#a night in sickbay

[sshbpodcast]

Character Spotlight: Jonathan Archer

By Ames

Just when you thought we were done with Enterprise, our character spotlight series returns somehow! And if our full watch of the series assured us of anything, it’s that Cap’n Jonathan Archer is an angry, ill-prepared, conceited, racist, little nepobaby. Now sometimes, that’s perfectly in character for a prequel series about confronting our first stumbling blocks into space exploration. And sometimes, it’s agonizing to watch how humans as a species were represented by a man who made the worst choices you could make, and then patted himself on the back about it.

But I’m getting ahead of myself! Your hosts here at A Star to Steer Her By can always find something that Archer did to gripe about. And even a couple moments we didn’t hate his guts. Check them all out below and listen to our diatribe on this week’s podcast (jump in time to 1:00:09) as we peruse the actions of our first Enterprise captain. Now back in the pool for some water polo!

[Images © CBS/Paramount]

Best moments

Torturing prisoners = bad! I laugh because this sentiment will be entirely contradicted when we get to season three, but Archer starts out in “Fortunate Son” advocating NOT capturing and torturing pirates. The bar was low for us back in season one, and Archer meets it when he tells Mayweather that humans should display proper ethics in situations like the Fortunate’s dealings with Nausicaans.

T’Pol’s had enough of your help. Stay away from her. After spending much of season one racially profiling every Vulcan he meets (more on that in the next segment), Archer meets a Vulcan that everyone is right to hate in “Fusion.” While he is way too quick to trust the V’tosh ka’tur just because they like having emotions, Archer deserves some credit for believing T’Pol about her assault and letting Tolaris have it, that asshole!

Now is not the time for British gumption Archer may be the extrovert that makes us introverts uncomfortable, but it actually pays off in “Minefield”! Reed is pinned in the leg, and the captain is able to deal with both disarming the Romulan mine AND keeping his security chief alive when he is fully prepared to martyr himself at the drop of a hat. Their smalltalk keeps the tension in check and Reed mostly lucid.

How much is that doggy in the incubator? One sympathetic trait that the writers were wise to build into the Archer character is his love for Porthos. It’s easy to connect with a dog person, so Archer is at his most humanized during “A Night in Sickbay” when all he wants is to be with Porthos during the beagle’s time of need. The rest of that episode, not so much, but how much he cares for his puppy is lovely.

What if we trap them in an elevator together? Because Enterprise is a prequel, we know very well that Humans, Andorian, and Vulcans (and Tellarites eventually) will get along well enough to found the Federation. But right now, it’s baby steps and Archer’s goal is to just get them in a room together without actively killing each other in “Cease Fire.” So major kudos for getting Shran and Soval into a conference room.

The House of Duras is without honor We gave Worf credit back when he did a similar thing back in “Reunion,” so we’ll have to count this one for Archer as well, and that’s killing the hell out of Duras. That whole Klingon line is just no good, so when Archer blows his ship to high hell in “The Expanse,” we are very pleased. The only good Duras is a Duras blown to high hell.

I’m not leaving you In a spur-of-the-moment decision, Archer saves T’Pol from a wave of some anomaly or other in “Twilight,” even after she told him to save himself (or perhaps because he’s just so used to doing the opposite of everything she says). We learn non-chronologically that the anomaly that hits him because of this causes his anterograde amnesia, but it was nice of him to help his XO.

You wanted to kill someone, kill me Not only does it take responsibility and honor to sacrifice himself when the Triannons force them to adhere to their dumb justice system in “Chosen Ream,” but it turns out to be a ruse when Archer tricks them into thinking the transporter is a disintegration device that kills people. Fools, it’s only that some of the time! We commend Archer for his really clever thinking!

We’re talking about a one-way trip Speaking of Archer taking responsibility when the going gets tough, he is fully prepared to kamikaze the Xindi weapon in “Azati Prime,” even after both Mayweather and Trip have offered to do it (I guess Reed was out of earshot or he’d’ve begged to do it too). We’ll talk in a second about how bad of an idea this was, but hell, he was ready to get blown up to save humanity.

If that’s what it takes to be advanced, I don’t want any part of it You’ve got to love when a captain calls out another race for absolutely bullshit behavior, and Archer is fully righteous when he tears the Organians a new asshole for treating other species like test subjects in “Observer Effect.” Plus, yet again he is ready to sacrifice himself for crewmates when he exposes himself to the contagion to try to save Trip.

Loop-de-loop hole Archer is again attempting diplomacy in getting the Andorians and Tellarites in a room together without killing each other (this sounds familiar), and volunteers himself to duel in the Ushaan in “United.” It all conveniently works out because for some reason this fight to the death has enough loopholes in it to scare off a trypophobe. But it’s nice of Archer not to kill Shran.

The final frontier begins in this hall. Let’s explore it together. Finally, the two-parter “Demons” and “Terra Prime” really succeeds at reminding us that we all need to overcome our prejudices and malice if we want to make our ways in the universe. Archer sums the whole thing up after defeating Paxton and his Terra Prime cult members. His speech at the end of “Terra Prime” really should have been what the whole show finale’d on.

—

Worst moments

What’s all that mean anyway? You know I have to include Archer’s constant xenophobia against Vulcans because it really colored my perception of the captain, and “The Andorian Incident” is emblematic of that. Out of sheer racism, he forces T’Pol to bring him to P’Jem after she advises against it, makes a terrible impression on the monk who’s only doing his job, and then wrecks up the chapel room to expose an Andorian. Maybe ask first, dingbat.

Correction, sir, that’s blown out We also just had to include this early example of just awful acting out of Scott Bakula. Though the bay is being rapidly decompressed, Archer somehow drapes himself over a railing and dangles over the side during his fight with Silik in “Cold Front.” Was he in any danger? Did he expel all the air from his lungs? Were there any consequences to being in vacuum? Who knows.

Someday my people are going to come up with some sort of a doctrine This one will surely come up again in our Phlox character spotlight, but it was Archer’s word to permit the genocide by inaction in “Dear Doctor.” Not only is it morally reprehensible to wash their hands of the fate of the Valakians, but the science that Phlox easily convinces Archer is emphatically wrong. And the Prime Directive reference? The turd on top of this shit sundae.

What else should I be? All apologies. Though we commended Jonathan for his devotion to Porthos in “A Night in Sickbay,” for the rest of the episode he’s an absolute pissant. All the Kreetassans want is for him to apologize for defiling their sacred tree with Porthos’s piss. You’d think he’d not have brought his filthy dog to their sacred site in the first place, but to act like such a prick about it is even more pathetic.

On my world, when someone asks for asylum it has to be given serious consideration We’ve struggled with the messaging of “Cogenitor” from the get go, and apparently so has Archer. Charles requests asylum from the Starfleet crew and Archer forces them off the ship instead, back into the hands of their oppressive culture. And then Archer screams (screams!) at Trip about violating the non-existent Prime Directive. And he’s supposed to be right?

Torturing prisoners = good? Most of Archer’s bad moments are rightly coming from season 3, an absolutely drek collection of episodes, and it immediately goes south in “Anomaly.” This is Archer’s first foray into torturing people, as he throws Orgoth, the Osaarian prisoner, into an airlock and threatens to space him just to get information. And the cap’n’s actions will only get worse from here…

These are Trip’s quarters It’s a controversial choice for Archer to allow the simbiot to be created in the first place in “Similitude” just to harvest his organs. But that’s mostly a Phlox fault. What we’re harping on here is how terribly Archer treats Sim. Again, he screams at him (there’s a lot of Bakula screaming at Connor Trinneer in this show) for staying in Trip’s quarters and for, I dunno, wanting to live.

How selective could this memory wipe be? A lot of interesting concepts come out of “Stratagem,” but then if you think about it for more than a second, you realize what Archer does to Degra is super messed up. Normally, when someone tampers with someone else’s mind to exploit them for information, it’s the villain of the show doing it. So it’s clever as a scheme, but Archer, my dude, you are the bad guy of this episode.

Let’s torture the canary we took out of this coalmine One of the absolute worst things we see Archer do comes in “Harbinger” (you’re going to see a lot of “Harbinger” in this spotlights) when he tortures that Sphere Builder before he even knows who they are. He jumps to the wildest conclusion that this guy might have information, with absolutely no proof at first, and he tortures the guy. And this is the hero of the show, people!

If that’s a problem for history, then history will have to suffer We may have just credited Archer with doing the honorable thing and wanting to sacrifice himself in “Azati Prime,” but it’s also absolutely idiotic. For once, Archer refuses to listen to Daniels who warns him that if Jon destroys the Xindi weapon, they will only build another one. Please, Archer, do the peaceful, diplomatic thing. No? Why choose now to be so unreasonable?

Out of my way, I’m a motorist! We rag on “Damage” a lot because of the hypocrisy of it all. Archer finally thinks he’s crossing a line when he steals the warp coil from the Illyrians’ ship, despite all the lines he’s been crossing all season. And what a shitty thing to do to these people! He strands them in the expanse and we never hear about them again. Dude, at least send them an Uber.

Even though you don’t wish to own me, I still wish to please you Because I feel like shitting on “Bound” at least a little bit, let’s shit on how Archer so easily gets tricked by the Orions all episode long. You can blame the pheromones for tampering with his senses, but dude, you couldn’t have put some female MACOs in charge once you knew the ruse? You didn’t smell something was up when space pirates wanted to do business? And god, that scene when he talks about sexual slavery is just so uncomfortable. Vomit.

—

Sorry, Cap’n, but someone needed to put you in your place. Will our other Enterprise character spotlights be a little more positive? Keep track by following along here on the blog! You should also keep up with our watchthrough of Discovery over on the podcast on SoundCloud (or wherever you listen to podcasts), exchange water polo gossip with us over on Facebook, and maybe scream at Trip a little less. Just a little.

[star-trekster]

Anightinsickbay.mp4

[giffingthingsss]

[scientific-tricorder]

I know that some I've used for Threshold Day viewing include:

TOS: "Spock's Brain" (The Spock's Brain is Stolen Episode)

TAS: Just about anything, but I think especially "The Magicks of Megas-Tu" (The Salem Witch Trials and Magic Episode)

TNG: "Genesis" (The Devolution Episode)

ENT: "A Night in Sickbay" (The Dog Funeral Sex Dream Episode)

I feel like there's more as well, but that's what occurs to me at the moment.

All the other Star Trek series fandoms: We don’t like to talk about our One Weird Episode. If you mention it you will promptly told to shush and never speak of it again. Besides the occasional meme, we really just like to ignore that episode.

The Voyager Fandom: HEY EVERYBODY HAVE YOU HEARD ABOUT OUR LIZARD SEX EPISODE?????????? IT’S CONSIDERED THE WORST EPISODE OF ANY STAR TREK EVER AND ITS ALL OURS!!!!!! WE ARE PROUD TO HAVE IT!!!! IT WON AN EMMY!!!! OUR MAIN FANDOM HOLIDAY IS IN CELEBRATION OF THE LIZARD SEX EPISODE!!!!!! ITS THE FIRST EPISODE WE SHOW OUR FRIENDS WHILE TRYING TO GET THEM TO WATCH OUR SHOW!!!!!!! LOOK AT ALL OF OUR LIZARD SEX MEMES!!!!!

[lostyesterday]

I’ve seen lots of people complain about Seven/Chakotay and Kira/Odo not having any chemistry despite the writers trying to convince us they do, and it’s not as if I don’t understand where people are coming from in those cases, but neither of them is remotely as bad as Archer/T’Pol in my opinion. These two characters have the least convincing chemistry I have ever seen, and I will literally never believe they are attracted to each other, I’m sorry.

[soulerflaire]

Normally, I find it pretty easy to tell when an episode is gonna be "all just a dream". The characters do wildly uncharacteristic things, or say stuff that would radically alter their relationships with other characters, or things just get too absurd.

So when I say that I was 100% confident that this episode was going to be "all just a dream", I want it to be clear how buck wild it is that everything that happened in the episode wasn't a dream and that it is canon and part of the series forever.

[sshbpodcast]

Well, Season 2 of Enterprise deescalated quickly

by Ames

After an extremely underwhelming season one of Enterprise, your hosts here at A Star to Steer Her By were over the moon to see season two start out with some material that got us actually excited. New ideas? Character moments? Actual stakes? Was this season going to make up for the recycled ideas, boring premises, and missed opportunities of the first?

And then the season went immediately downhill with some of the worst Trek we’ve seen since The Animated Series. Archer might be our pissiest captain to date. T’Pol is so constantly sexualized that it makes our stomachs turn. Every time Mayweather tries to get a line, he’s conveniently injured so we don’t need to have him appear in scenes. Are we being too hard on Enterprise? There is some good stuff, as you’ll see below and in our discussion on this week’s podcast episode (jump to 1:03:49) as we wrap the season with our usual top and bottom episodes, but we’re feeling frustrated. I guess we don’t have faith of the heart.

[images © CBS/Paramount]

Top Three Episodes

We’re starting with Tops this time because we have stronger emotions over this season’s Bottoms list, so we’ll get to those in a minute. There were still some highlights (or at least higher-lights), and you’ll notice that the best of them are clustered around the beginning of the season:

“Judgment”: Caitlin Like in season one when we got episodes with Jeffrey Combs, Ethan Philips, and Fionnula Flanagan, a Trek-experienced guest star can redeem an otherwise standard plot. Sure, “Judgment” treads a lot of the same ground we’ve trod before, but J.G. Hertzler as Advocate Kolos is something new for Klingon culture and he chews the scenery so well!

“Regeneration”: Jake We love us a good Borg episode, and this one pulls it off. You could argue that Borg don’t belong in a prequel series, and you’d probably be right, but the tension created throughout this episode, the creepy environment we find ourselves in, the clever way the writers got around the canon issue, and the sense that there were actual stakes for a change are all commendable. Resistance is futile.

“Singularity”: Chris Like a “The Naked Time” or a “The Naked Now,” this one really thrives on how committed all of the actors are to their respective bits. Most of the plot feels like filler – an anomaly of the week affects the crew in weird ways; we’ve seen this a million times – but there’s just something about watching Trip fixate over a chair and Hoshi obsess over her soup recipe that’s just so charming we can’t help but enjoy it.

“Minefield”: Ames Of all our main crewmembers, Lieutenant Reed remains the most vague, and this episode makes us fully okay with that! We get a glimpse into his stiff-upper-lip brand of British Gumption™ paired with the stress his family put on him to succeed, and he just works! So this sweet little character piece about Reed preparing to sacrifice himself for the ship is just the right amount of character insight we need into our pineapple-loving security chief.

“Cease Fire”: Caitlin Andorians are just fun. A large portion of the appeal of the blue baddies rests on the shoulders of Jeffrey Combs as Shran, who is so capable of playing just about anything. But this episode deepens the culture of our antennaed friends by adding some infighting to the mix with the addition of Lieutenant Tarah, played so hypnotically by the ever-great Suzie Plakson! Always a good day when you get to see her!

“Carbon Creek”: Ames, Chris, Jake The episodes that we see agreement for among your SSHB hosts are also those early episodes I was referring to when we still had hope for the season. This bedtime story of Vulcan lore succeeds in showing us a different side of our pointy-eared allies, basically pulling a Coneheads. Nothing wrong with that. And we get such fascinating new characters out of them that I actually amended my Favorite Vulcans list!

“Dead Stop”: Ames, Caitlin, Chris, Jake The one we all put on our Tops list this season is also one of the more original stories from Enterprise. The idea of an enigmatic race of aliens who created an automated repair station is interesting enough on its own, but the creepiness builds throughout; the clean, white design sets an appropriately offputting tone; and everyone is left on edge. And we already know Roxann Dawson rocks at voicing homicidal computers.

—

Bottom Three Episodes

And now for the nerd rage portion of our wrap up. We had such hopes when we started this season, but then the rest alternated from “this has been done before and better” to “well, that was unsatisfying” to “cringe cringe cringe cringe cringe!” Here are this season’s biggest offenders, in every definition of the word:

“The Expanse”: Chris We can see the season finale is trying to set something up with the Xindi attack on Earth, but what we get are a lot of expository scenes, an entirely disjointed sideplot with the unfathomably present Klingons, and a not-at-all-subtle 9/11 allegory that is going to taint a lot of our future watching. Why are the Xindi stupid enough to test their probe on Earth and then do nothing for months? Find out next season on Enterprise!

“Bounty”: Caitlin While the A-plot of this episode is fine, it warrants inclusion because the B-plot is so enraging. We’ve already had enough of pon farr after train wrecks like Voyager’s “Blood Fever” and the uncomfortable Saavik scene from The Search for Spock. So we’re all the more done with it when Enterprise forces T’Pol to writhe around erotically in her underpants and sexually assault Phlox and Reed. YUCK.

“Cogenitor”: Chris If you were looking for more reasons to be angry at Archer, we’ve got an episode for you. It could have been successful if we could be sure what its messaging was. We fume at the Vissians for how they treat the cogenitors and assume that’s the point... Until Archer just starts screaming at Trip for standing up for a marginalized person, and refuses to grant Charles asylum after they begged for it. So. Whose side are we supposed to be on? Because it can’t be Archer’s, right? Right?

“Vanishing Point”: Caitlin, Jake What a let down. What could have been an interesting new concept about early uses of the transporter, in an era when they were even more terrifying than usual, gets entirely negated by the conclusion that “it was all just a dream.” These cop-out ending pull the rug out from under you and make everything you watched feel like a trick. As if we needed more to hate about dream episodes.

“Stigma”: Ames, Jake Just when you thought last season’s rape-happy episode “Fusion” was behind us, it rears its ugly head again in this HIV/AIDS allegory that comes decades too late. Yet again, T’Pol gets stripped of her agency so that various Men In The Room can decide what’s best for her. And to make matters worse, the incongruous B-plot seems to suggest that Trip is close-minded for not wanting Phlox’s wife to sexually assault him all day!

“A Night in Sickbay”: Ames, Chris I disliked Archer and Phlox enough after season one – and things were looking up for season two – when this episode comes crashing down. Archer is just a Big Baby all episode long because he refuses to apologize for Porthos pissing on the Kreetassans’ sacred tree, Phlox is nothing but obnoxious and disgusting the whole time, and we get even more objectifying T’Pol in Archer’s dreams for no reason!

“Precious Cargo”: Ames, Caitlin, Jake But the worst of the worst this season just has to be this rehash of TNG’s “The Perfect Mate,” which we hated enough to begin with! Another Kriosian woman is being transported in cryostasis, allowing for an episode of Kaitamma and Trip running around in their underwear until they predictably make love by a stream. Add to that Padma Lakshmi’s awful, awful acting and you’ve made it to the bottom of the season. Woo.

—

It’s been a long road, but we’re already halfway through Enterprise. Season three promises to at least shake things up a little, for better or for worse, so we have that to look forward to as we’ll have SO MUCH to discuss over on the weekly watch-through on SoundCloud (or wherever you podcast). You can also tell us your favorite and least favorite season 2 episodes over on Facebook and Twitter. I, for one, welcome our new Xindi overlords!

[ashkabbom]

Thoughts of the Day - Mouthwashing

A/n: I don't know what this is 🧍🏽. I started with one idea and ended up with a completely different one. Lock your doors and windows before you go to sleep, or Jimmy will appear in your room at night.

Versión en español en Wattpad: Libro de One Shots - Mouthwashing (Cuenta: ashkabbom)

Versão em português no wattpad: Livro de One Shots - Mouthwashing (Conta: ashkabbom)

•Post-Crash!Captain Curly x Reader (Not the focus, but it's still here)

Synopsis/Summary: Situations from every week, questions from every day

Notes: I apologize in advance for the phrase Swansea says😭

Why had he done this? He condemned you all to immediate hell.

That day, the emergency screen, the red lights everywhere and the sound, all of that could only be a bad dream, right? It had to be a nightmare.

What had you done to deserve this? Years of work thrown away with a single action and you don't even know why it was all thrown down the drain without any prior warning.

You loved him like never before, your days with him meant much more than all the work you had in this place.

The layoff was already a problem, but this was beyond what you could handle in the future. If there even was a future.

The tears fell and you felt yourself slowly going crazy. The captain was out of the game now and in his absence they put Jimmy as an anesthetic for the immense despair in everyone on that ship, but it didn't work at all, it was the calm before the storm.

Anya looked as uncomfortable about it as anyone on that ship. Having Jimmy as captain was stressful, to say the least.

You and the others came to a silent agreement about the now captain. He was as cowardly as anyone there, but he was still second in command.

"What do we do next?" You ask, taking a deep breath, wiping your tears on the sleeve of your uniform.

"I don't know, but his painkillers will run out at some point." Anya also looked apprehensively at the captain's situation.

At the same time that you felt anger and disappointment, you also felt worry and uncertainty, you still loved him. The story made sense to some extent, but it didn't match the captain you knew.

"You.. You know how I feel about this, I think it's the right thing to do, Anya." It was weird to think about doing that with someone you like, you don't even know if you can imagine yourself doing such a thing.

She didn't have to answer, but as much as neither of you wanted to, you silently agreed that it was the quickest and least cruel option towards him.

"What a funeral atmosphere." Daisuke's voice coming from the door startles you both, making you turn to look at him.

"Well, this is almost a funeral- Ouch!" You can't even finish before Anya pinches your neck. "Okay okay, I get it."

"And how is it going? How is he?" He approaches the stretcher and looks at the captain, saying good morning and sighing soon after. "At least he's alive..."

"The painkillers help to control the pain and he can... Sleep, I think, or at least not writhe in pain and discomfort." Anya says to Daisuke, knowing that it was impossible for Curly to have any slight improvement in the situation they were in.

"But still no sign of being able to speak, and it would take a miracle for him to actually be able to say something." You say sincerely.

Daisuke nods in acknowledgement, he wondered if keeping the captain in this state for months was right. When they return to Earth, Curly could receive specialized treatment for his situation in a Hospital, right?

"The Totally Spies girls better get back into their disguises, or the Mojo Jojo will find you out." Swansea warns, leaning against the door.

If everyone was in sickbay, Jimmy would probably be hunting one of them around the ship. It's only a matter of time before Jimmy shows up and starts putting stress and pressure on everyone, so Swansea was right.

You pat Daisuke on the shoulder and then look at Anya. "You heard Jerry, girls, back to disguises." Anya lets out a small laugh, a small quiet moment before dealing with the reality of things.

"I'll give the painkiller to the captain this time, I'll see you guys later" You say waving to your colleagues before grabbing the bottle of painkiller.

Daisuke and Anya walk to the door, chatting a bit before agreeing on where each of them would go. "But isn't the Mojo Jojo from The Powerpuff Girls?" Is the last thing you hear Daisuke say before the door closes.

It's just you and him now. No matter how much you tried to ignore it, but you could feel Curly's gaze burning you alive, so many things wanted to be understood with just a single look from his eyes.

If he could say something, what would he say? What would be his version of what happened? Why would he have crashed the ship? Would he want us to keep giving him the painkillers or just end his suffering?

Looking at him, burned, unable to speak or move properly, lying on that stretcher, which was now his bed and the infirmary his room. He just stared, unable to close his eyes at any moment, you didn't know what was going on in his head, it was impossible to guess any feelings he had by looking at his face.

"Yeah, Captain... You should have thought better about your actions before you did this to us..." You say with the painkiller in hand. The urge to cry formed again and made you feel suffocated. "You have to take responsibility somehow at least..."

[giffingthingsss]

Jonathan Archer vs. the Perpetually Offended Aliens

[cosmicvaca]

Had to try this with my Trill/batazoid oc

I CAN FINALLY POST THIS !!!!!

Sooooo I've made a Star trek picrew for you OC and avatar needs :)

I've made it so that you can play with multiple species (in total, human, klingon, cardassian, bajoran, ferengi, andorian, aenar, denobulan, vulcan, romulan, trill, orion and android), mix and match things ! This is a beta release, so to speak, so it's not perfect, but I'm gonna add stuff to it in the future (especially backgrounds and outfits, I find it really lacking there but I have been working on this for SO LONG I couldn't add anything more rn)

Yeah like I just said this took me a whole month and a half to do, working on it on nearly all of my free time. And trust me, it was a chore. You don't know true pain if you haven't spent whole afternoons just exporting PNGs. So yeah I really hope people use this lol, don't hesitate to share !

You can use as an icon, edit and change the background if you want, just tag me where you use it :D (or just to show me what you made. I'd love to see your characters !)

Also feel free to suggest stuff to improve or add, I already have a few things planned for the next version but I'm open to ideas. Also tell me if anything doesn't work properly. Some parts can look jenky at first but most of them are movable so you should be able to make everything work. (fyi some parts are obviously not meant to work together, like half the haircuts and klingon ridges)

Have fun !

[planetlongjourney]

I love Star Trek, but It’s one of those shows that to truly love it, you have to realise that it can be a BAD show

Don’t get me wrong it’s such a great show in terms of characters and storytelling MOST OF THE TIME!!! but if anybody comes to me and tells me that “Sub Rosa is a secret classic” or “a night in sickbay is so misunderstood” I will throw them so far that astronauts will get whiplash

Not only that but there are so many episodes where I just wish they could’ve done the characters more justice…example, not underusing women characters, especially in TNG, or not randomly switching up someone’s personality because you really want to tell a specific plot that would need them to act like that.

And the more you learn about the behind the scenes of Star Trek, the more I want to go back in time and rip the Star Trek franchise straight out of Gene Rodennberry’s hands and claim it as my own, because some of the stuff that happened off camera is actually horrible! (Go look up the things that he and so many people who worked on the show did)

I mean in the end Star Trek is a usually fun franchise! But it is a FLAWED franchise, and to love Star Trek is to question the choices of Star Trek or something

[lostyesterday]

I made the following graph because I was interested in which words show up most often in the titles of Star Trek episodes and movies:

I included episode titles from all twelve canon TV shows and all thirteen movies. I only counted nouns for the graph to avoid including boring words like “the” or “and”. I also counted plurals of a word as the same word (“stars” counts as “star”) and compound words where the singular word still carried the same meaning (“starship” counts as “star”). A complete list of episode/movie titles for each word listed in the graph is below the cut.

Time:

Amok Time (TOS)

The Time Trap (TAS)

The Naked Time (TNG)

Time Squared (TNG)

A Matter of Time (TNG)

Time’s Arrow (TNG)

Timescape (TNG)

Hard Time (DS9)

Children of Time (DS9)

A Time to Stand (DS9)

Time’s Orphan (DS9)

Time and Again (VOY)

Once Upon a Time (VOY)

Timeless (VOY)

Time Amok (PRO)

The Time Devouring Scavengers (PRO)

Star

Beyond the Furthest Star (TAS)

Starship Mine (TNG)

Starship Down (DS9)

Far Beyond the Stars (DS9)

North Star (ENT)

Battle at the Binary Stars (DIS)

The Brightest Star (Short Treks)

The Girl Who Made the Stars (Short Treks)

The Star Gazer (PIC)

The Stars at Night (Lower Decks)

Starstruck (PRO)

A Moral Star (PRO)

Man

The Man Trap (TOS)

Where No Man Has Gone Before (TOS)

The Schizoid Man (TNG)

The Measure of a Man (TNG)

Manhunt (TNG)

Tin Man (TNG)

Man of the People (TNG)

A Man Alone (DS9)

Our Man Bashir (DS9)

Inside Man (VOY)

Renaissance Man (VOY)

Magic to Make the Sanest Man Go Mad (DIS)

Home

The Voyage Home (movie)

Home Soil (TNG)

Homeward (TNG)

Move Along Home (DS9)

The Homecoming (DS9)

Homefront (DS9)

Homestead (VOY)

Home (ENT)

Far From Home (DIS)

Coming Home (DIS)

Child

Friday’s Child (TOS)

And the Children Shall Lead (TOS)

Plato’s Stepchildren (TOS)

The Child (TNG)

Galaxy’s Child (TNG)

Children of Time (DS9)

Child’s Play (VOY)

Children of the Comet (SNW)

Children of Mars (Short Treks)

Life

Half a Life (TNG)

The Quality of Life (TNG)

Life Support (DS9)

Lifesigns (VOY)

Real Life (VOY)

Life Line (VOY)

Life, Itself (DIS)

Eye

Wink of an Eye (TOS)

The Eye of the Beholder (TAS)

The Mind’s Eye (TNG)

Eye of the Beholder (TNG)

Eye of the Needle (VOY)

Blink of an Eye (VOY)

Kayshon, His Eyes Open (Lower Decks)

Light

The Lights of Zetar (TOS)

The Inner Light (TNG)

The Darkness and the Light (DS9)

By Inferno’s Light (DS9)

In the Pale Moonlight (DS9)

Point of Light (DIS)

Light and Shadows (DIS)

War

A Private Little War (TOS)

The Dogs of War (DS9)

Warlord (VOY)

Warhead (VOY)

The War Within, the War Without (DIS)

Under the Cloak of War (SNW)

Night

Night Terrors (TNG)

Wrongs Darker than Death or Night (DS9)

Night (VOY)

Two Days and Two Nights (ENT)

A Night in Sickbay (ENT)

The Stars at Night (Lower Decks)

Game

The Gamesters of Triskelion (TOS)

The Game (TNG)

Armageddon Game (DS9)

The Killing Game (VOY)

Endgame (VOY)

The Least Dangerous Game (Lower Decks)

Shadow

Shadowplay (DS9)

In Purgatory’s Shadow (DS9)

Shadows and Symbols (DS9)

Shadows of P’Jem (ENT)

Light and Shadows (DIS)

Through the Valley of Shadows (DIS)

Mirror

Mirror Mirror (TOS)

Shattered Mirror (DS9)

In the Mirror, Darkly (ENT)

Mirrors (DIS)

The Mirror Universe (PRO)

Enemy

The Enemy Within (TOS)

The Enemy (TNG)

Face of the Enemy (TNG)

Silent Enemy (ENT)

Behind Enemy Lines (PRO)

Battle

Let that Be Your Last Battlefield (TOS)

The Battle (TNG)

Battle Lines (DS9)

Nor the Battle to the Strong (DS9)

Battle at the Binary Stars (DIS)

Mind

Dagger of the Mind (TOS)

The Mind’s Eye (TNG)

Frame of Mind (TNG)

Mining the Mind’s Mines (Lower Decks)

Mindwalk (PRO)

Blood

Bloodlines (TNG)

Blood Oath (DS9)

Ties of Blood and Water (DS9)

Blood Fever (VOY)

Flesh and Blood (VOY)

World

For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky (TOS)

The Best of Both Worlds (TNG)

Strange New World (ENT)

All the World’s a Stage (PRO)

Strange New Worlds (SNW)

Ship

Ship in a Bottle (TNG)

Starship Mine (TNG)

Starship Down (DS9)

The Ship (DS9)

One Little Ship (DS9)

Day

Day of the Dove (TOS)

Data’s Day (TNG)

Day of Honor (VOY)

Thirty Days (VOY)

Two Days and Two Nights (ENT)

[sansaorgana]

Can you do a buck x reader where she’s a nurse and takes care of everyone at the 100 and they all think she’s just perfect and a mother figure while all the soldiers are away from that mother figure and one day she like snaps when having to deal with screaming soldiers and she goes up to one the higher power guys and like cussing them out for constant sending the men into a death trap and her having to pick up the pieces and buck has to hold her back while she’s just screaming at the other guy and everyone else is like 🧍

hello, thank you for your request! 🧡 I've just realised that none of my previous Readers in the stories with Buck were nurses lol 😷 most likely because I can't even imagine myself as a nurse and writing about all these things is enough to make me feel sick 🤣 but because of this, it was easy to write this story where the Reader is at her breaking point lol proceed with caution because there are ugly descriptions of blood, needles, death etc.

also this gif asdfghjkl I swear, in the story he has more compassion towards the Reader 🤣🤣🤣

my inbox is open for blurb/short fic requests for major cleven 🤗

You thought you could do it. When the war had started, you hadn’t thought twice as you had signed up to help. Real help. No paperwork or coffee making. You had wanted to become a nurse.

The physical aspect of your job was not that difficult. You knew what to do in most situations and you had learnt how to stop frowning at the physiological body functions. It was the emotional aspect of the job that no one had prepared you for.

Sometimes the boys would come back from the air battles with nothing but mere scratches. They would still come by just to spend time with you and let your gentle, skilled hands to patch them up as they were telling you stories.

Sometimes the same boys would not come back from their next mission and the stories they had told were all that was left of them. You would cherish them in your heart forever.

Sometimes the boys would come back burnt, with half of their faces blown out or their guts bleeding all over the floor. Their screams of pain would haunt you later at night. Those were your boys.

Perhaps that was why you were everyone's favourite nurse. You were getting attached to them so easily, treating everyone as a friend, offering them a loving hug when they needed it, listening to their stories, helping them to write letters to their mothers and girlfriends or children. You were a good spirit of the base and one of the planes was named after you. So far it still hadn’t gone down and everyone treated it as a sign that you were their guardian angel indeed.

You didn’t see yourself as a guardian angel. If you had to stay within the religious imagery examples, you’d rather describe yourself as a mater dolorosa – lady of sorrows watching her son’s suffering and not being able to help him.

Sometimes they would die in your arms. Still, it was better than to die in a burning plane. Better for them. Not for you.

Today was a day of a very difficult mission. Most of the planes hadn’t come back at all. And the ones who had, were full of men screaming in agony and pain. You were barely able to hold it all together when they were reaching their hands out for you as if your touch would heal them. But it wouldn’t. It couldn’t, no matter how much you wanted it.

“(Y/N), you should take a break…” Your friend put her hand on your shoulder. You were exhausted indeed. You were working for three hours straight without sitting down for one second and you were running around from one bed to another. “Go, rest,” she insisted but you shook your head and went back to work.

Only when you noticed that your hands were shaking so much that you weren’t able to inject a needle into a vein properly, you decided to take a break indeed. You didn’t want to cause even more damage by trying too hard.

But before leaving the sickbay you wanted to check on one of the young pilots. He was nineteen years old, it had been his first mission and you remembered how excited he had been about it. Now he was laying on one of the beds, barely breathing as his chest was burnt and lungs damaged.

You were approaching his bed and your heart sank to your chest at the sight of the doctor putting a white sheet over his face.

“Wh-what… What are you doing to Johnson, sir?” You asked.

“I’m sorry, (Y/N),” the doctor shook his head. “He’s just passed away.”

You just stood there with your lips slightly parted. Johnson was just another surname on the list of all these boys you would never forget about. But Johnson was special. He was the youngest you had known. He couldn’t stop talking about his mother and little sister, about his dog and his girlfriend waiting for him back in Alabama.

Your sadness overtook your whole body and then it developed into an anger so big that you felt as if you were about to explode and bring down the whole base.

“Son of a bitch…” You breathed out angrily as you stormed out of the sickbay without even taking your apron off. It was full of blood but you did not care.

You walked down the corridor with murder in your eyes, making everyone step out of the way. And you entered the Colonel’s office without knocking, so loudly and rapidly that all the men inside startled.

“Miss?” Colonel Harding asked as he was sitting behind his desk and showing some sort of a map to a few Majors.

One of them was Major Cleven. He hadn’t been up in the air on that day but he would be tomorrow. And was the one you had befriended the most. But even his presence couldn’t stop your rage at that moment.

“You can’t just keep sending them to die, Colonel!” You clenched your fists and approached the desk as the men watched with big eyes. “Look! Look, Colonel! Look!” You showed him your bloody hands and your apron. “Why is it me with their blood and guts all over me? While you’re just sitting here, planning…” You gave the map a very angry look. You wanted to tear it apart and you were shaking to stop yourself from doing so. “You’re sending them to death, all of them, they’re just boys! Johnson was nineteen years old! Do you even know who he was? Or was he just another number to you?!”

“(Y/N), calm down, let’s take you outside…” Buck approached you carefully but you moved away.

“No! I will not be silenced. I have things to say and I will say them!” You snapped at him and he froze. You laid your eyes back on the surprised Colonel again. “You just sit here and plan how to send them to death more efficiently. You men… Can’t you see how stupid this whole war is? How stupid every war is? And just because some brilliant engineers constructed planes, doesn’t mean they should be used to kill people!”

“Miss…” Colonel furrowed his brow, “Miss I-Don’t-Know-Your-Name, are you done?”

“You son of a bitch!” You banged your bloody fists on his desk and his stupid map got covered with blood. “You don’t even know my name. But I am the one to patch them up and hold their hand when they’re dying after you sent them to death. God damn you, Colonel Harding! You and all the Generals that you serve! God damn Hitler, God damn Churchill and God damn your fucking President Roosevelt!”

“(Y/N), please,” Buck’s strong hands pulled you away. “I’m sorry, Colonel. She’s all shook up,” he tried to explain your behaviour as you started sobbing when the anger had finally left your body. You hid your face in his uniform and allowed him to put his arm around you. “I’ll take her outside.”

“Yeah, you better do it, son,” Colonel nodded at him. Buck started to walk you out slowly and carefully as you heard Colonel’s voice while you were walking out of the door. “Poor girl… She needs a free weekend.”

Buck took you outside and watched you worryingly as you were catching your breath back and trying to calm yourself down, wiping the tears off of your face with the palms of your bloody hands.

“Here, let me,” he took out a handkerchief and wiped your face with it gently. “Gee, (Y/N), what was that?”

“I… I don’t know… I just can’t… I can’t do it anymore, Buck… That boy, Johnson, he was nineteen… Nineteen, for God’s sake,” you sniffed your tears back and looked into his eyes as your lips trembled. “He was telling me stories about his mum and little sister… His dog and his girlfriend… And now… And now he’s gone. Just like that. His lungs were burnt. Every breath was agony…” You tried to explain, still shaking.

“You really need a free weekend,” Buck pointed out and brought you closer to give you another hug.

It felt good to be in his arms. It was comforting. But you were scared to admit to yourself that you indeed liked him more than just a friend. Because if he would go down tomorrow or any other day, it would hurt even more.

“I can’t… I can’t leave my boys…” You took a step back to look at his face again. “And… And I can’t just take a free weekend. It would feel wrong. When you boys are up in the air, so brave and so heroic. All I can do is patch you up later. I can’t give up, no…”

“We all need a break sometimes. Hey,” Buck raised your chin up with his finger, “promise me that you’ll take a free weekend.”

“Aren’t you on a mission this weekend?” You asked.

“Yeah.”

“Then no way, Buck,” you shook your head. “I have to be here to patch you up,” you smiled through the tears.

“There are other nurses ‘round here,” he pointed out with a soft smile.

“I don’t want them to touch you,” you admitted suddenly as your cheeks heated up.

Why the hell had you said that…?

“They don’t know how to patch you up properly, I mean…” You tried to explain yourself quickly. “Only I know how to–”

But he didn’t let you finish. He leaned in very carefully and placed a gentle kiss upon your lips. You were stunned.

“I know what you mean, sweetheart,” he teased after finally breaking the kiss and caressing your cheek with his thumb. “I promise I won’t get a single scratch when you’re not around.”

MASTERLIST || BUCK MASTERLIST

[soulerflaire]

Did Archer just threaten to pee on the sacred cultural trees? Because I think he just threatened to pee on the sacred cultural trees.

[wildsaltair]

This Fragile Vessel

Pairing: Maximus Decimus Meridius x reader

Rating: T (hurt/comfort and romance, with a few tiny hints of spice)

Word Count: 2.7k

Author’s Note: Thank y'all so much for all your kind words on my past fics :) It's such a joy getting to write about Maximus, and I love sharing these fics with people who enjoy them. This is another of my favorite pieces, sort of a companion / sequel piece to "Stalking Tiger," but it's a self-explanatory standalone. It's part of a larger narrative (everything is the same except Maximus was single AU) in which reader is a slave sent to entertain Maximus in the gladiator school, but they end up falling madly in love and kind of living in agony day to day worrying that something will happen to the other. This takes place at some time during that doomed love affair, and it's got all my usual self-indulgent daydreams wrapped up in it. I hope y'all enjoy :)

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ 

Four endless days pass in the cold, dark room of the gladiator school to which you are assigned when your cough grows so severe that you can barely stand upright anymore. Four days pass in a blur of fever, chills, coughing spells, unconsciousness, and the fear that this blank dark ceiling will be the last sight you ever see.

The sickness would not bother you so much on its own. What troubles you most is that you cannot see the Spaniard in all that time.

Ever since you were brought to serve in the gladiator school, fulfilling any slave’s job that needed doing, your love for the Spaniard has only strengthened. Your nights together — though dictated by how well Maximus performs in the arena, and how often Proximo thinks you should be allowed to spend the night with the Spaniard — have intensified the passion and tenderness you feel for one another, and your days are less miserable. As always, the gloomy threat of your love’s death in the arena looms like a cloud overhead, but the joyful nights you spend in his arms serve to help you both keep your minds off your fears.

But your symptoms have only worsened in the chilly stone halls of the gladiator school. What started as a mere cough has escalated to dizzy spells and fevers, which resulted in the slave master sending you to one of the sickbays until you recover.

Now four days have passed. You wonder if Maximus even knows what has happened to you. You have no way to send him word.

You wonder often if you will die; if these coughs are the final sighs of your lungs, if your bouts of unconsciousness are your first forays into the depths of death. You often awaken unable to breathe, unable to speak or move. Though the symptoms have just begun to improve slightly, you are still so weak and depleted of energy that you cannot imagine how you will recover.

And what will happen to your lover if you die? You have both come to terms with the idea that his life is in the most danger. He has made no secret of the fact that you are his reason for living, and that he will have no other reason if something happens to you.

It troubles you. What will become of your beloved if you die?

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

On the fifth night, joy itself visits your cold, dark, lonely room.

The jangle of keys alerts you to an incoming visitor, but you are so weak that you cannot even open your eyes and turn your head.

The heavy door slides open, footsteps cross the room quickly, and a moment later, a warm hand is caressing your forehead with the gentleness of a feather.

You open your eyes, and the first thing you see is the face of your beloved, gazing down at you with eyes that speak to his mixed worry and relief.

“My love,” Maximus breathes, focused blue eyes darting across your face. He’s kneeling beside your bed, one hand stroking your forehead and the other resting uncertainly on the blanket, as if he is not sure if he should touch you.

Your heart leaps with joy at the sight of him. Five days, and at last he is close enough to touch again. You lift a hand to try, but your strength fails you.

He immediately moves his other hand and catches yours, pulling it close to press his lips against the back of your hand. He closes his eyes, lets his warm lips linger on your cold skin.

“You’re here,” you whisper, your voice little more than a rasp. Trying to speak is gratingly painful in your ragged lungs. “I am so glad.”

The Spaniard hears the way you struggle to speak, and he immediately leans forward, stroking your forehead with his thumb and gazing into your eyes with such earnestness that your heart flips over in your chest.

“Do not try to speak,” he murmurs, kissing the back of your hand again. “Save your strength. Save your breath,” he adds when he notices the labored rise and fall of your chest.

You smile faintly up at him, so overwhelmed with the joy of seeing him again that you can barely think of the pain in your chest.

“How did you get here?” you ask softly, squeezing his hand.

His gaze roams over your face, clearly worried that you are going to continue speaking whether you should or not. “After five days,” he tells you quietly, “I could not stand it any longer. They would not tell me if you lived. I told Proximo I would not raise a hand in the arena again until I had seen you and made sure you were well.”

The story brings another smile to your lips, imagining your love making one of his very few demands to the master of the gladiator school.

“I am so glad,” you tell him honestly, and his face softens as you gaze up at him with adoring eyes. “It does me good to see you.”

The Spaniard tries to return your smile, but you can read the worry on his face. Seeing you so fragile and ill is not what he hoped to find, you know, and you can only imagine how he will worry after he has to leave.

A sharp cough racks your lungs, much to your chagrin, shaking your entire body. Maximus' eyes darken with worry, and he immediately moves to sit on the edge of your bed, one leg curled beneath him. He pulls you into his arms, one hand stroking your back soothingly while you catch your breath.

“I’m here,” he whispers gently, his mouth close to your ear. “I have you now.”

Just being close to him comforts you in ways you cannot express. You fall bonelessly into his embrace, your head resting on his shoulder while one of his strong arms stays wrapped around your waist. Sitting upright makes breathing less painful.

“I am so glad you came,” you whisper once your breath comes a bit easier. “So glad you are here with me.”

He draws a shaky breath, one that you feel where his body is pressed against yours. “I would have come sooner,” he promises, “but I was not allowed.” His voice is tight, resentful. You know how much Maximus despises being a slave, having his every move dictated and policed.

You nod in understanding, just rejoicing in the fact that he is here now. His body is warm against yours, bringing a pleasant heat to your chilled bones. His fingers carefully trace up and down your spine, feeling the too-pronounced notches in your spine through the thin shift you are wearing.

“Do they know what is wrong with you?” he whispers, his breath ghosting across your shoulder. You instinctively lift your hands to hold him, managing to rest them against his ribs.

You shake your head slightly, letting your cheek rest against his. His beard scratches against your cheek marvelously.

“No,” you reply. “Some sort of fever. I have been burning up for the last few days, but now the chills have set in. I get dizzy and fall unconscious, then cough until my lungs feel like they are bleeding. I am exhausted, but I cannot sleep. I am losing my strength, but I cannot eat.”

“I can tell,” he remarks, concern tinging his voice. His fingers are exploring the sharpness of your shoulder blades. “I can feel your bones.”

He lifts his head from your shoulder, pulls away from you slightly so he can look at you. His gaze softens, melts when he gazes deep into your eyes. One hand continues to stroke your back calmingly, while the other caresses your cheek.

“I worry for you, beloved,” he whispers, leaning forward to touch his lips against yours. “You feel so fragile. I worry your strength will give out.”

His lips come to rest now against the corner of your mouth, and you smile in response. “My strength has returned to me,” you whisper gently, stroking his ribs with your fingertips. “It walked in the door just a moment ago.”

A wave of emotion seems to overcome him, one that he had been hiding until now, and he dips his head to rest in the crook of your neck. He gathers you close, not squeezing you tightly but holding you close to his chest while he breathes in your scent.

“Would that I could take it from you,” he murmurs, his voice low and thick with emotion. “Would that I could bear your burdens.”

You summon the strength to raise a hand and touch the back of his neck, where his muscles are tight and strained. Your touch elicits a soft sound from him, a relaxing of his muscles, and he cuddles you even closer in his arms.

“You ease them,” you assure him, kissing the top of his ear affectionately. “That is better than bearing them.”

He breathes, slow and deep, against your neck, then touches his lips very softly to the column of your throat. He pauses there, feeling the weakened pulse of your blood.

“All I want is for you to be well,” he whispers, lips brushing your throat in a way that makes you shiver. So many of your dreams have been haunted by the memory of his lips on your skin, his hands coaxing gasps from you, your bodies so thoroughly entwined that you fell asleep as though one person. Such pleasures seem far away and very close at the same time now, with this different, heightened intimacy.

“And so I will be,” you promise him softly. Your fingers tangle in his hair at the base of his neck, caressing his warm skin to relax him further. “Now that I have seen you, I am reminded of why I must get well quickly.”

He sighs, then shifts you in his arms. Carefully, he lays you on your back, settling your head against the pillow with the greatest delicacy. Again, your blood surges at the memory of the last time he did this — in his bed, to settle himself between your legs and kiss every inch of your bare skin.

A moment later, his large hand is pressed flat against your chest, directly over your heart. He pauses, listening or feeling for a sound.

“Your heart beats so fast,” he murmurs in concern, still leaning forward so your faces are close.

You manage another smile, resting your hand on his chest to mirror his actions. “As it always does when I am close to you,” you tease him, then pause when another coughing spell knocks you breathless.

You despise the worried look on his face, knowing that seeing you this way will haunt him. You wish you could put on a brave face and convince him that all is well, but he is too perceptive.

“Your lungs,” he says softly, his gaze falling to your chest as though he can see through you. “They are choking the life out of you. I have seen it before.”

With his soldiers, no doubt. And no doubt he has seen many soldiers die from such an illness.

You are too breathless and pained to respond, so you simply nod and close your eyes, tilting your head back while you gasp for another breath.

A moment later, he has opened your shift, baring you to the waist in the cold air. You shiver deeply, but a moment later, his warm hands are spread over your chest, rubbing in a rhythm that is both vigorous and gentle.

“I have seen it before,” he repeats quietly, eyes locked on your face while he massages your chest muscles. “If your lungs can loosen up, you will breathe easier.”

You have to fight the urge to cough sharply the harder he presses, but you gradually realize that his ministrations are indeed helping. Your chest does not feel as tight, nor your breath as constricted.

You wish this were a different moment. You wish he were undressing you and touching the swell of your chest with lovemaking in mind. You would give anything for a simple moment to submit to him like this, to surrender to his passionate touches and kisses. But this is not that moment, and for right now, you are grateful that you can even draw a full breath.

He continues to rub circles on your upper chest, watching you carefully the whole time for any reaction. When you finally have caught your wind and begun to breathe at a normal rhythm, he slows down.

“Is that better?” he murmurs, thumbs stroking your skin affectionately.

You nod breathlessly, gazing deep into his blue eyes with all the love and adoration you feel for him. “Yes,” you manage to whisper, but no other words will come.

You stay like that for a silent moment, he transfixed by the rhythm of your breathing and you mesmerized by his intensity, his tenderness, the intimacy of him leaning over you this way, trying to catch your every breath as though each was a precious treasure to him.

Then, knowing his time with you is coming to a close, the Spaniard leans forward a bit more, touching his cheek against yours. One hand still presses onto your chest, measuring your heartbeat, while the other cards through your hair. His fingers on your scalp are so gentle, so pleasurable, that all you can do is sigh.

“It tears me apart to have to leave you this way,” he whispers into your jaw, which he kisses with the softest delicacy.

You tilt your head to nuzzle him fondly, soaking up his sweet presence as you slowly begin to feel your consciousness slipping away. “Not for long,” you tell him.

Another tender kiss to your cheek, and he pushes himself up, one hand still protectively touching your heart. “I will try to come back,” he promises. “Tomorrow, if they will let me.”

You nod, smiling up at him through the dizziness that sweeps over you. “I will be well soon,” you rasp. “I will come back to you very soon.”

He closes his eyes for a moment when you reach up to touch his face softly. The brush of your fingertips seems to bring him near to coming undone, and he clenches his jaw to hide the emotion.

“I will be thinking of you every moment,” he vows. “Every heartbeat will remind me of you. Every breath.”

Your smile only softens further, and he finally returns it, clearly trying to be strong for you and comfort you. Wordlessly, he reaches to close your tunic back up, lacing the strings easily as he has done many times in the intimacy of his bed.

“There,” he whispers when he has finished, and he strokes your forehead one last time as blackness tugs at the edges of your vision. “Now you should rest.”

You nod, and as if on cue, the guard pounds on the door to let him know that it is time to leave. A thousand years with him would never be enough, but these few moments in his arms have restored your strength beyond reason.

He hesitates, not wanting to leave you. “Stay strong, my love,” he says, leaning forward to kiss your forehead sweetly. “Take some of my strength and make it your own.”

Blinking back your unconsciousness, you smile up at him, warmth spreading through your body, and he pushes himself off the edge of your bed to follow the insistent guard out of the room.

One more quick look over his shoulder — one that simply reiterates the deep love and devotion he feels for you, the loyalty and protectiveness and tenderness and passion — and Maximus is gone out the door.

But even once he is gone and sleep is tugging you into its dark and dreamless realm, you are warmed by the memory of his touch, and eased by the strength of his hands, and cheered by the joy of his presence.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

More of my fanfiction if you're so inclined :)

[theflowerofhumanity]

Razor Valentine

multirptrash​:

Uhura, meanwhile, was thoroughly disappointed in what he found in her diary: apparently, the captain here was chivalrous, brave, and a complete romantic sweetheart, but had a strict policy of not sleeping with his subordinates.

“Idiot,” she muttered, shutting off the computer. What was she supposed to do? She couldn’t just march up to him and start kissing him, as much as she wanted to. He’d get much too suspicious. At least the good news though was that she and Christine were still friends here.

The other Jim Kirk, of course, had no such qualms, and he’d grown accustomed to a degree of casual intimacy with Nyota Uhura. As soon as the business with the Halkans was done, he swiveled in his chair, winked at her, and left the Bridge. There wasn’t any chit-chat about when they would meet or where. She’d made it quite clear that Jim belonged to her and therefore so did his cabin, which had started to look that way, too, with her romance novels and silky robes and nail polish scattered all over every surface.

Elsewhere, his displaced first officer was doing what he could to make sense of their situation, beginning with the personal and official logs kept by the other Spock. They were both fascinating and frustrating. He saw the appeal of this United Federation of Planets, the logic of it, and in fact he envied its very existence. The thought occurred to him: here was a universe in which he and Christine could have raised their child (the child that had never existed, he told himself sternly) safely. But it also became evident that the truth was more complicated. In this peaceful and prosperous reality, the man with his name and his face had clung to his Vulcan identity to the point of stifling himself with them. How else to explain why this Spock had shunned the apparently timid advances of Christine Chapel in the midst of pon farr and risked his life to make a long, dangerous trek back to Vulcan only to be rejected by T’Pring in his hour of need? Or why the very thought of killing his captain had freed him through the catharsis not of sexual release, but of horror, despair, and self-loathing? “Fool,” he said quietly.

He shook his head and began to close down the PADD on the desk...but then he hesitated. As stilted as they’d been, his attempts at conversation had clearly bothered this Christine. Now he had a better understanding of why. Going back to her tonight was therefore unwise, and not only because of her earlier reticence—Spock ached for his own woman in more ways than one. He, too, had grown complacent, used to her warmth in his arms and her voice in his ears. But perhaps he could open the door this version of himself seemed determined to slam shut...

So he sent this message: Miss Chapel—I’m very sorry if our earlier conversation was inappropriate. The choices you make in your personal life truly are none of my business. The fact remains, however, that there are men who appreciate you for more than your connections. I believe there is much for us to discuss, if you ever wish to do so.

The man who ought to have sent that message, or said as much to Christine’s face, had done a dangerous thing when he had sent the guards away. As he attempted to gather his thoughts and overcome the acute physical pain she had inflicted, someone stumbled across an unprecedented sight: the invulnerable Vulcan prone, unaccompanied, and unawares in the hallway. On this Enterprise, people acted first and asked questions later. They seized opportunities as they arose. This occasion was no exception. Spock was lucky only in that whoever stabbed him repeatedly in the back had no notion of Vulcan anatomy and therefore missed his heart. By the time his confused guards returned, he was lying unconscious and barely breathing in a wide, spreading pool of green blood.