Star Trek: The Next Generation – Souvenirs

Written By: Commander Cody CC-2224

CHAPTER 52

Chaplain Garland loaded and manually cocked a Kalashnikov AKM and handed that strange firearm over to Elizabeth. No doubt she was absolutely perplexed by the firearm itself. Aside from the perplexity, she was also afraid. Because she was very much afraid of war, especially battle, she almost perceived it as another killing machine.

"What is this?" asked Elizabeth rather curiously in a baffled manner, eyes widened, as she stole one long curious glance at the Kalashnikov firearm she was now holding in the palms of both her hands.

"AK-47," replied Chaplain Garland. "AKM, technically. Also known as the Kalashnikov. Made by some firearms inventor from Russia, probably back in '47, if I recall correctly, assuming my memory ain't too screwed. Don't a-bother with the stupid Russky acronym."

Elizabeth tried to pronounce these strange words foreign to her native English tongue. "Ka-lash-ni-…" Then her mind wandered around a bit over the strangeness and uniqueness of the firearm itself. "Strange…" she said to herself rather quietly.

"Long history, darlin'," the Chaplain said to her rather briskly. "What's gonna matter right now is its operation, as we now face before our very eyes the imminent possibility of those damn Borg drones barging in without so much as a simple invitation and gutting us out from flesh to bone and head to toe with their 'oh-so-cool' and 'oh-so-special' implants. That gun's so damn simple, even a five-year-old can fire it."

"I'm five years old," William put in rather precociously, in the hopes of being able to get a taste of firing the weapon.

But the Chaplain didn't think that William's life should be in unnecessary danger from injury due to firearm accidents, since he of all ordinary people, shipboard chaplains included, was entrusted to his charge. "Sorry, man," the Chaplain had to tell him. "I don't see the need for being blamed for another Temporal Prime Directive violation." He gave the matter some thought, though he couldn't let William handle the Kalashnikov. "Damn myself if I ever let that fact slip from my jabbering mouth," he muttered to himself in frustration. "Actually, I think I may have changed my mind a bit," he said to himself with a mischievous grin.

Now William was starting to act just like his eldest sister. "I wanna go!" he pleaded. "Please?"

"It's a dangerous world outside the relative shelter of this Guest Quarters," the Chaplain only replied to him half-cynically.

But even William would not let himself be put down by the Chaplain's reply. "Ben and Lissie have gone," he told him, hoping that the Chaplain would change his mind. "I would be…"

"…Ashamed to get left out from all the fun, eh?" Garland finished abruptly for him.

William nodded. The Chaplain, however, brushed the whole thing off with a simple little snort.

"William wants to go; I have to accompany him. But at the same time, I can't leave you all here out alone. You're sure you wanna do this, Willy?"

William nodded again, but this time bravely and somewhat determinedly, like his eldest sister. But little Nan begged to differ.

"William, you can't!" Nan scolded her little brother. "Ben and Lissie have gone; you won't be the next! I…I won't let you!" And she clung to William's arm as tight as she could with her little arms, as if trying desperately in her own little way to hold him back from venturing foolishly into danger.

"Hmm…" mused Chaplain Garland, seeming somewhat amused over the scene of fuss that little Nan was making over William. "I guess even his second-to-the-eldest sister has her won little objections to make…" Then he decided to talk to Nan.

"Nan, you remember being in the entertainment holodeck?" he asked Nan.

Nan nodded her little head. But it was just an affirmative nod made by the fact that she either had little to no control of her situation or that the situation that she was in was so horrifying that anything that the Chaplain was suggesting would help her and her friends.

"I need ya to be my little helmslady."

Nan immediately widened her eyes. There was probably some shred of gleam of excitement in them, too, because this would be the very first time that little Nan would play a crucial part in the battle of the Corellian Sector against the dastardly Borg.

"What about the Reverend?" squeaked Elizabeth.

"I'll think o' somethin' on the way," promised Chaplain Garland in a rather casual manner, as if he always had something for someone to do up his clerical garb sleeve.

Then he turned to William. "So….you be a-comin', Willy?" he asked him. "Or not?" he added with a descent of inflection in his tone of voice.

William nodded his little head.

"That's gotta be the bravest, if not the most foolish-est nod I've ever seen before," Chaplain Garland remarked unto himself.

Chaplain Garland prepared and loaded the firearms as Elizabeth took sheer curious notice at him. The Chaplain plopped a heavy duffel bag and unzipped the bag in a very prompt manner. The duffel bag was cylindrical in shape, with a length of three feet and width of two feet, with a height two-thirds the height of little Nan. Then the Chaplain roughly set a Russian RPD light machine gun on the desk chair, cocked, and un-cocked it to test the weapon for its readiness.

Elizabeth was shocked, and so was little Nan, as she peered along with Elizabeth to get a glimpse of some heavy machine gun ammo. Never before in their lives did they ever get a glimpse of a firearm that was so advanced in exterior and interior design than the Brown Bess. Its design was almost "skeletal". The firearm did certainly have the look and feel of a firearm that just came out of the assembly line, and it had a rather "cheap" look to it; but that that was how most Russian-made firearms had. A firearm like that could almost reflect how a large majority of Russian manufacturers gave so much emphasis on quantity than on quality (as if quality was quite a luxury for Russian firearms manufacturers) when it came to manufacturing hundreds upon hundreds of war products. The RPD's "cheapness" also semed to have something to do with lowered maintenance and its associated labor costs, hence the possible underlying reason behind its "simplicity".

The RPD light machine gun was said to be the most efficient light machine gun developed at least five centuries ago back in the U.S.S.R.. Said to be the precursor of most ancient American-made Squad Automatic Weapons (SAWs), it could deliver quite a powerful punch at a high rate of firepower. The RPD saw its inception at the latter part of the Second World War but for some inexplicable reason never entered major production until after the War.

In Chaplain Garland's case the replicated version of the RPD possessed a brand-new look to it, most likely due to its polished maple buttstock and frame, as well as its highly polished metal parts painted in shiny gloss black. Its barrel structure looked like a multi-pole structure of the folded legs of a music stand. The weapon itself did not seem to have much of a hi-tech look and feel that most 21st century soldiers might be accustomed to, but the RPD was hi-tech for its day, even if its Russian manufacturers seemed to be a bit too cheap in their firearms manufacturing back in the Second World War.

Now Chaplain Garland would use this weapon against Borg drones. Because the machine gun itself had the weight of two heavy backpacks filled with college textbooks, the Chaplain would have to treat it as a fire-from-the-hip weapon if he was going to sling the replicated strap over his right shoulder. No doubt the Chaplain had some sort of passing interest in James Cameron's ancient 21st century film of Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines that he derived the idea of how he was going to wield his kickass RPD based on how Terminator wielded a heavy machine gun during a police encounter.

"What…what's all this for?" Elizabeth asked rather worriedly and inquisitively at the same time. "Is it for…" She trailed off, feeling pretty frightened over what Chaplain Garland was going to do next. Was the Chaplain himself going to recklessly lead her and her friend's siblings into imminent peril beyond her eleven-year-old imagination? Was he going to disregard her safety and welfare and that of the siblings of her best friend? Was the whole stint being made just to satisfy the Chaplain's own personal ego, that is, was the whole stint ego-driven? If such were the cases, then Elizabeth had better brace herself from what was to come and look after Nan and William as best as she could for her age if the Chaplain were to take things a little too far from what she and Nan and William could tolerate for their young ages.

"Well, it seems…that young William here…has as much eagerness for fame and glory at such a young age…as I do for kicking some cyborg ass," the Chaplain replied rather casually.

"And pray, what do you mean, Reverend?" Elizabeth pressed further.

"It means, sweetie, that we're gonna make a run for the Main Bridge and see if we can surprise the Borg outta their wits, since there don't seem to be nobody else available to handle the job," said the Chaplain. "All of everyone's got their hands full already trying to keep those dastardly drones at bay on board this frickin' vessel."

"But…with you being a Reverend…, wouldn't Scripture have anything to say about…killing?" Elizabeth asked rather curiously with a grimace in her pretty face. The reason for such a question being asked, notwithstanding mere curiosity, pretty much lay behind the type of religious background that Elizabeth was brought up in during the early days of her childhood. Back in her day most Christians in general, not all, but most, held some sort of a doctrine that had something to do with "turning the other cheek" when it came to confronting one's foes. Accordingly this doctrine originated from one of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth to his followers, and supposedly the reasoning behind such a seemingly pacifistic doctrine lay in the historical assertion that it would have been futile to resist the semi-tyranny of Roman rule. Of course the early Christians, taking such a teaching so literally to the point of loss of physical resistance against oppression and persecution, emphasized the meaning to imply kindness not only to their friends but also to their foes as well, and such a teaching was even extended to include doing no harm to even one's worst enemies, even the ones that posed a serious threat to the existence of humanity.

It was probably thanks to the Just War doctrines of St. Augustine of Hippo that some Christians later on toned down what would have been perceived in the minds of secular people as the most pacifistic doctrine ever taught in human and Church history by the Son of God. Some Christians took on the viewpoint of fighting for one's convictions and one's country, and even one's independence, just like in the case of Chaplain Garland. This probably spurred the Crusade campaigns of the 12 and 13th centuries and possibly the religious wars that devastated most of Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries, when both Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians were fighting each other to death, all in the name of religion and their convictions, hence the Wars for Religion. If the teaching of "turning the other cheek" was taken to an extent by the American colonists during the American War for Independence, it would probably be unlikely that the American colonists would have won the war. Then came the American Confederate army general Robert E. Lee, who demonstrated a shining example of kindness even to the enemies he had to fight, but that was because he was fighting fellow Americans and not foreign enemies

Minor controversy arose among Christian theologians over this particular doctrine, and some Christian lay people decided to just simply disregard the teaching altogether, or just simply treat the doctrine as a whole as just something applicable to peacetime but probably not to wartime situations, due to the dangers of lack of personal vigilance against the enemies of God, Church, and humanity. All in all, because Elizabeth, being eleven years of age, was not particularly well-versed in the nuances of biblical philosophy, she had the impression her mindset of taking Scripture somewhat literally was a bit contradicted. And she certainly was going to have a hell of a "contradiction" from the Chaplain himself.

Chaplain Garland only chuckled lightly to himself over the very question that Elizabeth was asking him. "You know, I gave some thought to that since my seminary days, but then I thought, the hell with it," he said. "Perhaps it ain't God's way, but if it were, I wouldn't be a whole lot surprised if most of the good people died off the face of the earth…possibly the universe…as a result."

Chaplain Garland carefully loaded a single ammo belt into the left hand side of the RPD belt feed. This he did before resuming his semi-soliloquy.

""God gave each and everyone of us the instinctual means of survival; I say we make use of 'em."

"But, Reverend…what does this have to do with risking our lives to get to the Bridge?" asked Elizabeth.

Chaplain Garland finally cocked his machine gun. "You're gonna find out soon enough, darlin'."

Then he thought of more things to explain to Elizabeth further. "You might as well ponder on the seeming hopelessness of the situation," the Chaplain continued a bit tactlessly. "But you know what, Lizzie? If you and I are gonna die for the name of Christ, we might as well do it while creating as many casualties as we can against the goddamn enemies of Christ." With that, donned on his Kevlar vest, then picked up his hand-held TEC-DC9 automatic pistol and cocked it for readiness. He also double-checked that his machine gun was strapped on his right side is loaded. He seemed more than ready to kick ass, that's for sure.

"I don't know," said Elizabeth in a rather uncertain manner. "Sometimes…I just can't help remembering our Lord saying something about…loving our enemy…"

"Well, that sort of thing depends greatly on your point of view, sweetheart," the Chaplain put in right away in his attempt to remove whatever doubt about fighting for one's life out of the bottom of Elizabeth's uncertain mind. "Besides," he continued, "The Borg ain't all that cuddly and lovable, if ya think about it."

Chaplain Garland poised himself directly at the Guest Quarters entranceway, which now led to the way out, from the temporary safety of the Guest Quarters to the dangerous and battle-ridden corridors of the Borg-plagued Enterprise. "Stick close together," he commanded. He then clicked back his strapped-up machine-gun. "Time for some thrilling heroics."

All four immediately took their hurried leave from the Guest Quarters, bracing themselves in the face of imminent danger of capture and assimilation.


Chaplain Garland, Elizabeth, Nan, and William raced through the crowded battle-laden corridors in search of the main turbolift leading up to the Main Bridge. Nan accidentally tripped over her gown's skirt, so the Chaplain was forced to pick her up and put her over his burly shoulders as a result. This was while he had to hold Nan and shoot Borg drones, too. Elizabeth grabs hold of William's left arm.

The halls were filled with Starfleet personnel shooting Borg drones with replicated weapons and holographic ammo.

Chaplain Garland heard a clicking sound. He had run out of ammo.

"Lizzie! Unzip my duffel bag and gemme another bandolier!" he yelled in the midst of the deafening crossfire.

"Where?" screamed Elizabeth frantically.

"Left side, top right!" the Chaplain shouted back rather heatedly.

Fumbling around in a desperate attempt to get the Chaplain's ammo, Elizabeth managed to find a zipper. She streaked over the zipper line, ripping the bag partially open.

"Cylinder one!" shouted the Chaplain.

While Elizabeth was busy plunging her dainty hands into the ammo collection, Chaplain Garland pulled out a high-capacity TEC-DC9 sidearm and fired the weapon at a couple of approaching Borg drones. Bullets started popping at high velocity and at such a higher rate of fire. He unleashed several rounds until the Borg drones had their parts flying and dropped dead. Elizabeth, Nan, and William instinctively covered their ears. In the midst of the ultra-loud gung-ho gun battle, Elizabeth handed the Chaplain his machine gun drum magazine.

"Thanks, lady!" the Chaplain replied gratefully but hastily.

Chaplain Garland ejected the empty magazine and shoved the loaded one in. Then he exposed himself in full view of the Borg drones and immediately started opening fire at the drone with several bursts from his RPD machine gun strapped on his right side, just like from his favorite ancient 21st century movie Terminator 3, shooting the Borg drones. His gun made short work of the Borg drones as they started getting mowed down. Elizabeth instinctively dropped the Kalashnikov and covered both her ears because the gunshots were so loud for her, as she was nearest the Chaplain, who was at this point firing the weapon. Any drones that were in the way of Chaplain Garland and his temporal charges were reckoned thoroughly.

"Clear!" the Chaplain called out.

Chaplain Garland and the children then headed off to another corridor. He shot Borg like crazy with his machine gun wherever he goes. Friendly fire was also an imminent and often scary possibility, but the Chaplain did the best he could to allay that possibility, much to the relief of some of the crew personnel the group managed to pas by in feverish haste.

The Chaplain then herded the children into the main turbolift and they were all off. Elizabeth, Nan, and William seemed to be slightly enjoying the thrill of the ride. Elizabeth found herself looking up rather obsessively, tilting her head.

Then suddenly a violent jolt nearly shook the little group of four off their feet. The turbolift experienced a shutdown after only ascending eight levels up. To make matters worse, the lights went out.

"Aw, damn," muttered the Chaplain disappointedly. Most likely he was just disappointed, rather than scared, though tinges of fear were creeping all around him over the nightmare of being trapped in the turbolift while the fight was going on. Perhaps he was foolish to even suggest taking the turbolift in the midst of perilous situations, but wanting to get things done quickly, he decided that the turbolift was the fastest route.

But with fast routes came the risks of being trapped. But his reasons for taking the turbolift were beyond simply to take fast routes. He was only half-familiar with the ship, as he had only been on the Enterprise for only a few months, and he thought the turbolift was the familiar route to him. He also knew full well that if he had to ask some stray crew personnel, they would be asking too many questions as to why he had three children with him, of whom many would be considering them liabilities in his quest to save the ship.

Chaplain Garland wasted no time. Fishing out a glow-stick, he managed to find the manual lever that removed the roof. Turning it counterclockwise, he managed to pry open a roof panel downward. The top part of the panel revealed little ladder steps, which was feasible for turbolift maintenance crew.

"I'll go first," said the Chaplain. "That way, if I manage to reach the top first, I can help you all up one at a time when you're like a foot below. All right."

Elizabeth nodded her head in agreement. So did Nan and William.

"All right. Let's get to it."

Chaplain Garland took the first ladder step up to the roof of the main turbolift itself. When he got up the roof he looked around. He managed to find the ladder of the main turbolift shaft, which was right next to the open ceiling panel of the main turbolift.

"Found it, folks!" the Chaplain called.

Elizabeth made her climb up from the disabled turbolift and onto the turbolift roof. Chaplain Garland helped her up. Nan and William followed next and the Chaplain lent the same assistance to the two little mites that he lent to Elizabeth.

"Gonna be a long climb," warned the Chaplain. With his heavy duffel bag carried over his shoulders, and the durable black tough leather straps arranged over his shoulder along with his heavy machine gun, the Chaplain became the first to make his upward climb up the turbolift shaft ladders. . Then Elizabeth, Nan, and William followed suit.

The children had never witnessed someone who could tote a heavy duffel bag over his shoulders while making such a long strenuous climb up a long ladder. To them it was such an an astonishing sight; one that in their day was to be found almost only in legendary bible stories. If they ever witnessed redcoats marching on the streets of Williamsburg, the only gear they carried were tent cloth, food, clothes, and some Brown Bess ammunition along with a measure of gunpowder. The Chaplain, on the other hand, was toting several pounds worth of machine gun ammo and small arms and their ammo components. This heavy weight was almost similar to the standard 70-lb gear of the 21st century American Army soldier or Marine.

"That backpack's so heavy, how are you able to carry it?" asked an astonished Elizabeth.

"Yes, it looks so heavy," said Nan. "I don't think Ben can carry a bag like that all by himself."

"That's not exactly true," said Elizabeth. Ben's so strong. And it's not because Lissie, or Mother and Father said so."

"Well, folks, I was in the army," said the Chaplain quite bluntly. "That's what the Maquis did to fresh recruiters. They'd force 'em to tote 70 lbs of gear and make ya run ten bloody miles, upward and downward 'round the rough dirt training grounds. That went true even with steep slope-y areas as wellI went a-huffin' and a-huffin' till I couldn't huff no more 'fore I collapsed on the rough dirt ground, totally exhausted from carrying 70 lbs of shit gear. In fact, my exhaustion was so great that they literally had to send in a couple of emergency response personnel, medics, in this 'ticular sense, to revive me using CPR. Mind ya, I was in the habit of giving my utmost to his Highest."

"What does that mean?" asked little Nan, not quite sure as to what the Chaplain meant by that.

"Means that I was in the habit of giving my best. To God. Leastways from my point of view."


Battle Bridge, U.S.S. Enterprise

On the view-screen, Picard and the bridge personnel witnessed gravimetric torpedoes pummeling the Constitution Class starship.

"Reagan's been hit!" exclaimed Lt. Bates.


Chaplain Garland, Elizabeth, Nan, and William were resuming their climb up the main turbolift shaft leading up to the Enterprise's Main Bridge. Their voices echoed across the huge, dark empty shaft which was illuminated only by the Chaplain's glow-stick hanging and swaying at the right-side pocket of his formal black slacks.

"Do you know any songs?" asked the Chaplain. His question was for Elizabeth.

"Um…maybe?" asked Elizabeth, like she was asking a question. Her answer carried a tone of great uncertainty as regards to her song repertoire. "Why?" she asked with her inflection down. "I'm scared. I don't feel like singing…at this time…"

"Um…maybe a little song can lighten up our spirits," said the Chaplain. He grunted as he got hold of another ladder rung. "Maybe…maybe, just to make you and the little people feel better, maybe you can pick a song that you're familiar with. It's also because…of the bloody Temporal Prime Directive."

The Minstrel Boy?" asked Elizabeth. It was the song that the Chaplain taught her during her counseling sessions with him.

"Too sad," said the Chaplain. "Gonna put us to sleep. Save it for the funerals. Come on. Pick something…somewhat…lively. A hymn, maybe? One that you know in your church services?"

Elizabeth decided to give the matter some thought before she came to a decision of her own. Elizabeth was used to being bossed around by her older sister Annabelle about almost everything. Now she could choose what she wanted...sung.

"How about…oh, maybe...'Oh God Our Help In Ages Past'?" she asked the Chaplain.

"Ya mean…the Watts hymn?" asked the Chaplain in turn. The name of Watts was a reference to the hymn's 18th century hymn composer, Isaac Watts, known as the father of English hymnody. Most likely Elizabeth chose that song because it made her feel at home with the traditions of her own time.

"Is there anything wrong about it?" asked Elizabeth, curious over the Chaplain's delay which to her would almost seem like an inexplicable hesitancy to have the hymn sung.

"Um…no. Not at all, darlin'," replied the Chaplain. "It's an impeccable hymn." He cleared his throat a mite nervously. "I'm sure you folks, aside from Elizabeth know it, I presume?"

"I think so," said William. "I'm…I'm not sure, really."

"I couldn't remember everything in it," said little Nan.

"Well, I can sing one of 'em verses, the first verse, I mean. Then you, Elizabeth, can lead the rest in it. How's that sound?"

"Whatever," said William.

"Yes, please," said Nan.

In response the Chaplain officially began the song, sticking to the G Major key.

O God, our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Our shelter from the stormy blast,

And our eternal home.

"Okay, Elizabeth, you sing the second verse now," coaxed the Chaplain.

Elizabeth was already starting on the second verse. But by the time she got to the second line, Nan and William, and even the Chaplain were following, too. Perhaps they wanted to speed things up a bit while singing a capella.

Under the shadow of thy throne,

Still may we dwell secure

Sufficient is thine arm alone,

And our defense is sure.


On board the U.S.S. Ronald Reagan

The Reagan was being pummeled by a barrage of gravimetric torpedoes. It was sustaining heavy damage as the torpedoes ripped through the saucer section, creating huge gashes and causing several structural areas to fly apart.

The ship's captain, Reginald Keene, orders the ship to be evacuated. On board the vessel crew personnel and a handful of civilians were being rushed across the corridors from their quarters to the escape pods and the shuttlecraft. Minutes later escape pods were jettisoned from the saucer section and whatever shuttlecraft stowed in the hangar bays were being launched from the Constitution class starship. Included in the evacuation were He decided to stay on board to plot a collision course against the secondary lead cube. Fairly incoherent comm radio chatter emanated across the bridge.

Then a Hispanic voice came on the comm. It was Capt. Emilio Sanchez of the U.S.S. Womack.

"Capt. Sanchez of the U.S.S. Womack," came the voice. "We can beam you out immediately."

"Can't," replied Capt. Keene. "I've got within myself the obligation to continue the fight to the very end. I'm setting a collision course to the secondary Borg cube."

"We can beam you out when your ship is a few meters to that cube, Captain. I can have my ship in beaming range of yours."

"Do it, then. At my signal."

Capt. Keene manipulated the helm controls and kept the vessel's directions to the Borg cube. It took him at least a couple of minutes because of his meticulous way of making absolute certainty that the coordinates were programmed into the helm computer. After making the necessary changes in the ship's course, he sat back in the captain's chair and "enjoyed the ride", hoping that if the Borg fired on his ship too early for him to have his ship rammed into the cube, and that assuming Capt. Sanchez was present he would be beamed out early enough before he went down with the ship. At this point he would have to take Capt. Sanchez at his word.

At this point the Womack was cruising toward the Reagan.

"Faster," ordered Sanchez. "We've got to get to that ship in time. Can you get in sync with the Reagan?"

"Barely," replied the helmsman.

"What is the Reagan's current cruising speed?"

"At this point, full impulse."

"Boost power to the impulse engines," ordered Sanchez.

By a little bit the Womack was catching up with the Reagan.

"In range?" asked Sanchez.

"Yes, sir," replied the helmsman.

"Keep the ship in sync," Sanchez ordered again. "Get ready to make a steep bank the moment after we've beamed the captain out of his ship."

In about two to three minutes the Reagan was about 800 meters at the secondary Borg cube. Capt. Keene then barked out his single word order.

"Now!" he bellowed.

Capt. Keene was beamed out of his Bridge. Seconds later the Constitution class starship crashed directly into the secondary lead Borg cube. The starship exploded into a giant fireball, creating some damage on the Borg vessel, but not too catastrophic to the Borg vessel itself.


And now for an overdose of Author's Notes:

A/N (1): I was trying to measure the length and width of a real duffel bag. However, I could only make rough measurements, as opposed to exact measurements, since I had to do without a measuring tape and measure the length and width of the duffel bag with my feet. Literally.

A/N (2): Minimal description of the RPD light machine gun was from Wikipedia dot org. Some of its skeletal info was from the same website as well.

A/N (3): How Chaplain Garland wields the RPD is similar to how Terminator wielded his machine gun in Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. It's very possible that Chaplain Garland had a passing interest in James Cameron's Terminator movies, especially Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines. He derives the idea of how he's going to wield his Russian RPD light machine gun based on how Terminator wielded a heavy machine gun during a police encounter. Originally I was going to have Chaplain Garland wield an MG-42 Berlin heavy machine gun, because I thought it would look cool, but after watching a couple of YouTube videos on the MG-42 being fired, that particular idea would look unrealistic from an objective viewpoint because (1) the machine gun is heavy (hence being called "heavy machine gun"), and though it is implied throughout the story that the Chaplain has a pretty excellent muscular build, a machine gun like the MG-42 would be too cumbersome for him to tote around, especially that he is toting an estimate of 70 lbs worth of machine gun and small arms ammo, and (2) the Chaplain would have great difficulty aiming it, even while shooting from the hip, like in Terminator 3, due to the strong recoil. So basically that's how I came about having my Chaplain character shoot a replicated Russian RPD.

A/N (4): James Cameron's T-3 film is "ancient" from a 24th century viewpoint and standard.

A/N (5): I was visiting the US Marine Corps museum in Quantico. And I came across this heavy backpack that was said to weigh at least 70 lbs. I gave it a try, and man oh man, it was a hell of a lot heavier than the backpack I carry with my college textbooks; I thought it was a lot heavier than my mattress, possibly heaver than the patibulum that Jesus of Nazareth toted on his way to Calvary. (This is based on the premise that Jesus was carrying only the patibulum instead of the entire cross. C.f. Murder at Golgotha, by Ian Wilson). Not even me, in perfect health, could even carry that patibulum. AN d the idea of hiking several miles with 70 lbs of gear was "unthinkable"!

A/N (6): The phrase "my utmost to his Highest" by Oswald Chambers. It's very possible that after Chaplain Garland either read the book, skimmed through the book and had a chance encounter of the phrase itself, or just simply researched the book on the LCARS he decided to make a pun out of that phrase to keep up the humor in an otherwise tense situation in climbing the turbolift shaft (for the children's sakes); otherwise, how could he quote the phrase without even reading the book, much less skimming through it or researching it on the LCARS?

A/N (7): The hymn Oh God Our Help In Ages Past is sung to the tune of "St. Anne", with the CM Meter. (Text: Isaac Watts, 1674-1748 – Music: Attr. To William Croft; harm. By W.H. Monk – Tune: St. Anne – Meter: CM) (.)

A/N (8): Capt. Emilio Sanchez looks like Commander Chakotay in the Voyager series.

A/N (9): After reading an excerpt concerning the philosophy of "turning the other cheek", feel free to post a comment if you have serious issues with the teaching and my interpretation of it.

And now the Author would like to pose a rather intriguing question concerning the first two verses of the hymn O God Our Help in Ages Past and how they relate to the situation of Chaplain Garland, Elizabeth, Nan, and William climbing up the turbolift shaft ladder.

BONUS QUESTION:

It seems at random that the first and second verses of the hymn O God Our Help In Ages Past are sung, primarily because singers almost always start the first verse, then the second verse (in numerical order). However, there seems to be more behind the choices of the first verse and second verse being sung by Chaplain Garland and the children in the scene where they are making their long dangerous climb up the turbolift shaft ladder in low-level lighting, and it has something to do with the verses being appropriate for the predicament the group is in. Why do you think those two verses are appropriate for their situation?

Because the Author would like to encourage freedom of debate when discussing over his chapters, he would like you to post your answer guesses in the Reviews. If some of you are rather uncomfortable with having your answers posted in the Reviews for all to see, you're more than welcome to post your answers in his Fan Fiction PM Box. The answer will be posted in another "Chapter" after the story is finished. But even if the answer is there at the very end of the story, try to guess what the meaning behind the verses is before you even jump to story's end.