Re: The Asurian Threat Sub-Plot Discussion
Reply #29 –
Okay, wait a minute, is it really canon that humans and not just Cardassians can undergo training to protect their minds from being read? I would like canon references for that because I am not quite sure neither Trent nor Marquez can.
As for a wiki page, noted and added to the list!
Best,
Auctor Lucan
Warning: Wall-text of implied-at-but-not-elaborated-upon origins.
I've established, whether through an earlier draft or proof of his history where Marquez worked on the Eagle Project. It was headed briefly by Captain Solok (DS9: Take me out to the holodeck), who convinced Starfleet Command to monitor the Romulans and ensure they wouldn't try a repeat of their invasion of Vulcan, or anything similar.
Senior officers with high-enough clearance to this joint-species endeavor were subject to the Vulcan's idea of physical training and ways to resist against Romulan interrogative tactics. Romulans obviously lack the telepathic aspect, but their Remans and certain machineries of theirs do not. This in mind, Solok took the senior officers of the Project's volunteers aboard a performance evaluation cruise, in which the holodecks were to simulate extremely harsh environments known to be favored by Romulans (Jungles, cities, wreckage, Vulcan itself for a theoretical invasion, and oddly they spent 60% of the holodeck training in the latter, likely given the intense heat and high altitudes)
Not everyone on Solok's ship was particularly fond of the Skipper being too hard on the non-Vulcans, no matter how endurant they were, Solok seemed to just want to prove Vulcan superiority and forge even non-Vulcans for his next performance evaluation to dispel any rumors of species-ism. One of those resistances in the training cruise was to defend against telepathy (The Harry Potter equivalent to occlumency): Like Snape probing Harry's mind, one of Solok's officers (who believed his skipper was uneccessarily over-demanding, given the Eagle Project's growing list of washouts) as part of the program was to just up the resistance to mind reading. Then, going into the second stage of this, Striker learned how to 'wall off' certain facets of his personality only he makes evident when he desires; Solok's officer also left a scripture that had been dictated by President Archer regarding mental fortitude, which Solok had casually dismissed as a cautionary tale for Vulcan children. (I've given this origins story a bit of thought before Theurgy, and my friend on STO mains as a Vulcan. She went on to say that even though she hates Enterprise and its effect on Vulcan canon, there are ways informed Humans can resist telepathy, even without a Katra).
Like the film Inception, however, Marquez is as such vulnerable to telepathy at night; aren't we all? However I'd like to think his daytime lucidity, as joked, works just fine when he has his mind set on the job at hand, hence 'Who are you, the Terminator?' when Someone were to scan him (Aenar, Betazoid, Vulcan, certain Reman). It's even said on his Wiki that telepaths might detect at most a brooding lone gunslinger.
TL:DR, He's as human as they come, but he's been to Vulcan Boot Camp, and has just enough willpower to detain a mental intruder, though not counter-attack-worthy yet... that's something to develop, probably after some Sessions with Ejek over Cardassian Chess.
Interestingly enough, Marquez had secretly had built a much lighter lirpa blade than the heavier Vulcan variant (Vulcans and Romulans, remember, are three times stronger than humans) that Solok's crew had trained with to fight Jem'Hadar Kar'tarkins. Marquez's 'light' lirpa in his hands had not been what Solok expected and accused Marquez of cheating, but Marquez reminded them that hitting the other duelist's fingers was 'an acceptable tactic', before making one of those 'humans-aren't-as-perfect-as-Vulcans,-but-we've-got-resolve-that-matches-yours.' speeches. "The man you insulted a few days ago proved the same thing I'm going to prove to the Federation News Service: Beating No-Win scenarios... is emotionally satisfying. Jimmy, tell me your camera was rolling? Good man."
Just about after that, Marquez proved he was ready to keep an eye on the Romulans during the Eagle Project, which he did, and that led to the chain of events leading to the Resolve.
Incidentally, I thought about playing the Vulcan who helped Marquez, as my third character down the road, as a Tac-Conn.
While this isn't a predominant facet, it belies a potential ability..., and as I've told Brutus, that while Marquez might be a bit more hard-to-read and more professional, Mariner ...isn't.