Empress Hoshi

12
Feb
2016

Portrait of a Character – Travis Mayweather (Mirror)

Portrait of a Character – Travis Mayweather (Mirror)

Origins

This character is canon, and he is one of the only people unambiguously left standing at the end of In a Mirror, Darkly, Part II (Hoshi is also alive but it’s somewhat unclear about the other main characters).

Portrayal

Portrait of a Character – Travis Mayweather (Mirror)

Anthony Montgomery as Mirror Travis Mayweather (image is courtesy Memory Alpha)

As in canon, Travis is played by actor Anthony Montgomery.

I think the actor did a bang-up job and, since he’s improved as an actor, I would love to see him pick it up again.

Personality

Ruthless, nasty, irresponsible, and more than a little dumb, Travis is an interesting choice of henchman and lover for Hoshi. She continually corrects him and puts him down in public, but he provides a huge public service for her. Because no one wants him in power, Hoshi remains safe. As for Travis, he remains fairly safe as his relationship with Hoshi is non-exclusive and she actively seeks other fathers for her elder children. As a result, there are few rewards to replacing him, and men like José, Frank, Chip, and Aidan do better to remain more subservient. Travis is the one with a target painted on his back.

Relationships

The Empress Hoshi Sato

The Mirror Travis, while he is dying for some fun times with women like the Mirror versions of Melissa Madden and Shelby Pike, is beholden to the Empress. In Coveted Commodity in particular, he is essentially led around on a leash. His only hope is to pass on his genes to Izo and work to assure his son’s survival. This he does by blackmailing Dr. Morgan into agreeing to help Izo, even after Travis’s death. This Morgan more or less does (although, like most denizens of the Mirror, Morgan’s word isn’t worth much).

Theme Music

Everybody else in Temper seems to have gotten a theme song except for Travis!

Prime Universe

The Prime Universe Travis is a rather different guy and is covered in his own post.

Quote

“Use knives or swords. It’s more fun.”

Upshot

In Temper in particular, I really got a chance to let Travis have it with both barrels. He dies in three separate timelines. Once is by Jun Sato; the other two times, he’s fragged by his own troops. An ignominious end, no matter how you slice it, for an evil man who was ‘only following orders’.

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Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Hall of Mirrors, In Between Days series, Portrait, 0 comments
13
Oct
2015

Portrait of a Character – Milton Walker

Portrait of a Character – Milton Walker

Milton Walker is complex.

Origins

Portrait of a Character – Milton Walker

Jeremy Irons as Milton Walker

I needed a ringleader for the Perfectionists, someone who would have murky motives for mucking about in time. He would also be an Eligian Order monk, allegedly devoted to St. Eligius. Enter Milton.

Portrayal

Milton is played by veteran actor Jeremy Irons. He’s smart and can play mysterious and creepy rather well.

Personality

Highly intelligent and initially motivated by somewhat pure motives, it all goes south rather quickly for Milton and his immoral, bratty daughter, Dr. Helen Walker. By the time he’s ordered the killing of agent Anthony Parker, Milton’s soul is lost.

Relationships

Enid Walker

Next to nothing is known about Helen’s mother. They are divorced when the series begins.

Empress Hoshi Sato

In order to escape the Temporal Integrity Commission, Milton hides out in the past, and in the Mirror, and begins an affair with the Empress. Much like with her other conquests, she doesn’t care about him one bit.

Mirror Universe

I haven’t written a Mirror Universe version of Milton yet.

Portrait of a Character – Milton Walker

Mirror Milton

There are a lot fewer Mirror counterparts in the deep future as the odds stack higher and higher against them. But if there was to be a Mirror Milton, I think he would be just as furtive, but his motives would be a lot worse.

I think he would have a lot fewer qualms about using his position to order the death of someone like Parker.

Quote

“You were a philanthropist, you donated all sorts of services and goods to the research into curing dreaded maladies like Piaris Syndrome and Irumodic Syndrome. People thought you were kind and great, a Santa Claus for hospitals! And then you got the idea that improving and perfecting time would lead to earlier medical breakthroughs. You idiot.”

Upshot

So Milton doesn’t have a lot to recommend him. He’s ruthless, he’s careless, and he’s also not above killing an incalcitrant agent or telling his own daughter to try to ensnare Richard Daniels.

I like him as a character, but definitely not as a person.

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Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Hall of Mirrors, In Between Days series, Portrait, Times of the HG Wells series, 0 comments
03
Apr
2015

Review – Gilded Cage

Review – Gilded Cage

Gilded Cage came about because I needed to bridge a gap between Together and Temper on the other side of the pond. For a prompt about being trapped, I decided to write about a Mirror Universe trap.

Background

Barking Up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Hall of Mirrors | Gilded Cage

Hall of Mirrors

The most likely candidate for being trapped, who would also (in some ways) be a sympathetic character, was Aidan MacKenzie.

 

Plot

On January 7, 2161, in the Mirror Universe, the Empress confines Aidan to quarters. So it’s just before Temper, and the Empress Hoshi Sato is looking to get her act in gear and start pushing to get more advanced ships like the ISS Defiant. And she can tell that the star ship will not last forever. As she contemplates her next move, Aidan has had enough. Furthermore, five children already exist. And Hoshi is pregnant with Izo, the last one. And so Aidan then complains that he can’t keep up with it all, and makes the mistake of referring to Hoshi by her first name. However, this simply will not do. The Empress will not stand for it. Angrily, she demands that she only be referred to by her title by him, the Royal Babysitter.

So in a move toward independence, Aidan picks up Kira (who he refers to as Kirin) and threatens to leave, telling her that he’s quitting. As the Ready Room door opens, Shelby Pike, Chip Masterson, and Lucy Stone give him quick sympathetic glances; however, Travis Mayweather and Gary Hodgkins do not. And then Hoshi orders Josh Rosen and Tristan Curtis up, to move the bassinets into her quarters, as Aidan and the royal children will be confined there.

Yet Aidan goes willingly, as he has no choice in order to assure that his toddler son will not be harmed.

Story Postings

Rating

The story is rated K.

Upshot

So the menace of the Mirror is back (because it never really left), and I like how it foreshadows Aidan’s resentment and in particular Chip and Lucy’s urge to leave as soon as possible.

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Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Hall of Mirrors, In Between Days series, Review, 2 comments
13
Mar
2015

Portrait of a Character – Victor Brown

Portrait of a Character – Victor Brown

Victor Brown has a less than honorable time of it in my stories.

Origins

This character is canon, although he was rarely on screen and only had a first initial.

What is always interesting and challenging for me is to try to put some flesh and blood onto bare bones canon characters.

This character is without a doubt one of those.

Portrayal

As in canon, Victor is played by stunt performer Yoshio Iizuka.

Personality

Portrait of a Character – Victor Brown

Yoshio Iizuka as Victor Brown

In the E2 timeline, Victor is one of the men who behaves rather badly. However, when he’s backed into a corner, he ultimately does the right thing, mainly to repair his marriage.  When accused, he (and Neil Kemper) confess to Captain Archer, they get lighter sentences than the others, in the matter of the attack on Patti Socorro.

Relationships

Cassandra Lester

Cassie is even less defined and I have very little on her, except that she is a Navigational Crewman.  They do not have children in either iteration/kick back in time.

Mirror Universe

Portrait of a Character – Victor Brown

Mirror MACO Victor Brown

This character exists in the Mirror Universe.

There is very little about him in the Mirror, although he is injured in the attempt to capture Slar (a Gorn), an attempt that causes Ian Reed to lose an eye. As for what happens to Victor afterwards, it’s anybody’s guess.

However, given the horrific medical care that I write for the Mirror Universe, and the fact that he is a lower level crew member, he would likely be patched up quickly in order to fight another day, but with few niceties. Would Empress Hoshi have him on her ship?

Only if he could prove loyalty to her, and no loyalty to Reed. And even then, maybe not. Far as she’s concerned, he’s cannon fodder and nothing more.

Quote

“Chang is saying that it’s not going to matter what we do or say, but I think it does matter. And even if it does nothing to my sentence or whatever the captain has in mind, it may make a difference with Cassie. And that’s all I really care about. I gotta repair my marriage. I am gonna break this code of silence.”

Upshot

There are a ton of these extra performers who had few lines. It is often a fascinating challenge to give them some depth. I hope I’ve done Victor some justice.

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Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, In Between Days series, Interphases series, Portrait, 0 comments
24
Feb
2015

Portrait of a Character – Sekar Khan

Portrait of a Character – Sekar Khan

Sekar Khan, I should have kept you!

Origins

For the E2 stories, I wanted the Quartermaster character (the position is canon, but there was no named character working in it, in the series) to be rather active.

Portrait of a Character – Sekar Khan

Dev Patel (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Much like Crystal Sherwood, Sekar (the name is pronounced like ‘shaker’) would be a creative person.

Portrayal

Chandrasekar is played by actor Dev Patel. I like this smart, handsome actor and feel he would play the kind of guy who stays in the background until the E2 scenario rears its ugly head. And once it does, he gets a ton to do, and suddenly becomes a rather important person indeed.

Personality

Pleasant and a bit self-effacing, Sekar mainly stays to himself. He’s a part of the crew during the Xindi War but is wondering what to do with himself. However, once the ship is sent back in time, he becomes busy. Brides need approximations of gowns. Babies need onesies. The crew has to plow fields … something. Sekar gets the call, again and again, to conjure up new things more or less out of thin air. He does so with creativity and aplomb.

Relationships

Hoshi Sato

Sekar’s only known relationship is with Hoshi. In both iterative kicks back in time, they marry. However, in the first scenario, she dates both him and José for a while, before finally choosing him. Ironically, in the prime timeline, she refers to him as old what’s-his-name when dating Ted Stone, in There’s Something About Hoshi, a strong indication that he left the ship at the end of the hostilities.

Mirror Universe

Portrait of a Character – Sekar Khan

Mirror Sekar

There is nothing preventing Sekar from existing in the Mirror Universe. I write Mirror artists as being elites, so he would possibly be a rather wealthy man.

Would Empress Hoshi be interested? The idea intrigues. Perhaps I’ll write it someday.

Quote

“I guess it’s a way for the single people to get close. You know that dancing is a vertical expression of a horizontal desire.”

Upshot

I made Sekar for the E2 timeline, and I think he served that purpose rather well. So will I bring him back? His portion of the timeline has limitations. But it’s not outside the realm of possibility, particularly in the Mirror Universe.

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Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, In Between Days series, Interphases series, Portrait, 3 comments
17
Feb
2015

Recurrent Themes – The Art of War

Recurrent Themes – The Art of War

War books have a place in my work. The Sun-Tzu work seems to be everywhere.

Background

As a bit of background for Jay Hayes and Empress Hoshi, Sun-Tzu’s classic text proved to be the perfect manual for Star Trek fan fiction (not to be confused with Keith R. A. DeCandido‘s great book, The Klingon Art of War).

Appearances

Barking up the Muse Tree | Janet Gershen-Siegel | jespah | DNA | The Art of War

This book has been everywhere, or at least it sure seems that way. I particularly like it as warrior shorthand, that the people who are reading it are looking to go into battle. But the battle might just be The Battle of the Sexes.

Throwing Rocks at Looking Glass Houses

This story is loaded with quotations from two separate books, this one and The Prince by Machiavelli. Empress Hoshi’s moves are calculated, everything from killing off Ian and Phlox, to overpowering T’Pol while at her weakest, to turning the loyalties of Emperor Phillip‘s men, including Andrew, José, and Brian. The book is presented as more or less a user’s manual for overthrowing a regime and installing one’s own brand of tyranny.

Advice from My Universes to Yours

In Advice, the book is mentioned briefly in passing when trying to convince a socially awkward person that perhaps they could read romantic fiction in order to understand people better. The book is mentioned and, of course, rejected immediately.

The Three of Us

In The Three of Us, Jay is shown reading and rereading this book, and he’s even reading it when Lili visits him in his quarters for the first time.

Everybody Knows This is Nowhere

In Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, Jay provides two bequests. The lucky nickel goes to Lili, while this book goes to Malcolm.

In Memory of Kelsey Haber

During In Memory of Kelsey Haber, Malcolm refers to this book, and tells Hoshi that it was a bequest from Jay. Malcolm further notes that he had vowed, at that time, to get to know the people under his command, but he fell down on the job with Kelsey and never did.

Upshot

This little book gets around as much as Jane Eyre! It’ll be back.

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Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Themes, 0 comments
24
Oct
2014

Portrait of a Character – Dash Nolan

Portrait of a Character – Dash Nolan

Dash Nolan serves several purposes.

Origins

In Shell Shock, Malcolm needed a lawyer. Plus I wanted Gina and Gabrielle Nolan to have an ancestor, and a connection to the In Between Days series.

Portrayal

Portrait of a Character – Dash Nolan

Judge Advocate General of the Navy Rear Admiral meets the cast of JAG

I like David James Elliott for this role. That’s Elliott all the way on the left in this photograph. Plus the actress I have playing Melissa, Catherine Bell, is in the picture.

Elliott’s presence is not only an acknowledgement of his role on JAG, but it’s also another shout-out to his costar in that series, the actor Steven Culp.

Personality

Smart, detail-oriented, and driven, Dash doesn’t fool around. He opens with a bit of a family joke – his twin sister is named Dorothy. For Dash (Dashiell), the twins were, of course, Dot and Dash.  This joke family name is actually not original – I got it from a story told by Dash Crofts of Seals and Crofts, who really does have a sister named Dorothy (although he is actually named Darrell).

But that’s his only moment of levity. Then he gets down to the business of clearing Malcolm’s name, in the sexual assault and near-murder of Ruby Brannagh. Dash asks the tough questions of Malcolm and demands the whole truth – no matter how embarrassing that is to the ultra-reserved Brit.

Mirror Universe

Portrait of a Character – Dash Nolan

Mirror Dash

Dash could absolutely exist in the Mirror. There are no impediments.

I see him as being smart, to be sure, but also as being as driven by justice as his Prime Universe counterpart. This could make him a fugitive and an expatriate in Empress Hoshi‘s Terran Empire. The idea intrigues. I should write this some day.

Quote

“I want you to understand something. I am in fact-finding mode right now. But I am also in the process of starting your prep. Because they are gonna ask you things like that. So I ask you again – do personal confrontations bother you?”

Upshot

Oh, I like this character, but he’s been a bit lost in the shuffle of so many original characters. I’d like to bring him back, but I’m not so sure where I’d put him. Malcolm certainly doesn’t want anything else to do with him, not really, as he’s a reminder of too many bad things.

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Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, In Between Days series, Portrait, 1 comment
09
Sep
2014

Review – The Conspiracy

Review – The Conspiracy

The Conspiracy was another instance of trying to surprise readers.

Background

In response to a Star Trek fanfiction prompt about the Seven Heavenly (Theological/Cardinal, too; the prompt was not about getting into the minutiae of theology) Virtues (which are the counterpart to the Seven Deadly Sins; I had already written about pride, in Before the Fall), I decided to tackle the somewhat obscure prudence for my next Star Trek fanfiction story.

Barking Up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Hall of Mirrors | The Conspiracy

Hall of Mirrors

To up the ante, I went with a setting where virtues would be all too rare – the Mirror Universe.

Plot

Review – The ConspiracyIt’s New Year’s Day of 2161.

And a few people meet, furtively. They are: Josh Rosen, Aidan MacKenzie, Andrew Miller, Chip Masterson, and Lucy Stone.  There’s one more member of the cabal, Francisco Ramirez, but he can’t get away, as José Torres has put Gary Hodgkins on to watch him.

While they would probably not mind killing Empress Hoshi, the cabal’s real thoughts are of escape. So as a prelude to Temper, Lucy and Chip mention that an attempt is going to be made to cross over to what we call the Prime Universe, as Hoshi wants another advanced ship. And they also mention that Andy will be sent to Vulcan to pick up slaves who can perform calculations, a neat prefiguring of Fortune and the Mirror Universe‘s Melissa Madden‘s death in a shuttle crash. Hence the story works to mesh those incidents together.

Story Postings

Rating

The story is Rated K.

Upshot

I used this story as a kind of bridge between Together and Temper, but on the Mirror side of things. And I think it works out well and helps to fill in some of the gaps in the Mirror Universe timeline.

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Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Hall of Mirrors, In Between Days series, Review, 5 comments
01
Aug
2014

Portrait of a Character – Susie Money

Portrait of a Character – Susie Money

Susie Money rocks!

Origins

This character is Star Trek: Enterprise canon, although she only had a first initial in canon.

Portrayal

As in canon, Susie is played by stunt performer Dorenda Moore.

Portrait of a Character – Susie Money

Dorenda Moore as Susie Money

I’m not even so sure that Susie said more than two words during the entire run of Star Trek: Enterprise. This incredibly tough MACO more or less shot first, but it’s debatable whether she asked questions later, if at all.

Personality

I’ve given Susie a bit more sexual aggression, but during the E2 scenario, she’s still one of the last women paired up.  As I write Susie, she’s more interested in making friends with the Starfleeters than the other MACOs are, at least to start. She volunteers to assist Hoshi Sato with a Morale Committee.

Relationships

Mario Lattimer

In both kicks back in time, Susie ends up with Mario. The relationship is more playfully aggressive in the first kick back, and is sweeter in the second. They also hook up during Shell Shock, and she serves as his alibi.

Mirror Universe

Mirror Susie

Mirror Susie

There are no impediments to Susie existing in the Mirror Universe.  However, she was not shown in either canon Star Trek: Enterprise Mirror Universe episode. But that does not mean she doesn’t exist in that particular universe.

I write most Mirror Universe women as being rather beholden to men, and downtrodden. Susie wouldn’t be. That tough a woman would be in a position of some personal power. She probably wouldn’t be on a star ship or the like. Empress Hoshi would never want such confident competition.

Quote

“Yanno, you’re not supposed to dance to Christmas carols.”

Upshot

I enjoyed giving this taciturn character a lot more to say and do. In one capacity or another, she will return.

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Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, In Between Days series, Interphases series, Portrait, 3 comments
28
Jan
2014

Review – Escape

Escape Background

Escape has irony on its side.

Barking Up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Hall of Mirrors | Escape

Hall of Mirrors

For a weekly prompt about escapes, I chose what would be, to some, the only way out of the mirror.

Suicide.

For Andrew Miller, who has become the Empress‘s toy, and has been so for years, life is too much of a burden, and he wants it all to end, and end soon.

And so he goes about figuring out how to end it all.

Plot

Sick of everything, and sick of the Empress, Andy sets about putting together the means and opportunity to kill himself. He obtains a tricoulamine capsule but the later investigation shows it’s from Crossman Pharmaceuticals and is of an older design, so it was possibly from the earlier doctor, Cyril Morgan.

English: Catherine Bell, star of television's ...

It’s all because of the death of Melissa Madden, a fact disclosed in Fortune. After Andy and Melissa meet (during The Play at the Plate), a sexual relationship develops between them. When Melissa becomes pregnant, Andrew will have to get her off the ship without the Empress finding out, as Hoshi will kill both of them. Because he can never see his child, he at least wants to try to support the baby, who they have agreed to name Tommy.

Andrew asks his friend, Josh Rosen, to help set up a dummy fund to help support Tommy and Melissa. Josh agrees to launder the funds and make it appear as if it’s an account comprised of the payment of old gambling debts from Game Night. Melissa’s death, in a shuttle crash, moots all of that work.

Several years later, Andrew has the nerve, the means, and the privacy. He write a short note and takes the drug, thereby finally getting away from Hoshi.

Story Postings

Rating

The story is Rated K.

Upshot

I like this neat and tidy little story, and reprised it in The Point is Probably Moot, where I cover the aftermath.

Posted by jespah in Hall of Mirrors, In Between Days series, Review, 6 comments