Disclaimer: I own none of the copyrights for any of the information I'm basing this on; these include Star Trek, or Earth Final Conflict (I am NOT Gene Roddenberry, so I own none of his works!), Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series (I am NOT Joss Whedon!), and Christianity's teachings in the Catholic Bible (which is by now in the Public Domain I'm convinced, and if I should prove wrong; it'd be ludicrous, as that book's writers lived well over a thousand years prior to my birth!)… nor do I own real-world history, and nor as well Karl Marx works- as I am NOT him (for which I am most thankful!), which'll also be referenced in this. Nor do I own the copyright for the EWTN series "Saints vs. Scoundrels"; and nor will I accept any money for this piece of literary fiction, at all. Nor am I even remotely Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, nor do I own the copyrights to his works!
Infatuated Arrival;
a Spiritual Journal by Demetrius of Romulus relating to various topics.
By James Carmody.
By and large a Buffy/Star Trek Classic Universe- not Alternate Universe- Crossover, with elements of various other stories too, as well as topics.
Summary: This is, by and large, both a prequel to some of my Buffy/Star Trek stories, and also the journal entries of a Rihannsu Imperial, who happens to be very hands-on in his approach, and whom you'll find out is infatuated by what he'd call "Terran Religions".
Characters/Pairings: Most of the BtVS/AtS last television season cast, if not them all, in the same pairings, but the interactions will mostly if not all be celibate in how they act, at least on screen… romance, dating, and even "mating" might be hinted at "behind closed doors" but the interactions are going to be chaste- the ones "in camera" as it were. Also, at least one OC- Original Character/Self-Insert is in it.
Author's Story Notes/Letter to Readers: the Original Character/Self Insert is there by and large as an exploration, and guide thereto, in regards to the story's attitudes. You should get to know him in this, but by all means, if there's something you're unclear about, just write to me and I'll try to explain to the best of my ability.
Moral/Purpose of Story: An incorrect comprehension of the truth is as damaging as any lie to the mental structure of the recipient, and does produce horrible renditions, even on the parts of the most adherent believer… true belief is therefore utterly pointless, what is needed is absolute understanding.
Rating: Pretty much PG/K+, or even rating: age 7 and up… pretty darn good, roughly about the same level of intensity as either Star Trek or Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings novels… but parents should take the care to verify- I don't want to traumatize children nor (even worse) lead them astray!
Genre(s)/Themes: Action/Adventure for the most part, but also true Supernatural, hence Spiritual.
Perspective: 1st Person.
Chapter/Entry 1.): December, Terran Calendar; 2002, I believe: Arrival; My Journey of faith Begins…
Beginning Chapter 1 Author's Notes: Well, please tell me what you think.
Chapter Summary: The need for a concealed arrival enables proper ethics to take root, or does it; as I discover, any pursuit of ethics is inherently fraught with unimaginable darkness and the truest dangers imaginable!
My interest in Terran Religions and what the young people there seem to have taken to calling "pop culture", a kind of modern-day mythology in this era of the planet the humans, or Terrans, call "Earth"'s history, has inspired me to undertake a custom the locals have taken to calling a "pilgrimage", or a "religious journey" to this planet. Hence I booked an advanced Scout Cruiser of mine to take me from a spaceport at the Rihannsu Imperium of Ki Baratan to the system based around the star the locals call either "Sol" or "Helios". To administrate my empire I left the job for the extended duration of my "vacation" in the care of the Senate and it's "President", I believe the local administration of the dominant republic of this planet I'm determined to visit would call the post. But in reality, I've absorbed most posts into my own job.
You see, I'm a bit of what you'd call a "control fanatic", and probably you'd think of me as at least a bit paranoid- tends to serve me well on Romulus, though, but perhaps not my "animating spirit" or what you sometimes call a "soul" all that well- in reality I barely trust anyone… led to me having an excellent background in the Tal Shiar, or Rihannsu Secret Police, though (perhaps that's not a smart idea, but then again, who on Earth is even remotely aware of our operations in the slightest, so what does it really matter; and besides, there's benefits to being quite literally the "Throne's Occupant" in my home state, though far from one in terms of spiritual matters… and that's why I'm here, about to enter the atmosphere of this blue-green "marble" in the vast sea of space- to learn!), and it helped me out with progressing in that field.
However, my interest in spiritual matters came from the ideas and regions of monitoring Earth's old-style radio-transmissions, and from there I came to discover the strength inherent in one of the larger Terran religions in terms of numbers, namely Catholicism… what I like that one for is the internal strength that results from the discipline of following its teachings; not "doing whatever I darn well please", the latter idea results in absolute stupidity- why? I'm not sure, but it has resulted in that in the past, so I'm convinced it will again.
I guess, as my vessel cloaks more completely, and settles down in a clearing in a region nearby a little town, or city, right near the coast of an area the locals call "Southern California", it's after dusk, the dead of night to be exact, when I disembark from my small cruiser; taking with me a remote control, small-scale medical kit, scanning device crossed with a communication device that strongly resembles the local mechanism known as a "cell phone", or a "flip phone", a disruptor pistol and a dagger… I have put my first-aid kit into my traveling backpack, and hidden on the side thereof my scanning device, and pressing a button, I directed my vessel to evade encounters and to both remain cloaked and to take off., all while remaining "on call" (I believe the phrase is) to me to be ready to get me out of trouble in this foreign planet. Then I set out to explore this world.
After hiking for an indeterminate amount of time, I ran across a scene that stuck out in my mind, and was reminiscent of the legacies of the settlement of my homeworld of Romulus… you see, my people weren't originally from Romulus at all, but were in fact of Vulcan ancestry; and the logic drive actually appeals to me more than any emotional dominance, but here I was, crouched in the vegetation near a cliff that clearly overlooked the local major body of water… in fact, the largest on the planet, based on my orbital scans of this globe as I tried to track down a good site to base myself for my operations herein,,, a body of liquid known to the locals of this globe as the "Pacific Ocean". Here, on the cliffs, were some few young ladies engaged in a fight in the fog-shrouded hillside against something that, based on my binoculars, was a kind of cephalopod with razor-tipped tentacles that shot out from a cavity in the animal's head, an apparatus they appear to use in fighting and feeding to disembowel their unfortunate victims.
Apparently these women have increased senses of some bizarre source due to their ability to detect these things somehow, I know they're females because I heard their voices as one of them knocked one of those beasts off a cliff she bellowed "Wahoo! Got You, Suckah!" and it was a sense of absolute joy in that bellow- as if she loves her work… it was then that I got the general sense, just from observing them, that the world they inhabit is something akin to that of another branch of what could be called "American Mythology" (I hope I got the term right), a book series called "Beneath the Moons of Barsoom", wherein the culture is something like "You're either trained to fight and armed, enslaved, or dead" kind of deal… this matches the frontierest elements of the Romulan Fleet to a perfect T; something I'm very familiar with!
Upon making that cultural discovery, I grinned, but about then I started to kick myself for my blind stupidity: the first clue I had that someone was beside me was when I heard a voice with a rather thick accent that I couldn't pinpoint say to me "They're doing quite fine, aren't they?", turning I saw a gorgeous black female human smiling in a friendly manner and squatting to my right. Inwardly I berated myself nonstop for not detecting her until now- it wasn't the humiliation; that'd be good, it was, in point of fact, my blind stupidity: I'd been so focused on observing the battle in front of me that I'd lost all situational awareness and hadn't even heard her come up beside me! Feeling profoundly stupid about that actually might save my life in a battle, as it'd make me less likely to make the same mistake.
It was about then that she revealed herself as one of these "dames"… one of these predatory creatures had come up behind us, and had taken aim at us, using the fog to conceal its movements, but I also suspected that due to its biology as a cephalopod, to breathe as well- the ambient moisture would make it easier for a creature that's got a more aquatic ancestry to breathe, as it resembles its native environment., anyway, this young lady pushed me down and proceeded to kick the creature back.
Immediately I pulled out my dagger, as it was too close to use the disruptor with sufficient accuracy and safety; there was a screech as this young beauty booted the creature in the body segment, not the tentacles, and sent it flying into a tree-branch… just following the shriek, the creature seemed to shoot out razor-tipped tentacles from its body in a form of attack. These things lanced out towards us, much like energy-projectile weapons I've seen in defending my home country, and with a flash of my blade, I severed a number of them. Then I went on the attack- my mind overridden by the "fight or flight" response, as humans sometimes call it; and since the animal was immobilized, I proceeded to gut the darn thing, first with a downward sweep of my dagger- right from cone tip of the creature to the tentacles… I split it, top to bottom.
It was then, as the combat instinct flushed from my system, that I realized this beauty I'd met was now gazing at me with shocked wonder, and I then comprehended exactly why: I was wounded, there was a mark of green blood on my face, marking me from part of a slash from the tip of one of the severed appendages of this cephalopod monster we'd been fighting… she picked up the dead animal part, and put it into a kind of "traveling bag" that females tend to carry, and then offered to take me to a sanctuary.
As we left the forest for her to take me to a local sanctuary, I saw, out of the corner of my eye, the creature move, just a twitch, then two others came over to assist it in getting off the branch it'd been impaled upon, and whirling around, I aimed my disruptor pistol, set the blast to repeating fire, and pulled the trigger… the result was like a submachine gun's fire and rate as well as angles, and the black long-haired beauty watched as the creatures disintegrated alive on the spot where they stood- their atoms literally tore apart, and their agonized shrieks were heard loud and clear as the beings died for their attack on us! I knew then that I'd endeared myself to the locals who'd seen this; more an execution than any battle, though., hence I found it to be incredibly empting inside.
Something touched me then, I'm not sure at all what, but I found myself thinking that I'd acted an awful lot like I was some sort of "god", dealing out life and death in equal measure; and to be honest, I felt a little sick inside- which was odd for me. Now, normally I haven't the slightest problem wiping out the entire inhabitants of any planet or realm that so much as defies my people's ambitions, or sometimes my own to protect my people, which I think is my deepest drive in my personality, hence my dominant one. Something I think Nietzsche would say puts me on a throne… I don't know, but nor do I really care, aside from academic accuracy. What I mean is that he'd say that the drive to protect is my dominant drive, the "master drive" in me, and is a trait like his sense of a lion, a "blonde beast" as he'd describe it.
As I walked to the home this young woman was aiding me in getting to, I learned from her that this black-skinned beauty's name was Kendra Young, she started to talk to me, but I revealed almost nothing of myself as we traveled; however, she was intrinsically curious as to why I bled green, instead of red, blood. The bloodflow was almost completely quenched by the time I arrived at the local stronghold; and as soon as I was in, she proceeded to knock me to the floor, bind my hands in some metal cuffs, and strip me of my weapons! Initially I was shocked, but my training in the Romulan Fleet came back to me, and I understood that their first goal would be to ascertain who, and more importantly, what, I am, and why I'd arrived on their doorstep… "Focus on the job, and all becomes clear…" I remembered from a summary of another element of terran culture. As I remember from watching episodes of Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen's telecasts, he seems to have said, if I remember correctly, that Nietzsche said "I can endure any "how" if I only understand the "why".", so this restraint session, it was really nothing; and was entirely to be expected.
In reality, I somewhat admired her for her trickery, and her sneaky behavior in this: getting me suckered into a sense of security, then knocking me to the floor, putting her knee into my backside, and binding my hands behind my back before removing my combat gear and then, and only then, lifting me up to my feet and bringing me to a chair to further question me… she'd fit right in in the Tal Shiar's interrogation squads; iff, and only iff, someday soon, Earth is absorbed into the Romulan Star Empire, that is!
I quite understood what was going on here: you befuddle the prisoner by mixing in elements of compassion, sugary, if you please, with elements of heavy-handed treatment and both medical care and food/drink, non-drugged, but you play on their connections; that was her whole operation- and once she saw my ears and facial crests, things got pretty weird then, let me tell you!
It was right about then that I saw the two young women who'd been fighting monsters over by the cliff come into the house; and in offhanded comments, I overheard them talking about the creatures, something they seem to call "baffles" for some reason that I don't have the foggiest idea thereof, the blonde was talking with the brunette, and almost immediately all three young women came at me, the brunette, who's name I later learned was "Faith", aimed a battleaxe of a sort at my throat; and to their amazement, I smiled at this, as if "Is this the best you've got?" at the same time as the blonde, who's apparent identity is "Buffy", but whom I later learned is actually "Elizabeth Summers", pressed a piece of pointed wood to my sternum. "Dummy" I thought "is that where you think I'd be fatally injured?" course I didn't reveal to them that my internal anatomy is far different from what they *thought* I'd be like, clearly; which is exactly why I was smiling at them the whole time they tried to threaten me to get information. All the while, ironically, my captoress, Kendra, was making a sandwich… "This's going to be fun!" I thought to myself, at comprehension of the chaos that'd result in the process.
As the day dawned, an older male, approximately in Romulan age, nondescript, perhaps thirties, but in human age, around fifties I'd guess, was greeted at the door… now, my captors had bandaged my facial wound, and I'd had some of the sandwich that Kendra had made, but here's the thing, how they thought I'd eat easily with my hands cuffed behind me is beyond me! He escorted some three young ladies, approximately late teens to early twenties based in their outward appearance into the place- which was rapidly turning into a sanctuary.
Inwardly, I was getting depressed about my lack of ability to carry out my research, until I remembered something I'd found out about the teachings I was interested in, which said "grow where you're planted", now, as part of an imperialistic and colonizing civilization, that attitude fitted right in with me; but I also knew that there'd be profound dangers… my people's diplomacy and espionage operations in the Federation have revealed records of an encounter between a people we Rihannsu have previously vassalized, the Klingons, and the Terran ship "Enterprise" wherein the aforementioned starship was itself kidnapped and almost lost due to the interventions of a wicked spirit, or so the encounter seems to point to it being!
That spirit's agenda, which seemed to be based around endless gladiatorial matches in the vessel, was thwarted when they realized that this violent entity they were dealing with, a truly cruel and abusive mind at that, but a mind without any physical matter making it up, was manipulating them through their emotions.
This again is something that I love about Catholic teaching; its strength, the drive to dominate the emotions… this kind of imperialism deeply appeals to me at the very core of my being, and also on a purely intellectual level as well, but internal development is also crucial to self-defense, which springs from self-control… and it was that very self-control that enabled me to resist the weak attempt at interrogation; did they really think that they could break in a member of the Rihannsu Secret Police and Imperial Family by their amateurish attempt; while they did show extreme potential? But something else about that attitude frightened me, for if I am not a deity, or *the* Deity, then I'm by far *NOT* at the top of the power-scale, hence by and large, *ought* I to be taking such liberties with mocking potential allies? I wondered if that be so, for, our research and simply keeping our "eyes and ears open" has proven to us Romulans that there are things, terrifying creatures out there, far stronger than we can possibly imagine; and some of these do *not* have the best interests of corporeal creatures at heart!
These new girls, some of my "called co-workers" as the faith I'm aspiring to follow would have it put, are apparently named: Kennedy Sandoval, Molly, and Annabelle. Molly has apparently been involved in a lot of sports, for she's got very good muscle-tone, especially in her shoulders, Annabelle is more the academic type, often taking notes, and also rather humble in her approach, that leaves Kennedy Sandoval; who, at least according to the other two of her "classmates", is rather arrogant in her personality, but all three seem to be truly terrified of something they call "the First Evil"- I wonder just how dumb these people really are: they can't find any records of this being anywhere's, but all you have to do is look at an old legend sometimes called "the Fall of Man" to learn who/what they're dealing with… inwardly I'm laughing at them.
Now, here's what I am well and truly terrified of: there are tyrants throughout history, both of Earth and of Romulus, and legends of wizards, and a number of other things; but running through them all is a common thread: a type of "Secretary General" and "drug dealer", who deals not in physical chemicals that can be traced, but in corruption, in "doing what you want, not what's right" kind of thing- and a tyrant would use drugs to disable a resistance… that's what this small band is: a resistance movement! "Am I the venue this thing will use to disable them, somehow?" I asked myself, then it occurred to me to ask another question "Ought I to even be engaged in that sector? After all, running an empire often deals far more with making sure the farms are of adequate quality rather than directly commanding battles… battle itself may indeed be a mere trap, especially when dealing with entirely different solar-systems; which begs the question: is a person their own mini-universe, and totally untouchable to others, aside from things like emotional manipulation? If so, then it's a short trip to Paradise, at least according to the teachings of the Deity I'm convinced is the Source of existence… not the false deity that they're trying to fight- perhaps unwisely." I wondered. Apparently they figured out I'm not what they thought I was: according to them, vampires don't bleed green blood, and I'm too ordered in mind to be a 'demon', both kinds of "hostile local monsters", as I interpreted the matter.
"This is a colony, and those are the locals who're resisting the colonization efforts." I summed up to their mentor, the older man, whose name apparently was/is Rupert Giles.
"Pretty much." Was his reply "You could think of it that way, and we here are a kind of local militia defending this "Plantation settlement", if you please." he said, a slight dip of his head with the last three words of that sentence.
"Explains the weapons and the security concerns." I replied.
"Yes, though in this republic, just about everybody's allowed weapons." was his response.
"Apparently few need that many, though." I said, chuckling and shaking my head in astonishment.
All in all, I'd bonded with him, but I really wondered about my choice to keep secret the knowledge of who/what they were about to fight; if indeed that faith is correct, what I'd be doing is sacrificing them to buy myself the additional time to carry out my own studies… that's something my people haven't the slightest objections to, due to our history of having been attacked by first the Orion Pirates in an effort to gain slaves, then the Klingons; the end result is that we tend to "shoot first and ask questions later"; but perhaps that's unwise., especially if we're the dominant power, then any expansion ought to be done not with the gun but with the settler, using the firearm only to defend the colony and colonist, and the settler to annex new lands… aided by finances.
I'll have to look into that further, as must I pursue further training, but also I must be careful, elsewise I'll end up easy meat for a true monster, and from my studies of this planet's history, it's had more than its fair share thereof!
End Chapter 1 Author's Notes: Well, what do you think? Oh, and this is going to be continued, so stay tuned, as there's more to come yet.