Best of Star Trek: Alchemy

As the writer who also has the privilege of playing the role of 'captain' to our crew, it has been extremely difficult for me to choose favorites among the gifts of words they've been so generous with since Star Trek: Alchemy began. Still, I've tried to pick out a post that I particularly like or think is fitting for each character, and some lines of dialogue that stand out in my mind as well.

Each post I read stays with me, for one reason for another. These, I found, are particularly amazing, each in their own way. My nominations for some of our finest moments from 2008.

Please note that when a post has more than one part, all parts included under the same title are indicated.

~ZL


Captain Zanh Recommends..


Post which best describes your own character?

Zanh Liis: Catalyst and No Kind of Life

The Posts You Found Most Difficult to Write

Miles to Go, All I Know, No Greater Love, Off the Record and A Matter of Honor


(Keiran O'Sullivan's funeral, alternate timeline)


What are your favorite Joint Post(s) that you've worked on?


With **William Lindsay: Given the Choice and The Sum of Our Memories

With my Executive Officer: Thank You

With my Second Officer: Hands Held High

With my Chief Engineer: The Only Right

With my Ship's Counselor: Regrets Only


Favorite posts by any or all of your crew mates?

Salvek: Vigil

TC Blane: The Art of Caring

Rada Dengar: Sacrifices

Zander Blakeslee: Confrontation

Vol Tryst: Faltering

Jariel Camen: Seeking His Wisdom

Dabin Reece: Please, Please Tell Me Now

Lair Kellyn: The 3:14 From Nowhere/All That You Can't Leave Behind/Walk On

February Grace: Under the Weather. . .Modification Net

Keiran O'Sullivan: (Primary Writer) To Lions and At What Cost

*Keiran O'Sullivan (*Co-Author of character)The Letter

Dane Cristiane: The Luck of the Irish

Fleur Le Marc: Then and Now

Admiral Jonas Vox: Step Off

William Lindsay:(Original writer of character)Standing Still

Ashton Ledbetter: The Imperfect Evening

Commander Lance Hartcort: Bingo!

Guest Star: Commander Paxton Briggs: Are We There Yet?


Do you have a favorite Joint Post written by other members of crew?


The Moment

Child's Play

The Darkness

What was your favorite plot arc since we started a year ago?

The Cascade Effect/Two Lights (Alternate Continuity Paradox)

What do you think are the funniest post(s) of the year?

I'll Take What's in the Box, Monty!

A Promise Fulfilled

The Battle of Hastings

In a Handbasket



Favorite dramatic post(s)?


By Default

The Last Sip

Being Beaten


-=/\=-

Captain's Favorites for Purely Sentimental Reasons:

Can Heaven Be So Envious

A Time to Speak

The Cufflinks

All Dressed Up

-=/\=-

Post excerpts that amused or captured the Captain's attention...

----

"Buffer this, you son of a bitch," Zanh Liis, to the transporter pattern buffers on the dying USS Executor

----

"That's a corkscrew. Don't you ever get out?" TC Blane, to Dabin Reece

----

"Shove protocol and END THIS!" ~Zanh Liis, to Salvek, concerning the brawl in Illusions Lounge.


----

"Okay, Ensign Dane Marion Cristiane," TC repeated for effect. "What happened here tonight, from your perspective?"

"I got my ass kicked by a girl." Dane complained.

"Yes you did. You can take that up with your therapist later." TC replied in a matter of fact tone. “I mean before that.”

"Sir, you were there, do we really,"

"For the official record, Ensign, yes we do so let's get this over with shall we?"

"Sure. For the record," Dane felt dizzier than before and leaned against the bar. "May I sit down, Sir? Before I fall down?"

TC hooked one of the few intact barstools with his foot and kicked it over toward Dane. “Sit.” He ordered.

Dane righted the stool and plunked down. "For the record, O'Sullivan was absolutely shitfaced, and,"

"Is that a statement of Mr. O’Sullivan’s mental condition or a remark about his looks? Could you put that a little more tactfully, Ensign," Blane snapped, "For the record?"

Dane scowled.

"Okay, try this. Lt. Commander Keiran O'Sullivan imbibed in far too much alcohol earlier this evening and disturbed the peace by inciting a brawl."

"Better." Blane nodded, tapping away. "How did he start it, and who threw the first punch?"

"He insulted the Captain's boyfriend and he replied with a sign that was direct and to the point. Specifically, to O'Sullivan's grill."

"Ensign,"

"Okay, okay. He insulted Vedek Jariel's worthiness to court the fair Captain Zanh Liis, Queen of all Starfleet."

Blane glared. “My tolerance is at an end.”

~TC Blane and Dane Cristiane, following the brawl in Illusions Lounge

----

"Pfffffffffffft." Fleur Le Marc (to just about everybody)

----

"Zanh Liis, Zanh Liis! God save us all from Zanh Liis!" Ensign Landry Steele, Temporal Investigations (to herself)

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"That's what I thought. Out the airlock." TC Blane, to Dane Cristiane, upon finding out that Cristiane was spying on Zanh Liis for Admiral Vox

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"That's not an answer, Sir. It's a wish." ~Counselor Vol Tryst, to Keiran O'Sullivan

----

"What you remember, what we were was the truth then, but you have give it up now. You have to let me carry it, for the both of us...I'm beggin' ya. I'm the only one who can."

"'Tis not your battle to fight, my darlin'. No matter what you do, we can't win."

Keiran O'Sullivan, to Zanh Liis, concerning memories restored to her by the Sylph


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"LANDRY! Bring my blood pressure medication and an entire bottle of aspirin." ~Admiral Jonas Vox, to his assistant

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"You wanted him to be quiet, didn't ya? It was set for stun." (Keiran O'Sullivan, to Salvek)

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“It seems that once again the futility of memory resequencing is evident,” Commander Salvek, to Zanh Liis

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"Come on. You look like you've gone ten rounds with a Gorn who didn't like your soup." Dabin Reece, to a hungover Fleur Le Marc

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"Of all the bodies that they appear to have in their storage tubes, only eight of them are actually suffering from what you could call a terminal degree of deadness." Dabin Reece, to Zanh Liis

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"Put it this way; 'Roman cavalry choirs' weren't the only ones singin' last night." ~Keiran O'Sullivan, to Zanh Liis (alternate timeline) explaining what she'd been singing while she was intoxicated

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He was a man with no feeling heart left in him, and it seemed to him that if you couldn't feel your heart, there should be no way to know when it's broken.~Keiran O'Sullivan

----

"I'll sit out there all night and you can be alone in here. Or you can go out there and burn the building down lighting one damn cigarette after another, your choice." She put her hands on her hips, indicating that her decision was final and not at all negotiable.

"But if you think I'm going to leave you alone tonight in the state you're in, then I don't think we've met."

She extended her arm out, offering an exaggerated, mock handshake. "Hi, I'm Zanh Liis; monumental pain in the ass. Pleased to meet you."

"You are that." Keiran snorted, retreating out onto the cramped balcony.

----

TC laughed his rare, deep, quiet laugh. The one that was only meant to be heard by those close to him; by friends and family.

“We seem to be lacking the necessary alcoholic beverages for this conversation.” ~TC Blane, speaking to Zanh Liis


----



"How could you," O'Sullivan whispered bitterly, leaning against the wall for support. "Just...bringing her in like that, and not telling me, and-"

"God damn it, Keiran, you were not supposed to remember her."

"She was my wife, Jonas!" Keiran shouted, "I was supposed to forget that?"

"Yes! You were!" Vox exclaimed. "Keep your voice down."

Keiran traversed the space between them in two swift strides and soon had Vox up against the wall, held suspended from the deck by the front of his shirt.

"I can't do this. I can't do it again. It'll kill me, understand?"

Vox sighed slowly. The last resequencing had obviously been a dismal failure. It had seemed so promising, they had even told him that his new partner would be a Bajoran female and Keiran had registered no reaction.

But sadly all it took was being in the same room with her, and the man simply came unhinged.

"They really thought it would work, Keiran. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." Vox was sincere in his words. "Aren't you at least gratified to see that she's alive? That your Jump was a success and here she is, back again at the beginning?"

*I can't go back to square one with her and pretend that...”

*I'll never be able to keep the code. * O'Sullivan thought to himself.

"I'm only a man, Jonas, for Christ's sake. I'm only-"

Slowly, he lowered Vox back to the floor. Releasing his grip, he looked at the Admiral apologetically.

"It's over." Keiran announced, reaching up and pulling his badge from his uniform. "My career is over. My life is over."

"Wait,"

"No. You wait." Keiran said, panic rising in his tone again. "You can't ever, ever put me in a situation again with Zanh Liis and expect that I won't remember her." He stared off into the distance. "I've loved her, and what's more I have needed her, and you can't expect that I will ever forget how much."

Vox stepped forward but refused to accept the badge O'Sullivan held out to him.

"There is one other option."Keiran O'Sullivan and Admiral Jonas Vox, Director of Temporal Investigations


----

TC did not even turn to face Dane when he spoke. “What is the third Article of the Federation?” He asked in an uninterested tone.

"Zanh Liis always gets her way?" Dane blurted, unable to censor himself a moment longer.

TC did not even flinch although Salvek did turn his head to look. “No, Mr. Cristiane that would be the first article of this ship's constitution. I suggest you remember that."


----

The stray thought reminded Vol of something his father and mother used to tell him when he was a small child. 'Betazoid gongs are used to give thanks to the Gods and Goddesses for the food we eat. You can also, however, use the gongs to express your irritation with a person by smacking said person over the head with the sacred gongs. Believe me, the Gods and Goddesses will likely be just as thankful.' ~ Vol Tryst

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Do you always think everything is about you, Cristiane? 'Cause, you know, it's just not." Ensign Landry Steele

----

Yes, little did anyone know, it all depended on one person. Everything happening below between the Captain and her beloved crew could all be rendered moot in an instant in one giant, harmful, dangerous and totally sucky explosion that would all leave them dead.

All their fates depended upon the actions of one incredible man.

Thup thup thup thup thup thup thup thup...

Dabin Reece lay across the Command chair, one arm behind his head and the other working the paddleball he held. One foot dangled and swayed over the side of Zanh Liis' armrest as the other was propped up on the headrest on the back of Salvek's chair.

This, was boring

~Dabin Reece

----

I will cherish what we had and hope you do the same. Carry the joy we had with you, not the sorrow of the loss. In that, my love will have meaning. If you cannot move past the sorrow, we all lose. You, me, him, and your crew. All of us will lose. I don’t want that.

I love you. Stand tall, walk proud, live the life you want and deserve. Just take it easy on the coffee, for the love of God.

Did you laugh again?

Good.

Then fold this letter back up and let that be the last effect my influence has on you for this day.

~SHTV, K

~**Keiran O'Sullivan to Zanh Liis, in a letter


----

"Your beloved Emerson wrote 'When it is darkest, men see the stars.' Well it's never been darker for me, and I see them now, Keiran, but they are meaningless to me. What purpose do any of them serve if their light will never again be reflected in your eyes?" Zanh Liis (alternate timeline) speaking to Keiran O'Sullivan's grave

----

Keiran had resumed staring at Zanh Liis, holding her hand tightly in his own. He looked up as he heard a frantic, jubilant voice calling his name a moment later, and he found himself nearly knocked to the deck by an emotional Dane Cristiane.

"You're alive!" Dane exclaimed, throwing his arms around O'Sullivan as if he were his long-lost son, instead of Carrick. "I can't believe you're alive. Keiran...we buried you."


----

"Sixteen and three. The number of rules and sub-sections of the code of conduct we broke under this tree." ~Zanh Liis, to Keiran O'Sullivan

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"What is life, and what is living?" Keiran O'Sullivan to Zanh Liis, pondering the fate of the Perseids crew

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"What about the groom's gift? Need any help with that? It's an Earth thing, you know. They have lots of things on Earth." Dabin Reece, to Zanh Liis, while helping her pick out a wedding gown.

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“Right, now you listen to me very carefully, William. This is not a matter for debate. You’re not taking Liis anywhere without me, and if you so much as look like you’re thinking about tryin’ it I swear to God I won’t be responsible for my actions.” Keiran O'Sullivan (as told by Dengar) to William Lindsay

----

That's why we're both going to do everything in our power to make certain that you do survive this mission, Zanh Liis," Will replied, placing a reassuring hand on each of her shoulders.

"Because it’s not just your life we’re dealing with here. Every nick, every cut, every drop of your blood that’s spilled will be lost from him as sure as if he’d been in your place. Only when they’re your wounds, they’ll take him so much longer to heal. And I swear if you were struck down by that fatal blow, that no matter where in the universe he was he’d feel it just as hard. Then slowly he’d spiral down and down through misery and pain until eventually, it took his life too.” He added with an all too knowing tone, “There really is no worse way to die.”

~**William Lindsay, speaking to Zanh Liis about Keiran O'Sullivan

To see the Captain's favorite quotes from our always-quoteworthy Chief Engineer Rada Dengar, please click this link...

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