Possession is the concept of when a being takes over the body and mind of another.
| NOVEL | |
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| Possession | |
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| Attribution |
| Series: | Star Trek: The Next Generation, No. 40 |
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| Author(s): | J.M. Dillard and Kathleen O'Malley |
| Publication information | |
| Published: | Paperback - 1996 |
Contents |
From the back cover: Eighty years ago, bodiless entities brought a plague of violence and bloodshed to the planet Vulcan. The nightmare ended only when the entities were trapped inside special containers.
Now, on the eve of a galaxy-scale scientific exposition, the containers have been opened, freeing the malevolent entities to possess the minds and bodies of all they encounter, including the crew of the Starship Enterprise. Friends turn into foes, and no one can be trusted, as Captain Picard faces a deadly and insidious threat. Unless the entities can be stopped once more, they will spread their madness throughout the entire Federation.
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| Previous novel: Rogue Saucer |
TNG numbered novels | Next novel: The Soldiers of Fear |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous Adventure: Attached |
Next Adventure: Rules of Acquisition |
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Possession is the ability to take physical and mental control over another living being. Commonly, this power is employed by supernatural entities such as ghosts or demons. Unlike Mind Control, a person with this power displaces their own consciousness into a target body. The affected individual's actual consciousness is subsumed in favor of the more dominant mind or spirit. The longer a person is possessed by an outside presence, the more they risk losing their own consciousness forever. In which case, the possessing entity takes permanent residence inside their new surrogate body. While this may prove favorable for some, others such as Deadman, do not wish to cause undue harm to their host forms, and will abandon the body to protect it from undue risk.
There are a few methods for countering acts of Possession, the most obvious of which, is the death of the affected body. This is not an absolute rule however, and there have been instances where a possessor continued to function through a host body even after the host had expired. For example, the Lord of Order Nabu permanently displaced his consciousness into the body of Kent Nelson (the original Doctor Fate) after Nelson had died and continued to function through him for several months. [1]
Another means of countering possession is through an Exorcism. This is an occult ritual, which requires strong willpower, knowledge of the Rites of Exorcism and foreknowledge of the identity of the offending spirit. The Mage John Constantine has performed several exorcisms throughout his controversial career, not all of which have met with success. One exorcism in particular resulted in the loss of John's sanity whereupon he was committed to the Ravenscar Secure Hospital for a period of two years. [2]
In some cases, the victim of a possession may even call upon their own willpower and a psychic struggle for dominance erupts between the spirit of the victim and the spirit of the possessor. During the Sinestro Corps War, it took the combined willpower of Hal Jordan and Kyle Rayner to free Kyle from the dominating influence of Parallax. [3] Not all forms of possession are rooted in the supernatural. Some individuals may develop this ability as a side-effect of having a metagene. The Teen Titan Jericho has the ability to take possession of other people. When using this power, his body becomes incorporeal and he merges with the body of his intended target. If the target is conscious when the possession takes place, Jericho can only maintain control over the victim's body, leaving the mind free to resist him (though this rarely happens). If Jericho's victim is unconscious at the time the possession takes place, then he can supplant his own consciousness over that of his target and speak through them.
The following 11 pages are in this category, out of 11 total.
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| Beast Wars > Season 1 > Episode 21 | |||
| Previous episode | Next episode | ||
Waspinator finds himself possessed by none other than the original Decepticon traitor, Starscream!
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A violent storm rages, causing significant damage and knocking out power to both the Maximal and Predacon bases. While the Maximals stash their extra ammo deeper in their ship's hold to prevent undue accidents, Waspinator attempts to get one of the Predacon base's computer consoles online...only to be greeted by a ghostly, shrill voice from it. A power surge hits the bugbot soon afterwards, and when the other Preds begin to wonder what has happened to him, in he comes, announcing his return "at long last" in the same eerie voice.
The voice belongs to Starscream, Air Commander of the Decepticon forces and second in command to the original Megatron, whose Spark had been tumbling through time and space for an unknown number of years before settling within Waspinator; as he puts it, he was destroyed defending Galvatron from the Chaos Bringer Unicron, but his spark endured. As a show of his good faith, he pledges his loyalty to the Predacon Megatron, revealing vital information about the state of the Maximal base due to the storm that he could use to plan a sneak attack. Intrigued by the idea, Megatron accepts Starscream into his ranks, but warns Scorponok in private to watch their new ally closely.
The next day, as the Maximals are making repairs to their base, they are suddenly attacked by the Preds, Starscream's intel proving very useful in catching them off-guard. In the ensuing firefight, Dinobot is injured and the Decepticon Air Commander flies rings round Optimus, forcing the Maximals to abandon ship and regroup outside. Happy with their victory, Megatron puts Starscream in charge of holding the Axalon, with Scorponok and Blackarachnia under his command, while the rest of the Preds return to their base, in case the Maximals decide to go for a sneak attack of their own. Once they're alone, though, Blackarachnia shows off her knack for history by correctly pointing out to Starscream that he was murdered by Galvatron (the Unicron-reborn Megatron) after he betrayed the Decepticon commander; she's willing to keep this a secret, though, if she's let in on his real plans: to destabilize Megatron's control and rule both factions.
Deep in the forest, as the Maximals recover, Optimus voices his confusion and concern over Waspinator's new personality; he isn't entirely convinced he is possessed by the spark of Starscream, but as the Maximal Elders had long since sealed the Decepticon's records, they're not able to confirm or deny it, either. Fortunately, Dinobot's as much of a military history buff as Blackarachnia is, commenting on how Webster's Cybertronian Dictionary has pretty much replaced all definitions of "traitor" with Starscream's name. Are you pondering what I'm pondering, Optimus?
He is. Returning to the Axalon, the Maximals call Starscream out to announce their surrender, citing the need to use the ship's RC Chamber to repair Dinobot's (now exaggerated) wounds. Feeling generous, the Decepticon Air Commander allows Optimus and Dinobot to come on board, but as predictably as night follows day, betrays them and strips Optimus of his weapons and locks him up in the hold as soon as he steps on deck. With their leader now his prisoner, Starscream orders the other Maximals to attack the Predacon base, over the token objections of Scorponok. They comply, and the trap is set.
Unbeknown to the Air Commander, he's been duped by the oldest trick in the book; by allowing himself to be betrayed, Optimus has put himself and Dinobot in the perfect position to retake their base, which they do in a dazzling display that forces Starscream to retreat back to Pred territory. Optimus pursues, and manages to best the Decepticon in an aerial dogfight, leaving him grovelling at the Maximal's feet...until Blackarachnia shows up, prompting Starscream to plead for her aid, believing they can still complete their coup. No dice; this new generation is much less gullible than their ancestors, and Blackarachnia has skillfully pulled off a double-cross on the double-crosser, igniting a small energon cache underneath Starscream to "exorcise" the Decepticon's spark from Waspinator's body.
At the end of the day, Megatron gets done fixing the back-to-normal Waspinator as Blackarachnia explains her betrayal; if she didn't, she maintains, she wouldn't have been able to sniff out Starscream's true motives. Megatron reluctantly accepts this excuse, but warns her that it still doesn't invoke confidence in her loyalties. Back at the Axalon, the Maximals are finishing up repairs of their own...everyone but Cheetor, who's slacking off with a bout of stargazing, quipping "Twinkle, twinkle, little Starscream" as the camera pans up to beyond the planet's orbit, showing Starscream's spark screaming mech fluid-drenched vengeance on all within the Beast Wars as he drifts away into the void...
"What is this? Program does not respond! Waspinator does not understand!"
"I'll bet Waspinator seldom does! But try not to let it depress you, bug face."
"Allow me to present myself: Air Commander Starscream of the Decepticon Battle Fleet!!!"
"Starscream, perhaps the centuries of weightlessness have taken a toll on your neurological circuitry."
"I'd say it's tramplin' time!"
"Ugh! Starscream and Blackarachnia! I'll have both their treacherous hides! Yeeessss..I'll-I'll melt them down and use them for aluminum siding! Oh, yes indeed!"
"Ohhhh... Waspinator has a headache in his whoooole body."
(Numbers indicate order of appearance.)
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