VST
 Author has written 34 stories for Battlestar Galactica, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser, High Chaparral, Lone Ranger, Adventures of Brisco County, Jr., Elder Scroll series, xXx, Hogan's Heroes, and Virginian. Hi, FF Readers: I'm VST, sometimes known as VStarTraveler. Welcome to my FanFiction page! Information on recent updates, brief summaries of my works, and some related comments follow. Your time spent reading my stories and your reviews or comments (including constructive criticism) are greatly appreciated! RECENT STORY UPDATES OR NEWS: ESV: A Face in the Crowd—Arc 3—Chapter 1 of Uncivil War (starting at Part 15) taking place in Skyrim in the Elder Scrolls universe was published on 7/19/20. Arcs 1 (Parts 1 through 4) and 2 (Parts 5 through 14) are already complete. HH02: Where the Heart Is—Published on 6/23/20, this story was written for the WA Special Places Challenge. F&tGM06—Where the Wind Blows—Story #6: The Man at the Table, was published on 4/25/20 for the WA Mistaken Identity Challenge. On 6/1/20, it was named Runner-up in the competition. The Last Visit—Published on 4/12/20, this is a The Virginian story written in memory of James Drury, the title character. HH: Earning Their Stripes—Written for Forum XIIIc's D-Day Challenge, this comedic parody was published in three parts on 6/6, 6/7, and 6/8/19. While there were no awards for the challenge, it was announced on April 8, 2020, that the story won several awards in the 2020 Papa Bear Awards program for the Hogan's Heroes fandom. See the Awards section (below) for more info. F&tGM04—What Price Gratitude?—Story #8: Voyage of the Mountain Laurel, the final one-shot in this collection, was published on 1/3/20 for the WA Flower Challenge. BG01C—Never in the Nendaran Expanse—This new "lost" episode presented from Apollo's perspective was completed on 11/28/19. Shhh! Don't tell anyone but it's a crossover with the Fafhrd & the Gray Mouser fandom. MY FANDOMS: Classic Battlestar Galactica (1978-79): My classic BSG tales are somewhat similar to the original TV episodes, each a generally self-contained but loosely interconnected story. Our on-screen canon heroes will play a major part in most cases, but it's a big rag-tag fleet so minor canon characters and original, non-canon characters will sometimes be featured, too. All of my Battlestar Galactica stories are complete except as noted below. The recommended reading order is: BG01—SAFE-TY SYS-TEM: A Classic Battlestar Galactica Story Finally, for those who aren't familiar with classic Battlestar Galactica or those who might want to know a bit more about my mindset, there's a brief primer at this link. Also, please see my article, "Battlestar Galactica Explanations," which appears below following the top part of this profile. I've been adding to it as questions arise. Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser: For those who may not be familiar with Fritz Leiber's works, Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser were major characters in many of his stories set in the world of Nehwon (No When, spelled backwards!) between the 1930s and 1980s. Nehwon and the major characters were created in conjunction with his friend Harry Otto Fischer, who contributed to a few stories. Fafhrd and Mouser's various adventures inspired many components of what would become sword and sorcery fantasy-type gaming and generations of fantasy writers. Thanks to FanFiction for setting up the new Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser category in Books for these works. The recommended reading order follows, with all being complete except for the last one. If you're interested in more stories with the boys, please review and let me know. Thanks! F&tGM01—Well Spent in Lankhmar - A Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Adventure A short primer for the fandom blind can be found here. In addition, I've started posting my F&tGM stories on AO3, too, in order to try to build the reader base. The High Chaparral: This was one of my favorite TV westerns from my childhood, and I've found that I still enjoy it today. These stories are complete except as noted, and suggested reading order is: HC01—The Fight For the fandom blind who might be interested in The High Chaparral, there's a short primer here (Note! Spoilers!). For those interested in its relationship to history, please visit The High Chaparral Discussion Forum that was recently opened here on FanFiction. The Lone Ranger: Another of my favorite TV westerns from childhood, sadly the cinematography from the first four seasons of this series and some of the stories do not hold up nearly as well today (changes to color, fewer soundstage transitions, and better action helped in Season 5). However, I still enjoy watching it and love the basic story of the The Lone Ranger and Tonto (and hated the treatment it received in the Hammer & Depp adaptation even while enjoying parts of the movie), so I'll be exploring the fandom from what I hope will be a more adult perspective. LR01—The Summer of '78 - This will be an episodic tale by chapter told in an alternate format from Dan Reid's perspective as he makes what may be his final summer visit before beginning his own profession and from an evaluative perspective by another character many years later. Chapters 1 through 3 are the Cardoza arc, which is now complete. Part 4 is in development. Other standalone chapters or arcs will be added in the future. For those who might be interested, there's a short primer here (spoiler free). The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.: This was a fun, romantic, western/sci-fi series that played on FOX for one season in 1993-1994. Brisco, Bowler, Socrates, and Comet were the regulars, but Dixie, the Professor, Pete, Whip, and others made a number of appearances as Brisco and Bowler hunted down John Bly and his gang in order to bring them to justice. Like too many other FOX series, it was cancelled far too soon. ABCJ01—When Dixie Calls A short primer is available (link). The Elder Scrolls (Skyrim): While I played Oblivion, it's been a while so my stories are focused on Skyrim. My first story for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim game, ESV—A Face in the Crowd, is a first person account of the Dragonborn's adventures as told to his grandson and children. Arcs 1 and 2 are complete, and Arc 3: Uncivil War is now being published. The second story, "ESV—For Want of a "B", focuses on completely different main characters. The first three chapters have been released and will be continued periodically. Hogan's Heroes: This TV series that ran six seasons from 1965 to 1971 has long been one of my favorites. Okay, it's ridiculously improbable and even farcical, but I love it so I've written three stories for it. The first listed below is actually a parody of the farcical nature of the show ("Is that even possible?" Yes! Read it and see!) and stands alone, while the other two are very loosely connected. HH: Earning Their Stripes Wikipedia has a pretty good write-up for the fandom blind. Other FF interests: I've also published some standalone works for the xXx movies with Vin Diesel (see below) and one story for The Virginian TV series (which was loosely based on the book by Owen Wister, the so-called Father of American Western fiction). Based on the lack of interest, I probably won't be returning to the xXx franchise, but may revisit The Virginian someday. Several one season shows that were shelved far too soon also interest me, including Firefly, Ringer, and Space: Above and Beyond. Some other FanFiction story interests include some shows from long ago, including The Wild, Wild West and Lancer. For books, I enjoy fanfiction stories from Ivanhoe and the Scarlet Pimpernel. I occasionally write a few lines of poetry, so I've recently released my first two complete poems on FanFiction for the xXx movie series. The first is called Steady, Ready, or Heady and the second (in chapter 2 of the same collection) is called Hot Buns. Another of my poems is featured (by stanza) in BG01B—A Cold and Silent Night, and a couple of my very short verses appear in BG04A–Dinner Date. Finally, I'm also familiar with and enjoy reading a lot of other shows and major fandoms (like Star Wars, BtVS, HP, and DC characters), but don't really feel the need to add to their lengthy story lists, though I do assist as a beta reader for some of these and others from time to time. While I have a formal beta reader profile, I primarily assist friends from forums in which I'm active. Fandoms for which I've beta-read stories (with varying degrees of input) include: Harry Potter, Guardians of the Galaxy, Gungrave, Monkey Island, Red Dwarf, Stargate SG1, The Addams Family, Star Fox, Phantom of the Opera, and The Lone Ranger. WRITING AWARDS: Some of my stories were written for contests to challenge my writing skills and the following were winners as noted: F&tGM06—Where the Wind Blows—Story #6: The Man at the Table — Runner-up in the 2020 Writers Anonymous Mistaken Identity Challenge. HH: Earning Their Stripes—While not written for a contest, this story was nominated by readers for several awards in the 2020 Papa Bear Awards program for the Hogan's Heroes fandom: HH01—A Schatze in the Dark — First Prize Winner of the Writers Anonymous 2018 Holiday Challenge. While it didn't win, it was also nominated for "Best Short Drama" of 2018 in the 2019 Papa Bear Awards. Many thanks to all who supported the story in the competition. BG02B—Through Other Eyes—Story #4: Retiring — First Prize winner of The Room Forum's 2018 Promptapalooza Redux, Challenge 5. F&tGM06—Where the Wind Blows—Story #2: Weighty Matters — First Prize winner of The Room Forum's 2018 Promptapalooza Redux, Challenge 1. HC02B—Seven Shots—Shot #3: A Most Unintentional Hero — First Prize Winner of the Caesar's Palace October 2017 Monthly Oneshot Contest. HC02B—Seven Shots—Shot #2: Tendrils of the Past — First Place winner in The Plight of the Little Known Fandom's September 2017 Song Challenge. HC02B—Seven Shots—Shot #1: The New Men in Town — First Place winner in The Plight of the Little Known Fandom's August 2017 Song Challenge. F&tGM01—Well Spent in Lankhmar — First Prize winner in The Room forum's 2016 Promptapalooza Challenge 4. F&tGM04—What Price Gratitude?—Story #7: When the Gods Laughed — Winner of the Caesar's Palace Forum's May 2019 Monthy Oneshot Contest. ABCJ02—Coming Things—Story #1: Socrates' Sunday Sleep-in — Winner of the Caesar's Palace February 2019 Monthly Oneshot Contest. F&tGM04—What Price Gratitude—Story #5: Mouser and the Grapevine — Winner of the Caesar's Palace December 2018 Monthly Oneshot Contest. F&tGM06—Where the Wind Blows—Story #3: Hunger — Winner of the Caesar's Palace September 2018 Monthly Oneshot Contest. F&tGM04—What Price Gratitude—Story #3: Searching for a Sign — Winner of the Caesar's Palace February 2018 Monthly Oneshot Contest. REVIEWING: I, VStarTraveler, do solemnly swear to review all the fics I read, regardless of the number of reviews, their age, or anything else. I have joined the review revolution. (If you're a fan fiction writer or reader who feels the same way, please copy and paste in your profile, too. For those wishing to learn more about reviewing, please consider visiting The Room forum.) Since there's no rating system here, reviews are one of the few ways that fanfiction.net has to let aspiring writers know how they are succeeding in connecting with their readers. That's why I've taken the above pledge. When you've finished reading one of my stories (or even a section of it, if you'd prefer), please post a review to let me know what you think about my work, even if it's just a brief word of encouragement to continue or if it's a note of advice on how I might improve. I often try to return the favor for those who have written and submitted stories. In addition to The Room, I also occasionally participate at the Writers Anonymous forum. Like The Room, it actively promotes quality writing and reviewing. I've also begun posting some of my stories on AO3; my username there is the same as here. One of my favorite FF authors noted that receiving feedback may also help an author stay interested in continuing and even completing longer stories. That's a very polite way of saying that stories and fandoms that get more readers and more reviews often (but not always) get more attention from their writers. I really appreciate you reading my stories and your help with the feedback. Thanks so much! Sincerely, VST Following is a short article to explain issues about classic Battlestar Galactica as I've interpreted and depicted them in my works. I may add to it as issues arise in future stories if time allows. BATTLESTAR GALACTICA EXPLANATIONS There were many aspects of classic Battlestar Galactica that were never explored due to the show being canceled after only one season. Therefore, this short narrative is provided to better explain the mindset and reasoning to certain aspects of my classic Battlestar Galactica stories, as well as to provide a bit of background information for those who may not be very familiar with the original series. The Colonials The humans of the story had been brought by the Lords of Kobol to a system of three closely spaced stars with twelve planets that came to be known as the Twelve Colonies. The worlds were terraformed and the people on the various worlds lived in isolation for some time. Eventually, the people developed space flight and began interacting again, and over several millennia, finally reunited as one common people with one common government, but generally with prejudices about their own particular colony being the best. As time passed, they met other races from nearby stars including Cylons, Hasari, Ovions, and Tucanas, among others. When the Cylons began to pressure the Hasari, the humans stepped in to help defend their neighbors, which started a war that was to last for about 1,000 yahrens. The humans began developing large warships that became known as battlestars. One colony, the thirteenth, was separated from the other twelve. Legend says that this group went to a distant shining planet known as Earth. The Cylons For those who may not be familiar with the show, the Cylons were the main enemies of the Colonial peoples. They were a race composed entirely of humanoid-like robots, originally the creation of an earlier reptilian race also known as Cylons. Perhaps Captain Apollo explained it best when he told Boxey in Saga of a Star World: “They're not like us. They're machines created by living creatures a long, long time ago... a race of reptiles called Cylons. After a while the Cylons discovered humans were the most practical form of creature in this system. So they copied our bodies, but they built them bigger and stronger than we are. And they can exchange parts so they can live forever... There are no more real Cylons. They died off thousands of yahrens ago, leaving behind a race of super-machines, but we still call them Cylons.” Therefore, the robotic Cylons had been at war with the Colonial peoples for about 1,000 yahrens, seeking to exterminate them. As the series began, the Cylons' sneak attack ended the long stalemate and set up the basic premise for the series: Led by the Battlestar Galactica, survivors from the Colonies must flee the ruins of their planets in a rag-tag fleet of space vessels to seek the long lost colony called Earth where they hope to find refuge from the Cylons. There were several types of Cylons during the series. We know there were Cylon civilians based on comments made on screen, but I don’t think they were ever seen (possibly in one episode? I’ll have to recheck that!). The most common were the silver/chrome centurions, essentially drones, the soldiers, pilots, and primary labor force of the Cylon alliance. Next came the gold plated Command Centurions, the officer corps. Both the Centurions and the Command Centurions may be best remembered by their mechanical voices and by their standard affirmative reply, “By your command.” The IL-series robots were administrators and assistants, although they too could take on command functions if needed. Finally, there was the Imperious Leader, who ruled the empire. Instead of a crown, the Imperious Leader wore a leather facemask to appear like the original reptilian Cylons. If an Imperious Leader died, then another IL-series robot would succeed the deceased leader, possibly following some type of power struggle though this was not described when the event occurred. While not really explored in the series, the original books explained that the robotic Cylon society was hierarchical, as shown based on the discussion above but also by brain function. Low-level robots had a single brain and were trained to perform certain functions. They would be severely punished or reprogrammed by their superiors if they did not act as expected. However, Centurions who proved themselves to have great aptitude might be upgraded with a second brain, which allowed them vastly greater knowledge than their lower level cohorts. IL-series robots also had two brains. Finally, when an IL-series robot became Imperious Leader, a third brain was installed, giving the new leader all knowledge known to the Cylon race. Fortunately for the Colonials, there was a great deal the Cylons do not know about humans! The Colonial Military Everyone in any type of military service in the Colonies was part of the Colonial Military. That included everyone from Commander Adama and everyone serving on space ships to those manning planetary defense forces to the guy who cleaned the toilets on some little military outpost in the middle of a distant asteroid. There were a number of Special Services including Colonial Warriors (elite ground/air/space special forces as shown on TV, with which we are all familiar), Colonial Marines (ground/space infantry forces, theorized and later used in the modern reimaging), Colonial Planetary Defense forces (planet-based troops, including planetary and orbital platform defense systems, theorized from Murder on the Rising Star, based on Karibdis being able to shut down the system during the Cylon attack), Colonial Troopers (mechanized ground artillery forces, the author’s invention based on the obvious need), and a few other smaller specialties. Some of this wasn't seen on TV, but it or something very similar probably would have eventually been introduced in some form or fashion if the series had continued for several more seasons. When the Colonies were sacked and the Exodus took place, the Colonial Military infrastructure was essentially destroyed, along with almost all of its equipment. The Galactica was the only capital ship to survive with its crew, a force of Colonial Warriors rescued after Cimtar, and a relatively small contingent of Colonial Marines. Some Colonial Marines, a few Colonial Troopers, and a few planetary defense survivors would have been picked up from the twelve worlds, and they eventually became the backbone of the forces that had to be rebuilt to ensure that humanity would be able to ward off the Cylons. Unfortunately, when the Fleet left the Colonies, these people were spread across 220 ships, so it would have taken quite some time for them to be reorganized into units. Therefore, Colonial Warriors like Apollo and Starbuck, who had cross-training in all disciplines, did a broad range of work in the show, which was just what the writers and producers wanted, keeping our larger-than-life heroes on the TV screen filling the primary roles. Part way into the season, Council Security forces, the infamous Blackshirts, were introduced (including Officer Reese). This may have been another branch of the Colonial Military originally serving the Council, but the way I framed it for my earlier writing group was that the Council group was eventually transformed into a police force that had jurisdiction over civilian and military personnel and operated throughout the Fleet, with officers, a few detectives and support personnel, and a small command structure. For my new stories on this site (starting with my second story, Warrior with a Badge), I decided to start the timeline about two yahrens after the Exodus, so the events from the first season were a yahren or so in the past, giving time for the Fleet to make progress and Colonial Military forces to start to rebuild with available members and new recruits from within the fleet, though most equipment is still in very short supply. This is touched on in WwaB and again in The Rescue. Therefore, the passage of time has allowed our heroes to assume more traditional roles so they don't have to do everything. Captain Apollo is now truly the leader of Blue Squadron and spends much of his time leading the squadron and overseeing the training of new Warriors. Starbuck is his second-in-command and does much the same, but also has more leeway (he'd take it anyway if we didn't grant it, right?), and the rest of the named Warriors are doing more flight/training duties for young Warriors. The policing/investigating/etc. that were pictured at times on screen would be generally assigned to other characters in my stories as a result of all of this. Therefore, while Apollo and Starbuck will often be present in my stories, they won't always be the main focus of the work. FTL Travel Due to the vast distances involved, the ships of the rag-tag fleet are necessarily capable of faster than light (FTL) travel between star systems. The ships use a system to bend or warp space somewhat similar to that used in another famous science fiction show, which allows the ships to travel those vast distances in relatively short order, usually a matter of cycles or sectons rather than millennia. This was never addressed in the TV show, so in my writing and in the BSG writing group I previously narrated, we adopted the term “the jump” to designate the travel within the warped space, creating what is effectively much faster than light travel between gravity wells. Excluding black holes and a few other anomalies, stars almost always act as the primary gravity well in a particular system, so performing a jump within a system is extremely dangerous and is essentially never done. While within the jump field, the ships are traveling using their own engines for propulsion at the same speed as if within normal space, but due to the way space is warped within this field, the same travel time and travel speed allows the traveler to go much, much further in a set amount of time than in normal space. Unlike the other famous show, the ships in the BSG universe do not have a “warp speed” to allow ships to go faster or a “warp factor” that allows them to fold space more tightly to travel greater distances in a set period. They’re able to generate the field to warp space, but ships do not have special engines allowing them to go faster than their normal maximum speed. Within a star system, the ships travel using the same engines as within the jump, but without the generated jump field, so in comparison, they are traveling relatively slowly. While the Galactica and a few other ships have flank speed, which is essentially just a step below light speed, most of the other ships are much slower. When traveling in a straight line, due to the gravity well issue, the ships of the fleet enter at one point where the pull of the star’s gravity is still relatively weak, and they must then cross the system to the opposite side of the star a system, past the star and the point of highest gravity, to get to a point of similar lower gravity on the opposite side of the system. When making a turn, the fleet would only have to travel as far as the vector to the new destination, crossing a large or small distance as applicable, such that the local star was behind and the distant star was lined up correctly ahead and the jump system would be activated, taking the ships on their way. Of course, the Cylons use a very similar system, but unlike the Colonial Fleet, their quick Base Stars are generally not hampered by slow tag-a-longs, so they sometimes cover long distances more quickly than their Colonial counterparts. Long Distance Communication While they have figured out a way to make their ships travel across space more quickly than the speed of light, neither the Colonials nor the Cylons have discovered a way to do this with their communications despite much effort and research. There’s no “subspace” messaging or anything similar, so short range messages within a system travel at the speed of light (which can take microns to centars, and to possibly even over a cycle in very, very large systems, depending on how far apart the sender and recipient are). Sending long range messages between star systems is effectively only possible via messenger ships. Of course, one can always send a message to a nearby system if one doesn’t mind waiting a few yahrens for a response. Prior to Cimtar, both the Colonials and the Cylons used fast ships to deliver important messages between systems, but most of their messages were passed between nearby systems, so only a relatively few such ships were used by both sides. Following the Exodus from the Colonies, there were rumors that the Cylons might have failed to capture one or more such Colonial messenger ships, but nothing was ever substantiated. Either way, the Colonials had very limited ability to send such messages following Cimtar, and with the Fleet staying together as it crossed space, very little need to send such messages. On the other hand, the Cylons were chasing ghosts across ever larger areas of space, so they suddenly found themselves with increasing needs for long distance communications. Therefore, the Imperious Leader ordered that they begin producing more of the very fast ships capable of the dual roles of scouting and carrying messages across space while at the same time redoubling their efforts at FTL communication. Time will tell... Colonial Units of Time And speaking of time, the Colonies used their own units of time. These vary a bit due to metrication and some inconsistency on the screen, but in general for these stories and to keep from confusing readers, I consider them to be equal to their English counterparts on Earth. Micron—the Colonial second Centon—the Colonial minute Centar—the Colonial hour Cycle, or time cycle—the Colonial day. On a planet, the local day will usually be different than the official Cycle, and day and night are used for the local terms. Secton—the Colonial week Sectar—the Colonial month Yahren—the Colonial year | |||||||
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ESV—A Face in the Crowd reviews
HH02: Where the Heart Is reviews
F&tGM06—Where the Wind Blows reviews
The Last Visit reviews
F&tGM05—For the Greater Good reviews
F&tGM04—What Price Gratitude? reviews
BG01C—Never in the Nendaran Expanse reviews
ESV—For Want of a B reviews
xXx: The Set
BG01B-A Cold and Silent Night reviews
ABCJ02—Coming Things reviews
HH: Earning Their Stripes reviews
HC02B—Seven Shots reviews
ABCJ01—When Dixie Calls
HH01: A Schatze in the Dark reviews
BG02B-Through Other Eyes reviews
LR02-Tales of the Lone Ranger reviews
xXx: Steady, Ready, or Heady reviews
F&tGM03—Lost in Lankhmar reviews
BG02A-A Walk among the Stars reviews
HC02A-Wind and the Willow reviews
BG04-Shore Leave reviews
LR01-The Summer of '78 reviews
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HC03-Under a Pumpkin Sky reviews
BG01-SAFE-TY SYS-TEM: A Classic Battlestar Galactic Story reviews
HC02-The Ride reviews
F&tGM02—The Princess and the Hand Glass reviews
HC01-The Fight reviews
BG04A-Dinner Date reviews
F&tGM01—Well Spent in Lankhmar—A Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser Adventure reviews
BG01A-Very Dark Times reviews
BG03-The Rescue reviews
BG02-Warrior with a Badge reviews
