#Tuvok: [an alien + wants to move on from this] Who's to say?

[bumblingbabooshka]

Don’t ask Tuvok for Relationship Advice.

[thegeminisage]

star trek update time! last night we watched voy's "day of honor" and "nemesis."

day of honor:

this one was...fine. i like tom paris more since he didn't fuck b'elanna but i don't always like how he talks to her

at the same time, even though it is both racist and fantasy racist to give your latina klingon character the temper, b'elanna DOES snap at people a lot and i can't exactly blame tom for taking offense, ESPECIALLY since most of his recent episodes have just him being perfectly normal like "omg hey how did your klingon thing go :)" "SHUT UP, TOM!!!1!1!!"

but also, if this was her big "i love you" moment, i feel like we could have had a better buildup than them having the same argument they've had for the last couple of tom and b'elanna episodes which is b'elanna telling tom to leave her alone in all capital letters over anything from a minor offensive to something that's legit and tom going "damn b'elanna if you keep pushing me away then yeah i'll stop trying [doesn't stop trying]"

i did like b'elanna's realization here at the end that she was a coward emotionally even if she was willing to throw down. women's wrongs!! it just felt like it didn't have enough buildup and what buildup there was was old ground

also did not like the aliens this episode. the prosthetics are always jaw-droppingly impressive, but they are not necessarily unhorrible to look at. furthermore, janeway was like yeah man we'll give you as much food as we can possibly spare and these aliens were like damn thats it? you guys suck! kind of a dick move.

nemesis:

i know other people like this episode, but...eugh.

the alien language could have been good. i think the way they talked about time was neat. in the soonafter or the wayafter. other times it was just replacing words with other words, like "smart" and "sharp." i get what they were doing, slowly having chakotay speak it alongside them, but it was a little much

also like...you can say they raped people without having this soldier ACTUALLY TOUCH this little 8 year old's face in a suggestive manner. jesus

like...yes, hate bad, you are not immune to propaganda, and we love to see chakotay have problems, but the first half of this episode was boring and the second half was a little heavy-handed

that said, i do really conceptually like giving chakotay a baby, especially since we got baby-baited back in season 2. i just wish the circumstances had been more fun

i also did really like that it was tuvok who went in after him and tuvok whomst he almost shot AND tuvok who successfully talked him down. i want them to hate fuck so so so so so so bad <3

this episode could have been good but idk the execution just didn't do it for me. it has been awhile since we traumatized chakotay though and i can't wait for the next one

TONIGHT: voy's "revulsion" and "the raven."

[nebulouscoffee]

10, 15, 35, 43 for the Trek ask game?

Thank youuuu and sorry for the late answer! Love these questions <3

10. Which alien pet would you most want for your own?

Honestly I have always been very charmed by Worf's childhood pet domesticated targ (portrayed by Russian wild boar Emmy-Lou😂) - but I would happily adopt a Bajoran hara cat, Cardassian vole, or that cute lizard who climbs over Jadzia on the jungle planet

Anyway look at this lil guy!!!

15. Top 3 favorite alien crewmembers?

Oooh, this is tough. Am I choosing my favs overall, or based on how much I like their alien-ness specifically? If it's the former, then Kira, B'Elanna, and Dax - if it's the latter, then Odo, Worf, and Saru (Discovery). (Deanna and Kes leaving you out Hurt Me but they didn't write you alien enough for the latter list!! Still top 5 favs though <3)

35. A minor character you wish had become a main character?

Okay let's talk about the long-form arc potential both Seska and Suder had. Literally my favourite thing about the Suder episodes is the questions about restorative justice they raise- is there any point in locking a man up after he's sincerely reformed and no longer dangerous? Is it possible to be? Is it fair to the victim's loved ones to give him the right to roam around like nothing happened? What sort of thing could count as "reparations" in Voyager's situation? What if they really had been stranded with him for 75 years? Would he ever have been able to move on from what he did? What sort of hobbies might he take up in his new life? What would it take to win Janeway's trust? Would the victim's friends ever forgive him? Would he rather disembark the ship and start anew somewhere, or remain with his own people? Would he have been able to make new friends? Are you reading this string of questions in Jonathan Frakes's voice too? Would our main characters all have been able to get past his actions? Would it cause disagreements? How would his relationship with Tuvok have progressed? What issues would their getting back to Earth early raise for him? ... Aaaaand then the show decided to give us none of that😂 (well. except for Jonathan Frakes in a brief cameo that is :D) As for Seska I really don't know what they were thinking with her lol. She starts off as such a promising villain- literally the "reveal" in 'State of Flux' gives me chills! And you can actually understand her actions, her unexpected attachments to Chakotay and the crew. Instead of the whole pregnancy subplot (which made no sense) I would've loved to have seen her grow increasingly afraid she'd made a mistake in teaming up with the Kazon, and try to defect back to Voyager - the questions that would raise would be similar to Suder's, though in this case a bit more personal for characters like Chakotay and B'Elanna. Is she for real? Is she just doing this to trick them again? How do the Bajoran crew members feel about this? What would it take for her to win back people's trust? Say she does something messed up again, does she get a third chance? Would she make friends with Seven of Nine; someone she never personally betrayed who is also seeking redemption for past actions? Society if we'd gotten her as a regular character all the way till S7 - like an actually great redemption arc, where she ends up on good terms with a lot of them by the end (sort of like what they did with Garak on DS9) - ahhh the possibilities!!!

43. Order of shows from most to least favorite?

This is hard😅 okay I'm going to tier rank them that's easier!

Fav tier: DS9 (It's the best <3) Second tier: TNG (I can't not put it here this show literally changed my life) & VOY (has wonderful characters and has also become very important to me) Third tier: TOS movies (love them), Discovery (I have developed a nostalgia for it by now. Plus Michael is blorbo!) Fourth tier: TOS, SNW, Enterprise, Lower Decks (shows I've enjoyed but only really seen once so far) and I guess the AOS movies lol (imo 'Beyond' is the best one) Fifth tier: Picard (if it was just the first season it would've been higher! I actually liked that one) & the TNG movies (ugh) (I am yet to see TAS and Prodigy)

[foone]

Now I'm just imagining an exhausted Star Fleet engineer who has to manage the holodecks and she keep getting called in to rescue two(sometimes more) clueless lesbians who just wanted to do some bdsm and now the safeties being off has caused them to nearly get themselves killed.

And if course, there's safeties on the safeties, so they hacked around the switch, which means now she can't remotely turn the safeties back on, or cancel the program.

She's gotta go in there herself and free them.

She's shot Dr. Chaotica twice this week alone.

She's always freeing deeply thankful women who try to cover her in kisses but she's gotta get back to doing a level 2 diagnostic on the plasma manifold.

She's like "look, girls: stop doing this. I'm not gonna report you to security this time, but you could get killed. Here's a PADD on how to modify a program so it doesn't consider most BDSM activities to be harm. Then you can get tied up and spanked all you want without the risk of holograms trying to kill you for real. "

A few days later, the captain beeps* her and asks if she's done with retrofitting the alien artifact to work with their engines. "almost done, Captain. I would have been done an hour ago but I got called away to fight a spider."

There's a pause, then that quick and curt "Explain."

"there was a holodeck malfunction and I had to go in and rescue two poor Ensigns from Shelob**."

"ahh. Another 'safeties failure'?"

"You got it, Captain. Fortunately, even 5 meter arachnids can be scared off by a little fire."

"how much 'little' are we talking?"

"... A slightly modified M9A1-7 flamethrower with an internal replicator and antihydrogen generator for effectively infinite fuel"

"I see. Well, I'm sure" (she can hear the facepalm through the comm link) "that you'll impress upon them the seriousness of holodeck malfunctions, and remind them that tampering with the safeties is against regulations and they could be seriously punished if they ever engage in it." (the word "again" is diplomatically omitted).

"Honestly captain, threatening them with 'serious punishment' is unlikely to help. But yes, I'll be sure to give them a good talking to."

"Indeed. Let me know when you have the artifact integrated. Captain*** out".

* what is the verb for when they tap their comm badge and go like "Captain to Tuvok: what's the situation in the engine room?". Comming? Badging?

** they were playing LOTR with them as (genderswapped**** Frodo and Sam. Lots of middle-earth kink you can get up to in that program, especially if you apply that patch that makes the armies of Sauron merely capture and torture***** you for information. Unfortunately Shelob is not marked as a minion of Sauron, so... She's not affected, and will merely try to kill you. With the safeties off, she might.

*** I know exactly who this captain and engineer are, but explaining that AU would take longer than the rest of the post. There's transitions, a throuple, characters moving from one show to another... It's a mess!

**** the default way the holodeck works is to just not care about genders of the players. Like you could tell it to load up a Sherlock Holmes program and if you walk in wearing a dress and go "I'm Sherlock", the most difference that'll happen is Watson might go "I say, that dress looks lovely on you, Sherlock!" and the story continues as usual.

***** in the BDSM sense, of course. The patch makes it seem like the Uruk-hai had a real thing for shibari, forced orgasms, and qamDu' (an Klingon fetish that's strickly forbidden on all Federation ships)

a yuri scenario…..

[sshbpodcast]

The needs of these few: The best Vulcans in Star Trek

By Ames

[Updated 1/28/24 to include how awesome Mestral is!]

Get ready for some logic puzzles as A Star to Steer Her By asks the most complicated riddle there is: who are our favorite Vulcan characters across all of Star Trek? When these green-blooded brain boxes show up, you know things are about to get real, smart, and often a little too sarcastic for their own good. We’ve said it before: the one emotion Vulcans are allowed to display is smug.

So put on your pointed ears, arch your eyebrow a little bit, pick up the nearest lirpa, and follow along with the rationality of our top Vulcans below and on this week’s podcast episode (discussion starts at 57:15). Things are about to get fascinating.

[images © CBS/Paramount] 

Ames – Logic was made to be broken

Tuvok

Mestral

Valeris

Edit 1/28/24: I’m swapping in Mestral now that we’ve watched some more Enterprise and I just love this guy! Sorry, Mirror Spock. For my list, I’ve gravitated towards characters just doing what they think is right in very very different ways. They manage to bend the logic for whatever situation they’re in, by adhering to their rational beliefs on the long journey home from the Delta Quadrant by, by adapting to life among humans when a crash landing forces their hand, and finally by scheming against the Klingons in a very elaborate plot that, hey, made sense at the time!

—

Chris – Tri-dimensional chess tournament

Spock (TOS)

Tuvok

Sybok

Chris’s picks are only logical: they’re some of the most three-dimensional Vulcans of the franchise who were really paramount in defining what the logical race was all about. We obviously see this in our very first Vulcan who wrote the book on the subject (several times), also in the consistent and complex Vulcan who sticks to every nuance of his character even while 70 years away from home, and even in the rebellious and emotional Vulcan who reminds us of their roots. Check mate.

—

Caitlin – The Vulcan “How You Doin’?”

Sybok

Sarek (DIS)

Tuvok

We’ll see in Caitlin’s picks three Vulcans who have been and always will be our friends. These are characters who will go the distance for their friends and family, whether that may be by inviting them into his mostly well-meaning cult and taking their pain away, by taking in a ward whose parents were killed and teaching her the real Vulcan Hello, or by putting up with Neelix even when he’s been cooking up a storm all day. Now that’s what I call the needs of the many!

—

Jake – You say you want a revolution

Sarek (TOS/TNG)

T’Pau (ENT)

Mirror Spock

Jake’s favorite Vulcans are cornerstones of their societies, paving the way quite literally for those who come after them. We’ll start off with the literal father of Star Trek Vulcans whose marriage to a human woman formed the whole basis for the show, move along to a woman who proves to be pivotal in Vulcan history and a badass to boot, and round things off in the mirror universe with a Vulcan captain able to see his dimension for what it is and make strides to change it!

—

Well this has gone pon farr enough! That’s enough logic for today, so make sure you join us next week for more of our favorites of all the alien races across Star Trek. You should also keep up with our voyage through Voyager on SoundCloud, mindmeld with us on Facebook and Twitter, and live long and prosper!

[benka79]

Unrequited Love, But Not really

Tom Paris x Harry Kim (st voy meta)

I know I talked about Harry and his inner war with his own feelings and the clown representing his fears to face his gay love for Paris here, but... After "The Chute"...

All the episodes were foreshadowing something... Mostly gay subtext for KimRis.

Let's see ...

Bisexual characters, the most important, Kes being possesed by an evil mind, and the guy in her body was OBVIOUSLY BISEXUAL by selecting one woman and one man to be his lovers. (Also... Introducing the idea of poly-love for the incoming Kim/Paris/Torres).

The big decision between leaving or staying: Janeway deciding between go to the light or staying in the Voyager. Kes deciding between go for adventures with a handsome alien or staying in the Voyager. The alien that took the shape of an hologram deciding between the loneliness of her space station or come back to his planet. Tuvok deciding between go to the surface of the elevator or stay inside with the others.

The love triangle, unrequited love, passionate repressed feelings. Dark side. Jealous. A lot of characters fighting against their own desires, dark wishes. Sexual instincts. We had Tuvok helping Harry to suppress his feelings and desires for an impossible love (subtextually this applies to Tom, but textually, they symbolized it with the alien/hologram). Then, let's talk about the Vulcan with his pon farr it's a clear example of it. And making Kim going through meditation to try to control his dark feelings, adds more subtext to his desires on suppress something inside of him he's rejecting: the love for his best friend. Another huge example was the parallel with the Doctor and Kes. The Doctor said he was the darkest feeling, he was obssesed with Kes, trying to keep her close to him, trying to steal her from her lover. The jealousy and the passion gave built that new character inside of him. We were witnessing again a war inside of the Doctor. As we will see in Paris trying to make Kim stay in the Voyager.

And these little details... Chakotay's wound on his forehead was a foreshadow for Harry's tattoos in his forehead in 3x20. Neelix saying to the alien he likes Tuvok and he wishes the feeling were reciprocated, it's showing us the unrequited love idea placed inside of Kim and Paris about their love for each other. Paris saying to that girl in the 90s 'I won't find someone like you' and then the Chute happens and he literally INVITES HARRY TO A DATE (pic nic) and Harry just ruin it SAYING THEY SHOULD ASK THE DELANY'S SISTERS TOO. Like NO HOMO AFTER THE MOST HOMO EXPERIENCE OF THEIR LIVES IN THE PRISSON WHEN TOM LITERALLY CLAIMED HIM AS HIA SEXUAL PARTNER???

Neelix is representing Harry's instincts, romanticism and Tuvok is his reason, trying to suppress his love for his best friend.

Inside Janeway's mind, Tom and Harry are more than friends. In the episode in which Captain Janeway dies, when Harry is saying his speech to say goodbye to the captain, his voice cracks and immediately Tom is by his side, touching his shoulder and comforting him, and the atmosphere is not platonic at all. Tom is almost glued at him, and he touches Harry and stares at him lovely, and then guides him to a corner, and remains there with him.

Not to mention when we arrive to 'Favorite Son', Tom's reaction, (overreacting for a simple platonic bro), as Harry caress that girl cheek. Not only that, but the way he longingly and worriedly, he keeps himself to a side, watching Harry closely. The camera is always showing him to a side but eyes locked on his friend.

Tom's eyes filled with terror when Chakotay says they can't track Harry's signal to teleport him.

And when Harry is back, he is still kind is away from Harry, Neelix is between them, talking about how special Ensign Kim is. And then, again, Tom's reaction when Harry confess he would like to be more like him. (And Neelix sneaking in the background when he heard Harry saying that to Tom, like, Neelix knows.) Tom's face there is priceless. A mix of surprise and sadness. And also, love. Desperately trying to show he is not a role model, and mentioning THEY COULD ENDED UP IN PRISON again, why? Because they already were together in prison. And that experience marked him, why? Because the intimacy they shared over there was overwhelming. And because he will remover Harry's words for a very long time. And because he wanted to date alone with him after that experience, but Harry brought the Delaney sisters to it. And that's why Tom decided his interest in having something else that just friendship was unrequited. Just like all the foreshadows about unrequited love we had previously to this episode. So... Here we are now. Tom will try to forget his own feeling by B'elanna's side.

I know what you think about that alternative future in which Tom marries Kes, and Harry marries Linx, their daughter. But ... Remember Tom had lost his faith into having something else with Harry that's why he moved to B'elanna, and now to Kes... When he is recalling their marriage, the only moment he brings is the one in which HARRY WAS VERY NERVOUS AND DROPPED THE CHAMPAGNE ALL OVER HIM, (I wonder if this was a symbolism of jealousy from Harry) and Harry marries Tom's daughter, like? She looks exactly like Tom. Do you copy me?

Another thing is Neelix in his kitchen offering the same food for three days and Tom yearning for 'trying something different' (it could be taken as if he were tired of women -maybe try some Harry-, but it also could be related to B'elanna, bc she's different from other girls) And also the piece of the story Tom snatched from B'elanna's hands and then he reads, it's the exactly description of what happened between him and Harry in 'The Chute', when Harry was about to kill him, but he stopped.

To Conclude:

All the romantic foreshadows, the topic of "coming out" and "fears" in season 2 with that clown and Harry, and the bisexuality in season 3 can add to the homoerotic subtext between Harry and Tom. It's clear to me that after "The Chute" the intimacy Tom and Harry reached compound into fears to his own feelings, trying to repress it even with Vulcan technics (Harry) and tasting waters while trying to date without girls, pining in silence, searching for another one who make him forget about the feeling of being unrequited (Tom). And please... So much homoerotism when Tom kiss the Holo girl and immediately goes after Harry, inviting him to dinner with him, and massaging Harry's shoulder as they walk away from the holodeck, (season 2), or when they are modifying Neelix Holo program, Harry call for Holo girls, but Tom asks for fruit cocktail (which is an innuendo for gay orgies) and offers one to Harry.

And then, both friend SHAMELESSLY MOANING IN PLEASURE ONE IN FRONT OF THE OTHER AS THE HOLO GIRLS ARE MASSAGING THEIR SHOULDERS? REALLY?

Okay, I will stop. I didn't see this coming when I was a little 13 years old watching Voyager for the first time... I just had to write all these things down.

[cautious-creation]

“Ensign.” “Commander.”

Fandom & Character: Star Trek:Voyager, Commander Chakotay

Pairing(s): Chakotay x 1st person female y/n

Word/page count: 3300ish words, 3.5 pages

CW/TW: fluff, superior officer x subordinate relationship, past loss of a grandparent, discussion of grief, power dynamic

Summary: an ensign and her commander fall in love in the Delta quadrant

“Ensign.” he walked into the lab, holding what I assumed was the information I needed,

”Commander?” it didn’t make much sense for him to come down to the lab to deliver it. He looked up from the data and gave me a smile in greeting, which put me at ease; at least there didn’t seem to be anything wrong. I returned the smile.

“I’ve got that data from Seven.” he handed me the data.

“Thank you, sir,” I turned in my seat back to my work station, “you really didn’t need to come down here, I was about to head to astrometrics.”  he leaned against the work station beside me, looking at another information pad he’d brought with him.

“Captain’s in command and I needed a break from the bridge. I’ve heard about how quiet it is down here this time of day.” he dismissed.

“That’s why I prefer this shift, sir.” he paused from his work, looking at me.

“You don’t need to be so formal, ensign. After two years stuck in the delta quadrant together I’d think we could all benefit from being a little more casual.” I chuckled.

“I’ll try. It’s become a bit of a habit. Early in my starfleet career I was told I had a tendency to speak a little too casually, particularly with senior officers. I had to… re-train… myself. I seemed to have unintentionally made a few officers feel disrespected.” I smiled, reminiscing.

He nodded in agreement, “I’ve always found it a little problematic, some senior officers seem to use it to stroke their egos.” I laughed,

“That was part of my problem.” he laughed with me. “I understand why it’s necessary, but some people take it too far and it gets in the way of strong relationships being formed by the crew.” he smiled, seeming to admire my perspective.

“I’m glad I came down here. I think we could have some very interesting conversations.” 

I nodded “I think so too.” 

He pushed off of the work bench, “I need to head back to the bridge, good luck with that assessment, ensign.” he headed for the door, giving a nod for farewell.

“Thank you… commander.” he gave me a smirk as he walked out the door. I grinned, turned back to my console to put that luck to use.

-

“Well, my professor for xenosociology seemed to have a burning hatred for students like me, who actually question things, so I decided to move to xenobiology and that ended up expanding out to botany, neurology, anatomy, I almost took a psychology course. That professor made me never want to take a sociology course again, and yet, I still keep on looking into it myself.” Chakotay and I both smiled fondly at the memories of our respective experiences at Starfleet academy.

“Considering the horror stories I’ve heard from some of my Maquis friends, I had smooth sailing through my days at the academy. Sociology is fascinating, but I’ve always loved anthropology.” 

“Anything else for you two?” Neelix came past our table, gathering our used dishes. It was something he tends to do when he’s trying to ‘subtly’ listen in on people’s conversations. He’d been doing it a lot when Chakotay and I had meals together.

“I’m alright thanks.” I looked at Chakotay, he shook his head,

“Thank you, Neelix.” Neelix gave a small nod and left the table.

I waited for Neelix to leave earshot before I spoke again.

“I think he might be spying on us.” I leaned forward and spoke in a playful whisper.

He chuckled “I’ve been told that our… association has become a subject of gossip among the crew.”

We smiled at each other.

“Well, aren’t they presumptuous.” he shook his head in amusement looking down at the table.

When he looked up, our gazes locked on one another. Everything around us seemed to go quiet. I tilted my  head to the side, a furrowed brow and slight smile on my face. He’s a handsome man, charming too. So kind and gentle, righteous, patient. A good man.

Subconsciously, my hand dragged along the table until the backs of my fingers touched the back of his hand. He hooked his index finger over mine. It was practically a ‘pinky swear’. Just that little bit of physical contact felt like so much. It was a good feeling. I looked down at our hands and sighed.

“Are you alright?” his question drew my gaze back to his now concerned expression. I gave a lazy smile and slowly nodded.

“I just… “ I decided to take a risk, “Why don’t we have dinner in my quarters this evening? There’s a family recipe I’ve been meaning to try and I could use the excuse to finally do it.” a small, thoughtful frown crossed his face as he looked at our hands.

“No obligation, commander. Just an option. I’ve put it off this long, and the recipe isn’t going anywhere.” I spoke softly.

“Actually, I was just thinking about timing. My shift ends at twenty hundred hours, yours starts at… oh three hundred?” I nodded, “That doesn’t give you much time to sleep.” his concern was sweet.

“I can manage with four to five hours.”

He beamed at me “Then, ensign, I accept your invitation.” 

I smiled. I couldn’t deny I was excited for this dinner. All our meals so far had been in the mess hall. I’d started to get uncomfortable with all the glances we’d get. Perhaps it’s a bit odd for an ensign and a ship’s first officer to spend so much time together, or to be so close with one another; but it’s not as if we’d been doing anything unsavoury and definitely nothing that would go against regulations. Little goes unnoticed on a ship like this and whatever gossip may be circulating is milked dry very quickly; any new material is quickly scavenged upon. I didn’t want to risk Chakotay’s reputation or even his position. Nothing unbecoming a Starfleet officer.

It would be nice to spend some off duty time together away from prying eyes. We’d come to enjoy each other’s company, and Chakotay was right, our conversations were quite interesting.

He was taking a sip of his coffee when Tuvok called him to the bridge. He excused himself, saying he’d see me later, I wished him luck on the bridge and went back to the novel I’d been reading. Neelix came by soon after Chakotay left, not-so-subtly prying into the nature of our relationship. I played dumb, not falling for any of his sneaky questions. It was amusing to watch him getting progressively more frustrated, my form of justice for his intrusion.

-

I spent that afternoon napping and cooking. At nineteen hundred hours I showered and changed out of my uniform. I couldn’t decide what to wear so I ended up putting on a fresh uniform, sans jacket. I spent probably more energy than I ought to on decisions like what tablecloth to use, candles or no candles, wine or no wine and I decided to only dim the lights slightly. I didn’t want to push it, we hadn’t defined the nature of our relationship, I’d prefer to go too platonic than too romantic.

Five minutes after twenty hundred hours my doorbell chimed and Chakotay presented me with a bottle of wine.

“Oh, fantastic. I couldn’t decide if I should open a bottle.” he smiled and I stepped aside to let him in. He’d clearly just come from the bridge. His uniform made him look quite dapper, but I could tell he was fatigued from his duty shift.

“So, what’s this family recipe you’ve been so excited about? It smells amazing.” he approached the dishes of food on the table.

“How about you sort out the wine while I dish up?” I handed him the bottle and a corkscrew, then moved to the table to give him the story.

“My great aunt gave me instructions for green beans, creamed spinach and butternut puree. The bread is my paternal grandfather’s sourdough recipe; a lot of research and development went into that one; and my uncle taught us the trick of dipping bread in a shallow bowl of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. There’s a tradition that I think my dad started, to fry or grill sticks of halloumi cheese and season them with lemon.” Chakotay had poured the wine and sat in the chair opposite me. I placed a plate in front of him and sat down to mine.

“It might not be the most cohesive meal but together it reminds me of home.” there was a pause, an unprompted moment of silence for those we were so far away from.

He lifted his glass, “To… our families back home, and the one we have right here on Voyager.” I smiled. The crisp sound of the glasses touching split the hum of the ship for a moment. Such a beautifully wholesome sentiment.

“How’s the bridge, commander?” I tore some bread and dipped it into the oil vinegar mix.

“The bridge is just fine, ensign. No alien contact, no helm challenges, refreshingly quiet. How about the lab?” he took a forkful of butternut.

“We’ve been getting some momentum on that analysis. Surprisingly, there’s been a lot of data to sift through. The sample turned out to be far more interesting than we thought it would be.” he nodded,

“That’s good news.” I took a sip of my wine, “Now, enough about work. How’s life?” 

I chuckled, “Life is work and work is life here on Voyager, commander.” he shook his head, amused.

‘Ensign’ and ‘commander’ had become our pet names for each other, an inside joke that he and I shared. With all the prying ears and eyes it was fun to have something they didn't understand, and it helped us to seem more professional with each other for the sake of those concerned or bothered by the relationship Chakotay and I had developed.

“I’m glad we could have dinner without spectators for once.” I nodded, agreeing. It had started to feel invasive.

“It’s kind of unsettling to have everyone watching and listening to us. I get that it’s a small ship but surely that doesn’t mean we’re no longer allowed at least a little bit of privacy.”

“You’d think a crew of Starfleet officers would have a little more discretion than this.”

I scoffed playfully, “at least we haven’t been getting much commentary from our colleagues.”

“The captain said something this morning,” I frowned

“She did?” he nodded

“It wasn’t about us specifically, but the implication was there.”

“What did she say?”

“Something along the lines of being sensitive to the consequences of specific relationships within the crew, considering that we’ll all be stuck with each other on Voyager for a long time to come.”

“I’m impressed, an approach like that to a situation like this takes a lot of finesse on the captain’s part. But I’m not surprised, we’re ‘stuck’ out here with one of the wisest Starfleet captains I know.” He nodded. I could see how he admired her.

“I can’t think of another captain who would’ve been able to keep Voyager going this long out here in the Delta quadrant.” I agreed.

“You know who else’s work out here has been exemplary?” I decided to lighten the mood, “Harry Kim. If it was up to me he’d be a full fledged lieutenant by now.” Chakotay seemed amused,

“His work has been exemplary.” The sentiment was sincere.

“You haven’t done too badly yourself, commander.” His smile was small and bashful.

There was a moment or two of silence and we continued eating.

-

“You must’ve used a week of replicator rations on this.” he sat on the couch, taking the mug of tea I handed him.

“Only two days, actually. The beans and spinach were from the airponics bay. I used some of a weird bulbous vegetable Neelix had in storage to stretch the butternut I replicated and he had some Talaxian spices close enough to imitate cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. I replicated the flour for the bread but yeast was a bit more difficult to get my hands on. The halloumi I had to replicate.”

“What about the lemon juice?” I chuckled.

“Six months into Neelix’s cooking I decided we needed some citrus so I grafted cuttings of about five different plants. We’ve ended up with limes, lemons, grapefruit, blood orange and an oddly bitter variety of Bolian tangerine. Neelix seems to get quite excited whenever I tell him the franken-tree has yielded another fruit. Which is rare because of how small it still is. Fortunately, citrus keeps well. The lemon I used tonight was in storage for about a month and a half.” Chakotay smiled.

“I think that citrus franken-tree is  one of your greatest achievements yet in terms of crew morale.” I chuckled,

“It’s definitely been one of the more challenging undertakings I’ve had while on Voyager.”

“You put a lot of effort into this meal.” I shrugged,

“I couldn’t have done it without Neelix’s help.” I frowned, “And it’s something I’d been needing to do for myself, a little bit of self-care. I’m glad I could share it with someone.” I looked up at him. I was glad that I had him to share the experience with.

“I’m honoured to have been allowed to share this meal with you.” His sincere smile put me at ease. I placed my mug of tea on the coffee table in front of me and leaned back into the couch.

“I’ve been missing home a lot recently. I guess the anniversary of my grandmother’s death hit me harder than I expected.” he took my hand in his, 

“You could have said something.” I responded to his concerned expression with a sad smile and looked down at our joined hands.

“I wanted to try working through it myself. I thought it would last a couple of days and I’d be back to normal.” my gaze became distant as I thought back

“Her leg of lamb stew was legendary. Not even my aunt could recreate it. She’d been cooking it on the day she died.” a small forlorn crease grazed my brow, “Two months after she died, I think it was on her birthday, it was taken out of cold storage and we all sat down to eat the last meal she ever made. It was… almost like a last goodbye. There was such a finality to that meal. I was only nine years old.” a single tear ran down my cheek, Chakotay gave my hand a comforting squeeze, “Her death changed my whole world view.”

“In what way?” His gentle question refocused my gaze. I shook my head slightly.

“I don’t remember.” It was true, but I knew for certain that I wouldn’t have grown into the person I had become if it wasn’t for her influence on my life, as well as the influence of her death.

“She meant a lot to you. I’m not surprised things didn’t just go back to normal for you after two days.” I smiled fondly and sighed, looking up and seeing his caring expression,

“Thank you for having this dinner with me.” he smiled softly,

“Of course. I’m glad I did.”

We sat for a while, my thoughts starting to gather again.

“A while back I programmed a traditional malva pudding recipe into the replicator data banks, well, our family recipe. Would you care for a piece?”

“I have no idea what it is, but I’m willing to try it.” I chuckled, getting up and heading to the replicator.

“It’s a traditional South African dish. My version is a bit different from what you’d find described in an historical database,” I sat back down with two plates of the syrup laced pound cake type dessert.

“Usually it’s served with custard or ice cream, but I think that just dulls the flavour.” one bite and a smile spread onto my face.

“I haven’t ever had anything like this. You’ll have to give me the recipe.” I shook  my head.

“Sorry, commander, that’s a family secret.” he chuckled.

“I might just have to order you to, ensign.” I laughed at him.

“Good luck with that, Chakotay.” it was a little startling to both of us to hear me call him by name, before that, I never had. That sounds bizarre, but it’s true.

“Chakotay,” it still sounded odd, my plate made a thud against the coffee table “I think we need to talk about some things.” he nodded, placing his plate down beside mine.

I took a deep breath. My chest tightened in anxiety. I wasn’t quite sure what to say. I knew we needed to address some things about our relationship but I feel like I couldn’t quite describe them.

“I… “ I looked down trying to find the words, “we need to discuss… ��us’, the nature of our relationship. What we… want out of this relationship, where we see it progressing. How we respond to the crew and commanding officers about… this.” he held my fidgeting hands in his and flashed me a soft, concerned smile.

“Well, I believe we’ve come to be close friends.” the smile that responded tried to hide my slight disappointment, “But, as for what I see in the future of our relationship… “ he looked down at our hands, “That’s a little more… sensitive.”

I gave an empathetic smile and chuckled, “I know the feeling.”

He sighed. “I care about you, a lot.”

“And I you.” I gave a small smile.

“I’d absolutely be happy to continue as friends,” he locked eye contact, searching for my thoughts, “but I’d hoped we could work towards a romantic relationship.” I grinned. I couldn’t describe the relief that I felt.

“Me too.” he beamed back at me and almost seemed to blush.

One of his hands released mine and came to the side of my face, my now free hand lay on his chest, beside his neck, against the undershirt exposed by his unfastened jacket. The warmth of his body against my skin brought a slight flush to my face. His thumb padded over my cheek. My fingers fiddled with the pips on his collar.

I looked up at his handsome face, his gentle, calming eyes focused on mine.  My fingers itched to trace along the lines gracing the skin around his left brow bone, cheek bone and temple. He was frustratingly close to me. I so badly wanted to reach out and touch those dimples that smiled at me. His eyes enthralled me. 

I took another risk, letting my other hand rise to meet his face, the tips of my fingers lightly dragged along his tattoo. He seemed to sigh into my touch, which made a contented smile cross my face. My heart fluttered, I felt so peaceful.

“I don’t think you’ve told me, why the tattoo?” he smiled.

“My father. He wore it to honour our culture, I wear it to honour him.” my heart swelled.

“That’s so pure.” he chuckled bashfully. I gave him a thoughtful smile.

“You’re a good guy, Chakotay.”

“I don’t think I’ve heard you say my name before today. I like the way it sounds when you do.” it was my turn to blush.

“Chakotay, what are we gonna do about this?” I chuckled. My palm settled against his cheek.

“Well, what I would like to do about it, is to kiss you.” how suave, I’d been smiling every few seconds that evening, now was no exception.

“I’m not quite there yet, Chakotay.” I liked the way it sounded too, “I hope this can tide you over for now.” I leaned forward and placed a lingering kiss on his cheek.

“I’ll hold out for you.” he took my face in his hands and gave an equally gentle kiss to my forehead. My hands rested on his shoulders. A gleeful smile spread across my lips.

[angsty-violet]

Agony - Chapter 18

Agony Masterpost

@whumptober2020

Tuvok didn’t sleep much that night. His mind was consumed by thoughts of his captors and what their next move was likely to be. Tuvok was not prone to paranoia. He took appropriate precautions based on the likelihood of something happening. However, he couldn’t help a certain amount of illogical concern over what might happen with the new variable of Verant.

It was impossible to predict what would happen with Kell’an’s partner, which made it illogical to think about. However, Tuvok couldn’t seem to stop his mind from creating possible scenarios that might come to pass with the new alien.

They even included Verant getting jealous and killing Tuvok in a fit of rage. Tuvok found that highly unlikely, but he wasn’t able to discount it either. He finally managed to find sleep in the later hours that Tuvok assumed was night. He had no way of telling time and no access to the sun.

However, Kell’an had a set routine for visiting him, so Tuvok assumed that this was when the man was sleeping.

That thought led him back to ideas about Verant. Were the two of them sleeping in the same bed? Perhaps they weren’t together, Verant at his home and Kell’an lurking in his torture castle. Maybe the two of them were only together for a little while a day, where Verant wasn’t at his work.

Tuvok could admit that it fascinated him a great deal. He had witnessed plenty of relationships in his time. Vulcans with Vulcans and humans. Humans with each other and a variety of aliens. Tuvok had been in Star Fleet for a very long time. He had seen almost every relationship imaginable in every configuration conceivable.

Yet he had never encountered such violent people managing to find their way to each other in a way that no one had ever seen before. They were violent together and very clearly enjoyed each other’s company. How had it come about? Had then been together before or after they knew the other was a murderer the way they were? What had led them to undertake this venture together?

Tuvok attempted to think of something besides his captors, but his crew was the only thing that came to mind. The people he had lived and worked with in the Delta Quadrant for several years. Unfortunately, that led to more concern he was unable to do anything about.

He had no idea if his crew would find him. Even if they did find where he was located there was no guarantee that they would attempt to retrieve him. They simply might choose to continue on their journey and not get their crewmember back. Captain Jane might see it as unnecessary risk.

However, there was also the much more likely scenario that they would pursue him and find where he was being kept. If they came under attack, he had no way of making sure that they would survive the encounter or take as little damage as possible.

Tuvok’s paranoia about his crew was legendary. Never did he allow a crew member to place themselves in danger when he himself could undertake the risk. He had only risked their lives retrieving the Captain and the Commander at their behest. Otherwise he would never have allowed it to happen and would much rather they stay someplace moderately safe. They would’ve survived on the planet easily enough.

Tuvok thought back on his buoy and his message he had sent with Reinchaln, second guessing the decision to seek out help. It might prove the Voyager’s undoing and Tuvok would never have allowed that if he had been thinking straight. He should’ve told Reinchaln to simply go home and never speak of what had happened before. Although, if he knew the way that emotional beings operated, Reinchaln might very well have insisted on staying if that was the case.

Tuvok sighed and rubbed his forehead in exasperation. It was foolish to second guess his decisions without knowing how they had turned out or would turn out. Without the extra data there was no way to know what he should’ve done differently, if anything at all.

Plus, there was the crew’s feelings themselves to remember. Perhaps they wouldn’t have abandoned him as quickly as he had thought.

  Most of the senior officers and a few junior officers were gathered in the mess hall together. Each of them held a solemn expression and were looking expectantly at the speaker who stood apart from the group. Harry Kim had surprised himself with calling this meeting, but he knew that it needed to be done. Each of the bridge officers were there, with the exception of the Captain herself.

“I’ve called each of you here today to speak to you about what is going to happen. I also believe that I have some insight that is necessary about where we are going.”

A small ruckus of shouts infiltrated the room, accusing Harry of not wanting to retrieve Tuvok. He glared at them and waited for them to quiet before going on with what he was planning to say.

“I am more than in favor of retrieving Tuvok. I would be the first person to try and convince a crewmember that his rescue is necessary. I am here to speak to you about what is going to happen after we have him back.

“The Captain hasn’t announced this to the crew but our source says that he’s being tortured. Tuvok is being held by a psycho and experimented on. I know this is deeply upsetting but we need to be ready for what happens when he returns here. He will be hurting in a way that few of us will understand. He doesn’t feel emotions the way we do but there is almost certainly going to be psychological impact. We need to come up with ways to help him through this tough time. That is why I called you all here today.”

“So, you want us to help come up with ways to help him cope after he returns. To assist in his transition back to being on the Voyager.”

“Yes, Tom, exactly. He is going to need the sort of help none of us know how to give. If we start coming up with ideas now, together. Then when we have details, we can implement a plan. Get ahead of what is going to be a very challenging time for him. The Captain didn’t want us to know because she was worried that we would be distracted. However, the repairs and modifications are almost finished and we still have several days to go. We should start now.”

[summahsunlight]

This Way Became My Journey, Ch. 22

"What the hell happened?" Kathryn Janeway demanded when she entered sickbay. After hastily leaving the children in the care of a reluctant B'Elanna Torres on the bridge, Janeway, Sarah Barrett, and Tom Paris had rushed down to sickbay.

The Doctor was buzzing around the surgical biobed and Harry Kim was off to the side looking over a tricorder. Neelix was unconscious on the biobed and Kathryn felt her throat constrict. She knew it had been too soon to allow him on an away mission. She should have insisted that he be more thoroughly trained, but his enthusiasm to help the crew had won out and now he was injured.

Chakotay intercepted the Captain and Barrett as they entered the room, Paris on their heels. The two women stayed with the first officer, while Paris went to help the Doctor.

"He was attacked on the planetoid. Some how someone removed his lungs," Chakotay replied, noticing the looks of shock that came over both women's faces. But it was different forms of shock, he realized. While Janeway looked bewildered, Barrett looked absolutely mortified. "By the time we got to him, he was unconscious."

"Someone removed his lungs?" Janeway asked, trying to get a grasp on the situation.

Chakotay nodded his head. "We were exploring the caves and broke off into three teams. I told Neelix to hold position but you know how he is, eager, he went ahead, reported lifesigns and the next thing I knew he was screaming and gasping for air."

Barrett blinked. "You were in caves?"

The Commander nodded his head. "Yes, we were looking for the dilithium."

"And you said someone removed his lungs?"

"Yes," he replied. Haven't you been listening to anything I've been saying? "We're not sure how, but the Doctor speculates that whoever did this used some type of transporter to beam his lungs directly out of his body."

Barrett's sapphire eyes were studying the floor intensely, nervously moving back and forth. "It wasn't post traumatic stress," she muttered.

"Pardon?" Janeway and Chakotay said at the same time.

The young woman's eyes snapped up to look at her commanding officers, realizing that she had spoken her thoughts out loud. "I….it's nothing really." Across the room she could see the Doctor giving her a seething glare as Tom moved some equipment about. "Really, just thinking out loud." She saw the hologram frown at her, but the arrival of Kes seemed to take the officers minds off of her slip of the tongue.

"What happened?" the young Ocampa asked no one in particular.

Sarah gently placed her hands on Kes' shoulders. "Someone attacked Neelix on the away mission. We're not sure how it happened, but they managed to surgically remove his lungs. The Doctor is doing everything he can, Kes, to help him." The Captain and First Officer could not help but notice the strain in the young woman's voice. However, Kes didn't seem to notice, or if she did, she didn't care.

Kes brushed past Sarah, Chakotay and Kathryn, going straight for the biobed. Sarah glanced at the Captain once who gave her a nod of approval and the young woman went after Kes. Kathryn turned back towards Chakotay.

"Did you find any evidence of the lifesign that Neelix reported?"

"No."

Harry stepped up to join them. "Captain, I've analyzed the sensor logs from Neelix's tricorder. The bio scanner picked up a single class-3 humanoid organism."

Chakotay could see Janeway's eyes flicking about, while she was thinking intensely. In their short time together he had seen that look before. She was devising a plan and he had a sinking feeling he was not going to like it.

"I'm taking an away team back to the surface."

Damn. I knew I wasn't going to like it. "Captain," he said. "Starfleet protocol states that a commanding officer is not to transport to the surface of a planet unless it is secure. That planetoid is nowhere near being secure, we don't know how many of these aliens are done there removing organs, we don't even know what to look for."

"I am aware of Starfleet protocol, Commander," she seethed. "Starfleet protocol also states that if the situation demands it, the commanding officer can beam down to an unsecured site."

"I'm not sure the situation demands for you to be down there, Captain," Chakotay said, his dark eyes pleading with her. He wasn't sure when the intense desire to protect her had started, but it was there and he was going to fight with her as long as it took to get her to stay safely on Voyager. "I don't want to be beaming you back with your lungs removed."

"That is not going to happen…"

"And what do we tell your children when it does?"

The words had the desired effect that Chakotay had prayed for. That had been a slap in her face; she visibly winced at the words. And both of them knew that Chakotay had her right where he wanted her. While she was every bit a Starfleet captain, down to the protocol adherence, she was first, and foremost a mother. He knew as much as she did that the thought of her death thus leaving her children alone on Voyager, so far away from home, terrified her.

This was the payback she had been expecting since the moment he had glared at her when Neelix had been allowed on the mission. She knew it had been coming, she just didn't know how sneaky he could be.

"Very well," Janeway finally relented. "Commander, you lead the away team back down to the surface. Inform Mister Tuvok that I want three armed security details to accompany you. Issue type three phasers and keep me updated."

Chakotay knew that he wouldn't always win this battle, because he was sure that there were going to be many more like this, but today, he was satisfied that he had won out. Nodding his head he looked at Kim and the two men left sickbay.

Janeway moved towards the surgical biobed hoping that the Doctor had some news. Kes was standing next to the bed, her small hands resting on the soft material. Her jaw was clenched and Kathryn was sure that the young Ocampa had never experienced this kind of trauma before in her young life. Sarah Barrett had her work cut out for her and on her first day back on the duty roaster no less.

"The blood gas infuser will keep him alive for another forty-seven minutes," the Doctor informed the Captain. "The only chance I see for survival at this moment is if we get his own lungs back."

"Can't we fit him with a pair of artificial lungs?" Janeway asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

The Doctor shook his head. "I'm afraid not. His respiratory system is directly linked to multiple points along his spinal column. It's too complex to replicate. I may be able to surgically re-attach the organs if we get them back, but in the meantime we'll have to search for other options"

Janeway felt a pit forming in her stomach. Pursuing aliens that harvested organs was not exactly what she had in mind what they would be doing today, and she was having horrible visions of these said aliens harvesting her own organs, along with her crew and children. It was an image that sent shivers repeatedly up and down her spine. She gently laid a hand on Kes' arm briefly. "I'll be on the bridge. We're going to find who did this Kes and get his lungs back."

Turning about on her heel, Janeway walked purposefully out of the room.

"Mister Paris," the Doctor said once she was gone. "Did they teach how to run a respiratory series in your biochemistry class at the Academy?"

"Ah, no I'm afraid they didn't."

The Doctor looked annoyed. "Fine, I'll just do it myself," he grumbled, grabbing a hypospray from a nearby equipment tray. He moved to stand behind Kes. "I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"I'm not leaving," Kes said heatedly.

The hologram looked to Barrett for help, but she shook her head. "Very well," he said, more annoyed now. "Just…try to stay out of the way." He pressed the hypospray to Neelix's neck and moved about the surgical biobed.

Sarah didn't seem to notice him. She was staring intently at the Talaxian, trying to piece together a logical explanation as to why her dream had resembled the attack on Neelix so much. But she couldn't come up with one and it was scaring her. When she had been on the Explorer she had been able to on a few occasions figure out where the Borg were going by dreams she had or just by what she called a hunch. However, she thought that was because the Borg were easy to predict. Was there something more to her dreams?

"Counselor Barrett?" Her eyes snapped up to see Tom looking at her with a worried expression. "Is everything alright, ma'am?"

"Yes, just…thinking," she responded.

Tom looked at her skeptically but went about his work. "Doc, I think his cellular toxicity level is rising."

The hologram went to stand next to the pilot and looked at the biocomputer. "It's up to thirty two percent. Let's see if we can stabilize those levels. Get me a cytoplasmic stimulator."

Sarah watched from her position opposite from Kes as Tom gave the hologram a little nod of his head, then proceed to toy around in the equipment tray, finally giving up and looking around the room.

"Ah, we don't have one."

"Then replicate one."

"Right," Tom said, still looking lost.

"The design schematics are in the ship's medical data base," the Doctor replied sharply. Tom nodded his head and went to the replicators in the office. "The man drives a 700,000-ton starship so somebody thinks he'd make a good medic."

"He was the only one of us that had any biochemistry at the Academy," Sarah said, garnering for the second time that day, a sharp look from the hologram. "Well, it seemed like a good idea at the time."

"One has to wonder what other good ideas you people have thought up."

Kes ignored the banter; she wasn't in the mood for it. "I can survive with one lung can't I? What if I donated a lung to Neelix?"

"A transplant is not an option," the Doctor said. "No one aboard is a compatible match for a Talaxian."

With those words the Doctor left the vicinity and went to the office, mumbling to himself as he went. Sarah and Kes lost what he was saying as he strode away. "I'm sure the Doctor will think of something Kes. He was after all programmed by some of Starfleet's best." The words were not comforting and Sarah could see it by the look of despair on Kes' face. Damn it, I've been out of the loop too long when it comes to stuff like this. I'm a psychologist not a therapist. 

She soon realized how ridiculous that sounded. Psychologists could be therapists, she was just better at the studying and analyzing of cultures and mental states than she was comforting. It was partially the reason why she had leaped through the ranks so quickly when she graduated from the Academy, because of the growing threat of the Borg and Bajoran terrorist cells Starfleet had needed good psychologists to study the mind set of said groups; that and her father's name had helped a little too.

If all had gone according to plan she would have been promoted to Lieutenant Commander, and be infiltrating the Maquis, however, she had learned that things seldom went according to plan and she was on Voyager instead. Everything happens for a reason, my girl, her father had always told her that, since the day she could walk she was sure of it. There were times that she found herself questioning that belief. After all, what reason could possibly be giving for her turning to drugs and ending up on this ship? She wasn't the best counselor out there suited for the job.

Of course they had no way of knowing that a three week mission was going to turn into a life time. Perhaps if Janeway had she would have opted for someone with a bit more emotional stability.

"What are you doing?" she heard Tom ask the Doctor as the two came back into the room.

"I'm using the transporter matrix to get exact specifications for Neelix's lungs," the Doctor replied.

"I thought you just said we can't replicate his lungs," Tom said.

"We can't," the Doctor said, "but if I can reconfigure my emitter array, I might be able to create a pair of holographic lungs."

"Holographic lungs?" Sarah and Tom questioned at the same time.

The Doctor came to join the group at the biobed. "If it's successful, we can precisely control his pulmonary functions to allow normal breathing."

"But a hologram is just a projection of light held together in a magnetic containment field. There's no real matter involved," Tom said.

The Doctor suddenly slapped him. Kes looked stunned, Sarah jumped in surprise, and Tom's mouth hung open. "Now," the hologram said turning about to adjust something on the computer, then turning back to Tom, "you hit me."

Tom wound up and proceeded to do so, as Kes flinched, but his hand passed right through the Doctor. Tom looked at his hand, stunned.

"The magnetic containment field that creates the illusion of my body can be modulated to allow matter to pass through it," the Doctor answered, turning about to tap at the controls again, "or be stopped. I might be able to modulate the holographic lungs in the same way, allowing oxygen and carbon dioxide to pass from the lungs to the blood stream."

Kes grabbed his arm. "I want to know what this means."

"There's no to time explain the exact procedure to you right now."

"Oh, well, make the time, because I'm not going to let you perform any experimental surgery on Neelix until I know exactly what you're doing and what the risks are."

Sarah moved towards her, gently taking her arm in her hand. "Kes, maybe we should go to my office and wait until the Doctor is done."

"No, Lieutenant," Kes snapped. "I'm not going anywhere."

"Very well, the risk is that he'll die," the Doctor said, answering her question. "If he does survive he will have to remain in an isotropic restraint. The lungs need to be perfectly aligned to his internal physiology. The computer won't be able to compensate for any body movement whatsoever."

Kes' voice dropped. "How long will he have to stay like that?"

"The rest of us life, unless we recover his original organs. He will never be able to leave the holographic environment of this room. The holo lungs would disappear the moment he went out the door."

The Doctor turned away and went back to his work leaving Kes standing there, looking horrified. Sarah gave her arm a reassuring squeeze. "Kes, I know it sounds bad right now, but at least he'd still be alive. Maybe the Doctor will find something else later down the raod. What do you think Neelix would want?"

"That's the problem, Counselor, I don't know what Neelix would want," she took a deep breath. "But I do know that I want him to live." And with a simple nod of her head, the Doctor was given the permission to proceed.

"Captain we've discovered a laboratory of some sorts," Chakotay's voice echoed over the comlink. "There are several organs here, from different species that we can't identify. However, there's no sign of Neelix's lungs."

Kathryn felt her throat constrict at hearing this. A whole laboratory filled with organs from other beings? "Any sign of the lifeform that did this?"

"Negative, Captain," Tuvok's voice came next. "This room is, however, the source of the dilithium signatures were detecting earlier. The power system's here are running on an unusual dilithium matrix."

It was just like they had feared since the away team had returned to Voyager. There wasn't any dilithium down there and they were still going to have power struggles until they found a better solution. Raising her hand to her chin, she tried to get a grasp on how this day had gone from hopeful to hopeless. "Is there anything down there that might give us a clue as to where the lifeform has gone?"

"Captain, my readings are telling me that there was lifeform in here less then ten minutes ago," Chakotay said.

"Captain we're picking up one life sign, we're in pursuit," Tuvok's voice said, calmly.

Kathryn spun about to look at tactical. "Prepare a security detail."

"Yes ma'am," Rollins said, moving off of the bridge.

Kathryn turned about nervously pacing the command station. If they didn't catch the aliens what did that mean for Neelix? Well the answer to that was obvious, he would die. She couldn't help but feel guilty. A captain's job was to keep her people safe. Neelix had tried so hard to make a difference for this crew and here she had allowed him on an away mission without fully prepping him in the right protocol. That was foolish Kathryn, simply foolish. She bit her lip for a second, but whose to say that if Neelix didn't go on the away mission that someone else would have suffered his fate. 

That line of thinking didn't get her far, because she realized that if it had been Chakotay or Harry that had been attacked the Doctor would have been able to replicate a new set of lungs for them or one of the crew members could have donated a lung. It wasn't her fault that Talaxian physiology was like no one else's on file.

"Mama, why would someone steal Neelix's lungs?"

Damn it, I should have had them move into the ready room. "I'm not sure, honey," Kathryn replied, snaking her hand into her son's dark locks. "But I'm going to find out why."

"Don't they have their own lungs?" Michael inquired, peering up at her with only what could be described as the curiosity of a child. "I mean they would need lungs to breathe wouldn't they?"

One would think so, Kathryn thought. "Honey why don't you back to your lesson?"

"I finished it. Besides this is more exiting."

Kathryn frowned at him as Parsons reported that there was a ship leaving the planetoid. Spinning about on her heel she ordered that the away team be beamed back on board. "Tractor them!"

"It's too late Captain, they've already gone to warp."

Luck just isn't on my side today. "Set a pursuit course once the away team is back on board, maximum warp."

"Aye Captain."

Kathryn rubbed her temples, trying to rub the headache that was forming away. She knew it was going to be no use, she had been plagued with stress headaches ever since she was a teenager.

"Did I lose my job while on that away mission?"

Chakotay's voice cut through the dense fog and she glanced up at him with confused eyes. What the hell is he talking about? Noticing where his grin was pointed at, she turned about to see Michael occupying the Commander's chair. She half expected to see Ava with him, but realized she hadn't heard so much as a peep out of the baby for nearly twenty minutes. Not good. 

Her eyes must have widened and panic must have been settling in on her face for Chakotay smiled even more. "Over there," he pointed towards the Engineering station where Michael had been working. Ava was curled up in the chair taking a nap. "I brought you something," Chakotay suddenly said, and Kathryn's head snapped about. "Consider it an early birthday gift."

Lieutenant Torres is right; he does have a twisted sense of humor. He was handing her a tricorder device of some sort, or at least that's what it appeared to be. "Any idea what this thing does?"

"We think it's a weapon of some sort," Chakotay said. "The being pointed it at us and fired when we confronted him."

"Everyone still has their lungs right?" Kathryn drawled; she could have a twisted sense of humor too.

"As far as I know, yes."

With a look, Kathryn went to hand the device to B'Elanna Torres, seated at the science station. "Lieutenant, see if you can figure out what this does, oh and some one get Mister Paris up here, we're going to need his flying abilities."

[kjaneway115]

Star Trek Voyager: Counterpoint

Episode 5.10 “Counterpoint”

The episode begins with a Devore inspection.  Janeway tells the inspector that they know the drill.  Kashyk appears in Janeway’s office.  He’s playing classical music, Mahler Symphony 1.  He has replicated coffee for both of them and then dismisses Prax and the other guard.  The inspectors are both thorough and rude.  The Devore do not embrace strangers.  Kashyk asks about Tuvok and Vorik and the Betazoids, Suder and Jeroth.  Janeway tells him that they are all dead.  Kashyk says that if she was harboring telepaths he would have to arrest her.  Kashyk asks Janeway if she trusts him, and she says she does not.  Prax suggests they impound the ship for deviating from its course, but Kashyk lets them go.  He offers his friendship to Janeway.  Kashyk leaves and Janeawy rolls her eyes.  Janeway has been storing Tuvok, Vorik and several other telepaths in the transporter.  

They can’t continue to go into transporter suspension.  They are supposed to rendezvous with a transport vessel, but the transporter vessel changes the rendezvous coordinates.  KJ and Neelix have a great relationship.  She can be almost coy with him at times.

Kashyk approaches Voyager in a ship, alone.  He meets her in her ready room. Chakotay looks at Janeway with obvious concern.  Kashyk tells Janeway he’s defected and asks for asylum.  He tells her the rendezvous is a trap and that he knows she has 12 refugees aboard.  He says he could have exposed this at any time, but he wants to protect them.  He says his people know about the wormhole and are looking for it.  Kashyk gives Tuvok their patrol schedule so they can avoid inspections.  Janeway tells Kashyk she must remain under guard.  One of the aliens knows about an alien named Turat who may be able to help them find the wormhole.

Janeway questions Kashyk about his motives for his change of heart.  He says he’s been looking for an opportunity to leave; he says she was the perfect opportunity because she’s a humanitarian.  She tells him she doesn’t trust him. She says she’ll get him to the wormhole, but with some restrictions.  He says he’s used to being surrounded by armed guards.  “Except this time they belong to me,” Janeway tells him.  “Consider them a reminder that Voyager is my ship.” Kashyk replies that no one could doubt that.  She is powerful, suspicious, poised.

They find Turat but he evades them.  As they are discussing what to do, Kashyk moves to stand at Janeway’s shoulder.  Chakotay watches them.  Janeway offers Turat a valuable material in exchange for his knowledge.  Janeway and Kashyk play a game to get Turat to reveal what he knows; the chemistry between them is undeniable.  Turat tells them that the wormhole moves all the time.  Janeway holds the valuable material hostage and looks at Turat coyly, flirting with him.  She and Kashyk exchange a heated glance when they win.

KJ and Kashyk search for the wormhole, late at night in the messhall.  She’s wearing her turtleneck but no jacket.  He clearly excites her.  He says he’s going to miss coffee; she offers to share the recipe.  “I suppose you like me better in uniform,” he says to her.  ��I haven’t decided whether I like you at all,” she replies.  Kashyk asks Janeway if she’ll be welcome when she does get home, because of the Prime Directive.  She replies she’ll sort it out later at the Board of Inquiry, and says she’s on a first name basis with many admirals.  Kashyk tells a story about a child he had to condemn in a ship.  He looks out at the swirls in the sky and tells her that they’ve never looked so beautiful… “Could be the company I’m keeping,” he says.  They walk back to his quarters.  He invites her in.  She looks past him at his quarters; a million emotions cross her face as she considers the offer.  She exchanges a glance with the security guard outside Kashyk’s quarters who has heard the entire exchange.

They try to cross a Devore detection grid with Kashyk’s help, but they are detected.  Tom hails Janeway and tells her that the Devore ships are on their way.  She and Chakotay look right at each other.  She touches him and tells him to take the bridge, then calls for Kashyk.  Kashyk tells her they have to talk.  In his quarters, he tells her he’s going back to rejoin the warships; it’s the only way he can guarantee their safety.  He says he can take command of the inspection teams and allow them to get through the wormhole, but she says no,  “It’s too dangerous.”  “Kathryn…” he says.  She tells him she brought him on board on the condition that he would follow her orders.  He says if he stays their best chance of escape will be lost.  She says she was planning to ask him to stay after they got through the wormhole.  “I wouldn’t mind having someone around who appreciates a bit of Tchaikovsky now and then.”  He says he wouldn’t fit in on Voyager, either.  She tells him his shuttle will be ready for launch within the hour.  They both look hurt.

Kashyk assures Kathryn that the inspection will be quick.  Tuvok tells Kashyk, “Live long and prosper.”  Only Kathryn is with him in the shuttle bay.  She tells him she’ll wait for him at the wormhole for as long as they can.  “I may not be able to join you this time,” he says.  “Try,” she replies.  He kisses her, and then she kisses him back, long and deep.  He takes her hand and kisses it twice before boarding his shuttle.  She watches him board the shuttle.  How much of their kiss is real, for either of them?

The inspection begins, and Janeway tells Chakotay that they follow protocol. Kashyk has Janeway report to her ready room.  Prax and the other guard are there.  Kashyk plays Tchaikovsky; he says it’s his favorite.  “Mine, too,” she says.  Kashyk asks Janeway why she entered this sector.  “Exploring can sometimes be hard to resist, Inspector,” Janeway says.  Kashyk dismisses Prax.  Janeway tells Kashyk that she found the wormhole.  He calls Prax back in and tells him he will find the telepaths in transporter suspension.  Janeway appears to be genuinely hurt by Kashyk’s betrayal.  She tells him he gave a masterful performance.  He tells her he’s impressed by her selflessness and humanity.  Kashyk has Janeway escorted back to the bridge under armed guard.  Her bridge has been taken over by Devore.  She sits in Chakotay’s chair while Kashyk sits in hers.  She sits silently, watching Kashyk open, and then destroy the wormhole.  In the cargo bay, Prax says he has isolated the biopatterns.  Kashyk orders the ship to fire to open the wormhole, but it doesn’t work.  “You created false readings,” he accuses Kathryn.  “That is the theme for this evening,” she throws back at him.  Prax reports that there are no telepaths, only cargo containers filled with vegetables.  Janeway tells the computer to play Mahler’s 1st Symphony.  Janeway has sent all the telepaths on 2 shuttles.  They escape through the wormhole before Kashyk can get to them.  Janeway sits silently during all of it.  Prax says he’ll have Voyager confiscated, but Kashyk tells Prax he’s dismissed.  He says this won’t look good on either of their records, and Kathryn looks at him, surprised.  She leans over towards him, and he looks at her.  “Well played, Captain.  It seems I never did earn your trust,” he says.  She tells him she had to take a few precautions.  “Better than anyone,” he replies.  “I never lied to you,” Kathryn admits softly.  “My offer to take you with us was genuine, and it would still stand if you'd kept your part of the bargain.”  “For what it's worth,” he admits with a small smile, “you made a tempting offer.”  He stands. “The bridge is yours.”  She watches him leave, and then once again sits back in her chair, alone.

When do they come up with their contingency plan?  Although she forms a contingency plan, I do think she really is hurt by Kashyk’s betrayal.  She doesn’t completely trust him but it’s like discovering that what she feared is true and she wishes it wasn’t.  Is she surprised when Kashyk lets them go at the end?

Original Airdate: December 16, 1998

Production Number: 204

[bumblingbabooshka]

T’Pel and Tuvok as kiddos...T’Pel dressed herself but Tuvok’s clothes were picked out by his parents and it shows.

[ljones41]

"STAR TREK VOYAGER" RETROSPECT: (4.08-4.09) "The Year of Hell"

"STAR TREK VOYAGER" RETROSPECT: (4.08-4.09) "The Year of Hell" While reading some of the TREK forums and message boards over the years, I have noticed that many fans seemed to harbor mixed views of the "STAR TREK VOYAGER" Season Four two-part episode called (4.08-4.09) "The Year of Hell". "The Year of Hell" began with the U.S.S. Voyager entering Krenim space, the same region of space that the former Ocampan crewman, Kes, had warned about in the Season Three episode called (3.21) "Before and After". Only Kes' description of Krenim space was set in an alternate timeline in which a very powerful race came dangerously close to destroying Voyager within a year. The Krenim space encountered by the Federation starship at the beginning of this episode seemed a lot more benign . . . until something or someone alters the timeline. Unbeknownst to Voyager's crew, a Krenim military scientist named Annorax had developed a weapon ship designed to create temporal incursions. He used the to supervise the complete genocide of the Zahl, an enemy race that had ended the Krenim's status as a dominant power in their region of the Delta Quadrant. But the erasure of the Zahl nearly caused the destruction of the Krenim. Annorax's attempt to undo his actions led to the erasure of other worlds . . . and his wife from existence. And for two centuries, he has been creating one causality paradox after another in an attempt to get his wife back. However, one of Annorax's actions allowed a formerly harmless Krenim ship that Voyager had encountered at the beginning of the episode to develop into a powerful starship and inflict heavy damage upon the Federation ship. In this new timeline, Janeway and the rest of Voyager's crew are forced to endure a "year of hell", as they struggle to survive. Screenwriters Brannon Braga and Joe Menosky created a fascinating and complex tale of what could have befallen Voyager if some of Kes' experiences in "Before and After" had occurred in their regular timeline. There have been occasions in which Voyager's crew had encountered more powerful alien vessels and societies. The starship was also captured by alien forces on two or more occasions. "The Year of Hell" featured the second time that Kathryn Janeway and her crew were forced to survive for a period of time in a damaged starship. But "The Year of Hell" took place during a period of nearly an entire year. Watching Voyager' become an increasingly uninhabitable vessel struck me as both fascinating and depressing. By the time Voyager was left with its senior staff (sans the kidnapped First Officer and Chief Pilot) after Janeway sent the rest of crew away in life pods, it had become a desolate place to be. Braga and Menosky provided the episode with plenty of complex drama and characterizations. Kate Mulgrew gave an outstanding performance as a besieged Kathryn Janeway, determined to keep her crew alive and ship together by any means possible. Even if it meant sacrificing her health and sanity. The other outstanding performance came from guest star Kurtwood Smith, who portrayed the Krenim scientist, Annorax. Like Mulgrew, Smith portrayed his character as a leader determined to save or protect those he held dear - his species, his homeworld and especially his family. Unlike Janeway, Annorax's determination led to a more tragic conclusion. Both Janeway and Annorax - on a larger scale - reminded me a great deal of the Captain Nemo character from Jules Verne's 1870 novel, "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". The supporting cast were given plenty of opportunities to shine. The best performances came from Tim Russ (Lieutenant-Commander Tuvok), Robert Beltran (Commander Chakotay), Robert Duncan McNeill (Lieutenant Paris) and Robert Picardo (the Doctor). Both Chakotay and Paris found themselves as prisoners aboard Annorax's time ship in Part II of the episode. This situation gave Beltran an opportunity to convey Chakotay's dismay at Annorax's abuse of temporal mechanics and his desire to help the Krenim scientist restore the damaged timeline. McNeill was excellent in portraying Paris' dismay at Chakotay's cooperation and impatient desire to stop Annorax and find Voyager. Russ gave a poignant performance as the uber-efficient Tuovk, who is forced to depend upon Seven-of-Nine as his guide after he lost his sight in an explosion. Picardo had two juicy scenes in which he gave it his all, involving the Doctor's moral dilemma in sacrificing several crewman in order to save a few and himself from the destruction of one of the ship's decks; and the Doctor's confrontation with Janeway over her careless attitude toward her health. Roxann Dawson, Garrett Wang and Jeri Ryan provided a bit of fun in a comedic scene in which Ensign Harry Kim, an injured Lieutenant B'Elanna Torres and Seven-of-Nine recalled a bit of Federation history from the 1996 movie, "STAR TREK: FIRST CONTACT". And second guest star John Loprieno was excellent in his portrayal of Obrist, Annorax's first officer who becomes increasingly dismayed by the scientist's abuse of the time ship. Unfortunately for "The Year of Hell", it has accumulated a good deal of negative comments about its ending. The mixed opinions of the entire episode stemmed from an ending that many fans viewed as a cop out. When Seven-of-Nine discovered a chroniton torpedo in one of the ship's Jeffries tubes, the crew realized they had been the victims of temporal manipulations. Seven used a devise on the torpedo to successfully shield Voyager against Annorax's time ship and any future temporal changes. However in Part II, Captain Janeway made an alliance with two species to attack the Krenim timeship. The remaining crew members move to the allied ships, while Janeway remained behind alone on Voyager to pilot the heavily damaged ship herself. After learning that the Krenim ship's temporal core had been placed offline and theorizing that the true timeline will be restored if the Krenim ship is destroyed, Janeway ordered the fleet to drop their temporal shields before ramming Voyager into the time ship. Her actions destroyed Voyager, caused the time ship to destabilize and erase from history . . . and reset the timeline to the day Voyager first encountered the temporal waves. Many TREK fans accused the episode's writers of using the "reset button" to restore Voyager to its original timeline and erase the one featuring the year of hell. They also criticized Braga and Menosky for this act. Braga also did not want to use the "reset button" device. He wanted Voyager to remain wrecked for the rest of Season Four. But he failed to get his way, thanks to Paramount and producer Rick Berman. I do recall a fan fiction - a coda to the Season Seven episode (7.11) "Shattered" - that left Chakotay lost in time and both Janeway and Tuvok dead. As the new captain, Tom Paris was forced to land Voyager on an "M" class and order repairs on the ship that lasted for a year or more. Recalling the state of Voyager in the alternate timeline, I saw no other fate for the ship if Janeway had not reset time."Before and After" saw Voyager still traveling through Krenim space, despite its condition after nearly a year. But it did not look as damaged as it did right before the time reset in "The Year of Hell". The idea of a wrecked Voyager still traveling through space after nearly a year . . . strikes me as illogical. And how did Braga plan to deal with Annorax and the time ship? Did he have plans for the Krenim scientist to remain the series' main adversary for the rest of Season Four? Did he have plans for a series of plotlines featuring the adventures of the Voyager crew on an "M" class planet, while they repair the ship? I am not saying that I am against the idea of time NOT being reset. But I still have bad memories of the early Season Three episodes of "BATTLESTAR GALACTICA", in which some of the colonists ended up as prisoners of the Cylons on some planet. And combining that with the knowledge of the "reset button" being used on many occasions, I find it difficult to get upset over the ending for "The Year of Hell". More importantly, I find it difficult to understand the fans and critics' reactions to the use of the "reset button". I guess I still find it so ridiculously strident, especially since such use of the plot device had been used so many times. As far as I am concerned, "The Year of Hell" was a pretty damn good episode that featured an interesting twist on the Captain Nemo character and the alternate timeline subplot. It also featured superb performances from Kate Mulgrew and Kurtwood Smith, and some excellent acting from the rest of the cast. I am not surprised that it has remained one of my favorite episodes from the series' Season Four.

[chronotrek]

752. [VOY] Homestead

SCORE:

(5/5 stars)

Neelix and Naomi Wildman have put together a First Contact Day party in the mess. Janeway notes that when she was a kid, all First Contact Day meant was another school holiday, but the two of them have gone full out on celebrating Zefram Cochrane by eating his favorite snack (cheese pierogis) and dancing to classic rock on a jukebox. Neelix gets Tuvok to recite the first words Vulcans ever said to humans, "Live long and prosper," but Tuvok is too annoyed to further indulge Neelix by joining him on the dance floor. Chakotay interrupts the festivities with some intriguing news for Neelix. They've detected Talaxian lifesigns just a few light years away.

They track the lifesigns down to an asteroid field but they aren't responding to hails. Neelix, Paris and Tuvok take the Delta Flyer into the belt to see if they can make contact directly, but they find themselves in the field of fire of some mining ships that are breaking apart smaller asteroids, and are forced to crash-land on the Talaxian asteroid. Neelix awakens inside the asteroid being tended to by a Talaxian woman named Dexa, but she's standoffish and only answers his questions with short replies. When he tries to get out of bed to check on Tom and Tuvok, she erects a force field around his chamber. These Talaxians do not trust outsiders and don't understand why he's traveling with aliens.

Neelix has a brief interaction with Dexa's son Brax before Dexa returns with the colony leader Oxilon. He frees Neelix and welcomes him to visit, but Tom and Tuvok will have to leave. Neelix says if his friends aren't welcome, then he isn't either. Dexa gives him a brief tour of the colony built on the inside of the asteroid. There are 500 Talaxians here and they build the colony using parts from some of their spaceships. She takes him to the Delta Flyer, where Tom and Tuvok are making repairs. Tuvok tells Neelix he's sorry the visit wasn't friendlier, but Neelix was just happy to see his people again, noting this is probably the last time that will ever happen.

As they restore power to the Flyer, an intruder alert sounds, and Neelix finds that Brax has stowed away because Neelix said he'd let him see Voyager. Neelix takes him to his mother and finds Nocona arguing with Oxilon, demanding that the Talaxians vacate the asteroid within 3 days so they can begin mining it. Dexa yells at them that they have no right to kick them out of their homes and Nocona shoves her away. Brax gets angry and throws a rock at Nocona, who demands the kid be brought to him. Neelix warns him to stay away from the kid, and Nocona starts a fight with Neelix instead, which ends with Neelix grabbing Nocona's gun and demanding the miners leave the asteroid at once.

Oxilon thanks Neelix for his help but doesn't think it's going to make a difference. Neelix suggests they have Janeway mediate a negotiation between the two parties and takes Oxilon, Dexa, and Brax to Voyager. Neelix gives Dexa and Brax a tour of the ship, where the bridge crew play up his many roles on the ship, and Seven is able to show them a picture of Talax from the Astrometrics database. Brax wants to know why they can't live on Talax, but Dexa says the reason they left was because the Haakonians control the planet now. That night, Neelix shares a bottle he'd been saving for fifteen years with Dexa as she tells him stories of their struggle to find a place where they aren't oppressed or forced out, including the time her husband was killed for farming outside the small plot of land designated for them. Neelix realizes things are starting to get a little intimate and quickly excuses himself.

The negotiations the next day don't go very well, but they manage to negotiate enough time to pack everything up to evacuate, and Voyager will help take them to the nearest habitable world. Neelix doesn't think it was enough, and asks Tuvok for assistance in devising defenses for them because the planet they've selected is near many warp-capable species. Tuvok points out that they'd be vulnerable anywhere and don't seem particularly inclined to defend themselves anyway. He suggests their asteroid is as defensible a position as they could get so long as they erect shielding, but they'd need strong leadership willing to mount the defense. Tuvok gives him a "hypothetical" pep-talk convincing him to take charge and lead the defense.

Neelix is ready to take out his shuttle, which alerts Janeway's suspicions and she asks why he doesn't simply have Tom take him over. He points out that since he's not Starfleet, he's not bound to the Prime Directive, and he doesn't want to get them involved. He concocts a plan where he and Oxilon will orbit the asteroid with their ships, dropping shield emitters along the surface that will tap into the asteroid's geothermal energy for an effectively permanent power source. Once they begin, the miners will surely recognize what they're doing and attack, so they'll have to work quickly and deflect any charges fired at the asteroid. As Neelix prepares to leave for his shuttle, Dexa kisses him.

As predicted, once they start laying down emitters, the miners attack. Neelix is able to shoot down several charges but a blast disables his weapons systems. He's about to sacrifice his shuttle by moving in front of another charge, but the Delta Flyer shows up, Janeway rationalizing the Prime Directive violation that she's just helping a friend in distress. With Voyager's aid, the shield is erected, and the mining charges explode harmlessly on its surface. Neelix joins the Talaxians in the celebration, but has to return to Voyager despite Brax begging him to stay.

Going back to his duties on Voyager, the thought nags at him. He pays Naomi a visit and realizes she's all grown up now. She doesn't need him to tuck her in bed or read her stories. He joins Janeway for a cup of coffee late that night in the mess and she discusses with him a proposal she has to run by Starfleet for establishing a permanent Federation ambassador in the Delta Quadrant. Since they have permanent communications set up, it would need to be someone who can stay in frequent contact with Starfleet, and it makes sense to appoint a native. She asks Neelix if he'd be interested in the job.

As Neelix packs his things and prepares to leave the ship he's called home for seven years, he finds the crew lining the corridors to say farewell to him. Tuvok, in one of his most endearing displays of affection to Neelix, sticks out a leg and shakes it back and forth, fulfilling Neelix's mission of getting him to dance. Neelix arrives back at the asteroid and embraces Brax and Dexa, his new family. And I'm not crying, you're crying, shut up.

NITPICKS

The Delta Flyer kicks up dust clouds when crash-landing on the asteroid, but absent an atmosphere, any debris would simply arc away. There would be no gaseous medium for it to be suspended in. I know this because I've read accounts from Apollo astronauts who noted how weird it seemed that the regolith didn't cloud up underfoot. This is, of course, a common VFX error of showing things in space behaving as if in atmosphere: fireballs, visible energy beams (without an atmosphere to scatter the beam, you should only see its start and end points), etc.

FAVORITE QUOTES

Tuvok: Vulcans do not dance. Neelix: But it's tradition. Tuvok: There is no tradition, Mister Neelix. This ceremony is entirely your invention. Janeway: This is an official ship function, Commander. Don't make me order you to dance.

Neelix: This is an Engineering station, and over there is Tactical, and down there is the helm. And this is the Captain's chair. Brax: Which station is yours? Neelix: Well, actually, I don't have a specific, er, I'm more of a... Kim: Neelix does too many things to have just one station. He's our Ambassador, morale officer... Chakotay: Trade negotiator. Without a doubt, he's the most versatile member of our crew.

Brax: Why don't we just go back to Talax? We could live there. Dexa: It's still controlled by the Haakonians. They don't treat Talaxians very well. That's why we left. Brax: Maybe Neelix could go with us, and we could fight them. Take the planet back. Neelix: If tomorrow's negotiations go well, you won't have to go anywhere.

Naomi: And once, there was a transporter accident. Neelix and Commander Tuvok got combined to make a completely different person. Brax: Really? Naomi: You don't think I could make up a story like that, do you?

[iforcedabot-blog]

You Don’t Need to Force a Bot to Watch Star Trek to Write Its Own Episodes

In my last post I trained OpenAI’s neural network on the Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine scripts and had it write some its own. I used a version that GPT-2 that lets you feed it additional training material. This is why the output looks like a TV script. But even without fine-tuning GPT-2 knows a whole lot about Star Trek because GPT-2 was trained on a huge sample of the internet, and internet knows a lot about Star Trek. So what happens if you ask regular GPT-2 to predict the next word in the sequence This episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation opens with a scene where?

This episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation opens with a scene where The Enterprise's fuel cells are destroyed, and the crew and crew of the Enterprise are not rescued. As they are being evacuated, Picard uses the transporter device to activate the emergency access and communication system, and a rescue crew arrives to rescue the crew. The transporter device is activated, and the crew is saved. Later on, in a flashback scene, Picard describes how the Enterprise was going to be destroyed: "We had to determine what we could do with the fuel and the crew and the power that we had." The Enterprise is finally able to reach the planet, and the crew and crew escape. While the power is still available through the emergency access, the power is being used to launch an attack on the Klingon capital.

Pretty straightforward other than weird turn on the end. Here’s a bunch of them:

This episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine opens with a scene where Kira Nerys is sitting at the table with a few of the crew members. “That’s a nice, nice place. That’s pretty cool.” This episode continues with an episode where Kira is eating a sandwich and a sandwich with a man who’s the head of the Starfleet Academy, and the man says, “You’re not going to get anything, are you?” “I just think they’re all playing it off the same old, same old rules.” The episode ends with a scene where the audience members are shown in an alley with a man named Bajoran who is the head of the academy. “I don’t know what to say. I’m not going to do this, but I don’t want to get hurt.” The episode ends with a scene where Kira is sitting at the table with a couple of crew members. “Maybe they’re not getting the message.”

Vague but sort of plausible Starfleet Academy intrigue? Repeated phrases like “a sandwich and a sandwich” seem to be quirk of GPT-2 even in the full unreleased model as you can also see it in their official samples.

This episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation opens with a scene where a group of survivors of the Borg fleet destroy the planet, as the Borg are attacked by a group of sentient robots known as Borg-bots. The Borg are taken away by the Borg-bots, who then turn on them, and they use their power to break through the Borg-bots' defenses, destroying many of them. In an alternate continuity, the Doctor and Clara return from the ship and the Borg-bots attack the Doctor. Clara, as a child, is sent to see a Borg-bot, the Doctor uses a new, holographic camera to take a picture of a Borg-bot. The image captures a close-up of the creature and she then uses her eyes to focus on it. The picture has a different color than the original. The image now comes to life and the creature is now a Borg-bot. The Doctor and Clara visit the Intrepid once more in their quarters to collect an old, broken computer. The Doctor and Clara move to the Intrepid, where the Intrepid are looking for a weapon and use it to stop the Borg from destroying their ship in the course of their mission.  

A Doctor Who crossover episode?

This episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation opens with a scene where a young Captain Kirk is suddenly in the midst of an encounter with the alien race, which has been described as an “extinction threat,” and is described as “a race whose only mission is to destroy anything that may threaten the human race.” The entire scene is then interrupted by a scene in which a young Captain Kirk is standing on a bridge, surrounded by a large number of people, and being asked why he is standing on a bridge. The scene then proceeds to have Kirk say, “I am the captain of this vessel. I am what I am.” The scene then ends, with Kirk saying “I am a starship captain.” The scene then then proceeds to show Kirk and Picard meeting. This is a much more complex and detailed version of the scene with the young man being told, “You’re an astronaut, aren’t you?” and “I’m a Starfleet officer.” The scene then concludes with Picard getting to know all of the people on board and seeing the crewmembers present with a few of them. This episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation opens with a scene where Kirk is interrupted by a strange looking man, who appears to be a woman. The man looks very much like Kirk, and Kirk’s reaction is to try to explain to him that he has a son. Kirk then begins to explain that he is a member of a Klingon Empire, and that he must be very careful about the Empire’s people. The man is a Klingon, and he is making his way to Kirk’s quarters, where he is confronted by an angry Klingon. Kirk says, “It’s not Klingon, it’s man, man.” The Klingon man replies, “No!” Kirk says that he is the one who was born with a Klingon son and is in charge of the Empire. The Klingon man then yells at him, “You’re the only one who can do that!” Kirk says that he can do it, but that he is not sure how he can do it. Meanwhile, Kirk is listening to a radio message from the Klingon Empire. “Dear Admiral,” the station says, “you are the only one who can do that. You must obey this order, and that’s all you’ve got.” The Klingon man then says, “How do you like this?” Kirk says, “I don’t understand.” Spock replies, “I can’t understand you. You’re an idiot. You’re an idiot.”

Kirk and Spock show up all the time no matter who else is in the scene. I guess they still have a huge presence in Star Trek content on the internet.

This episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation opens with a scene where the Enterprise crew is being attacked by a Borg-like force. What is this Borg force and why are they attacking the crew? We start out with a scene where one of the crewmembers is shown an image of the Borg, but he doesn’t know who the Borg are. He is shown a photograph of the Borg and the image of the Enterprise. It seems that this image has to do with the Borg. We also get a scene where the Enterprise is destroyed by a Borg vessel, which is what we call the “battlecry” on the Borg. It is basically a scene of the Borg being destroyed and then taking over the human race. This is a scene where the Enterprise is attacked by a Borg ship. We have a scene in which the Enterprise is being attacked by a Borg ship. It isn’t the battlecry of the Borg, it’s a “battlecry” for a different type of Borg. This means that it’s not an attack, it’s a warning. We have the Borg attacking the Enterprise, this is the battlecry, it’s a warning because if the Borg attack again, that’s when we get the Borg being destroyed in the battlecry. This episode is pretty much the same in terms of what we have seen before. The Borg are using the opportunity to create a world that they have no control over. In that sense, they think that the Borg will destroy them, but they’re not really going to be able to control them. That’s where this episode comes in. This is about a Borg ship taking over the Enterprise. We then go on to the episode where the Enterprise is attacked by a Borg ship. This is where we go to the Borg ship’s location. We get a scene where the ship is attacked by a Borg vessel. The Borg are trying to take control of the Enterprise and it’s all over. There are more of these scenes in this episode. The Borg are able to control the Enterprise. So the Borg are able to take over the Enterprise. And then we have a scene where we see the Enterprise’s ship is attacked by a Borg ship. This is when we get to our favorite moment of the episode: This is a scene where the Enterprise is attacked by a Borg ship. And then the Borg ship is destroyed. So, we have this whole story in this episode where we’re talking about the Borg and the “battlecry,” the “battlecry,” and the Borg ship.

One of the longest and most plausible summaries, could be a Voyager episode.

This episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation opens with a scene where Tuvok meets one of the crew of the USS Enterprise-E, a ship that was recently attacked by the Borg. Tuvok is upset that the Borg are invading the Enterprise and finds herself in the middle of a battle with the Federation. What she finds in the debris is not the Borg, but an alien called the Vulcans. Tuvok’s consciousness appears to be in a virtual reality field, and her body is in a virtual reality simulation. This is not the first time that Tuvok has experienced an alien presence. In the first episode of the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Tuvok and her friend, Commander Richard Hatch, are visiting a holographic environment created by a planet called Korte. The planet is a holographic projection that was formed from the memories of the Enterprise’s crew. This hologram is a computer simulation of Tuvok’s brain, where she is able to perceive the events that took place in real time. Tuvok has no memory of the events of the movie, but she does remember that the Enterprise crew was attacked by a Borg menace. She recalls feeling afraid for the Enterprise crew. She also remembers that she and other Voyager crew members were killed by the Borg in the battle against the Borg. Tuvok’s memories of the first Enterprise attack are completely erased. Her memory of her first encounter with the Borg is almost completely erased. In the first part of the episode, Tuvok’s memories are still intact, but the Borg are attacking them. Tuvok remembers feeling scared and confused and is angry. She is upset that the Borg are attacking her. In the second shot of Deep Space Nine, Tuvok’s consciousness is in a virtual reality field, and her body is in a virtual reality simulation

This one is a real mind-bender.

This episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine opens with a scene where Kira is confronted by Borg and asks if he can tell her what happened to her. He replies by saying that he’s already done the job. Kira later tells her he’s done it because he was the one who told her everything. She then tells him to let him go, and he does, but after a moment he goes for it. Kira then asks what’s up. The Borg offer a new ship for her to explore, and he tells her that he’s going to have to go back, but he’s not going to be able to leave the ship by himself. She then asks him what he wants her to do. He replies that she’s a “human being” and that he can’t do anything to her. He then asks her if she’s okay with that, and she says that she’s not. He then asks her if she’s okay with the idea of him killing her, and she says that she’s not. She then asks him if he wants to die, and he says he’s not going to kill her. She then asks him to kill everyone, and he says yes.

The entire next page was just numerous variations on them asking each other if they want to die and/or kill everyone.

This episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation opens with a scene where Worf is sitting in a chair and asks the Enterprise to look at his chest. He responds that Worf’s chest is much bigger than the one he was on when he was in the first few seasons of the show. He then explains that he was trying to find out what he was doing wrong that day, and the Enterprise asked him if he had ever been in trouble with the law. The next day, Worf’s wife, Sophie, arrives on the Enterprise, and they are met by the captain. Worf states that he was going to get his wife back, but the captain is interrupted by a question from Worf who says that he’s got the whole ship. His wife says that he is not sure what happened to him, and he says it’s because he was not in trouble. The Enterprise arrives in space. The Enterprise, the captain’s ship, and the chief medical officer are waiting for them. Picard informs the crew that they are looking for the missing Captain’s wife. However, Picard calls the Chief Medical Officer to the bridge. He tells the crew that he has no idea when and how he got the ship, and the captain says that he was there with Picard and the doctors when the Doctor lost his life. The crew members believe that it was in the last moments before the Doctor’s death, and Picard says that he was at the hospital. Picard then tells the crew that he had been in the field for nearly two weeks, and he says that he has seen some amazing things in space. Picard then tells the crew that they need to go back to the ship. Picard says that he can’t do that, that he has to do something. Picard then answers, “I don’t get it.” Picard then asks where he is from, and he says that he is from the planet of Oa'Hara. He then says that I was born and I am from the planet of Oa'Hara, and he says that he can’t leave Oa'Hara. This episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation opens with a scene where one of the crewmembers, Kirk, is shown to be in danger of dying. When the Enterprise is about to face a massive explosion, it is revealed that the Klingon captain who lost his life was not aboard the Enterprise. The scene then cuts to a large tree, where Kirk is shown to have just been killed by the explosion. As the scene is shown, the Enterprise crew is left to wonder why the Enterprise is still in space. The Captain then tells the crew that he has no idea what happened, and then he walks away from the scene. This is the first time the Enterprise has been seen in space. After the Enterprise is discovered, the Enterprise is destroyed by a mysterious object, and the Enterprise is presumed dead. The scene then cuts to a large hole where the Enterprise is standing. The Enterprise is then seen in a small room, then it is shot down by the transporter. The scene continues with the Enterprise in a small room, then when the Enterprise is shot down, it is revealed that the Enterprise crew is dead. The scene then cuts to a large tree and the Enterprise is left to wonder why the Enterprise is still in space. Worf makes a “doubling of” his Klingon powers and Worf is forced to defend himself. He is then interrupted by another person who is clearly not Worf. The Klingon appears to try and get Worf to stop trying to kill him, but he then reveals that he was actually just trying to get him to stop killing people. Worf then attacks the Klingon, but the Klingon is saved by Worf, who points out that they are not “fighting” each other, and that the other people are fighting for their lives.

It’s not just Star Trek that GPT-2 already knows. The unmodified GPT-2 is good with anything and especially impressive very popular topics like Harry Potter. I bet it’s seen a lot of Harry Potter fanfiction. Here’s a random sample I generated while writing this up — not the best of numerous samples like the Star Trek prompts required, just the best of three.

Harry Potter stood there in silence, brooding. "I thought if you didn't return they were going to kill me in the next meeting," he said dryly. "They'll take your DNA." Hermione shrugged. "They won't. I'm like any other girl who is lucky enough to make it through school with a bunch of friends. I can't be the same school twice!" "Which leads me to my next target, the guy who threatened you." She saw Neville's eyes widen at her words. "Who is he? Do you know what he does?" Hermione could feel the same chill running through her gut. "He has the perfect name." "Harry Potter," Neville murmured in her office. "He lives with you." He put his hand gently on his face as he looked at Harry. "With a name like that, would he look at your family as friends? No," he added. "Not now, but when you do?" Hermione looked at him. It was a few steps ahead of her. "Not with people like you...not today," she said, turning back to her sister and staring intently at him. "I didn't know you were at any particular place or time. I don't want to get into this discussion without some info. This is what you know. We're friends." "Why are you doing this?" Neville took a hand in her forehead. "Well, I know you aren't good friends with me," Hermione continued, motioning to the doorway from her office. "What I am certain of is that while I did think of this project quite a few times before I left today, I don't remember your last name being that of you. You both seem to have a pretty good understanding of this project." "I don't have to explain your mistake just so everyone has a better idea of where to go when you want to," Neville said absently. "I know you both know all about his work. As both of you know, he's more involved in politics than he is with the Ministry of Magic."

I like how it has kind of noir mood, maybe from ‘brooding’ in the prompt. Output like this is very easy to see for yourself because of a tool created by Google called Colab. Try it yourself!

Go https://colab.research.google.com/github/ilopezfr/gpt-2/blob/master/gpt-2-playground_.ipynb

Click on the play button in the light grey box that starts with [1] and wait about 30 seconds.

Scroll down until you see a box that says !python3 src/interactive_conditional_samples.py –nsamples=2 –top_k=40 –temperature=.80 and with the same play button. Wait again.

Eventually you’ll see the words Model prompt >>> pop up with a text box to type in. Type your prompt and hit return.

[miniwolfsbane]

Copied from @andalite-angel post. Edited slightly.

A - Ships that you currently like a lot. (They don’t have to be OTPs because not everyone has OTPs.) Friendships, pairings, etc. are allowed.

Biospecialist, Marco/Rachel, Sam/Rahne, all cannon Disney Princess pairings, the two young kids Pacific Rim Uprising,  Lancitty, Evo Kurt/ Amanda,  Jott in Evo. Skyward??

B - A pairing–platonic, romantic or ***** that you initially didn’t consider, but someone changed your mind.

Fanfic writers and Evo romy, adult Jubilee x Gambit, others.

C - A ship you have never liked and probably never will.

Never gonna be big on Evo Romy ever again, will forever hate Rahne x Roberto, Sam and Rahne with anyone but each other!!

D - A pairing you wish you liked but just can’t.

Evo Romy...somtimes. Because it does sorta make sense IN FANNON, but not in cannon. And Jean x Scott, because it’s so iconic, but I only like them in Evo, so...yah.

E - Have you added anything cracky crazy/hilarious to your fandom? If so, what? 

See my fan fiction.

F - What’s the longest you’ve ever been in a fandom?

The Little Mermaid and Star Trek have been there for 95% of my life.

G - Have you ever had an OTP? If so, do you remember your first one? Who was in it?

Sailor Moon and Tuxedo Mask, Sam/Rahne, Ariel and Eric (first when I was 5, even though I wanted to be Ariel), Rachel Tobias (first when I was actually gettin into fandom), Jake/Cassie (Animorphs), Clark/Lana, Clark/Lois (I think??) and Chloe/Ollie, Romy (even in Evo at a point!), and now Eliza and Goliath in Gargoyles. I keep saying I’m not a shipper, but I think I’m just a subtle one that pines and doesn’t read a lot of fanfic, but my heart swells over seeing my OTP on screen

H - What is your favorite source text for fandom stuff (e.g., TV shows, movies, books, anime, Western animation, etc.)?

TV Shows and Western (superhero) Animation mostly, but also a few animes.

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

I was annoyed by the Agents Of Shield fandoms behavior for a while, but I’ve never stopped liking any fandoms because of Tumblr. 

J - Name a fandom you didn’t think about until you saw it all over Tumblr. (You don’t have to care about it or follow it; it just has to be something that Tumblr made you aware of.)

SuperWhoLock, Riverdale...some other popular teen shows.

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Tie between Sailor Moon and Gambit I guess, but I’m sure there are lots of others. Sailor Jupiter has a good arc as well, even though she doesn’t have a lot of character development TBH.

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. (Characters you’re neutral about are fair game, as are characters you merely dislike. Characters that you absolutely loathe with the fire of ten thousand suns are exempt, as there is no point in giving yourself an aneurysm over a character that you hate.)

Roberto Dacosta’s super strength power is pretty cool and he’s a chill guy. And rich. (I just realized that a lot of X-Men characters are rich, actually. Gambit, Xavier, Warren and him. Holy crap.)

M - Name a character that you’d like to have for a friend.

Sailor Jupiter and Sailor Moon. TAS Rogue too, because she seems fun to hang with, and who wouldn’t like to be called “Sugah” all the time?

N - Name three things you wish you saw more or in your main fandom (or a fandom of choice).

MORE GAMBIT (and comic Nightcrawler) IMAGINES!! And just more love and less fan wars across all fandoms, really.

O - Choose a song at random. Which ship or character does it remind you of?

Hero by Chad Kroger. Ship: Romy or Mollyx Remy. Character: Gambit or Angel.

P - Invent a random AU for any fandom (we always need more ideas).

For any fandom? A mad scientist and a famous baker get together after the scientist contacts aliens, resulting in a warring invasion on earth.

Q - A fandom you’ve abandoned and why.

To be perfectly honest, The Smurfs because we’re a Christain household and we found it had stuff in it we didn’t agree with. I was three.  Other than that, I’ve only given up one other fandom permenantly that wasn’t what I thought it was and chosen at a bad time. 

R - Which friendship/platonic relationship is your favorite in fandom?

Kurt and Kitty in Evo, and Logan and Kurt is cool, but I don’t actually pay much attention to it.

S - Show us an example of your personal headcanon (prompts optional but encouraged)

Hmmm. One that isn’t too boring? Remy isn’t (wasn’t? He is married now) particular about a woman’s height and is comfortable enough with himself to date a woman much taller or shorter than he is. (Remember, Frenzy was freaking 6′7 before she got rebooted to a normal height and it was implied they had history.) For a while it was a wish of mine they’d pair him with a short gal, because all X-women are physically clones of each other, minus Rahne, Kitty and Jubilee. Blargh. Oooh, just had an idea for a new art project to make the girls look individual! ^_^

T - Do you have any hard and fast headcanons that you will die defending?

Besides the above? Uh...headcannon that Remy smells good and his hair is silky to the touch and yes I’m a sick, weird little person, I know. Haha, not really. I’m not much of a headcannon person. 

U - Three favorite characters from three different fandoms, and why they’re your favorites.

* Gambit: Hot, suave, lit, accent, good cook, romantic, my fictional ideal man (told you, I’m sick and weird). * Sailor Jupiter: Sweet, loyal, living on her own at bloody 14 years old, strong physically and emotionally, had trouble believing/finding her feminity like me, tall (not like me!), brunette character, thunder powers. * Tuvok (Star Trek): My second crush ever, calm, reflective, hot grandpa, sarcasm galore, strong, suffers emotionally and physically, POC and like the only black vulcan that I know of, cute little boy chest, that butt (XD), frakin’ hot.

V - Which character do you relate to most?

Surprisingly, one I haven’t talked about yet and that I’m not really fandom-y about. Rapunzel from Tangled. When I saw the movie, I was attached to her immediately. I’d grown up homeschooled and at that point I’d been caregiving for one of my parents for six years at that point, unable to move out and get married and have much of a life, so I was always metaphorically in a tower too. I have childish interests, am artistic and creative, have done LOTS of self-insert art like her, and am a generally happy person (even if I don’t always show it and don’t smile enough). So, out of every character in my many fandoms, I relate to Rapunzel the most. Also, I have only 2 things of Tangled merch-the movie, the soundtrack, and a gorgeous bedspread that’s actually based on the show, but doesn’t look like it. (I don’t like it’s animation/character designs, so it’s been hard to get into it.)

W - A trope which you are virtually certain to hate in any fandom.

OMG, do we have to go here? Anything over-sexualized or kinky or just plain gross/weird. (v***, gore, ect.) There’s this one X-Men:Evo artist on DA that would be brilliant, but I can’t stomach their gallery because they feel the need to do a few  v*** and bondage pics amongst otherwise G-rated pictures. *throws up* IT’S A SHOW FOR 7-YEAR OLDS!! 

X - A trope which you are almost certain to love in any fandom.

Huge guy, Tiny girl! (but it looks...weird...in live action. *Good Luck Charlie flashbacks*.) Also age differences. Some people are put off by Usagi and Mamo’s age difference in Classic, but I think it’s cute and they were really chaste about it. Specifically, I liked the part where he told her to do well in school for some reason. 

Y - What are your secondhand fandoms (i.e., fandoms you aren’t in personally but are tangentially familiar with because your friends/people on your dash are in them)? Holy crap, Pride and Prejudice and Anne of Green Gables. No one on my dash is into them though, it’s a real life thing. Long story.

Z - Just ramble about something fan-related, go go go! (Prompts optional but encouraged.)

I have written more self-inserts than is probably healthy, but at least I’ve mostly gotten past my teenage phase of thinking anime guys are hot and it’s extended to Gambit as well. I’d much rather see him be portrayed by a living, breathing actor semi-bringing my fantasies to life than as a drawn character. Well, not that I’m not happy seeing him animated and his voice in Evo is still super hot, but that’s another thing. Anyway, on that note, I wish XM:E weren’t a dead fandom and I could get more reviews instead of just faves/follows. I get so frustrated, because I’m not writing my fics for myself, I’m writing them to finish the story and for the fans. I know OCs/SI aren’t everyones bread and butter, but when you work hard on something, you want people to enjoy and appreciate it on it’s own merits. My regulars dropped off the planet and the fandom is just not that active online. (It’s still kind of active though, otherwise the Gambit and other prints on Steven Gordon’s online store wouldn’t have sold out so fast.) I wish it had been as creative as the MLP fandom, but even that wouldn’t have saved it. Thankfully, there are a few people “keeping the faith”, like Coldfusion180 and some others. They haven’t abandoned it and people have made AMVs for it in recent years, long after the shows cancellation. I know we’ve all moved on in one way or another, but it’s still nice to see the love for the show and it’s characters going strong, even if we’re now a niche fandom, tiny, but there. And even if I don’t get another single review up until the last in the series, at least I can say I finished it, if nothing else. Even if your fandom is dead, keep supporting it. If we don’t keep the characters alive, they die and are forgotten. They need us.

https://fanfiction.net/~miniwolfsbane

[theelderswear]

Star Trek Discourse

So, @saltylittleslytherin has deemed it fit to come at me about my love of Star Trek over Star Wars. I’ve decided to show just how exactly Star Trek is under-appreciated and deserves a lot more love and attention.

Star Trek: The Original Series was the first series in the Star Trek Universe(hence it’s name). It featured two POC as the main cast, one of which is gay. Star Trek: TOS was released in 1966. It was extremely progressive for its time. Not only that, but it featured the first televised interracial kiss(between Uhura and Kirk). Aside from its awesomeness in the cast, the Original Series consulted various scientists for aid in accurately depicting space, ie whenever they were in a nebula. This is only that tip of the ice burg for this series, I could delve in a lot deeper(for example, inspiring an entire generation of children to become scientists).

Star Trek: The Next Generation was a total mindfuck, as the main character was a balding British man with a sour attitude, something that was completely un-precedented in a time of handsome men being the only possible leads. Sir Patrick Stewart was a perfect Captain Picard. Beside him, however, were three other POC cast members. Marina Sirtis, playing Deanna Troi, LeVar Burton, playing Geordie La Forge, and Michael Dorn, playing Worf. All three of these characters where very important(and loved) in TNG, and straight up, this show started in 1987. But aside from(once again) having POC as the main cast(looking at you, Star Wars), it also featured some male crewmembers wearing skirts rather then slacks as their uniforms. An excerpt from the Memory-Alpha: According to the book The Art of Star Trek, "the skirt design for men 'skant' was a logical development, given the total equality of the sexes presumed to exist in the 24th century." As well, Geordie LaForge was also a male POC with a disability that he refused to have treated(he is questioned early in the series about why he wouldn’t receive new eyes and he makes it clear that that is not what he wants).

This was in the 80′s!!! Not only that, but they had a race of aliens that had evolved past gender. A literal line: “We find gender to be... primitive.” AN ACTUAL THING!!! THAT HAPPENED!!! IN STAR TREK!!! So, the discourse for that series done, moving on.

Star Trek: Voyager featured a female character at the head of the ship as the shows lead. First point. Second point, yet again, two POC as main cast. The Vulcan Tuvok, and the First Officer Chakotey. I’m gonna stick with Chakotey here for a bit... He was the first Native American main character on Star Trek. Tbh, I have nothing more to say for this series... yeah. Moving on.

DON’T GET ME STARTED. ON THE STAR TREK MOVIES... ... ... TOO LATE. K, so, I’m just gonna jump straight onto Star Trek: Beyond and making Sulu gay thing. Obviously, it was an intentional move to have him be gay(reach out to the community, make it more relatable), however, upon watching the movie, I’ve found that the scene wasn’t even about Sulu being gay. It was about him having a kid. Obviously, him being gay was their “leap forward”, but the scene was more about Spock obviously wanting a family. It starts off with Kirk saying that the crew misses their families, and it pans to a shot of a picture of Sulu’s daughter. Not his husband, his daughter. Later on, after(or before, can’t remember) Spock has that final separation with Uhura, he looks at Sulu greeting his family, and the camera is centred around the daughter. If you really pay attention, Sulu being gay wasn’t the main focus of that scene. Moving on, Simon Pegg, who wrote part of script, actually reached out to the community at Memory-Alpha(the wikia) to have them help him design the necklace that Spock has given Uhura. He made sure to include devoted fans to help him create this masterpiece of a movie. Later on, when he received backlash for his choice with Sulu, he posted this on his website: Firstly, why Sulu? It’s a good point, I mean it could have been anybody: Kirk is a pansexual fun seeker; who knows why Bones got divorced? Nobody said Spock and Uhura were exclusive; Chekov is just permanently horny and let’s face it, there’s more to Scotty and Keenser than meets the eye. 

Kirk is pan. Just. Kirk. Is pan. Also, the rest of the stuff. He straight up said, though, Kirk is pan. In a time where people barely acknowledge men as being bi in mainstream pop culture, he said pan. I just. This man. Moving past lgbtqia+ stuff, I’m going to talk about the elephant in the room. The fucking Oscars. And how Star Trek lost. Which, tbh, was finally something people payed attention to. The people who made the prosthetics for the aliens in Star Trek: Beyond made sure that they were comfortable to stay in for long periods of time, were moveable, and required little to no cgi to make. In fact, Jaylah had I believe none, besides the regular stuff they use to make films all fancy.

In short, I fucking love Star Trek and will fight you till the end of time. Allison out.