#ezri and jadzia: 'NO ONE SUGGESTED THAT!!'

[kiranerysismyhero]

what if how we could have both ezri and jadzia in s7 went like this:

jadzia is mortally injured, and the destiny is trying to get her/dax back to trill while she's still on life support. ben comes along bc jadzia is not actually dead yet and he has good reason to distrust the symbiosis commission.

things take a turn and it's looking even more urgent for the symbiont. ben doesn't want to let anyone remove dax from jadzia (again) while she's still alive but is overruled by starfleet brass at the behest of the commission. the ship's surgeon joins dax to ezri, who in this version is still just as reluctant but now at least the 15 minutes of improvised lecture substituting for years of preparation comes from ben. like how would he approach that conversation?

ezri wakes up and meets ben this time as dax... but in the next bed over jadzia is still hanging on. an hour, then two pass and the symbiont's vitals are a lot more stable now in ezri while jadzia is not doing well but is still fighting for her life. the destiny's doctor is kind of lost because they tried to contact trill about how they should care for jadzia but all the symbiosis commission wanted to talk about was dax and how soon could they get their hands on ezri

and ben is like 'okay i know you just met me but also you've known me for lifetimes now... hear me out...' and ezri's like 'yup solid plan let's do it but also what if we took even more risk bc dax's got a bit of starfleet medical now too' and ben's gotta be 'oh i had more appeals ready that you didn't even wait to hear, okay'

basically action sequence now– the destiny had slowed down to respond to an emergency signal and pick up some escape pods bc y'know dominion war, and ben and ezri work together to sneak jadzia into a biobed and off the ship in a runabout. and we see some of ezri accessing previous hosts as they hide the runabout in the debris field and get some distance before the destiny realizes they're missing

and just when it seems like the destiny is going to find them as ezri's breaking down a little bit about 'i'm a counselor and i'm still in training and out of all these lifetimes i'm still the one with the most medical knowledge in here??' as she tries to keep this woman that she remembers being stable-ish in stasis... the defiant decloaks! grabs them! re-cloaks! outta there!

julian checks that ezri is really really sure and then does what the symbiosis commission was never going to consider as an option: rejoining dax to jadzia now that the symbiont has been rehabbed/bolstered by ezri

jadzia is able to recover, if slowly. ezri is physically relatively unharmed by the ordeal, but a whole lot of psychological upheaval just happened and this woman is sat here making jokes about remembering being ezri for a hot minute and while ezri no longer remembers being jadzia, she does remember remembering being jadzia... it makes her head hurt. and jadzia's just like 'nah it was still less traumatic than last time when i had to be awake for more of it' and ezri just desperately wishes she could remember what the hell she means by last time

the symbiosis commission is piiiissed. they reallly want to excommunicate dax, jadzia, and/or ezri for all this but ben's like 'i'm adding the viability of respite care for symbionts to the list of info that you don't want me to share with your whole society' aand the symbiosis commission concedes under the condition that ezri is now GOING to be the next dax, WHENEVER that may be, there has been eNOUGH hot potato with this worm already, you two are going to STAY CLOSE so you don't end up pulling anyone else into dax's chaos being another intermediary when the time comes

so now jadzia and ezri are bureaucratically handcuffed to each other and both alive and have fascinating things to talk about :)

#ezri dax #jadzia dax #ds9 #ds9 spoilers #star trek spoilers #deep space nine #ds9 s7 #worf: 'you are not going to move into our quarters and watch us fuck' #ezri and jadzia: 'NO ONE SUGGESTED THAT!!' #maybe she's given her own quarters but avoids spending any time in them bc suddenly it's lonely being alone in her head #maybe she still tries dating julian and it's not good bc she's using him for company and he's #well he's always spending more time with garak or miles anyway #when voyager returns to the alpha quadrant ezri and seven 👀👀

[mirekat]

One weirdly specific hill that I, a genderqueer Trill enthusiast, will die on is reading Ezri as a (binary) woman. I mean, in principle I am behind reading all Trek and especially all Trill characters as queer and trans, and I get the way Ezri’s dialogue resonates with a lot of nonbinary people.* But I also think it resonates with kind of gender positionality I see a lot in life but not so much in lit: someone who’s aware of other gender options** and who’s grappled with other gender options but who decides that, for now, the place they started is the place they belong. Maybe not always, maybe not forever, but for now, it works.

And this is bound up with my other Ezri-related Weirdly Specific Fatal Hill, which is that Ezri is actually more secure about her identity within the host/symbiont system than the average joined Trill. When she tells Sisko to drop the “old man” language and complains about pronouns, I read that as her drawing a line between herself and Dax’s past: she’s determined to build her relationship with Sisko on her own terms, not as an extension of Curzon and Jadzia. And for the most part, she does! Season 7 might not always let her carve her own path but Sisko, at least--the person who knows Dax best--seems to quickly recognize and respect the importance of Ezri to Ezri Dax. And we see glimmers of that independence in other relationships, too. Calling out Worf’s illusions about the Empire, dusting off Joran for a job and then popping him neatly back into her subconscious, taking time off to deal with Tigan family drama--all of that suggests an iron core of no-bullshit that anchors her sweet, anxious demeanor. And if she struggles a lot with her past lives onscreen, well, that just points to how determined she is to retain that core self. Despite the accident that created her, she doesn’t fundamentally question her right to be a Dax. And I reckon that’s why she and Dax, despite their mutual surprise at finding themselves together, both decided to keep their partnership going.

Anyway, she’s also incredibly lesbian. I will die on that hill, too.

                                                    *  *  *

*Plus, like, do what you want interpretation is generative etc.

**because they are literally shouting in her head all the time

#this is the argument i was having with the stranger at the trans picnic #like yes ezri got short shrift in many ways but so did jadzia and we DO see enough of her to get a sense of a strong compelling character #who was in some ways surer of herself than jadzia #Trill Feelings #trans feelings #ezri dax #ds9

[trillscienceofficer]

Hi :) do you know some Star Trek books you could recommend? I've heard some of them aren't great so I was a little hesitant to go through all of them

I DO have Trek book recs! I imagine you're asking for novels &co. and not, for example, titles like “The Fifty-Year Mission” or “The DS9 Companion” which are non-fiction books concerned with the production of the shows (but in any case the two I've cited are my favorites and I think especially the first one is a clear recommendation for any Trekkie). Also caveat that... I've not read that many novels either because, like you, I'm kinda skittish about wading through them all, especially after I've encountered a few really terrible ones.

Anyway here goes, divided in in 'Novels', 'Things that aren't novels but I recommend anyway' and a few titles on my TBR list that sound good and I feel confident suggesting even if I haven't gotten around to reading them yet.

Novels

The Lives of Dax (short story anthology, 1999) This is unquestionably still my favorite fiction tie-in for the Trek universe. Not all stories are good (Emony's and Curzon's are especially bad) but the ones I like are truly outstanding to me and inform my understanding of the Dax hosts to this day. I love the fact that it's framed as Ezri remembering various events of her previous lives. It's an easy read, given the format, and if you're willing to be patient with some stories the other ones will totally deliver, imho!

Catalyst of Sorrows by Margaret Wander Bonanno (2004) This book is part of 'The Lost Era' series, which tried to fill in the gap between the TOS movies and TNG. This one in particular is wild; main cast includes Uhura, Crusher, Sisko and Tuvok (the latter two going on a road trip!) and it's also a fairly deep dive into Romulan society written by someone who was obviously a DS9 fan. This was recommended to me many years ago by @senyorspock and if you like Senator Cretak from S7 of DS9 this is definitely a book you want to read.

Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Volume Two (anthology, 2005) I have mixed feelings about some of the directions taken by the two novels in this book but I think they're ultimately both enjoyable and contain some fun and poignant elements (the scene where Ezri visits Jadzia's grave on Trill is permanently engraved in my brain). If you like Trills and the Sisko family I definitely recommend this book.

Hollow Men by Una McCormack (2005) This novel is a fun follow-up to "In The Pale Moonlight" and while it is a little too concerned with sympathizing with poor little meow meow Garak for my taste (I realize here my opinion differs from most other DS9 fans) I still liked for its explorations of Benjamin Sisko's state of mind at the height of the Dominion War. Also I ugly laughed at every scene Sisko and Garak have together, I do enjoy when they butt heads but still need each other... it is a well-written book!

String Theory - Cohesion by Jeffrey Lang (2005) Unlike the others this is strictly a Voyager novel, set in the Delta Quadrant. This book gets... a little bogged down by its own cleverness sometimes but the author was clearly concerned with science and world-building making sense, which I can't argue against. But you're not here for this: the best part of the book is B'Elanna and Seven getting stranded on the surface of a planet and being forced to form a 'collective of two' in order to survive. It goes as well as you can expect (yes they absolutely still manage to fight even when telepathically linked), and it is amazing. I don't always agree with their characterization here but this novel is, to me, the episode with a B'Elanna&Seven B-plot that we never got on the show. (This book is also the first of a trilogy but I found the second one unreadable and I hear the third completely ditches the themes established by the first two, so.)

Spock's World by Diane Duane (1988) This novel is a classic for a reason. I wholeheartedly recommend it even if a lot of the Vulcan world-building & characterization in it isn't strictly canon anymore. I love the way it alternates between the present and the past of Vulcan, and the Enterprise. The history of the planet is told through episodes but they are so effective in explaining why Vulcans are the way they are. If you've never read a Trek novel before and you love TOS, definitely start here.

I have a soft spot for the novelizations of Star Trek II, III, and IV by Vonda McIntyre, which contain some amazing backstory for Saavik and how she came to be Spock's protégée, as well as generally offering interesting characterization for side characters that the movies had no time to explore. Not all of it is still canon, given that they were written in the early eighties, but it's not a deal-breaker to me.

Things that aren't novels but I recommend anyway

Star Trek: Waypoint (Issues 1-6, which you can find in a single volume), Waypoint special and Waypoint special (2019). These are the BEST Trek comics, period. It's all short stories about the cast of the shows up to Enterprise, and the quality is amazingly high, consistently so. I'm not a big comic person and yet these get to me every time.

Hidden Universe Travel Guide: Vulcan (2016) and The Klingon Empire (2017), both by Dayton Ward. Okay I just... love the concept of these lol. They're travel guides! For Vulcan and the Klingon Empire! Neither takes itself too seriously (there are chapters such as 'So You Want To Purge All Of Your Emotions') but it's a nice riff on the Trek universe, and they're beautifully illustrated. Characters from all shows will occasionally chime in suggest their favorite places to visit, too, which was a pleasant surprise. For someone like me who has trouble coming up with world-building stuff on my own, both books have been giving me plenty of inspiration (of course I don't always agree with the way things are framed but hey, I didn't expect them to be perfect!)

In my TBR list

Dark Passions Vol 1 and 2 by Susan Wright. Wright wrote one of my fave stories from “The Lives of Dax” and these two novels sound absolutely wild, I can't wait to read about all the mirror versions of the Voyager characters

Time's Enemy by L. A. Graf. This collective of writers wrote arguably the best story in “The Lives of Dax” and they seem to share many of my sensibilities when it comes to writing these characters so I've been meaning to read this DS9 novel for a while!

The Rihannsu novels by Diane Duane, which are THE Romulan novels par excellence, I believe, but I still haven't gotten around to reading them somehow

Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Volume Three simply because I just found a paperback of it recently, and it sounds interesting

#trek novels #askbox #thank you for the question i always enjoy talking about trek novels #i have read many more than these but the others i really didn't like so #anyway check the replies for other suggestions!

[oldschoolfic-ds9]

Strangers in a Strange Land

by netgirl, 2006

Jadzia considered pushing her away, but if there's one thing that she had learned in over three hundred years as both a man and a woman it was that there was something about an attractive woman on their knees that inspired agreeability.

Words: 832, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Rating: PG

Warnings: none listed

Characters: Jadzia Dax, mirror!Ezri Tigan

Relationships: Jadzia Dax/mirror!Ezri Tigan

Reader suggested tags (what are these?): mirrorverse

links (link broken? report it and try the archive.org alternative):

squidge

archive.org - option 1

#year2006 #2korless #RatedPG #no known warnings #jdax #mezri #mezrimisc #jdaxmisc #jdaxmezri #additional tags: mirror universe

[basingstokemercury]

I feel like both the TNG and DS9 writers (as well as a few other shows I can think of) don't seem to get that you have to develop romantic relationships the same way as platonic ones.

If I want two characters to have a platonic friendship, I need to consider several things:

How are they similar, and how are they different?

What do they see in each other's company? What causes friction between them, and how do they deal with it?

How long have they been friends? How did that friendship start?

What does their friendship add to the story? How does it create opportunities for plotlines and character development?

How close are they, really? Is this a lifelong bond, or do they hang out because both are around and find each other likable?

How does the friendship affect the other relationships in their lives? Do others agree they have a good relationship, or do they openly or secretly dislike it?

Do they care for each other equally, or is one person putting in a lot of work and not being reciprocated?

And so on, and so forth. Not all of these questions will necessarily be needed in every story, and there are undoubtedly some I haven't thought of, but character dynamics are something that takes a lot of thought to build well, especially as they can often make or break a fandom's longevity. Compare how often you see fans enthusiastically discussing characters and relationships in a finished story to how often it's solely the plot that gets praised, unless the writer goes to special effort to invite theorising and leave hooks for analysis.

If the relationship you're writing is romantic, then you still need all that groundwork, but with the added component of romantic and likely physical attraction. Relationships based solely on "we both think the other person is hot" aren't usually the kind people write enthusiastic fanfiction for. (At least, not the kind I read - I remain blissfully ignorant of AO3's "explicit" tag.)

Why do Worf and Troi start dating? I don't know. It's suddenly revealed that they're into each other in "Parallels", and uh then they get into a relationship. (I haven't seen the TNG films yet, so I don't know why that relationship ends.)

Why do Odo and Kira get together? He has an unrequited crush on her for years, and then it turns out in "His Way" that actually she does feel the same way. But what exactly do they see in each other? Not really clear.

What's going on with Ezri and Julian? In this case, at least, both do try to articulate what they see in each other, but we don't see very much onscreen to suggest that they're each other's type beyond retconning Jadzia's feelings for him (Jadzia isn't Ezri, I thought that was the point of what little arc she got time for?) and having him still pining for Jadzia (which also feels like a retcon of "Distant Voices" but I digress).

In a lot of cases, it just feels like lazy writing to pair off characters for... Drama? Interest? The fans? I don't know.

#star trek the next generation #deep space nine #space station squad #maybe this is just my ace perspective not seeing that x characters clearly have chemistry #but it really does feel that way #now that I'm writing DS9 fanfiction for a non-canon rarepair I really have to think hard about why I think these characters work together #and then I find myself trying to apply that to the canon relationships #and with many of them not really succeeding

[nostalgia-tblr]

@fancy-a-dance-brigadier tagged me on that "share the titles of your current unpublished WIPs" meme thingy, and for once I actually have Several unfinished things, ooh. I assumed that when there's no title yet I should just use the filename it's saved as. (Also I excluded the one or two things that I might end up posting as Anonymous for shame reasons. So there.) Sorted By Fandom:

DS9

"dax31" - this is the one where Dax(es) has for many years been working for Section 31 and so Sloan makes Ezri/Julian happen for Shady Espionage Reasons (and/or his own lust, because I can't *not* shove some Sloanshir in there, u kno?). It feels like I've been stuck on this one forever but I don't think it can be more than a few weeks actually. It's basically just a long conversation and some angst. Also it claims that Sloan/Curzon happened at least once, which is a concept I find both alarming and plausible.

"julzia lol" - That was when I started writing Julian/Jadzia in my head for a laugh/spite and actually I thought of an outline that seemed like it'd work but I may not finish this ever as I am not that into it. And it's unrequited so they don't even kiss in it anyway so what is the point of that eh? It's also in some ways more of a Julian/Dax-worm thing and maybe if I focus it onto that I'll be more inclined to finish it. Hrm.

"garashir spy angst shite" - May not finish this one because I feel like I don't ship Garashir enough to get away with writing breakup fic about them. It's basically my text post about "Sloan broke up garashir" but with more words and a lovebite.

"lauren2" - Not a sequel to The Only Julian/Lauren On AO3 but a different one in which it's apparently okay to chemically/medically make someone less horny even if they're not really into that idea but it's their way out of not-prison so they'll go along with it anyway. So it's kind of fucked up, yeah. Featuring "Foot Stuff", some of which happens in Quark's because well it's not like anyone noticed so it's fine probably.

The Marvel Loki Show That I Am Normal About

"casinopointless" - I called it pointless because it turns into porn halfway through (probably) but I am doing my best to fit in some Actual Non-Sex Content about chaos and hedonism and selfcest. I was working on this one earlier today and I like some of the dialogue so hopefully I will actually finish it. And it's a slightly different Loki(s) characterisation than I'd usually go for but I don't think anyone would notice that really. I was considering Anon'ing it if I can't think of enough Stuff to put around the porn, but I suppose I can't now. Oops.

"he lets her" - This is just one of those stories in which people have sex and angst about it. But this one is Radically Different because most of the angst happens during the sex. See, I have range!!

"lokiidk" - TBH this one is really just a disorganised set of scenes and ideas that *might* all fit into one story but some of them might get discarded or end up in something else. And it commits that fanfic sin of a third character who is in the story purely to talk to/about that story's main ship but then Mobius *is* deployed largely as a therapist in the canon, albeit as one with ulterior motives whose treatments are sometimes actually torture under the terms of the Geneva Conventions. (Which don't apply outside of normal space-time so he's probably fine there legally.)

"mirrormirror" - This one is only about half a dozen lines BUT it does have a title! "Mirror, Mirror" and GUESS WHAT it's all about the wonders and implications of selfcest.

Crossover!! :D

"missysylvie omg" - Dr Who/Loki crossover in which (as the title suggests) Missy and Sylvie meet up and instantly fail the Bechdel by complaining about male versions of themselves. (Actually, how *does* one apply the test to characters Of Variable Gender?) I don't know if they will kiss in it, but there is A Vibe there because Missy has already joked about knifeplay on a first date and has made the (as yet unanswered) offer of "time and space and a bit of sexual tension." Alas I am not sure if I will manage to finish it because I keep thinking "oh no this isn't really A Story it's just an excuse for two of my faves to have a chat" but that's an issue I struggle with often because part of me is pretentious about fanfiction and while that part is annoying and should not be listened to it is nonetheless quite loud.

So anyway that's what's in the C:\Users\[Name]\Documents\fik folder at the moment. Plus a large number of opaquely-named files that frankly could be pretty much anything and most of them I believe to contain about three lines of something I immediately gave up on and forgot the context for. Because I can't just *delete files* my god no how could I how dare you I can't even.

I am gonna tag anyone who wants to do this meme because I want to know what everyone has lying around in the shadows of whatever device they write on. (And if that's a phone then I am a bit scared of you because HOW those keyboards are TINY and the screens are so sore??)

#meme #wip title tag #fic related

[ltcmdrdax]

VERSE INFORMATION:      season seven.

VERSION ONE.

she was,  in fact,  in the shrine praying when duk*t showed up    and he did attack her.  jadzia was seriously injured and julian didn’t think she’d make it.  she made him promise to save dax first,  and he complied.  something strange happened then,  though:  for reasons no one’s been able to explain,  with the removal of dax,  jadzia stabilized.  most of her memories were gone and the only thing she was sure of as the healing process began was that she’d never felt so alone.

VERSION TWO.

guess who wasn’t at the shrine?  jadzia!  she’s fine and by default,  as suggested by odette,  ezri still joins the crew of ds9 as a counselor bc they fuckin need it but just without being joined to the dax symbiont.  jadzia proceeds to kick benjamin’s ass into gear and convinces him to come back to ds9 after helping him find the orb of the emissary.  they have a job to do,  there’s still a war on,  and she’ll be damned if she lets him just sit on earth feeling sorry for himself.

#∞ ‖ zanza nonsense / blog update ⦈ #∞ ‖ a: a ghost of herself / season seven ⦈ #∞ ‖ a: the fight of our lives / season seven; ii ⦈ #i'll get a verses page up tomorrow but i'm trying to get as much done on the actual blog as i can while i'm inspired

[scientific-tricorder]

It's Pride Month, so here's a list of canonically and semi-canonically queer characters in Star Trek. (In order of characters' first appearance; exact quotations/references under the read more)

Special shout-out to any and all joined Trill for being trans.

Canon

Data (The Next Generation): Aromantic and asexual ("In Theory", "Phantasms")

Jadzia Dax (Deep Space Nine): Pansexual ("Rejoined")

Mirror Kira Nerys (Deep Space Nine): Bi/pansexual ("Crossover")

Mirror Ezri Dax (Deep Space Nine): Bi/pansexual ("The Emperor's New Cloak")

Seven of Nine (Voyager and Picard): Bisexual ("Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2")

Hikaru Sulu (Kelvinverse films): Gay (Star Trek: Beyond)

Michael Burnham (Discovery): A-spec ("Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad")

Paul Stamets (Discovery): Gay ("The Red Angel")

Hugh Culber (Discovery): Gay ("The Red Angel")

Mirror Philippa Georgiou (Discovery): Bi/pansexual ("Will You Take My Hand?")

Jett Reno (Discovery): Gay ("Through the Valley of Shadows")

Raffaela "Raffi" Musiker (Picard): Bi/pansexual ("Et in Arcadia Ego, Part 2")

Beckett Mariner (Lower Decks): Bi/pansexual ("We'll Always Have Tom Paris")

Andarithio "Andy" Billups (Lower Decks): Asexual ("Where Pleasant Fountains Lie")

Adira Tal (Discovery): Trans, non-binary ("The Sanctuary")

Gray Tal (Discovery): Trans ("Anomaly")

Zero (Prodigy): Non-binary ("Lost and Found")

Christine Chapel (Strange New Worlds): Bi/pansexual ("Spock Amok")

Semi-canon:

Q (Various): Bi/pansexual (Article)

Beverly Crusher (The Next Generation): Bi/pansexual (Article)

Julian Bashir (Deep Space Nine): Bi/pansexual, a-spec (Video)

Elim Garak (Deep Space Nine): Omnisexual (Bi/pansexual) (Article)

Phlox (Enterprise): Bi/pansexual (Article)

Keyla Detmer (Discovery): Queer (Article)

Exact quotes and references:

Data: "With regard to romantic relationships, there is no real me." (and "In Theory" in general); "I have no sexual desire."

Q: "There’s no question in my mind that when I play [Q], I love Picard." - John de Lancie

Beverly Crusher: "Bev would have slept with male or female" - Gates McFadden

Julian Bashir: "I don't think Bashir had a very overt sexuality…he certainly had a stunted sense of sexuality…I don't think that he put the…platonic side [and] the physical side together. So he could fall in love across…the board...because he's falling in love with both sexes." - Alexander Siddig (edited for brevity and clarity)

Jadzia Dax: The entire episode of "Rejoined"; "Terry Farrell says Jadzia Dax was pansexual." (Article)

Elim Garak: "It’s about being omnisexual. That basically his sexuality is something that can happen with anyone." - Andrew Robinson

Mirror Kira Nerys: Shows interest in men and women

Mirror Ezri Dax: Kisses/in relationship with Mirror Kira

Seven of Nine: Hand holding with Raffi, their relationship throughout second season; "Oh, Seven is canonically bi, don't you worry." - Jeri Ryan (Twitter)

Phlox: "I was trying very hard to suggest he had a polyamorous relationship with the boys as well as the girls. I do tell people I was the first gay character on Star Trek, whether you were aware of it or not." - John Billingsley

Hikaru Sulu: Shown with husband

Michael Burnham: "You've never been in love." (This is probably the vaguest one, but the discussion is about romantic love, and if a fully grown adult like Burnham has explicitly never experienced romantic love before, I think it's safe to say they're somewhere on the aro/ace-spectrum)

Keyla Detmer: "[S]he maybe is starting to accept herself in her own queerness, whatever that means." - Emily Coutts

Paul Stamets: "[I]n my universe, and pretty much any universe I can possibly imagine, I'm gay."

Hugh Culber: "I'm gay, and so is [Culber]."

Mirror Philippa Georgiou: Shown with male and female sexual partners

Jett Reno: "My wife is Soyousian."

Raffaela "Raffi" Musiker: Hand holding with Seven, their relationship throughout second season

Beckett Mariner: "Oh, I'm always dating bad boys. Bad girls, bad gender-nonbinary babes, ruthless alien masterminds, bad Bynars..."

Andarithio "Andy" Billups: "[I]f you're planning on tricking me into intercourse, think again. The only lady I love is two decks tall, and pumped full of dilithium;" "You need to accept the fact that I'll be a virgin for the rest of my life."

Adira Tal: "Um, 'they,' not–not 'she.' I've never felt like a 'she' or–or a 'her,' so I would prefer 'they' or 'them' from now on."

Gray Tal: "Transitioning, it's like, I had bigger things to think about. But, if I get another chance to remake my body, then why not get rid of all the things that aren't totally me."

Zero: "Not a robot, nor a he, or she."

Christine Chapel: "He and I are on the same page. Casual, no attachments, this is just for fun, zero commitments." "[Y]ou said the same thing about that gal on Argelius II."

#Star Trek #Queer Star Trek #Trekking across the universe #Not bothering to tag characters since there's so many #Star Trek creation #Tell me if I missed a character #If you're here to argue that XYZ doesn't count - I kindly suggest you remove yourself to the nearest airlock #Tricorder log

[kaelio]

I like how DS9 ended for garashir except I hate that they had to stick bashir with ezri at the end. that kinda ruins it for me, i think i would've preferred if they ended it with neither in relationships than suddenly make up with no build up that he loves her "passionately" and even have her suggest early season that his nice guy shit toward jadzia would've eventually worked out (ugh). like this implication that dax is his true love with all that. even if we can break them up in fic lol

I think if Jadzia had lived and her arc with Julian was Julian learning to respect her as a person and then actually falling in love with her for real, from a place of knowing, I'd lowkey like it (though not as much as garashir). And I think there'd be a good argument that would actually be a healthy, satisfying romantic arc. But as soon as it's Ezri instead, that arc is broken and cannot be satisfied. And they're definitely going to break up, it's built on the same foundations as her romance with Worf honestly. It's such a regression haha, and once Jadzia drops her "you should have kept bothering me!" line it is irreparably broken, just so, so broken. I'm Ezri/Quark, I think he's the only one who "got" it--and that Quark was one of the few people who actually respected Jadzia the entire while as well.

One thing we don't see enough of, though, as a novelty and a fun exploration of the space, is garashir where it's implied maybe this wasn't good for them but they did it anyway. I'd like to read a few where it's clear their romance is legit but that it absolutely destroyed them as people.

[kiranxrys]

Alone Together Episode 1 Transcript - Alexander Siddig & Andrew Robinson

I hadn’t seen a transcript for this episode going around on Tumblr yet and I thought I would quickly make one to share with anyone who would prefer to read or wants to read along/revisit the first episode in text form (and the YouTube subtitles are mostly useless, annoyingly). Please let me know if you think I’ve made an error anywhere and I’ll amend it!

watch: one | two | three | four

read: two | three | four

ANNOUNCER (ON-SCREEN): ‘Alone Together’ - a DS9 companion, Episode 1 - ‘These Days’. It has been about 25 years since the Dominion War ended. The Federation isn’t quite the same. Starfleet is much more consistently militarized these days. Earth may be paradise, but humanity is less ideologically empathetic. Since the recent Romulan attempts to extinguish synthetic life by infiltrating Starfleet Command, benevolence is taking a backseat to security these days. 

Elim Garak has been Castellan of the Cardassian Assembly since the new order was established following the Dominion War. Garak, of course, also has direct control over a newly resurrected Obsidian Order, though not by title. 

Julian Bashir is still a doctor on Deep Space 9 but is also coordinating the activities of Section 31. What we’ve learned is that upon sharing a consciousness with Luther Sloane using stolen Romulan technology, his genetically enhanced brain committed much of what he learned to his eidetic memory. That information had to be contained but could be put to good use. He was given little choice in the matter. Maintaining his cover as a Chief Medical Officer in the Bajoran sector met his needs, and he saw no reason to change.

[fade to black]

JULIAN BASHIR (VOICE ONLY): Mission log, stardate 737114. I’m approaching Cardassia Prime in response to a rather enigmatic request for medical aid from Castellan Garak, the leader of the Cardassian government. Though it’s hardly surprising that Garak might be withholding information, it seems that a reunion of sorts will be forthcoming. I’ve left the Infirmary in the capable hands of Doctor Jabara while I’m off the station. I must admit, I’m not entirely sure what to expect. 

JULIAN (ON-SCREEN): Bashir to Central Command, I’ve just entered orbit of Cardassia Prime, requesting approval to transport to Cardassia.

ELIM GARAK (VOICE ONLY): Stand by, Doctor. Don’t be in such a hurry.

JULIAN: Garak. I didn’t expect you to be at the Central Command, it’s good to hear your voice.

GARAK: My dear doctor, are we starting the lies already?

JULIAN (LAUGHING): It’s true, Garak. It’s good to hear your voice! That’s not a- Look, more importantly, if you’ll grant approval I can beam to your current location.

GARAK: Doctor, I’m not at Central Command. I’ve merely intercepted your subspace communications link. Unfortunately, Doctor, the Federation will not be setting foot on Cardassia today, and, to be quite honest, you don’t want to be here.

JULIAN: Garak, your message suggested some urgency in my arrival. Quite frankly, what the hell am I doing here if I can’t beam down?

GARAK: Would you uh- [laughs] believe pure, unadulterated nostalgia?

JULIAN: Would you?

GARAK (ON-SCREEN): [laughs] I missed you too Doctor. So, how is life on the station?

JULIAN: Well, Bajoran fashions just aren’t the same since you left.

GARAK: I’m sure.

JULIAN: But much of life has returned to what it once was, as much as it ever could, I suppose. Now-

GARAK: I was sorry to hear about Dax.

JULIAN: Thank you. I um… I miss Ezri every day. Ten years. I, well, that is- we, Dax and I, we tried to make it work. I- I was so happy Dax made it back to Trill on time. Cairn and I, we were very different people. He’s a botanist – can you imagine? Dax as a botanist. I suppose it’s why Keiko didn’t seem to mind my business as much. She and Dax had so much to talk about but, well, once the Symbiosis Commission discovered our continued relationship, well, we just uh- we couldn’t-

GARAK: Doctor, there’s no need to explain.

JULIAN: No. Dax always encouraged me to talk about my feelings, though there’s not much else to say, really. I had never really considered being in love with another man, but it was Dax. Ezri, Jadzia, even Cairn, it was Dax, is Dax. But we- we just couldn’t- I didn’t-

GARAK: It is difficult to find a good counselor to sort out our deepest sorrows these days.

JULIAN: I suppose it is.

GARAK: You’re an honourable man, Doctor. You loved Dax, you could do nothing less than your heart demanded. I know the pain of love all too well, especially a love that has everything working against it.

JULIAN: Ziyal.

GARAK: Ziyal, yes. Yes, even exiles have hearts, Doctor. Even [laughs] Elim Garak. When it comes right down to it, he has a heart as well. In fact, my heart is partially the reason why I’m here.

JULIAN: So, this is a house call? Damn it, Garak, why didn’t you tell me on subspace? What- what are your symptoms? Why don’t you want me to beam down?

GARAK: Well, so many questions, one hardly knows which to answer first.

JULIAN: Your symptoms, Garak. What is wrong with your heart?

GARAK: Well, it’s not just my heart, Doctor. Actually the most concerning symptom seems to be a degenerative condition that causes the ill to be especially susceptible to suggestion. Luckily my infection is relatively new, and rather unexplained as my exposure to the public tends to be limited to state functions and the like, you know, the life of a politician.

JULIAN: The ill? Garak, what are you saying?

GARAK: A virus, Doctor. Cardassia appears to be facing a- a minor health issue. We’re trying to contain the infection to one region, but we may have moved… far too late.

JULIAN: A minor health issue? You are a champion of understatement! ‘The ill’ suggests that this isn’t just about you but your ability to hide the facts seems to have been tainted over the years.

GARAK: Doctor?

JULIAN: Since your speech at the Lakarian City memorial, the ridges on your neck have grown paler and your breathing rate has increased.

GARAK: You liked my speech?

JULIAN: Damn it, Garak, you contacted me! How is this the first time that I’m hearing about this? Why is the planet not being quarantined? Your message said ‘medical aid’ – I assumed that I was just coming here as a preliminary consultation having something to do with one of your colonies. Now it sounds like an outbreak that needs to be contained.

GARAK: Doctor, quarantine means announcing the problem to the galaxy. This is an internal matter. You obviously don’t appreciate the severity of this virus, but you needn’t worry – no one is allowed to leave Cardassia, no one is currently being permitted to enter the atmosphere.

JULIAN: I cannot imagine you can contain the population without a reason. Just how bad is it?

GARAK: Oh, I’ve given them a reason, Doctor, but you shouldn’t worry about that. There are more important things requiring your focus right now.

JULIAN: Of course. How much- how many are infected?

GARAK: At last count, the virus had been contained to three continents. Nearly 68% of the population in those regions has been infected.

JULIAN: And you call it a ‘minor issue’ Garak?! That’s a pandemic!

GARAK: Doctor, when I say that the ill have developed a degenerative condition, I speak specifically of their thought processes. It is true that we have determined that it is a virus – a biological contaminant of sorts – but the Central Command is hardly a healthcare organization and while the degeneration is affecting the cardiopulmonary system as well, all of the symptoms seem to be driven by misfiring neurons, and therein lies the problem.

JULIAN: A virus that affects the brain is no small problem. The fact that early infections are showing in terms of dysfunction relatively mild systems doesn’t mean people won’t start to die.

GARAK: Yes, Doctor. And I haven’t.

JULIAN: My God, Garak. You’re infected.

GARAK: Why do you think I contacted you? I want the best.

JULIAN: And hoping that my genetic enhancements will allow me to diagnose your symptoms without scanning equipment?  

GARAK: I really have missed your mistrust, Doctor. The physicians here have the tendency to avoid the necessary dispassion for harder truths. You, however, have a refreshingly forthright bedside manner.

JULIAN: Wow, a compliment. You must be neurologically compromised. Well of course, of course I’ll do everything that I can. Do you know anything more about the virus? How is it passed on? How does it proliferate in the body? Have your doctors attempted any therapies that show any promise?

GARAK: Well, it seems to take several days to propagate in the carrier. During that time, sufferers develop a rather serious cough... [inaudible] …the dispatcher reaches the brain so our assumption it that it is spread through the air. Most hospitals have been closed to all but the infected to try and control the outbreak. As a result, our doctors are learning from their patients as they are treating them. As it stands now, they can only treat symptoms. Medical staff is reporting to external bodies to ensure that anyone studying the infection isn’t also battling a neurological disease. Progress is limited and all too slow.

JULIAN: Garak, I’m not sure how I can help you if I can’t examine you or access your data.

GARAK: Doctor, I’m afraid I can’t allow you to put yourself at risk. After all, I’m counting on you to save us all. And I believe that an outside perspective may be exactly what we need.

JULIAN: So no pressure?

GARAK: You’re a bright man, Doctor – put that genetically-enhanced brain of yours to work.

JULIAN: Well, I can’t examine you from orbit. My shuttlecraft sensors may be able to me that you’re alive, they can isolate you for transport, but they can hardly determine more than the most modest of life signs, and while I can see outward symptoms, Garak, I can’t for the life of me figure out how to see through your skull. I suppose I could transport a tricorder down there for a preliminary scan.

GARAK: I’m afraid I can’t allow that, Doctor.

JULIAN: Oh, of course you can’t. Can you send me your most recent medical scans?

GARAK: Unfortunately, no.

JULIAN: And why not?

GARAK: All of my genuine medical records are routinely deleted and replaced with falsified data. All data rods in which those records once existed have been destroyed, all computers in which the data rods were placed have been vaporized. My dear doctor, I’m the leader of the Cardassian people! Especially now, I can’t afford to broadcast my weaknesses to all, to anyone who feels they could exploit them.

JULIAN: The more things change, the more they remain the same.

GARAK: Meaning?

JULIAN: A presumption of godliness, most certainly a great paranoia. You haven’t managed to find yourself a staff that you trust to protect your life. To be quite honest, I’m surprised your staff doesn’t have implants that allow you to control them.

GARAK: Oh, Doctor, your assumptions hurt me deeply! Of course they do. If news of this infection gets out, and I can’t be clearer than this, Cardassia will be devastated. And we won’t be the only world that will fall.

JULIAN: Garak, you seem to believe that I can cure this virus from orbit, without any information.

GARAK: Well, Doctor, this virus doesn’t only infect the average citizen. Everyone is at risk. Everyone – the government, the military. Imagine if only a few of their people were infected. They find it difficult to concentrate. They’re finding themselves susceptible to suggestion. And what if intelligence agents of foreign governments found their way to Cardassia during this crisis?

JULIAN: It could destroy the Cardassia you’ve been rebuilding for over two decades.

GARAK: Yes.

JULIAN: But quarantine would keep foreign nationals off-planet and keep the rest of us safe from infection, assuming it can even infect off-worlders.

GARAK: Again, Doctor, it would announce the problem before we have a solution.

JULIAN: But it could help produce the solution you so desperately need!

GARAK: The risk is too great, Doctor.

JULIAN: Garak! Lives are at stake!

GARAK: Hundreds, perhaps thousands, to save billions. Doctor – will. You. Help. Me?

JULIAN: First and foremost, I’m a doctor, Garak. And I’m your friend.

GARAK: Yes. One more thing we should keep to ourselves.

JULIAN: You know Garak… you are being more paranoid than usual. You remind me of the exiled tailor I met so many years ago.

GARAK: Ah, but as you said yourself Doctor, the more things change-

JULIAN: The more they stay the same. But Garak, so much has changed. You’re the leader of your people.

GARAK: Julian… let’s drop the pretensions, shall we?

JULIAN: Whatever do you mean?

GARAK: You know that I have rebuilt the Obsidian Order, and the reason that I know that you know is because I know that you are working for Starfleet Intelligence. Your posting at Deep Space 9 is merely your cover. Why would a religious sanctuary like Deep Space 9 need a doctor of your capability, with such a limited Starfleet presence? I must admit, you have done an excellent job of obscuring your intelligence role.

JULIAN: Dear, dear Garak. Have you been keeping tabs on me? I suppose of all people you would be the only person I might be able to trust with such information. Assuming any of your conclusions are true. But Starfleet still has a presence and Deep Space 9 is still a major way station for commerce and diplomacy in the Bajoran sector.

GARAK: Of course you can trust me with sensitive information Julian-

JULIAN: [chuckles]

GARAK: -at least until there’s a reason you can’t. Oh, but let’s hope it never comes to that. I do like you; I did from the very beginning. You may be my only true friend. Since Mila’s passing, our all too infrequent exchanges have been my only respite from a world without trust. The political world on Cardassia deplores a vacuum and the old ways are clung to, even after the war. It took me years to bring Cardassians around to another way of thinking. The arts are celebrated, the people are fed. Life is no longer a struggle, but… paranoia is rampant once more.

JULIAN: Then I suppose you’ve been the ideal leader.

GARAK: Well, I do appear to have the appropriate skill set and experience, yes.

JULIAN: You could always go back to being a plain, simple tailor.

GARAK (LAUGHING): You would be surprised by how many of my old vocations I still dabble in. I’ve even taken up taxidermy! Yes, it’s true! But stuffing a tribble isn’t as challenging as perhaps a six-legged [uncertain] marsupial, but it passes the time. And so many wonderful things fit inside an animal that need only trill to appear alive.

JULIAN: [laughs]

GARAK: But as you said Julian, you are my friend, and one of the things I learned from working in the Obsidian Order under Enabran Tain, was that friends are a liability. Enemies are easy. Friends… friends are the challenge. When I was his protégé I had a job to do, relationships were tools to achieve my objectives. I don’t have time for friends, I don’t have room for emotional attachments.

JULIAN: And then you were exiled.

GARAK: And then… I was exiled.

JULIAN: I had no idea.

GARAK: About what?

JULIAN: Am I your only friend?

GARAK: Well… the only one living.

JULIAN: You said that your cardiopulmonary system seems to be demonstrating symptoms consistent with this neurolytic virus.

GARAK: Mm-hmm.

JULIAN: I need to at least access the database being used by the off-site researchers working on a cure.

GARAK: I’m sorry to disappoint you, Doctor – I’ve never been an ideal patient, as you well know. But while I trust you, I cannot risk any access that Starfleet Intelligence might have built into your shuttle.

JULIAN: Garak, you’re tying my hands. Do you have access to a medical scanner? Can you scan yourself?

GARAK: I’ve been a tailor, a gardener, a spy, who’s to say I’m not a doctor as well?

JULIAN: I suppose stranger things have happened.

GARAK: Oh, a shapeshifter saved the galaxy by going for a swim, a Starfleet captain turned out to be a god, a Cardassian legate turned out to be the devil, you were married to a woman three centuries your senior – stranger things, my dear doctor, happen all the time.

JULIAN: You may have a point. Although to be fair, Dax is three hundred years older, not Ezri. Ezri was several years younger than me.

GARAK: Semantics, Doctor.

JULIAN: Ah, here we are.

GARAK: I’m sorry?

JULIAN: I’ve created an encrypted backdoor to your central database.

GARAK: Ooh, of course you did. Yes, but it won’t help you. Our researches are working in a closed system, it is impossible to access their research through the central network.

JULIAN: Damn it, Garak, I’m trying to help you! I encrypted the access, there was no danger to you or you people! I used a fractal regression to develop access points at either end.

GARAK: And I sincerely appreciate your efforts, Julian. That’s why you’re here. And of course that is why I am convinced no one else will be able to save us.

JULIAN: I cannot do this without any information about the pathogen. And even the smartest person in the galaxy would be hard-pressed to develop a cure to an unknown virus quickly enough to prevent its spread or knowledge of its existence to the outside world.

GARAK: I have faith in you, Doctor. And to put your mind at ease, you should know that very few citizens on Cardassia are even aware that they are infected. And I’ve committed the Order to a substantial misinformation campaign to keep it that way.

JULIAN: How long do you expect that to last? The longer the infected believe that they’re free to live their normal lives or even to travel to and from health centers for treatment for whatever malady they believe they have, the faster the real virus will spread.

GARAK: Well, it seems its symptoms vary in their intensity. The cough can be persistent or periodic. And when that initial symptom passes, the neurological symptoms cause sufferers to present a variety of ailments. It is only those doctors who discovered the virus and were subsequently visited by some associates that are aware of the larger problem. And they are the very physicians currently researching the virus on my behalf.

JULIAN: If you are able to contact them then there’s no reason that I can’t access their data!

GARAK: Doctor, we’ve been through this.

JULIAN: Garak, we’ve been through a lot of things!

GARAK (LAUGHING): Yes.

JULIAN: You didn’t call me here to explain Cardassia’s post-war isolationist bureaucracy!

GARAK: [laughs]

JULIAN: I came because a friend in need asked me!

GARAK: You didn’t know why I called you, Doctor. So please, don’t offer me your selfless pretense.

JULIAN: Pretense?! You think after all this time your lives and deceptions would keep me from helping you? I can tell when you’re lying Garak, and you know when I’m telling the truth. I promise you that no one will ever know about your role in the cover-up of the virus, at least not from me.

GARAK: I… I want you to set course for the southern polar region of Cardassia Prime. The magnetic interference will make it more difficult for prying eyes to access your subspace signal. You’ll find that my alleged paranoia has a purpose. 

JULIAN: Computer, set course 118 mark 72.

COMPUTER: [chimes] Acknowledged.

JULIAN: Engage at one-quarter impulse.

COMPUTER: Course laid in. [chimes]

JULIAN: My signal was encrypted from the very beginning. I assume the same is true of the signal you used to isolate and redirect my subspace carrier wave. Isn’t it a little bit late to begin worrying now, Garak?

GARAK: Our signal may be secure between one another, but any system can be breached given enough time and expertise. And what I have to tell you…

JULIAN: Just tell me, Garak. I’m over the polar region as you asked.

GARAK: Yes, so you are, so you are. Now, good, wait- wait… Good. Now that we’re comfortably alone, let me ask you this: do viruses normally pop up undetected in a population with little to no prior warning? And how many unknown pathogens exist in a planetary ecosystem with our level of technological development?

JULIAN: Well, to be quite honest, pathogens can unexpectedly adapt or cross species barriers. Centuries ago on Earth, industrial pollution led to a climate change which in turn caused previously isolated microorganisms to be released into the biosphere.

GARAK: Yes, you truly have an answer for everything.

JULIAN: It comes in handy. But I suspect you’re going somewhere with this so please, continue.

GARAK: Our research has found some… peculiarities in the viral RNA, and admittedly I don’t understand all of the specifics, but, to put it bluntly, the virus has been engineered. I’m sending you two images of the viral RNA we’ve discovered. The images are all that I can risk sending you now. If you can find the source, you may find a cure. Alternatively, if a cure was not developed… you can avenge my death.

JULIAN: Not currently one of my skill sets, Garak. But why the pretense? You could’ve told me this immediately- actually, don’t answer that. I’ll need some time to do an analysis of this to determine what might work to counteract the viral infection. Annoyingly, there is no systemic treatment that I can even begin to research without knowing the underlying cause. But over the last twenty-five years, you must’ve made all sorts of new enemies. According to the latest intelligence, the only dangerous political intrigue is coming out of the Romulan Empire these days.

GARAK: Yes, well, leading a government comes with its own risks, to be sure, Doctor. But why do they have to be new enemies? Of course the Romulans have never been great fans of mine – I mean I left their embassy’s grounds-keeping staff so many years ago. Oh, those poor orchids, they’ll never be the same. And there’s always Kai.

JULIAN: The Kai.

GARAK: Ah, Kira- Kira, dear Kira’s never been a fan of mine.

JULIAN: We both know that Nerys would have never worked this slowly if she wanted to kill you.

GARAK: [laughs]

JULIAN: And she would only kill you. But Nerys is hardly the same person since she left the militia to join the Vedek Assembly, and now that she’s the Kai, this level of genetic manipulation would have to accomplished by someone with intimate knowledge of the Cardassian physiology as well as the capacity to evade security of your medical system.

GARAK: Yes, although like I said, it is an internal Cardassian matter. I’m sure there are plenty of elder Cardassians who would enjoy watching my life come to an end from torture. Dukat’s father- I mean, uh… [laughs] to one kanar-induced tryst with the man himself, to finally becoming involved with Ziyal, and whatever else-

JULIAN: Wait- wait, wait, wait you- hang on, you- you and Dukat?

GARAK: Ooh, yes. Surprising, isn’t it? Yes, two nights, maybe, before my exile, I’d been feeling quite powerful. I wouldn’t have normally lowered my guard even among my fellow Cardassians. Dukat was enjoying his second bottle of kanar, was looking for someone to blame for his most recent failures to overcome the Bajoran resistance, and there I was. He promised my death from across Quark’s bar. Later that evening he found his way back to my table to apologize – uncharacteristic, absolutely, to be sure. But kanar can do that to a man. We stole away to a quiet corner on the second level to talk, and then we found our way to an unoccupied holosuite.

JULIAN: I don’t know what to say.

GARAK: Well, I don’t need to tell you, Doctor – it was an unplanned direction for my evening to take. And suffice to say it didn’t soften Dukat’s general opinion of me. [laughs] He did keep his distance for a long time afterward.

JULIAN: So, that story had a happy ending, if you’ll pardon the pun.

GARAK: Pun?

JULIAN: Uh, it- it’d be funny on Earth. Though tragic, too – sort of like a sad clown, really. Miles will love it.

GARAK: Doctor, could we perhaps find out what is slowly eating away at me before revealing my darkest secrets to Professor O’Brien over an ale.

JULIAN: Of course, of course. I think the first step is to cross-reference known immunogenic agents that could have been introduced into your system. Even if the virus is a new pathogen, its mode of infection could be a million different things. You should review your schedule and try and determine an environment over which your control was limited, a place where the food and drink could’ve been tampered with or perhaps a place where you could have been unexpectedly exposed to an air assault. But… about this dalliance with Dukat-

GARAK: Oh Doctor, please. Provincial human attitudes aside-

JULIAN: Of course.

GARAK: -your species didn’t always have synthehol, and every species seems to go through a period of poor choices. Believe it or not, Cardassians are a passionate people, a people who yearn to find joy wherever it may lie. And remember, that we were in the midst of a Bajoran occupation and there wasn’t much joy to be had for those of us assigned to Terok Nor. Decades later, my reforms are helping to shape a modern Cardassia.

JULIAN: Understood. Though I take exception to the word ‘provincial’.

GARAK: Oh, of course you do. Now, let me take a look at my agenda… According to my doctors, I could have been exposed more than a month ago.

JULIAN: A month? Well, you certainly waited long enough to contact me.

GARAK: Well, well we do have doctors on Cardassia, and I wouldn’t be much of a leader if I didn’t look to my own people before seeking outside assistance. However, I’m not naïve enough to trust them completely. And what kind of leader would I be if I did?

JULIAN: Fair enough. I need to get some biometric information, please, from you if I’m even to begin researching cures. Can you transport yourself to a hospital with proper scanning equipment that I can access?

GARAK: Oh dear, I- I- I can do better than that, Doctor. I can do better than that. My residence is equipped with some of the best holographic technology in the quadrant – what type of equipment do we need?

JULIAN: I didn’t realize Cardassia had made such strides in holography.

GARAK: Oh, the technology is Federation, actually. Cardassian engineers build wonderful ships, but their work with artificial intelligence isn’t what it should be. Political life has its perks – I even have an EMH.

JULIAN: Well can I talk to him?

GARAK: Doctor, he’s obviously offline during this crisis. We’re wasting time better spent on the issue at hand! Now shall we begin?

JULIAN: Alright. Well the first thing we’ll need is a standard biobed with-

GARAK: Doctor, doctor, wait- I’m detecting a coherent signal directed at your shuttle. Yes, the magnetic currents over the poles should’ve obscured your presence. We may have a problem.

JULIAN: Hang on, it looks like an encrypted subspace signal… but I can’t determine the origin. Stand by, I’m trying- it’s… it’s from Earth. Well, I think I’ve got it. One moment… Jake?

[fade to black]

[CREDITS]

#ds9 #deep space nine #garashir #julian bashir #elim garak #alone together #long post #writing this out forced me to write about garak and d*kat f*cking and i absolutely hate that

[mirekat]

Okay, being reminded that Jadzia has shelves of memorabilia from her past lives has plunged me into a sudden fever of speculation about Trill property law. I mean, I doubt new host/symbiont systems would inherit the former system’s major assets--that would seem to violate the spirit of the reassociation ban. But what about personal property? Do things like boots and bat’leths (or shipments of gagh) get passed automatically to the next host? Do they have to be specifically willed to the next host by the former one? If so, there must be a kind of weird symbolic negotiation that happens between an ailing host and their family, a ritual of choosing grave goods the host/symbiont will, in a very literal sense, carry into the next life. 

And as a corollary, does each host undergo a ritual legal and social death pre-joining? Are there cultural ways of memorializing that process? Like, the Jadzia story from The Lives of Dax suggests that the families of future hosts do have to go through an emotional separation process, but it’s also clear hosts don’t ‘renounce the world’ in a monastic sense. So there must be a lot of loose ends to tie up. 

I guess this is as much as to say, the more I think about it the more convinced I am that Trill society isn’t really built to accommodate joined Trill. I mean, the very first Trill-themed episode of DS9, ‘Dax’, establishes that the legal personhood of symbionts themselves is murky at best. And Ezri’s wrangling with her family in ‘Prodigal Daughter’ suggests that there’s no clear process for separating host/symbiont system from their former life absent the mediation of the Symbiosis Commission. In general, joining seems governed more by taboo and convention than by law, and so when convention breaks down there just...isn’t a civil structure to fall back on. 

#don't mind me i'm just writing a chapter on trans people and english property law in the 1950s #my thesis but in space #Trill Feelings #ezri dax #jadzia dax #ds9

[trillscienceofficer]

Since you're taking asks, a thing I've been thinking about lately (I realise this is probably entry-level Trill Lore but anyway) -

What's your take on the differences in preferences (sensory things like taste, smell) between hosts? Take the 'cilantro soap gene' - say one host has that gene, the next doesn't and *loves* cilantro - surely they'd still carry the memory of the food having a soap-taste. So which wins out? Is it moreso that the joined trill simply has the memories of their previous hosts, but when it comes to preferences, the current host - the current biological 'them' - wins out?

And yet, don't joined trill often develop new interests/likes after joining, because of their past hosts' lives? I know there's a scene where ezri talks about hating gagh despite jadzia loving it, and I feel like this might've be addressed more in canon but I've forgotten, but it fascinates me and has been eating at my brain a little!

Oh I like this question!! But first of all I'd like to say that to me there is no 'level' of Trill lore. Honestly whenever I talk about it I feel like I should be clearer that it's just my ideas, if they sound 'established' in any way it's only because I've been thinking about this for some time, but it's not like there's an universally agreed-upon set of headcanons. I disagree with plenty of popular ideas about the Trills, not to mention beta canon takes on the topic, so please feel free to jump into the conversation with any questions/ideas you might have!

As for your question, that's an interesting one, and a complex topic. I feel like dealing with accepting and/or overcoming past hosts' preferences/dislikes is one of those things that's part of the training in the Initiate Program, and any 'regular' joined Trill would have learned various concrete strategies in order to deal with visceral reactions such as 'this smell used to make my previous host gag but I know it's just an impulse and I don't have to succumb to it if I don't want to'. Of course sensory information can become very disruptive and I would never suggest that strong sensitivity to textures or light or taste can or need to be trained out; but imho there's a bit of slack when it comes to preferences and a lot can be accomplished through repeated exposure (just think about learning to appreciate bitter or spicy foods, or even sommelier training!). So it's not so much a biological advantage to me, it's more the fact that the current host has the time to come to terms with their memories and bring all the parts of their self into a somewhat 'integrated' whole of their own choosing.

I say 'choosing' because imho joined Trills understand (more than others) the self as something that can be constructed or remade and doesn't really exist in isolation. Every interaction with the world, with other people and the many past versions of themselves are what make the self, and all of these need not be set in stone. It requires some flexibility to face the joining, and so we see Jadzia eating steamed azna in Season 1 because that's what Curzon liked as an old man, but after that she isn't seen doing that anymore. There is, I think, an element of choice always at play.

But returning to the topic at hand, I think Ezri's case, of Jadzia's preferences tricking her into drinking/eating things that her present self really dislikes, is somewhat worse than the opposite situation... Her own disgust comes as a surprise to her every time, and there's also the fact that she doesn't have any training that would make acceptance of her current contradictory state more straightforward. I'm sure people developing allergies as adults might have a similar experience, having to accept that foods or drinks they formerly loved are simply now out of reach, and in a way it's a small grieving process. Ezri... well she has to go through that a lot, doesn't she?

As you mention, I'd have loved to see more of Ezri and Jadzia getting into past hosts' hobbies without that having catastrophic consequences, because I'm sure that happens a lot to the joined. It must be frustrating as well, though; one thing is (for example) knowing intellectually how to play an instrument and another is having the muscle memory built over decades of playing. This is one of those cases where having a different body really plays a huge factor... So much of music is about muscle memory, and I bet it would drive a joined Trill crazy to suddenly discover they're back to basics when they can hear so clearly just how much their playing is amateurish! Honestly I would really love to see that kind of situation, having the intellectual knowledge but not having quite the same mastery (yet), actually explored, not just hand-waved as them having 'all the abilities of their past hosts'. Now that would be interesting!

#askbox #trill tag #thank you this made me really think and bring together some ideas i've had for a while

[oldschoolfic-ds9]

Rememberance

by Pixie Child, 2006

Kira's probably the only one, aside from Captain Sisko, who doesn't see Ezri as Jadzia reincarnate.

Words: 575, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English

Rating: PG

Warnings: none listed

Characters: Kira Nerys, Ezri Dax

Relationships: Ezri Dax/Kira

Reader suggested tags (what are these?): none

links (link broken? report it and try the archive.org alternative):

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archive.org - option 1 / option 2

#year2006 #2korless #ratedPG #no known warnings #majorkira #edax #kiraedax

[makiruz]

I have no idea how the Merge of Oscar and Ozpin works in RWBY, but I can imagine it’s kinda like the Trill in Star Trek.

For those who haven’t watched DS9, the Trill is a species that exist in the ST universe, they share a planet with a race of symbions who need a host to survive; so the humanoid Trill developed a symbiotic relationship with this creatures, a symbion will be inserted in a Trill’s body and the two beings will become one entity.

What happens is not that the symbion overrides the host’s personality (as an episode of TNG suggests) but that the two personalities combine into one that has aspects of both, but it’s different from either one. This is shown with Dax and their hosts, for most of the show we see Jadzia Dax and we hear stories of Curzon, Dax’s previous host; later Jadzia dies and Dax (the symbion) is transfer to a new Trill host called Ezri. Now both Jadzia and Ezri are recognizably Dax, they share many traits and a history, when Ezri arrives she greets Jadzia’s friends as her friends and even has an affinity with Jadzia’s husband Worf; from what we know about Curzon he was similar, Ben Sisko forms a friendship with both Jadzia and Ezri from his friendship with Curzon. However, the three are very different people, Ezri for example doesn’t share Curzon and Jadzia’s passion for Klingon culture, Curzon sounds to have been wilder and weirder than Jadzia; and when it came to relationships, Dax had feelings for both Julian Bashir and Worf, but Jadzia choose Worf and Ezri picked Bashir.

Now while we don’t meet Ezri or Jadzia before they were joined, we see Ezri with her family, and we can tell she is very different from the Ezri they knew

Basically the person that comes out of the joining is recognizable as both initial personalities, but they’re also as a new identity; and I think the merge in RWBY could be similar, with time both the Oscar Pine and Oz personas would combine into a singular identity that shows aspects of both, but it’s not quite either. My thinking is that after the merge Oz would think of himself primarily as “Oscar Pine” but would treat all of Oz’s past as his past, speak of Ozpin and everything he did in the first person; and he would show personality traits belonging to both Oscar and Ozpin

#RWBY #Oscar Pine #Ozpin #Ozma #Star Trek

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

Wait, are you telling me Julian Bashir ended up with a woman the same age as Jake Sisko? *vomits into a bucket*

PART 2: Worf too, oh my god. (I'm sorry, I've never seen season 7 and I never knew Ezri was that young.) Yeah so - anyone correct me if I’m wrong here, but her age is never specified, however Nicole De Boer was 29 when she started. At this time Siddig would’ve been 34, so not much older 

However it’s highly suggested that Ezri is in her early twenties, since she’s still studying (and shouldn’t have been allowed to just become a therapist without finishing those studies but that is another thing for another day!!!), so yeah, closer to Jake than to Julian First off: yeah Worf and Ezri... did not like... did not like, do not want, in the bin, goodbye! Secondly off: I think for me a lot of my hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm--feeling about Julian and Ezri comes less from the age difference (although early 20s to early 30s does see quite a bit of shift, it’s not necessarily bad) so much as lived experience - also many many other things, but that’s a big one for me To start with Bashir: he’s lived 6/7 years on the station, essentially gone from bright-young-thing to war veteran (who was held and tortured in a camp), and has recently lost one of his best friends - the fact that the show suddenly wanted to pretend that he’d been “in love with Jadzia” the whole time does both of their character developments a disservice, but there was a general dropping of the ball of Jadzia by the time she died (ANOTHER POST! FOCUS!) Ezri: recently joined AGAINST HER WILL, without training, without any kind of preparation, joined in the middle of a bad situation (a woman had just been murdered and the worm was dying, she was all there was, fuck), hasn’t finished her studies, hasn’t been through the last several years of war, very much still a bright-young-thing + a person who is above-average confused about her identity because, yaknow, she’s got several lifetimes of people within her.

Which is a scifi thing, but also a very good metaphor for growing up. she’s still growing, she’s still figuring herself out, what she wants, who she wants, who she IS - what other character on the station is going through a very similar process (albeit without the lifetimes)...

It’s Jake, the answer is Jake, who also happens to be her age. 

tbh first time I watched it KNOWING it wasn’t going to happen, I was very confused because those first couple of episodes seem to set them up as having at least more storylines with one another, but they completely drop their interactions in favour of “waves hands vaguely” Julian-and-Worf wanting to bang Jadzia-by-proxy... *sighs at writers*

Not even romantic necessarily, but just as friends, because they have more in common + in terms of having some confused memories, Jake knew both Jadzia and Curzon, he’d be a much better person for her to hang out with, both as a joined trill and as Ezri. 

(I also have strong opinions on the PTSD of both Bashir and Ezri being done a disservice by not reaaally acknowledging it and then fully waving it away once they’re paired off. Because nothing solves trauma like getting into a rushed relationship, you heard it here!) 

Anyway Jake and Ezri would AT LEAST be besties, I will die on this neat lil hill

#ezri dax #jake sisko #julian bashir #ds9 #st: ds9 #star trek #ds9 meta #someone needs to tell me to go get some breakfast fuck

[icykalisartblog]

I figure someone has already asked you Garashir, so character: Ezri Dax, and characters to rank in order of preference: Kira, Jadzia, Ezri, Keiko, Kasidy (so, most of the major ladies of DS9)

Someone did indeed ask me about Garashir!

Boring answer, but Kira, Jadzia, Keiko, Kasidy, Ezri. Kira is one of my absolute favorites! If Keiko had been given more focus, she might tie with Jadzia. I'll also say that I like the villains Kai Winn and the Founder Leader (...who's female-coded, I guess) more than I like Kasidy. I feel like even though Kasidy was put into the spotlight several times, she needed to be fleshed-out more. She deserved better.

Ezri Dax

How I feel about this character: I’ve tried my best not to mention this because I don’t want to upset anyone who likes the final season, but I have problems with how Ezri was handled (I really do not like season 7). Despite the fact that many of the issues are outside of Ezri’s and her actress's control, I don't really understand what she would add to the story of the show with her canon personality. Even if the writers hadn't been fueled by misogyny and had really tried—and they hadn't forced her story into a terrible heteronormative love triangle plot and hadn't had her be suddenly promoted to a counselor who hurts her vulnerable patients without being called out... all I can really see coming out of her character as it is would be that it would be interesting would be an exploration of how the Symbiosis Commission is built on terrible precepts, but I don't think the height of the Dominion War would have been the right time to explore that, and most importantly we already should have had this explored with Jadzia! I've seen many fans suggest having Ezri be more like Mirror Ezri and maybe not be a Dax, and I kind of like the idea, but I don't think waiting to introduce her until so late would make sense in that case. She might have been a cool guest star making multiple appearances throughout the show, ala Lwaxana Troi.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Benjamin Sisko (if Ezri Dax), and yes I will apologize again to everyone for this take lol Also Kira (one-sided on Ezri's part, whether or not Ezri is a Dax).

My non-romantic OTP for this character: I have the idea of Bashir, living with Garak on Cardassia after the War, helping Ezri (who's gone into command) navigate her queer journey since Bashir was once a baby gay.

My unpopular opinion about this character: I would have really wanted Ezri to be more like the writers' initial conception of the character, i.e. "spooky." Having a scary heroic woman is actually something brand new, interesting, and a role Jadzia couldn't fill. I think that would have been super cool, especially if a few of Mirror Ezri's traits were granted to her.

One thing I wish would happen/had happened with this character in canon: Ezri interacting with Counselor Telnorri from "Hard Time." Maybe having her complete her training with him as an instructor?

My OTP: See Sisko, above. Seeing Sisko struggling with his visions from the Prophets getting increasingly intrusive and his command decisions getting increasingly questionable while Ezri has to deal with her family and being joined would add a new angle to their close bond, which might be their rock in that trying time. But again, something like this could have been done with Jadzia, and in my version of events I'd prefer for Ezri Dax to only exist in the far future OR Ezri isn't a Dax at all.

My crossover ship: N/A

A headcanon fact: Ezri with a cold and intimidating with a biting, sarcastic wit... but she turns into stammering baby lesbian mush around Kira.