Richard Silk BIO

[Richard Silk]

Richard comes from a long line of Starfleet officers; it’s been a family tradition for 5 generations. The quintessentially English captain, he drinks tea (“PG Tips, hot, with milk”) and has been known to imbibe in whiskey as well (single malt and yes “you DO add water… no don’t drown it… good god man you’re a butcher not a bartender”…).

In 2268 Silk was on patrol on the Klingon border and during a routine survey mission of a dwarf star he was ambushed by three D7 Battlecruisers, in the subsequent engagement Richard threw the USS Donald Mallard, a Constitution class cruiser, into a close approach of the dwarf star with the hope of plotting an unpredictable escape course, he and his crew succeeded all too well, the combination of the weapons fire, the high gravity and warp speed engagement produced an interphase event between this universe and the “Mirror Universe” which they were thrown into.

The Mallard “Ducky” to her crew, was heavily damaged in the crossover, and casualties were high, nearly a third of the crew dead when the inertial dampeners in engineering failed, the bridge fared somewhat better, and only suffered the loss of his chief science officer Commander Tolek and executive officer Commander Davidson.

During the journey, quest, to escape the mirror universe, the Mallard and her crew rescued a Klingon engineer Anouph, who proved to be a genius and was largely able to repair the damage to the Mallard, with the help of the remaining crew, but they were at that time unable to cross back to the Prime universe. The Mallard kept a low profile, trying to avoid contact with the “Empire” and it was only when they were able to intercept and decode classified transmissions from the ISS Enterprise, regarding work being done by the Vulcan Scientist Tolek on interphase transmission of large bodies to the Enterprises executive officer that they had hope of being able to return.

Tolek and his family were being held on Space Station Regula-7 and Silk proposed a daring raid, to both destroy the research, the empire could not be allowed to gain access to the prime universe, and rescue Tolek and his family.

The raid was a success, and Tolek and his family were rescued from the space station, however, it became clear they were now being hunted by the Empire, it was also clear that Tolek’s research was incomplete, and it was only when he was able to combine the research with the sensor readings from the Mallard’s crossover with his research that Tolek was able to formulate a plan to allow the Mallard and his family to escape the Empire… but to succeed they would have to let the Empire find them… it was only with the combinations of the intense gravitational conditions and massive energies involved in starship combat that they would be able to recreate the interphase event.

Eventually they were able to “lure” three Heavy Cruisers, the Hood, Valiant and Yorktown into the close proximity of another dwarf star, that they were able to attempt another “escape manoeuvre” this one designed to allow them to crossover. The best laid plans of Vulcans, Klingons, Caitians and men were thrown asunder when as part of the close approach in the heat of battle, they not only achieved crossover but also accidently breakaway, and were flung into the future, unable to return but at least without the catastrophic casualties of the initial event.

They were flung into a time when the cold war with the Klingons had become hot and a new fearsome enemy threatened to suck the very individuality of the sentient species Silk and the crew of the Mallard had sought to protect and a time when every ship, no matter how old was precious. The Mallard was hastily refitted to be useful and Silk and his crew were thrown back into the fray. Starfleet initially appointed Lt. Cmdr. Laine as his liaison officer, who now serves as his Chief of Security, Anouph remains his Chief Engineer, Tolek his family settled on Vulcan agreed to serve as his Chief Science Officer and his Executive Officer is now Commander Sitamu, who was his 2nd officer on board the Mallard during the initial crossover.

Richard is now retains his current command, the USS Jethro Gibbs, even though he is nominally a member of the admiralty, “I’m a starship Captain, not a damn desk driver”, he prefers to retain his title as a ships master, and so remains "Captain".

Comments welcome - I want to flesh out Anouph's backstory more as well

[mark (James Bailey)]

I am sure I commented on this!! I think I will have to read it again now that I have read three others I am forgetting where and how your captain saved the day

I will try to read it again tonight but I do remember really liking it.

[Elric71]

Ahh, an NCIS fan I see

I like the idea of the crossover by accident, then the return by design, but in true ST form, something f's up and they end up in the future.

All in all, nice job and very entertaining

Q'aplaH!
Aaron

[Richard Silk]

Elric71 wrote:

Ahh, an NCIS fan I see

Indeed :> something that my HR department is not so fond off; apparently "the gibbs smack" is not a valid management technique, and rule 9 may not be followed on company premisis...

[Dan (mygod_itsfullofstars)]

Great job! I really enjoyed this. I wasn't totally sure how the mirror universe cross-over was going to work, but I think you handled it nicely.

I'd love to know more about the years in the parallel universe. Sounds like there could be some interesting stories there.

[Richard Silk]

mygod_itsfullofstars wrote:

Great job! I really enjoyed this. I wasn't totally sure how the mirror universe cross-over was going to work, but I think you handled it nicely. I'd love to know more about the years in the parallel universe. Sounds like there could be some interesting stories there.

Thanks! The first one I want to flesh out is my Chief Engineer Anouph

[Shakara Fortal]

I think the first thing you need to figure out is the mirror universe klingon's the same as the prime and if not how do they differ.

[Richard Silk]

Shakara Fortal wrote:

I think the first thing you need to figure out is the mirror universe klingon's the same as the prime and if not how do they differ.

Yeah, I want to be vauge on this, at least as I write it, by the time we get to DS9 its clear that the Klingons are more like the ones we know today but with less restraint... I think the two approaches are:

- KDF would have likely taken over by the Empire, already a servitor race to them, which might explain their more brutal attitude.

- alternatively they could have been unconqured, and just have contempt for komerex tel khesterex and the warriors that became kuve.

For the 2268 world I'm more likely heading in the latter direction with John M Ford Klingons, without the civilising influence of the Orgainan peace treaty.

[Richard Silk]

Minor Mods to align the backstory to the Bible --

Richard comes from a long line of Starfleet officers; it’s been a family tradition for as long as there has been a service, though Silk is the first member to have gained a command of his own.

The quintessentially English captain, he drinks tea (“PG Tips, hot, with milk”) and has been known to imbibe in whiskey as well (single malt and yes “you DO add water… no don’t drown it… good god man you’re a butcher not a bartender”…).

In late 2268 Silk was on patrol on the Klingon border and during a routine survey mission of a dwarf star he was ambushed by three D7 Battlecruisers, in the subsequent engagement Richard threw the USS Mallard, a Constitution class cruiser, into a close approach of the dwarf star with the hope of plotting an unpredictable escape course, he and his crew succeeded all too well, the
combination of the weapons fire, the high gravity and warp speed engagement produced an interphase event between this universe and the “Mirror Universe” which they were thrown into.

The Mallard “Ducky” to her crew, was heavily damaged in the crossover, and casualties were high, nearly a third of the crew dead when the inertial dampeners in engineering failed, the bridge fared somewhat better, and only suffered the loss of his chief science officer.

During the journey, quest, to get back to escape the mirror universe, the Mallard and her crew rescued a Klingon engineer Anouph, who proved to be a genius and was largely able to repair the damage to the Mallard, with the help of the remaining crew, but they were at that time unable to cross back to the Prime universe. The Mallard kept a low profile, trying to avoid contact with the “Empire” and it was only when they were able to intercept and decode classified transmissions from the ISS Enterprise, regarding work being done by the Vulcan Scientist Tolek on interphase transmission of large bodies to the Enterprises executive officer that they had hope of being able to return.

Tolek and his family were being held on Space Station Regula-7 and Silk proposed a daring raid, to both destroy the research, the empire could not be allowed to gain access to the prime universe, and rescue Tolek and his family.


The raid was a success, and Tolek and his family were rescued from the space station, however, it became clear they were now being hunted by the Empire, it was also clear that Tolek’s research was incomplete, and it was only when he was able to combine the research with the sensor readings from the Mallard’s crossover with his research that Tolek was able to formulate a plan to allow the Mallard and his family to escape the Empire… but to succeed they would have to let the Empire find them… it was only with the combinations of the intense gravitational conditions and massive energies involved in starship combat that they would be able to recreate the interphase event.

Eventually they were able to “lure” three Heavy Cruisers, the Hood, Valiant and Yorktown into the close proximity of another dwarf star, that they were able to attempt another “escape manoeuvre” this one designed to allow them to crossover. The best laid plans of Vulcans, Klingons, Caitians and men were thrown asunder when as part of the close approach in the heat of battle, they not only achieved crossover but also accidently breakaway, and were flung into the future, unable to return but at least without the catastrophic casualties of the initial event.

They were flung into a time when the cold war with the Klingons had become hot and a new fearsome enemy threatened to suck the very individuality of the sentient species Silk and the crew of the Mallard had sought to protect and a time when every ship, no matter how old was precious, Admiral Quinn explained to Richard and the crew of the Mallard, as such, The Mallard was hastily refitted to be useful and Silk and his crew were thrown back into the fray, working as part of Project Christopher.

As part of the process of embedding Silk and his crew in 2409 Quinn assigned Lt. Cmdr. Laine as his liaison officer, who now serves as his Chief of Security. Anouph remains his Chief Engineer, Tolek his family settled on Vulcan agreed to serve as his Chief Science Officer and his Executive Officer is now Commander Sitamu, who was his 2nd officer on board the Mallard during the initial crossover.

Richard is now retains his current command, even though he is nominally a member of the admiralty, “I’m a starship Captain, not a damn desk driver”, he prefers to retain his title as a ships master, and so remains Captain.