fardell24 | Entries tagged with beginnings of 2020

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Risks and Nightmares
The Enterprise arrived at the anomaly on schedule. “Beginning scan,” Data reported. “So far, there is no match in any Federation database.”

The nightmares started straight away. Captain Jean-Luc Picard was reading in Ten Forward when he saw Counsellor Troi sit across from him. “What can I do for you Counsellor?”

“There have been more reports of nightmares amongst the crew this evening than any previous night cycle, Captain,” Deanna Troi answered.

“What do you mean, Counsellor?”

“I mean, it may have to do with that anomaly.”

Star Trek: A Troublesome Deal
The Enterprise was too late. Captain James T. Kirk looked at the M-class planet on the viewer. He didn’t need to ask Spock to scan. He saw that the planet would no longer support humanoid life. Even so, he asked for confirmation.

“Confirmed. The planet has entered a nuclear winter, Spock reported.”

Elias and the Writer’s Block
It had been a few days since he had been able to write more than a paragraph. He needed a change of scene. Just sitting in his office, being stumped, wasn’t a good idea. ‘Maybe I should go to the Park,’ he thought. He hadn’t been there since the Pandemic started. That was something he had already written about. Those short stories had been well received, but he wanted to write something different. Something that would inspire hope. That was why he wanted to get out.

Ten minutes later, he parked his car outside the Park. It didn’t seem like there were too many other people there.

Doctor Who – Designated Survivor – Emily and the Doctor
It was the end of a busy day in the White House, when Emily Rhodes heard a sound that she thought she would never hear again. ‘No! Not now!” she thought. She didn’t want to have to explain the Doctor to the President. She walked through the halls in the direction the sound came from. Then she saw it, or rather her. “Aren’t you a sight for tired eyes?” she asked as she walked up to the blue box.

“Emily?” She turned and saw Seth Wright, the Press Secretary. “Do you know what this is?”

“Um, yes,” she answered as she grabbed the key she had kept since college. Then on impulse, she turned and unlocked the door.

The interior was different to how she remembered it. “Doctor?”

“Emily Rhodes?” a Scottish voice asked from behind the console.

‘Regenerated, figures!’ Emily thought. “Yes,” she answered, at a loss for words.

The Doctor stepped out from behind the console. “You’ve done well for yourself. White House Chief of Staff. I knew you would achieve things in Washington.”

Emily looked at the Doctor. “You look old, Doctor,” she said, remembering the two brown haired incarnations she had travelled with through her College years.

The Doctor was about to say something, but was interrupted by Seth stepping into the Console Room.

“Wait! How can this box be bigger on the inside?”

“It’s a long story, Seth,” Emily answered. “However. A question must be asked. Why are you here?”

“Because President Kirkman is in danger!” the Doctor answered.

Designated Survivor – The Question
National Security Advisor Aaron Shore arrived at the White House. It was sure to be a busy day. The various threats to the United States had only grown since the Capitol Bombing. He then received a Text.

From: Emily
To: Aaron

Please meet in my Office in half an hour.

Doctor Who – Investigating Introspection
Laurence collapsed against the TARDIS. He was out of breath from all of that running. Maybe that was a mistake, he thought as he slid down the side of the timeship. The Doctor came up quickly. “Laurence!” he called out.

“I’m fine,” Laurence said weakly.

“No, you’re not.”

The Doctor brough Laurence into the TARDIS and set the ship in motion. He then took him to the medbay, where he quickly found the reason why he had collapsed. “Oh, Laurence, you know you could have told me.”

When Laurence came to, he found he breath better. But he then breathed quicker. ‘I didn’t want the Doctor to find out this way. He opened his eyes and found the Doctor right there. “No!” he said as he covered his chest.

“Relax, Laurence,” the Doctor said with understanding in his eyes.

‘Always assuming the worst, Oswald!’ Laurence remonstrated mentally. “Sorry. I should have said something earlier.”

The Doctor smiled. “I’d say that you didn’t need to. I may be clueless about some aspects of humanity, but I wasn’t clueless about this. I was going to let you tell me when you were ready.” He then ruffled Laurence’s short hair.

“Thanks, Doctor,” Laurence said as he sat up.

“And the TARDIS does have clothes that achieves the effect you want without hindering breathing.”

Laurence smiled. “It does?”

Doctor Who: Oswald’s Challenges
Clara rushed. The TARDIS was going to be there any moment. She was sure of it. She finished putting on her makeup. She looked over herself again. Everything was hidden, including the Adam’s apple. She turned and heard the TARDIS beginning to materialize.

Clara entered the TARDIS and saw that the Doctor was dressed in her usual cricket derived outfit. “Hello, Clara,” she said. “Had a good week?”

Her week had in fact had had the usual ups and downs. “Mostly good,” she answered.

The Doctor nodded in understanding. She knew what Clara meant. That she wanted an adventure that would take her mind off things. “There are many places we could see,” she said.

“Future places?” The last place they had been in the past was stressful to say the least.

“Of course.”

Waiting out the Pandemic
15 November 2020’
Leigh arrived at the Church at his usual time. He was still annoyed that the Pandemic was ongoing. ‘Eight months,’ he thought. That was how long the Pandemic had lasted in Australia so far.

Deep Space Nine: Return to Meridian
2431
Ezri Dax emerged onto the Bridge. Captain Paris had paged her a few minutes earlier, saying that the Jadzia Idaris had dropped out of warp in the Trialus System on schedule. Meridian would be emerging from it’s other dimension in less than ten minutes.

Trouble in Georgeton
Diana Prince entered the console room, where the Doctor was running frantically around adjusting the TARDIS’s course.

“Ah, Diana, we’re almost there,” the Doctor said.

“That’s good,” she said.

The TARDIS then landed. The Doctor changed his attention to the scanner as soon as the final thud was heard. “Wait, that’s not Themyscira,” he said.

“Good try,” Diana said. She had suspected that it wouldn’t be as simple as pointing the TARDIS at Themyscira. Either that or the ship wanted her to continue travelling with the Doctor.

“It’s a small town in Iowa, in the 1950s.”

Daria and the Impossible
Asylum
Daria Morgendorffer awoke with a start. She had just had a nightmare in which Beavis and Butthead featured prominently. “Highland!” she said with a moan. It seemed that even with nearly sixteen months spent in Lawndale she hadn’t put that place in Texas completely behind her. She looked at her clock. 7:30. Time to get ready for school.

As she arrived at school, she met her friend, Jane Lane. “Rough night?” Jane asked.

“Yes,” Daria said. She wasn’t willing to say more.

Jane could tell something was up. “Huh, huh.”

“Something to do with Texas,” Daria allowed.

“I see,” Jane said. “I know you don’t want to talk about your old school, but maybe you should if you’re having nightmares about it.”

“Maybe.” Daria was about to say more, when there was an interruption.

“Daria Morgendorffer? Jane Lane?”

Daria turned and saw that it was one of the agents who had lead away DeMartino in cuffs a few weeks earlier. “Who’s asking,” she asked.

The agent produced a badge. “Agent Leung, FBI.”

“And you’re willing to provide credentials now?” Jane asked skeptically, as he and partner hadn’t the last time they were in the school.

“An unfortunate need for operational security,” Agent Leung said as apology.

“Acceptable,” Daria said, although she was wondering if there were people in the school (staff or students) the agency had an eye on.

Doctor Who: Quest in Time
It was quiet in the console room as the Doctor directed the ship to go forwards to another Wednesday. It wasn’t often that he travelled without Clara after what happened at Trenzalore. She seemed more, contemplative, after what happened. Dealing with all those echo memories was undoubtedly hard.

Star Trek: Stepping into Something New
12 August 2420
Starbase 604 filled the screen as the shuttle approached. Ensign Andrew Kelvin looked for the ship he was posted to. “There it is,” the pilot, T’Laris, said.

Kelvin saw it, a mid-sized ship. “USS Manitoba. Wow!”

“It is impressive. USS Manitoba NCC 121545. Tasmania class, 450 meters long, 12 decks. Capable of reaching the Large Magellanic Cloud within a year at its highest sustainable Slipstream speeds.”

That was unlikely Kelvin thought. “But we’re going to explore a lot closer, right?”

“That’s right. We’re chasing up on reports of distant human settlements,” T’Laris answered.

Aboard the Manitoba, Lieutenant T’Laris entered the Bridge. It was her first exploratory mission.

Reverse Map Game 1989
1987
North America
President Ronald Reagan continues to try to de-escalate the Cold War tensions.

NASA re-starts the Shuttle Program after the issues identified following the Challenger disaster are resolved. (But; of course that will not save Columbia 16 years later.)

South America

Africa
In South Africa, an insurgency in the east of Netal is defeated…

Europe

Asia
Conspirators gather to try to coup King Fahd…

In China, local scale student protests start.

The Vietnamese Government promises to withdraw from Cambodia in two years.

Daria – The Basement and Beyond
It was an ordinary day at Lawndale High. Daria Morgendorffer was both bored and annoyed. Bored at the standardized curriculum. Annoyed at the football player who continually failed to understand even the most simple of concepts. ‘Did he get byes all the way through?’ she wondered, not for the first time. She wondered why, Mr. DeMartino kept expending energy on him, trying to get through to him, risking getting further burnt out in the process. She looked at the time. It was almost lunch.

“Remember, class. The fortnightly Quizz is tomorrow,” DeMartino said. He looked towards a certain football player. “Some may fail, if they don’t apply themselves in study!”

“Huh?” Kevin Thompson said.

Daria – The Difference Alex Makes
1. Esteeming a Beginning
Alexander Griffin watched as the two sisters emerged from the Lexus. Two more new students starting at Lawndale High. He saw that the two were completely different in personality. One immediately ingratiated herself with the other students who were there, waiting in the turning circle, whereas the other avoided others as she walked towards the school buildings. He wasn’t sure he would be friends with the latter. The former, if she wasn’t shallow. ‘Too early to tell,’ he thought as another boy asked the younger sister out.

That evening, the Morgendorffers were having their dinner after their daughters’ first day their new school. “Then they asked me to join the pep squad. They said I didn't have to try out, but I said, 'Look, I'm new here. Give me a chance to get used to things.' I met a couple of other girls, Stacy and Tiffany, we're going to look into forming some kind of club to talk about Fashion, or something like that,” Quinn Morgendorffer said.

From Up on Poppy Hill – Umi’s Quandry
Matsuzaki Umi pondered what the future held as she went through her morning routine. It was a good thing Shun wasn’t her brother. In the few weeks after the Quartier Latin building was saved and they found out the truth, they had been getting to know each other more. However, she still wasn’t sure. There was still some hesitancy.

1. Flashback
It had been quiet aboard the TARDIS. But the Doctor didn’t just want to sit around in the console room when he could be out there exploring, or otherwise experiencing the universe. He was sure he had recovered from his comparatively traumatic recent regeneration. The ship landed. He briefly wished Grace had joined him, so he would be sharing this experience, this adventure, with at least one person.

He emerged from the TARDIS to find that had landed in the middle of a food court in a Star Mall, a Mall floating in interstellar space, on the confluence of several high traffic interstellar travel routes. “There could be worse places,” he murmured. But he knew such places were good places to start, and end adventures, if the timing was right. He knew the TARDIS would have got that right. He looked around at the Take Away places.

Star Trek: The Enterprise Wasn’t There
The Enterprise was in the past, again. Captain James T. Kirk was annoyed. Was it a random subspace fluctuation as Spock had theorised at first, or was it a small black hole, very close to the starship’s path. Yet, here they were, in the early 21st Century. He looked at the viewscreen and saw the Japanese island of Hokkaido below them. Clearly they were in a rather low inclined orbit. “Report, Lieutenant Sulu, is our orbit stable?”

“Yes, Captain, approximately 400 kilometres above the surface.”

“Odd.” Spock reported.

“What’s odd, Mr. Spock?”

“Sensors are picking up strange energy readings from a rural seaside village in Hokkaido, Captain.”

“And you think they shouldn’t be there?”

“I have cross-referenced, the historical database. There was nothing unusual recorded there in this period.”

“So, it’s something to investigate,” Kirk pondered. Most of the crew would stick out like a sore thumb, but Sulu wasn’t the only one who traced their ancestry to Japan. “Mr. Sulu, begin preparing a landing party.”

“Aye, Captain.”

The Cat Returns – Haru’s Quest
It was a quiet day in Bureau, Baron Humbert von Grikkengen considered. But then he had sent Muta on a mission. Something he could do and be out of the way, while he did some research. However his day was soon interrupted. “Baron!” Yoshioka Haru called as she approached the building.

‘I wonder what brings her here today?’ the Baron wondered. He went outside.

Haru had a look of curiosity on her face. “I was wondering something.”

“Oh?”