#Deanna looks hot as a Romulan too

[slushi-chan]

If Romulans are bad or whatever then why are the women so hot checkmate atheists

(I am watching tng while having a fucked up sleep schedule, thank that for my weird posting)

[episodicnostalgia]

Star Trek: The Next Generation, 113 (Jan. 23, 1988) - “Angel One”

Written by: Patrick Barry Directed by: Michael Rhodes

The Breakdown

The Enterprise picks up on a distress signal from a freighter called ‘The Odin’ that went missing a few years back, so they decide to check out the nearest M-Class planet (ie, capable of sustaining life) to see if the survivors made it that far.  It turns out they did, but the problem is the survivors all happened to be men, and the planet they landed on is run by a matriarchal oligarchy that objectifies the males, and believes they should accept their place as slutty-play-things-without-rights.  Naturally the Odin survivors (being enlightened federation folk) take issue with this on-the-nose-metaphor, and go public with their opinions, resulting in a social justice movement (which we are told about but never actually see). 

Beata (The ‘Elected-one’ aka the ruler), agrees to let the Odin survivors go, since that would silence the dissenters, but not before getting Riker to spend the night with her, which he’s all-too-happy to oblige (she may be a misandrist, but Riker will not pass up on some perfectly good… diplomatic relations).  While Riker flounces around in a pretty little get up (all an essential part of the diplomacy), Tasha and Deanna talk to the survivors who refuse to leave since they have families now.  Their unwillingness to leave results in a death sentence, to which Riker is like, “Fuck this, lets just beam everyone out of here”.  Unfortunately the Enterprise is having it's own issues.

Back on the ship, a nasty virus has broken out, which has incapacitated most of the crew  (There’s also some stuff about Romulans, but none of that really amounts to anything) Anyways, since beaming everyone to the Ship is out of the question, and the executions are imminent, Riker makes a nice little speech to Beata about how “evolving world views are necessary for any civilization and maybe don’t be so mean to your men?” Somehow that works, and Beata decides to stay the executions on the condition that the survivors-and-their-families all go far away to a less pleasant continent (where they’ll be too busy surviving to worry about human rights). She reasons that if she can’t stop change at least she can slow it to a crawl, and everyone is like “Yay, what a progressive sentiment.” The end.

The Verdict

I’m not sure sure where to start with this episode, but I guess I’d have to say that the script just seems clueless. We’re shown a sexist matriarchy that is seemingly meant to mimic our own patriarchy, but it’s so broad that it fails to capture any nuance whatsoever. It’s also pretty telling that the feminine coded men of Angel One are all written as vapid, jealous, emotional, and devoid of any real agency; not unlike most of the women characters from this season so far. It’s well known that the women cast struggled with how their characters were portrayed, especially during the earlier seasons. I don’t know if ‘Angel One’ was one of the offending episodes, but it certainly throws its weight towards confirming the pattern.

1 star (out of 5)

Stray observations

Remember folks. It’s okay to hook up with a brazenly sexist dictator if they’re hot.

Tasha thinks Riker looks sexy in his skimpy-frilly-outfit and states it outright. Now I’m not one for kink shaming, but that’s not a very professional thing to say to your commanding officer.

Geordie gets to sit in the Captains chair. Nice.

Season-one-Worf is kind of adorable, like a pitbull. He’s big and strong looking, but just a teddy bear deep down. His scenes with Geordie on the bridge are so wholesome.

The prime directive sure is confusing. I thought the rule was that any pre-warp society is off limits, but Angel One is said to be equivalent to our mid-to-late 20th century. Apparently, the federation made contact with them 60 years ago, and that was okay because it didn’t involve a starship? I feel like the Prime Directive must have been a concept the writers were still figuring out. Then again, the Federation does seem to have some fairly arbitrary rules.

[thegeminisage]

it's time for. SIIIGH. a star trek update. on ummm feb 20 or whatever we did tng's "aquiel" and ds9's "q-less" (SIGH) and i didn't write an update because i was not very excited about those. and then we paused for a week to do natla. and then last night we did tng's "face of the enemy." ok.

aquiel (tng):

what's weird is that of the two episodes we watched that evening i actually did like this one better

that said it DID involve geordi being a little bit of a creep to the not-so-dead-girl though. when he brings up a fact about her he should not know it's JUST like leah brahams. granted it was actually his job this time to watch her diary and he SUPER thought she was dead but still. can you not open with that

i did like geordi taking his visor off though it's always cool when he gets to do that

i knew from the beginning something was Up with the dog but i didnt EXPECT THE DOG TO BE EVIL..................tng writers that is just heartless. not only is the real dog dead but the fake dog got killed too. you killed the dog twice. are you happy? do you feel proud of yourself? i fucking hate this show actually

nevermind idr anything else about this episode and i have now stopped caring

q-less (ds9):

i only found q tolerable ONE TIME. ONE TIME i found him tolerable and that was when he was drooling over picard who did not want to fuck him and it was the funniest thing i'd ever seen and every day i beg them to do it agaiun but they won't. you know who's not in ds9? picard! so get q out of here!!

this felt way too much like a tng episode for my tastes. i decided i don't like that chocolate in that peanut butter.

vash hot though. whew! you slap some crow's feet on a woman and i swoon instantly

vash rubbing ferengi ears like lwaxana troi made me have ptsd flashbacks to the episode with the ha ha funny rape. no fucking thank you

honestly, does sisko need to be dealing with picard's past lays and guy who wishes he could be a present lay? picard killed his wife. give the man a break

that said i DO think q and vash were fucking purely because that's as close as q can get to fucking picard. disgusting.

anyway 0/10 except for vash's wrinkles

face of the enemy (tng):

THEY MENTIONED SPOCK IN THIS EPISODE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! boy i sure sat up straight fast

deanna racefaking as a romulan AGAINST HER WILL...could they not have just asked. could they not have asked like literally ANYBODY. like she was so underprepared. that said i loved that she actually got to do stuff

the fucking guy in this was tosk or whoever from ds9...he looked SO familiar but i feel like i know him from somewhere else too

my fav part of this ep besides the spock mentions of course was the fact that the romulan commander deanna was up against seemed like a genuinely good person who had been hurt by the empire. like deanna was very much the bad guy here. imagine if some starfleet bigwig took kirk's ship away and used it to kill 18 people, you know? the outside pov vibe was kind of a slay actually

kind of a bummer to do all this angsting about romulus and helping the defectors and everything when quite literally it's gonna blow up in like...what, less than 20 years now, right? yeah. i mean if a romulan had a baby right now that baby wouldn't even live to be old enough to drink. obviously they had no idea when they were making all this but it's THAT VERY FACT that kind of makes me fucking nuts. please smuggle more people out of there. get them out now while you can. but they don't know. and it's not dramatic irony that they don't know like in real life nobody making this KNOWS. AAAAAAA

TONIGHT: ds9's "dax" and tng's "tapestry."

[sshbpodcast]

Top 3 Star Trek The Next Generation characters

By Ames

You’ll remember that for our podcast coverage of Voyager episode “Flashback” featuring Hikaru Sulu, A Star to Steer Her By picked our three favorite The Original Series characters. Now we’re feeling inspired seeing more familiar faces in the Delta Quadrant with both Reg Barclay and Deanna Troi appearing in “Pathfinder,” so we’re doing the same for our favorite minor or one-off characters from The Next Generation!

Some of the characters we’ve picked have that eccentric, colorful kind of energy that would feel at home in our original TOS lists, and some have a more cerebral complexity that the different series of the 90s are more known for. We see some strong patterns forming in our lists below, along with a very clear winner. Place your bets now as we revisit the adventures of the Enterprise-D below and in our discussion on this week’s podcast episode (topic starts at 56:20). Engage!

[images © CBS/Paramount] 

Chris – Revenge of the nerds

K’Ehleyr

Berlinghoff Rasmussen

Reginald Barclay

All of Chris’s picks have Big Nerd energy in their own ways and may get ostracized from their respective cultures a little bit for it. From our girl K’Ehleyr, a half-breed fully accepted in neither her Klingon nor her human races; to Berlinghoff Rasmussen, a time-traveling weirdo who reminds us a lot of Chris’s TOS fave Harry Mudd; to the constantly trampled upon everyman Reginald Broccoli. At least, I think that’s his name…

—

Jake – Gone too soon

K’Ehleyr

Doctor Katherine Pulaski

Alidar Jarok

We all really wish all of Jake’s faves had stuck around! But sadly, our favorite Klingon gets murdered by Duras, leaving us only with her terrible son to remember her by. We were just starting to really get a feel for Dr. Pulaski as CMO of the ship before her season was over. And one of Jake’s favorite Romulans couldn’t live in a world where defecting from Romulus proved to all be for nothing. Well, nothing but a damn good episode.

—

Caitlin –  MILFs in space

Doctor Katherine Pulaski

K’Ehleyr

Lwaxana Troi

We see some familiar faces again in Caitlin’s list. Not only do all of her picks run their corners of the world like absolute bosses, but they look freakin’ hot doing it too! We’ve got the stone cold Katherine Pulaski who, fans will remember, used to nail Riker’s dad; yet again, K’Ehleyr is here breaking hearts, kicking ass, and taking names; and the galaxy’s biggest cougar Lwaxana Troi rounds things out with her trademark lust for all of life!

—

Ames – Unbreak my heart!

K'Ehleyr

Hugh

Timicin

My picks are giving me the feels all over again. Why?! Why couldn’t that honorless Duras have taken Alexander instead of K’Ehleyr?! I also have the softest of hearts for our BFF (Borg Friend Forever) Hugh and his touching friendship with Geordi. And another of the podcast’s favorite overall episodes, the legendary “Half a Life” is made so tragic by the nuanced and yet powerful presence of Timicin. Who else could tame Lwaxana’s heart?

—

Just like in our Best Klingons post, K’Ehleyr absolutely runs away with the win, yet again sweeping the lists of all of your hosts here. Pour out a glass of bloodwine for our hands-down favorite character from The Next Generation, and stay in our tractor beam because we’re keeping the blog on the Enterprise-D for a couple more weeks while the podcast is simultaneously on the Voyager over on SoundCloud (or whatever podcast thing you like). You can also like us on Facebook and Twitter, and we’ll see you in Ten Forward!

[startrek-logicoftheforce]

Star Trek: Logic of the Force - Chapter One

I have had this idea of a Star Trek/Star Wars crossover for several years. Finally, I decided that it was the perfect time to write this story.

This story is set shortly after the events of Star Trek Nemesis.

-----------------------------------------------

STARDATE 57898.7

It was said a long time ago that in space, nobody could hear you scream. However, in the case of Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Federation starship Enterprise, that was not the case. The Enterprise - NCC-1701-E - had just finished repairs shortly after a catastrophic battle with the Romulan secret agent Shinzon. There were mary losses in that battle, but one year later, one loss still haunted Picard to that day,

"Data..."

Picard suddenly arose from a deep slumber. It was just a dream. In his dream, he had watched the Enterprise's navigator - an android with hauntingly yellow eyes and grey artificial skin - being blasted out into the cold vastness of interstellar space, and presumably killed, while shouting "CAPTAIN!"

"CAPTAIN!"

The voice shouted from his computer terminal on his desk. Groggingly, Picard arose from his bunk and made his way to the replicator.

"Tea, Earl Gray. Hot. " Picard momentarily waited as the replicator created a perfect cup of Earl Grey tea. He took the hot beverage and took a sip of the delicious drink as he made his way to the terminal, Upon sitting down, he pressed a button on the touch sreen.

'Picard here." On the screen showal a familiar face. "Admiral Jawway. Is something wrong?"

"I could ask the same of you, "said the hauntingly beautiful yet elderly and battle-worn admiral who was one year removed from bringing back the Voyager from the Delta Quadrant. "Are you up for another adventure?"

"Admiral, " replied the aging captain, "I think my days of gallivanting across the galaxy are done.”

"Nonsense, Jean-Luc, We have found the perfect candidate to act as your ship's navigator." Before Picard could protest, Janeway interrupted. "This is a direct order from Starfleat Command"Admiral," replied Picard, "I would prefer an android. They engage in perfect examples of duty and logic "

“And a Vulcan doesn't?" Picard was puzzled  at the admiral's questioning reply, "Juan-Luc, you are to embark to Vulcan. There is a Vulcan scientist there who has shown remarkable aptitude for ship navigation, And he is also well-versed in other aspects of ship control and ship protocol." Janeway produced a rare smile that emphasized the crow's feet on the sides of her eyes. "You know, Jean-Luc. He could very well be a prime candidate for ship's captain. Janeway out."

As Janeway ended the transmission, the screen reverted to its normal image of the ensignia of the United Federation of Planets. Picard noticed that his tea had become cold from being neglected for too long. He chugged the rest of the tea and he rose to put on his standard captain's uniform. After looking in the mirror to make sure he looked presentable,he exited his quarters and made his was to the turbolift and entered.

"Bridge." With that single word, the turbolift made a rapid ascension to the bridge. After the turbolift stopped, he stepped onto the bridge and saw familior faces he had not expected to see on his ship again. "Will. Deanna, This is a pleasant surprise Why are you here?"

"As ordered by Janeway, sir," said the bearded Will.

"Captain Willian T. Riker. I knew you would rise to the captain's chair, son," Picard beamed with pride.

"That's because I had the best teacher," Riker replied. "So what is on Vulcan?"

"Our new ship's navigator," said Picard. "Although nobody can ever replace our sorely-missed Commander Data." Suddenly, Picaes heard a female's voice speaking to him.

"He will return…"

“Deanna?" Picard looked at the strikingly beautiful Betazoid who was  also the wife of Riker. "Deanna Troi, did you say something?

"No, sir, "replied Trol. "Captain, I sense much confusion and anger in you."

"Why would I NOT be angry?" Picard's voke took on a sense of agitation, "The Romulans sending in secret agents cloned from me, one of whom attacks my ship and causes the deaths of many crewman, including...Data. So excuse me if I seem confused and angry."

Picard head another voice.. a gravelly yet high-pitched voie. "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate, Hate leads to...suffering."

Picard looked at Troi. "No. That wasn't you talking. I apologize for my emotional outburst."

“Don't worry yourself, Captain," The beautiful empath said. "Do you need somebody to navigate to Vulcan? If so, I still hold my qualifications for navigation."

"Then take your station, navigator - and counselor - Deanna Troi of Betazed," replied Picard. Troi and the rest of the bridge crew assembled at their respective stations.

A voice came over the bridge's intercom. "Commander LaForge reporting from engineering, sir. Ship engines at full capacity. Warp speed at your discretion."

“Thank you, Geordi." Picard sat in the captain's chair and looked at the new helmsman - a male Bajoran. "Ensign, impulse speed.”

“Aye sir," replied the ensign.

“Course laid in for Vulcan, Captain," said Troi.

"Warp speed at my mark, ensign." As the ship moved out of the Sol system, familiar planets passed by. Once the Enterprise moved past Saturn, Picard knew it was time. "Warp speed now."

With that single command, the warp drive was engaged, and the Enterprise moved many times faster than the speed of light. "Thank you, Zeframe Cochrane," Picard said to himself, giving praise to the person who brought Earth out of the despair of post-World War III trauma and into a new era of discovery and enlightenment. "And thank you, Lily," once again said to himself, remembering the Earth woman who helped him to get over the trauma of his assimilation by the Borg.

[girlonthelasttrain]

Dear femslashex creator,

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

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

In any case the short version is:

Do Not Want

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

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

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

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

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

Things I like

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

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

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

Star Trek DS9

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

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

Star Trek Voyager

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

Star Trek TNG

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

The Expanse

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

Hades

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

Teixcalaan Series

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

[aion-rsa]

Star Trek: Lower Decks Episode 5 – All the Easter Eggs and References

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

This article contains spoilers for Star Trek: Lower Decks episode 5.

This episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks pays tribute to the oldest Trek monster of them all, slips in a few overt references to Enterprise, and even gives us a Geordi La Forge teddy bear.

Although Star Trek Day isn’t until next week, on September 8, Star Trek: Lower Decks is paying tribute to the first aired Trek episode of all time by stuffing its latest episode with more references to the franchise than its ever done before. Yes, somehow, “Cupid’s Errant Arrow,” seems to have more shout-outs and callbacks than all the other episodes of Lower Decks combined. We’re not sure if this is true, or whether some clever spacetime compression is at work, but this episode seemed a lot like a Captain Kirk sundae, with Trip Tucker sprinkles, and a side helping of a Will Riker burger. Yeah, two of those jokes are actually from this episode!

Here are all the Easter eggs, references, and shout-outs we caught in Star Trek: Lower Decks episode 5, “Cupid’s Errant Arrow.”

As real as a hopped-up Q on Captain Picard Day 

Boimler says his new girlfriend Barb is “as real as a hopped-up Q on Captain Picard Day.” This references Q, of course, both the character played by John De Lancie in TNG, DS9, and Voyager. But, it also references the species of the Q Continuum in general.

“Captain Picard Day,” comes from the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “The Pegasus,” and is generally agreed to be June 16th on our calendar. This is the second Captain Picard Day reference in from a new Trek series in 2020. In the first episode of Picard, “Remembrance,” Jean-Luc saw his Captain Picard Day banner — made by children on the Enterprise 1701-D, in his personal archive. 

Love on the holodeck

When Mariner accuses Boimler of having holodeck girlfriends, he protests, saying “I don’t do that anymore.” Characters on Star Trek, specifically The Next Generation, have a long history of falling in love with holograms.

Reginald Barclay was probably the biggest offender here, and, in “Hollow Pursuits,” he made two holographic recreations of Deanna Troi.

Geordi fell in love with a hologram of Dr. Leah Brahams in the episode “Booby Trap,” and Riker nearly fell in love with Minuet in “11001001.”

Later in the episode, Barb says she believed the Mariner was a “rogue holodeck character,” which could also be a reference to “11001001,” since Minuet’s job was to keep Picard and Riker distracted while the Bynars messed with the Enterprise.

But, when we think of rogue holodeck characters, we generally think of Moriarty from the Sherlock Holmes episodes “Elementary, My Dear Data” and “Ship in a Bottle.” Boimler referenced the holographic Moriarty just last week in the Lower Decks episode “Moist Vessel.” 

Geordi  La Forge Teddy Bear 

While waiting to meet Barb, Boimler is clearly holding a teddy bear meant to remind us of Geordi La Forge. Does the bear’s uniform match the TNG era? Or should we not worry about the teddy bear’s uniform?

Phylosian

Mariner offers to set-up Boimler with a “Phylosian,” who works on the Cerritos, and mentions 

“she seems like a nice plant person.” Phylosians are plant people. This race of plant-based aliens originated an episode of The Animated Series called “The Infinite Vulcan.” 

Is Barb a Time Lord? 

While catching up with Boimler, Barb says that in a previous mission she had to “reverse the polarity and reboot the time stream.” Variants of the phrase “reverse the polarity of the neutron flow,” is a catchphrase usually associated with the Doctor from Doctor Who. It (mostly) originates during the 1970s Third Doctor era of Jon Pertwee, specifically the episodes “The Terror of the Autons,” “The Daemons,” and “The Sea Devils.”

That said, the phrase “reverse the polarity,” exists throughout all eras of Trek, starting with the TOS episode “Who Mourns for Adonais?” all the way through the Enterprise episode “Harbinger.” 

Barb claiming she “rebooted the time stream,” is also a common Trek trope, and can be traced all the way back to TOS episodes like “Tomorrow Is Yesterday,” and “City On the Edge Of Forever.” 

1920s Chicago 

Barb’s reference to being stuck in 1920’s Chicago references the TOS episode “A Piece of the Action,” where the crew encounters an entire planet of 1920’s mobsters. However, in that episode, there was zero time travel, just a planet of alien mobster imitators. 

Hunky Trek dudes

Intimidated the “hot hunk” named Jet, Boimler says “That guy is like a Kirk sundae with Trip Tucker sprinkles.” Obviously, this references Captain James T. Kirk and the chief engineer of the Enterprise NX-01, Charles “Trip” Tucker. 

Starfleet relationships ending very badly.

Mariner says that “When a Starfleet relationship seems too good to be true, then RED ALERT, it probably is.” Then she launches into a litany of examples.

“She’s an alien who is going to eat you” Most aliens in Trek don’t actually eat people, but aliens who suck out the life force of people they’re pretending to date are fairly common. For example, in the DS9 episode “The Muse,” Jake Sisko is having his energy drained by a creature who is pretending to be an older woman who loves him but is really draining his life force. 

“Or a Romulan Spy” This probably references the Romulan spy T’Pel from the episode “Data’s Day,” though nobody was trying to date her. In Picard, Agnes Jurati was an unwitting Romulan spy, though it’s unclear if the Lower Decks writing team knew about that when this episode was completed.

“Or a Salt Succubus” Ha! This is the big one. In the first aired Trek episode ever, “The Man Trap,” the shapeshifting M-113 lifeform pretends to be McCoy’s old girlfriend Nancy Crater but also turns into a variety of other attractive people and attempts to seduce several crewmembers, and even, in the guise of a hunky dude, makes a pass at Uhura. (Note: Uhura is the only person who didn’t fall for the salt vampire’s bullshit.)

“Or an Android” In TOS, Nurse Chapel falls in love with a secret android duplicate of her old boyfriend Roger Korby in the episode, “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” And, in the TOS episode “Requiem for Methuselah,” Kirk falls in love with Rayna, who is also a secret android. 

“Or a Changeling” There are a lot of people who fall in love with shapeshifters in Star Trek, but saying “a Changeling,” probably refers to the actual species of “Changelings” from Deep Space Nine, of which, Odo is the most famous. 

“Or one of those sexy people in rompers who murder you just for going on the grass” This references the episode “Justice,” in which Wesley falls in some grass and is nearly murdered by scantily clad people who were previously flirting with everyone. 

DS9/ old uniform flashback

Mariner’s flashback to her time on the USS Quito seems to take place while the ship is docked at Deep Space Nine. Notably, the crew does not appear to actually be drinking on the space station, but rather, on their own ship. Because this flashback takes place prior to 2280, Mariner and her shipmates are wearing the later-era Starfleet uniforms with the grey shoulders, first introduced in Star Trek: First Contact. For more about what this all might mean, read our deep dive into this flashback scene here.

Mariner’s conspiracy chart 

There are probably more Easter eggs in this scene than the entire show combined, but let’s do our best! Mariner has several pictures of several Trek aliens displayed, and she mentions some of them, but others are just kind of there. Here’s what we spotted. 

“Barb’s not a Dauphin!” Mariner points to a picture of a furry alien called a Dauphin, which comes from the TNG episode “The Dauphin,” in which Wesley Crusher’s new girlfriend is revealed to be a furry shape-shifting monster with claws.

A picture of Lal, Data’s first daughter. In one corner, there seems to be an image of the android Lal, before she had decided on her gender and species. This version of Lal exists in the teaser of the TNG episode “The Offspring,”

“She could be a Suliban!” Mariner mentions the Suliban, which are time-traveling shapeshifting aliens that plagued the crew of the NX-01 Enterprise, starting with “Broken Bow.”

The Bynars: The purple-headed Bynars from “11001001,” are also pictured. This means that Mariner is entertaining the theory that Barb is a holodeck character, too. Just like the aforementioned, Minuet. 

Seska: Mariner talks about undercover Cardassians for a second, and we see a picture of someone who looks like Seska. In Star Trek: Voyager, Seska was a Bajoran crewmember who turned out to really be a Cardassian spy. Her goal was to get close to Chakotay and to send secrets about the Maquis to the Cardassians. Seska was revealed to be a spy in the episode “State of Flux.”

Duras sisters: The Klingon traitors Lursa and B’Etor seem to be pictured here, too. At this point, in 2380, the Duras sisters have been dead for nine years. They died in Star Trek Generations when the Enterprise destroyed their Bird-of-Prey. That said, maybe they managed to escape?

Transporter clone: Mariner has a picture of two Barbs standing next to each other in the transporter. This references various transporter duplicates throughout Star Trek. The most famous examples are Kirks’ transporter duplicate in the TOS episode “The Enemy Within,” and Riker’s transporter duplicate in the TNG episode “Second Chances.” 

M-113 Salt Vampire: Mariner has a very prominent picture of the M-113 creature in its natural state. This is actually the second time this creature from “The Man Trap,” has appeared in animated form. Very briefly, the M-113 creature was depicted at the beginning of the animated Short Treks episode “Empriah and Dot.” 

Humpback Whales: Mariner has a huge picture of a humpback whale. This must reference Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home in which the crew goes back in time to bring whales into the future. What does that have to do with Mariner’s theory? She’s worried about time travel? Does she think Barb is actually Dr. Gillian Taylor? Well, considering that Barb is voiced by actress Gillian Jacobs, it seems possible that this is a reference to Gillian Taylor (Catherine Hicks), the marine biologist who traveled from the 20th century and into the 23rd. 

An Andorian named Jennifer

While running through the corridors, Mariner pushes an Andorian out of her way and says dismissively, “Jennifer!” Is it weird that an Andorian has the name, Jennifer? Well, maybe not. In Voyager, a young Ktarians girl, Naomi Wildman, had the name, well “Naomi.” 

Breen Infiltrator

Barb says she briefly thought Mariner was a Breen Infiltrator. The Breen were a rarely-seen, but often mentioned alien enemy of the Federation in TNG and DS9. During the Dominion War, the Breen actually were the ones who led the Dominion attack on Earth.

The Breen weren’t seen in canon until the fourth season DS9 episode “Indiscretion.” Throughout all their appearances, the Breen appeared entirely inside of “refrigeration suits,” and no one has ever seen what they actually look like. Meaning, the idea of a Breen Infiltrator is inherently hilarious because they could, in theory, look like anything under those helmets. 

Parasite and Pheromones 

When it is eventually revealed that there is a parasite connected to Boimler, there could be a small reference here to the TNG episode “Conspiracy,” in which Picard discovers several members of Starfleet Command have little bug parasites controlling them.

At the same time, the idea that an alien could have pheromones so strong that other humanoids find them irresistible vaguely recalls Star Trek: The Motion Picture. The backstory Ilia is that she is a Deltan, a species of humanoids who produce pheromones so strong that most people can’t resist. This is why she says “my oath of celibacy is on record.” She’s letting Kirk know that she’s not going to seduce everyone for her own gain, even though she totally could. 

Calibrate the Dyson’s Sphere 

Ron Docent (played by Matt Walsh) bemoans his various responsibilities on the USS Vancouver, specifically having to “calibrate the Dyson’s Sphere.”  In Trek canon, as far as we know, there is only one Dyson’s Sphere, the one discovered by the Enterprise in the TNG episode “Relics.” 

The password was “Riker”

Tendi correctly guesses that Docent uses the password “Riker.” This seems to imply that Riker is famous and well-liked enough in 2380, that he’s a common password. In canon, Riker is in command of the USS Titan during the events of Lower Decks.

Interestingly, if we go by the Picard timeline, Thad Riker, Will, and Deanna’s first child, will be born in 2381, which means, there’s a good chance that during the events of this episode, Deanna Troi is pregnant. Could the Troi-Rikers be buddies with Ron Docent? Is that why he choose “Riker” as his password?

We may or may not see the Troi-Rikers in a future episode of Lower Decks, but for now, you’ll have to excuse me. I need to change my password.

The post Star Trek: Lower Decks Episode 5 – All the Easter Eggs and References appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/2ELS5F7

[frasier-crane-style]

Let’s talk about Treks baby

The One Where Riker Stars In The Grey.

When Riker is reassigned to go over a terraforming colony bedeviled by pesky, genetically engineered wolves, a new first officer is assigned to the Enterprise. And he’s kwazy.

The irritatingly named Quintin Stone is sort of the Nick Locarno to Peter David’s later Mackenzie Calhoun. Brooding rogue, troubled past, gets the job done, you know how it goes. It’s a pretty unabashed power fantasy/Mary Sue in New Frontier, but there the whole thing is so over the top and tongue in cheek that you really can’t take it too seriously. Quintin, on the other hand, is more played for drama--for most of the story, there’s a question as to whether he’s outright homicidally insane. Luckily, Troi is on top of things, checking on his mental well-being and also kinda being his love interest, like a literal version of this gif.

Spoiler alert: It turns out he’s deeply traumatized by a not wholly believable incident in his past*, so good on ya for catching that one, Troi. 

Looking back on it, this book would almost seem to count as a deconstruction of the ‘broody antihero’ trope, showing that the character type just doesn’t work in TNG. He infuriates most of the cast and doesn’t get the girl, while those who are taken in by him are presented as saps (yup, Wesley). 

Speaking of New Frontier, with the self-aware jokeyness and tongue-in-cheek acknowledgment of Trek’s campier elements, would it be fair to say PAD was ahead of the curve in predicting the modern incarnation of Trek? Its take on Star Trek would definitely fit in with the Kelvinverse movies and especially with The Orville, which is pretty much the people’s choice for Trek these days.

*Okay, I get the interpretation of the Prime Directive as not interfering or revealing yourself to alien cultures until they develop warp drive, at which point they’re going to figure out you’re there anyway. And if you can stop an asteroid from wiping them out without them knowing about it, fine. Cool. I get that. But I don’t get Star Trek stories where the PD means you can’t interfere with the Romulans’ development, even though they’re showing up on your doorstep every other week and shooting at you. It’s like saying if Hitler 2.0 showed up in Germany and started amassing power, the US shouldn’t try to discourage that shit or, I guess, engage in any diplomacy whatsoever. It’s mindbogglingly isolationist. And isn’t it arguable that part of a culture’s natural development is interacting with other cultures? Like the back and forth between America and Japan driving forward the medium of animation?

The One Where Picard Nearly Bangs Guinan’s Sister

This one has a bit of nontroversy attached to it, because it came out while Star Trek was still kind of hashing out the Borg, so there’s a disclaimer at the beginning basically going

The gist of it is that Borg aren’t supposed to have gender (a bunch of people with blue hair just had their ears perk up, didn’t they?), but PAD here has a drone that gets detached from the Collective and is a girl. It seems pretty self-evident to me--Picard gets assimilated, they get him back, he’s still a dude, so why wouldn’t it work that way with a chick? But this is back when assimilation wasn’t the Borg’s m.o. the way it would later become. They assimilate a Ferengi in this book (yup) and it’s kind of a big deal. Oh, and as you might’ve guessed, Girl Borg bears a few similarities to Seven of Nine, who would show up later in the franchise, although PAD’s take on it is more “we rescued a girl from a serial killer’s basement after ten years and she’s totally catatonic,” less “what is this human emotion you call ‘kissing’?”

Good thing we have Deanna Troi, a counselor, to ease Girl Borg through the healing process. Oh, wait, she basically takes one look at GB and goes

Thanks for the help, Troi. I guess this subplot is supposed to prove that it’s pointless to try to save any assimilated person other than Picard, because mentally they’re already dead, so might as well just have a bunch of fun guiltlessly blowing them away

(And that goes for you too, audience.) But still, bit of a downer. At least Spock would’ve tried a mind-meld.

There’s also this chick Delcara, who in a pretty XXtra Flamin' Hot narrative choice is like Picard’s soulmate and he’s sort of in love with her slash obsessed with her after having a psychic vision of her in Starfleet Academy and y’know? TNG might’ve opened the door to this by having Crusher bang a ghost, but we should close that door. We should close it right now.

(By the way, in case you’re wondering if this Guinan’s sister business means Picard is down with the swirl, it turns out she’s Guinan’s adopted sister, so is it just me or is that weirdly ambiguous? She’s a beautiful black woman and Picard wants to do her. You can come out and say it, book. No one minds.)

Anyway, Delcara is piloting one of dem planet-killers from back in TOS--in hindsight, it’s weird that the Abrams movies never did anything with the one big Death Star-y thing that actually is canon to TOS, isn’t it? They gave Khan and Nero ridiculously super-sized ships, but the one kaiju that’s actually in continuity, nothing--on a vendetta against the Borg, who basically killed her family twice over. Man, if only there were some kind of psychologist on board the Enterprise to help her through that trauma.

I sense she feels great bitterness, Captain.

Yeah, why does she get a seat next to the Captain again? Let Worf have that seat. How is it fair that he has to stand around all day, he actually does stuff!

Anyhoo, as you might’ve guessed from the opening set on a holographic rendition of Don Quixote, with a Data Discussion(tm) of quixotic endeavors... and the fact that Delcara intends to totally wipe out the Borg, gosh, I wonder if she’ll succeed--this one’s something of a downer. It does give the promised Planet Killer on Borg Cube action for those fanboys who’ve wondered who would win in a wrassling match, and Picard learns a valuable lesson about not pursuing suicidal vendettas against the Borg, which he definitely takes to heart...

(Wow, he did that one-handed? What kind of gains does Sir Patrick have?)

But still... bit depressing.

The One Where Bones Becomes A Space Pirate

Another giant novel, I’m surprised this one never got raided for parts in any adaptation. Even on the page, it’s pretty breathtakingly cinematic, and yet, the only part of it that’s really been used is, if you squint, Bob Burnham in Discovery being a disgraced Starfleeter.

The premise is that, some months ago, the TOS Enterprise crew was involved in a breaking of the Prime Directive that resulted in the destruction of a world and the ‘Enterprise 5′ of bridge officers blamed for the tragedy being shunned and hated wherever they go (ah, that utopian Star Trek future, predicting an entire population that’s politically engaged). 

Now, with the command crew scattered, everyone’s trying to get back to the planet where it all happened to find out what tf went down for reals. In a bit of a stretch, this is really hard for them--no one seems to be able to call in a favor or hire Han Solo to take them there or anything, which I suppose is in keeping with Star Trek 3′s similar situation six years prior. They don’t have to go so far as to steal a Constitution-class this time. I suppose it’s fitting for the wild and woolly TOS era. In TNG time, they’d probably be able to dial a Space Uber. (As it turns out, it seems like if they’d just coordinated their plans, they all could’ve hitched a ride with Spock, but then there’d be no book, much less a Giant Book.)

Anyway, Kirk’s been court-martialed and is working as an asteroid miner, Chekov and Sulu fall in with Orion pirates, Spock is challenging the whole thing in court, and Uhura’s in jail........oh. It’s like that, huh, Starfleet?

Like I said, most of the plot involves the crew going off on all their separate adventures, eventually getting the band back together and figuring out what went down. Apparently, the book was criticized for its nonlinear structure, but I think it worked out really well. Starting months after the incident, with everyone disgraced, gets you pumped to find out what happened. Then when they flashback to the shit going down, there’s a great sense of foreboding because you know something is going to happen, just not what exactly. 

If I can make a criticism, it’s that after some great build-up, the ending seems a bit anticlimactic. The nature of the threat requires some unbelievable Hollywood Evolution to buy (nothing new for Star Trek, admittedly, and this is a crew that’s fresh off meeting Apollo and Abraham Lincoln) and while it is fitting that they’re able to resolve the situation without blowing up anything or punching anyone (Star Trek loves to talk the talk about how anti-military it is, then end their movie with some Klingons getting blasted), it still seems a little... dry. You’re not going to have Kirk hang off of anything, story? Not even a little? Okay. I still had fun. 

And you’ll note that once again, Deanna Troi was of no help whatsoever. Geez, woman, you’re oh for three here!

[thelaithlyworm]

So I’m about halfway through season 2 of Star Trek: The Next Generation. The quality has risen sharply from season 1. (I had no noticeable taste when I first saw this show, but I see what they mean by “growing the beard”.)

Wesley is a lot more agreeable now he’s been folded into the apprentice officer category, learning ship operations and people management and... how to be part of a structure instead of just The Smartest Kid in the Room. There’s more to Starfleet than just being smart, and I appreciate that this season is quietly making that point. (There was also an enthusiastic young ensign, Sonia Gomez, who was there for two episodes before disappearing - I suspect they’d been testing her out for the main cast, and I’m sorry she didn’t stick because she was frickin’ adorable. A bit like Tilly from Discovery.)

Dr Crusher was swapped out for another character, Pulaski, who I hate with the white-hot passion of a thousand blazing suns. In that she’s kind of an expy of Bones I feel robbed, because a salty old lady would have been fun. But the show introduces her “saltiness” by having her publicly and constantly demeaning and diminishing Data as a soulless machine. She eventually shuts up, around the time he goes through a trial to establish his right not to be vivisected, but - not even Klingon tea ceremonies can change my feelings on this. She should be up on charges for harassment. Anyway. Moving on.

Characterisation in general is more nuanced and intense. There are some lovely moments - Picard and Wesley alone in a shuttle for hours, with the kid’s nerves and Picard’s complicated feelings about the surgery he’s about to go through, and why he needs it, and what he was like when *he* was a kid. Patrick Stewart’s background in Shakespeare really showed through; it was glorious. Also, Worf describing Klingon romance, eyes dreamy. (”No, the woman yells. And throws heavy objects. The man recites love poetry and ducks a lot...” *happy sigh*)

For anyone else doing a rewatch, I’d advise skipping “Up the Long Ladder”, which starts with a threefer of making fun of the Irish, making fun of refugees, and making fun of farmers who *gasp* keep chickens and get their hands dirty. And then it gets worse...

I feel conflicted, because I’ve heard Marina Sirtis speak bitterly about her costumes, but Deanna Troi looks so lovely in the burgundy jumpsuit she wears this season? Sigh. I like it textually, too, because of the implication that Troi didn’t train in Starfleet but a Betazoid service, and was seconded onto the ship. It’s just a bit of possible world expansion that I like. Also, my current head-canon is that Betazoids used to breed themselves for psychic powers and perhaps still do: Deanna is a part of a fancy-schmancy family with a history of arranged marriages and - she habitually reads the feelings of people at astronomical distances, for example a Romulan ship-commander while the ship is cloaked. That is one hell of a detection system, and no wonder the counsellor is usually sitting on the bridge. So... *shrug* maybe she’s exceptional even compared to other Betazoids.

(I’m currently watching the episode where Deanna’s mother turns up with her empathy going haywire and v. v. horny. At this point I could talk about the stereotype of the horny older woman, or the implied tragedy of not being able to trust your own senses when you hit a certain age - compare with Sarek’s Bendii Syndrome next season - but she chews the scenery with such flair, and it’s not like we haven’t been drowning in sexually predaceous male characters... So good for you, Madame Troi. You go, girl! And casually identify some assassins on the way out, because you are, in fact, an awesome lady.) 

So... pretty good so far.

**

Holy shit, the next ep has Worf’s Klingon/Human sort-of-ex-girlfriend. I seriously didn’t have any taste when I first watched this because I don’t remember her at all and she is  a m a z i n g. (I love a deep-voiced woman.) K’Ehleyr has some interesting Child of Two Worlds conflict, which is even more interesting when I compare her to B’Elanna, and Voq from Discovery. Plus she’s intelligent, pragmatically brave, got some burning UST with Worf... Wow. I hope she comes back.

[speedygal]

Kirk Prime grieving

If we ignore Star Trek: Generations. And if Jim outlived Bones as Spock did, there’s a good chance Jim was alive on the Enterprise E waiting in their shared quarters when Spock was taken into the anomaly. Beware, this post will squash your heart, put it together, and then tear it apart again.

He would have felt their bond severed because quantum mechanics. How painful it must have been for Jim. Imagine how heart broken he was. How soon  do you think the grief would have overwhelmed him? He saw what happened through the window and he knows. Poor Jim is alone. Because everyone he knew is dead. Spock was the last one. Imagine Jim wavering through the stages of grief taking it pretty hard. Jim’s in denial that Spock is truly gone from his life. He packs what belongings they brought with them and notices their Enterprise crew family portrait is missing. He assumes Spock took it and that he is coming back soon. Spock knew he was going to die and took it with him because he rather not be alone because he discovered he has the onset of Bendii’s.. And Jim was right, he will die alone. Spock preferred not to bring Jim with him and wanted to be remembered the way Jim sees him now than a illogical,wasting irrational Vulcan. Spock wanted to spare Jim of seeing him fall apart.

Jim is approached by Picard who merely says, “I grieve with thee.” and Jim just has a forced smile thanking him for the comment. Jim thinks Spock could have survived. He could have survived. And he is hallucinating. The medical officer checks Jim over and recommends Jim goes to Vulcan to a healer to help him. Jim is approached by Geordi La Forge who knows how he feels about losing a loved one. Jim feels insulted because Geordi lost Data once not twice. Geordi mentions how they lost Data previously to a collector. Jim is dumbfounded. Geordi makes the point that Data came back just like Spock did and he is grateful for that, he also tells him that Spock would likely not want him to be going down that road. Geordi is right. Geordi asks if Jim still has some friends or family to be with him. Jim doesn’t feel appropriate to visit Peter Kirk’s family or Joanna’s grandchildren. He doesn’t feel himself at the moment to visit family. Jim sees Spock throughout the day and he has to remind himself that his Vulcan is gone. He then realizes he could have gone with Spock. He could have spared himself being alone. The Enterprise takes a few days to get to Vulcan. Jim gets a message from Deanna and Riker. He gets one from Alexander who is on another ship including a visit from Wesley.

Tryla Scott, a engineer, approaches Jim and tells him of how Uhura had raised her grandfather with Christine Chapel while being a product of Scotty and Uhura’s DNA. He grandmother raised her with some help from Scotty when she would not get her head out of hover cars while fixing them. Her father was a science officer.  Tryla only knew Scotty for such a short period of time before he passed and offers her shoulder for him to cry on. She’s a commander by this point after her career was restarted for a fair chance at climbing the ladder due to the parasite’s involvement.  Jim sees a lot of Uhura in Tryla and the twinkle in her eye that Scotty would have. Jim is thrilled to meet someone like her. He tells her stories of Scotty that he hadn’t written in his autobiography. Jim tells her some stories of Nyota Uhura’s time on the Enterprise. The embarrassing ones. They both share laughs at the humiliating Uhura stories. It helped them both with their still aching loss for their close friends. Tryla has to go on her shift and makes the wish that they had more time to talk with the sentence starter “If only. . .”

Jim wonders what would have happened if Spock got there in time. If the sun never went supernova. If Spock came back then everything would be okay. If the Vulcan managed to succeed. If he could go back in time and beam Spock out from his death. . . Jim then does research about the age of the planet’s sun to discover it was done by someone. It was set to supernova prematurely. Jim is outraged. He goes into a holodeck and sets up a room full of breakables. A replica of his quarters post the wrath of khan in  San Francisco. He destroys everything. And he terminates the program with wet, teary red eyes and struggles to regain his composure. He goes past several ensigns, Klingons, who are going to have exercise in the holodeck. Jim visits the counselor of the USS Enterprise E. He needs someone to talk to. He drinks some hot chocolate and talks about how he is feeling lately. It’s a good session. Jim leaves the counselors office feeling better but depressed. He has had nightmares of  different time where his father died heroically, growing up reckless and bold and his brother running away, and meeting Bones on a recruitment shuttle. And nearly losing Captain Pike to a mad Romulan. Spock and he not on good terms with a love-hate relationship. Spock, alive, alone---it’s his worst nightmare when he sees a dream of Spock in a cave during the ride to Vulcan. “James Tiberius Kirk, how did you find me?” with what relief was in his voice. That dream made him wake up crying. Jim’s certain its his mind plying tricks on him and that his wish for Spock to be alive is torturing him.

He is mellowing out and spends most of his time in the quarters with a headache.  The headache is painful and it is hurting. It feels like someone yanked his entire being out. The noble, living organic half is gone. And all that is left is a vulnerable man with glasses and a big, kind helpful heart. Jim weathers it because he has gone through worse. He thinks of the Tarsus Nine and it makes him even more depressed because he is the only one left. Everyone he knew is gone, enemies, frenemies, old friends, and so on. Koloth is gone. Trelane is still around but he refers to himself as Q. Those Jim knew personally  from his time are gone. The new people here make Jim feel like he doesn’t belong. Like he is a relic of a golden era. That is bygone. He expects Spock by his side and McCoy,too. It feels unreal not to have them. It makes Jim feel emotional how he is still alive when Spock was supposed to be the one who outlived the crew. Not Jim. When he’s alone on the way to the healer he talks to himself. It’s helpful for Jim to feel not alone and it comforts him that they are with him in some way. He sent his findings to Star Fleet  with the entire report written in caps. He arrives to the healers place of work and he doesn’t look fine himself. The severed bond is repaired and his mental shields are put full throttle up. Jim leaves Vulcan and goes to Riverside to the old house. Sometimes he thinks he hears McCoy talking to him. The medicine Doctor Crusher had given him when he came to her ‘med bay’ is working with the hallucinations and they don’t continue as the severed bond condition has been taken care of. Jim’s nightmares get worse. Spock meeting Spock. Seeing his Spock looking down at the photograph. Awakening in the middle of the night from that image. He recalls a conversation he shared with McCoy when they were sitting back and relaxing on shore leave from a recent adventure on the USS Enterprise  A contemplating a point made by one of the natives regarding how powerful of a force the triumvirate are. Largely considered a entity on the planet. “What are we, science or magic?” “A tragedy,darlin'.”

He has machines that take care of the house when he doesn’t feel like it. Jim eats less and does not go to town often. He is utterly depressed. And these nightmares are not helping. Jim sleeps in often and he attempts to make a new life without Spock. Somehow,four months later a stray cat sneaks into his house and curls up beside Jim on a empty bed. The cat makes Jim a lot better. He ends up adopting a lot of stray cats and taking care of them and ooops, he’s the neighborhood catman. McCoy would have been highly amused. Jim can hear his husbands comment on this in his mind. The kids on the farm come pouring in with rat problems and Jim happily gives away the kittens the cats make when they are old enough. Before Jim knows it, he has moved on and accepted that Spock’s gone now. Now all that is left is that one cat which entered his life. Christmas was a blurr to him and he doesn’t remember celebrating it nor Halloween or thanksgiving. Jim feels light on his feet and himself again with a cat perched on his shoulder when he goes to town. No one is surprised anymore with the cat that has no eyes. Jim calls the cat David. Jim, a retired admiral living off his pension, goes sailing with the cat to distract himself. The pain’s better now. Just a gentle ache in his heart. And goes out of his way to help people he comes across. The cat is usually on his shoulder. The cat is what wakes Jim up every morning and comes over to him to be petted when he is feeling sour/bitter/sad. It can sense these things. One day, David acts strangely in the morning. Jim lets him out and attends to house chores when he sees a familiar figure in the hall. He drops the empty mug. The machines clean the mess as Jim processes what he just saw. He admonishes himself for thinking who he thinks it is because they are dead and he is not. It breaks his heart to see a hallucination. Jim shoves down that heartbreak and vaporizes it internally.  He gets another mug and makes himself coffee. He misses Spock and McCoy.  He misses McCoy worrying about Jim and his health. Spock gently reassuring the doctor that he is fine even some reassurance from Jim himself. He misses hearing them and seeing them. He misses his crew. His sleeping habits have improved because of the cats and the nightmares are over.

Tryla gets a promotion to captaincy earlier so then she arrives to Riverside. She is excited to talk face to Face with her grandmother’s mother’s commanding officer because he feels like family and tell him the news rather than talk through messaging. Jim had been sending message after message to her regarding Scotty and Uhura that spills to stories about the core command crew. She could make a collection of stories or a documentary series with Jim as the talking head in them. She would rather make it when it feels appropriate. He had so much time on his hands.  He did the recording in front of a aesthetically pleasing wall. He just sent her that morning a copy of the holovid he sent to Spock for becoming Ambassador because he ran out of stories to tell. She drives the hover-car rental to the Kirk residence. She get out then knocks on the door until she notices the door is unlocked. She calls Jim out as the camera goes through each room that is empty and intact. The kitchen,the living room, the dining room, the guest rooms, the closet,the bathrooms, as Star trek: TOS song plays gradually turning into the cinematic version of it, and the main bedroom with the bed made where above it is portraits of the crew. Tryla grows frantic searching for Jim until she gets to the backyard. Jim is lying by the garden motionless with his eyes open and wearing gloves with a garden shovel resembling Voyager in his right hand. It is even modeled and designed to be that way. Try attempts to resuscitate him and calls the authorities. Jim Kirk died alone. He is formally pronounced dead thirteen minutes later. Somewhere, far away,Spock just arrived into a alternate timeline with a severed bond. It is guaranteed with his ailment, he will not die alone.

The End.