Cross

From Star Trek: Theurgy Wiki

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Personnel FileR-o4.png
Name:Cross
Rank:Lieutenant Commander
Position:Chief Tactical Officer
Species:Vulcan (Formerly Vulcan/Bajoran)
Age:32
Gender:Male
Orientation:  Heterosexual
Birthplace:Cardassian Science Lab within Prison Labor Camp
Height:6ft 1in / 1.85m
Weight:185lbs / 84kg
Hair:Shaven
Eye color:Pale Blue
Played by:Mark Strong
Writer:Ellen Fitz
Interests
Music

Mystery/Adventure Stories

History

Strategy Games

Cooking

Sha'mura and martial arts

Scotch and whiskey sommelier

Small Arms

Holonovels
Education
2366-2371: Post-Internment Rehabilitation & Accelerated Education
2371-2374: Starfleet Academy
Service Record
2374-2376: Ensign, Junior Security Officer, USS Hood

2376-2377: Lieutenant Junior Grade, Security Armory Officer, USS Harbinger

2377-2380: Lieutenant, Tactical Officer, USS Harbinger

2380-2381: Lieutenant, Chief Tactical Officer, USS Endeavour

2381-2381: Prisoner, the Versant

2381-Pres: Lieutenant Commander, Chief Tactical Officer, USS Theurgy
Decorations
2374: Starfleet Academy Top 15% of Class Ribbon

2375: Dominion War Victory Medal

2377: Starfleet Medal of Commendation


Lieutenant Commander Cross served aboard the USS Endeavour as Chief Tactical Officer under Captain Amasov. During an attack by the Borg in 2381, Lt. Cross abandoned ship aboard an escape pod and, following the destruction of the Endeavour and several weeks adrift, was subsequently picked up with many other surviving crew by a Savi Precept ship named the Versant. As of March 2381, Cross served on the USS Theurgy, aiding in the opposition against the parasites that compromised Starfleet Command in the end of the 24th century.

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Biography

Cross was the last of a dozen “experiments” resulting from the efforts of a military-backed Cardassian science team at a prison labor camp. The experiments were cleared by the Cardassian government to create a more efficient labor force or, better yet, a pliable and effective undercover operative. Cardassians were well known for their brainwashing techniques and believed it possible to thoroughly indoctrinate the resulting experiment into a zeal for doing the bidding of their Cardassian handlers. Though the camp was predominantly populated by Bajorans, there were non-Bajoran races to pull from, and not all the genetic samples were taken from present prisoners, as the scientists drew from races not present through stolen genetic samples, then relying on Bajoran females to carry the “experiment” to term. Cross was the only Vulcan-Bajoran hybrid but counted among his “siblings,” a Betazoid-Bajoran, Klingon-Bajoran, Risian-Bajoran, Trill-Bajoran, Arbazan-Bajoran, Orion-Bajoran, Barzan-Bajoran, Eforsian-Bajorian, Haliian-Bajoran, Hekaran-Bajoran, and Zelonite-Bajoran.

They granted none of these experiments the comfort of a mother’s touch, for as soon as they were born, the scientists removed them from their carriers and raised them within a controlled facility. Of course, it is entirely possible that none of these experiments would have survived past infancy had it not been for Doctor Gilon Aizel, who would daily hold each experiment for a period of ten minutes to ensure that this batch of experiments did not expire prematurely as the previous batch had. Unknown to her associates, Doctor Aizel had a habit of humming Cardassian lullabies to the especially fussy experiments, Cross being one of them, until the experiment settled down again. As soon as it was made clear that these experiments would survive into toddlerhood, Doctor Aizel was transferred to another research lab out of her colleague's concern that she had grown too attached to the experiments, thereby rendering her biased in her observations.

Each experiment was assigned a number instead of a name, with Cross’s designation being VB23490916, for Vulcan mixed with Bajoran, and the year, month, and day of his birth. For short, most of the scientists referred to him as Cross 961, Cross being slang for crossbreed. These hybrids all carried physical and physiological characteristics of both races, with Cross inheriting the Bajoran nasal and reproductive organ ridges, and pointed ears, copper-based circulatory system, and increased strength from the Vulcan side. It was discovered, as Cross reached puberty, that he had also inherited a predisposition towards dwelling on the metaphysical, with an insatiable curiosity and an acute perception of situations and people that set him more than a few steps ahead of most of his siblings when they were put through intelligence tests. The Cardassian scientists were left to wonder which side he inherited which trait from and never came to a resolute agreement. However, he did not develop the telepathic abilities inherent to Vulcans; for this, the Cardassian scientists were keenly disappointed. They ran Cross through a series of tests involving drugs, neural stimulants, and other more invasive procedures to try and trigger any latent telepathy. However, after many months of testing without results, the scientists gave up the line of testing and instead focused on honing Cross’ other traits.

Cross and his siblings were never coddled or led to believe they were loved, though they were never exactly tortured either. They were treated as what they were, experiments, and were consistently tested, challenged, prodded, and observed with no hint of privacy in the scientific efforts to discover their traits and to hone these traits for either a labor force or an operative force. In connection to his early years of no privacy, Cross would later struggle to respect others' sense of propriety and physical privacy out of a consistent lack of such in his own youth. Some of his elder “siblings” responded well to the Cardassian brainwashing and trait challenges and once they were deemed ready by the scientists, these “siblings” were transferred into the care of the Obsidian Order. A few of his “siblings” did not respond well and were either euthanized or forced into the labor work details. By the time Cross was fifteen, the only sibling who remained with him among the scientists was his “sister” the Barzan-Bajoran, BaB23490916. BaB, as she was called by Cross, had been born only a few hours before him, and much out of the scientists' neglect to prevent it, Cross and BaB formed a true bond of kinship with one another.

The only other individual whom Cross could consider as “kind” to either him or BaB was one of the Cardassian lab guards--having no working memory of Doctor Aizel, only faint images or sensations. After the scientists retired, this guard came on shift at night, sneaking kanar in with him in a hidden flask. After making his first official round to keep up appearance’s sake, the guard would proceed to get drunk. It was a few months into his posting at the lab that, while drunk, the guard released Cross and BaB from their sealed quarters. Neither of them had known what to expect on that first night. When nothing happened except some drunken rough-handling and the forced recitation of raunchy Cardassian phrases, which the guard found absolutely hilarious to hear Cross and BaB say before he passed out, Cross and BaB sat in a confused state near his snoring body until near morning. When they heard the sound of the scientists preparing to enter the lab, they quickly woke the guard before going back into their quarters.

Perhaps it was out of gratitude for making sure he hadn’t been caught, or perhaps he had a soft spot for the hybrids, but for whatever unknown reason the guard created a routine from that night forward. After his first round, he would get buzzed, release Cross and BaB, then after teaching Cross and BaB several impolite songs, phrases, or stories in his inebriated state, he would pass out until they woke him again in the morning. This allowed BaB and Cross to not only try the syrupy liquid which rendered their “friend” so riotous but also to run around the lab without restrictions. Even after his liberation, Cross would continue to drink kanar as, during this brief period of almost joy in his youth, he’d come to enjoy the taste and associated it with some of his only fond memories of the camp.

Of course, the drink also brought with it bitter memories as well. This very same guard who was killed protecting Cross and BaB in the prisoner uprising coincided with the Federation offensive leading to the camp’s liberation. He’d only been doing his duty, holding off the prisoners seeking to invade the lab and destroy anything the scientists had dabbled with, and Cross believed that the man may have also truly desired to protect Cross and BaB from the prisoners, not knowing if their “liberators” would accept them as sentient entities or destroy them as mere experiments. Neither Cross nor BaB had known what sort of reception they would have either, as they were in a completely secure lab facility with only a bare concept of what life was like outside the camp. Thus, it was entirely understandable that BaB, after having witnessed the death of the only other person to have shown her some semblance of kindness outside of Cross, would pick up the Cardassian’s weapon and return fire upon the attacking prisoners. She would not let these attackers kill her brother the way they’d killed her friend. By the time Starfleet officers pushed their way through the throng of prisoners into the lab, BaB lay dead upon the corpse of the Cardassian guard, and Cross was unconscious next to them after having been hit in the head by one of the prisoners when he’d tried to retrieve BaB’s fallen weapon.

Cross was taken to a secure holding area after his "liberation" until after Starfleet Intelligence had a chance to decipher the Cardassian scientist’s notes. The uprising in the camp had been so sudden that the scientists, those not outrightly killed by the prisoners, beamed out with no chance of destroying their work. From these left behind logs, Starfleet was able to note which of Cross’s “siblings” had successfully entered the Obsidian Order and quickly alerted the governments of those races that could prove victim to infiltration. Aside from the bump on his head and a number of conflicted emotions, Cross was found to be in good health by the medical officers who examined him post-liberation. He dropped the “961” designation after observing how the Starfleet medical officer, Lt. Duncan MacDonald, in charge of his rehabilitation, referred to himself. He did not, yet, desire a surname when prompted for one.

Yet leery of Bajorans so soon after his “liberation,” Cross accompanied MacDonald to a Starfleet research facility in Scotland. It was here where he met a Vulcan medical officer, K’Shem, who assisted Cross in developing greater emotional stability and control. After living so many years without emotional suppression, Cross was uninterested in purging them entirely or living with them as repressed as the average Vulcan. So, while he learned vital meditation techniques, he rejected K’Shem’s offers for anything further, including her offer to trace his Vulcan DNA to any living relations. He had likewise rejected MacDonald’s similar offer to discover any living Bajoran relations. Cross understood his identity as the result of an experiment, not someone’s child, and did not believe it necessary to create mental or emotional confusion for either side of his heritage in tracking them down.

It was through MacDonald’s and K’Shem’s consistent investment of time and consideration, as well as the mediation and “salvation” found through the Starfleet officers who’d rescued him from potential death at the hands of the prisoners, that Cross chose to pursue a career in Starfleet. He also modeled his visage after MacDonald, preferring to keep his face and head clean-shaven similarly to his mentor. Once his rehabilitation program concluded in 2371, Cross entered Starfleet Academy. He excelled in his studies yet initially struggled with the group dynamics and social life that accompanied enrollment. It took nearly all three years of his time at the Academy for Cross to find his stride in group gatherings. He graduated in the top 15% of his class in 2374 and received as a graduation gift from MacDonald two surgical steel earrings to wear in his right ear in honor to his Bajoran heritage and from K’Shem he received an IDIC medallion to pay homage to his Vulcan ancestry. By this point in his life, Cross had developed a respect for both sides of his ancestry, though still had no love for either. Thus it was not out of an affinity for the cultures that led Cross to view these items as his most prized possessions but out of respect and appreciation for his mentors.

His first posting was aboard the USS Hood in 2374 where he served as a junior security officer. His first taste of action was in taking part in Operation Return, which ended with the Dominion forces recapturing Deep Space 9. He was aboard the Hood when it took part in the First Battle of Chin’toka. He continued to serve with distinction aboard this vessel until he was promoted to Lieutenant Junior Grade and transferred to the USS Harbinger in 2376. Serving under Captain Declan Vasser in the tactical department as an armory officer, Cross was in charge of the ship's small arms stores' maintenance, issue, and storage. Though this posting was his first served during a time of peace, that did not stop Cross from becoming an expert with small arms.

During this posting, Cross felt at ease enough with himself and the posting to relax his guard to form friendships for the first time in his career. With MacDonald and K’Shem, he’d felt respect and almost paternal affection, and with BaB it had likewise been different as that bond had been strong enough to denote blood ties. At the Academy, Cross had been so preoccupied with his studies that he’d come across as cold and transactional in his relationships, and that tendency had not worn off during his wartime posting on the Hood. The bartender Rory Callahan was the first friend he made on the Harbinger over a shared appreciation for good scotch. He also developed a warm friendship with the ship’s counselor, Lieutenant Hayden O’Connor. And it was through their incessant teasing, good-natured needling, comradery, and compassion that Cross developed a genuine interest in forming friendships despite the emotional risks involved. It was also through Callahan and O’Connor that Cross discovered he had a sense of humor, or so they proclaimed he did, as well as a subtle—and therefore dangerous as O’Connor described—sense of mischief.

In 2377, Cross was injured during an away mission. Sent to evacuate a Federation colony near the Klingon neutral zone, the Harbinger escort group to the beam-out site came under fire from Klingon forces from two rogue Klingon ships, remnants of the 2376 coup against Chancellor Martok who were attempting to destabilize Klingon relations with the Federation. Though injured, Cross continued the escort mission and led a team back to extract another group of colonists held hostage by the Klingons. He was injured again in the ensuing firefight and succumbed to blood loss only after successfully getting the second group rescued from the extraction site. The Deputy Chief Medical Officer, T’Panu, was the main force behind his recovery, and though Cross had previously struggled to form a friendship with the Vulcan, he was able to do so soon after, with their connection remaining until her transfer later that year. For his actions on the evacuation mission, Cross received the Starfleet Medal of Commendation, was promoted to Lieutenant, and was reassigned to the bridge as a tactical officer.

A transfer to the Harbinger in 2378 brought a new, and necessary, challenge to Cross. Lieutenant Aisha S’Iti, the Chief CONN Officer, was the first Cardassian he’d worked with since his liberation. Seeing her every day on the bridge brought tumultuous emotions ranging from rage to bitterness to irrational fear to grief. One lesson Cross had taken from K’Shem that he completely agreed with, though not through the same method as K’Shem had suggested, was that of not allowing emotions to control him. Therefore, while Cross never made an effort to befriend the Cardassian woman, he learned to be cordial with her, able to do this only after he used his meditation time as a place to mentally “confront” her and himself in connection to his emotions. From this experience, Cross could reconcile more of the "ghosts" of his past as he rooted himself in his present and prepared himself for his future.

A second transfer in 2378 brought another unexpected challenge to Cross, and which also played havoc with his emotions though for entirely different reasons. The Trill doctor, Amelya Duv, was his first foray into the realm of romance. For two years following her transfer to the Harbinger,' Cross struggled with his physiological responses and communication abilities whenever he was near her. He'd never had problems working with or talking to women before, yet with Doctor Duv, Cross found himself at a loss. Though encouraged by Callahan and O’Connor to confess his feelings for the Doctor, he never did. Though, after a severe injury rendered him delirious and drifting in and out of consciousness he affectionately stroked her cheek, it was entirely possible that she’d guessed the nature of his feelings towards her.

Cross was never given the chance to explain his actions to her or ask her opinion on the concept, as soon after his recovery Cross accepted a posting aboard the USS Endeavour as Chief tactical officer serving under Captain Amasov. He quickly adapted to his new responsibilities and far more rapidly than when he’d first arrived on the Harbinger Cross made friends among the crew, specifically Kai Akoni, the ship's new Chief security officer who had also just transferred aboard. His time aboard the Endeavour ended abruptly when they came under attack from a Borg Cube near the Azure Nebula. Though they provided a valiant fight against the Borg, upon Captain Amasov’s orders, Cross and the remaining crew abandoned ship. Cross ended up in an escape pod along with Ensign Laurel Okhala, Lieutenant Commander Blue Tiran, Lieutenant J.G. Shar, Ensign Egon Julbi, and Lieutenant R’Rori. After several days adrift in the escape pod, the group was picked up by the Versant and became prisoners of an alien race called the Savi.

For a second time in his life, Cross became an experiment as the Savi subjected him and other Endeavour survivors, and abducted members of the USS Theurgy, to “correctional” experimentation. These corrections rendered Cross a full-blooded Vulcan, removing all Bajoran traits, as well as removing his thus far developed emotional control as a hybrid. After his corrections were completed, Cross joined other “corrected” survivors in a holding cell. It was here where he lost control for the first time as a pure-blood and assaulted his former subordinate, Gideon Drake. He would have killed Drake had the Savi not transported the man to another holding cell. Cross was forced into isolation after this, when he sought to regain his emotional control before he was abruptly transported to a holographic holding pen along with the rest of the abductees.

The Savi would have been better off not to have told the prisoners their reason for holding them in this pen, to be held until their memories were wiped and they could be released. Once the prisoners learned of this, they rebelled. Working together, they staged a prison riot and broke free with the help of Blue Tiran, who had previously escaped being recycled and had been at large in the ship. Tiran, who had enlisted the help of one of their Savi captors, Echtand, found a haven for them in one of the Versant’s abandoned maintenance bays. Echtand, having faked the recycling of the entire group of abductees, transported them to the maintenance bay where he then provided them with food and infiltration suits to mask their bio-signs.

The maintenance bay, though safe for the time being, was far from comfortable and did not allow privacy or space for any of the survivors. The Endeavour’s former Chief Engineer, exhausted from the days spent crawling through the Versant without food or water, quickly fell asleep on Cross once all was settled. Feeling awkward at the Human’s proximity, a new experience for Cross regardless of race, yet not having the heart to wake her, Cross let her sleep, eventually falling asleep as well. During the night, Cross woke and managed to extricate himself from Tiran, heading off to find a place of relative solitude in the bay to meditate. His peace and meditation was brief, however, as he was disturbed by Khorin Douglas. The interruption resulted in his second altercation while aboard the Versant, yet after the fight had subsided, the two sat together realizing it had burned off the anger they had both been feeling, Cross from his new Vulcan blood, Khorin from his Klingon.

Echtand reappeared in their hidden lives when he assigned groups of survivors different objectives. Cross was assigned the objective to retrieve Thea, the USS Theurgy’s A.I., and Albert, Lt. Tiran’s cybernetic owl. Both of these were kept in the machine labs. The heist proved tricky as Echtand demanded that only the Savi Scions be killed and that no Antecedents be harmed. Despite these restraining parameters, Cross’ team managed to fight their way into the first of the machine labs to free the now upgraded Albert. In the next lab, they found Thea and a Scion. During the fighting, Lin Kae was killed and Cross was injured while shoving Blue out of the way of Savi fire. The shot which had been meant for her took his left arm off partway between the wrist and elbow. Cross staunched the blood flow by heating a bulkhead with his phaser fire and shoving his mangled and bleeding arm against the hot metal.

After freeing Thea, they were beamed to the bridge of the Versant along with the other assault teams and proceeded to take control of the Savi Dreadnought’s bridge. With Captain Ives in command, they set course to rendezvous with the USS Theurgy, arriving to find the Theurgy engaged in battle with the Borg. With Cross having taken up position at the Versant’s tactical console, they engaged the Borg, coordinating their efforts with the Theurgy, USS Cayuga, and multiple Klingon vessels. Cross unleashed the Versant’s devastating arsenal and, alongside the other ships and an impressive run by the Theurgy’s Lone Wolves through the heart of the Cube, the Borg were destroyed. The abductees were beamed aboard the Theurgy and made their escape, fleeing through and destroying the Apertures to prevent additional Borg forces from utilizing the gateways.

Once aboard the USS Theurgy, Cross found himself on a strange ship surrounded by only a handful of survivors from the Endeavour among a crew of new faces. A meeting with Captain Ives, Commander Ducote, and Doctor Kobol informed him of the threat posed by the parasites which had infiltrated both Starfleet Command and the Federation, and Cross agreed to stay aboard the Theurgy. Having taken the Bridge Officer’s Test, Cross was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Commander and assigned the position of Chief Tactical Officer. For the success of his leading the mission to the Klingon moon, Praxis, Cross was named Number 2.

Personality Profile

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Cross’s upbringing in a Cardassian lab did not afford him much by developing hobbies or preferences. However, through his nighttime “adventures” with the Cardassian guard and BaB, Cross evolved a sense of storytelling, a fondness for singing, and an appreciation of wit and humor. During his rehabilitation years, through MacDonald, Cross became a connoisseur of certain alcoholic drinks (primarily scotches, but whiskeys became a quick second favorite later on through O’Connor). Through K’Shem, Cross developed a ready appreciation for meditation and found that practicing sha’mura, a Vulcan martial art, assisted in steadying his emotions. In the Academy, after being exposed to so many cultures and races, an affinity for cooking arose, with Cross enjoying the tastes and textures found in all cultures (though he cooked only vegetarian for himself, never having preferred or liking meat products in his diet). Due to his abject isolation in the lab, Cross was keen on reading and researching various histories, philosophies, and cultural trends of the Federation members and known species represented in the Federation database. While he was no expert on any one culture or historical event, Cross had an apt mind and a voracious curiosity to understand things previously barred to him, and also had a keen liking toward holonovels in connection to this.

It took more than a few awkward misunderstandings during his rehabilitation and later in his years at the Academy, to teach Cross the meaning of privacy and personal boundaries. While his sibling-like bond with BaB taught him socialization skills vital for later development, at the same time, witnessing her death, as well as that of the guard’s, did leave Cross leery of close relational ties for quite some time after his liberation. MacDonald and K’Shem were integral in reigniting his interest in interpersonal relationships and then later Callahan and O’Connor were the catalysts he needed to come into his own. With this background, it was not surprising that Cross had a strong sense of loyalty in near equal measures to his sense that respect was earned, not gifted.

Because of the tragically bittersweet complexity of his upbringing and later rehabilitation, Cross endeavored to live according to a set of ethics that were the embodiment of all that was considered good and true, represented by Starfleet officers. With a strong internal compass, Cross never hesitated to stand up to or fight against those who were violating the value systems that separated the good from the evil, the civilized from the barbaric. Though he recognized this could be considered a bit narrow in concept, Cross was the product of evil allowed to become the norm and witnessed the evil that even those beaten down could commit if they were not appropriately dealt with. His desire was to live the remainder of his days representing the honor, sacrifice, and integrity represented by the Starfleet uniform.

Cross never felt safe or comfortable around Cardassians, and for different reasons, he would keep an eye on Bajorans and struggled to let down his guard around them. While he valued his mentor K’Shem and his friendship with T’Panu, Cross never developed a strong affinity for Vulcan culture; if anything, he struggled with feelings of defensiveness whenever he spent significant time around them for their perceived judgment towards his disinterest in maintaining as tight of control on his emotions as was deemed acceptable by Vulcan standards. It was only because of the efforts of his rehabilitators that Cross learned to respect and appreciate certain aspects of either culture. Yet, in truth, Cross felt most comfortable with and closest to Humans, as they were the ones who had most consistently befriended him, supported him, and challenged him to become stronger.

Because he attributed his continued success and very survival to the kindness of others, Cross had an established sense of hospitality and compassion and a tendency towards sacrificial efforts if it meant protecting someone weaker or taking care of someone he cared for. His desire to see those around him taken care of was not always displayed through the expected acts of kindness; however, as he had previously discovered through his friendships with Callahan and O’Connor, Cross would, on occasion, when the circumstance allowed for it, use humor and well-timed mischief to lighten the spirits of a crowd. Though never considered the “life of a party,” Cross had developed an ambivert ability over the years to take the foreground and fade into the background of a room, depending upon the situation's needs.

Despite these developments, Cross maintained a stunted growth in the romance department. Having only ever been the recipient of a mentor’s platonic affection, a friend’s nonsexual affection, and had felt a physical affection for another but had never done anything about it, Cross was untried and unpracticed in the arts of love. Though he felt great physical desires and a ready attraction to females, Cross did not know how to move through the steps of courtship and felt at a complete loss in how to even initiate one. Because of this, whenever a female did initiate, or Cross felt that one was potentially initiating, he inadvertently mimicked the same finesse as a teenager.

Cross walked with a strong and purposeful gait and often stood with his arms crossed over his chest and a pensive frown on his face as he mulled over the details of a situation. This habit, and the problem with not blinking his outer eyelids enough, lent themselves to the wrong perceptions that he was judgmental and broody. Cross was, however, affable to strangers, jovial with friends, and sardonically sharp with those he considered barely tolerable.

Cross was fluent in Cardassian and Federation Standard, an expert in small arms, and proficient in the martial art form sha'mura.

Physical Profile

Cross was a humanoid male whose appearance was a blending of his Bajoran and Vulcan parentage. He had pale skin, piercing pale blue eyes, and kept his head and face shaven. He stood at 6’1”, and was lean and muscular. Cross could move quickly and with a lithe finesse due to his meditative martial arts training. If it were not for the miracle of modern medicine, Cross would have more than a few scars riddling his body for the number of times he threw himself in harm’s way to save another.

Cross wore two plain steel hoop earrings in his right earlobe, gifts from his mentors who aided in his rehabilitation and education. When not on duty, Cross preferred to wear Earth-style casual clothing with a leaning towards natural colors.

From what could be understood of his genetic makeup by Starfleet medical, he was expected to have longevity on par with his Vulcan heritage but had developed mentally and physically more quickly, most likely due to his Bajoran genetics.

Relationships

Active Theurgy Writers Only

Personal Quarters

Cross's Quarters | Senior Officer’s Quarters | Deck 7 | Vector 1

Appearances

Season One

Aldea Prime Anthology

Season Two

Director's Cut

Parallel Universe "What Ifs"

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