HG Wells

Sep

2013

Portrait of a Character – Carmen Calavicci

Carmen Calavicci serves a lot purposes.

Origins

For the Temporal Integrity Commission, Richard Daniels could not possibly be doing everything himself. Quartermaster Crystal Sherwood (and the other employees) would need direction as well. Therefore, their ultimate boss, I decided, would be an admiral.

Her name is a riff on Sam Beckett’s companion character in the Quantum Leap television series, Admiral Albert Calavicci.

Portrayal

Carmen is played by Annabella Sciorra. I wanted someone in my Star Trek fanfiction who would be younger than your standard admiral, and who would potentially be unconventional.

Annabella Sciorra as Admiral Carmen Calavicci (image is for educational purposes only)

After all, a lot of what the Temporal Integrity Commission does is off the books and not perfectly organized. I wanted the deep future to be somewhat like that, not so easily recognizable to both us and canon characters of earlier time periods. This is not wholly at odds with Star Trek canon, as Daniels does often seem to be flying a bit by the seat of his pants.

I wanted everyone to be doing that, and so Carmen, the ultimate improviser, was born.

Personality

No-nonsense and efficient, Carmen calls her charges ‘children’ much of the time, and truly cares about whether they’re all right. After all, despite the many physical enhancements they have, and the technology they possess, it’s still a dangerous business to travel in time. Plus I hear a British accent when I hear Carmen’s voice; she just strikes me as someone who’s mid-level posh. However, she’s also more than willing to street fight if it comes to that.

Carmen battles both migraines and alcoholism, but she has both more or less under control. Most of the time.

Relationships

As of the writing of this blog post, Carmen has no known relationships. The only bit is a short, drunken hookup with Rick, which they both regret in the morning.

Mirror Universe

Portrait of a Character – Carmen Calavicci

Mirror Carmen (Annabella Sciorra)

There are no impediments to Carmen having a mirror counterpart.

Maybe she does. It’s highly doubtful that she would be an Admiral, even that late in history, long after the fall of the Mirror Empire.

And like most Mirror Universe women, she would likely not receive good treatment, and would use her body to gain privileges. However, as a woman aging, she would be losing her advantages.

FalseBill has written a version of an MU Carmen and has named her Genofeva. She and Carmen are both in Dishing It Out.

Quote

“I, God, this is an awful day and I don’t expect any of you to be unaffected. Three deaths in one day! I’d be shocked if any of you truly were unaffected. But we have some sort of issue, so I’m afraid we don’t have the time or the luxury allowing us to mourn even a little bit. I suppose we’ll all collapse later and become raving basket cases. As for the change, no one can pinpoint it yet.”

Upshot

Carmen is very nearly cigar-chomping, and does not suffer fools gladly. But she needs more back story, which I will write for her one of these days.

Jun

2013

Recurrent Themes – Religious/Spiritual Leaders

Spiritual leaders exist in my fiction.

Background

Religion is Star Trek canon, and of course it is also a very real and very personal human experience.

While much of Star Trek is rather atheist-friendly, I don’t believe that faith will ever, truly, completely leave us. In particular, the Enterprise era should have characters who still practice religion. Hence spiritual leaders would be a nature offshoot of that.

In Between Days Spiritual Leaders

Leah Benson

First showing up in The Light, Rabbi Benson is the official Starfleet Rabbi. She assists Ethan Shapiro in putting together a short service to commemorate the life of his great-aunt, Rachel Orenstein.

In Bread, she is a part of an official Starfleet set of meetings and banquets where all of the Starfleet chaplains have been brought together as a part of welcoming three new worlds to the nascent Federation – the Caitian home world, Denobula and the Xyrillian home world. Leah is cordial with the Imam, a Buddhist monk and others. Religion is very much alive, and she is a big part of it. While reminiscing with Jonathan Archer, she reports that Ethan would often ask her advice about Karin Bernstein, and she is delighted that they wed.

Yimar

In the alternate timeline in Temper, she is the spiritual leader of her people on both sides of the pond. When the timeline is restored, she is only the High Priestess on the Mirror side.

The role of High Priestess is not too well-defined, but Yimar has the power to summon her fellow Calafans, no matter where they are, and can even telepathically communicate with those in the Mirror Universe, a useful talent for a spiritual leader who, in an alternate timeline, leads her government in exile, too.

Yipran

In Reversal, she seems to be dying. But Yipran, the High Priestess of the Calafan people, is not going down without a fight. In Fortune, she reveals that she understands far more of the universe and its origins (and its eventual fate) than pretty much anyone.

Times of the HG Wells

Kaiwev

In Where the Wind Comes Sweepin’ Down the Plain, a Calafan temporal agent, Chellewev, dies in the line of duty. It’s up to Kaiwev, the leader of the Calafan unit, to lead prayers at the dedication of Chellewev’s spot on the Temporal Integrity Commission‘s monument to the fallen. Kaiwev is really just pressed into service. I never meant for him to be a priest.

Milton Walker and Members of the Eligian Order

About half of this order consists of upstanding men who commit charitable deeds and are true believers. The other half is a front for the Perfectionists, including Walker himself. The legitimate monks are unaware of what is going on under their noses.

Interphases

Jonathan Archer

Because there are no religious or spiritual leaders on board, Captain Archer must perform those tasks. This includes everything from officiating at weddings

Recurrent Themes – Religious/Spiritual Leaders

Not just any old wedding

to eventually giving funerary orations.

It’s not much of a stretch to assume that he would also preside over christenings and Bar and Bat Mitzvot.

He presides over Malcolm‘s and Jay‘s funerals in The Three of Us and both of theirs, Tripp‘s and Lili‘s in Everybody Knows This is Nowhere. About the only religious occasion he does not conduct is Nanette Myers’s conversion to Islam. Ramih Azar performs this, in the presence of Azar Hamidi and Maryam Haroun Hamidi as witnesses.

It is unclear who fills in when Jonathan finally dies, but it is not a stretch to assume that the successor captain would do so. In The Three of Us, that’s Charles Tucker IV; in Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, that’s canon character Lorian Cyrus Tucker.

Upshot

Faith abides and, in Bread, for the Mirror Universe and the prime, it’s one of the few things that survives. I believe there is a place for religion in Star Trek, even in the later series, and I am not afraid to show it. Faith of the heart, to me, means all hearts and, by definition, all faiths as well.

Apr

2013

Portrait of a Character – Boris Yarin

Boris Yarin was fun to create.

Origins

I wanted a character who would be paranoid, itchy and dangerous. And I wanted him to be a healer, too, a paradox. I further decided that he would be a combination of human, Klingon and Xindi sloth. The sloth part would make him paranoid. The Klingon part would make him physically powerful. And the human part would make him all-too emotionally vulnerable.

I stumbled across his surname quite by accident (and nearly literally), as I used to walk in an area where a Toyota Yaris always seemed to be parked.

Toyota Yaris

It was not due to any great affection I had for this vehicle. Rather, I just liked the combination of letters. As I sometimes do for foreign or alien names, I did a bit of brainstorming/free associating with sounds. Yarin, apparently, is Turkish for tomorrow, a fitting surname for a character who lives and dies in the thirty-first and thirty-second centuries.

And so Boris Fyodorovich Yarin was born.

Portrayal

For a man who was almost constantly jumping out of his skin, who would be better than Henry Rollins?

Henry Rollins as Boris Yarin

I had initially seen Boris as being somewhat slight, like a Klingon with menace but no muscle behind it. But the more I thought about Rollins, the more I liked the idea. Rollins always seems to be on fire just underneath his skin. Boris, too, is often barely this side of exploding.

In addition, Boris’s intelligence is masked by a severe lack of confidence. He doesn’t think he can do the work, so he gets his job through his wife’s connections. And then he decides he wants to retain his post, so it’s even more imperative that he tread a fine line with his wife. If he’s out of the marriage, he reasons, he’ll also be out of a job.

Personality

Henry Rollins as Boris Yarin, MD (image is for educational purposes only)

Paranoid and angry, yet wildly intelligent, Boris is problematic from the start. He marries for prestige and position, and not for love. As a result, he’s vulnerable when Marisol Castillo seduces him. And then he’s considerably more vulnerable when she begins blackmailing him. For him, what started as hanky-panky has turned into something more, and he is not only desperate to keep his marriage together and retain his job, he’s also genuinely hurt because he actually loves Marisol.

Relationships

Darragh Stratton

Boris’s wife is mentioned in passing but she is not seen until Ohio when, in an alternate timeline, she isn’t his wife at all. They have a marriage of convenience for the most part. Whether Darragh loves Boris is debatable. Whether Boris loves Darragh is obvious – he doesn’t.

Marisol Castillo

For this femme fatale, Boris is an easy conquest. At first, it’s sexual (and in A Long, Long Time Ago, that’s one of the first times they’re seen together – in flagrante delicto). After a while, though, Boris realizes he has feelings for her, calling her his “angel” (which he also calls Darragh). By the time he figures out that he’s been betrayed, in Shake Your Body, there is but one endgame for him and Marisol.

Mirror Universe

Boris does not yet have a Mirror Universe counterpart.

Mirror Universe Boris Yarin

But that would be pretty scary, eh?

I have always wanted Henry Rollins to portray a Klingon, and I wonder why he never has.

Quote

“My name is Boris Fyodorovich Yarin. I am forty-six years of age, and of sound mind. This letter will be farewell, confession, warning and will all in one.

First, to my wife, Darragh Stratton Yarin, I leave everything I own, with no exceptions, to do with as she wishes. It is all I can offer, for apologies are worthless. I have acted completely without honor. I owe you many things, and cannot repay that debt. All I can hope is for you to live your life without any thought of me – no sorrow, no mourning, no regret, no compassion and not even memory. If I could erase our time together, and spare you, I would.”

Upshot

I hope Boris conveys as much menace as I’ve envisioned. I think more of his backstory could be explored, and a Mirror Boris would be, perhaps, even a revolutionary.

May thanks again to FltCpt. Bossco of the STPMA site. The photomanipulation is truly stunning and is exactly what I wanted.

Mar

2013

HG Wells

Portrait of a Character – Carmen Calavicci

Portrait of a Character – Carmen Calavicci

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Mirror Universe

Quote

Upshot

Like this:

Recurrent Themes – Religious/Spiritual Leaders

Recurrent Themes – Religious/Spiritual Leaders

Background