Portrait

Sep

2017

Portrait of a Character – The Traveler

The Traveler got me out of some time travel jams.

Eric Menyuk as The Traveler (with Wil Wheaton as Wesley Crusher). Image is provided for educational purposes only.

Origins

While the character exists in canon, the best part about him is he can be a kind of deus ex machina plot device. And unlike Q, the Traveler at least ends up being a fairly nice guy.

Portrayal

As in canon, The Traveler is played by actor Eric Menyuk.

Personality

Wildly intelligent, but a little stiff, the Traveler recognizes that Wesley Crusher has exceptional potential. However, as I write him, he and Wesley are friends and almost collegial. Furthermore, when the Traveler sees Wesley misses his fellow humans, Wesley isn’t forced to stay.

Relationships

The Traveler has no known relationships, and may not even be capable of one.

Mirror Universe

Because this particular character does not seem to be 100% from our universe, I suspect he flits between the two all the time. And he may even go to other universes, such as the 49 centimeter radiation band (home of the best pumpkin pie in the multiverse!).

Quote

“All three of you have learned something. And for that, I am only grateful that I was the catalyst. Your species has much to learn about pain and conflict. You must never forget its horrors. You must never escape into pretend horrors as if they were thrills for your own amusement. [and] You must, sometimes, rise up from your comfortable lives and bring suffering to the forefront. You must remember it so that you do not commit it. [and] You must not forget its true costs.”

Upshot

Finally, this character proved useful for Day of the Dead and Imprecision. I can’t recall, but I may have been planning on adding him to the Barnstorming series as well.

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Sep

2017

Portrait of a Character – Crita

Crita, another female Daranaean artist character, should remind the reader of Inta II.

Origins

Because I love the Daranaeans so much, I wanted to bring at least one into the new Barnstorming series. Crita also carries through the idea of Inta II. Crita, being born later, has more independence.

Portrayal

Crita, unlike most Daranaean characters, has an attached actor (because she has so much screen time). So she is played by actress Mary-Kate Olsen.

Personality

A bit slight and timid, Crita still ends up being one of the more assertive female Daranaean characters I have ever written. And that is by design. Crita’s main advantage comes from being born later than Inta II, etc. Crita has experienced a Daranaean alliance with the United Federation of Planets her entire life. Hence she has always had the right to vote, for example.

Relationships

Senjarus

Much like happens with arranged marriages today, I wanted the character to have a limited choice of suitors but at least not just have one foisted upon her. Her overly eager parents would want a good match for her, and one part of that would be wealth. Of the three suitors, Senjarus does not win the wealth sweepstakes. Instead, she chooses him because he seems to value her artwork in a way that his two competitors simply do not.

Mirror Universe

There are no impediments to this character existing in the Mirror. Daranaeans don’t have the Y Chromosome Skew, but she probably would not be treated any better.

Quote

“I do. It’s probably got more to do with me being unmarried than anything else. Daranaean men aren’t generally fond of third caste females who are anything but submissive all the time.”

Upshot

Because the Barnstorming series is on hold, and it doesn’t look like I will ever finish it, poor Crita has been more or less abandoned. And that’s unfortunate, as I do like the little puppy girl.

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Aug

2017

Portrait of a Character – Q

Q, a canon character, works well for all sorts of deus ex machina.

John de Lancie as Q (gif is provided for educational purposes only)

Origins

First of all, this canon character ended up helping showcase, in Fortune, some very important information. Because he gets to show just what happens to the Digiorno-Madden-Beckett-O’Day-Reed clan in the near and deep future. In addition, the vehicle ended up being the canon episode, The Q and the Grey, which I expanded significantly.

Portrayal

As in canon, Q is portrayed by actor John De Lancie.

Personality

More or less omnipotent and omniscient, Q easily becomes bored by the likes of you or me (or my characters). However, even he has limitations. As a result of needing a good plot device and a means of making him at least a little bit relatable, I made it so he won’t get into the heads of people. And in particular, that meant it took a lot of doing before Lili could convince him to allow her into Kevin Madden-Beckett’s head at the moment of that infant’s untimely death. Because the contact gets cut off, the question of whether there is life after death is not answered in Fortune, and I waited until Equinox, The Three of Us and Everybody Knows This is Nowhere to make the final determination that, yes, there is life after death.

Relationships

Q’s only known relationship is with the female Q, who I have called Joy in my fan fiction. Because Q has issues and wastes time pursuing Kathryn Janeway, I had Lili give him some help in terms of connecting with Joy.

Theme Music

While Q doesn’t really have theme music, per se, he does try to persuade Lili to show him the ways of human sex and sexuality by playing Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get it On, a song he describes as ‘foolproof’.

Mirror Universe

Because Q does not seem to be 100% from our universe, I suspect he flits between the two all the time. And he may go to other universes, such as the 49 centimeter radiation band.

Quote

“Oh, that’s right. You don’t know about Kevin.”

Upshot

Because this character has so many gifts, he can be hard to relate to. In addition, even in canon, I feel the writers sometimes didn’t know how to handle him. They made him obnoxious and overly obsessed with humans. Instead, I decided to give him doubts and hesitations.

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Aug

2017

Portrait of a Character – Mestral

Mestral ended up as a rather useful plot device in Multiverse II.

J. Paul Boemer as Mestral (image is provided for educational purposes only)

Origins

Because Mestral is canon, his origins are well known. However, this character was used to a rather different effect in Multiverse II.

Portrayal

As in canon, Mestral is played by actor J. Paul Boehmer.

Personality

Driven and possessed, the only Vulcan on Earth ends up being rather dangerous indeed. When he finally breaks free of Chilo possession, Mestral becomes a formidable ally to Otra and then Donald Janeway.

Relationships

Mestral’s only known relationship is with Maggie. And that relationship is canon; it factored in his decision to stay on Earth.

Theme Music

Mestral’s song is Nick Lowe’s “I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass”.

Mirror Universe

There are no impediments to Mestral existing in the Mirror Universe. Because Vulcans do not have the Y Chromosome Skew, he would not have such fierce competition for a mate as a human (Terran) male would. Furthermore, this would be before the rise of the Empress Hoshi Sato and even before the mirror Zefram Cochrane kills the first Vulcan he sees. Hence the Vulcan species would be free and technologically advanced.

In addition, if Mestral exists in the mirror, then the potential exists for him to have influenced the Cochrane behavior. Maybe in the Mirror Universe, he could experience self-loathing or want revenge on someone? The idea intrigues.

Quote

“Jobs to do.”

Upshot

Because Multiverse II never ended, we never got a chance to write his endgame. I like to think he would have contributed to the Phoenix project. And I believe others have felt this as well. The character certainly had the knowledge, the motivation, and the proper placement within the overall timeline.

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Aug

2017

Portrait of a Character – Theo Carter

Theo Carter came about to give Eriecho a platonic human friend.

Wesley Snipes as Theo Carter (image is provided for educational purposes only)

Origins

Because Eriecho is an ex-convict, I felt she would have trouble making female friends. Furthermore, she would potentially enjoy sports as a reminder of some of the few semi-positive aspects of her incarceration. Not that prison life was fun for her – far from it! Rather, it would have been the only thing she had ever known. Hence sports would be familiar.

Portrayal

Theo Carter is played by actor Wesley Snipes. I like this intelligent action hero type of actor.

Personality

Athletic, loyal, and military in bearing, Theo is a soldier who could use a friend. He and Eriecho become cordial. I haven’t quite figured out who was cordial first, however. Although at this point in time, it hardly matters.

Relationships

Theo has no known relationships.

Mirror Universe

Because I am not convinced Nero would have gone back in time and the planet Vulcan would have been destroyed twice, I do not believe anyone in the Kelvin timeline can exist in the Mirror Universe.

Quote

“They’ll want guest rooms, too. She’s going to want to have her father over, that sort of thing. Maybe even the surrogates and the kids when they come. Who knows? If it were us, it would just be complicated, but not horrible. For them, though, I bet it’s mortifying, if they think about it too much, and look at it too closely.”

Upshot

I like Theo, and I particularly liked the idea of a human and Vulcan having a platonic relationship that would not quite work in canon because they would act differently.

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Jul

2017

Portrait of a Character – Yilta

Origins

Yilta was conceived of early in the process of planning the Wells series. I wanted a character who Kevin O’Connor would sleep with and then, the following morning, a temporal change would replace her with his newly-not-deceased wife, Josie.

Portrayal

Holly Hunter as Yilta (image is presented for educational purposes only)

Yilta is played by actress Holly Hunter.

I love this actress although the accent, admittedly, isn’t right for this character. However, that’s all right.

Personality

Relationships

Darywev

Yilta’s first husband breaks their marriage when he blames her for the death of their daughter, Brinka. However, Brinka is the victim of birth defect and so Yilta is blameless.

Kevin O’Connor

Yilta marries Kevin in I Do Again and I Do Again (and Again). She brings him out his shell and convinces him that his life is worth living. Furthermore, she reminds him that he’s allowed to be happy.

Mirror Universe

Mirror Yilta

There are no impediments to Yilta existing in the Mirror Universe, although the later you get in the timeline, the longer the odds become. Mirror Universe Calafans are copper-colored, so Yilta’s appearance would be rather different. Also, as a non-human, her species would not have the Y Chromosome Skew. So as a result, she would not necessarily be oppressed. Furthermore, engineers are needed in any universe, so she could have a decent life. Would she be with Kevin? It’s hard to say, but hybrids seem less common on the other side of the pond.

Quote

“Well, we all liked Otra. But it’s also, you know, it affects us all. The problems your unit is having, that is. I mean, “I suppose we all have doubts at one time or another. We have ugly bits of our history – I am certain that every species does. But to try and tweak it and do better? It just strikes me as the height o’ arrogance. We are a religious people, so we know that we cannot do any better than Lo, or even Ub, the lowest of our gods. But I don’t think you need to have religion in order to realize that trying to improve upon time is not only not going to work, but that it’s an exercise in ego-strokin’ and nothin’ more.”

Upshot

This chipper and resourceful engineer more or less saves Kevin O’Connor’s life. And that saves her own, too.

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Jul

2017

Portrait of a Character – Telatharia

Origins

Telatharia was created in response to a prompt for ‘Andorian Week’.

Portrayal

Suzie Plakson as Telatharia (image is for educational purposes only)

Telatharia is played by actress Suzie Plakson.

This character actress is well-respected in Star Trek circles and has played a multitude of characters of different species. Furthermore, I really liked this character although I had originally pictured the character a lot younger than this.

Personality

Resourceful and highly intelligent, the character gets out of a sticky situation and solves a problem during Recruitment. Because she smartly figures out (more or less) where she is, the Section decides to give her a chance.

Furthermore, her quote (below) ties her story line to the E² timeline and the destruction of Duluth, and Lagos and Bogotá connections circle her back to the rest of the Wells series and even to Multiverse II.

Relationships

Telatharia has no known relationships.

Mirror Universe

Mirror Telatharia

There are no impediments to Telatharia existing in the Mirror Universe. However, the later you get in the timeline, the more difficult the odds become. Because only humans have the Y Chromosome Skew, she is not necessarily subject to oppression.

Quote

“Yes, the fact that there was rebar told me that it was later than Hiroshima but earlier than Beijing. It had to be the Third World War. It seemed too chilly for Lagos or Bogotá. After that, I didn’t know the names of a lot of destroyed cities from Earth. I guessed there were too many tall buildings for Teheran and then I just went with the only other name I knew. I guessed that you wanted to make the problem difficult but not impossible.”

Upshot

While the character is of interest, I really intended for her to be a one-off, and that shows. However, aside from some of the Daniel Beauchaine story line, I really haven’t shown the deep future of Section 31. Maybe she can return then, if I decide to pursue that idea.

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Jul

2017

Portrait of a Character – Steven Reed

Origins

Considering the spelling of his name, Steven Reed is yet another shout out to actor Steven Culp. Because of the dreamy aspect of the Recruitment, the shout out to Culp dovetails a bit with Reversal, which is the book that is all about dreams.

Portrayal

Paul Bettany as Steven Reed (image is for educational purposes only)

Steven Reed is played by actor Paul Bettany. I wanted this actor as I also have him playing Declan Reed. Hence, Steven Reed has connections to both Malcolm and Doug (just like Richard does).

Personality

When Section 31 recruits Telatharia, Steven is there in order to try to throw her and her fellow candidates off the scent. However, he also helps her out just a tiny bit, and his mere presence seems to tell her she’s on the right track. It’s unknown whether he helps anyone else out, consciously or not. And in fact, it’s entirely possible Telatharia was the sole job candidate, anyway.

Relationships

Steven has no known relationships.

Mirror Universe

Mirror Steven Reed

There are no impediments to Steven existing in the Mirror Universe, although the later you get in the timeline, the more difficult the odds become.

However, a spy could find work in either universe. Hence, if he exists, Steven would be sitting pretty, and would potentially have his pick of females, so long as he could trust any of them.

But he probably can’t.

Quote

“No one is trustworthy.”

Upshot

While I am uncertain about where to put this character and what to do with him (or whether he should get an encore), I like the idea of him. In particular, his existence means the Reed-Hayes–O’Day-Beckett-Madden–Digiorno family lasts into the deep future in more than one place. It’s not just Richard and Eleanor, and that makes me happy.

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Jun

2017

Portrait of a Character – Tracey Carter

Origins

Tracey Carter was originally created out of some petulance on my part. Because I was posting on a site requiring beta reading before posting, I got tired of that. I didn’t want to do that as it was fan fiction. Furthermore, I was seeing suggestions of changing some of the fundamentals of Reversal. With so much dependent upon that story, imperfect as it is, I wasn’t interested in subsequent ‘fixes’ which I felt would gut the plot. However, I was curious about the beta reading process and reeled of Smells with two brand-new characters in order to see what it was all about. Hence my reasoning was to offer up two characters I didn’t really care about in the hopes that I wouldn’t be offended by any suggestions and would potentially learn something.

And then I mostly forgot about that story, but revisited it when I began writing the E² stories as I needed names and I needed relationships. Tracey and Osh fit the bill rather nicely.

Portrayal

Rachel McAdams as Tracey Carter (image is provided for educational purposes only)

Tracey Carter is played by actress Rachel McAdams.

I am particularly thrilled that she plays a linchpin character in The Time Traveler’s Wife, a story which relates her to the Wells series.

Personality

A bit silly and kind of boy-crazy, Tracey quite literally embraces the generational nature of the NX-01. Even though Maryam scolds her and reminds her that she (Tracey) is no longer a teenager, Tracey acts that way anyway. She sets her sights on Oscar and they hook up, which eventually turns into more. During the first kick back in time, she gives birth to the first child on board, Amanda, who she and Osh call Almendra.

Relationships

Tracey’s only known relationship is with Oscar Tiburón. Even after the third version of the Enterprise makes it through, Trace and Osh still get together. Much like Meredith and Rex, Susie and Mario, and Lili and Malcolm (although not Lili and Jay or Lili and José), their relationship carries through to the prime timeline.

Mirror Universe

Mirror Tracey Carter

There are no impediments to Tracey existing in the Mirror Universe. And as an engineer, she would potentially have more opportunities than many other women. Would she still end up with Oscar? It’s hard to say. A decent-looking and somewhat intelligent MACO would be able to support a wife and family, but at the same time he could potentially be of interest to Empress Hoshi. And Hoshi’s jealousy could cost Tracey her job or even her life.

Quote

“His uni patch says O. Tiburón. Oliver? Otto? Orson? Omar?”

Upshot

While the creation of this character was imperfectly executed, her subsequent reuse and redemption made her more valuable. Even though this character isn’t exactly a star, she’s a useful part of the ensemble.

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Jun

2017

Portrait of a Character – Makan Sinthasomphone

Makan Sinthasomphone is necessary for Concord to work.

Origins

Makan Sinthasomphone was a means to an end. This character was brought to the fore in order to be able to fix and engineer Robert Lennox’s return in Concord (and, at the same time, return Malcolm Reed to the correct place and time period). Furthermore, I needed to give Monisha Padir someone to talk to. She would have to bounce her ideas off someone or other. After all, she’s not an engineer; she’s a historian.

Portrayal

Ananda Everingham as Makan Sinthasomphone (image is provided for educational purposes only)

Makan Sinthasomphone is played by actor Ananda Everingham.

As is the case with the rest of my Star Trek fan fiction, I like to try to match the actor’s ethnic origins to the character’s. In this instance, it’s close but I could not get it quite right. Makan is Lao and Ananda is Thai.

Furthermore, I wanted someone who at least superficially resembled Konerak Sinthasomphone. While the origin of Makan’s surname is utterly morbid, the intention was just to have a Lao surname. Since Concord is a rather black and white (by race) story, I wanted the future time travel team to mostly be Asian. I intend no disrespect to the Sinthasomphone family. Please do not infer any.

Personality

Smart, albeit a little impatient, Makan can’t quite figure out what went wrong with moving Robert Lennox in time.

Relationships

Makan has no known relationships, and I do not ‘ship him with Monisha Padir.

Mirror Universe

Mirror Makan

There are no impediments to Makan existing in the Mirror Universe. However, the later you get in the timeline, the longer the odds are. Because engineers are necessary in any universe, he could be wealthy or even an object of a lot of women’s desires.

Quote

“And we don’t have any evidence that he’s still alive, either. He’s like Schrödinger’s Cat.”

Upshot

While he’s a minor character at best, Makan serves his purpose well.

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Portrait of a Character – The Traveler

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Mirror Universe

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Portrait of a Character – Crita

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Senjarus

Mirror Universe

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Portrait of a Character – Q

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Theme Music

Mirror Universe

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Portrait of a Character – Mestral

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Theme Music

Mirror Universe

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Portrait of a Character – Theo Carter

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Mirror Universe

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Portrait of a Character – Yilta

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Darywev

Kevin O’Connor

Mirror Universe

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Portrait of a Character – Telatharia

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

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Mirror Universe

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Portrait of a Character – Steven Reed

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships