but something certainly feels off.” “Could this be another Trade Federation trick?” “One must always be aware of the possibilities, but if the negotiations are going on in earnest, we should be there.” “Sir, a ship from the surface is requesting to dock with us. It’s coming up from the surface.” “Send them to shuttlebay two. Ensign Bearclaw, I want to meet them with a full security detail. The Naboo and the Trade Federation both will wait before we bring them together in Conference Room One.” Kirk made his way to the shuttlebay to receive the two Jedi Knights, who upon being greeted by the vessel’s Captain and sensing his earnest desire to negotiate a peace, were able to share the diplomatic demands of Supreme Chancellor Valorum. “Master Jinn, Mister Kenobi, perhaps you’d like to stay aboard the Enterprise for a bit. My officers should be bring Viceroy Gunray and his entourage on board as we speak. I have gotten them to agree to negotiations at 1800 hours, but that doesn’t give me much time to learn from Queen Amidala or the Viceroy about what to expect. If you are agreeable, I would like you to brief my senior staff.” Armed with the knowledge of the Trade Federation’s attempt on the lives of the Jedi Knights and their illegal invasion of Naboo, can Kirk create a nonviolent solution to the Phantom Menace and therefore avert all of the prequels? Can Nute Gunray turn this situation to his advantage and still get Sidious's plan to go off? Can he keep a negotiation going long enough for Darth Maul to get aboard the Enterprise and engineer a slaughter?

You mean the guy who has knocked me out of the past two tourneys who I narrowly scraped by in round 1 is back? I both am elated and full of dread.

Good close match @Culwych1. I was definitely sweating it

I figured with you going old west my user theme, I had to go to the British Isles and Arthurian legend as that is yours.

Man I have to worry about elimination everytime with you. You have bested me or tied me in our last two tournament encounters, and you combine Westerns and the Yakuza a pairing so natural I'm shocked we don't see it more. Team Cowboy may have more elites, but this may be an Alamo scenario. I think the average grunts are going to be enough to overwhelm them.

Gentle souls I thought I would try something different this time.

“Dank ferrik!” a host of lights flashed all over Din Djarin’s console, the Lancer Class ship was no Razor Crest and it handled like an unruly bantha. What that no-good Jawa had failed to mention is that this ship was on a New Republic wanted list and these X-Wings seemed to have no interest in communication. All he wanted to do was find his covert and reunite with his people. He had used up most of his resources storming Moff Gideon’s cruiser. Djarin banked the ship as best he could, but this vessel was clearly meant to have a dedicated gunner, he could get no shots off on the more maneuverable snub fighters. “We’re going to have to jump kid-” Djarin looked at the empty passenger seat, it had been the right thing to let the kid go with the Jedi, but he had grown accustomed to the small green child being at his side. Another blast that took down his shields and fried his navcomputer snapped Din out of his reflections. “A blind jump and probably death is better than staying and guaranteed death.” He pulled the lever and watched the stars blur around him. Crossing over golden field of wheat and rye Brave Lancelot spied fire through the sky On the road leaving from Camelot Lancelot went forth, the Grail he sought With sound like thunder or breakers on the shore The sky fire into the woods it bore And broke apart trees like so many castles in the sand The noise enough to cause terror to any beast or man But not brave Lancelot, Arthur’s greatest knight He spurred his horse towards the fire and light “A sign from above” Lancelot cried As he found the fresh dug trench “Or perhaps a Demon from below” as he braved the sulfurous stench “That was not wizard” a bizarre knight said as he lumbered Dazed from the roar and the crash he moved as one who recently slumbered His limbs were clad in shining plate But he bore no crest or sigil of any state “Hail good knight, I am Lancelot du Lac Be ye Christian friend or terrible foe?” “What even is a Christian? It is a word I do not know.” Upon hearing this Lancelot saw the warrior’s lance And knew it best to test his valor here For this heathen knight in Arthur’s lands Was not a foe for Brave Lancelot to fear “Tell me your name Knight and whom you serve Christian or pagan, the service is the least you deserve” “I am Din Djarin. I am on a quest for my people. Have you seen any Mandalorians Warriors dressed like me?” Din Djarin found Lancelot’s speech strange With rhyme and meter, the poetry beyond his range “I am on a quest for the Holy Grail Sir Djarin I have not seen your people in Arthur’s lands which you are far in.” “Pagan knight let me test your mettle, I see you carry with you a lance I have lance and sword as well Let us fight and our differences do settle.” Brave Lancelot dismounted and placed his sword upon the ground He produced a strong spear and closed his visor with a pound The other warrior reached to his side, for something he did not find there Before taking out his polearm and spraying fire in the air Lancelot lept back from the unexpected jet of flame “Sir Djarin you are full of tricks, but I will send you back from whence you came” Lancelot bore down on the Mandalorian His lance shook the warrior’s core But his mighty Beskar held Against du Lac’s blows as it held before Gentle reader do not think this fight unfair For the Mandalorian’s blaster and dark saber still rest upon his chair So with Lancelot out to prove his steel and Mando looking tough Who wins this crossover brawl? I have said enough.

I love Balsa, but she is a normal human. Highly gifted with the spear, a talented survivalist, and a skilled strategist, and most impressively an anime woman over age 30 who is not relegated to the role of a mother who stays home. But she has absolutely no shot against a Viltrumite.

Fun draft guys. I plan to win next time. Surely I won't draft Trevor Belmont to be a liability a third time...

Would not be the first time Culwych1 has tied the finals.

I like the Joes here. I'm assuming LARP combat and there are rules though.