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#Gamma Quadrant aliens
quasi-normalcy · 1 year
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Doing a PhD at the Daystrom Institute, like
You wanted Dr. Maddox to be your advisor, but he disappeared, so you get Dr. Jurati
You find out a few years later that Dr. Jurati murdered Dr. Maddox, but she wasn't criminally responsible, so it's okay. You're okay. It's too late to change advisors now
(She is, however, clearly having a depressive spiral and keeps turning up drunk at your advising sessions over subspace)
(Whatever, just keep your head down; focus on how future hiring committees will react to seeing the words "DAYSTROM INSTITUTE" on your CV)
Except now you need to rewrite your whole "Research Ethics" section because it turns out that there's an intergalactic civilization of godlike machines who will annihilate all organic life in the Milky Way at the drop of a hat if they think that we're mistreating our AIs
It takes two years, and you need to go to Coppelius to do it, but you finally get the rewrites done; you just need Dr. Jurati to sign off on your final draft so you can do your defence; it's going to be alright. "DAYSTROM INSTITUTE", right?
Except it turns out that she's a Borg Queen now (and, due to a time travel accident, apparently has been for the last 400 years? No one can explain it to you in a way that makes sense)
Fuck it. Contact her anyway.
She's very apologetic, but says that she can't sign off on your dissertation because your theory was actually disproven by an alien cyberneticist that she assimilated two hundred years ago in an uncharted region of the Gamma Quadrant
She does, however, offer you a position as "drone"
You're honestly not sure whether this sounds better or worse than staying in grad school
25th century academia is a messed-up scene
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suekay · 1 year
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Captains and Away Missions
TOS
Jim: I’m going to lead the landing party
Spock: Of course, captain
Bones: What are you stupid? It could be dangerous!
Jim: Bones…Did you see the way the magistrate’s daughter looked at me?
Bones: Okay, fine. Go.
Bones: …Maybe I’ll beam down too.
TNG
Picard: Maybe I’ll just-
Riker: No
Picard: But I didn’t-
Riker: No… It’s my sworn duty as your First Officer to mollycoddle you at all times and I take that duty very seriously indeed
Picard: But… but I just wanted to do some archaeology and stuff
Riker, grumbling: Fine. Riker to Worf. Meet the away team in Transporter Room 3. You’re on babysitting duty.
DS9
Sisko: I think I’m going to go a camping trip on an unexplored planet in the Gamma Quadrant with my teenaged son
Kira: Sounds like a good idea sir, have fun!
VOY
Janeway: You, you and you…yeah you. Go down to that planet and do science stuff.
Chakotay: Captain…You’re a scientist and you’ve not been off the ship in a while. You might enjoy joining the away team and getting some fresh air.
Janeway: Nah… I’m going to the holodeck to do fun shit then I’m going to go and wind up Seven
Chakotay: ...Understood Captain
Tuvok: *dislocates his neck trying not to roll his eyes and sigh out loud*
ENT
Archer: That looks like a mighty fine planet
Trip: Yeah Captain it sure does!
Archer: Think we should go down there?
Trip: Sounds like fun sir!
T’Pol: We’d be best letting the survey team finish their work. There could be toxins or dangerous animals or-
Archer: Well that sounds a little boring. I’m gonna go get Porthos. Who wants to bet he’ll puke up alien grass all over my bed again tonight!
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isagrimorie · 13 days
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I think Sisko would have a very hard time on Voyager. His mind would go to the Borg long before they even have contact and Wolf 359 trauma would make it harder for him to deal with this. The way Miles was so specifically unhappy to be on DS9, the Cardassian station of all places, with his history.
Also one of the biggest strengths - that Ransom was clearly missing - is Janeway's science background. I think we also see it a bit in Tom, who idolizes the good old days. The exploration of it all. Explore new things without a safety net. When the DS9 crew ventured in the Gamma Quadrant, there was always a way back home. There is lots to talk about right there.
The DS9 character to absolutely thrive on Voyager would be Dax, well, Jadzia Dax specifically. Wise and curious, good combo. But Dax would also feel a new kind of fear, because Trill is so far away, no new host easily reachable. Could this be the end? Fascinating.
Janeway on DS9 would climb up the walls. To be stationary. She would use every chance she gets to get into the Gamma Quadrant. If she would get the whole Emissary storyline as well, I think she would be more open in some ways (so ready to embrace how these unknown aliens perceive time) and rejecting others (dealing with Winn Adami???? oh boy).
Ooh I love this thought experiment!
His mind would go to the Borg long before they even have contact and Wolf 359 trauma would make it harder for him to deal with this.
Honestly, I agree with this, I noted in a previous post that actually, Sisko and Janeway were positioned very well because their postings don’t really interact with their traumas much. The Borg were barely anything on DS9, and Janeway only had to deal with Seska, who was laser-focused on Chakotay.
A good thing… because Seska didn’t really trigger Janeway’s Cardassian triggers ala Miles.
Also one of the biggest strengths - that Ransom was clearly missing - is Janeway’s science background.
If I remember right Ransom doesn’t like direct confrontation. His style is hide and run, from what I remember all he’s ever commanded were small science vessels.
I suspect that Sisko would react to Ransom and his crew almost exactly how Janeway reacted to Ransom.
With even less pushback, because when he did the same thing with Eddington he had little pushback. Dax was even in full support of Sisko’s actions.
The DS9 character to absolutely thrive on Voyager would be Dax, well, Jadzia Dax specifically. Wise and curious, good combo
This is true! I kind of wish there was either a Dax or Garak-like character on Voyager to mix things up as Seven did. Speaking of Seven of Nine… unfortunately, I don’t and can’t see how Seven would survive beyond the first episode on a Sisko-led Voyager.
Unless maybe Dax talks him out of it? Dax would make the case that Seven would be the ‘local knowledge’ as they traverse Borg space.
Sisko would be a lot harder on Seven because of his trauma.
But because of Jake, Sisko always has a clear motive to get back to the Alpha Quadrant. It’s not just for the crew but because of his son. He doesn’t want to miss the life of his son, this would be a more bittersweet ache for Sisko, I feel.
Unless! Jake was with him during the Maquis hunting mission? On the other hand, I don’t see Sisko wanting to put Jake in danger like that, so soon after Wolf 359.
On the other end, I would love to watch Janeway butting heads with Kira Nerys, initially, because I don’t think Janeway has the same trauma as Miles had but also I don’t think she would love interacting with Cardassians either.
And, knowing the DS9 writers, I feel they would play up Janeway’s Cardassian War Record. Garak would know Janeway’s war record and I bet he would enjoy poking at Janeway.
Janeway would indulge Quark but only to a point.
But also, it would be so interesting for Scientist!Janeway to butt up against Bajoran spirituality and religion, especially if the Wormhole aliens pick her to be their Emissary. Sisko was already (initially) uncomfortable with the role, what more Janeway?
Janeway is diplomatic but her faith is in science. I think in this way, Sisko was more open, especially once he warmed up to Bajor and its cultures. I don’t know if I can see Janeway ever comfortable in the Emissary role.
Janeway vs Kai Winn would be fascinating. They’d both tear at each other with sugar-sweet smiles.
Janeway would also be pushed to make the same decisions as Sisko did in In the Pale Moonlight because just like Sisko, she takes every death personally. And the deaths during the Dominion War were constant.
It would be fascinating to see Janeway in the Siege of AR355 though just to see Janeway in another siege war. She already mentioned on Voyager how devastating that was, in her low-key way.
Saving the Cardassian was a moment that won Janeway back her soul, if not for that moment, I honestly feel Janeway would’ve been lost.
Also, I feel Janeway and the Founder would have An Enemy Mine situation instantly. Janeway would also 100% support all of Nerys’s anti-Gul Dukat moves, she’ll hide it but she will low-key condone it.
Sisko was always contemptuous of Dukat but it was never personal, Sisko had to be driven to the moment of hating Dukat. Since, again, his hate would go towards the Borg more. But for Janeway? It’s a skip towards hating Dukat.
We could also see Janeway in a more casual setting more often, maybe even date. I have a feeling even if Janeway stayed in the Alpha Quadrant, Janeway and Mark Johnson wouldn't have stayed together.
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nathanland · 9 months
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Sisko: Oh no! The gamma quadrant aliens turned out to be allergic to my gumbo!
O'Brien's subplot:
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cardassiangoodreads · 16 days
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Fanfiction first lines game
Rules: List the first line of your last 10 (posted) fics and see if there's a pattern.
Thanks for the tag, @philosopherking1887! If I ever did one of these on here it's been a looooooong long while lol. Also, since I've been doing a lot of short fics lately, I'm going to arbitrarily raise this to 15, but no one I tag has to do that many unless you want to.
The Woman of Her Dreams (Star Trek DS9, F/F, fem!Benjamin/Jadzia, for the Trek Femslash Drabble Exchange)
It worked out a little too well, didn’t it?
Gleam That Shows Disgrace (DS9, M/M, Disko, for Gamma Quadrant server drabble challenge)
He must shine, when he thinks of him.
Kai Winn's Women (DS9, F/F, Leeta/Winn + Kasidy/Winn + Kira/Winn, for @stuffedtiger for the Trek Femslash Drabble Exhange)
The dabo girl doesn’t pretend not to see her—not like some others have started to, these days. She looks up, still a little startled and honored by the Kai’s presence. Even wrapped in her Ferengi, she smiles.
(Not Quite) Taming the Beast (DS9, F/F, Keiko/Winn, for @ectogeo-rebubbles for the Trek Femslash Drabble Exchange)
When Winn first imagined it—seeing the pretty Terran teacher fill those impressionable minds with lies, with an enticing cleverness in those wicked eyes—she imagined that having Keiko O’Brien like this would be a way to win her over. That teaching her all the lovely things that a trained vedek can do who has spent years soothing her tenderest female parishioners… that not only would she forget all about her boring husband, but that her convictions, too, would fall to pieces with her cries. That Winn could fuck her into a true believer. She’d have an earring on her and Keiko witnessing the truth of the Prophets to her young charges before long.
Just an Experiment...Right? (Revolutionary Girl Utena, F/F, Kozue/Shiori, for Candy Hearts Exchange)
It’s just an experiment.
Research Trip (DS9, F/F, Jadzia/Keiko, for @leohtttbriar for the DS9 Rarepairs Ficlet Challenge)
Keiko wishes it could always be this easy.
Deceptive Cadence (DS9, M/M, Garashir, for GQ drabble challenge)
“You enjoyed that.”
Two Heads Are Better Than One (DS9, M/M, Quodo, for Quodo Mini-fest)
Being a Changeling made everything different, this no less than anything else.
Staked (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, F/M, Spuffy, for Candy Hearts Exchange)
Buffy fumbled with it, at first. She clearly wasn’t used to this, but Spike could be patient. He’d been patient for years, after all. He’d waited a long time to have Buffy like this—splayed out on the floor, gazing up at him.
A Pleasure to Burn (DS9, F/F, Kira/Winn, for @ectogeo-rebubbles for DS9 Rarepair Ficlets)
Winn was expecting that Kira would come to her. It’s the right time, right place…
Wish You Were Here (DS9, F/M, Leeta/Rom, for @lovemelizards for DS9 Rarepair Ficlets)
Julian does look cute in his tank top. It’s nice to see him showing off his long, limber frame, instead of hiding under that padding. She knows he’s ashamed of it, but she’s always found his lankiness sexy. More arms and legs to wrap around her at night.
Focus (DS9, M/M, Goran'ashir, for DS9 Rarepair Ficlets)
Julian needs to focus. He cannot get distracted—not when so much is at stake. Not just their lives, but the fates of the entire Alpha Quadrant. If they can neutralize the compound that is controlling the Jem’Hadar, they can turn this whole ship around. There’s war on the horizon—Julian has no experience with it, but the veterans on their ship, Miles and Kira and Sisko and the rest, say they can smell it, taste it on the tips of their tongues. Julian could prevent a war. He’d be a hero.
That Time of the Month (DS9, M/M, Garashir, for GQ drabble challenge)
Ever since he first learned about pon farr, Julian—ever the xenophile—has salivated over alien heat cycles.
Way Harsh, Ziyal (DS9, Multi, Garashir + Jake/Ziyal + Kiradax)
It all begins, as so many things do with Garak and Julian, in the middle of discussing their latest book.
Marked for Adventure (Wayfarers book series, F/F, Rosemary/Sissix, for the Soulmate AU challenge)
Rosemary’s skin is a marvel. It is so smooth, like the hard metal of the ship walls, but so soft and supple… ultimately, more like the silk of the bedsheets that Kizzy had just received in a care package from home. She let Sissix and the others touch them, and she’ll never forget what it was like to run that material through her hands, sliding across them so easily… made by the larva of an insect from Earth, do wonders never cease! 
Tagging @ectogeo-rebubbles @stuffedtiger @xslytherclawx-writes and then anyone else who wants to do it!
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nebulouscoffee · 3 months
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7, 23, 27, and 33 for the Star Trek ask meme?
Thank you for the ask!
7. Who would make up your crew dream team?
You know, this is something I've thought about before (shoutout to @fancy-a-dance-brigadier for always asking the real questions lol) - but I could never quite find an answer I was satisfied with! Because I don't think taking all my favourites and smushing them together works, they just aren't as interesting together as mixups between characters who have bigger ideological differences. Like, he might be my fav captain but I don't want to choose Sisko over Janeway and Picard, I want to see him interact with Janeway and Picard, you know? So here's a sort of half-cooked, this-would-change-every-time-you-asked-me answer:
Captain: Ben Sisko First Officer: Michael Burnham (I wanna see them interact!!) Chief of Operations: Data Chief Xenoanthropologist: Chakotay (I know this is not an actual position in Star Trek but it should be!! The dude who makes sure dealings with alien cultures are being handled with respect, basically) Chief of Security: La'an Singh (trying to mix and match here) Chief Science Officer: Jadzia Dax (ft. Harry Kim always giving her ideas) Counsellor: Deanna Troi (ft. trainee Ezri Tigan) Chief Medical Officer: Julian Bashir (ft. Kes starting graphic and unhinged conversations about autopsies with him) Chief Engineer: Geordi La Forge (ft. B'Elanna on staff. Drama!!!) Helmsman: Ro Laren Communications: Hoshi Sato Also There: Kira Nerys (recurring character who works with them when it's relevant), Guinan (bartender), Admiral Picard (recurring character that makes Sisko do the iconic "Kai Winn is boarding the station" facepalm), Jake Sisko (son), Garak (local menace), and Admiral Janeway (temporal menace)
23. Favorite tropes?
Character's past comes back to haunt them. Character is forced to confront their inner demons in a way that blurs the line between imagination and reality. Member of an alien society seeks asylum. A peek into the world from the "outsider" character's eyes. Two people from opposite sides are forced to spend time together (and the guest character SLAPS). Captain is out of commission and the unlikeliest people are forced to step up. Oh no the holodeck isn't shutting down and the only way we can save everyone's life is to LARP through this thing fully committing to the bit. Here is a spacial anomaly that makes everyone act weird one by one (either revealing important hidden truths about the characters, or just letting the actors have too much fun). ALL of us have to go back in time together for some stupid reason (and it's amazing)
27. What do you wish they had handled differently?
SO many potential answers- but since it's always on my mind, I wish they'd followed through on the thread of Jem'Hadar dissent. In 'The Abandoned' we find out they're genetically engineered to (rapidly) grow very strong, be dependant on drugs, and loyal to the Founders while demanding no individual rights, which frames them as tragic victims. Then we get a Jem'Hadar character who not only broke free of the Dominion's hold on him, not only expresses but also acts on the dream of freeing his fellow soldiers- and a lead character (Julian) risks his career for him! Sisko tries to get through to them in 'Rocks and Shoals'. They're so clearly complex beings with unique thoughts & personalities & feelings & needs, and are constantly fighting this inhumanely imposed programming that tells them they're just killing machines who live to serve their masters. Even in lighthearted episodes like 'One Little Ship' we see conflict between the Gamma and Alpha Quadrant soldiers, for example. We could've had this be relevant to the Dominion War's resolution! We could've had a defector Jem'Hadar as a recurring character! We could've had Julian finally make that breakthrough & help start a Jem'Hadar revolt!! It could've been so much more interesting (and so much less racist)
33. Whose twitter feed would you most want to follow?
My first instinct was Dax, but I'm leaning more towards Jake Sisko- I feel like because he's the son of a Starfleet officer (but not in the service himself) he'd have absolutely zero fear of authority & he'd just post the most savage things about prominent Starfleet officers and blow up incredibly unflattering pics of all the admirals lol
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trekkie-polls · 3 months
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A reminder if it’s been a while since you saw Sacrifice of Angels:
The Dominion & Cardassians are occupying ds9. A battle involving the Klingons, Cardassians, Federation, and Dominion rages near the station. Rom had mined the entrance to the wormhole to prevent further Dominion Gamma quadrant reinforcements, but Damar has just removed the mines. The defiant punches through the battle only to watch the minefield detonate.
They detect a huge fleet of Dominion reinforcements coming through the wormhole. Sisko orders the Defiant into the wormhole to face them. The Prophets tell him to turn back and save his life, but he counters & convinces them to stop the fleet. They agree in exchange for a penance, and the approaching ships vanished on screen. Sisko says he doesn’t think they’ll be coming back.
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warpfive · 1 year
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WHEN YOU'RE GETTING HIT ON
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how the ds9 crew reacts to their lover being flirted with
CW: gn! reader
CREW: ben sisko, kira nerys, odo, julian bashir, jadzia dax
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BENJAMIN - he doesn’t notice until jadzia points it out. of course she’s the one to notice, the trill would sniff out drama on a vulcan ship. she points you out through the throngs of people on the promenade, waiting for the lift with some kind of furry alien standing awfully close. benjamin’s first reaction is protectiveness, of course, but he sees quickly that the alien isn’t threatening you. quite the opposite, actually - his hand settles on your shoulder, flashes you a wide, toothy grin. head nods off in the other direction, hoping you’d follow him toward the vendors. jadzia doesn’t even mind when he leaves her in his wake, reaching you and subtly, forcefully, puts himself between you and the too-friendly alien. he’s still commander of the station, the alien hasn’t technically done anything wrong, so benjamin uses his best diplomatically-pissed-off voice to scare off him. and you seemed to enjoy the show - when ben looks down at you, the way you grin at him does make him a little embarrassed. still, he walks you all the way back to your quarters with his arm over your shoulders.
KIRA - she knows, logically, as a liaison for all of Bajor on Deep Space Nine, she really needs to keep her mouth shut - some things aren’t worth breaking hands over. and as much as she thinks you’re very high on the list of things that are worth it, kira doesn’t need words to know what you’re telling her. a stern look, a subtle shake of your head, clearing your throat very pointedly - you’re telling her not to lose her shit on the Gamma Quadrant ambassador that’s getting way too friendly with you. and to kira’s credit, she’s done an amazing job so far. but what crosses the line is the not-so-subtle invitation to his quarters for “off the record” negotiations. kira just can’t contain her temper any longer and she lets the ambassador knows what he can do with his negotiations. when he scurries off, you pull her aside and scold her a little for doing that - sisko will have to clean up the mess. at the moment, kira doesn’t care. she hates the idea of someone disrespecting you like that, and okay, was she a little jealous? maybe, but that’s not important. the ambassador spends the rest of his trip stony and polite, and kira starts standing just a little closer to you than usual.
ODO - flirting between the solids was always something odo had little interest in, unless it related to a case or station security. but seeing you sat at quark’s bar, chatting with one of your friends but continually interrupted by some drunkard, odo suddenly paid much more attention. he didn’t want to jump to the rescue just yet - you may not appreciate his intentions, and there’s also quark’s gossip to consider. you can handle yourself, odo knows that. but then he started getting touchy, uncomfortably close, odo catches the wrinkle of your nose under the interloper’s breath and rushes to intervene before he even realizes it. odo grips the man’s arm hard, removes it from your spine, and threatens to arrest him for disturbing the peace before suggesting he go and sober up somewhere else. the drunkard leaves with a couple low grumbles, and that’s that, right? no, you’re taking odo’s arm and lightly pulling him closer, smiling at him and thanking him for rescuing you. turns out, you didn’t want to be impolite and tell him off, even though it was within your rights to do so. odo makes a note to stop by the bar more often when he knows you’re here.
JULIAN - was he being foolish? no, no, never - julian was just getting into character, is all. though the hologram was fake, the unpleasant tug in his gut was very real and he couldn’t truly shake off the aggravation of watching you flirt back with the holosuite character. a character - julian was definitely spending too much time in the holosuites. he tries to play his role as intended - a spy undercover as the taxi driver, subtly driving their target out of the city while you distract him with your charms. from the looks of things, it was definitely working. julian couldn’t stop glancing up into the rear view mirror, and every time he did, the hologram was closer than he was last time. the doctor notices a hand on your leg, a finger pushing back the hair from your face, and julian instantly spouts out that he’s rather warm before rolling down every window in the car. this, of course, tips the target off to the spy’s schemes, and you pause the program. julian’s quiet, part-embarrassed, part-annoyed. he hears you shift on the leather, feels your arms drape over the front seat, and is rather shocked to feel your lips press against his cheek. though, julian deflates a little when you tell him to warn you before making changes to the program.
JADZIA - honestly? it kind of impossible to tell when jadzia gets jealous. it will depend on the person doing the flirting and i’ll give you two examples. the first time you were hit on while shaking up with jadzia was during a birthday party for miles. this young ensign, fresh out of the academy with a fire under his ass, decided it was a good idea to chat you up. it was harmless, he was kinda drunk - jadzia found it more amusing than anything, especially when you kept giving her those “rescue me” eyes from across the room and you both laughed about it later that night. the second time, however, was not nearly as friendly. some glinn, one of dukat’s men, getting way too friendly and making you way too uncomfortable and didn’t let up until jadzia had come over and not-so-subtly threatened to shoot him out an airlock. jadzia doesn’t really mind light flirting, and thinks it’s rather funny to see you get hit on while knowing she’s the one you’re going home with. her mood really depends on the person doing the flirting - she won’t tolerate you feeling super uncomfortable or demeaned, but some harmless flirtations never hurt anybody.
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sshbpodcast · 1 month
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Character Spotlight: Benjamin Sisko
By Ames
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We’ve segued so smoothly into Deep Space Nine for our character spotlights here on A Star to Steer Her By that you didn’t even notice it. Thank you, Worf. So this week we’re doing an in-depth look at one of the more complex lead characters of a Trek series, Benjamin Lafayette Sisko. He might be the leader who gets tested the most out of any of our main stars, and he makes probably the most wide-ranging decisions – though typically that decision is “let’s see how this goes.”
From first contacts with the Gamma Quadrant, to yet another standoff with Klingons, to full blown Dominion War, to whatever was going on with the wormhole aliens, Ben’s got a long list of moments for us to consider. So grab yourself a bowl of jambalaya, hop in your solar sail ship, and maybe get a little war crimes as a treat! Scroll on below for our Sisko spotlight and listen to a ton of spare moments on this week’s podcast (jump through the wormhole to 1:04:00). Ow!
[Images © CBS/Paramount]
Best moments
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There’s no hurry Our first contact with beings from the Gamma Quadrant is also DS9’s first breaking of the Prime Directive. In “Captive Pursuit,” Miles is trying desperately to save Tosk from his hunters and Sisko is doing his best to technically stay within the rules, and it’s a rare success of doing both. Telling Odo to take his time in apprehending O’Brien shows that Sisko is coming from a place of real morality.
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Find something you love, then do it the best you can We could name great moments between Ben and his son all day, but there’s more to our list than that, so let’s sum things up with a perfectly pure moment of excellent parenting from “Shadowplay.” Sisko is immediately accepting of Jake not wanting to follow in his footsteps and join Starfleet, and melts our hearts. Doing something he loves and being true to himself is far more important than legacy.
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Cardassians love cosmetic surgery Appropriately, we watched Enterprise’s “Judgment” on the podcast this week and spent most it comparing it to The Undiscovered Country and “Tribunal.” When O’Brien is on trial in Cardassian kangaroo court and his lawyer is doing nothing to defend him, Sisko walks in with an undercover Cardassian spy in tow and wins the whole thing without saying a word. Like a badass.
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Humans used to be a lot worse than the Ferengi We brought this up last week in our Worf chat too, but there’s a general racism towards the Ferengi all through Deep Space Nine. Quark calls Sisko out for it in “The Jem’Hadar” when Sisko and he are butting heads, and by the end of the episode, Sisko has seen Quark in a new light and refuses to leave him behind because Sisko got over some his prejudice (at least a little bit).
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I’ll see that you get that chance Speaking of that prejudice against our lobed friends, everyone and their moogie is dubious when Nog claims he wants to join Starfleet in “Heart of Stone,” which would be a first for a Ferengi. But when Nog tells Sisko that he’s serious and looking for a life that will earn him real respect, the commander takes him at his word and vouches for him, putting in motion one of the best character arcs in Trek.
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Some taboos are made to be broken Throughout the series, the relationships between characters are probably the strongest in Trek, and a true highlight is watching Sisko with his old/new friend Jadzia Dax. It’s such a beautiful scene in the equally beautiful “Rejoined” when Ben tells her that he’d still support her if she decides to break Trill taboo and hook back up with Lenara Khan. He’s that good a friend.
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Don’t you see, Admiral? You’re fighting the wrong war. Around season 4, the show really tests Sisko with some ethical conundrums during the Dominion War. This is one he passes with flying colors. In “Paradise Lost,” Sisko is able to see his old mentor and silver medal winner from Jake’s Evil Admirals list, James Leyton, for what he really is: a megalomaniac who uses the Changeling threat as an excuse to incite a coup. Until Ben steps in!
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Presenting the newest honoree in the Order of the Bat’leth It takes a certain level of crazy to think you can infiltrate the best warriors the Klingons have to offer, and luck for us, Captain Sisko is just that level of crazy. Avery Brooks seems oddly at home portraying a blood-thirsty Klingon being inducted into the Order of the Bat’leth in “Apocalypse Rising,” and even better, he and Odo (mostly Odo) expose Changeling Martok!
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Don’t let Bajor in the Federation! We say it all the time on the podcast and today is no different: Bajor is NOT ready for Federation membership, no matter what Picard says. So when Sisko goes fully nuts after getting zapped by a plinth in “Rapture” and crashes the Federation membership ruling, we are fully supportive of his absolute batshit meddling. And ya know what, it works out for Bajor because of it!
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Sisko, you’re baby crazy Any time Sisko is with a baby is truly joyful. This from a podcast of self-professed non-baby people. But this man’s mirth is so pure we’ve got to give it to him. Avery Brooks isn’t even acting in “Children of Time” when he dandles that baby, or in “The Abandoned” when he’s nostalgic about Jake as a baby, or in “Heart of Stone” when he’s delighted that Vilixpran is budding. This man just loves babies.
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Let’s pretend that the Major’s not even here… By season 6, Gul Dukat is at his lowest point – he’s lost the station, his daughter is dead, and he’s more nuts than Ben in “Rapture”! And Captain Sisko plays him like a fiddle! “Waltz” is such an amazing showcase of acting talent, with Avery Brooks and Marc Alaimo bouncing off each other like pros. Sisko pushes his Cardassian counterpart over the edge and survives the cave of madness, some-freaking-how!
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The Emissary has completed his task Sisko’s final action in this corporeal plane is also the climax of the whole series, culminating the wormhole alien plot that was started at the very beginning. And while we may whine that the Kosst Amojen plotline in “What We Leave Behind” felt rushed at the end, we have to admit that it’s cathartic to have the Emissary make a huge sacrifice to take out the pah-wraiths in the series finale.
Worst moments
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This is how you hold a grudge Interestingly, the first taste we get of the jambalaya-slinging commander is him being bitter and fickle in the series premiere, “Emissary.” The show immediately introduces him being a dick to Picard, stewing with rage over Locutus’s part in the Battle at Wolf 359 (as if Picard had any control of that!). He also clearly doesn’t want to be in command of the station, starting him off with character conflict that the series will build on.
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If I hear of you hanging around with him… Continuing our running gag that the only alien species the show seems to think it’s okay to be racist against is the Ferengi we brought up last week with Worf, we see more instances of it from Sisko early in season one in “A Man Alone.” When Ben basically tells Jake to not hang around with Nog anymore, it’s flavored with that anti-Ferengi racism we’re sadly accustomed to.
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When in the Mirror Universe, do as the Mirror Universe people do We have a lot of issues with how DS9 trots out the mirror universe all the time, and it’s at its most uncomfortable when Sisko goes over there and sleeps with his friends’ counterparts in “Through the Looking Glass.” Sure, there’s not much you can do when Intendant Kira sets her sights on you, but it’s simply wrong to take advantage of Mirror Jadzia, regardless of how hot she is.
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Abusing your power is so romantic Sisko is so blinded by love in “For the Cause” that he ignores all the signs that his girlfriend Kasidy has been aiding the Maquis. And then Ben abuses his power as commander of the station to get her out of an inspection when she bats her eyes at him, which is straight-up unethical. As we’ll see, Sisko tends to make terrible decisions when the Maquis are involved…
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Red – the blood of angry men Arguably the most immoral acts that Sisko commits are the war crimes in “For the Uniform.” Even after Starfleet tries to take him off the Maquis assignment, Sisko’s obsession with taking out Eddington has gotten so personal that it clouds ALL his judgment. If we gave Picard grief about removing the residents of Dorvan V, then we’ve got to rake Sisko over the coals for POISONING A PLANET and relocating more people!
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Prophets, take the wheel! Half our Worst Moments come from the last two seasons when Sisko is tested more than any other Trek captain due to the Dominion War. And so often, he chooses the messed up response. I am still trying to figure out his Hail Mary play in “Sacrifice of Angels” when he flies headlong into the wormhole against thousands of ships and ends up asking the wormhole aliens to do a literal deus ex machina for him. Leeeeroy! Jennnnkins!
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What’s a better response to a “Yo Mama” joke than this? I shat on this one in our time travel post, but Sisko using his status as Emissary to let Kira play with the Orb of Time in “Wrongs Darker than Death or Night” because Dukat banged her mom and then gabbed to her about it is absolutely incompetent of him! Why anyone has access to that thing is incomprehensible because it just begs for time shenanigans!
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I can live with it… because Vreenak can’t Arguably one of Deep Space Nine’s best episodes, “In the Pale Moonlight” forces Sisko to make the hardest decision a Starfleet officer has to make – and he jumps at the chance to pick the option involving committing more war crimes. While it is a huge benefit to get the Romulans on your side, Sisko knowingly accomplishes this through lies, counterfeiting, bribery, murder, and most damning of all: enlisting the help of Elim Garak!
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Sisko SMASH! Here’s another instance when Ben abuses his power, this time in order to get access to an ancient artifact from Bajor in “The Reckoning.” And what does the Emissary do once he’s borrowed the tablet without asking permission, promising to take good care of it and that he’ll return it first thing in the morning? He destroys it utterly in a fit of rage, releasing some spirits that nearly gets Jake and Kira killed.
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Pick a lane, Ben I will always give Sisko guff about this. In “Accession,” he has accepted his role as Emissary to the prophets while he’s already serving as commander of Deep Space Nine, and frankly, Ben, you can’t be both! It’s a HUGE conflict of interest. In “Tears of the Prophets,” Admiral Ross gives him some hell for this when he’s torn between the Prophets and Starfleet, and he’s right! Step down!
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You’re outta here! “Take Me Out to the Holosuite" is a polarizing episode that fans either love or hate (even your SSHB hosts are mixed!), but you’ve got to admit: Sisko is a terrible baseball coach! He forces all of this senior staff to play a baseball game in the middle of wartime, cancels his girlfriend’s shipments to make her to play too, kicks Rom off the team, gets obsessively competitive about it, and then gets himself thrown out anyway! How many strikes was that?
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They warned you that marrying me would bring you sorrow Finally, we are still cross with Sisko for knocking up Kasidy. In “The Dogs of War,” Kasidy tells him she’s pregnant because he forgot to take his contraception, even though Bashir is constantly reminding him! This is a world in which having children should always be a choice because future contraceptives are basically magic, AND he’s been told that he’s basically cursed, so take your damn meds, jackwit.
Well, we can live with it. We can live with it. We’ve also got more DS9 character spotlights on the way if you keep watching this blog, more Enterprise watch-throughs on the way if you keep listening to us on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast, and more announcements from Ops over on Facebook and Twitter. Computer, erase that entire personal log.
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allstartrekgames · 10 months
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Star Trek: The Game Show
Original Release: 1998
Developer: Sound Source
Publisher: Sound Source
Platform: PC
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A trivia game with some good production values, as it’s hosted by Q and Q. Q is played by John de Lancie with another Q as his sidekick (played by Karen Cornwell, this is her only acting role). All the questions and answers are read out, so there’s plenty of voice acting from the two, including plenty of quips. There’s even an annoying audience member that blurts out the answer if you run out of time. The quiz is split into four sections: Alpha Quadrant, Beta Quadrant, Gamma Quadrant and Delta Quadrant. The show covers TOS, TNG, DS9, Voyager and the movies.
In the Alpha Quadrant, the questions are about the characters in Star Trek. A wheel will spin and land on a division and you’ll be asked a question about someone from it. There’s plenty of variety and some interesting questions. In Beta Quadrant, the game reveals five clues one at a time and you need to type in the answer, either an alien race or a character’s name. The clues are quite well worded and there are some very obscure characters.
Gamma Quadrant focuses on command problems and how situations in the shows were solved. There’s also some interactivity as you can forfeit a question and send it to another player. Getting a question wrong will get you negative points in this round, so you don’t want to just guess.
The final round, Delta Quadrant, has five different styles, one chosen at random in each game, each loosely based on each of the shows (with the fifth representing the films).
While most of the questions are interesting and delve into a lot of deep Trek references, I did find one mistake: a question asks what Scotty used to construct the tank for carrying whales. Plexiglass wasn’t an option – instead the game wanted transparent aluminium (which Scotty traded the formula in order to get the Plexiglass).
Overall, this is a very entertaining trivia game.
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aen-lliash · 1 year
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I feel like I'm ready to talk at greater length about my experiences with STO and how I've reached this point of burnout/alienation with it after all these years.
The biggest reason? It's not the same game I became obsessed with in 2014. That's actually normal and to be expected of most MMOs and people (you should check out this video about the phenomenon!), but let me explain what that means for me here. Quick disclaimer, you are allowed to disagree with me on this -- I'm discussing my subjective point of view, not any objective fact.
Putting this under a readmore because it's long - please click "keep reading" below :)
What captured my heart was STO's storytelling and how it was formatted to be super duper friendly to making OCs. I could make an OC that got inserted into the STO (and overall Trek) universe with pretty minimal effort on my part! It had enough callbacks to canon to be satisfying to me as a Trekkie, but it also had enough new stuff that it was exciting and fresh. My first two years in college were spent imagining up my OC's takes on different mission arcs more often than uh.. college. Long-time friends and followers will recall my obsession with the Dyson Sphere and the Iconian War.
But that's when things started to change, right after the Iconian War. The war itself felt like the great culmination of all the past mission arcs, like we built up to the conflict and it exploded into this terrible intergalactic event. Since then, no new missions have felt the same to me.
STO seemed to evolve further into a super segmented Star Trek theme park after that. We already had Voyager Land (the Delta Quadrant) before the war, and it played a relatively satisfying role in the war; however, it became especially clear with the Gamma Quadrant arc that we were getting a new expansion into Deep Space 9 Land after the short burst of original stuff like the Lukari and the Tzenkethi (I know that the Tzenkethi existed in canon before, but STO took them and ran with them).
It has become increasingly clear in recent years that the priority has shifted towards incorporating as many cameos as possible to run the stories, not the other way around. I LOVE Tilly and Mary Wiseman, don't get me wrong, but the way they finagled a way to get Tilly to still be alive in the STO era (having her literal fascist Mirror Universe counterpart travel into the future) felt ingenuine as hell to me. The way I see it, it's less about the story and more about capitalizing on the #SillyForTilly craze to draw new players in. Same goes for all the other canon characters, but Tilly's has felt the most egregious to me personally.
Yes, it IS cool as hell that STO has these actors willing to come in to record cameo voiceovers. It IS cool as hell that we recently got to fight alongside both Tilly and Janeway at the SAME TIME! But it's important to remember that they're not "our" Tilly and Janeway; they're their Mirror counterparts, and one of them is only there as a result of temporal shenanigans. Temporal shenanigans totally happen in canon Trek and are part of the charm, but in the case of STO, they feel excessive to me.
The way I see it, STO is putting the cameos themselves over the characters over the stories. The cameos drive engagement, which drives the ruthless monetization that has also been strangling the life out of the game. It's Star Ship Online and hey omg look over there it's Tilly and Janeway and Wesley omg wow look aaaaaaaah!!!!1!!! I understand that capitalism is gonna capitalism, the game will do what it feels it must do to survive, but it has lost all charm to me.
I came for the sense that I was being included in the universe (via my OCs, because let's face it, OCs are always self-inserts to varying degrees), now I feel like I'm watching an extremely, painfully slow interactive new Trek series that also feels like an advertisement for merch targeted at a super specific audience.
When it comes to the screenshot thing I got myself so entrenched in... I felt like I was an unpaid advertiser for the "new" game, especially when it came to lockbox and promo box ships that people will spend hundreds of dollars to obtain. 99% of the time my art of those ships came from the tribble test server or sniping screenshots of somebody else's ship, all because of the pressure to continually Create Content™. I felt emboldened to continue Creating Content™ when it became "ship art" and not just "rurinn's silly little pictures," and that's when I became Known On The Internet -- a goal of mine for a long time that turned out to be more thorns than rose petals.
We also have to acknowledge the behavior of the community at large when it comes to that monetization and how creators such as myself get caught in the crossfire. The hate I got over this recreation of a cutscene from A Measure of Morality -- not-so-subtly advertising a 300 USD ship bundle -- was unbelievable, and it still wasn't nearly as bad as the utterly soulless behavior that my partner faces to this day for his videos.
I could go on. For days, probably. Subjects such as the extreme monetization + the rampant unmoderated hate in chat that seeps into the adjacent social media communities come to mind. I felt like my soul had been siphoned away for a time because of it all -- the pain of outgrowing something I loved dearly, watching it change into something unrecognizable, and being berated and harassed by other players and community members drowning in their own toxicity and hate.
I am grateful for STO. I met so many friends because of it. It helped me through some unimaginably difficult times in my life. I met my partner through it and even collaborated with him to create some stunning art. I have been hurting over this for a long time, but I think I'm finally at a stage where I can accept what happened, move on, and heal.
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vexingvorta · 8 months
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I made a Ds9 discord server; it's specifically for fans of the vorta, jem'hadar, or Gamma Quadrant aliens in general, but really anyone who enjoys ds9 and funky little aliens so if that is something you're interested in, this chat might be for you! It's fairly small and laid back, but we're a welcoming bunch happy to welcome new friends with open arms!
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episodicnostalgia · 7 months
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Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, 101 (Jan. 3, 1993) - "Emissary"
The Breakdown
Captain Benjamin Sisko takes a commission as commander of Starbase Deep Space Nine, in order to aid the Bajorans as they rebuild their civilization following their revolution against, and liberation from, the Cardassian empire.  The only problem is the Bajoran gods (aka ‘The prophets’) are apparently totally real, and also a race of nonlinear alien beings who live inside a wormhole which leads to the far-off Gamma Quadrant.
You see, upon making contact with them, Sisko becomes the chosen Emissary to the Prophets, which accidentally makes him an important religious figure to the Bajoran people. Oopsie! But I think it’s safe to say such a minor thing won’t become much of a complication further down the line.
Sisko doesn't have much time to deal with all that mysticism and superstition stuff right now though, since DS9 has suddenly become super important to the federation and the Bajorans due to it's proximity to the wormhole. Surely this an exciting opportunity for new discoveries, and certainly won't lead to an all-out war with a dangerous new enemy.
The Verdict
For all the clunky dialogue and stilted performances (consistent with most ST pilots) you’ve got to admire just how ambitious ‘Emissary’ is. Unlike other Trek premieres, which tend to be more adventure oriented, this one spends a lot more time on world building, politics, and backstory; it’s evident the show runners were building towards something from the start (even if they hadn’t entirely figured out what that ‘something’ was).
The latter half of the episode is where things get weird, and honestly I’m here for it. The prophets/wormhole-aliens are a pretty solid concept, which leads to some mostly-smart writing, that admittedly gets a bit too proud of how clever it’s being. All said, I prefer it when a show unapologetically takes a swing at an original idea, and while there are some misses here, ‘Emissary’ manages to avoid striking out; which is appropriate considering show’s use of baseball both in this and future episodes.
Had this been DS9’s only episode I would perhaps hold it to greater scrutiny, but thankfully that wasn’t the case. Also, knowing where the show ends up, I have to admire how much the series finale owes to this weird little pilot.
3 stars (out of 5)
Additional Observations
Sisko has no chill. At one point he's shown an interactive-vision/memory of his first meet-cute with Jennifer (his dead wife), courtesy of a mystical bajoran orb (which puts him on the path to making contact with the wormhole aliens/prophets). Based on the interaction we're shown he’s lucky Jennifer didn’t drop kick him when they first met. Give her some personal space dude.
CROSSOVER/CAMEO: Sisko clearly needs trauma counselling, but maybe Starfleet should have known better than to send the embodiment of his wife’s killer to brief him. That exchange between Sisko and Picard was TENSE.  That being said, surely Sisko must realize Picard was violated and stripped of his will during his time with the Borg, right?  Perhaps Starfleet should invest in better compassionate education on the subject, considering that some people still hold Jean Luc responsible for Wolf 359 (a big-deal space battle, if you didn’t know) in the most recent season of ‘Picard’.
Gul Dukat is a great villain and overall character.  Some of the actors take a number of episodes (and even seasons) to grow into their characters, but even as a guest-star Marc Alaimo nails his performance right from the beginning.  Not too over the top, but charismatic as hell.
Having the Wormhole Aliens communicate through Sisko’s memories and thoughts is a clever way of recycling the cast and saving on additional prosthetic makeup or VFX; this method also effectively sets them apart from the typical humanoid species, making them more unique, and highlighting their importance to the series.
DS9’s design really is iconic and that opening score slaps.  In fact, this is probably my favourite Star Trek opening theme.
Lol. It’s nice that Picard honours Sisko’s desire to stay on the station, but he REALLY doesn’t seem fond of the commander. This marks the last time these two characters will interact on screen, and I like to imagine that was an intentional choice by both men, even though it was probably just that Patrick Stewart was too busy/expensive for a return appearance.
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etymologyofmind · 9 months
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Quartermaster’s Log
Fleet Quartermaster’s Log, Federation Starbase Deep Space 5
Stardate 5789.27
Quartermaster Orin M’Tembe
QM’s Log, listed stardate. Starbase 5 hasn’t seen this much action since the end of the Dominion War, and it’s been a lot longer since we weren’t on station for some dire circumstance related to an all-out invasion by one enslaving force or another. It’s been a little over 5 years since things started cooling off, and as always, Star Fleet has kept us on our toes.
The past couple of years has seen a set of large-scale refits and rebuilds of a number of damaged ships from the war fleet, incorporating new technologies and techniques against the formidable under-layer of established veteran designs to help make the best of a bad situation: the Dominion left our fleets in bad shape, and the only thing keeping our friends and allies from picking at our bones is the fact that they’re no better off than we are. The Cardassians are still trying to heal the wounds of their disastrous alliances, while the Klingons and Romulans are picking up the pieces, same as we are. For better or for worse, the Founders are back on the other side of the galaxy, thickening up their soup after Federation Medical helped to cure their plague, so the call for wartime ship-building has turned to a tried-and-true method of post-war development: recycling.
DS5 has seen any number of classes and serials in the past few years, but the new class refits have been something else. The unprecedented return of the USS Voyager from the furthest depths of the Delta Quadrant brought a veritable treasure trove of innovation, insight, and scientific development which, in all honesty, Star Fleet is not prepared to capitalize on large scale. Ablative Shielding technology, apparently something that was developed by acts of paradox, still only has a number of example prototypes to extrapolate from, meaning that it’s not ready for fleet-wide deployment. Many of the other adaptations the Intrepid-Class voyager took with it into the unknown came back so profoundly and fundamentally changed that even if things like bio-neural circuitry and variable geometry warp nacelles were commonplace, we wouldn’t be able to directly adapt the cornucopia of Borg-modified, alien enhanced, and innovatively modified systems without completely overhauling entire frameworks.
In true “Beggars Can’t Be Choosers” form, DS5’s recent project has been fed by a lot of variety. The Abraxis Expedition, commissioned by the Bureau of Cartography for potential colonization, is a relatively secret project with relatively open parameters, as it’s certain that none of our competing intelligence agencies are unaware that we’ve been retrofitting a small fleet of exploration and science vessels, freighters, and a few modest escorts. What they may not know is the intended application of this fleet, or its destination: regardless of the outcomes of our conflict in the Gamma Quadrant, the Federation still lacks a stable foothold on the far side of the wormhole, and the logistics of trafficking the equipment, manpower, and resources to establish a foothold in such unreceptive territory. Instead, the plan is to send an agile team of trailblazers into the frontier, and to hopefully put down a flag with enough guile that it won’t be contested before it’s well established.
It’s far too late now for that secret to be a significant risk if the wider intelligence community picks it up, as the Abraxis Expedition has already started setting out for Deep Space 9, where they will take on their final crews and supplies before embarking into the wilderness, and stealth is not exactly a realistic expectation when the gateway to the Gamma Quadrant lights up the sky for a parsec any time a pilgrim arrives at the temple gates, so the best we can hope for is that our preparation, and the rapport we’ve developed on either side of the wormhole are good enough to keep significant resistance to a minimum. That said, it’s unlikely that anyone will be happy with our ambition to expand, and it’s equally unlikely that any of the neighbors haven’t had the same ideas, on their own timelines. Hard to guess whether we’ll run into Romulans or the Jem’Hadar first.
I suppose it’s all academic to me: my investment in the expedition is about to end as far as my responsibility as Quartermaster is concerned, with the last two ships still in our dry docks making final preparation to depart. Once they’re gone, these ships, each of which has my thumb print literally stamped on their hulls, etched into the casings of their warp cores for luck, will only take me with them in spirit, and I will be relegated to imagining their ultimate fates until I read the eventual reports of their success… or their demise. As such, I’ve taken to the habit of meeting with their captains, and whatever crew they depart my shipyards with, to get to know the people who will make history at the helm of my work before they’re written about in the books.
Today, I have the distinct honour of meeting with one of our more… unconventional captains, Durok of house Maleth, who has come to command the Nova II-Class explorer ‘Vellouwyn’ through a series of interesting transfers through the Officer Exchange Program. Durok once captained the IKS Cho’toch until he and his squadron were destroyed in the Gamma Quadrant on foray into Jem’Hadar space, and taken captive. Before even that, though, he served as a liaison officer on the USS Summerville back in the 2360s, as, of all things, a science officer. The fact that he has taken a commission with the Federation rather than returning to the Empire since the war initially confounded and enraged any number of people out there, but he quickly disappeared into the system, and has only recently surfaced to take command of my personal favourite vessel of the Abraxis fleet.
I have not had the time or the pleasure of meeting with Durok before now for various reasons, but the things I’ve heard said of him have left me questioning everything I know about Klingon culture and my all-too-human expectations of their warrior-centric race. That being said, I’ve seen his file, and Klingons don’t get command without being formidable in combat, versed in ship-board and ground-based tactics, and quick with a seditious blade in a command structure that demands blood and honour in exchange for all glory, so it’s hard to know what to expect.
Nevertheless, I will find out soon enough, as not only do I have a meeting with Captain Durok, but I have the sad duty of overseeing the transfer of a member of my own crew to his expedition, someone who has become not only one of my most trusted resources in the time they’ve served on Deep Space 5, but one of my own close personal friends. It will be sad to see them go, but this project, and this ship, are the reason they came to DS5 in the first place, and much of its infrastructure was developed with their unique needs and capabilities in mind. Hopefully, all of the efforts will be enough to make a difference on this next great adventure.
M'Tembe out.
Quartermaster Orin M’Tembe looked up from the Padd in his hand as the doors to the lounge he’d booked his meeting in slid open with a gentle whirr. His round face and jowly cheeks sat in a neutral, half lidded state, which was normal for him when he wasn’t chatting with someone that he deemed comfortable. The person he was here to meet was an enigma by any standard, and certainly not the norm for either a Federation or a Klingon officer, and M’Tembe didn’t know what to expect.
The Deck 16 Anterior Lounge was one of a number of off-duty spaces on Deep Space 5 committed to the care of station personnel, visiting crews, and the occasional dignitary who didn’t have anywhere specific to be. It offered, through a broad set of wall-high viewports, an overlook of the construction platforms, free-floating warehouse docks, and temporary transit berths which facilitated the core station’s primary functions. Unlike the major space docks modelled after Starbase 1, DS5 didn’t have the mass, volume, or infrastructure to serve as a central node independent of its distributed framework when operating at high volume, so it was more of a space-based metropolis, sprawling out in districts and segments focused on industry, leisure, and residential needs.
At this point in the shift cycle, 16-A had its lights dimmed, with the subtle underlighting of the tables providing visible paths to servers and guests who continued to use its services when they drew near enough to the equipment to trigger proximity fades. Sit still long enough, and the tables would dim, unless the controls were set to maintain lighting manually, giving the space a quiet, private, subdued ambiance. Around the edges of the viewports, subtle white light frosted etching which was functionally unnecessary, save to give the faint of heart comfort in knowing that the transparent aluminium used to produce the glass was actually there, and that the void of space wasn’t held in check by mere implication, or even forcefields. Since this ran along the full floor and ceiling of the lounge, it centralized the focus on the room on the windows, highlighting the view for the occupants even further.
Sitting at a table in the middle of the room was the man he was here to meet, inscrutable in the dim light. From his vantage by the door, the captain had his back to M’Tembe, gazing out the window. The Quartermaster could see his bold hair falling out in waves down to his shoulders, where they were collected in a low-bound tail that was tied with a grey cloth, tidy and well kept. Coming around the aisle wide allowed him to take the man in profile, exposing his features as if he were a waxing moon, bit by bit revealing something new with each step. He sat with one leg crossed over his knee, high legged boots in the Klingon fashion glittering with buckles, while the rest of his uniform, though worn casually, was certainly more Star Fleet; he wore the grey-shouldered open jacket with his arms withdrawn from the sleeves, hands steepled in front of them where they rested on his raised knee. The tunic beneath was the red of a command officer, but it seemed darker, richer in the half light of the lounge, and reflected the man’s dark skin in a very complimentary way. His nose was prominent, hooked somewhat, and, to M’Tembe’s surprise, devoid of the ridges that most Klingons displayed. He had read the man’s jacket, seen his holofile, but hadn’t really believed it without seeing the man for himself. Though his features were unmistakably Klingon, from the pointed teeth to the bold hair to the prominent brow and beakish nose, the man had almost none of the folds or sweeping ridges that distinctly marked one as a member of the Klingon race. His eyebrows peaked in the Klingon way, and his forehead swept high to his hairline, but it was as smooth as M’Tembe’s own as he furrowed it in study. Not wanting to be rude, he shook himself out of his study, and stepped further into the man’s view.
Captain Durok of house Maleth shifted his eyes in acknowledgement to the Quartermaster, gesturing wordlessly at the waiting seat beside him before returning his gaze to the window. Prominently featured in the middle of its frame, and likely why the man had selected this vantage for their meeting, was the ship he’d be taking command of officially after the Quartermaster handed him the command code matrices. A spider-like refit frame clamped over the ship’s graceful body, giving access to the automated tools, repair drones, and engineering crews to make any last-minute adjustments to its exterior before it was released back into service. As M’Tembe sat, leveraging himself into the chair while trying to balance his armload of materials, he took a moment to admire the handiwork again, reading off the registration from memory, as it wasn’t visible in profile: NCC-74038-A, Vellouwyn. While still technically a Nova class vessel by its framework, the refit to the vessel had been so extensive to merit its recognition as a Nova II class ship, distinct from its not unimpressive origins. M’Tembe was proud of it, and was happy to make that known.
“She is a fine vessel,” he said by way of introduction, his deep voice smoothed by a light pitched undertone which had been described by some as ‘gentle’ and by others as ‘breezy’. He had not been born on Earth, but the colony his family had emigrated to in his grandfather’s time had roots in northern Africa, and their voice carried through to the modern age.  “It will be a shame to let her go. We could use more like her here at home.”
Durok unfolded his legs, somehow managing to be graceful with his boot buckles, and adjusted his posture before crossing the other foot across his knee. This turned him to better face the Quartermaster, changing his focus from the ship outside. “Indeed,�� he said, his own voice filled with iron and rust, nasal but strong, “if that is the case, perhaps we should leave her where she is, and you can give me something less promising, like a Galaxy Class ship?” The words were said with a clear tone of humour, and it took some of the tension out of M’Tembe’s posture as he let himself smile back to the Klingon’s grinning face. He liked, even appreciated the implication that the Vellouwyn wasn’t a vessel to be taken lightly. “I am Durok, recently Commander of the Tellarite science vessel Adequate-C. And you are Orin M’Tembe, Quartermaster of Deep Space 5. I have read your profile, as I expect you’ve read mine, so we can dispose with the typical ‘human resources’ plumbing of pretending we know less than we do.”
M'Tembe raised his eyebrows at this, sitting back in his chair. He had worked with a number of Tellarites in his career, and they all had the same affectation of abrasive confrontation which each Star Fleet cadet was indoctrinated to learn from their first year, along with other inter-cultural protocols for Vulcans, Andorians, Benzites, Bolians and so on. While there was an air of that to the captain’s declaration, it was subtly different than a true Tellarite style, simultaneously less aggressive and replete with its own disdain. He nodded, his respect going up for the man in front of him: he was an engineer by trade, not a bureaucrat, and though he’d taken on the responsibilities of so called ‘human resources’ (or personnel management) to perform his duties, he didn’t like the peculiar form of cat and mouse diplomacy it usually entailed. He preferred to be plain-spoken, and clearly, so did Durok.
A page arrived with a copper tapered copper mug for Durok, and a Padd to take the Quartermaster’s order—a Bolian Ginger Beer, which was non-alcoholic—and he took a moment to let the civilian gain some distance before deigning to respond. “Very well, captain, we can dispense with some of the pleasantries. I am interested in why you’re here, obviously: we don’t see many Klingon commissioned officers in Star Fleet, let alone with your sort of experience working through the capital navies. You are a very decorated man, taking an obscure, dangerous, and potentially inglorious assignment to scour the frontier for colony prospects. I have been asked to hand over one of our most… interesting, at least, science vessels to a man who wears his Klingon heritage on his fa—”
M'Tembe stopped just short of finishing the thought, but not fast enough to keep the words from slipping out. Despite the obvious Klingon traits, his dress, his stature, even his more subdued traits, the lack of a Klingon crown stood out on the man like a sore thumb. He could have been, without much imagination, a human being playing Klingon dress-up. Now that he was face to face with the man, it was uncanny how little Klingon physiology there was to speak for the man’s face at all. The Quartermaster braced for an absolutely appropriate dressing down for his callousness, but as he watched, Durok’s face shifted from a momentary slack jawed surprise into a slowly growing grin of appreciation and pleasure.
“You know, Quartermaster, I am no stranger to the barbs about my appearance, but it is a rare pleasure for me to see a man of your position try to eat their entire boot without taking it off.” Durok brought his drink to his lips, taking a deep quaff of the contents, which had been cold enough to frost the copper mug, then set it down on the table next to M’Tembe’s pile of Padds. “I saw you scouting me when you came in, and wondered how you’d broach the topic. I honestly did not expect you’d make me laugh, though!” he said, delivering a low, friendly chuckle.
The Quartermaster, still unsure as to whether he was being toyed with, had the good grace to look embarrassed, and ran a hand through his tight cropped, curly hair. “You have my sincere apologies, Captain. I have never been very good at the plumbing, as you called it. Still, I have never seen a Klingon like you: do you have Human ancestors? It isn’t in your record.”
Durok’s look changed from polite amusement, to polite surprise, and M’Tembe found he had a very expressive face. On a Klingon, the exaggerated expressions may have been lost in the alien physiology, but Durok projected himself like a stage actor, which the Quartermaster was beginning to suspect was deliberate. “You are setting a new record, Human! You may be the fastest person outside of the empire to cut so quickly to the heart of that matter. Faster, perhaps, even than they!” again, M’Tembe could feel his cheeks flushing, though he knew that would be hard to see on his dark complexion.
“I would not say that I specifically have Human ancestry,” he went on, visibly unabashed by the topic, “but Humanity has had an impact on the Klingon bloodline for many centuries now. It is not well known among either of our races, but neither is it now classified: once upon a time, your world spawned and spurned a race of augmented supervillains who brought their diseased genetics out into the galaxy, spreading it around like a contagion. The Federation has imposed a ban on the genetic experimentation which produced their kind, which you know, but what you may NOT know is that before being culled, they managed to leave lasting marks on a number of other species, including the Trill, the Jinkari, a small genus of Caitians, and even the Suliban, although that last is hardly surprising.” The man chuckled, and M’Tembe realized that somewhere during his exposition, one of the man’s eyes had drifted closed, displaying a broad discoloured scar which ran through his eyelid, disappearing into the bushy eyebrow above.
He gestured at his face with black nailed fingers, smiling that crooked Klingon smile. “I endure a condition called ‘Klingon Recessive Metagenic Expression’, not entirely unlike an immunological disorder. At one point in my lineage, my father, mother, and my grandfather were deeply afflicted by a metagenic retrovirus carried by these Human augments, which saw their rather aggressive genetic template applied against a defensive Klingon genome. For a time, there were many in the Empire who looked little different than you and your kind, and there are many alive today who have recovered from the condition with improvements to therapeutic techniques over the decades.” Running his thumb up along the center of his brow, Durok closed his other eye, relaxing back into the lounger with a sigh. “I, on the other hand, was offered a choice at a young age. I could take the therapy and risk a conflict between the recessive metagenic genes and my own Klingon ones, which had entangled in a way that could leave me significantly mentally impaired, or I could take the potential stigma of being smooth browed in a culture of understandably hostile brethren, marked as effectively diseased, and keep my mind as my own.”
M'Tembe was aghast. He, like any human in Star Fleet, knew stories of the Augments which had rocked their world: it was formative to the modern human condition, they were the foundation of cautionary tale around which Humanity had rebuilt itself. He knew as well as anyone the boogieman stories and terrifying tales of despotic monsters who had left the world in a ruin of escalating conflict which culminated in a nuclear holocaust, nearly sending the species back beyond the dark ages. He had not known that their kind had leaked into the stars and poisoned other gene pools with their selfish needs. He made mental notes to do some of his own research on the matter, and wondered if his search history wasn’t about to get him flagged in a security database. “I… don’t know how to respond to that.” He said honestly. “I don’t think an apology would be appropriate, but I am inspired with curiosity by your story.”
The page returned with M’Tembe’s drink, and Durok sat forward, clutching his own cup in an outstretched hand. “If you are curious, then I have done well! Pity is not a Klingon virtue, you know. And while curiosity is often explored at the end of a blade, I personally favour it as a proper expression of my condition. There are many Klingons who have the same wit as I, the same curiosity, the same intellectual interests, who push it down under the grunts and barks of a culture which swung back against existential threats by doubling down into a warrior ideology. I have never needed that excuse, so I’ve pursued my curiosities and allowed my detractors to assume that my course was a matter of my disfiguration.” Again, that cunning, predatory grin. “Much to their disadvantage.”
M'Tembe found himself smiling again, and reached out with his own cup. The two met with a clatter that spilled drink across their rims, and he found himself thinking of the trivia of the gesture, and its roots in Human culture: the mingling of drinks was meant to show a trust between those sharing, that neither would poison the other’s cups. It was a very gentrified practice now, with many ceremonies observing the cautious clatter of delicate, fluted crystal glasses in a pale imitation of the more primitive roots. Somehow that memory laid across Durok’s story made the Quartermaster laugh, thinking of the incongruousness of the two concepts pushed together. “You are an interesting man, Captain.” He said, taking a long draw of his spicy drink.
“Please, call me Durok.” Admonished the Klingon. “And I shall call you M’Tembe. It is your family custom to declare House before Self, if I am not mistaken.”
Again, M’Tembe was impressed. “You’ve done your research, Durok.” He said, trying the name out. It seemed comfortable enough not to have to fall back to rank, which surprised him somewhat: already he was feeling closer to this strange man. “Few enough of my own people know that before they meet me, as it’s uncommon among Human cultures. Do you make a habit of remembering such details?”
Durok nodded, settling back and pulling his jacket arms out from behind him, where they had bunched up. “I am something of a cultural anthropologist. Though I graduated from the Officer’s Academy at Ogat with honours, I did not feel it sated my interests. I’ve made study of a number of cultures, starting as a task master for Nausicaan vassals and delving into the Orion, the Ferengi, and even the Betazoid cultures around the middle sectors. I once fought a Gorn Raider for ownership of a destroyed Kzinti outpost which had salvageable Dilithium, and learned much from the way he killed half of my crew.” He shrugged, making an abstract dismissive gesture with his free hand. “But ultimately, what it comes down to, is that I feel there’s something out here, between the many races of our galaxy, which I have yet to truly know at a primal level. There’s something that flows between all of our disparate cultures, and even the animals we share our many worlds with, which I can’t quite come to grips with: something I can feel in my bones which has meaning to motivate all of us regardless of our origins. And if I am going to know this prey which I have committed my life to hunting, I am going to have to seek out its dens.”
M'Tembe didn’t quite understand what Durok was getting that, and the neutral expression returned to his face. The Klingon opened his unscarred eye, let his hand drift to his forehead, and reassessed what he meant to say. “There’s wisdom among the stars, Quartermaster, and it’s shared between those who travel them, seeking to know themselves. I need to know you if I am going to know how we share that wisdom between us.”
The neutral look fell away, and the Quartermaster grinned widely, white teeth shining between dark lips. “To boldly go. That I can understand.” M’Tembe leaned forward, clearing off a space on the table for a small silver briefcase he’d brought with him, that had been set on the floor when he first sat down. The top of the briefcase had a digital readout display, and a small array of emitter lenses aligned in a complex layout. He laid his fingers gently on the case, careful not to leave smudges on the glass, not that it would matter with the self-smoothing oleophobic nanofluid surface. “With that in mind, with your permission, I would like to introduce you to one of your new crewmen, who isn’t on the rosters you may have reviewed. Unfortunately, their… species… still tends to be labelled as equipment.”
Durok had the grace to look curious, staring at the device down the length of his nose as someone with an old pair of bifocals might. He gestured consent without looking at M’Tembe, who thumbed a switch to power the device on. Immediately, a Star Fleet insignia appeared hovering above the case, rotating in place as it filled with colour and form. Readouts projected from the emitter listed a mess of functions and modules being loaded into memory as it did so, until the process completed, and the Star Fleet delta insignia flared once, dissolving into a pile of golden sand on the display, before fading from view. M'Tembe appreciated what few might in an age where flat-screen readouts were more common than simple holo interfaces, and data was so frequently instantaneously accessible with isolinear storage: a loading sequence with some aesthetic style. He grinned conspiratorially, then loomed over the device, face underlit by the blue table lights. Politely, assertively, he said: “M’Tembe to the Doctor, can I please invite you to join me in your ready room?”
Over his combadge, a moderately irritable response. “Quartermaster Orin, you tasked me with having this ship ready for release by 1900 hours. Unless this is important…”
Durok raised his eyebrow at the insubordination, and sat back from the table a little. M’Tembe’s smile got wider, if anything. “Delegate, Doctor. Simmons and Gerault can handle the calibration of the EPS relays, they’re all to spec anyway. There’s someone here I’d like you to meet.”
A sigh through the coms channel, and then a brief silence, signified by the pause clicks of a suspended audio relay, perhaps seven seconds. Then: “On my way, sir.” In the next moments, the case on the table hummed at an audibly different power frequency, and orange lights signalled on along the outside seam of the case. The lenses under the plate glass, which had been microfocusing automatically to display their readouts, began emitting visible streams of light, and a moment later, a humanoid figure coalesced on top of the case, approximately a foot and a half tall. He looked like a grown human male, bald head limned with a halo of dark hair that complimented his severe eyes. He appeared in station uniform, a Star Fleet variant that indicated the man was non-commissioned crew, and did not belong to any star ships, but with the rich orange gold of an engineering specialist. The image came complete with a com badge, tricorder, and his own hand-held case of what appeared to be engineering tools. Durok made a sound of fascination.
“Ohhhh it is a Hologram! Are you transmitting from somewhere on one of the maintenance platforms?” Durok waved a hand into the datastream, thinking that disrupting the visual array would blur the image, and was surprised when the little man on the pad stumbled.
“Excuse me, sir!” it declared, swatting at the Klingon’s hand. “I am an engineer, not some toy to be pawed at by some clumsy child! M’Tembe, did you really bring me here for this?” he turned to face the Quartermaster, who had hidden his grin behind folded hands. The figure visibly glowered. “You know I hate being… reduced like this.”
M’Tembe relented, making a sincerely apologetic face, but not losing his affectionate smile. “Doctor, I’m sorry. You know the portable emitters we have aren’t quite as advanced as the Senior Physician’s.” Senior Physician; this was an informal title, but one Durok had become familiar with in his research. He glanced between M’Tembe and the man on the pad, and things began to click into place.
“You are one of them! The Emergency Medical Holograms! I’ve heard of your kind but have not had the pleasure to meet with any.” On the pad, the Doctor wheeled around, about to say something angry, but Durok cut him off with a Klingon salute, fist clenched to his chest. “It is an honour to meet one so new to sentience, Doctor. Please forgive my indignant introduction.” He made a gesture of apology, next, again surprising M’Tembe with how expressive he could be, bowing his head politely. “I am Durok, son of Romgar, of house Maleth, and soon to be captain of the Vellouwyn. If I am given to understand M’Tembe’s implication, you are meant to join me as a member of my crew?”
The Doctor checked his impulse to pursue his frustration, giving his new commanding officer a serious case of side-eye. It was impressive from someone whose stature currently barely met the length of the organic’s arm. At length he spoke. “Yes, that’s right. I’m here now. There. On the Vellouwyn. The mobile emitter is processing a rather expensive data uplink to route my program through subspace for this little chat which,” he turned to look at M’Tembe, “I might remind you could have happened aboard-ship at a much lesser expense.” The Quartermaster continued to grin, affectionately, and nodded his head in acknowledgement. The hologram paced around his pad before coming back to face the captain. “What I didn’t expect was for you to look so Klingon. Do you usually go around appropriating other cultures for fun? Aren’t you worried some proper Klingon will come knock a crease into your skull?”
Durok openly gawked. M’Tembe gasped in shock at the sheer audacity of the Doctor’s demand. For a long moment, there was absolute stillness in the lounge, and the Quartermaster was certain that the few people in the shadowed fringes had overheard the question in all its inconsiderate glory. That self-conscious sense of horror M’Tembe had endured at his own gaffe returned tenfold at the absolute gall of it all.
And then, Durok laughed. Not a quiet laugh, or a reserved laugh, or a subtle laugh, but an uncontrolled, unrestrained guffaw of unmasked hilarity which sent the man into a fit that left him gasping for breath. M’Tembe didn’t know what to do, and couldn’t find it in himself to join in, and just stared boggle eyed as the new captain of the Vellouwyn brought tears of mirth to his own eyes, slapping his knee in emphasis. It lasted for over a minute, with a second outburst that dragged the Quarter unwilling into a nervous fit of giggles of his own, while the Doctor stood on his podium, arms crossed, eyes rolling, waiting for things to settle down. "First you, now him! Ahaha, M'Tembe, I did not expect anyone to take your record so quickly! Truly, humans are a humbling species. You now hold the record, Doctor, cherish your trophy as a glorious kill."
When things finally settled down, Durok took a few minutes to explain an abridged version of the situation to the Doctor before turning a bemused expression to the situation. “I can appreciate that, being hollow, you may not fear reprisal for your stunning display of manners, Doctor, but what I do not understand is how you can be unfamiliar with my condition? I have known many Federation doctors who had at least passing awareness of it, but you seem exempt from this awareness. That would be a grave oversight in your medical database.”
The hologram glanced at M’Tembe, who’s heart was still racing from the experience, yet managed to shrug indifferently. Taking it as consent, the Doctor explained: “Well at the moment, Captain, I don’t have a medical database. At the moment there are adequate personnel aboard the Vellouwyn to cope with whatever injuries or stresses might be endured while polishing off a retrofit, and there is a very well-equipped set of infirmaries aboard Deep Space 5 and in the primary habitat convoy.” The little man took a moment to brush at the orange epaulets of his engineering uniform, as if they could be dusty. “As you can see, however, I am currently serving at the behest of engineering, and my mutable matrix has been oriented towards that aspect of service skills. Thanks in part to Doctor Zimmerman’s less than famous handling of my line’s commission, I actually have the most significant experience set of my core matrix dedicated to engineering sciences, focused on maintenance and repair.” The little man managed to look somewhat humbled as he admitted this. “I spent nearly 7 years refining the art of cleaning plasma relays before being commissioned to install holo emitters in a mining complex on an asteroid with a dangerous abundance of radiogenic isotopes, so that my fellow Mark 1s could mine it out. If not for the Senior Physician, my fellows and I would have been decommissioned as obsolete at the end of that assignment. Instead, I was given the opportunity to work here and explore my boundaries.”
M'Tembe patted his chest with his fist, a sign of respect for the Doctor, which Durok noticed. “If you are an engineer, why are you called Doctor?” he asked, genuinely curious.
The hologram scoffed, rolling his eyes again. “Why are YOU called Durok? I was created as a Medical Hologram, and though my matrix has evolved somewhat differently, I am still a doctor. I dare say I could challenge any number of institutional reviews and pass their tests, but my means of learning isn’t exactly considered fair. Somewhat like your Augments, I’d hazard to guess,” he said, pointedly, “and as likely to be tolerated in positions of power or authority. I may be joining your crew, but it will be as a specialist consultant, with severe restrictions to my access to ship’s systems and without any formal rank or privilege.”
Durok nodded, thinking. The Doctor continued after a moment of silence. “That being said, M’Tembe and his crew have been instrumental in helping me grow. There are many among the staff at Deep Space 5 I have to thank for both my freedom, and my versatility. The Vellouwyn is equipped with a mutable matrix converter, which allows me to decompile temporary subroutines and recompile them with other functions. I CAN serve as a medical hologram, although not at the level of skill of the Senior Physician, or even some of the more talented organic crew. I also have command subroutines on par with, perhaps, a lieutenant, available, and I can draw from the Holodeck program buffer for hand-to-hand combat tactical subroutines in case of emergency. You might say I am a jack of all trades.”
M'Tembe interjected, quietly. “Unfortunately for our friend here, even a Nova II class vessel lacks the infrastructure to support full coverage holographic projection. There are some new experimental vessels which provide this, but the Vellouwyn only has emitters in key locations, and even then, some of them lack the power for a full-scale representation.” When Durok looked to him for clarification, he added: “The bridge, Engineering, the Mess Hall, and of course Sickbay and the Holocourts all have full emitters in key areas. Otherwise, there are a number of pedestals throughout the ship at which the Doctor can project a stationary presence. He is otherwise constrained by a portable unit such as this to move anywhere else,” M’Tembe gestured at the table, “which has a finite range and power supply. Oh, and there’s the pram, of course.” He said with a teasing twinkle.
Durok did not understand the reference, and the Doctor, glaring at his friend, did not appear to be forthcoming with details, so the captain let it go as something he’d hear about eventually. Finding his drink warmed to the dregs, he gestured to the page for another, and M’Tembe raised a hand to decline his own refill. “Captain, you’ll need to excuse me, but I have a number of duties to attend to before your ship is ready to depart. I’ll leave the portable module with you if you and the Doctor would like to get to know one another better—” and before the Doctor could protest— “as he has been relieved for the remainder of his shift, because he has vacation hours which must be disposed of before leaving my service.” Standing, the Quartermaster held out a secured Padd to the Klingon, who accepted it after M’Tembe slid his thumb over the locking mechanism, and transferred its ownership to the new captain of the Vellouwyn. “Take care of my ship, Durok, and my friends. I’ll share a drink with you when you finish the job.”
On his way to the transporter alcove around the corner from the lounge, M’Tembe found himself thinking over the interviews he’d conducted over the past several weeks, meeting captains and commanding officers, sharing meals and drinks with crews who would be leaving the known bounds of space and the lands of their ancestors to push back the edges of the darkness which enveloped the known galaxy, and not for the first time wondered what it would be like to put down his clipboards and set out to the final frontier. Recognizing how lonely it got out here in a busy shipyard at the intersection of Federation and Cardassian space, he, not for the las t time, talked himself out of taking that step. Let fortune favour the bold: he’d be here when all was said and done to help put them back together.
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maybeamultiverse · 7 months
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What do people think of a fic where Ba’el and Pel team up as a quirky duo and go on adventures across the Gamma Quadrant? Like 2 Broke Girls but with outcasted aliens in the Star Trek universe?
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wingedpastafreakbat · 11 months
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Things About Star Trek Voyager That I Wish Had Been Fleshed Out
There was an assumption that, going into this series, Voyager would have been the most technologically advanced ship in the Gamma Quadrant. They even had an entire little Kazon-centric arc that sort of solidified that fact, which made them a target for the Kazon; but as soon as Seska (and thusly the Kazon) is defeated, that entire plot point kinda just fizzles out? It started to fizzle out before that, too, and we had a whole series of off- and on-screen Kazon attacks that would often push Voyager to her limits. I wish they would have either kept that or gotten rid of it. Had they kept it, that could have made Voyager a target for bounty hunters, scavengers, thieves, pirates, and other species seeking power. It would have added higher stakes to have them be a massive, gleaming target until they got closer to the Alpha Quadrant.
The Maquis should have been a lot more of a struggle. Three, dispersed episodes was not enough to establish them as part of the crew. This is actually a relatively common critique of the show; the writers clearly didn't think beyond the first episode about integrating a small band of untrained, voluntary rebels into a Starfleet crew. I liked that they had an episode that focused on their lack of respect for doing things the Starfleet way, but there should have been more of it. The Maquis should have been a bigger thorn in Janeways side, even having to be thrown in the brig for occasional disruptions and possibly violence (since Chakotay seemed to have implied that the Maquis Way sometimes involved brute force).
There was not nearly enough focus on the homesickness and the resulting effects it would have had on the crew; particularly ensigns, like Harry Kim, who's first mission landed them 70,000LYs away from their friends, families, support systems, and safety nets. Seasoned officers, like Tuvok, would've had an easier time, of course, because they'd have been used to going long long stretches of time away from their homes. We should have seen a lot more mental breakdowns, maybe even some scrambling to find someone who could act as a ship counselor for the time being.
Speaking of the crew, they started with approximately 152 people (the ship only required 100 to be operational) because their mission was a seemingly routine search and rescue/arrest (no, we will not be discussing the fact that the Defiant was *right there* and ready to do that job). The ship proceeded to spend 7 seasons being battered and beaten in so many ways, it was beyond miraculous that their numbers never dipped below 100 by season 3 (yes, even with the added Equinox crew, their numbers should not have been above 100, realistically). And Janeway's initial refusal to allow her crew to fraternize, knowing damn well that their journey was going to take 70 years, makes it even more frustrating. There was only one child on board until the four abandoned drones were found. One. Again, absolutely miraculous that a majority of them survived. They should have added more alien members to their crew.
Okay that's all I can think of rn goodbye
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