by Rob Morris

I invite my faithful readers and kind lurkers to add to my self-asked questions, as they see fit, by responding to this list.

Question 1: Why did you choose Peter Kirk as the hero?

Because Peter can be used without making the altered canon unrecognizable. He can be in cryo for 10 years and thought dead. Using David Marcus in that way would have meant that Carol acted differently towards Jim, necessitating more changes than I cared to deal with. We know nothing of what happened to Peter after 'Operation: Annihilate'. That makes him a high-ranking (family wise) canonical supporting character without baggage.

Question 2: Why Saavik as the heroine?

For similar reasons. Plus, it creates a neat inverse relationship: The Princess who rescues the Prince. I'm hardly the first to do it, but it seems to work well here.

Question 3: Why Ghidorah as the cosmic villain?

Because Godzilla can't fly through space. That's the basic reason. And also, despite his very few victories, King Ghidorah is the most fantastic of Toho's stable of giant monsters. The others are victims of atomic mutation. Ghidorah is just evil.

Question 4: Why the Admiralty as the main mortal villains?

Just a twist on the TNG-DS9 staple of the insane Admirals. Here, there are no bones about it---the Admiralty are insane, vile beings and xenophobes as well. There is no level they do not sink to. None.

Question 5: Isn't having a xenophobic group running Starfleet contrary to the vision of Gene Roddenberry?

Directly contrary. But remember that, when The Great Bird gave us Star Trek, it was in an era when it looked like hate just might be defeated. Of course, it never was, and now its proponents have deadlier methods and a harder edge. I chose to take my frustration about these people and so crafted The Order Of The Ancient Destroyer. Without that concept, this would likely be just another giant monster story.

Question 6: Why Cartwright as Order-Master, when his heyday really wasn't until the last three TOS movies?

Brock Petersen played Admiral Cartwright brilliantly. The fact that he can cut so elegantly sinister and powerful a figure and then go and play down-to-Earth Joseph Sisko speaks very well of him. Not to be politically incorrect, but there is also a grim novelty in having the prime proponent of organized hate in the 23rd Century be an African-American. If this offends, I of course apologize. But for all these factors plus the ST6:TUC recognition factor, he makes a good Norman Osborn to our Peter.

Question 7: Why are there endless references to other genres? This is supposed to be a G/ST story.

Its fun, plus its an old narrative trick. If this villain can beat all those other heroes and villains, then how much tougher will be on The Enterprise Crew to beat Ghidorah?

Question 8: Are Peter and Saavik Mary Sues?

Technically, the answer would have to be yes. One of the main definitions of MS is a character who can do something big that the established crew can not. In that PK/Saav are the only ones who can destroy Ghidorah, that earns them the dread label.

Question 9: Why are Saavik and Peter the children of the Enterprise crew in this AU?

When I began the main story arc, I realized that Sam had been dead for twenty years. At first, I was going to have Jim formally adopt him, and have that be that. But I realized also that if Peter were Jim's blood-son, this increased the past pain of losing him. In Saavik's case, it created an irony. Usually, there is no one closer to Saavik than Spock. But if it were Spock himself who was used on Hellguard, this might create a distance, as he blocked out the pain of memory. Further, this pain ultimately broke up the K&S team---which is like 60% of TOS. Spock being Saavik's father ironically did the opposite of them being closer together. Jim feels guilty over Peter's suffering, and of course blames himself. Since now Jim adopted both children early on, they are not only lovers but siblings, just as their blood-fathers have often been referred to as brothers.

Question 10: Why make villains out of Jim's family?

Really, only Brianna Kirk was a villain. Sam and Aurelan were, like so many people we all know, children wearing grown-up skin. They were not Peter's adult parents, but his bratty siblings, loving him but uncomprehending of their behavior and its consequences. This also shows the strength of both Jim and Peter, to have survived all this chaos intact.

Question 11: From child abuse on downward, a fairly dark picture of this universe emerges. Why are the villains so one-dimensionally evil?

At some point, I asked myself, what do complete monsters do? How do they behave? If they think they own it all, how do they treat those who oppose them? The result wasn't pretty. In 'I'm A Believer', Saavik and Peter relate some rather brutal memories of sexual abuse at the hands of The Order.

Question 12: Sarek has a Bendii-like illness that robs him of his emotional control but not his coherence or memory. Is he becoming human?

By no means. He is a Vulcan, through and through. Even with his control waning, he is still a thousand times more patient and logical and calm than we could ever hope to be. From time to time, he finds himself overwhelmed by the burden of the emotions, as when Saavik recounted Hellguard to him, or when he found out that Peter respected him more than he did his own legal father, Sam Kirk. No, Sarek is not and never will be human. But as a Vulcan, we may see new sides of him, and like what we see.

Question 13 - How was the original version of Ancient Destroyer different?

Other than the formatting, there were a few differences. No hate groups. Virtually no resistance, effective or otherwise, to Ghidorah. No messianic heroes. Peter was a Mulder/Cassandra type, offering evidence of warnings that no one heeded. The potential use of a time-travel solution. A plan to have The Star Of Bethlehem appear over Magna Roma (Bread And Circuses), sparing that world as its Christ was born, turning Ghidorah back. No PK/Saav. Little ' / ' involving any of the characters. It died a final death when Deja stopped carrying messages prior to 5/15/99. Don't mourn its loss.

Question 14 - What is Peter Kirk's heritage, and why is it so complicated?

As to why, well that's classic. In epic stories, the heroes always have long pedigrees, and recounting them could take whole days. But here it is, as concise as this subject will allow.

When Ghidorah came to Earth in prehistoric times, it killed the guardians Gamera, Mothra, and Battra. After that, it killed the nascent Gojirasauruses, which in time would have evolved into Godzilla, the being the universe bred to check Ghidorah's power. But the last Gojirasaurus had a freakish whelp, as much mammal as lizard. It survived unnoticed, and was able to breed with the proto-mammals of that time. As these creatures eventually evolved into humans, the gene of the Gojirasaurus lay dormant. In the 23rd Century, two beings of human descent were born: Peter Kirk and Saavik Of House Surak. Their names mean 'The Rock' in their native tongues.

Using a concept borrowed from Istannor, I wrote of 'The Line', a group of beings on the side of life, for the most part. Peter and Saavik had been bred for stopping Ghidorah. So Peter was already special upon birth. But there was more, of course.

SPOILERS AHEAD-----BUT NOT FOR THE MAIN STORY ARC

During The Romulan War, a high-ranking Starfleet officer named Stiles traded his freedom for the lives and freedom of his crew. Being of high rank, he was pressed into the service of The Romulan Emperor himself. Oddly, The Emperors were often enlightened souls who protected the common people from the Senate's whims. Stiles married a human female POW and they had a son, Harold, who became servant to The Emperor's son, Tasorel. Fast friends and eventually lovers, the two ran Romulus almost openly together.

This incurred the wrath of The Tal Shiar. Such couplings were euphemistically referred to as 'non-productive'. Since the Romulan state required large populations to sacrifice to their military whims, 'non-productives' were suspect, and of course this usually translated into simple homophobia. Even though acting against the Emperor was a risk, fanatical Tal Shiar, who were also members of The Ghidoran Order, kidnapped Harold Stiles. When Tasorel demanded his return, The Tal Shiar revealed that they had alteredhis gender, making Harold a female, who now called herself Helen. This in itself did not disturb Tasorel, as the person he loved was still there. Over time, the Tal Shiar's true crime was revealed, though. A slow acting personality virus eventually wiped all traces of Harold away, leaving only the clinging, needy, unstable Helen. With the Tal Shiar and The Senate seizing custody of T'Red, Tasorel's son by an arranged legal marriage, he realized his reign was over. Fleeing with Helen and their daughter Taurelan, Tasorel had himself and the little girl surgically altered to look more human. Hiding out among a kept colony of human slaves, he bid his time and waited.

On Earth in 2220, Cadet George Samuel Kirk heard of a construction project for a social club for Admirals. A firm believer in the founding Starfleet premise that the lowliest cadet learns in the same building complex as the highest Admiral, George opposed this project. Slowly learning that the xenophobic Order was backing the construction of Admiralty Hall, George turned the opposition into a crusade. When Starfleet cadets loyal to the Order attacked a young Vulcan diplomat ;), George stepped in to stop them. He also introduced Sarek to his distant cousin--Amanda Grayson.

Ultimately, Admiralty Hall was built, despite all protests. George paid the price for opposing the Order with his career track. He also paid in a way he couldn't expect.

While at The Academy, George met twin sisters Winona and Brianna O'Reilly. While George briefly dated both, his heart belonged to Winona, whom he ultimately married. Brianna's intense jealousy of her twin finally boiled over when the new bride announced she was pregnant. Brianna had an untreatable form of sterility, and could never conceive herself. Contacted by The Order, Brianna joined and was shown how to make her sister's death look like an accident. Worse still, she harvested and froze her unborn children. When a grief stricken George turned to her, she had won. In 2228, she implanted one of her sister's embryos and later gave birth to George Samuel Kirk, Junior, who liked to be called Sam rather than 'Little Georgie'.

But as time went on, George began to sense that his second wife was Winona's twin in body only. Also, since the only officer who would post George was the maverick deep-space explorer Captain Robert April, George began to spend less and less time at home, infuriating the possessive Brianna. She began to verbally belittle Sam, whose self-image suffered as a result. She sought revenge against her husband in a far subtler way. When his friend Tomas Cartwright sought custody of his son Brock from his ex-wife, Brianna helped erase evidence that she was a pedophile.

In 2231, George, Tomas, Heichiaro Nogura, and Captain April 'road-tested' one of the new Constitution-Class ships that were still in development. The two year cruise netted much information on their performance. Fortuitously, it was at this time that the escaping Tasorel skirted the Neutral Zone, pretending to be a Federation scientist named Thomas Sorel. Saving his ship, The Kobayashi Maru, from The Tal Shiar, April and Kirk found out who they had aboard, but elected not to expose him. Since Tasorel and Taurelan had been surgically altered, no one at that time found out about the connection between Romulans and Vulcans.

Ironically, Brianna told George that her next pregnancy was an implantation, though she fudged the facts on the rest. As she came to term, she recieved word that George needed false documents for 'Thomas Sorel'. Perhaps not as anti-alien as her Order comrades, Brianna did so without exposing the scheme. After all, George was headed home.

(Continuity Note: The character of Peter's grandfather Tasorel, or Thomas Sorel, is somewhat lifted from canon. To my mind, he is The Romulan Commander from 'Balance Of Terror', who perhaps could not escape The Empire or his dethroning in canon. This means that JTK faced a lesser talent in BOT-ADU. It also means that Peter's grandfather looks like the late great Mark Lenard without makeup. PK's strained relationship with him will be observed in 'Mirror And Moon')

When the new ship arrived back at Earth, Brianna was brought to its Sickbay and gave birth to James Tiberius Kirk. Thus was Jim born aboard The Enterprise.

Sam met and befriended Aurelan. The two would be each other's lifeline as chaos descended upon their lives. Sadly, they would also be each others' worst influence.

Over the next eight years, the personality virus in poor Helen ate the last vestiges of Tasorel's beloved Harold. Unable to bear the pretense anymore, Thomas Sorel divorced her, and took up with a young Cybernetics student of his, Richard Daystrom. Daystrom possessed Harold's warmth and brilliance, but also Helen's instability.

When Jimmy Kirk was about five, his mother, informed by The Order that her son would be powerful, went beyond merely observing his movements and began to beat him, sometimes savagely. A local doctor who believed in such things covered for her. This and the multi-tiered distance between them ended The Kirks' marriage about the same time as The Sorels. George kept in touch with Tom Sorel, but opposed his relationship with Daystrom, fearing an eventual repeat of Helen's moodiness. In cold break-ups that sometimes stretched for years, Tom would find that his friend was correct. Both Sam and Aurelan would find their self-images further degraded by these events. The beatings little Jimmy would endure didn't help them either, as they both cared for him but could not protect him.

In 2249, The O'Reillys, Brianna's parents, asked that Jimmy come to visit them on Tarsus Four. Lately realizing their daughter was mentally ill, and now suspecting her of her sister's murder, they intended to keep him there for good.

But the massacre of Tarsus, led by Governor Kodos, put paid to that. A member of The Order, Kodos fully intended to sacrifice every colonist to Ghidorah. After the O'Reillys were killed, Jimmy began a one-man killing campaign against Kodos' regime. At its bloodiest, this campaign was sharpened and focused by Jimmy's rescue of Upenda Nyota Uhura, about to be raped by soldiers. She worked with and fell deeply in love with her rescuer, and he with her. Uhura's passing transport had been seized by Kodos' forces, as it passed through the system. Working together, they succeeded in smashing the enemy's command and control, and destroying many of their soldiers, til regular Starfleet forces arrived. The two even confronted Kodos himself, but not before he sacrificed young Kevin Riley.

In the afterglow of victory, the two made love. It was only afterwords that 16-year-old Jimmy realized that Nyota was only 13--she didn't look it. Nyota persuaded her parents not to press charges, and struck up a friendship with Aurelan, though this was not what it seemed.

Five years prior, Aurelan had been contacted by a group of Watchers and informed that she was a Slayer. Moreover, her son would be the first male Slayer in all of known history. With a sudden increase in strength backing up her hidden half-Romulan heritage, she continued the millennia-old tradition. But on a mission with Jimmy as a tagalong, she was forced to destroy her own mother, who sought power as a vampire and demon-conduit. Breaking down as a result, she cooled things with Sam and developed an almost-predatory interest in Jimmy, spoken of in the prophecy. Through kissing and petting games that stopped just short of full intercourse, she sought to control him. Aurelan was infuriated when Nyota 'claimed' him first. Sam, jealous of the attention his brother was receiving from two beautiful young women, became a bit flighty, as well.

Three months later, Nyota discovered she was pregnant by Jimmy. Seeking advice on how to inform him, she told her friend Aurelan the news. Aurelan did not inform Jimmy, but did allow Brianna to find out. Brianna, deathly fearful of Jimmy's first son, demanded the Uhuras end the pregnancy, or she would claim that Professor Uhura had done this. Against Nyota's will, the pregnancy was ended. Jimmy would not learn of this for 16 years. His mother, in retaliation he never understood, beat him into a coma, and thereafter lost custody to George.

But the child's spirit lingered, and waited. In 2252, Sam Kirk, now living on Deneva Three with wife Aurelan, was standing too near a hydroponic accelerator when its induction field collapsed. He was rendered sterile, and his DNA became unreadable. Finding out two years later, Aurelan asked Jimmy to father her child. Despite some reverse-psychology on Brianna's part and a stupid practical joke on Sam's, the child was conceived. On December 8, 2255, Peter Claudius Kirk was born. At that same moment, Ghidorah destroyed The USS Constitution, killing many including George Samuel Kirk, Senior. But after its triumph, The Beast howled in agony, as it sensed the birth ofThe Rock, its mortal enemy.

The Order wished that The Rock be born, fearing that to disrupt these events would cause the Prophecy to reform in ways they couldn't predict just then. Despite this, Brianna did try to kill the infant Peter on several occasions, but the intervention of a family guardian stopped her.

(That guardian, Jean Little, is the associate of the entity Istannor, to whom I direct all questions on her nature and being)

Peter's parents were not ready to be parents, as made clear from a cleaning binge that Jim, Nyota, and Gary Mitchell had to pull, three weeks after Peter was born. Nyota bonded with the child whose spirit she had conceived. Brianna was kept away from the child.

When Peter was three, he required medical attention, having nearly starved to death and having multiple infections. Jim gave Peter to Jean Little, who trained him in the rudiments of his destiny. She also taught him how to cook and clean, and fend for himself. He was trained in the use of a sword by Duncan Macleod himself, though Jean chose to suppress that killing knowledge for then.

It was then Jean made a discovery that floored one of even her knowledge. Upon birth, Peter's powerful mind had built a city for all the innocent lost souls of Ghidorah's victims. She also found out the hideous inverse: An aspect of Ghidorah itself dwelled within the boy, and could be twisted to summon The Ancient Destroyer. Realizing he needed an outlet for his energies, Jean told Sam and Aurelan to give him some chores.

But when Peter proved adept at every chore, his parents retreated into a kind of second childhood, partly thrown that now, even as adults, they were not the most powerful, even in their own home. While Peter was not in school, this was not a problem. He almost enjoyed it. But added to a highly-demanding school structure, it became drudgery. When an exhausted Peter began to turn chores back over to the people who should have been doing most of them, Sam and Aurelan began to withhold affection. When Peter proved better than their games, an even more profound disconnect occurred. Peter would observe in later years that he no longer had parents--just siblings.

A bright spot in his life occurred when Jim, thinking it would revive their sense of responsibility, agreed to father a second child by Aurelan. Not long after, Jim was named Captain Of The Enterprise. By this time, Peter knew that Jim was his natural father, though neither let on.

The baby almost died in utero, due to Aurelan's poor health habits. From an extra rib Peter possessed, DNA was extracted and the baby stabilized. The infant, named Marcus Aurelian Kirk, was 1/3 legally Peter's, as well. Though Marc's care proved a further strain when his parents did not change their ways, Peter grew as attached as any parent, and loved the baby til he died of neglect during the events depicted in 'Operation:Annihilate' The loss of all his family, especially, 'his baby' left a hole in Peter so deep that it caused him to first sense Ghidorah.

While on board The Enterprise, Jim and Nyota each separately adopted Peter. The love and rest he was given in that month prevented him from becoming a self-absorbed monster. And his true parents had reclaimed him.

On Earth, he endured Brianna's beatings for almost a year before killing her with one backhanded blow. Her body was resouled by Jean Little with Winona, who did everything in her power to undo the damage to her grandson. She died happy the night Peter was kidnapped, not long after, having helped him find his strength again.

While Peter was believed dead, Jim adopted a young Vulcan-Romulan hybrid named Saavik. Peter learned this---right after he and Saavik, who rescued him, first made love, years later. Out of respect and love, he referred to his hosts, Sarek and Amanda, as Sri and Sra, terms which mean,  'Parent-And-Beyond'. Tasorel, Peter's grandfather, is a direct descendant of Surak, just as Sarek is.

Peter has three other siblings of note. Doctor David Marcus, whom he first met in 2285. Sophie Kirk, a young cousin of Uhura's who was remade for reasons as yet unknown into Jim and Nyota's genetic daughter. Damien Thorne, the second son of Jim and Carol Marcus, stolen at birth, raised and corrupted  by the Order, whom Peter was forced to destroy. To date,Peter also discovered he may be connected to a family of healers knownas The Pierces, though that is as yet unexplored.

Question 15 - Why did The Admiralty dwell in a separate Hall?

Originally, it was just a plot device, so that when Peter blew them up, he wouldn't take out all of Starfleet HQ. As time went on, I came to realize this must be a pretty rotten place. More, most ST stories have the Admirals and the Cadets all within a stone's throw of one another, probably by design. So The Hall is not just evil, maniacal people, and the center of a pedophilic cult. It is a betrayal of Starfleet tradition, making the story both more AU and more ST at the same time.

Question 16 - Why give Peter and Saavik super-powers? Their fathers have always gotten by fine without them.

Both in its structure of being a complete universe, and in the casual violence and death that stalks its every corner, the ADU is based on the more canonical ST TOS Universe published by Orion Press. Unlike the 'profic' novels, almost every single story 'happens', and cannot be made to un-happen.

With this in mind, I started giving both characters abilities. Due to Saavik's poor confidence and low self-esteem, hers emerged only after fully bonding with Peter. They live in a dangerous world, and the greatest danger is of course Ghidorah itself. It could be argued that heroes need no powers. Well, here they do.

Question 17 - Assuming Godzilla exists in the main STU's past, how was history different than in the ADU?

Lets say there's a common hoodlum, and he robs and kills a man. He almost gets away, but a weathered beat cop catches him. He goes to jail for life. End of story.

Now lets say there's a common hoodlum, etc, but that beat cop was never born. He gets away with murder, and gains the respect of others like him.

In the first world, a city-wide temporary food shortage is rough but passes without incident. In the second, the no-longer common hoodlum raises an army of his fellows, inciting riots that nearly destroy the city. All because that beat cop wasn't born.

The whole point of Ghidorah is that while he is fearsome, only Godzilla's absence allowed him to grow unchecked. So in the main STU, maybe Godzilla, et al, surfaced in the 20th and 21st Centuries. Ghidorah was merely a footnote, and not a concern for any Enterprise.

Question 18 - How did the Order and Admiralty Hall come to wield so much power?

Evil begins when those of good will sit back and do nothing. The Order on Vulcan thrived because it seemed to be cooperating with T'Pau in expressing her distaste for and discomfort with humans. She was not as bigoted as they, nor was she ignorant of their nature. But they managed to use her by not seeming like they did. In fact, T'Pau thought she was in a way containing their activities.

As for The Hall, it just took power, a little at a time, and no one said no. By the time anyone could object, their power was quite real.

Question 19 - Why have all of Captain Kirk's secondary crew been killed?

A war has casualties. By having it strike within Kirk's outer circle, it shows that no one is safe--except of course for his inner circle.:)

More to come.