Lucy Stone

08
Jan
2016

Portrait of a Character – Emily Stone

Portrait of a Character – Emily Stone

Emily Stone shows up in all sorts of odd places.

Origins

Emily was originally kind of a reference character. During Intolerance, she’s really just an important mother of one of the medical students, Mark Stone. It wasn’t until I added her into the Achieving Peace story that she started to have any definition.

Instead of just being a character’s mother, Emily, a lawyer, became a part of the negotiation of the peace terms to end the Earth-Romulan War. In this endeavor, she worked with Soval and a Tellarite ambassador (canon character Gral), and a representative of the Xindi, Chara Sika. Sharp-eyed readers will recall that Chara Sika, another character who originated as an offscreen mother, was first mentioned in The Puzzle).

Also accompanying Emily is another lawyer, Laura Hayes, who works under the Andorian ambassador, T’Therin. By this time, Emily is an ambassador herself.

Later, when I wrote Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, I wanted someone to probate and read Jay‘s will. Laura was not an option (it would have been a legal conflict of interest). Hence I revisited Emily and gave the two of them something of a friendship. The friendship is also briefly mentioned in Together.

Portrayal

Melissa George as Emily Stone

Melissa George as Emily Stone

Emily is played by actress Melissa George. I don’t know too much about this actress; I mainly just liked the look of her. Emily is not exactly a bit part, but she’s not major, either.

Personality

Formal and conservative, but fair, Emily is the quintessential ambassador. Much like Laura (who becomes a judge), Emily takes her work for justice seriously.

Relationships

Mark has a father, so there had to have been someone. I suspect I’ll make her a widow.

Mirror Universe

Because Emily’s son, Mark, is in the Mirror Universe, Emily is there by definition.

English: Actress Melissa George

English: Actress Melissa George (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I kind of like the idea of her being a little sexy and vain and quirky. She could be rather different, and not the sober lawyer she is in the prime universe. Perhaps she’d almost be a court jester (although not in the main court. Empress Hoshi wouldn’t allow that).

Quote

“My niece is in Science and is in on the NX-01. My son is practicing medicine and is looking to get onto, maybe, a smaller ship as the Enterprise and the Columbia are already staffed. But they’re just going to be warriors if this continues. I just want to see young people have their dreams. Constant conflict will derail those dreams, I fear.”

Upshot

For a character who was first intended to be a brief mentioning, Emily has a bit of a storyline to her. She might see some action later, particularly if I write any more legal or diplomatic works.

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Posted by jespah in Fan fiction, Hall of Mirrors, In Between Days series, Portrait, 0 comments
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
04
Apr
2014

Review – Take Back the Night

Review – Take Back the Night

Take Back the Night!

Take Back the Night Background

Once The Cure is Worse Than the Disease was posted, readers began asking me about a sequel. Nobody wanted to leave it the way it had been left, which was with Doctor An Nguyen becoming disillusioned and the Daranaeans left to their own devices and sexist ways, with lip service being paid to the Prime Directive.

I decided I wanted a small piece of a revolution, and so I got an idea. There would be an injustice, and the women would rise up.

Plot

Review – Take Back the Night

The real Take Back the Night movement is about women holding forth against violence against women, including rape, particularly date rape.

For the Daranaean, the elder Inta, this would be a form of marital rape that would spark the powder keg of a plot. I had already established that third caste women had no right to refuse sexual relations, and so the beginning is her refusing to sleep with her husband, Arnis. In fact, the first word of the story is simply her saying, “No!”

That is the only word she says in the entire piece. And in fact, that is the only word I have from her. Yet it is enough.

Violence

For her refusal, she is hit, hard, and she falls to the floor, hitting her head. This causes her death and, just as importantly, the death of her unborn fetus.

While her death is not actionable, the first legal question is whether the death of the unborn child is. This is, of course, distasteful to most of us, but I figure that alien cultures may very well have rather alien ideas about justice and mercy.

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Take Back the Night

Take Back the Night

As the story unfolds, someone other than Arnis gets the blame. Hence the Cochrane and the Columbia both play a part in helping that person be exonerated. And they also help in having the real killer charged with the crime.

Story Postings

Rating

The story is Rated K+.

Upshot

I think this is one of the better stories I have written, as the action moves from Daranaean home to both starships, a space battle, and eventually a courtroom and even the Beta Council chamber on Daranaea. Perhaps the best part about the story is that, while it resolves the immediate issue, it doesn’t fix all of the Daranaeans’ problems overnight. There’s plenty more story fodder, and many injustices remain. But at least there are a few less of them. I’m very proud of this story.

Posted by jespah in Emergence series, In Between Days series, Review, 31 comments