#ikat'ika

[sirellas]

STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE, 5x15 "By Inferno's Light"

"After all, a verse about the Cardassian who panicked in the face of danger would ruin General Martok's song."

"That would be unfortunate."

"Now, if you'll excuse me... My dungeon awaits."

[stay-neurotic]

to the death says 20 y/o to become an honored elder. the script for in purgatory's shadow says 18 🤔

[trek-memes-blog]

Jem’Hadar soldier explain the scar on Martok’s eye

[rondanchan]

#DS9inktober Sketch Day 22: Ikat'ika, the only individual Jem'Hadar to appear in more than one episode! #inktober #StarTrek

[supervillain-smut]

Star Trek: DS9 and How They Hug

Yes, this is my first post in a long while, yes I’m aware it’s probably not what anyone was expecting, yes I am sorry to anyone with asks in my inbox, and yes I will be getting back to them.

Miles O'Brien Miles has a very excited and friendly hug, the kind where he just gives you a big squeeze before he lets you go, and lets his hands linger on your shoulders just for a bit.

Elim Garak Garak doesn't hug. He doesn't trust anyone enough, the only reason Tora Ziyal got to was because she surprised him. He prefers a kind head bow, or even possibly a hand shake.

Skrain Dukat Dukat is a creep in almost everything he does, including hugs. He's the sort of Cardassian that abuses his power to no end, and so he lets his hands wander just that little bit too close to your rear; if you try to call him out on it, he plays like he doesn't know what you're talking about. "I meant nothing by it!", "It was an accident, you are much smaller!", "You're being too sensitive!" Are the most common phrases he runs to.

Benjamin Sisko Sisko gives those little-bit-too-tight dad hugs, the kind where you almost can't breathe, almost. He's joyous and caring, and makes no effort to hide it from those he cares about.

Jadzia Dax Jadzia is no stranger to warm embraces, and freely gives hugs to whoever she trusts or thinks could use one. If you're against this sort of affection, however, she won't take it personally and adjust accordingly. Her hugs are very calming, warm, and friendly, but just a smidge too long. She won't let you go until she feels like it.

Quark Quark will only hug someone if he can get something out of it; whether it's picking your pocket, gaining your trust, or copping a feel, these are some of the many exploiting reasons he will hug someone.

Julian Bashir Julian loves hugs, even better if they don't interfere with his work. Meaning he doesn't really make a conscious effort to hug anyone, but he likes being hugged. However, they do feel very nice and genuine when he does return the favor, or remembers to offer it.

Odo Odo goes stiff as a log when he's hugged. He doesn't like hugs, and he doesn't like being hugged (unless it's by Kira, which he will never admit) he just grumbles once you let go of him and tries to go back to business as usual.

Kira Nerys Kira hugs anyone close to her, other than that forget it. If you're not one of her best friends or Odo, good luck! Also, she hugs in private, so general population thinks she never hugs, ever.

Corat Damar Damar will allow a hug if you really need one, and when drunk is not afraid to get a little more cuddly than usual, but he'd rather be seen as the intimidating Glinn/Legate he thinks he looks like.

BONUS: DOMINION

Female Founder Hahahaha! How do you like being vaporized? Because that's what's going to happen.

Jem'Hadar (Ikat'Ika, Remata'Klan, Omet'iklan) For the Jem'Hadar, it is completely pointless, and a weakness. No, they do not hug. Although they do wish to know what it feels like, secretly. It's also not very practical; very pointy. However, it's rumored Omet'iklan will give you a hug if you're really upset. But that's just rumors, right?

Borath He will allow it, but not for long. Make sure no one sees, and don't tell anyone! He has a reputation to uphold.

Deyos Deyos is the second least affectionate of the Vorta, and that's saying a lot considering none of them are that affectionate unless they're absolutely enthralled with you. His hugs are brief, uncomfortable, and short. He's only doing it to either make you stop crying, or to make you leave him alone.

Eris Eris doesn't mind hugs, she's just very confused at first. She tries to figure it out all too quickly. Are you trying to attack her? Pick her up? Guide her? Is this normal? How does she respond? Once you actually have your arms around her, she gets the message and returns the favor very confusedly. She doesn't get it, but you seem to like it, so it's not that bad.

Gelnon Gelnon is a very proud Vorta, but prides himself on knowing others' weaknesses, he only hugs you for tactical purposes; until he realizes far too late he actually likes the affection. The epitome of "what was that?" "affection" "weird. Do it again."

Keevan Keevan? Hugs? Not likely. In the open. In private, however? You're not likely to be released until he says so. You say anything, and he will kill you. Everything and anything he enjoys is kept a secret.

Kilana Kilana doesn't understand hugs and she doesn't want to; the second she sees you going in for one, she dodges you and moves elsewhere well away from your grasp.

Luaran Do you want to get stabbed? Because this is how you get stabbed. A big, resounding, NO. For your own safety. Now, that doesn't mean she means it maliciously, nor is it meant to be lethal; it startles her, and her fear response is fight.

Weyoun (4, 5, 6, 7, 8, summarized) In regards to all the Weyouns: YES. He loves hugs almost as much as he loves games of any kind. He personally loves this form of human interaction. On an individual level, the further along this line you go, the more weary he becomes until you get downright untrusting at 7.

Yelgrun Yeah, no. The most unaffectionate Vorta of them all, he doesn't care for this at ALL. Stabbing you will be intentional, but not without warning. He will give you three seconds to remove yourself.

[stay-neurotic]

counterpoint: deyos is a terrible goblin man and deserves death 💜

@vortahoney @deepspaceslime @stay-neurotic

[defconprime]

Ikat'ika from Star Trek Timelines, 2018.

[sloan-suggestion]

Deep Space Nine Crew Manifest

Starfleet Personnel

Captain Ben Sisko - @sisko-suggestion

Commander Worf - @worf--suggestion

Lieutenant Commander Jadzia Dax - @jadzia-suggestions

Doctor Julian Bashir - @bashir-suggestion

Counsellor Ezri Dax - @ezri-suggestion

Ensign Nog - @nog-suggestion

Chief Petty Officer Miles O'Brien - @chiefobrien-suggestion

Head of Federation Cartography, Wendell Greer/Agent Luther Sloan - @sloan-suggestion

-

Allied Forces Personnel

Colonel Kira Nerys - @kira-suggestion

Constable Odo - @odo-suggestion

General Martok - @martok-suggestion

-

Diplomatic Personnel

Ambassador Lwaxana Troi - @lwaxana-suggestions

Grand Nagus Rom - @rom-suggestion

Ambassador Ishka - @moogie-suggestion

Kai Winn Adami - @winn-suggestion

Legate Corat Damar - @damar-suggestion

Master Surchid Falow - @falow-suggestion

-

Civilian Residents

Jake Sisko - @jake-suggestion

Tora Ziyal - @ziyal-suggestion

Vedek Bareil Antos - @bareil-suggestion

Keiko O'Brien - @keiko-suggestions

Molly O'Brien - @molly-suggestion

Vic Fontain - @vicfontain-suggestions

Elim Garak - @garak-suggestion

Leeta - @leeta-suggestions

Quark - @quark-suggestion

Morn - @morn-suggestion

Porthos - @porthos--suggestion

Kukalaka - @kukalaka-suggestion

-

Regular Visitors

Mila Garak - @mila-suggestion

Enabran Tain - @tain-suggestion

Doctor Kelas Parmak - @parmak-suggestion

Michael Eddington - @eddington-suggestions

Former Nagus Gint - @gint-suggestion

Brunt, FCA - @brunt-suggestion

Lore - @actuallore

-

Dominion Personnel

The Great Link - @great-link-suggestion

The Founder Matriarch - @founder-suggestions

Laas - @laas-suggestion

Weyoun - @weyoun-suggestion

Keevan - @keevan-suggestion

Omet'Iklan - @omet-iklan-suggestion

Ikat'Ika - @ikat-ika-suggestion

Thot Gor - @thot-suggestion

Skrain Dukat - @dukat-suggestion

[vortaesthetic]

Current Mood: Deyos. This asshole doesn't want to be anywhere near the internment camp, the asteroid it was build on, or its inmates. When he orders Worf and Ikat'ika killed, he walks away before even making sure it's done properly. He just wants to go home, he never asked to be shown a stubborn Klingon fight. Me too, Deyos. Me too.

OMG YES! He’s just so done with all of this shit. He just wants to do his damn job and have a normal day and all his asshole prison guards want to do is stage a UFC tournament with the klingon prisoners. Why couldn’t he have gotten a good assignment like being a field supervisor? I feel your feels, Deyos.

[is150]

"Today, we train against a worthy adversary. Observe. Analyze. Remember. Soon, we will face his people in combat. The lessons you learn here will ensure victory. Victory is life!!" Ikat'ika- By Inferno's Light, Stardate: 50564.2 #StarTrek #DS9 #StarTrekDS9 #startrekquotes https://www.instagram.com/p/B52wATcHwnzL0dFaAKZyZl7WUIQtVfh7nkw7Dw0/?igshid=17pvue02zsb4q

[stay-neurotic]

found this post on reddit, very well written and sums up my feelings perfectly about the tragedy of the jem'hadar. transcript under the cut

A Devil, a born Devil on whose nature, nurture can never stick, on whom my pain, humanly taken, all lost, quite lost. -Prospero, speaking of the monster Caliban, in The Tempest. -- My childhood boogeyman was the Borg. They'd make an appearance in late night syndication, and I'd be glued to the screen- but only through the holes in the blanket. They can still make me shiver, in the way that only childhood anxieties can. Body horror runs deep, and the Queen, in her first appearance- the devil given flesh as bondage temptress- is a delight.

But as an adult, among Trek's roster of villains, they aren't the ones who get under my skin and stay there. There's something hyperbolic about the Borg that makes it possible to set them aside. Metaphors for the all-consuming socio-political system of your particular nightmares aside, no ravening thousand-year-old robots are coming for my brains. The Borg are bad in a pure, Manichean sense- one imagines that whatever runs in all those extraneous tubes is some kind of spiritual ooze, black pile or demon tears or the agitated telekinetic snot from Ghostbusters II. They seem to have no conception of interacting with the universe save for the elimination of me-ness, via death or worse, and that's a proposition it's not challenging to morally frame. Picard's injunction that we not hesitate to fire at our formerly assimilated friends is naturally chilling- but also not a hard sell. It's the Jem'Hadar that have the power to unsettle me now. From one angle, this is a surprise. The Jem'Hadar are mooks, members of a class of character whose uniformity and separation from the business of living is purpose-built to ease the conscience of an audience watching their heroes gun them down in droves; death machines endowed an with unwavering loyalty to the bad guys that can only be cured with a ray gun. They're kith and kin to Imperial stormtroopers and Terminators- ugly mugs with bad aim. And yet. The writers were never more than an episode or two away from stripping away that balm, forcing characters and audience alike to stew in the unsolvable moral swamp of bad guys with worse parents, of good guys in the service of those who don't deserve them, of people bound to foul destinies, both by heritage and the conviction that heritage couldn't be helped on the part of those best equipped to help them. The Jem'Hadar have no one in their corner. The qualities that make the Jem'Hadar formidable- their easy devotion, their quick intelligence and curiosity- are rendered more valuable to the Founders because they have no intention of paying for them in the currency of social life in which they evolved. They are the plastic waste of sentient life, valued for a durability made more valuable to their owners by the ease with which it can be thrown away. They fight with the zeal and talents of people defending their families, their future, their ideals- but their lives, brief and uncultured and unsexed, have had those bits of autonomy excised. The only people who could help them are their enemies, and their efficacy in battle means those opponents have few opportunities to aid them amidst fending for their own lives. Assuming those opponents indeed cared to offer such aid. Feedback loops abound in the tragedy of the Jem'Hadar. O'Brien sees one infant Jem'Hadar filled with rage, and subsequently takes it upon himself to put an end to Bashir's experiments to free them from their white addiction- despite having an example in front of him suggesting both the biochemical possibility, and that Jem'Hadar so freed can at least contemplate a life without the Founders, with less casual brutality- a regime of self-destructive violence that Goran'Agar identifies as being the rules of the Vorta, and not their own. What would they be without the Vorta?

Nothing, of course, because no one would breed them. Rules seep in, and the Jem'Hadar, with no culture and no family, have none of their own to replace those of the Vorta. Conditioning is an inevitability. First Ramata'Klan can find no way to organize his short life around any notion but obedience to his Vorta, despite his full knowledge his contributions to the war are over, and the Vorta wants him dead, while Starfleet would let him live.

Assuming First Ramat'Klan believed the stories of Starfleet benevolence to people like him; it would be understandable if he did not. We saw a Jem'Hadar rebellion, attempting to secure an Iconian gateway, and our Starfleet crew, ostensibly heroes to underdogs elsewhere, instead saw a rabid beast off the chain, buying into a narrative that these were madmen securing a weapon of mass destruction, and not slaves securing the means to flee to freedom. And so they sign on with the slavedrivers.

Which was perhaps not an unreasonable play, given the view. Sisko and Co. spend a few days cuddled up with a Jem'Hadar squadron, and in that time they regularly threaten their rescuers, before murdering their commanding officer. Blood, at any price, it would seem.

Except, of course, when Ikat'ika refuses to beat Worf to death in 'By Inferno's Light' and is vaporized for his decency. He understood Worf, and there he found something kindred that he was loathe to destroy. History is replete with instances of fighting men coming to realize they share more in common with their opponents in the trenches than they did with their commanders- the WWI Christmas Truce comes to mind- and we see over and over the Jem'Hadar reaching towards the Klingons. Pity the Klingons never seem to reach back.

Much like the replicants of Blade Runner and BR 2049, their value to their captors is based around human qualities that, given a chance, would blossom into a longing for freedom and connection- but where would they find that chance, when their lives are so brief, and their ideas are not their own?

And that's why the Jem'Hadar bother me, now. My life is thankfully free of homogenizing swarms like the Borg. But the Jem'Hadar? They're a sci-fi amalgamation of every instance in life where a person who certainly deserves your humane pity may not deserve your trust- drug addicts and enemy soldiers and fellow citizens across political divides and family members in the grips of strange ideologies or mental illnesses, each with a laundry list of disadvantages and bad turns, heredity and circumstance and round and round. Those are adult fears, and adult problems, and adult sympathies.

And so, I watch on. What about you?