#wait so people write things other than ds9

[theimaginatrix27]

I've been in the Star Trek fandom spaces long enough, time to talk publicly about a thing that I am injecting into every fic where it is relevant

So if you've been paying attention to my blog the last couple months, you will know I am a huge fan of @enbygesserit 's work. They write the absolute best Dominion lore and fic I have ever had the pleasure of reading/encountering, and I eat up each new piece like my favourite confectionery.

What I am about to discuss predates any exposure I had to their work by at least thirteen years.

And the ship it surrounds was my DS9 OTP for two entire decades (before I discovered the O'Brien polycule and now my DS9 otp is a "One True Polyamorous tangle", but moving on).

That ship being Kiraodo. My heart broke when Odo confessed his love to an apparently dying Kira, she said she loved him back, and that was the clue for him to realise she was not Kira at all. And then when the Female Changeling Voice of the Link told him Kira would never love him because he was a Changeling, I was a tiny sad twelve-yo who thought, "But I love him!" And then I wanted it to be a thing.

And when I found out it was a thing in canon but they had to part ways at the end of the series, I was happy and sad at the same time.

I was a teenager, I didn't know the relationship felt awkward to some (though to be fair I still hated Children of Time and what the alternate/Gaia Odo did, but I address that in another fic so it's fine). I just wanted the sad Changeling and the fiery Bajoran to prove the mean Changeling wrong.

But also, I acknowledged to myself, even in 2009-10, that it would not be fair to Odo at all to make him leave his people again so quickly. I felt sympathetic toward the Changelings/Founders even as a teenager who had not and would not see DS9 in its entirety (curse you, cable TV! You with your reruns and exorbitant prices making it so hard for us to keep you for more than a few months at a time!) Anyways, I knew even then that I didn't want to take Odo away from his people again, even for him and Kira to be together.

So what was my solution?

Here were the canon points I considered at age nineteen (I was creating the bare bones of the Galactic Warp AU at the time and also had a strict must-adhere-to-canon policy for any fanfic ideas I'd had at the time):

The Great Link turned Odo into a solid.

The baby Changeling in The Begotten turned him back, at the cost of its life (but maybe not if it hadn't already been dying).

Therefore, it is canonically possible for a solid to become a Changeling.

What if Kira had been Changelinged?

WHY IS THAT NOT CANON?

I have this as a significant plot point in any Kiraodo content I'm going to write, so if you see Kiraodo becoming a thing in any fic, expect to see Changeling Kira show up somewhere.

"But wait!" someone yells. "You just said you didn't want to take Odo from his people, and Kira's Bajoranness is a huge part of her identity! And you're gonna just take that away from her?"

No, actually. You think the Prophets give a shit whether or not Kira's corporeal form is solid? Fuck no, they're not corporeal and time is not linear for them! The Kira is always the Kira. The Kira is always of Bajor. The Kira is always beloved of the Prophets.

This holds true in every single fic in which I have inserted this. Kira doesn't always become a Changeling full time (some of my AUs have magic), but more importantly, She never stops being Bajoran in the ways that really matter.

Which, if this had been a canon episode, would have been emphasised by the Prophets themselves and I am not taking critique on this.

"But the Founders would never do this in canon!" I hear you cry. "They hate solids and the Voice doesn't like Kira especially!"

First of all, the convoluted love triangle between Odo, Kira and the Voice was stupid.

Second of all, it doesn't even have to be them who do it, we got other more powerful entities around! Q was basically banned from DS9, sure, but what if Kira and Odo weren't on DS9?

Here's my idea for how this could have happened in canon, if the writers had really wanted to sell us the ship.

Odo and Kira have been away on a mission together (doesn't matter where, they just have to be off the station). It's sometime in Season 6, post the Dominion occupation of DS9. When the runabout returns, Odo coms the station and says he needs to give them warning about something, and they're going to have to take him at his word, however hard that may be.

"What's wrong?" Sisko asks. "And where's Major Kira?"

In response, Odo holds up his bucket. There is a Changeling in goo form inside.

"There was an—incident while we were returning from our mission. It was successful, by the way."

Sisko stares at the screen intently for a moment.

"Are you saying," he asks slowly, "that Major Kira was replaced by a Changeling?"

"No, Captain," Odo responds. "I am saying this Changeling is Major Kira."

Cue opening theme!

And possibly this would be a two-parter! I feel that with the whole theme of DS9 being nuance, and with the Dominion being such a big deal, it deserves to be!

Basically the plot would first involve a flashback to Q popping in while Kira and Odo are arguing about something Changeling-related or whatever, going "You know, I've been watching you and yours for a while now—from a safe distance of course—and frankly, I've been surprised by the lack of nuance with regard to the Founders."

And Kira's all, "Oh come on, don't you start with this high-and-mighty attitude! I read all the records about you after your last visit to Deep Space 9, you don't have any room to talk!"

"And neither do you," Q fires back. "You think your terrible acts were justified, don't you? Oh, you know they were dreadful, the fact that you could be so violent distressed you so! But when it comes down to it, you can sleep at night, because you helped drive out the Cardassians and set Bajor free. But when the Dominion imposes their order on their part of the galaxy because they used to be oppressed and were traumatised, you sit there on what moral high ground you have and pass judgment on them!"

"I don't need to hear this! Especially not from you! Sisko made you stay away from the station—from us! Now get off this runabout and leave us alone."

"Oh, you do need to hear it, Nerys. But if you insist on me leaving, let me do so on my terms. Don't worry, my little firework, I'll make sure you don't need my help undoing this." And he snaps his fingers and disappears.

And Kira's form begins to melt and she barely has time to call Odo's name before she dissolves into Changeling goo.

Back on DS9, everyone's a bit frantic after seeing the runabout footage, which confirms Odo's story. He links with her and is able to help her reform after a little time, during which we get to hear panicked Kira thoughts and some cool visuals of what the link is like for her. We get a scene after she's able to shift back into herself where Jadzia quips that she's got purple hair and Cardassian neck ridges or something, which is not amusing to her at all.

Then there's a whole discussion on how they're going to fix her before the rest of the Federation finds out, because "Are they going to believe the testimony of one rogue Changeling and the footage from a runabout computer? What if they decide Kira's a threat and take her into custody?"

And the answer is pretty obvious, especially after Julian examines a sample of her matrix and discovers traces of her dna are still in it.

They have to take her to the Great Link so she can be restored to solidity. The Founders are rather good at genetic manipulation, after all. It'll be fine!

Except they're at war, and the Voice does not like Kira, which forms the majority of the conflict, as they have to convince any Dominion forces they meet that "Seriously, we are not here to fight, please don't blow us up, we just want to help our friend, yes we mean it, don't fire!"

And in the end Kira has to pretend to be a Founder just to get the various ships to leave them alone, and it's weird as fuck for her but she makes it to the Great Link and the Voice is there and doesn't believe her at first until they link and she gets proof from her memories.

Which leads to Kira finding out about the morphogenic virus early, and being incensed, because "Look, I don't like you, but that's crossing multiple lines! I'd never have signed off on that if it were up to me, and I know Sisko wouldn't either! Doctor Bashir's brilliant—he can help you, I'm sure of it."

"Even if we did not help you right away?"

"I can wait, if I have to. I'm kind of getting used to this whole thing. It's been—an interesting experience."

And after another link to confirm that yes, she means that and it's not even in a bad way, the Voice consents to help her regain her solid status and she goes into the Great Link, gets a small taste of the Founders' collective trauma and is deeply moved by it, bursting into tears when she emerges, once more humanoid. There's a whole final scene about how she wishes more people in the Federation could have experienced what she did, and then she goes to write a log entry on the whole thing or something.

But this would absolutely change the trajectory of the war because that's how DS9 works, so it wouldn't just be handwaved away. in subsequent episodes, Julian is able to find a cure—possibly with help from within the Dominion itself because the Founders would very much like to not die and Julian is being Julian at them and they're taking a real liking to him.

And the galaxy is saved because Q did a thing! But also Kira understands Odo better after this and their relationship is all the richer for it.

*Starts chanting* It should've been canon, it should've been canon, it should've been canon, IT SHOULD'VE BEEN CANON!

#Kiraodo #Dominion Tag #Changeling Kira #IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN CANON DAMN IT!

[gardenvarietyhuman]

Free!

#fanfic #ao3 #fanfic writing #I just sit there and read and read and read #garashir #wait so people write things other than ds9 #not me tho #writing #that’s why we write it #ds9

[ussjellyfish]

Fic Writer Review

(I’m doing the Star Trek edition and just focusing on my Trek fics, for fun).

Thanks for tagging me, @curator-on-ao3! I tag @aleksandrachaev and @justanalto, @holdouttrout , @meanderings0ul, @lorcaswhisky @pixiedane @rikerssexblouse if you fancy it, and anyone who feels like it. (scroll to the end to copy paste the questions)

how many works do you have on AO3?

354 total, 166 if I just count Star Trek and crossovers with Star Trek

what’s your total AO3 word count?

2,194,290 (I am wordy and badass!)

Behind a cut for length.

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

I’ve written for 38 fandoms total. I have fic from Star Trek TOS, TNG, DS9, VOY, DSC, PIC and AOS. I sadly have no Lower Decks fic. (I feel like that would be hard to get write, I’m not that funny)

what are your top 5 fics by kudos? (only Trek fics)

354 kudos, Village Building (Voyager, Janeway/Chakotay) 87925 words which I cowrote with Jacks, who is not on tumblr (she’s from LJ days though we’re still facebook friends!) and a lovely lovely human. It’s Janeway/Chakotay season 5 babyfic and it’s very gentle and sweet and is a really lovely piece about how the crew would look after Kathryn and make space for her to live her life while being captain. Has some very excellent Tom and Kathryn, Kathryn and B’Elanna scenes.

250 kudos, Stellar Entanglement (Voyager, Janeway/Chakotay) 29979 words, which is oddly enough a gift for someone who hated one line of it and we didn’t talk for years. We got over it eventually, but it was rough. (the thing we fought about? how long parental leave would be and I, being an american, thought 6 weeks was normal because my country is evil for parents)

The fic itself is lovely! Kathryn gets pregnant after a one night stand with Chakotay , but he’s on a long distance mission, so they’re separated for most of it, then she goes on an excellent space road trip with Seven. There’s a nice scene in here I like with Nechayev and Kathryn and I had a great time writing Seven trying to find her place in the Alpha Quadrant.

217 kudos, Mending (Voyager, Janeway/Chakotay) 15155 words

This is a classic Opal fic because it’s 100% “but what if this wild thing happened and she was pregnant”. Kathryn time travels instead of Chakotay in the episode “Shattered” and she’s very very pregnant, and her crew that she doesn’t know well get her home. Has some of my favorite B’Elanna & Kathryn scenes I’ve ever written.

189 kudos, For the Asking, TNG Beverly Crusher & Deanna Troi, background Beverly/Jean-Luc, Deanna/Will 2138 words

Deanna reads Beverly’s thoughts about sex in a staff meeting and they tease each other it and have a very good discussion. It’s sweet and friendly and I reread it when I want to feel that brilliantly good friend feeling.

154 kudos, Firefly (Discovery, Philippa Georgiou (Mirror) & Michael & Tilly & like..Disco crew. Philippa Georgiou & making friends

This fic is my beloved and I am giddy it’s on this top five. It’s so fun (for me). The Guardian of Forever gives Philippa the choice to stay in the 31st century with Michael and Discovery, in exchange for a very tiny minor cellular change, which is a baby. (she and Chris had some confusingly nice sex before she left).

It’s one of my least commented fic and the one where I feel like it’s just going out into the void (but it has a lot of kudos! good work little fic).  I have so much fun with it though. Philippa and conversations where she is mildly human is a blast. The fight scenes turned out well (even though they’re really hard to write) and Philippa and Tilly is brilliant. I love it. I love them. This is so my favorite right now and I’m so happy it’s on the list.

This is the best part of the meme, right here.

(side note, 4 of my top 5 are babyfic, so at least I’m on brand).

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

I try to. I feel like I ought too. Sometimes I’m so busy behind exhausted embarrassed (how to I reply when people are nice to me! gah) that I don’t. Often it’s simply because I want to write more fic and my free time is so limited. I love them, I really really love them. It is so kind of people to comment. I short circuit often with replying to praise.

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

Oh it’s definitely When I the Starry Courses Know, which is Janeway/Borg Queen and she makes a deal to go with Queen if the Queen will save the ship, and she goes. It’s full of depression and self-doubt. It’s one of the best dark things I’ve ever written.

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

Archaic Diseases, TNG/Battlestar Galactica.  I have a very sweet crossover where Beverly Crusher saves Laura Roslin from cancer and Laura has a bit of a crush. It’s rather lovely. 

have you ever received hate on a fic?

Sure, there’s a few people who just seem to get angry about things, or willfully miss the point. Sometimes I just get weird weird comments that leave me feeling angry or uncomfortable (I have a current string on a Beverly/Kathryn fic that I might just stop reading, because I don’t really need to know.

do you write smut? if so what kind?

Lazily, far less often than I used to. I like feelings more than detail and I’ve gotten much less interested in sex lately in fic. I’ve written f/f and m/f and some threesomes (one foursome). Keeping track of hands is hard. I write a lot of women receiving oral sex, I think that’s easiest for me to write.

have you ever had a fic translated?

I don’t think so.

have you ever co-written a fic before?

Yes! the one up above with Jacks, and a few others. It’s a very different and fulfilling experience. I like being surprised. It’s full of surprises.

what’s your all time favorite ship?

Discovery!  Ummmm, wait no the romantic kind. Right this second? Beverly/Kathryn, because it’s so comfortable for me and brings to gether so many things I like about the characters.

(Philippa Georgiou/Kat Cornwell gets a nod though, because I’m thinking about them often lately)

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Captain Tilly’s Gambit - Tilly plays war games against Saru and has Philippa (imperial varietal) as her first officer. It’s one chapter, and I thought it was a one shot but I guess I have to write the fighting? space fighting is hard...It’s a very good fic though. I’d like to finish it. (Maybe after Fortnight of Kat/Pippa?)

what are your writing strengths?

world building, little details that make it feel Star Trek, dialogue, Sylvia Tilly, she is the best POV character for me and I just adore writing her.

what are your writing weaknesses?

Vagueness, I tend to write in a void without much description, I nearly always write 3rd person limited. I’m not very exact with typos and often things I’ve posted will still have errors.

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

If I can find someone who speaks the language, great, otherwise I usually have the gist of it or “A spoke Vulcan, which sounded great but B had no idea what it meant.” I try to avoid it.

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

It was Star Trek the Next Generation!! It was a big time travelling confusing messy wonderful First Contact AU. It’s not as bad as it being 20+ years old makes it sound.

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

Firefly! It’s gen babyfic and I feel like it’s in the intersection of so many things that aren’t what people want to read and it definitely feels like the thing I just write and post and out into the void. There are chapters of it that don’t have comments at all.

I am fortunate that I have people willing to read it while I’m working on it, which is lovely, and it’s so important to me.  I adore it. I love the process, I love thinking about it. It’s just important to me. The character arcs and moments and conversations I get to write for that mean so much to me.

I feel like the number of people I talk about it with fits on a hand, but you’re all lovely and I adore you too.

Uncharted (VOY/TNG) Kathryn Janeway/Beverly Crusher, Words: 56,764, kudos 137.

It’s the one thing I’ve written that’s most like a novel, has the tightest plot, the most research and characters and is most like a Trek episode, I think because there’s so much going on and often I write things that have very little going on. This is very different, and sometimes rereading it makes me cry.  It has all the best heroic parts of Star Trek.

The questions!!

   Fic Writer Review

how many works do you have on AO3?

what’s your total AO3 word count?

how many fandoms have you written for and what are they?

what are your top 5 fics by kudos?

do you respond to comments, why or why not?

what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

do you write crossovers? if so what is the craziest one you’ve written?

have you ever received hate on a fic?

do you write smut? if so what kind?

have you ever had a fic stolen?

have you ever had a fic translated?

have you ever co-written a fic before?

what’s your all time favorite ship?

what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

what are your writing strengths?

what are your writing weaknesses?

what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in a fic?

what was the first fandom you wrote for?

what’s your favorite fic you’ve written?

#writer meme #all about my trek fics #it was fun to narrow it down to one fandom universe #firefly my beloved

[girlonthelasttrain]

Dear femslashex creator,

Thank you in advance for making something for me in the Femslash Exchange, and also for bringing more f/f content into the world! I can’t wait to see what you’ve come up with. I’m girlonthelasttrain on AO3 too; feel free to browse my bookmarks to see the kind of things I gravitate towards. If you're writing/drawing for a Star Trek ship, feel free to take a look at my Trek sideblog as well.

My likes and DNWs are a bit different depending on whether you're making art or writing fic, and also depending on the fandom; I'll try to be as clear as possible and highlight the difference where necessary.

In any case the short version is:

Do Not Want

No smut, gore, extreme violence, alternate settings AUs (by this I mean things like 'Modern AU', crossovers, and similar). These are all hard nos.

I'd also rather not receive a work that has marriage/pregnancy/kids as the central concept(s). In fic they can be mentioned but they should not be the main point.

For fic, I'd also rather not receive pure fluff, though it's not as hard a no as the previous points (ie, if you can't think of anything else to write and risk defaulting please don't stress too much about this request).

Also for fic (or in case, comics), if a character is canonically involved with someone else I'd prefer to not see a cheating/infidelity story. I'd much rather see the conflict be resolved through polyamory or a breakup. No explicit character/ship bashing either please; good-natured jokes however are fine.

For art, fluff/sweet moments are perfectly fine, but the hard nos above still apply.

Things I like

For fic, in general I like character moments (especially characters coming to terms with their past/an aspect of themselves with the help of the other person in the ship), slow realizations of attraction and/or romantic feelings for the other person, missing scenes, post-canon (and in-between canon) speculation, seeing characters and the relationship between them changing throughout the years. Canon divergence AUs of the 'what if...' kind are usually something I like as well. In my various sci-fi fandoms I always love a good 'away mission together' situation. Most of all I like the character's personalities, quirks, and especially their flaws coming through in the narrative! Also, despite my no-fluff policy, the story doesn't need to have a plot to appeal to me, so don't worry about plot too much. Finally, trans headcanons and/or noncanonical pronouns for the characters involved are very welcome!

For art, I'm afraid I can't be as specific because I'm not an artist myself! To parallel my writing likes, I really enjoy fanart that captures a specific moment between two people (it can be serious, funny, sweet, melancholic, sad... you decide), but honestly I like all sorts of fanart depicting my favorite ships. I place some importance on character likeness and getting the details right, but honestly if done with intent I'm down for whatever change you want to make to character design (one classic example of this, if you're familiar with Star Trek, is giving Kira Nerys and Seven of Nine a better and more functional uniform). Again though, don't stress too much about this!

Under the cut I'm going to put more specific DNWs/requests for each fandom.

Star Trek DS9

(fic) I have a bit of a pet peeve regarding how much Garak/Bashir is present in DS9 f/f fics. If you want to reference the pairing in passing it's fine, but if either Garak or Julian are in your fic I'd really, really prefer if whatever is going on between them didn't get more than said passing mention.

(fic/art) For Ezri/Kira, I'd like there to be conflicting feelings regarding their attraction to one another; this is one of those ships where fluff doesn't really do much for me. I'd also really appreciate if what you make was set a few years post-canon, but that's up to you.

Star Trek Voyager

(fic/art) For Seven/B'Elanna, I'd like for you to not reference that scene in "Infinite Regress" where Seven bites B'Elanna, unless you're going to frame it as both as assault (with B'Elanna as the victim) and a violation of Seven's bodily autonomy. It's the only interpretation of that scene I can stomach, sorry.

Star Trek TNG

(fic/art) For Deanna/Toreth, I for one love a good rivalry with a Romulan... I also like referencing some obscure parts of Romulan canon in my own fic (I find that hand-kissing can be super hot, for example) but take this just as a humble suggestion.

The Expanse

(fic/art) I'm relatively new to the fandom therefore I haven't yet developed a taste for the kind of fan content I like for any of the ships I requested, so feel free to go wild! One thing I can say is that I care about Naomi, Camina and Bobbie very very much, so I just want... good things for them? (preferably without much mentioning of James Holden, whom I don't really like whoops)

Hades

(fic) I love the idea of getting into the nitty-gritty stuff with Nyx/Persephone, exploring all the reasons why they maybe really aren't... very well suited for one another (I think their personalities and character flaws could clash very easily!) but in the game they both hold a sort of devotion for the memory of the other. I'd be really happy if you found a way to explore that tension!

Teixcalaan Series

(fic/art) Mahit/Three Seagrass is one those ships where I don't necessarily want to see them working out their differences? "A Desolation Called Peace" really drove home how their big of a gap there is between them. I think I'd be happiest with 'one last time together' type of story here, to get some closure. This is, however, only a suggestion!

#dear creator letter #femslash exchange #femslashex 2021

[elsanna-shenanigans]

December Contest Submission #19: Strange New Worlds, Familiar Warmth

Words: ca. 4500 Setting: Star Trek AU (DS9 Dominion War Era) Lemon: No CW: Mild to Moderate Violence, Trans!Anna, Background character death, Injuries

It had been a rather long and laborious day, but Anna was finally returning to her village with a sack full of freshly skinned meat, the sustenance that would help to feed her village and let her people grow strong.

Anna found it a great honour that she was the huntress for her village, as her duty was deeply sacred one to their people. Their world was full of many strange and massive beasts and Anna was the only one of her tribe who had been trained to face them alone.

Her people worshipped four great spirits, and Anna, to her people, was the living embodiment of their strength, the fifth spirit. As such, it was her divine duty to care for her tribe and to bring them the food and meat they required to survive.

And what a feast she was bringing home. She’d carved up two Aurorasaurs, a Sytrac and even a rare Jagra cat that she’d tracked from its den. That was certainly something the people of her village hadn’t eaten in quite some time.

As she made her way down the long mountain path towards the village in the great forest that was just on the horizon, Anna stopped for a moment to take in the view.

These mountains, the forest, this was her whole world… and it was simply a thing of beauty. From the orange and red trees, to the blue sky, Anna wouldn’t trade her world for everything and yet… she often wondered if there were other worlds out there.

The legends of her people often said that the four spirits they worshipped originally came from the stars, from mysterious worlds unlike Anna’s own. Of course, these were legends, but Anna sometimes wondered if one day, she might visit them, to truly be among the spirits and all who dwelled in their domain in the stars.

However, as Anna was about to pick her sack up and sling it over her shoulder for the final trek home, she heard the sound of something streaking through the sky. Looking up, Anna’s eyes widened as she saw what appeared to be some sort of fireball falling from the heavens. She couldn’t make out what it was… but it was clearly going to crash into the forest.

By the spirits…! Anna thought. If that fireball hits the village, my people will be killed!

Dropping her sack, Anna quickly ran down the small slope towards the trees, watching the fireball fall down towards the ground at great speed. She leapt and jumped between the trees agilely, trying to get to wherever the fireball was going to crash down.

She prayed to the spirits to give her the speed to reach her village, but at the same time, cursed herself for not being there to protect her tribe. Fortunately for Anna though, there would be no innocent blood on her hands this day.

With a massive KABOOM, the giant fireball crashed into a small rocky outcrop in the forest, carving a path through the trees. As it hit the ground with a massive bang, Anna was knocked back and onto her rear, slammed into a nearby tree. Stumbling back up, Anna rubbed her head and slowly started to approach the impact site.

To Anna’s amazement, whatever had crash-landed was surprisingly largely intact. It appeared to be some sort of large, silver capsule, with a pointed nose and two strange protrusions sticking out of its rectangular body. It had a long red stripe going across its body and on its nose, Anna could make out some writing in a language she couldn’t really understand.

“You…Ess…Ess…” Anna managed to read outloud shortly before she was distracted by a noise coming from the battered object. It was a deep hissing sound, one that startled the redhead.

A door on its rear section opened and Anna hid behind some rocks, pulling out her hunting knife. If whatever was inside it was hostile… she preferred to have the element of surprise if she was to face it in combat. She kept hugging against the rock, eyes peeping out around the corner.

However, the hatch opened… and Anna saw a woman come stumbling out of it, carrying someone on her shoulders. The woman placed her companion on the ground, both of them visibly injured. If this woman was hostile, she clearly was in no way to start a fight with Anna.

Quickly, the woman took out some strange grey object from her pocket and hovered it over her friend. While they were both beaten and worn, Anna could see the woman’s friend was in a much worse state than her, with deep burns and scars across the side of his face.

The woman kept waving her strange grey machine over her friend, Anna seeing a pained, desperate expression on her face. She stared intently at her device, as if praying there was hope for her injured friend… only for it to only make a dull, monotone whine in return.

The woman let out a saddened sigh. “May the prophets be with you, my friend,” she whispered, taking the other person’s hand and holding it close to her chest.

Even though she didn’t know who this stranger was, she was able to empathise with her. She knew what it was like to say goodbye to someone she cared about. Her father in particular, as he lay dying of sickness, as he finally came to terms with Anna being his daughter.

Then Anna got a glimpse of the woman’s face and saw that she looked very different to her. She had short platinum blonde hair in a pixie cut, wearing a blue headband on her head. Her clothes were also quite different, a black and grey form-fitting outfit with a blue collar with two golden circles on it. The woman’s nose was also different. Unlike Anna’s smooth one, this woman had a series of bumps on the crest of her nose. On her ear, she wore a rather beautiful looking silver earring.

But her whole face was completely different from Anna as well. Instead of yellow eyes like Anna’s people had, the stranger had bright blue ones. She had normal ears as well, lacking the bony crests Anna’s people had on the sides of their heads. She also had five fingers on each hand, instead of the four Anna had. Yet, their skin tone was the same and Anna could understand her language… somehow.

Even though this woman was so… alien to her, Anna couldn’t help but think she was beautiful. Sure, she was covered in bruises and dirt, but Anna hadn’t seen a woman like her. She was fascinated by her.

However, before Anna could even think of trying to approach the strange woman, she suddenly remembered her hunting trip. She’d left all that meat on the hill when she saw the fireball crash. This stranger would have to wait, she had her own duties to attend to.

As the woman tended to her departed friend, Anna quietly made her exit from the area, the stranger completely unaware of her presence. Eventually, Anna made it to the hill where she had stashed the meat earlier.

Fortunately, it hadn’t been poached by scavengers, much to Anna’s relief. As she looked at the strange craft from afar, she kept thinking about the woman and where she had come from. She didn’t seem to be a spirit of any kind. Anna knew all the spirits, being empowered by them after all. Yet, whatever she was… Anna knew she had to keep her a secret from her tribe.

She knew they’d likely panic and as their guardian, Anna wanted to keep them safe. Besides, the stranger clearly had her own problems to attend to.

Slinging the sack full of the day’s catch over her shoulder, Anna started to make her way back towards her home.

xXx

When Anna got back to the village, it had been chaos. The people of the tribe had thought the end of the world was upon them. After stashing away her hunt in the village store, Anna saw a large gathering in the centre of the village, people surrounding the large fire that burned at the heart of their community.

So many occasions had taken place there. Weddings, funerals, ceremonies dedicated to the spirits, but this occasion was much dire than any of those.

The tribe’s elder, Yelena, was trying to assure her tribe to be calm, but there was no such luck. There hadn’t been a commotion like this since the last tribal war, where their tribe, the Northuldra, had fought their rivals, the Divalla over their hunting grounds.

The gathered members of the tribe were panicking and bickering amongst themselves, all of them fearful for what the fireball could have meant, and some fearful for their safety and the safety of their families and loved ones. Anna didn’t blame them. She was still a little scared herself.

“Calm down, everyone!” Yelena called for order. “Let us wait until our guardian makes her return!”

“And what if she was killed when the sky fell?” one of the tribespeople asked frantically. “What if she has been betrayed by her fellow spirits?!”

“Please, let us think rationally!” the elder spoke amidst the mounting panic. “We have been in harmony with the spirits for generations. There is no reason for there to be conflict between us.”

Anna then stepped into the village center, seeing the assembled crowd. “I’m here, brothers and sisters!” she called out to them. “There is nothing for you to fear!”

One of the tribe turned around at once. “It’s the Fifth Spirit!”

“Oh thank the Divine Ones!” Another exclaimed.

At that moment, a young woman turned around and ran over to Anna. It was Honeymaren, Anna’s Spirit-Sister. Anna’s family had been close to Honeymaren’s and after her father died, Honeymaren’s parents had adopted her into their own, as their spirit daughter. Born to different parents, but treated like family all the same.

Ryder, Honeymaren’s brother, was the tribe’s resident Akadeer herder, while Maren was a blacksmith, forging and carving weapons and tools for their village. Anna saw both of them among the crowd. As Honeymaren rushed up to her, she took Anna’s hands.

“Anna, thank goodness!” Honeymaren exclaimed. “By the spirits, we were worried about you.”

“I’m fine, sister, I’m fine,” Anna assured her gently. “I was fortunately nowhere near the shooting star when it fell from the sky.”

“You were uninjured?” Yelena asked her.

Anna nodded, putting her hands on her hips proudly. “I was. It would take a lot more than a shooting star to bring this fifth spirit down.” She hoped her usual sense of pride and cockiness would ease the concern of her fellow Northuldra.

The tribe indeed felt a little relieved at that, some of them chucking and others just smiling. Honeymaren however, sighed and rolled her eyes playfully. “Your hubris will be the end of you someday, I swear.” She smiled. “But I am glad to see you are uninjured. Did you bring much for the tribe?”

“Oh, today was a good hunt,” Anna replied cheerfully. “Our village will be quite fed for quite a while.”

“But what was the shooting star when it landed?” Yelena asked her. “What did it bring from the heavens? Surely you must have seen it after it had crashed.”

She didn’t think it’d be best to tell the tribe about the strange silver craft that had crashed into their forest. She knew her tribe would likely panic and try to kill that beautiful blonde woman she’d seen in the woods, thinking her to be some sort of demon. But Anna had seen her bleed, seen her cry. Demons did not do either of those things, but she knew her people wouldn’t understand.

But she still had to give them an answer.

“Well, what did it look like?” Maren asked.

“Oh, it was uhhh… a big rock,” was all Anna replied.

“Just that?” Yelena wondered. “A big rock.”

“Yes, a really big rock,” Anna responded. “I give you my word as the guardian that it hopefully will not cause us any harm. However, I would recommend we do not go near it… at least not until I remove it. It could still pose some sort of danger to the village that I am not aware of.”

Yelena nodded. “Very well, I trust your judgement, Anna. Alright everyone, you can go about your business now. The Fifth Spirit has spoken!”

As the people dispersed, Maren and Ryder walked with Anna to their hut, both of them still concerned. Maren in particular, since she was the closest to Anna. Anna knew she wasn’t one to be satisfied, even when Anna told her she had nothing to worry about.

“Please, don’t worry us like that again,” she said in a worried tone. “You are the only family Ryder and I have left.”

“I’ll be fine,” Anna told her. Honeymaren did tend to worry a lot. She was the oldest in the family after all.

“Still sounds pretty cool though!” Ryder gushed. “A massive ball of fire falling from the sky!”

Maren shot her younger brother a look. “Don’t you start too.”

Anna chuckled a little. As they went inside and Honeymaren started on dinner, Anna went to her room and sat down. She looked at all the various souvenirs in the room, tokens of her adventures.

Her life had been one of wonder and hardship. From discovering that she was a woman not long after she became the fifth spirit, to helping forge an alliance between the Northuldra and another tribe called the Saporilda, to losing her father to the sickness. All of that had been impactful on Anna… and yet, she hadn’t thought of any of that as much as that strange blonde woman and her craft that had crashed down.

She couldn’t get her out of her mind, even now.

Eventually, Honeymaren called Anna to dinner and she dined heartily with her spirit-siblings. But soon, when they retired to bed, Anna found herself thinking of the woman again, wondering if she was alright in the forest on her own. Where could she have come from? Why had her strange vessel crash-landed into their forest? So many questions… questions which were keeping Anna awake that night.

Soon, Anna realised she couldn’t sleep. She had to see that woman again, to know that she was alright. She jumped from her bed and grabbed one of her hunting spears before crawling out of the window. And then she headed out into the night.

xXx

As the stars hung in the sky above her, Anna kept making her way through the forest. Her mind was focused on seeing the strange woman again. Anna hadn’t seen a woman quite like her, and now that she was freed from her duties she could observe her for as long as hse wanted to.

Anna knew that Honeymaren would likely chew her out for rushing out in the middle of the night, but Anna knew this was for the best. After all, she was the representative of their people. If she did indeed want to talk to this stranger… she was the most qualified person to do that.

It didn’t take Anna long to reach the crashed craft. The woman had started up a fire near her ship and was sitting beside it for warmth. At the same time, she was tinkering with some sort of metal object. She’d brought other things out from her ship as well, strange machines that Anna did not understand.

Hiding behind a tree, Anna watched as the woman warmed her hands on a nearby fire she’d started, before she tried to activate the strange object. She grumbled, pressing a switch on the device, only for there to be no response. She sighed, trying to remain calm.

“Okay, let’s try this again,” the woman muttered to herself. She pressed a few buttons before speaking into the machine. “This is Lieutenant Iduna Elsa calling. any Starfleet vessel? Do you read me? My ship was attacked by a squad of Jem'Haddar ships. I managed to escape but have crashed on an uncharted world. I am all alone here, my supplies are low and I don’t know how long I can last. If there is any Starfleet vessel receiving this, please respond… please.”

The woman groaned, as there seemed to be no response.

“Oh come on!” she groaned. “Did I do something wrong? You were the engineering expert, Kristoff. If you were still here, I bet I’d have found someone by now.”

Iduna. What a beautiful name for such a beautiful woman. And Kristoff was likely the person Anna had seen Elsa carry out of their crashed ship. While Anna had a few answers now, she still had many more questions about this woman. Part of her wanted to talk to her… but she had a feeling that would only make things worse. The woman was clearly still grieving and a stranger interrupting would have been the last thing she wanted.

Iduna rubbed her forehead, clearly fatigued. Working on whatever that contraption was exhausting, not to mention her shouting at the contraption when it wasn’t functioning as intended.

Gazing curiously, Anna continued to watch the woman, seeing her open some sort of packet containing some food. Iduna seemed to express a certain disgust to the food, but ate it anyway. Clearly, it was the only thing she felt like eating, or at least, was comfortable eating.

At that moment, Anna thought about grabbing some fresh Javarro fruit from the nearby tree and offering it to Iduna, only to then realise it was probably best for her to observe and not interact. Still, she found herself in awe of the strange machine the woman had used.

While Anna didn’t know what its purpose was… it was clearly important to Iduna. Perhaps she was trying to send a message to the stars from where she came?

Eventually, after Anna had watched Iduna for a while longer with her eating, it was clear she was getting sleepy. The blonde woman sat back on the rock she’d been resting against and pulled a nearby silver blanket over herself. Anna realised she should probably leave as well. After all, she’d seen her strange visitor more than enough now.

And yet, Anna had another question. The woman’s face… it was no longer dirty and certainly no longer covered in cuts and bruises. Had the woman… healed herself somehow? In such a quick time?

As the woman was closing her eyes, Anna crept closer to the camp, wanting to take one final close look at the stranger.

However, just as she got closer. Anna saw something sneaking in the darkness. A faint red glow and two crimson eyes. Anna recognised them instantly. She heard the sound of footsteps rushing towards the blonde woman, crunching leaves beneath them.

Grabbing her spear again, Anna looked in the darkness. The red eyes were gone and the footsteps had stopped… but Anna knew whatever was out there was getting closer and she wasn’t going to let it hurt this strange woman. Clutching the weapon tighter, Anna listened for a low growling.

The woman may not have been a native of the forest or part of Anna’s tribe, but Anna was determined to protect her.

Suddenly, Anna heard the footsteps again, hearing the creature snarl and charge at the camp.

Leaping out from behind the tree, Anna tossed her spear at the creature as it leapt out at Iduna. The beast groaned, being knocked back from the force of Anna’s attack. The illusion wore off, Anna seeing the sight of a black, bipedal wolf creature with black and red fur. A Lukark. They were nocturnal, cloaking themselves in shadow to sneak up on their prey.

Iduna jumped up, seeing Anna standing before her. “What the hell?!” she exclaimed. “Who are you?”

“Stay back!” Anna cautioned.

The beast snarled, ripping the spear from its leg and tossing it aside., charging at Anna with its claws. Anna tackled the beast, punching it in the face with her fist. She tried to toss the beast down onto its back, but Anna’s own fatigue got the better of her, as the Lukark managed to slash her with its claws.

Grunting, Anna looked down at her bleeding wound, distracted. She tried to reach for her weapon, but she was already starting to feel weak. With the little strength she had left, she tackled the creature, pinning it against a tree. Her hands grabbed onto its neck, Anna trying to choke it, but the beast then kicked her square int the stomach with its feet.

Iduna, staring at Anna, realised she had to do something. She quickly reached for one of her devices, a sleek silver, handled device. She aimed the weapon, trying to get a good shot at Anna and the creature, but they were both moving too much.

However, the Lukark then tackled Anna down. It slashed at her and tried to bite at her head, but Anna, with what little strength she had left, tried to fight back, but the creature’s foul breath filled her face and its great strength pressed down upon her, claws digging into her skin.

As Anna thought this would be her end. She’d lost a lot of blood and knew the Lukark was going to kill her… but at least she would die knowing that gave her life for this woman, protecting this innocent stranger to her woods. She just hoped that Iduna was running away now, far enough that the creature wouldn’t catch up to her.

However, Anna was then saved herself. . A beam of orange energy fired through the air, shooting the Lukark off her, killing it instantly. Anna turned, seeing that Iduna had killed the Lukark. In surprise, she tried to sit up, but felt searing pain all through her body.

“Damn it!” Iduna shouted, rushing to Anna’s side and cradling her. “Are you alright?!”

Anna tried to respond, but her vision was growing hazy. She kept focusing on the woman though, those beautiful blue eyes gazing back at her. Iduna was clearly a mix of a cunning warrior and a gorgeous beauty… and Anna was glad to have given her life for her.

But, before Anna could thank her rescuer, she lost consciousness due to her blood loss…

xXx

When Anna awoke, she found herself wrapped up in the same silver blanket Iduna had been in. As her eyes widened, she saw that she was beside the fire… and Iduna was sitting on a rock beside her. She was looking at the fire, warming her hands again, but she stared at Anna when she realised the redhead was awake.

Startled, Anna jumped up, panicking for a moment. Iduna got up, trying to calm her own.

“Woah, calm down,” she assured her. “Everything’s alright… you’re safe now.”

Staring at Iduna a little warily, Anna looked down at herself after pulling the blanket off her form… and saw that the injuries she’d sustained had been healed. Was this strange woman magical? Did she have powers that could not only heal herself, but others as well? Anna stared back at Iduna confused.

The woman nodded. “Yes… I healed your wounds.” She sighed. “It was the least I could do for you saving my life.”

Anna felt grateful… and humbled. And she couldn’t help but admit that she loved the sound of Iduna’s voice. Melodic and gentle… like how she imagined the voice of the spirits.

“I’m breaking a ton of rules by even talking to you right now,” Iduna remarked. “But I couldn’t just let you die. I’ve already lost one person today and I wasn’t prepared to lose another.”

“Iduna…” Anna spoke.

The blonde woman turned. “Huh?”

“Iduna…. that’s your name isn’t it?” Anna stated.

“How do you know my name?”

Anna blushed. “I was watching you work on whatever that big grey machine of yours is. You said your name into it.”

“Oh…” Iduna responded, feeling embarrassed. “Well, I prefer to be called Elsa, if that’s okay. I never liked my family name much anyway.”

Anna was a little confused. In the traditions of her people, the family name came after the first name, but clearly, wherever Elsa was from, the traditions were different. If she was honest though… Elsa was a much more beautiful name. In her own language, it meant “white flower”, but she doubted it meant the same to her new friend.

“My name is Anna,” the redhead introduced herself. “I… I saw this ship of yours crash earlier”

“You saw me then too?” Elsa asked. “How long have you been watching me?”

“I couldn’t help it!” Anna argued. “I saw the ship fall from the sky earlier today. So did practically everyone in my tribe. Don’t worry… I didn’t tell them about you. They… probably wouldn’t understand you and Spirits, even I don’t know what you are? You’re so… different to me.”

Elsa rubbed the back of her head. “I guess you could say… I’m from another world. A world called Bajor.”

“Bajor?” Anna wondered. “Do you have spirits there too?”

“Spirits?”

“Yes… divine beings who protect you and you believe in?” Anna stated. “I am empowered by the spirits of my world and I’m considered the guardian of this forest.”

“Ah,” Elsa responded. “Well… I suppose we have something similar on Bajor. We worship the Prophets. They protect us and are there for us in our lives. They have someone like your Fifth Spirit too, an Emissary… I wish he was with me right now.”

Anna sighed. “You didn’t mean to come here, did you?”

“No, I actually thought your world was uninhabited so I figured it’d be a safe place to crash after my shuttle got shot down,” Elsa expressed. “I’m sorry you were dragged into this.”

“Hey, I dragged myself into this,” Anna insisted. She grunted as she moved. “Ah..”

“Easy,” Elsa insisted. “Just because I healed your wound, doesn’t mean you don’t need to rest.” She helped Anna lie back and tucked her into the blanket. “There… now you get some sleep.”

“What about you?” Anna wondered. “Won’t you be cold?”

“I’ll… I’ll be alright,” Elsa replied. “You need it more than me.”

“No… you deserve to be warm as well,” Anna stated. She opened up the blanket. “Come on… we can share. We’ll keep each other warm.”

Elsa felt a little reluctant, but nodded. She climbed into the blanket with Anna and they both snuggled up beside the fire. Anna relaxed, resting against Elsa, the Bajoran smiling at her. Anna didn’t know what the future held for her and the woman from Bajor… but she was certain that she wanted to be with Elsa now.

After all… she was making her feel warmth.

#elsanna #submission #december 2020 contest #prompt: warmth #cw: violence #cw: injuries

[kiranxrys]

Alone Together Episode 2 Transcript

Okay, I guess I’m going to keep doing these for now! This is a viewer-made transcript of Episode 2 ‘Sources’ of Alone Together: A DS9 Companion performed on the Sid City Social Club. Again, beneath the cut, and again, please let me know if you think there are any errors and I’ll fix them ♥

watch: one | two | three | four

read: one | three | four

ANNOUNCER (ON-SCREEN): ‘Alone Together’ – a DS9 companion, Episode 2 – ‘Sources’. Jake Sisko is forty-four years old. He is now the editor in chief for the Federation News Service and living in the apartment above Sisko’s restaurant with his wife and their two daughters. Jake has clearly matured and carries the weight of the world on his shoulders most days. Nathan took over the restaurant from Joseph when he finally realized he could no longer keep up with day-to-day operations. Nathan continues to use Joseph’s time-honored recipes, but he still forgets to stir the gumbo often enough.

Jake first moved in with his grandfather when he decided to pursue his reporting career on Earth. The great thing about Jake’s father, Benjamin Sisko, being a Bajoran Prophet is that he can always reach out to Jake, Kasidy, or their son. Today Jake’s not-so-baby brother lieutenant junior-grade Joseph Yates-Sisko is an engineer on Deep Space 9. Doctor Julian Bashir has taken on a rather paternal role with the Sisko children, as has Professor Miles O’Brien at Starfleet Academy. Miles has even been known to show up with a bottle of the good stuff from time to time. Quark even keeps in touch with Jake, usually to trade information as much as checking up on Jake. Having dated a Dabo girl, Jake became a rather proficient Dabo player. Quark gives him information and in exchange, Jake doesn’t play so much Dabo when he visits the station.

[fade to black]

RECAP: In our last episode, Garak called Doctor Bashir to Cardassia Prime under a mysterious pretense. Unable to transport to the surface or access medical records from the planetary health authority, Doctor Bashir is at an impasse starting to treat or cure the unknown illness affecting Cardassia.

JULIAN BASHIR (VOICE ONLY): Mission log stardate 73712.6. Castellan Garak has brought me up to speed on the medical situation on Cardassia. A genetically engineered virus has begun sweeping through the populace, seemingly infecting at random. The source remains a mystery. My analysis is quite preliminary at this point.

JAKE SISKO (VOICE ONLY): Julian, is that you? I can’t seem to make visual contact. Please respond.

JULIAN (ON-SCREEN): Jake? Jake, I’m reading your transmission – standby, I’m trying to clean up the signal. Computer, apply a recursive algorithm to the bandwidth filter.

COMPUTER: Working.

JULIAN: Jake! I’m not receiving this transmission under ideal circumstances. Wait- wait a minute, there we go. Is that better?

JAKE (ON-SCREEN): Julian. [laughs] Hi. I tried to contact you on the station.

JULIAN: Yes, I was called away on a priority mission. What can I do for you?

JAKE: Well, uh, Doctor Jabara told me – the medical emergency, right? Is everything okay?

JULIAN: Yes, I’ve only just arrived so there’s a lot of work to be done. It’s good to hear from you, Jake but I’ve a lot to do and I’m a team of one – what can I do for you?

JAKE: Yeah, well, when Doctor Jabara told me I tried to call Kira but she was in consultation with the Vedek Assembly.

JULIAN: Yes, the life of a Kai is a busy one, but I wasn’t called to Bajor.

JAKE: Yeah, um, any chance that this has something to do with what’s happening on Cardassia?

JULIAN: Um… where I am is classified. However it’s simply a humanitarian mission. But what do you mean, what have you heard is happening on Cardassia?

JAKE: Ah, I have my sources.

JULIAN: Jake…

JAKE (LAUGHING): I just have a few questions, Julian. Um… you know me, I won’t take too much of your time.

JULIAN: The last time you had a few questions I spent the next four hours consulting on your latest novel.

JAKE: Yeah, well today I’m contacting you in official capacity for the Federation News Service. And… I’ll make you a deal. You tell me what you know, and I’ll tell you whatever it is that you think I know.

JULIAN (LAUGHING): Look, Mister Editor-In-Chief, you contacted me.

JAKE: Oh, well, you know you can’t blame a reporter for trying.

JULIAN: A doctor isn’t normally the most newsworthy source. The last time I was important to a story was when you were writing a profile of me, right before…

JAKE: Yeah, before we responded to that medical emergency on uh- Ajilon Prime, right?

JULIAN: Yes.

JAKE: I think uh- to be honest, that was the kind of diversion I was looking for for an interesting angle.

JULIAN: Interesting angle?! I’d just proposed one of the most controversial theories of my career – you didn’t think it was interesting enough?! Well no wonder you wrote about yourself! I could’ve explained the theory more clearly if you’d just told me-

JAKE: Yeah, well, you know honestly- you know this really wasn’t about Ajilon Prime and that wasn’t why I changed the story- the focus of the story, Julian. But enough about Ajilon Prime – I want to talk about Cardassia. According to my sources, it is on lockdown. I mean nobody is able to get permission to enter the place or leave the place, from what I heard. And you know Quark told me than Grand Nagus Rom said that business is horrible and he’s completely frustrated. But no one can give me a clear and solid explanation so I was hoping that maybe, you know, given your close relationship with Garak, that um… maybe you could uh- clear things up for me.

JULIAN: Well frankly I’m surprised you were able to get that much information.

JAKE: Interesting.

JULIAN: What is?

JAKE: Well, I mean a second ago when I was bringing up the topic, you know, you seemed a little bit uh- evasive. But now that you know what I know a little bit you seem that you have more that you want to tell me.

JULIAN: Not at all, Jake! I have absolutely nothing further to tell you, other than-

JAKE: Well you’re talking to the editor-in-chief of the Federation News Service, Julian – I know when people are trying to keep a secret from me so… I mean hell, you don’t know what I know!

JULIAN: You’d be surprised – and watch your language.

JAKE: I’m- I’m sorry, I- I just- I just called because I know that there’s issues on Cardassia and… you know, with you being coincidentally called to a medical emergency, and Garak being the Castellan of Cardassia… it didn’t take much for me to kind of do some dot connecting.

JULIAN: Hmm… look, Jake, I really can’t talk about it. Suffice to say, I’ve been called to a priority mission and understandably, I cannot comment on a mission that has only just begun.

JAKE: Julian, I’m not just looking for a story. I want to help. At least I- I think I can help. But I do have an obligation to the truth, and- and I will honor that.

JULIAN: Now that is interesting.

JAKE: What?

JULIAN: You just reminded me of your father for a moment. Had you said ‘looking for a damn story’, I might’ve sworn we were back in his old office.

JAKE: [laughs]

JULIAN: More importantly, how do you think you can help?

JAKE: I heard mumblings about an attempt on Garak’s life a few weeks ago. I had contacted him at his home.

JULIAN: He took your call?

JAKE: Well, you know, Garak checks in from time to time, but in this case subspace communications were a little shaky so he took a call from Bajor’s newly-appointed ambassador.

JULIAN: But you don’t even live on Bajor.

JAKE (LAUGHING): Well, wait a minute, I’m the firstborn of the Emissary so you know, all Siskos are Bajoran citizens. One word from the Kai and I, you know, I kind of landed the job.

JULIAN: [laughs] Well Garak must’ve been surprised to see you on the other side of a diplomatic communicate.

JAKE: Yeah, well, not that he let it on but he did compliment me on my resolution – I think his exact words were uh- [clears throat] ‘Truly the manouver of a Sisko’.

JULIAN: [laughs]

JAKE: Yeah, you know, I told him a source said he might be in danger and… he was alerted as rumor of a coup.

JULIAN: What did he say?

JAKE: Well, he didn’t really say much, you know how he does – he listened, he avoided my questions, he asked about my family, he complimented my last novel and he, you know, he redirected every subject change and then he got me talking about my dad so… I learned more from a rumor than I ever would’ve from Garak. I’ll give him this, though – he’s good.

JULIAN: You don’t know how good. Frankly I don’t even think I know how good he really is.

JAKE: Maybe not but… that’s where it ended, my trail was cold until about fourteen hours ago when I heard that you had left. Anyway, my sources in Cardassia had told me that-

JULIAN: You have sources on Cardassia?

JAKE: Yeah, I have sources throughout the quadrant, Julian, you know that! Anyway, multiple sources on Cardassia said that Garak was uh- hosting a diplomatic conference. He was still trying to smooth things over with the Breen and their trade agreement was developing some cracks, shall we say, along their distribution routes.

JULIAN: Cracks?

JAKE: You know, apparently some Ferengi merchants had sold a couple of Cardassian cargo haulers some second-rate transporter modules, you know, led to some major consignment issues and losses for both sides. They were crying foul, I mean it took some time to figure out who was at fault.

JULIAN: Jake- Jake, this is fascinating, but… what does it have to do with Garak?

JAKE: I thought doctors were supposed to have patience.

JULIAN: Actually, doctors make the worst patients.

JAKE: No, no I’m-

JULIAN: -oh, making a little joke.

JAKE: All right, well I- I was… where was I?

JULIAN: Lost cargo.

JAKE: Right. So the Breen, they weren’t going to get the payments because the cargo never completed the rematerialization routine and basically once they started the transporter sequence, something happened and they ended up with a bunch of organic and inorganic goo all over the place. Cardassians accused the Breen transport captain of deception and vice versa.

JULIAN: Neither race are particularly trusting of others.

JAKE: Yeah, well, that’s right. Um… Cardassians wouldn’t allow the Breen to complete their own analysis and the Breen denied any wrongdoing, so the whole thing is about to become a galactic incident, if Grand Nagus Rom hadn’t been in the middle of an audit-

JULIAN: An audit? Jake, where are you going with this? I really don’t have time.

JAKE: Yeah, yeah I’m getting there, Julian, just bear with me! So being the man that he is, you know, Grand Nagus Rom was completing his annual audit of Ferengi trade practices and discovered uh- the transporter modules were known to be faulty. They came from decaying annex-class prototypes that had been found in an abandoned shipyard. You know, the Ferengi, they came across this stuff and they started scavenging, they tweaked the old module transporter biomatter- I’m sure you’re aware that annex-class ships weren’t known for flawless transporters, and- and those were prototypes.

JULIAN: So you think the Breen tried to assassinate Garak as retribution?

JAKE: Yeah, well, that’s one of three theories that I’ve kind of come by to explain Cardassia’s apparent shutdown. But after this trade embargo, suddenly uh- I don’t know, apparently usage of all medical equipment is subject to state approval?

JULIAN: It doesn’t make sense. The Breen aren’t known for biogenic weapons, they use brute force, with rather advanced weapons technology, but I’ve never heard of any weaponized viruses.

JAKE: Hm… a virus?

JULIAN: [sighs] Jake, I really have to get back to work. If there’s nothing else you can tell me of any use-

JAKE: No, no- Well, just- just let me- bear with me… There’s two other somewhat credible theories that I have that implicate the Andorians and the Romulans.

JULIAN: Romulans?

JAKE: And Andorians.

JULIAN: The Andorians have nothing to gain from Garak’s death.

JAKE: That’s true but their beef is also with the Breen. You know, Andoria’s population and its fleet were completely decimated and they’re still recovering from the Breen assaults during the Dominion War. So, you know, icy moons are not exactly lending themselves to quick procreation.

JULIAN: Well, their colonies are also further apart due to the need for lower temperatures that still fall within the M-class conditions. Plus, Andoria is militaristic – they have great warships, but they don’t devote resources to espionage or underhand methods. Look, Jake, the last time you broke a story about Andoria, you found yourself in front of the Federation Council being threatened with extradition.

JAKE: Yeah… and my evidence convinced them to recall the ambassador before the charges were dropped. Anyways, the Andorians and the Breens may have issues, and the Breens and the Cardassians are resolving this trade dispute-

JULIAN: But the Romulans are the only species you’ve mentioned who have been known to use biogenic weapons.

JAKE: Would they have a reason to want Garak dead?

JULIAN: Well let’s just say that Garak and the Romulans have… past dealings.

JAKE: You mean his past with the embassy?

JULIAN: What are you talking about?

JAKE: Come on, Julian, we all know that he was a member of the Obsidian Order. I mean, he was working as a groundskeeper on Romulus for the Cardassian embassy. He never told you? Garak was no more a gardener than he was a tailor.

JULIAN: Actually, Garak is quite a good tailor.

JAKE: You- you know what I mean. He may be a politician now but as a spy he played many roles. I’m surprised he’s satisfied with, you know, such a quiet life.

JULIAN: World leaders hardly live quiet lives.

JAKE: Yeah, you- you know what I mean.

JULIAN: I do. Jake, listen, I appreciate your insights, at least I have a starting point. If you hear anything else, please let me know.

JAKE: Now that I know where to keep digging I’m sure we’ll be in touch.

JULIAN: Give the girls a hug from me.

JAKE: Julian, one more thing! Sorry, I’m glad you’re still there. [laughs] Before you go I want to say uh- I thought about it a little and I think I’m old enough to say hell now.

JULIAN: You’ll never be old enough to swear, you’re still thirteen! Though I may have some work for you later, I’ll be in touch.

JAKE: Work? A job? No I- I didn’t think I was any really much use at Ajilon Prime – I don’t think you would uh- have any use for me. I couldn’t do any much more than that.

JULIAN: We’ll see. Take care.

ELIM GARAK (ON-SCREEN): Uh, excuse me- are you uh- are you quite finished, Doctor?

JULIAN: Garak? Have you been monitoring us this whole time?

GARAK: Doctor, all communications in and out of Cardassia are currently under my direct control.

JULIAN: Well, we may have a lead.

GARAK: Yes, the Romulans.

JULIAN: You already suspected them?

GARAK: Oh, I’m suspicious of everyone, but- but Jake, you did confirm that specific concern of mine.

JAKE: I’m glad I could help.

GARAK: Indeed. I suspected that the Romulans could be involved. I’ve placed agents on several planets for reconnaissance – only three of the eight are still alive. Never send a boy to do a man’s work.

JAKE: Only three left?

GARAK: Now, remember, Mister Jake, remember, all of this is off the record.

JAKE: Yeah, as long as you’re in danger I’ll respect that.

GARAK: Even after my life is no longer in immediate danger, we may not be able to discuss this particular situation publicly. I’ll- I’ll let you know.

JAKE: Understood.

JULIAN: Garak, how were you able to monitor my communication with Jake? I was barely able to receive his signal at first.

GARAK: I know, I had to run his signal through the same encryption protocols we’re using – it took a moment to reconfigure our local systems to allow us to communicate outside of it. Although your recursive algorithm was a good idea, it never would’ve worked. The bandwidth filter has nothing to do with my encryption protocols.

JULIAN: Five out of eight operatives are dead?

GARAK: Yes, yes, acceptable losses – twenty percent. But this is a bit more, isn’t it? It’s a serious issue, and it requires risk.

JULIAN: Garak, Jake and I figured out in a few minutes of conversation, you really have to learn to trust.

GARAK (LAUGHING): And who would you have me trust, Doctor? An intelligence operative for an alien government and a reporter who shares his secrets as part of his job? Hardly people one should consider trustworthy.

JULIAN: But you have to trust me, Garak.

GARAK: Yes, Doctor, for better or worse, I trust you. But Captain Sisko once told me that the road to hell is paved with good intentions. We all have a weakness, and if it’s the right interrogator who discovers it, the information revealed could devastate sectors of space and destabilize entire worlds.

JULIAN: I never realized you and the Captain discussed philosophy.

GARAK: Well-

JAKE: I never realized you discussed anything with my dad. [laughs]

GARAK: The Captain and I saw each other from time to time – it’s a small station, after all. However, the uh- the good intentions paving the road to hell in this case are the secrets. Knowledge. People see secrets as being malicious little things, but they keep the peace. Secrets are both power and penalty. If everyone was honest, there’d be no need for secrets. If no one shared secrets, the galaxy would be a much happier place. But Doctor, you know the things I know, and in some cases the things we both know are the things we need to ensure that no one knows. Anarchy would reign and the order of the day would be chaos. Trust, especially for people who hold this information, is both a luxury, and a burden of truth.

JULIAN: I hate to admit it, but you’re right.

JAKE: Listen guys, uh- if you ever need to share some of that truth…

JULIAN & GARAK: [laugh]

GARAK: It isn’t, Jake, that I wouldn’t trust you with Mila’s recipes or even- even some wildly outdated intelligence data, but I know you have a hunger for information. And you also feel a great responsibility to let your people know of any threats, and thus, this virus, is a threat. Not only to Cardassians but quite possibly to off-worlders, as well.

JULIAN: Fair point, but Garak-

GARAK: You know Doctor, haven’t we wasted enough time?

JULIAN: You’re right. Jake if you’re willing to keep digging you can focus your investigations on Romulus now. I’ll do some looking myself.

JAKE: I’m on it. [leaves]

JULIAN: Garak, you said that you have holographic systems. An EMH. How sophisticated are your emitters? Could you create some scanning equipment at your location that will be tied into your equipment? By now I suspect you have a closed system like the one you’ve locked your medical professionals up in. Does it have medical databases?

GARAK: I suppose I do and I suppose it does, but… what are you getting at?

JULIAN: Well you were willing to transmit images – if I can’t do the analysis myself, if you had access to the equipment, well, I can at least analyse the results.

GARAK: You- you know Julian, that really hadn’t occurred to me.

JULIAN: Oh yes, well, you wanted the best.

GARAK: That enhanced brain of yours rarely ceases to amaze me.

JULIAN: Let’s get started. We’ll likely need standard biobed with an [uncertain] scanning interface. I need to map your cerebrum to see if we should expect any issues with reasoning. A portable retinal scanner too, will help identify any changes in blood pressure or possible sensory complications. The biobed will also monitor your cardiopulmonary system, which should give me a look at your heart. We may be able to slow the progression until we have a cure.

GARAK: It’s a good thing I had a PADD nearby, Julian – that’s quite a list. With no EMH to conduct the scans, it will take a few minutes.

JULIAN: Well contact me when you’re finished, I want to see if Jake has learned anything.

GARAK: Very well Doctor, I’ll contact you shortly. [leaves]

JULIAN: Jake? Jake?

JAKE (ON-SCREEN): Julian. Yeah, Garak had more than a few enemies on Romulus. There was a proconsul Mirok who opened- who opposed opening diplomatic relations with Cardassia at all. He was poisoned. Uh, subcommander named Ustard, who was the Chief of Staff for the Romulan ambassador. Ustard died in a transporter accident beaming to the Romulan Senate. And the ambassador, well, we all know about the ambassador.

JULIAN: We do indeed. But they’re all dead. Are you suggesting this is a vendetta from someone related to one of those people?

JAKE: Well, anything is possible. I’m more suggesting behavior.

JULIAN: I suppose. But Garak was assigned there – it’s not like he goes around killing Romulans.

JAKE: No, but it sounds more to me like he may have been ordered to kill Romulans… Did you ever meet a Senator Varak or… Vreenak on the station?

JULIAN: Should I have?

JAKE: Well, not really but, you know, Quark would sometimes sell me little tidbits of information. Now let’s just say, I take the occasion break from the uh- Dabo wheel and he would tell me things. Now one of the things he told me about was a Senator Vreenak, who apparently visited the station before the Romulans joined the Dominion War. Now Senator Vreenak… maybe- maybe he was working with my dad to have some kind of negotiation into the entry into the war… I don’t know, I’m not sure, but you know shortly after he would’ve left the station, he… he was lost in a shuttle explosion.

JULIAN: Vreenak also negotiated the non-aggression pact for the Dominion. It’s quite a chance of alliance.

JAKE: And he’s dead.

JULIAN: [sighs] I suppose it’s possible that the Romulan government, or the Tal Shiar for that matter, could be playing a rather long game.

JAKE: Garak is the leader of the world- of his world, you know, Cardassia is in a much better place now and you know, they may even someday join the Federation, who knows? We have a level of isolation to get over but-

JULIAN: Koval.

JAKE: I’m sorry, what?

JULIAN: Jake, I have to go – keep digging. If you hear anything else, let me know.

JAKE: I’ll be in touch.

JULIAN: Thank you.

[pause]

JULIAN: And Garak! If you’re listening, which I expect you are – medication, rest. I’ll contact you shortly.

[fade to black]

[CREDITS]

#ds9 #deep space nine #alone together #(i had to guess some of the names one or two times if you know a more correct spelling for anything do let me know)

[el-im]

im putting all the things ive been meaning to write posts about into one single item because i am feeling Very Observed lately and i figure with it being as early as it is that hopefully this wont show up on some peoples dashes by the time they get around to pulling up tumblr today. 

first of all heres a photo dump and some captions

from when i texted charlie my images of the sisko card, which i was really hoping he’d like

a smiley face on my coffee 

i was gonna make a gender joke here bc the longer i looked at these before n after pinning back my hair pictures the more i was like ‘oh we just flipped gender presentation like a lightswitch huh’ but that was not funny and i am not funny and I wish i were but im not and its kind of a >:( fact thats been bugging me lately. 

from mom, yesterday, who dropped off one for me, one for nick, one for mia, and one for abe. i was expecting this to be the only thing i got/heads up/message on valentines day but i woke up this morning to find that aub had sent me a playlist that i looked at but havent listened to yet (because im trying to order my responses to things in increasing complexity and time--i responded to the tik toks elanor sent me first, them had a look at the star trek document that joe sent me and commented on the questions he asked without giving away spoilers, and am now making this post, which ive been meaning to make, and will then maybe try to listen to the playlist and then respond to michelle’s email) 

these are joes thoughts from some ds9 episodes. initially, i’d sent him a list of ‘best’  episodes (my favorites AND the eps i thought were most emblematic of ds9′s issues--bajor’s relationship with cardassia, trill relationships, etc) hoping that he’d be able to see the merit of the show, but he insisted on re-watching the first episode before he started working on the list because he’d only seen it once a long time ago, and then, after watching ep 1 and captive pursuit (with tosk) decided that he’d try to watch the full first season, especially after i expressed my dismay at realizing he wouldn’t get the chronological introduction to garak bc ep 3 wasnt on my list of best episodes. anyway. he showed me this list of written reactions after watching ep 1 and captive pursuit and it made me so happy he decided he’d keep doing it, which i insisted wasn’t necessary because it seems to me like a lot of work (and which i still feel guilty about) but he was like told me that he’d only seldom seen me as happy as i was upon reading that and it was something little he could do to foster that joy which.. makes my heart crack in two). 

anyway. the real reason i started this post was because ive been up in arms for the past few days about mia and covid. 

speaking of which. 

baby ‘passed’ first covid test. that arrow on the side is the minimized player where im watching nemesis. hah. 

anyway. 

to make a longer story short, my (pregnant!!!) sister decided, stupidly, to go with her boyfriend abe, a sound engineer, to a broadcast stage he was setting up in california, because she has a liver condition that appeared during her pregnancy which makes giving birth difficult (which is emotionally challenging for her because she had always wanted to do an at-home birth without drugs) and in fact, is a condition which typically leads to the birth having to be induced early, which means, at this point in development, that she could potentially need to have the child at any time. she went with him because she didn’t want to be without him if the baby needed to come. she was there for a week, with the both of them feeling sick all the while, and then came home early without abe because she felt bad and wasnt having fun, eventually getting a ride from my mother (who lives with my grandmother and great aunt, 93 and 86 respectively) back home from the airport (she took a PLANE!?). anyway. at our insistence, she was tested the same day she got home. she was reluctant to do it because she ‘didn’t think she had it’ and figured that it was ‘just the flu, honestly’ as if she had any way of knowing that???? in the day she was waiting for her test results, she came out of her room multiple times without a mask on, walking around the kitchen or playing with the dogs, even though we told her to stay in her room (and had brought her food/hot tea/whatever else she needed). she had no reason to come out when she was 1. sick and 2. not quite sure if she had covid or not

anyway. her test came back positive so she was trying to ‘stay in her room’, which lasted for.. not even a day. nick and i, who hadn’t seen either of them in a week, but had been around each other, got tests. we (as pictured) both got negative results, so mia must have gotten it in california rather than from someone we’d all seen (like nick and mia’s dad or stepmother earlier in the month) 

abe came home soon after and had taken two rapid tests when he landed, but then, when coming home, immediately was sitting in the same room as my sister, without a mask on. he slept outside in our ‘arizona room’--a screened in patio with a futon in it for the first night. when his results came back (as negative), he decided that he was fine to be in the house, so wouldn’t wear a mask in the kitchen or in the living room, (something nick and i both did) AND would also be in the same room as my sister for long periods of time. i’d like to think he was wearing a mask in there, but i can’t be sure. he was playing video games in their shared room where mia was watching tv, as long as he (AND I QUOTE) ‘stayed in his corner’. it’s a ten by ten room at most. there’s no way that staying in there, even with a mask on, for as long as he did was a smart option. so... to reiterate. abe was in a room with my sister, who has covid, for a long period of time, and then wouldn’t wear a mask when in the common areas that everyone uses. which is... great right

and the thing thats been annoying me for these last couple of days in particular, ASIDE from all the dumb shit they’ve done up to this point, is that mia says abe needs to bring her food (valid) and YET mia is always in the kitchen (which doesn’t make sense). i was in the kitchen preparing a meal the other day and she came out to refill her water. which, if abe was functioning SOLELY to bring her things, as she was insisting, would not have warranted her coming out of her room. it was the middle of the day. she could have said she needed water and left her cup by the door and i could have refilled it and brought it back.... but she didn’t. i was wearing two masks (a cloth one over a medial grade one) but was still wary about her being there--because I was making food. i told her to get out of the kitchen because she’d finished getting her water, but she said ‘just a minute!!’ and continued, not three feet away from me, trying to pick up one of the dogs and playing with her. i kept telling her to go back to her room but she was acting as though i was being rude and being completely unreasonable??? she takes every request we make for her to stay away from us as a personal attack, like we don’t want to see her or be around her, instead of us trying to protect ourselves from covid?? 

THEN the fun part is after all this, abe sets up an inflatable mattress in the office (which is :) right :) next :) to my room) because he decides he doesn’t want to sleep in the same room as mia (reasonable) despite having been occupying the same room as mia for hours (STUPID). so now abe is using the hall bathroom, which nick and i use/shower in/brush our teeth in. before, abe had been using mia’s bathroom off the bedroom, and, again, had been sleeping in there. so now, if abe DID catch it from mia, which is likely, at this point, he’d going to give it to nick and i.

nick and i were upset about this, and told mia last night that she needed to stay in her room. that was how people quarantined. that is how you quarantine. you do not leave your room for ANY reason, especially if you have 1. MULTIPLE PEOPLE CAPABLE AND WILLING TO BRING YOU FOOD AT ANY TIME OF DAY and 2. A BATHROOM THAT CONNECTS TO YOUR ROOM. she came out and started yelling at us about abe, though neither of us wanted to fight with her (and there was no reason to fight about something we were CLEARLY right about). she said ‘YOU CANT HAVE IT BOTH WAYS’ which meant that abe can’t not use the livingroom and the hall bathroom (which we were saying he shouldnt do) and that he can’t be in quarantine with mia (stay with her in her room) but the thing is.... BECAUSE he has spent so much time with her, and because they weren't wearing masks when they were outside and BECAUSE he spent hours playing video games in the room that my sister has been quarantined in for a whopping two days--he now shouldnt ALSO be using our bathroom, because now we can get sick. (and probably fucking will!!!!) she is having him now stay in the office and use our bathroom (GREAT) instead of just biting the bullet and staying with her because he ALREADY HAD BEEN staying with her 

and now they are both in the kitchen :)! i can hear them from my room. great. 

anyway here r some sketches that i never uploaded before cause theyre hideous but im putting here because i hope to fuck no one actually reads this/scrolls down this far

#captain's log #it does not compute to me #that you can just be this fucking stupid #i hate her #i am SO fucking mad at her about this i dont want to live here :)

[beatrice-otter]

This started out as a reblog of this excellent reblog chain about racism and antisemitism in both Star Trek canon and fandom, but as a white gentile fan I didn’t want to intrude or take over.  And I firmly believe that if you really love something, you should love it with open eyes, seeing its faults as well as its strengths.

The thing is, Star Trek is progressive ... but it’s a very white type of progressive resting-on-our-laurels type progressivism.  Sure, TOS was very progressive for a TV show of its day, but ... that ain’t saying much, and the writers and directors and showrunners were all white men and it shows.  So yes, it pushed boundaries by having Sulu and Uhura, and the first scripted interracial kiss, but that was the 60s.  TNG/DS9/VOY/ENT ... uh.  Still very heavily white and male.  Still progressive, but nowhere near as progressive comparatively as TOS, nowhere near as groundbreaking. I mean, I’m glad they listened to Avery Brooks about how his character should be designed and written!  When they made a show with a female captain, they should have at least done the same, and preferably had women in creative leadership roles (as DS9 should have had black people in creative leadership roles).  (I mean, all media should have diverse creative leadership for a lot of reasons, but when you have a character of color or a white woman as lead, it’s even more important that the creative team not be a bastion of white cisheteropatriarchy.)  DS9 was less racist and sexist than TNG or Voyager (but made up for it by being hella antisemitic, hello Ferengi) but the thing is, these are not exactly the Shining Beacons Of Progressiveness we white fans like to think of them as.  Were they better than a lot of shows out there?  Sure!  Did they grapple with a lot of issues most other shows didn’t?  Yup.  But again, that ain’t saying much.  (I haven’t watched Disco or Picard, so I can’t speak to those.)

As to fandom, just liking Star Trek doesn’t automatically make you somehow less racist.  There’s this undercurrent among white Trekkers that “Star Trek is progressive, I am progressive, therefore all participation in the fandom is inherently progressive, therefore I don’t have to worry about racial issues in either my fanworks or my interactions with other fans.”  It’s not that Trek fandom is the only fandom where white people want to assume that not actively hating black people is all you need to qualify as “not racist,” it’s that in Trek fandom we can use the perceived progressiveness of the show as additional armor against acknowledging the actual issues.

I’m white, but I remember how terribly the AOS fandom has treated both the character of Uhura (who DARED to break up the Kirk/Spock white male slash juggernaut) and fans of color.  The argument was that it was homophobic to put Spock in a relationship with a woman.  And that it was a betrayal of feminism for Uhura to have a romantic relationship.  (A black woman getting to have a fulfilling romantic relationship is a step forward, not a step back.  Nyota Uhura is not a white girl.) That whole discussion--which included fans of color getting attacked even in dedicated Spock/Uhura spaces, and ended up with the main Spock/Uhura LJ community doing a lot of educational pieces about racism and misogynoir and privilege and how not to be a dick--was back in 2009.  Over a decade ago.  And we are still having the same damned discussions and treating fans of color the same damned way.  It’s exhausting for me as a white person; I can’t imagine what it’s like for fans of color.  And the thing is, the reason we are still having the same. discussions. over. and. over. is that the majority of white fans do not learn.  We don’t.  We need to.

None of these issues are new.

Star Trek has usually been at least a tiny bit more progressive than the society around it.  That doesn’t mean that the show is perfect, and it definitely doesn’t mean the fandom is.  We can and should do better.  If we are truly committed to the ideals of Star Trek, that shining world of the future where prejudice of all kinds is greatly reduced and people usually choose to do the right thing and act with justice and compassion for all ... that should be reflected both in how we treat one another, and in what stories we choose to write.  And it isn’t.

Listening to fans of color and educating ourselves on anti-racism is a good first step, and then putting what we learn into action and working to treat fans of color better is a good second step, but there are a lot of other posts about those sorts of resources.  I’d like to talk about fannish output, what we create.

You know how people say “oh, well, the reason fandom focuses on white men is because they’re a higher percentage of screentime, therefore they’re the ones most likely to be interesting.”  Let’s look at DS9, shall we?  A show with a black man in the leading role.  As of June 30, there are 6725 fics tagged DS9 on AO3.  Benjamin Sisko (you know, the LEADING MAN), is tagged in only 961 of them.  If you look at how many fics each character is tagged in, he is the sixth person on the list.

But wait! you say, that doesn’t tell the complete story, because sometimes people only tag the pairings, not the individual characters, and therefore they don’t show up in the character tags!  So let’s look at that.  The top relationship is Bashir/Garak, with 2797 fics (almost HALF of all the stories in the fandom).  You know what the second most popular relationship is?  Platonic Bashir&Garak, with 372 fics!   You know what the #7 relationship in DS9 is?  Garak/Parmak.  Parmak is a character from a book series who never appeared in the TV show.   Sisko, the leading man of the show, doesn’t even APPEAR in the list of top ten relationships in the fandom!  Julian Bashir is there four times, Garak three.  (Jadzia/Worf is #6)

But wait! you say, the canonical pairings for Sisko were mostly recurring roles not main characters, and he didn’t really flirt with anyone he wasn’t canonically linked with, so maybe he does better when you go with only fics tagged “gen” i.e. not focused on romantic and/or sexual relationships.  (I mean, I think it’s a stretch because Janeway gets paired with Tom Paris a lot, and she doesn’t flirt with him in canon, and she rarely gets paired with Tuvok despite how often they touch hands which for a Vulcan is ... wow.  But for the sake of argument we’ll say that Sisko not flirting much with anyone besides his canon partners is the reason he’s not shipped much.) And sure, when you limit it to fics tagged “gen” he appears in the top ten list of characters!  In fourth place, with 396 out of 1876 fics.   (#1 is Bashir, with 822 fics.  #2 is Garak, with 652 fics.)

And, like, I get that Bashir and Garak are certainly very slashtastic, the actors were going for that flirty vibe in earlier seasons until they were ordered not to.  But it’s still ... pretty obvious that popularity of both shipping and gen fics is heavily influenced by racism and colorism.

I’m not trying to police fandoms or shipping or anything like that.  I’m just saying that “but this is who resonates with me/this is who I like/this is who inspires me” doesn’t absolve us from looking at the reasons why some characters are more interesting to us than others.  (It’s racism.  We’ve all lived our entire lives in a world shaped by racism and colorism, and it’s shaped our gut reactions and our preferences even when we consciously believe racism is wrong.)

And you know what?  You can influence your feelings.  You can train your gut to be less racist.  When you watch a show, pay conscious attention to the black characters.  Take a few minutes after watching an episode to think up a piece of meta or a plot bunny or something for each character of color who appears in that episode.  If you do this consistently over a period of time you will train your brain and your gut to be more interested in characters of color.  Also, when you’re deciding what to write, actively choose to favor plot bunnies featuring characters of color.  It’s not that you shouldn’t write white/lightskinned characters and ships, but that we should all be making a conscious effort to up the percentage of characters of color we write about.  (And also, you know, do at least the bare minimum of work to not write racist or antisemitic tropes. @writingwithcolor​ has many useful resources.)  That’s not the only anti-racism work we need to do to make fandom less racist, not by a long shot.  But it is important work nonetheless.

And, above all, don’t be a dick to fans of color who point out what SHOULD BE obvious to everyone.

#fandom #racism

[coco-little-rose]

I’m feeling a bit guilty but I really need to write what I didn’t like about Star Trek Picard. I really love this show, I think it have the potential and very interesting characters but I have a big problem with the narration.

But I need to tell you something.. or more like I need to yell something: I’M DONE WITH WEIRD INCEST PLOT!! Since Game of Thrones, american shows are going wild with incest. Star Trek Picard and now HGAWM (I stopped watching this show years ago but I still follow some blog and I didn’t know if it was a joke or not).

The writers of Star Trek Picard want a more darker show, something for adult. They think incest and unecessary death make a story darker. In my opinion, it depend on the execution of the plot.

Killing off characters can be necessary to move the plot or to grow an another character but:

- Dahj’s death was barely mentionned and mostly it was to full Picard’s pain.

- Icheb’s death was supposed to have a big impact on Seven... I saw it in one episode and the rest of the season we forget him.

- Hugh’s death was supposed to... well I don’t know. I guess it was to show us how evil Narissa was.

- The carnage of the xBs was supposed to show us... it did nothing to Seven or Picard. At the end of the season we don’t even know what hapened to the Borg cube.

- The destruction of Romulus was badly handle. The “good” Romulans are friends with Picard, more like they are at his service (Laris, Zhaban, Elnor). The “bad” Romulan are against Picard and are very cartoonish (Narek, Narissa, Commodore Oh) they also have some weird incestuous subplot because we need to know how evil and without moral they are. 

- The only useful death was Bruce Maddox, because Agnes deals with the psycholical consequences (and I don’t think it will be over anytime soon) and it allow the plot to move forward with the revelation about Commodore Oh. I hope to see the legal consequences in season 2.

None of those elements were used. When I saw all the Romulans characters in this show, it didn’t feel like they lost their worlds, their home, their culture. Even Picard seemed more sadder about it than most of Romulan characters. This show let me with a lot of questions:

- Why the Romulans needed Starfleet’s help to evacuate their own homeworld ? In Voyager, they managed to build some kind of wormhole but they can’t rescue their own people ?

- I didn’t like the picture of Picard as the “savior of Romulans”. I don’t know, it felt wrong.

- Elnor spend most of his time killing his own people for Picard. We’re talking about someone who lost his homeworld. The destruction Of Romulus made billions victims. Elnor doesn’t seem to think his people are near extinction ?! There isn’t any reflexions about it.

- Commodore Oh sabotaged the rescue fleet for Romulus, Narek and Narissa are agree with it. Ok... but what about the billions dead Roumulans. was it worth ?

The destruction of Romulus is for nothing. The Romulans onscreen are still similar to the one we saw in other Star Trek shows like TNG, DS9 and VOY. There isn’t a word about the lost of Romulus. Not even from Laris and Zhaban. They just said, there is a Romulans refugees crisis and never talk about it again

An another problem I find is how they deal with the drug issue.

- Raffi, the only black woman, has drug issues and she’s shamed and rejected by her own family because of that. I thought Starfleet know how to deal with drug addiction. It’s the 24th century, humanity is supposed to have a cure for this kind of problem. They are supposed to be more tolerant. I don’t understand how Raffi’s plot can exist. I agree, the part in which she believes in some conspiracy theories could lead her to be isolated. But the drug addiction ? It shouldn’t be like this. Medical care is an achievement in Star Trek.

The romantic relationship between characters are not very well written.

- I didn’t have any interest in Agnes/Cris, maybe it’s just me but I don’t feel any emotionnal connexion between them. Every time they were onscreen I felt like Elnor.

- In retrospect, I understand Soji/Narek. From the beginning, I thought Narek was a creep, he even admitted to Soji to spy her communication with her mother. For me it was a big red flag and at the time I didn’t understand why Soji wasn’t shock. But, we find later she’s basically a 4 years old synth. She probably didn’t have the experience to deal with Narek’s behaviour. She didn’t have any support, not even from her fake mother. But I wish we could have more suspense about it... like I wasn’t surprise, i didn’t even care... They could have make an effort in term of storytelling. They show us Narek had genuine feelings for her but it didn’t really work.

- Narek/Soji has some parallel with Agnes/Bruce Maddox. Ok, she didn’t seduce him to kill him. He was an old flame, she probably still have feelings for him. But despite her feelings she killed him. Yes she was under the influence of a mind-meld with horrific pictures of organic life dying. Narek was raised in the hate of people like Soji. His behaviour is terrible but don’t forget Agnes could have become like him. She has a potential to be a good spy actually. So I don’t understand why the narration is so against Narek but give Agnes a free pass. I’m surprise with the writers, they wanted a dark show but the end of the season was almost really positive for the character. If they want to be dark, they should have put Agnes on a cell next to Narek, waiting for a trial; it should have been one of the last scene of the season 1. Instead we get a weird happy end.

- Seven/Raffi looks like queerbaiting. most of the het ship had a decent screentime even the abusive one (Narek/Soji). But Seven and Raffi only got the last second of the final and we don’t even know if they will have the development they deserve. i wouldn’t be surprise if the next season they are like “well it’s was a one shot, now we decided to stay friend”... At last, the show took some time to mention they weren’t heterosexual but some people didn’t even understand the message.

I didn’t feel like the show was more mature than any other Star Trek. They don’t deal well with genocide or any other sensitive topic. In this season 1, I feel like it was impossible to question Picard’s goodness. Picard is show as a hero who save the galaxy and is always right. Yes, some people were piss off with him but:

- The Romulan guy who was angry at him was killed by Elnor.

- Raffi had every reasons to be angry at Picard but she forgives him because... because I don’t know why. In my opinion, Picard didn’t work to have her forgiveness or to prove he was a good friend. He was mostly obsessed with his “Data quest”. Raffi “forgives” him because he was dying.

The last negative element was the banned of Synthetic.

- So, the Federation with Rikker’s help discovered the existence of a Romulan conspiracy against synthetic people and the fact they were manipulated to forbidd synth. At the the end of season 1, the Federation erased the laws banned against Synth and ... that is all ? The Federation did exactly the same thing with Augment people, they never allow them to be normal citizens or in Starfleet. Several episodes show us this dark side of the Federation. But with Data and Dahj’s death, with Soji out of Earth we didn’t get to see how badly it was for Synth people to live under the Federation.

The writers had several option to picture Star Trek more darker by showing ushow bad the Romulan refugees crisis is or how bad it is for Synth people. The only Romulans refugees we got are Laris and Zhaban, they seemed happy with Picard, maybe they are victim of prejudices, but they were writing off.

Despite this flaws, I enjoyed Star Trek Picard. I hope it’ll be better in season 2, the casting is perfect and all the characters have a lot of potential. It will be a waste to kill some of them. What is interesting is to make them face the consequences of their act and to make them grow up or to make them fall at the end of the story (like Dukhat and Kai Winn in DS9).

I watch TV shows for entertainment, so I don’t care if a show is more adult. I don’t think Star Trek writers should dismiss teens stories. Some of them are really dark after all. And I don’t think the death of a character should be a means to an end.

#spoilers star trek picard #Jean-Luc Picard #raffi x seven #Seven of Nine #soji asha #raffi musiker #cristobal rios #dahj asha #bruce maddox #narek #Romulans #synth #elnor #Sorry for my english #agnes jurati #agnes x rios #soji x narek #agnes x bruce

[rotationalsymmetry]

Good morning world. And do you know what I’m thinking about this morning? Keiko (chill, autocorrect) on Deep Space Nine.

Partly because I’ve been thinking about how the show’s done her wrong since a few episodes into Season 1. Partly because, in the wake of the Atlanta shooting, it’s clearly past time to talk about how women of Asian descent are depicted in the media.

Rather go on and on about what the show did wrong, I’m going to start with what it did right, then move on into some suggestions for plot lines that might have gotten the audience into Keiko’s (and perhaps her daughter Molly’s) head better. Feel free to borrow for fanfic purposes. (And let me know if you do, or if someone else wrote some good Keiko and/or Molly fanfic I might enjoy.)

What's right: she’s a, not core character, but sort of second tier character who is on the show often. She has a respectable role: she’s a well-educated professional whose work is important to her, and a wife and mother. We also get hints of her having a life beyond that — not as much as I’d like, but for example at one point in the first season she’s away visiting her mother, and when she’s pregnant with her second child she keeps leading an active life. I think the show strikes an appropriate balance on sexuality: she’s married, we’re pretty sure she and Miles have sex, but she’s not presented as a sex object. And we don’t see her suffering more trauma than the other characters. As of where I'm currently at in Season 6, she's alive, and I have every reason to believe she'll stay alive through the end of the show. (A quick look at Memory Alpha confirms this.) Good stuff.

(She’s also in The Next Gen — parts of that I haven’t watched and others were a while back, so I’m going to stick to talking about her role in DS9.)

And...very nearly all the episodes she’s in, are very firmly from Mile’s perspective and not hers. (Even storylines that really should be about her: when she’s experiencing frustration at not being able to pursue her career and ends up going back to work, that episode is entirely from Mile’s perspective. She barely speaks a word in it.)

Contrast this to how Benjamin Sisko’s son and father are shown: Jake very much gets his own storylines and own life, and relationships that aren’t primarily about his father, even though his dad has a more central role in the show (and we definitely see their relationship from Benjamin’s perspective as well), and even though we rarely see Grandpa Sisko (huh, apparently his name is Joseph), you immediately get the sense of him as a strong-willed person who lives life on his own terms, and when he and Ben have conflicts you can understand his perspective easily. In spite of relatively little screen-time. Keiko gets far more screen time, but far less interiority. She’s presented in a way that’s hard to empathize with. And there’s less of a sense of who she is as an individual rather than as a role.

(BTW, if we got to see Keiko’s perspective more, whose would we see less of? Maybe Miles, who gets quite a lot of focus. Maybe Quark, maybe Julian...basically, I’m pretty sure if I went through the season and marked down which episodes were primarily about male characters vs primarily about female characters vs pretty balanced, the ratio would be telling. And it’s not like I don’t like the male characters (well, maybe I could do with less Quark) but... I don’t like them so much that I think the show is better for having shorted the women.)

I want to see Keiko have friends. I want to see her talk to other parents on the ship as a parent. That episode where Keiko’s off station and Miles has to figure out how to get their new baby to stay asleep? I want an episode where Miles is gone and Keiko has parenting struggles. Where we get into old conflicts between her and her mother or father that she has to work through as a parent herself. (This is not an unrealistic expectation -- we got that for Odo in one episode, and we got a similar thing with Kira processing her father's death while another character was dying.) I want Molly to go on her first sleep-over and Keiko to have conflicted feelings about her daughter growing up and for Molly to have conflicted feelings where she’s excited but...also kinda misses her mom.

I want to see how Keiko’s explaining the Dominion war to Molly and what she’s skipping over. I want to see Keiko worried about her husband (which, granted, we’ve seen that) and getting emotional support from someone else (which we haven’t really.) I want to see Keiko pursuing a hobby other than gardening. I want her to be really excited to introduce Molly to something that she loved growing up. (Specifically a Japanese cultural thing or not.) I want her to take Molly to a holosuite program that shows some Japanese architecture or history or gardens. I want there to be some conversation about language — sure, universal translators, but what do people speak on their own, and what does Molly grow up speaking?

(They’ve got an interracial/inter-cultural relationship and explore absolutely nothing about that.)

Since Keiko was a teacher for a while, is she absolutely obsessing over homeschooling Molly now that there’s no school?

I’m not sure I want to see Miles and Keiko have a “no one’s right” disagreement over how to raise their children, but that’s certainly a thing that could have happened. Or could happen indirectly: Miles isn’t the talking type and yet everyone on the station knows when he’s having wife troubles and are willing to give him advice. Who does Keiko get relationship advice from?

When Keiko and Miles are apart and Miles spends all his time playing darts with Julian or reenacting battles with Julian, who is Keiko connecting with?

(Side note: one thing that Brandon Sanderson does well in his fantasy novels such as the Mistborn Trilogy, is couples that are balanced in power and narrative significance. The show made a choice to have Miles be a more central character than Keiko. There’s no intrinsic reason they couldn’t have been on the same level of narrative significance.) (But even if they were going to be at unequal levels of significance, Keiko still could have been done much better.)

(And you’ll notice the show is almost going out of its way to avoid having any female characters with less significant recurring love interests. When they partner up Kira, it’s not with some guy who’s just nice and fun or a supportive boyfriend (someone analogous to what Leeta is for Julian or later Rom), somehow even though she’s one of the most powerful characters in the show (she’s second in command on the station) she keeps getting partnered up with characters who have more religious or civil power than she does, and who become very narratively significant at least for a little while. Female characters can be just love interests or family members, male characters have to be doing something big and important.)

I think the show overdoes romance, so this wouldn’t be my first choice, but...having an old flame of Keiko’s show up could be a thing that happened. Or having a thing where she notices an interesting stranger, and of course nothing happens because she’s married, but we still get to see Keiko as, you know, a woman with desires and interests that don’t always fit perfectly into her respectable well-ordered life. We could see mirror universe Keiko — I wonder what she’s like. Or some time travel alternate timeline story where she’s with someone else, or single and enjoying the single life. (Surely even if Keiko is overall happy with her life, surely sometimes she must wonder about the roads not taken.) We could have some indication that she too misses Miles when they’re not together, or we could see her excited to get more time away or get their quarters to herself while he’s away, or both because people are complicated.

What are Molly’s adventures? Who is she best friends with? Where’s her tension between growing up and becoming her own person vs wanting her parents’ love and approval? Where’s the episode where we’re all wait, she’s really not a little toddler any more, is she?

(We don’t even know what Molly thinks about having a baby brother — and that’s a huge, highly dramatic change in the life of a child.)

Where’s the episode where she desperately wants some pet that her parents don’t want her to have, or desperately wants some toy or activity that one or both thinks is unsafe, or where she wants to be on a sports team but there aren’t enough kids on the station, or where she has to say goodbye to the Bajoran friends she made, or she starts playing make believe games involving evacuating the station...

What if we got to see Keiko’s mother and learn something about her or the family history? What if Keiko had some aunt or uncle or sibling who showed up on the station some time, what might their relationship be like? Is there some family hero that Keiko’s always encouraging Molly to grow up to be like?

If the show’s writers truly couldn’t handle writing a child that young, this is Star Trek and we have time travel — there’s no reason we couldn’t have an episode involving future grown up Molly O’Brien.

What if we got some terribly retconned explanation for why Keiko, a professionally trained botanist, was mysteriously ready and eager to step into schoolteacher mode even though that’s its own profession that requires years of specialized higher education? Did...did Keiko for some reason study to be a teacher, have something go wrong, and then go with botany as Life Pursuits Take 2? (Perhaps she was pushed into being a teacher then decided she loved botany more? But she didn’t actually dislike teaching?)

What if we actually got an episode centered around her being a botanist and exploring alien plants? There’s possibilities there — heck, one of the most popular TOS episodes centered around space wheat, so why not? I want an alien planet where all the plants are yellow or hot pink because they photosynthesize with something other than chlorophyll. Why not? (Did you know there’s an old school Piers Anthony sci fi book about killer mushrooms? Not joking.)

She’s the only woman of color who’s a regular character on the show throughout the whole series. She’s one of the few Asian-descent women who’s on American TV at all. She deserved better.

And I think we should talk about how she, and other characters, could have been written better.

#keiko o'brien #representation in media #asian women in media #ds9 #sorry for the extreme length on this fucker #it's a long show and I have opinions #women in media #feminism #gender #I'm seeing this through more of a gendered lens than a race/culture one #I imagine someone of asian descent would pick up on a lot of things I missed #to me the connections between how her character is done and how other female characters are handled stand out brightly #it would be interesting to hear from someone who's noticing race and culture stuff more clearly #autocorrect keiko is a real name I promise you

[captainrandomstranger18]

My dearest Captain,

The story of Thaddeoso is much less exciting than one might think. Basically my grandpa told a story of this huge frog that hung around when my mom was young and they called him Thaddeus. Then then my cousins and I found this huge frog by the spring and my sibling suggested we call him Thaddeoso, so we did.

1. Could you maybe stop judging others and let them enjoy things in peace please?

2. All the ones I’ve seen so far (tos, aos, tng, and voyager)

3. That’s a hard one. I like all of them Janeway and Q and Geordi a lot though

4. I don’t know, I actually haven’t thought about it

5. Yep! I like most musicals, but I think my current favorites are Sweeney Todd, Singin in the Rain, and Cats (not the newer movie though)

6. Maybe maple cus we used to make maple syrup back at the first place I lived

7. You know what should be a thing? Space mythology. Like dragons who live in black holes and hoard light and sirens that mimic distress signals to lure spaceships into asteroid fields and vampires that steal the oxygen from your lungs (I have been thinking about this a lot today)

8. It’s currently tied between a black pair with neon kinda flowery/geometric shapes and a white pair with jellyfish

9. I haven’t been in public lately and I tend to tune out most of the other people in school so I don’t really have anything for this one. I hit my creative writing word count goal though! (8,000 words (everyone set their goals at 8,000 except this one kid who set his at 8,001))

I have never had a brookie, but it sounds amazing.

Yours,

L

Dearest L,

To continue the pattern of answering my own questions:

1. I would probably do 1 of 2 things (depending on my mood). Either I would tell everybody to treat all people with respect or kindness, or I would just rick roll everyone on the planet.

2. My favorites are also all the ones I’ve seen so far (I swear it is so hard to pick a favorite Trek! They are all so beautiful and wonderful and unique in their own ways, and its hard to compare them to each other.) These include TOS, TAOS, DS9, and TNG.

3. Data would probably be my #1 favorite, and my second favorite would be everyone else because I can’t choose.

4. I relate to Data’s curiosity and not understanding humans all the time, and I relate to Julian Bashir’s awkwardness. But the character I probably relate to the most is Reginald Barclay. Like every time he comes on screen and so much as breathes I’m like “MOOD. THAT’S ME RIGHT THERE.” I also relate to Riker because I like to put my leg up on random things.

5. I like a lot of musicals. My favorites would probably be Hamilton, The Fiddler on the Roof, and Bye Bye Birdie (I was in that one for my high school’s theater program. I was a background character.) Singin’ in the Rain is also really good, although I haven’t watched it in a while. I do remember my first time watching it, though. I was a little kid and I was at my grandma’s house and she got out an umbrella so we could dance along to it. :D

6. My favorite tree would have to be the Rainbow Eucalyptus: 

I’m sending pictures of the most amazing trees, you’ll be obsessed with all my forest expertise! (Sorry that was a Dear Evan Hansen reference) (I’m not even that big of a fan of the musical, that line just popped into my head right now) (Although Sincerely Me is sincerely a bop in my opinion.) (Dang that was off topic, where was I?) 

AH, yes. TREES!

I just-look at its colors. Asfshdjkds. I kinda want one tbh. Ok, fine, I really want one. The only issue is that they live in tropical climates and I DON’T live in a tropical climate so it probably wouldn’t do too well if I were to plant one here. Oh well. At least the internet exists so I can admire them from afar.

Here’s the wikipedia article on them if you want to learn more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eucalyptus_deglupta

7. First of all, can I just say that I LOVE THE IDEA OF SPACE MYTHOLOGY. That’s brilliant. And you’re absolutely correct. Why isn’t that a thing? THAT SHOULD BE A THING!!!! (Side question: do you mind if I use your space dragon idea in that Existential Crisis: The Musical that I’m sort of on a hiatus of writing? Like that,,,, is such a cool idea. The musical mostly takes place in outer space btw. Also if I do use it I’ll be sure to credit you! Even though I’m not actually planning on getting the musical published anywhere any time soon. Side-side question: should I credit you as “Mysterious Anonymous Tumblr User L” or something else? Side-side-side question: I actually forgot what I was going to type here but “side-side-side” is fun to say. OK I JUST REMEMBERED. Actually I just forgot again. Goshdarn adhd. OH I REMEMBERED AGAIN. Would you like to hear what my musical is about in a future letter? That is all.)

Dang i just went off on a tangent there (This is what it’s like when my adhd medication has worn off). What was question #7 even supposed to be?

*checks previous letter* Oh, to go on a rant of any sort. I think I just kind of did that on accident. Whoops. (Sorry you had to read my stream-of-consciousness ramblings about whatever the heck that was.)

ANYWAYS, I liked your space dragon idea so much that i drew this picture based on it, here you go:

sorry the camera quality is really bad lol. I tried (and failed) to make the dragon look galaxy-printed if that makes any sense. 

But dude- space mythology is my new favorite thing now.

8. My current favorite pair of socks are a pair I have that are fluffy with unicorns on them.

9. I haven’t been in public lately either lol. But congratulations on your writing goal! That’s a lot of words! :D

Brookies are, in fact, amazing.

Now for some new questions!

1. Since you mentioned previously that you liked Unnus Annus, and since I basically missed out on most of it, what happened in some of your favorite episodes?

2. Do you think reality is a simulation?

3. Do you have any cool random facts about anything? (it can be about LITERALLY anything. I like any and all cool random facts.)

4. Do you know what your hogwarts house is?

5. Do you have a motto of any sort?

6. Am I allowed to guess who you are, or should I wait for you to tell me? (I’m fine waiting, it’s just that I have a few guesses already)

7. Would you like to read my horrible Star Trek crack fanfiction.

8. Semi-Philosophical Question Time: How would you define freedom?

That is all! Thank you for continuing to write/read these letters. I look forward to them every day! To quote another musical, “Now my life gets better every letter that you write me!” (Sorry if that was dumb lol, im bad at this)

Yours Truly,

Captain

[theimaginatrix27]

Coming Soon to AO3: the Sisko'Brien Salamanders AU!

I could not go another day without making this post. Because I intend to start posting this fic as soon as it's no longer November in Australia.

A few months ago, I was on my friend @kintatsujo's Discord server, telling her and my other friends on there, quite earnestly, that I believed I was incapable of writing Sci-fi, and was particularly nervous about writing for any Star Trek series, because the fandom was big and old and intimidating, and I was a Fantasy writer! I couldn't possibly get all the technical stuff right!

And then I started nattering on about my ideas for a Star Trek series that I'd had floating in my head for about thirteen years, and as I was doing so, I started looking stuff up on the wiki, made a couple posts, absolutely trawled the blog of someone who reblogged one of those posts, found a Deep Space 9-themed Discord server (and about a dozen new friends!), and started having plot tribbles populate my brain, all squealing excitedly at being allowed to run wild.

And one of those ideas was sparked by this post, which I found on that days-long blog trawl I mentioned, and which delighted me so much that I started imagining some of the scenes. And then imagining the fallout. And then having my own ideas about how it would all pan out, and I knew this story was a keeper.

The important points from the post that set my brain off, in case you don't wanna click through:

Benjamin Sisko wouldn't abandon his salamander babies if he ever went through a Threshold scenario (as in the episode of Star Trek: Voyager for the uninitiated).

Since this is a human-specific mutation, the other parent would have to be one of the other human cast

DS9's Threshold is clearly an O'Brien-must-suffer episode.

The very idea of this happening was hilarious to me, so in hindsight I shouldn't have been all that surprised the plot tribble moved in and started breeding like mad.

I let the idea stew throughout October, and have been writing for the AU all month. And I've written about 30k for it so far! Not all of it's for the main/initial fic laying a great deal of the groundwork/surrounding the events within the post (but with my own twists on some of the ideas because I was imagining the characters' reactions as I saw them and they flowed better than the comments in the post), but I do have six chapters almost ready to go, and will probably keep writing stuff after NaNo because I wanna tell this story! The rest of what I've written is for the pre/conquel I started when I decided we needed to explore Sisko and O'Brien's experiences while mutated (and that is going to be a fun fic!), and the sequel! Because once I established some stuff about the babies (like their names and personalities), they wanted to be doing things! And those things might have widespread impacts, but I will not go into details because that's for when the sequel fic goes up! Which it isn't until I finish posting the Main/original fic!

Milestone will be coming to AO3 on the 1st of December Australian time, and I wanted to let people know it was gonna happen. I'm so excited to start sharing this with the fandom!

@reginaldbroccoli @laurelhach @vermin-disciple @apolesen I am tagging you specifically to thank you for combining your efforts to create the post that made this story possible, and also to let you know someone is writing the thing. And I hope at least some of you will be interested in reading it and won't mind that I couldn't wait until next Threshold Day to begin posting said thing.

#Star Trek #Deep Space 9 #Threshold AU #Sisko'Brien Salamanders #That's the name of the series btw #I like the name

[goodyeartheshippycat]

Tag 10 people you want to know more/catch up with.

Thank you for the tag, @prismatic-cannon. Always fun to do one of these! And I like your song choice :D

Favourite colour(s): Green, teal, mint (okay those two are basically green-ish), that blue which they call “petrol” in the UK, and various shades of purple.

Last song: I’ve been back on my folk/power metal bullshit this fall and re-listening to favourite albums from my late high school/early university years. The Dance of Victory by Eluveitie was the song most recently played on my old iPod which is hooked up to my car stereo system. Listened to it last night while coming back from a site visit, as you do.

Last Movie: Oh lord, I watch movies so infrequently that I don’t even remember... It was definitely one of the ones I watched at the cottage this year. Uhhhhh, I think it might have been The Castle of Cagliostro. Which I really enjoyed and am now looking forward to watching the newest Lupin film when the English release comes out. I know, I know, I prefer subs too but my partner doesn’t really like watching subbed films and I almost only ever bother watching a film with him... 

Or it might have been A Mighty Wind which was painful but funny. If you’ve ever seen any Christopher Guest films, you’ll know what I’m talking about. He’s the master of cringe, secondhand awkwardness comedy. I think the one I enjoyed most and would recommend to someone who hasn’t seen his stuff would probably be the one about dog shows, Best in Show, or maybe the one about community theatre, Waiting for Guffman. 

Currently reading: Does re-reading some of my own fics count? XD

Really though, outside of technical stuff for work I haven’t been reading much lately. I did read an excellent sci-fi short story recently, called “Curo the Filthmonger” by J. Marshall Freeman. I can’t find an online copy, unfortunately (I have it in zine form from my local LGBTQ+ bookstore -- which is sadly now closing due to COVID), so no link. I was also thinking of tackling some of the many comic ebooks I’ve collected over the years via kickstarters and whatnot, and then left sitting untouched in a folder on my computer. Might start with Yes, Roya, because I know it recently got a colour edition, but I’d like to read my original black and white copy first. 

Currently watching: Nothing, actually. I just finished watching two things and have yet to start anything else in earnest. Most recently in television, I watched the final episode of the first season of Star Trek: Lower Decks which, as far as I’m concerned, is the best Trek series to come out since DS9. Hilarious and clever writing combined with solid animation and excellent voice acting by the ridiculously loveable cast. Each of them is more relatable over the course of only 8 half hour episodes than a single character in Discovery ever has been in two seasons... 

The other thing I watched recently was every currently available episode of a YouTube animated series about @dingodoodles‘s “Fools’ Gold” D&D campaign, which is helpfully collected in a playlist. I have FAR TOO MANY FEELS now, especially about her sorcerer monkey, Sips, and his best friend, Sneeze. It lures you in with the funny jokes and then RIPS YOUR HEART OUT AND STOMPS ON IT. The cliffhangers she does are as addictive as the best fanfiction on the internet, and her animation is an absolute delight. I laugh out loud every single episode. There are only 16 of them for the moment, and the longest one is less than 16 minutes, so the story is very bingeable. While my own D&D group is on a short hiatus between modules I am living vicariously through other people’s campaign stories, and this one is worthy of a Peter Jackson-esque epic movie series. Also now that I’ve discovered she has a tumblr I’m almost certainly going to fall deeper into this hole.

Sweet, spicy or savory?: Sweet tooth almost always wins out for me. Savoury, especially the salty aspect of it, does sometimes become a craving but not as often.

Tea or Coffee: Tea. Always tea. All different kinds. I’m on my fifth cup of the day right now. 

As for tagging folks, where’re my mutuals (who I haven’t seen tagged yet) at? Feel free to do this or ignore it, as you please: @pourpasserlamelancholie @royalphantom @himitsumi @killapunk @aprindea @sparkly-things

#random fact about me #or facts rather #about goodyear #no pressure to answer this if you're tagged #or to write a gd novel like i did #things i procrastinate with #instead of writing fic

[a-stitch-in-time-and-space]

Grashir for the ship thing? It’s gotta be one of my faves!!!

Sorry for the wait babe, hope this makes up for it!

1. Who’s in your ship and is it monogamous, poly, open, etc?

Okay, so as per usual with my ships I’ve got the version where it’s just the two of them (after about 100 years in which they don’t pull themselves together!) and another version in which they live in the future and I very much hc that by then the way love is discussed looks different to today, so they’re a part of various relationships.

However, I always think they’re like gravity to one another. For better or for worse - (and has anyone done any tragic Garashir fics or are we all just like “the show was tragic enough” - cos I’m wonder about like… the way people can be constantly drawn to each other in a dysfunctional, unhealthy way, but they also just can’t let one another go) - they always get pulled into one another’s orbit more than by anyone else.

2. Is the ship romantic in nature?

They’re a pair of romantic bastards underneath all the posturing and avoidance yes! I imagine once they finally pull themselves together it’s all romance, trying to make up for years of lost time.

3. How often do/can they see each other (due to living on different planets, having stressful jobs, etc)

I wrote a little fic about this yaaay!

Not very often, is the answer, until they’re both hitting old-age and sort of semi-retiring. Then gravity wins and eventually has them together for good.

4. What are their things to do together?

- Arguing! Canon! (I love ships that argue lol).

- Recommending books and art and going to museums and judging paintings. They’d so be a crotchety pair that makes fun of some really pretentious bit of art right in front of them, while someone next to them tries not to giggleand someone else keeps sending them disapproving glares.

- Garak one time sets up an exhibition for Ziyal’s work, in honour of all the young people lost in the war before they could reach their potential.

- Also occasionally getting wrapped up in a plot inside an enigma, within a scheme that neither of them necessarily signed up for, but they’re going to ride out together (sexy spy times, anyone?)

5. How do they say “I love you” without directly saying “I love you”?

- Hey remember the time Elim gave Julian a rationed chocolate bar and then, because he was going on some dangerous mission, Julian gifted it back to him and then Elim made a joke about Julian needing to eat an isolinear rod and then they smiled at each other like they were the most carefree people in the galaxy even though they were in the middle of a dangerous conflict that both of them might not survive? That’s love, bitch

- I think they get dumb gifts for each other a lot for when they see each other again

- also they’re both very competitive, so it’s like “who can get the dumbest gift,” morphs into “who can get the most amazing gift ever,” morphs into “who can write the most flowery, poetic letter,” etcetcetc.

- Admitting the other one won is another expression of love.

6. Who unironically likes old earth movies and who suffers along?

Hmmmmm, so I think. Julian shows Elim more earth culture, which includes movies (he’s semi-canon into Bond) and Elim complains and pretends he doesn’t like them, but then Julian catches him watching the 1995 Pride & Prejudice and mooning over Colin Firth. (He dies when Julian shows him North & South)

7. Are any of them spiritual and any of them decidedly not?

Elim is canonically spiritual post-series (everyone needs to read A Stitch In Time!!!) and Julian never quite understands it. He’s happy that Elim has something for himself that couldn’t be destroyed by his upbringing, but Julian is just relentlessly scientific about everything – it’s not (because this is Star Trek and DS9 literally has Gods in it) that he doesn’t think there are higher powers of some kind, it’s the spiritual side – the praying, the afterlife, the rituals, none of that works for him. Also he sees the “Gods” as aliens.

“And have you proven love then?” asks Garak

“Hmm, I’ll have to run some more tests before I can give you a definitive conclusion,” answers Bashir, before kissing him.

8. Who’s more open about their affection and who’s more taciturn, but shows affection through unconventional means?

I think they’re both quite affectionate actually. They probably both suffer from not feeling good enough around third parties sometimes, especially in the beginning. Not all of the DS9 crew were happy about it at first (although Nerys was ecstatic, as she and Elim had become surprisingly good friends post-Dominion), which is a feeling that lingers in Elim’s heart.

And on Cardassia Elim is considered a bit weird to have gone for an outsider, who – worse – is federation and human. There are many who blame the federation and humans in particular for their trouble, even if they are providing aid now. So Julian tries to make his job easier for him by staying behind the scenes… at first.

So in public they try to be taciturn, discreet, especially once Elim becomes a political figure-head, but then after some time this becomes a game, “secret lovers.” They find ways to sneakily contact the other – letters, gifts, flowers (obnoxiously large bouquets), coded messages and as they become more brazen, they seem to just naturally throw caution to the wind – if people can’t accept it, then they’re not people they want to get to know anyway.

In private they’re absolutely immediately an old married couple, except for with more desperation, because they’re making up for time they don’t get in one another’s company.

9. Who likes space and who prefers a good ol’ planet?

Julian will always be a space-farer at heart, whilst Elim belongs on Cardassia

10. Finally, what are their favourite things about one another?

The more I think about it, the more they’re quite similar – I think what they most love is that the other one drives them to be better. Passion, kindness, learning… they want to make one another proud.

- More simple things though. Elim loves Julian in the midst of a rant or an explanation that’s gone on for 10+ minutes, at his most gesticulative, most intense; it’s sexy as hell. Also Julian when he’s exhausted himself from working so hard, caring so much, when he just flops down and manages to fall asleep immediately. How he ever deserved someone who trusts him enough to be so vulnerable with him, he doesn’t know.

- Julian loves watching Elim in his quiet moments: reading, tailoring, gardening, speaking softly and comfortingly to people who are scared, drowsy in the morning making breakfast. Also he loves seeing Elim turn his oratory skills to politics. He’s not a born leader, he never wanted to be one, but he does it because it matters and he does it well.

#julian bashir #elim garak #garashir #ds9 #st: ds9 #star trek #meta #writing

[kaesaaurelia]

balder12 replied to your post

“me, watching DS9 when I was 13-14: I like Kira, she’s angry and tired...”

Kira somehow manages to make all her casual space elf looks seem hot. You didn’t say much about the s1 finale so I have to ask - any thoughts on Vedek Winn?

Honestly the finale was kind of rough going for me?  Like, not as much as the labor camp filing clerk one (which hit way too close to home in a few ways, not least of which is that growing up, I had a neighbor who grew up in a Nazi labor camp and man I was so fucking pissed at the character who helped run the Cardassian labor camp) but there was a lot going on and I was having trouble saying anything, really?

Anyway this got long; sort of a ramble under the cut about religion and politics and metaphors.

Basically they brought up so many real life issues in that episode (offhand I can name evolution vs. creationism in schools, school segregation, a whole lot of different aspects of colonialism, orthodox vs reform religious teachings, and terrorism) and through it all -- well, obviously I wasn’t supposed to like Vedek Winn but I could not separate my distaste for her from my actual very squidgy embarrassed awful feelings in real life when people I want to be on good terms with assume I’m Christian, and then I have to decide whether to say I’m not and what kind of a conversation about Judaism and Jewishness I’m comfortable with, and then I run the risk of them trying to convert me; even if not, they might still try and fit me into the idea they have of Judaism as Diet Christianity, Now With Less Jesus.  (And the thing is, these people are almost always much better-intentioned than Vedek Winn, and they’re never extremists or anything.  They just want to get along with me, and they just want to think that I’m a good person, and that’s what they think good people are.  But they still make me very uncomfortable and they’ll never realize it.)

On the other hand I wonder a little bit if people who don’t have those feelings normally experienced them while watching that episode?  I kind of hope so, but also I feel like a lot of people who are culturally Christian and relatively socially liberal will be reading the Bajoran religion primarily as a stand-in for Islam in that episode, and secondarily as a stand-in for (specifically) Creationism and other aspects of fundamentalist Christianity.  (To be VERY CLEAR, I don’t want to equate this fictional alien sci fi religion with any real religions, I’m just thinking about how people might have interpreted it.)  They’re in a place where they can say, “what a strange backwards planet, glad I don’t live there, they remind me of this group I don’t understand at all, hopefully Sisko can show them the error of their ways by the end.”

And I feel more like, “Wow, this is where I have always lived, surrounded by people who can’t imagine I don’t share their culture and philosophy,” and then I have to ask, but wait, why are the Federation officers so surprised, why do they argue and get mad?  Can’t they just say “yeah, sure, the prophets, actually that’s not my thing but it’s totally okay if it’s yours but just, it’s not mine, I must have missed the prophets memo, ha ha, that’s on me, I really don’t want confrontation here, anyway, gosh, lovely weather on the promenade today, hope we don’t get rain, how ‘bout them holographic baseball teams.”  Because that’s what I do!  (Man, you don’t even know how many awkward conversations I’ve had about the Cubs trying to avoid making someone feel bad about my lack of their religion.  I don’t even like the Cubs.)

And then I realize, well, of course that’s what I do, I’m not part of a massive, well-armed empire that’s trying to absorb the people who talk to me like this into my culture.  They’re the ones trying to absorb my culture, in fact.  

And then Sisko makes his big rousing speech that assumes that, really, deep down, everyone kind of wants to be like the Federation, that the Federation being good is self-evident, and I’m like, “oh no, they ALSO can’t imagine people don’t think like them!  That is going to alienate the Bajorans as much as Vedek Winn is alienating the O’Briens and Sisko, and it’s all going to be a big mess, you can really only have one group of smug everyone’s-like-me-deep-down-assumers or it all breaks down because no one knows when to change the subject and talk about the space weather.”  And then it was fine?  I don’t know.  It was off-putting.

(I realize “it was fine” is a funny way to say “there was an explosion and an assassination attempt but fortunately no one died.”  In the end O’Brien was betrayed by a non-regular and Kira was sad but like, none of the main cast’s relationship was really in peril in the end, so... it was fine.)

I think also I was a bit taken aback that Kira identified so much with Vedek Winn’s interpretation and cause initially?  I think that would sit better with me if I understood more about Winn’s ideas than “wormhole science bad, it’s a celestial temple.”  Like, is there some kind of philosophy Winn puts forward that Kira found a lot of strength in?  Did she write beautiful religious poetry?  Was she willing to stand up to the Cardassians when most of Bajor’s religious leaders capitulated too easily for Kira’s taste?  I don’t know!  We don’t get any discussion of that, she’s just Misguided for siding with Winn, and then she changes her mind because she has eyes and Winn is obviously evil.

Also, actually, on a worldbuilding note I’m very skeptical about the sheer... organizedness and unity of Bajor’s religion.  You can’t tell me there wouldn’t be sects and splinter groups and a rival religion that decries the orbs and the so-called Prophets as some sort of evil force, and at least a few religions that don’t have orbs in them at all, and well-known temples with orbs that turned out to be like, quartz with LEDs and part of the very important temple ritual experience is eating shrooms so you still have weird hallucinations.

Anyway, back to Vedek Winn.  In the end, she was awful and I didn’t like her and I’m sure she’ll be back to be an asshole but, yeah, it was hard for me to parse my reaction to S1 as a separate thing from my own feelings about religion and politics, and it’s difficult to talk about some of that stuff for me anyway.  I have a lot of feelings and I’m not good at them.  I don’t really know if any of this was coherent but you did ask.

#balder12 #kaesa watches ds9 #religion #jewishness #judaism #christianity #text #meta #genuinely I hope I haven't offended anyone in this long rant #but also I feel like a terrible jew for admitting my fear of confrontation about this stuff #(well I *am* a terrible jew so that's fine) #aNYWAY I'm genuinely not trying to say 'this episode was bad' bc I did enjoy it #like it's star trek I expect a lot of current-for-the-era politics? #just it was an odd and uncomfortable thing to watch in places #and didn't entirely jive with my experiences in conversation as a religious minority

[sshbpodcast]

Tales from the Holodeck: DS9 Fanfic: Chris’s Teleplay

In celebration of A Star to Steer Her By’s fourth anniversary, we did what pretty much all theaters are doing right now and put together a little Zoom reading. This time around, our latest fanfics in our “Tales from the Holodeck” series are all Deep Space Nine teleplays that you can listen to us cold read here (this one starts at 1:05:58), complete with really dodgy attempts at accents! Follow along with Chris’s teleplay below or read with your friends with your own dodgy accents!

[images © Paramount/CBS]

“Day Trip”

By Chris

Random pick: Bashir

[The DS9 replimat. Garak and Bashir sit at their usual table. The doctor is just wiping his mouth and tosses his napkin casually onto his plate]

Bashir: Well, I’d best be on my way.

Garak: Yes, both of us back to our stitching. The usual time tomorrow?

Bashir: Of course. [beat] Oh, but not the day after.

Garak: Oh?

Bashir: I’m...well, the Chief has been trying to get me to visit Bajor with him and I’ve finally run out of decent excuses not to.

Garak: Excuses? Why, Doctor, I thought your friendship with Mister O’Brien was second only to ours.

Bashir: He wants to go kayaking.

Garak: Ah.

Bashir: Exactly. He somehow manages to injure himself during holosuite kayaking, and that has safety protocols! I dread to think what the real thing might do to him.

Garak: Has he ever gone kayaking outside of a simulation?

Bashir: He says he used to fairly frequently before he joined Starfleet.

Garak: But that was…

Bashir: Over twenty years ago, yes.

Garak: Well. Thank goodness he’s friends with a Doctor. Enjoy your trip. Hopefully you’re wrong and it won’t turn out to be a...what was that charming expression? A busman’s holiday!

Bashir: I sincerely hope so.

[The side of a quickly-rushing river, day. As we pan across the scene we start seeing bits of flotsam and jetsam, equipment, and before long an overturned kayak. Sprawled nearby is Bashir, unconscious, bleeding from a cut on his temple]

Opening credits

[The riverside, where a groaning Bashir slowly comes to. He gets to his feet, glances around for a few moments, lifts kayak and finds nothing]

Bashir: Chief? [pause, then louder] Chief?! [goes to activate commbadge, sees it’s not there] Damn.

[Bashir begins picking up equipment, throws away a few pieces after a brief inspection. The rest go in a small, metal valise. Looks around a bit, then begins walking]

Bashir: Chief?! Chief, can you hear me! Damn it…

[suddenly, a low growling can be heard. Julian stops dead and glances around. From a tree line a wolf emerges. But, you know, a Bajoran wolf. Maybe it has a bumpy nose or antenna or one of those wacky earrings, whatever]

Bashir: I knew we should’ve brought phasers…

[the wolf barks and leaps, Julian throws his arms in front of himself. Suddenly, a high-pitched “thwip” is heard, the wolf lets out a quick, brief whine, slams into the Doctor and the two go down in a heap]

Bashir: I...rather expected mauling to hurt more.

[Bashir pushes the wolf off himself, revealing an arrow having pierced its neck. He glances around, and a Bajoran woman can be seen at the treeline, holding a bow with a second arrow ready to be nocked. Her clothes are unlike any Bajoran outfit we’ve seen before, seemingly made of skins with obvious hand-patching and repairs scattered throughout]

Bashir: I suppose I’ve you to thank for my being alive right now, Miss...?

Ellet: Danzari Ellet.

Bashir: Miss Ellet. My name is...

Ellet: Hold! Do not come closer!

Bashir: Sorry. I don’t mean you any harm.

Ellet: You are neither Bajoran nor Cardassian.

Bashir: I’m human.

Ellet: Human...human... [beat] Federation? Here?

Bashir: Yes.

Ellet: Finally come to end our suffering at the hands of the Cardassians?

Bashir: What?

Ellet: Come now. I know the Federation has ignored the plight of Bajor, but you know what has happened here.

Bashir: Ah, yes, but...well, the Occupation is over. It ended five years ago.

Ellet: What? The Cardassians are...gone?

Bashir: Yes.

Ellet: Do you have proof? For all I know you are a Cardassian agent.

Bashir: Ah...well, no, actually. I was boating with a friend and we capsized. Most of my supplies and communicator were lost. I assume you’ve not seen my friend?

Ellet: You’re the first stranger I’ve seen today.

Bashir: Do you...live near here? Are there many others? Could anyone else have…

Ellet: I cannot trust you with any of that without knowing who you are.

Bashir: I’m Doctor Julian Bashir, from Starfleet. I’m not entirely sure how to prove that, however.

Ellet: Hm. Hands behind your head. I’m going to approach you.

Bashir: Alright.

[Ellet stalks towards Bashir, looks sternly at him. Their eyes lock. He tries a little grin. She suddenly reaches up with the unused arrow and slashes his cheek. He flinches and gasps, and she wipes at the blood with a fingertip]

Ellet: Red. The Cardassians may be able plastic surgeons but even they cannot change blood color.

Bashir: I suppose not.

Ellet: Alright, fine. Drop your arms. Come with me. Tell me what has been happening…

[We see Bashir and Ellet walking into the woods. We are clearly seeing from someone’s Point of View, partially obscured by branches and leaves. There is heavy breathing...commercial break! Oh boy, 90s shit! Vote for Bob Dole! Buy a pager! That Ford Taurus sure is a sexy fuck! AND WE’RE BACK! A small, Bajoran village. There’s no sign of any tech, the homes are simple, aging wooden structures. People do old-timey shit. Bashir and Ellet approach]

Bashir: ...so Winn withdrew her candidacy. Shakaar won the position of First Minister very handily after that.

Ellet: Amazing. A free Bajor. I can’t believe it. I want to.

Bashir: What, my injury isn’t enough proof that I am who I say I am?

Ellet: Plenty of species have red blood, even mine. You could be a collaborator who had his nose shaved down.

Bashir: It would be easier and less traumatic to fill the ridges in, actually. Speaking as a physician. More easily reversed, as well.

Ellet: Which is why the Cardassians would shave it down. Probably without anesthesia.

Bashir: Ah, well…

Pold: Ellet! Ellet come quick!

[a teenage boy rushes up to Ellet and Bashir, barely giving a second glance to the stranger]

Ellet: Pold! What is it?

Pold: It’s Elder Caso! He collapsed!

Bashir: Where is he? I don’t have my full kit, but…

Ellet: Follow me!

[Interior of one of the houses; an old man lays in a bed, his breathing strained and raspy. Other Bajorans stand nearby looking worried. A middle-aged woman, Calra, leans over him, listening to his heart with something that is recognizably a stethoscope. Bashir and Ellet rush in]

Calra: Ellet, who...

Ellet: He’s a Doctor, from Starfleet.

Calra: Starfleet? What…

Bashir: I’ll explain everything in time, but first…

[Bashir kneels next to Calra and pulls his tricorder from his kit. He flips it open and it lets out a somewhat-sickly version of it usual beeps]

Bashir: Damn…

Ellet: What’s wrong?

Bashir: The power supply was damaged. [noting the stethoscope] Did you get a chance to use that?

Calra: Yes. His heartbeat is badly irregular.

Bashir: Does he have any allergies you know of?

Calra: Some hay fever, nothing else.

Bashir: Cordrazine, then. [pulls out a small case from his kit, flips it open to reveal some phials. Pulls one out] Thank goodness, it’s intact. But I haven’t a hypospray. Do you have a syringe or anything?

Calra: Yes. Ellet, over there…

[Calra points and Ellet vanishes for a moment, before reappearing with a tray of needles. Bashir picks one up and glances momentarily at the Bajoran writing]

Bashir: What line is...ah...damn, what’s the Bajoran equivalent of ccs. Ah...right, right! Which one would be half a dectol?

Calra: There.

[Bashir twists the top off the phial and sticks the needle in, slowly pulling the plunger back. He delicately hands the phial to Calra, then starts tapping Pold’s arm]

Bashir: Haven’t had to find a vein since medical school…

[He nods, satisfied, and plunges the needle into the old man’s arm. He picks up the stethoscope, puts it on, and presses the diaphragm to the elder’s chest]

Bashir: He’s stabilizing...good. I suppose it’s too much to hope for that you have IV bags?

Calra: You’re lucky we have syringes.

Bashir: Alright, make sure he stays hydrated. More so than you might think is necessary. Someone should be watching him at all times. Check his heartbeat every hour. If it gets irregular again, a quarter dectol of this. If his breathing becomes rapid at any time try chest compressions. If that doesn’t work get me. [beat] Real, frontier medicine. I knew a young fool who romanticized this stuff…

Caso: Ellet…

Ellet: Father!

Caso: Who...is this?

Ellet: He’s Doctor Bashir, father. He’s from Starfleet. The occupation is over, Father. Bajor is free.

[Exterior, night. We are again watching from an unknown figure’s PoV. We can just make out Bashir sitting with Caso, Ellet, Calra and others by a large fire. Someone hands him a bowl. Switches to the side of the fire as he eats]

Bashir: This is excellent. And you’ve raised or hunted all of this yourselves?

Ellet: It’s what we’ve done since I was born.

Caso: We have been on our own for almost four decades. I was a child when the occupation began. My memories of a free Bajor are...a fog, at best. I can somewhat remember the quiet meetings in my parent’s home. The early days of the Resistance, though I didn’t understand that at the time. I was barely a teenager when we set up our first camp to begin striking at a Cardassian shipping port.

Bashir: So what happened? Resistance camps didn’t tend to become permanent emplacements.

Caso: We had moved here for a major strike planned with another cell. I can’t remember what the target was. Almost every single adult went. Many of the teenagers. I wanted to go, but they said I was just too young. If I’d not been recovering from a sprained ankle they may have taken me. I’m not sure. [pause] No one came back from the mission. We waited for days. Weeks. Before long we began to be sure the Cardassians would arrive and destroy us. But we were mostly children, we didn’t know how best to pull up stakes and resettle. We didn’t know how to contact other cells. We didn’t even know if we were near civilization. After a few months, we realized we were on our own. And...well, we made do.

Bashir: I’d say you’ve thrived. You’ve remained undiscovered and self-sufficient for almost forty years. That’s astounding!

Caso: Yes. But now...now we can rejoin Bajor. A Bajor free of Cardassians. I still scarcely believe it. [beat] I do not mean to seem ungrateful to my savior but...well, have we simply replaced Cardassians with Federation troops?

Bashir: No, no not at all! No, we’re all on a space station. There’s no permanent on-planet presence.

Caso: But your commander is the Emissary?

Bashir: Yes. But he’s a Starfleet officer first. He hasn’t abused his position as Emissary to try and force the issue

Calra: Starfleet is famously hands-off.

Bashir: We try to be. First and foremost we consider ourselves explorers. We’re ambassadors of the Federation, we don’t exist to strongarm anyone into joining.

Calra: Tho you certainly have military might.

Bashir: An unfortunate necessity when not everyone shares our ideals.

Calra: Yes. Like the Klingons. Orion Pirates. Cardassians?

Bashir: Right…

Caso: Calra…

Calra: Tell me, Doctor, when is non-interference just willful ignorance?

Bashir: Sorry?

Caso: Calra, he’s barely older than Ellet, he had nothing to do with…

Calra: Oh, I’m sure they’re making some similar decision now, though. Right, Doctor? What atrocity is your Federation turning a blind eye to now?

Ellet: Calra, come now…

Bashir: No. No, she’s not wrong. The Federation. Starfleet. We let a lot happen in the name of The Prime Directive. I can’t disagree. We don’t live up to our own ideals sometimes. And that’s because we’re flawed. [beat] But that’s the root of it. The Federation has had its brushes with failing itself even more drastically than that. So we stop the Cardassian occupation. Then we get asked to help another culture. Then another. And another. Then one day we don’t get asked but just show up. Then we show up again. And again. And then, suddenly, we’re taking over Bajor instead of the Cardassians. The line is fine. Too fine. And I have yet to meet anyone who I would trust to see it.

Calra: And what do you think about Bajor joining the Federation willingly? Since that is how you see the overture now.

Bashir: Honestly? I don’t know. On the one hand, the Federation has plenty to offer. On the other hand, Bajor is still trying to figure itself out after having its own culture nearly eradicated. But then there is the issue of the worm...Celestial Temple. Bajor is now the most important planet in the Alpha quadrant, which means it could also be a target for countless people.

Calra: You seem to have trouble committing to ideas.

Bashir: I’m a doctor, not a diplomat. My choices are much simpler. If someone is in need of medical help, I provide it. I leave diplomacy to better people than myself.

Caso: Well I, for one, am grateful a Doctor arrived instead of a diplomat. Now, come! No more interrogating Doctor Bashir! Let’s enjoy ourselves, and in the morning we shall send out parties to try and find his friend!

[The spooky PoV shot again. Heavy breathing. WOOOOOO, what could it be?! MOTHERFUCKING COMMERCIAL TIME! It’s a trailer for Twister, fuck did you see that cow?!  It’s the “great googly moogly” Snickers ad! Oh shit they made the Game Boy smaller! BACK TO THE SHOW, HONKIES!

Day, Julian walking through the woods with Ellet]

Bashir: So, are you looking forward to seeing the sites of your homeworld?

Ellet: I...suppose? My whole life has been stories of Bajor. For me, Bajor has just been my village and a few square miles of woodland. I wouldn’t even know where to begin.

Bashir: Well, the capital has some stunning architecture. The Bajoran Gallery has already managed to rebuild much of its collections. I’d be more than happy to show you around.

Ellet: That could be…

[suddenly, a large rock whizzes past their faces and they both duck down into the brush]

Bashir: What the hell?!

Ellet: Come on! There’s not enough cover here.

Bashir: This way!

[the two start running towards a large boulder near a tree line, Bashir slightly ahead. Suddenly there’s the noise of bending wood and straining rope]

Bashir: WHOA!

[Bashir is now danging upside-down, one of his feet caught in a makeshift rope hanging from a branch. Ellet dives behind the boulder]

Bashir: Ellet, what’s going on?! Is this normal?!

Ellet: No! I have no idea what…

[Another rock spirals in and Ellet dives behind the boulder. It bounces off and barely misses Julian’s head Ellet nocks an arrow and glances over the boulder]

Ellet: Where are you…?

Bashir: Could you get me down maybe?

Ellet: Shh!

Chief: [from a distance] You damn Cardie bastards! You let him go!

Ellet: What?!

Bashir: Chief?! Chief! What are you talking about?!

[The Chief is standing in a shadowy area, having gone full Apocalypse Now. His shirt is gone and he’s covered in mud from waist to face as makeshift camouflage. He holds a homemade sling and a rock. His face is hard]

Chief: It’s alright, Julian! I’ll free you from those bastards before they can scream at you about lights!

Bashir: Ellet, please. That’s my missing friend! Something’s clearly wrong with him!

Ellet: So I can’t kill him.

Bashir: Afraid not.

Ellet: Great.

Bashir: Sorry. If you could get me down I could help…okay.

[Ellet has already launched herself over the boulder and started charging towards the Chief. She barely ducks a stone, which ends up hitting Julian in the gut, making him give out a little oof. The Chief loads another stone, but Ellet shoots an arrow that cuts the handle. Time for a motherfucking fight! Chief goes all Classic Starfleet double-hand punches and Kirk-chops. It’s...well, you know. It’s a “Trek” fight. Then Ellet manages to crack him one across the chin with her bow and he goes down. Before he can get up she puts a foot on his chest and has an arrow drawn and near his face]

Ellet: Calm yourself, Chief. No one wishes to hurt you or the Doctor…

[the interior of DS9’s infirmary. O’Brien, in uniform, lays on a diagnostic table while Julian scans him]

Bashir: So my best guess is that spring you said you found had been tainted by spores from some nearby bitari mushrooms. Calra explained them to me. For a Bajoran they can cause rather pleasant hallucinations. Humans, it would seem, not so much.

O’Brien: I swear, they all looked like Cardassians. It was like I was back in the war. Thank goodness I didn’t hurt anyone.

Bashir: You bruised one of my ribs, actually.

O’Brien: Well, being fair, I wasn’t aiming for you. Still, I’ll get you your next pint to make it up to you. Quark’s?

Bashir: I’m going to need a rain check. I’m acting as an ambassador today.

[Ellet walks in, dressed in modern Bajoran clothing]

Ellet: Doctor?

Bashir: Ah! Ellet! I’ll be right with you! A Vulcan survey ship is due back from the Gamma Quadrant in twenty minutes, so we’ll start with a docking pylon! They have the best view!

Ellet: I’m looking forward to it.

[She exits]

Bashir: Right, well. You’re officially released, Chief. You should be all set. If anything seems off just come back here straightaway.

[Julian exits]

O’Brien: Horny prick.

[THE END! END CREDITS!]

Majel Barrett: Next time on “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine”

Sisko: Why is my razor so stupid?!

Dax: Benjamin, Kai Winn is here to see you.

Kai Winn: [incoherent screeching]

[scene change!]

Bashir: Goddamn it, so itchy…

O’Brien: I really didn’t need to know that, Julian.

[scene change!]

Dax: Kira, you’ve got a message coming in from Gul Dukat.

Kira: Ugh. Put him through.

Gul Dukat: Ah, Major Kira…

Kira: I swear to God if this is another thinly-veiled attempt at hitting on me I will cut of your balls and feed them to your pet vole.

THE END!

Stay tuned for whatever bullshit was on your local station in 1996 after DS9!

—

Check out Caitlin, Ames, and Jake’s stories for more Tales from the Holodeck! Also, be sure to keep listening on SoundCloud, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and don’t drink the tainted spore water!

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