Ut oh, Maren's in tttrrroouubbbllleeeee! I'm glad she survived the encounter, though. She's lucky, and I can't see an honorable Andorian doing any less than Telek did. It's a good thing he did, too.

Poor Icheb, in the clutches of who knows who for who knows what purpose. Very taut and tense chapter throughout. It may have hurt your head, but it was a damned fun read!

Author's Response:

Glad you liked it, PSGarak.  Maren's in trouble in more ways than one.  Head injury, and now she's going to have to explain to the captain why she did things the way she did.  As far as Telek goes, he's definitely on the badass side for an engineer.  Don't underestimate Andorians.  Have you ever seen an Andorian Borg drone?  I haven't.  Doesn't mean they don't exist, but Telek is not one of them, and thanks to him, neither is Maren -- take that, Borg Collective!

Deliciously creepy beginning. You can't go wrong when you start off with a space version of Edgar Allen Poe's greatest fear. Can't wait to see where you take this!

Author's Response:

Oh the biggest heepy geepy ever that! The mere thought of it! Yuk. Hence why I had to get him out of there quick sharp. A bit like Garak in that I don't find tight spaces condusive to my health. Hope the direction suited and worked out. The first part is different in tone to the rest and so the story may suffer as a result.

I really liked this glimpse into the politics and emotional lives of the Q. For all of Voyager's flaws, in my mind, Janeway and Seven never were. They were amazing characters. I also liked the speculation of life after death, and I definitely hope this has a sequel.

Not scary, no, but not all ghost stories are. It was poignant and painted a lovely picture. Very well done!

Author's Response: Thank you!

I'm glad I finally got caught up and could read this. Really touching and chilling at the same time. I very much felt for the plight of the students and of Dukat. Knowing what is to come made it all the more poignant. I also have to say that having a bipolar cousin, as we've talked about a bit, gave me a deep appreciation for the ordeal Dukat went through at the onset of his illness. I appreciate the sensitive way in which you handled the theme, and the accuracy, both of his reactions and the family. Very well done.

Author's Response:

Thank you very much for your review. :-)

I had a teacher like this growing up, someone who adored bullying the students and then retreating to the claim that she was just "trying to improve" us. The fact of the matter is that some people simply don't belong in a position of authority. I really liked her emotional responses to running into this man. It rang so true.

Wow, really amazing. Also, a good insight into John's character. A lot of that happy-go-lucky charm hides a well of pain, as is often the case. You capture the realities of living with an addicted parent really well. I'm extremely impressed.

Author's Response:

Thanks for the review and compliment.  John definitely uses his charm to hide a lot of his past hurt, but he's also a strong person who has worked hard to move past that hurt.  At eighteen, though, he wasn't quite there yet.

Really interesting set up here, especially seeing the agony of the cadet at the beginning of the piece. I'm looking forward and somewhat dreading to see what led to that. You definitely hooked me.

I liked the pacing of this, the way it went back and forth and how the pieces slowly fell into place. I knew there was trouble when the antenna was found and bigger trouble when the detective spun a dial on the side of what looked like a cell phone. At least there was nothing left behind afterward to alter the time line TOO tremendously much.

Author's Response: Thank you, I had a heck of a time getting it done but when I saw the theme I couldn't NOT enter. I love time travel. Oddly-I had no ending when I started. I just trusted that something would come to me. Shand and Torres usually bring something out, even if it isn't what I had in mind, so I just let them go and do their thing.

Yet another gripping chapter! I'm glad you got this finished in time for the challenge. I couldn't help but to think of parallels to Katrina with the flashes to the evacuation scene, how those with the fewest resources are always left behind to fend for themselves. Very powerful stuff.

I really liked this one, and as much as I find Neelix to be an annoying scab, in some ways the analogy fit.

Author's Response: I have this idea that Tuvok, when he needs to gird himself for emotionally challenging situations, uses a holo-Neelix to push his annoyance tolerance.