Star Crossed: Difference between revisions

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Shortly after the events of ''[[The Empire Strikes Back]]'', an Imperial sector fleet under the command of a Sith Lord named Darth Nemesis is transported to the ''[[Star Trek]]'' galaxy of the late 24th century. It turns out that they arrived in the middle of Borg space, and that they are not only in a different galaxy, but far in the future.

 

{{spoiler|Darth Nemesis is eventually revealed to be a fallen Luke Skywalker, who instead of jumping as in the canon timeline, joined Darth Vader at Bespin.}} The Imperial fleet sets out to find a way back to their galaxy, securing their position and gathering information by attacking the Romulans and the Federation: or at least, it starts that way; when they discover that they can't get home, they conquer for conquest's sake. Meanwhile, [[The Captain|Captain]] [[The Kirk|James T. Kirk]] (largely [[The Hero]]) and his crew find themselves in the 24th century as well, and end up rallying the Federation and its allies against [[The Empire|the Galactic Empire]]. In the background, the nigh-omnipotent Q plays a game of chess with a mysterious silver-eyed adversary, using pieces that represent the various forces involved. All of this takes place against the backdrop of an impending universal apocalypse, brought on by the Federation's abuse of time travel.

* [[Beauty Equals Goodness]]: For a certain value of "goodness". When the hulking, black-armoured cyborg Darth Vader appears, the Romulan admiral T'Vor thinks that Vader is just a thug, not a proper Sith Lord like the young, handsome Darth Nemesis. Given that Sith Lord means [[Evil Overlord]] and that Vader fits that trope much better than Nemesis does, T'Vor's assessment is unintentionally funny.

* [[Big Bad Duumvirate]]: Emperor Palpatine and {{spoiler|Gary Mitchell}}. Incredibly, given Palpatine's status as [[Evil Overlord]] of an entire galaxy, the latter is the more powerful of the two.

* [[Black and White Morality]]: Subverted. [[The Empire]] has launched an unprovoked invasion of [[The Federation]]; I wonder who's the good guys? At first it's obvious, but later, [[Morality Kitchen Sink|well…]]

* [[Blood Knight]]: Captain Tarsi. When Darth Nemesis says that Kirk is a legend to the Federation and that legends "are notoriously hard to kill":

* [[The Chessmaster]]: {{spoiler|Gary Mitchell}}, Khan Noonien Singh and Grand Admiral Thrawn.

* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: The Galactic Empire versus the Borg, who aren't used to a hyperdrive that can travel across a whole galaxy within days rather than decades, hypermatter reactors powerful enough to keep hyperdrive running, and the sort of weapon strength that you'd expect from such reactors. Assimilation doesn't go as planned.

** On a smaller scale, Darth Nemesis versus the greatest hundred Klingon warriors. Also, {{spoiler|Luke versus the cybernetically enhanced Dum and Dee, during the escape from Darkstar's palace.}}

* [[Defensive Feint Trap]]: Luring the enemy right into a [[Colony Drop]]—on an ''[[Cool Starship|Imperial Star Destroyer]]''. ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|And it works.]]''

* [[The Don]]: Hieronymus Darkstar, the crime lord of the Orion Syndicate.

* [[Enemy Civil War]]: The Imperium clashes with {{spoiler|the reinforcements from the actual Galactic Empire, led by Grand Admiral Thrawn}}. It's kicked off in a pretty spectacular fashion, with a huge space-battle between a Star Destroyer of Nemesis's Imperium and {{spoiler|an actual Imperial Star Destroyer, i.e. from [[The Empire]]}}. On the other hand, there's a serious case of [[Grey and Grey Morality]] between the Imperium and [[La Résistance|Kirk's Federation remnant]].

* [[Evil Cannot Comprehend Good]]: Played with. It's still unclear whether Thrawn or Khan will be right about Kirk: if Thrawn is, this trope will be subverted.

** Similarly, {{spoiler|Luke and Anakin Skywalker both became Sith Lords: the former was redeemed, the latter, so far, not.}}

* [[Evil Overlord]]: ''Loads.'' We've got Darth Nemesis, the Borg Queen, Darth Vader, Lord Hieronymus Darkstar, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Emperor Palpatine and, most of all, {{spoiler|Gary Mitchell}}. By the Battle of Andor, almost all of them are still alive.

* [[Fascist but Inefficient]]: The Shadowfleet, a secret force devoted to protecting [[The Federation]], is billed as this powerful hidden menace, but their [[Moral Event Horizon|brutal destruction of Remus]] only gets the [[Evil Overlord]] Darth Nemesis to destroy the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Klingons]] (thus weakening the Federation remnant's greatest potential allies) and inspires the Romulans to view Nemesis as their protector and avenger.

* [[A Father to His Men]]: The Imperial Admiral Gideon Kittaine, at least to his officers. He thinks of them as his family, as they him.

* [[The Federation]]: [[Captain Obvious|The United Federation of Planets.]] When it faces off against Darth Nemesis's offensive, it's almost immediately overrun, but its remnants are still putting up a fight.

* [[Femme Fatale]]: Mara Jade. We're brutally reminded of this when she {{spoiler|tries to murder Leia.}}

* [[For Want of a Nail]]: It turns out that {{spoiler|Darth Nemesis is a Luke Skywalker who gave in to Vader during the "[[Luke, I Am Your Father]]" moment on Bespin.}}

* [[Gambit Pileup]]: [http://bbs.stardestroyer.net/viewtopic.php?p=2643554#p2643554 Here is a list of the sides].

* [[Insistent Terminology]]: The rightfully appointed Grand Admiral Thrawn (well, rightfully appointed by the [[Evil Overlord]], but still) ''will not'' acknowledge Admiral Gideon Kittaine, whom the renegade Darth Nemesis promotes to Grand Admiral, by his new title. When he does, it's a sign to Kittaine that Thrawn will try to kill him. A nice [[Continuity Nod]] here, since in canon Thrawn never referred to the New Republic with its proper name, just "the Rebels", indicating (as with Kittaine) that he thought it illegitimate.

* [[Ironic Echo]]: The voice of the Borg Collective when it first encounters Nemesis's fleet, and Nemesis's response when his fleet {{spoiler|destroys Unimatrix 001, the heart of the Collective.}}

“We are the Galactic Empire, lower your shields and prepare to be destroyed, your biological and technological distinctiveness is about to end. Resistance is futile.” }}

* [[The Kingdom]]: The Imperium, once {{spoiler|Darth Nemesis becomes Luke Skywalker again}}.

* [[Laser Blade]]: Lightsabers, obviously.

* [[Love Redeems]]: {{spoiler|Darth Nemesis}}'s love for {{spoiler|Mara Jade}} is a great part of his [[Heel Face Turn]] {{spoiler|back into Luke Skywalker}}.

* [[Magic Countdown]]: The beginning of chapter 73.

* [[Meaningful Rename]]: The ''Emperor's Will'', the superlaser-bearing flagship of Nemesis's fleet, is renamed the ''Imperator's Will'' to signify independence from [[The Empire]] and loyalty to the Imperator of the Imperium. More importantly, Nemesis's sector fleet transforming from just a part of the evil [[The Empire|Galactic Empire]] to the independent (but still evil) "New Empire" and then to the genuinely benevolent "Imperium".

* [[Morality Kitchen Sink]]: [[The Empire|The Galactic Empire]], the Borg Queen and the Orion Syndicate are unambiguously evil, although even they are surpassed by {{spoiler|Gary Mitchell}}. Then there's the very morally ambiguous Shadowfleet, a secret army which uses very questionable means to defend [[The Federation]]. There's also the Imperium, which is a steadily lightening shade of grey; at the beginning it's only distinct from the Empire in that its dictator is more charismatic and slightly less psychotic, but by the most recent chapters it is almost as light as the white end of the scale, the exiled Klingons and the Federation remnant.

* [[Oh Crap]]: Kirk, when {{spoiler|a new, entire, fresh Imperial sector fleet}} arrives during the Battle of Romulus—and again during the same battle, when Nemesis reinforces them, cutting off the Federation remnant's escape.

* [[Omnicidal Maniac]]: {{spoiler|Gary Mitchell}}, the chief villain.

* [[Rule of Cool]]: Pretty much the only reason for {{spoiler|Darth Maul's resurrection.}}

* [[Scenery Gorn]]: A number of the battle scenes qualify, as does the Empire's {{spoiler|Base Delta Zero—basically melting the surface of the planet—on Qo'noS}}.

* [[The Stars Are Going Out]]: By the galaxy cluster. This is because the Federation misused time-travel, creating too many time paradoxes for the universe to deal with. This is a bit of a problem, given that Kirk, who has time-travelled into this era, is the Federation's only hope against [[The Empire]].

* [[The Starscream]]: Khan Noonien Singh, to Grand Admiral Thrawn.

* [[Vestigial Empire]]: Andor, the last Federation planet to suffer an Imperial attack. The outcome is still in doubt.

* [[Villain Ball]]: {{spoiler|Darkstar's enslaving collars clearly aren't very well-designed.}}

* [[Villain Protagonist]]: The audience would almost certainly hate Darth Nemesis if he wasn't so awesome. Lord Darkstar tries to achieve the same effect, but fails.

* [[Villain Team-Up]]: What happens at first when {{spoiler|reinforcements from [[The Empire|the Galactic Empire]], led by Thrawn and Darth Vader, arrive to back up Darth Nemesis.}} It soon dissolves into [[Enemy Civil War]].

 

{{reflist}}