#of bajor

[rhinexstone]

Y’all ever think Bajorans play baseball as like. A religious act. Because I know people have talked about Bajorans joining star fleet or going to Siskos restaurant/New Orleans like a pilgrimage, but how many watch old baseball games or even play the sport?? Like, does Bajor become one of the greatest planets of the sport because so many of them play with such fervor??

[thresholdbb]

I'm a Kai Winn apologist but not because I think she's a good person. She's a compelling tragic character

[kat]

Speak to me. Tell me what I should do.

[theheylols]

NEW Collaboration WITH Michał Bjor. : )

[chadepitanga]

Oh. My god. The Bajoran religion is like. the Orb Pondering religion. They ARE PONDERING those orbs.

[ravenclawerised]

Rewatching DS9 again and I am just so interested at how an average Bajoran would view Kira by the end of the series. How an average Cardassian would? We know that a lot of what she does is known to the Bajoran people. Shakaar mentions Furel and Lupaza bragging about her whenever they get news of the station. But lets actually take a look at this:

She is the highest ranking Bajoran on DS9 outranked only by the Emissary

Most times Sisko did anything in the capacity as the Emissary, Kira was one step behind and to the right

She was with Kai Opaka, the most widely loved and respected Bajoran, when she made her journey through the Celestial Temple and “answered the call of the prophets”

She was highly respected (and loved) by Vedek Bareil who was hugely popular on Bajor (he could very well have been Kai if he hadn’t taken the blame for Kai Opaka’s actions during the Occupation)

She and Kai Winn had a well known feud and after Kai Winn’s fall from grace at the end of the show, Kira must come out pretty great to everyone else

She is the one who found and saved the great Bajoran hero, Li Nalas, from a Cardassian work camp and then within a week saved Bajor from a civil war that had been encouraged by Cardassians.

Between her saving Li Nalas and his fellow prisoners AND finding the Ravinok and saving the Bajorans (and Cardassians and Ziyal) from the Breen mines, was she the person Bajorans turned to when searching for their lost love ones? Was she a symbol to those who kept looking for their loved ones because Kira Nerys found those thought to be lost?

She prevented ANOTHER Bajoran Civil War and helped elect Shakaar as the First Minister of Bajor. Again being associated with a widely loved and respected member of Bajoran society.

Kira was in charge of DS9 during Dominion Occupation and started up the station’s resistance cell

She was permitted to use the Orb of Time, one of Bajor’s most sacred objects

She was the chosen by a Prophet to be their vessel during the Reckoning with the Pah-Wraith...and the KAI was on the same station. But it was KIRA who was chosen

She plays chicken with a Romulan fleet...and wins!

She was a key figure in the Dominion War. She started as a resistance fighter who was assigned to a falling apart, unimportant old Cardassain station and becomes the Colonel of the single most important port in the Alpha Quadrant. She is the right hand of the Emissary. She is widely respected by many beloved figures in Bajoran society.

And this list is just the most public things that have happened to her. This doesn’t even take into account any of the stories about her that involve her dealing with whatever BS the Star Trek universe decides to throw at the characters that week. Klingons beam in and fight? Gets stabbed and keeps fighting. Emissary is transported to 2024? Kira is on the team that pulls him out.

By the end of season seven, do politicians on Bajor hold their breath or breathe a sigh of relief if Kira gets involved? Do Vedeks seek her out to ask her about being possessed by a prophet? About her experiences with the Orbs? About Kai Opaka’s last words? Do families still grieving those missing from the Occupation petition her to look for the lost?

And how about the Cardassians?

The Cardassian government would probably never publicly admit to any time she foiled their plans, but Tekeny Ghemor tells her that she has her own section in the Cardassian Central Archives and is a public figure on Cardassia

Would the Cardassians in the Breen mine whisper their thanks among their family that Kira Nerys found them?

Tekeny Ghemor, someone who was respected enough to be considered as the face for the Cardassian resistance against the Dominion controlled Cardassian puppet government, publicly considered her his daughter/family by asking her to participate in the Shri-tal ritual and give her all of his secrets prior to his death (something highly valued in Cardassian society)

She was a part of Damar’s resistance. She helped them fight the Dominion and was with Damar when he died for Cardassia. In the story of how Damar was martyred for Cardassia’s freedom from the Dominion, Kira Nerys, a Bajoran, is heavily featured.

In all Bajoran/Cardassian relations, do Cardassians seek to involve Kira as a woman of her word who will treat in good faith or do they cross their fingers and hope she is nowhere near their business?

Can you tell I think about Kira Nerys a lot?

[purplespacekitty]

dude, i can’t get over Li Nalas.

he knew what was going on from the beginning. sure, a moment of brief confusion and then the realization that these people he’s been trapped in a labor camp with for the past ten fucking years, Memory Alpha says, believe his return to Bajor will bring restoration. the realization that they have such confidence in him as to place his life above their own.

he gets shot and then he’s hauled off to a shuttlecraft within minutes, forced to leave behind his decade-old reality. to leave behind people who shared it with him until just moments ago. and he’s dying, maybe. in excruciating pain, so he can’t even object, can’t even think. and Kira looks at him with this intense certainty. like he’s the missing puzzle piece she’s been scouring every last corner of the universe for. only he knows he isn’t.

and then he’s off to sickbay before anyone else despite his protests, where a human operates on him. a doctor who won’t stop regaling him with all the wonderful things he’s supposed to have done, all the battles he’s supposed to have won.

he is on his feet soon after, clean and dressed in warm clothes. he has no time to rest or breathe in his newfound freedom before he is swept up for a tour of the station he knew too long ago. and now every Bajoran he comes across in this ore processing center turned glitzy space mall looks at him the way Kira does, like they know him, like they need him. their words and shining smiles of praise when he reluctantly stands to address a crowd of them tells him just how much they believe they do. he does not forget the ones he left on Cardassia IV.

it is with relief that he hands the crowd off to Jaro. a deep sigh of familiar aggravation just beneath the surface of his skin as Jaro panders to the crowd's enthusiasm for his return.

that scene where Sisko shows him his quarters, i don’t blame him for striding over so tentatively but nevertheless excitedly to the small flower in a vase. Sisko hardly notices it but it is the first thing Li locks eyes on. a plant. a sprig of life clipped and close to its end, kept alive only by means necessary for display. a being which demands nothing of him here besides fresh water and a light to lean towards.

he stows away on a ship, running now, not from the Cardassians, but from Bajor. from the lies others fabricated on his behalf. Sisko - after the Tygarian freighter captain has dragged him by the ear back to the station, after Li has laid bare his truth in earnest - tells Li they are not lies. they are legends. and Bajor needs them.

and Li Nalas, a man encased in a shell of legends crafted by hands which are not his own, is tired. but he accepts the responsibility his people have placed on his shoulders. because Sisko is right. they do need him.

never mind the political unrest on his home world or the ministrations of the politicians, the Kai, the Circle: he can hardly wrap his head around it all, much less speak to it. the Bajor he has returned to is not the Bajor he knows. his people are afraid with a new kind of fear, one of unbearable uncertainty. they look to him and he can barely speak. but he will play the part he’s been told to. he will be a good soldier. that, he can do.

in the moments just before his death, he is Kira's puzzle piece. he is the flower in the vase. he is simple. uncomplicated. dying.

only then does he rejoice. he may finally rest.

[a-most-beloved-fool]

I wish we had gotten to see Odo shapeshift into objects and animals more throughout DS9. It could have been so much fun. Let the man be liquid.

Like, imagine a holosuite episode where Odo is stuck in one of Bashir's spy programs (he did not want to be there in the first place, and is very grumpy about being trapped), and the people he's with keep trying to play the game normally, while he keeps shapeshifting them out of things.

Locked door? Oh lookie, his hand's the key. Sidequest skipped. Character needs a disguise? Odo shapeshifts into a wig. Disguise acquired. An enemy puts him in handcuffs? Oops! No more hands! Bonds escaped. You need something on the other side of that ravine? Good thing Odo's a bird now! Detour averted.

and so on and so forth, while his companions are like "I know where the key is! Oh, never mind... We can steal a disguise from- ah, I guess not? Handcuffs? Are you just going to -- yup, I thought you might. ........ You know, Odo, you might have more fun if you actually played the game."

(later, Julian commissions a game from Felix that prevents those kinds of workarounds. little invisible walls are programmed in that prevent any key but the correct one from working, you can't leave the room until your cuffs are actually unlocked, not just off, etc.)

[writergeekrhw]

I was wondering - because I’ve seen a few people say this - who were the Bajorans supposed to be based off of? I’ve seen several people say they were supposed to be based off of palestinians but I could have sworn I’d seen a post somewhere saying that it was based at least partially off of vietnam, and honestly I personally always felt that the bajorans were a pretty good allegory for Jewish people (especially Kira, she always reminded me of the Jewish people in Eastern Europe who formed their own resistance groups to dismantle and disrupt Nazi encampments).

All of the above, plus the Irish, plus Native Americans, plus the Lebanese, with a bit of South Africa and a dash of Eastern European partisans in general. Religiously, they were a little of this and that, but probably Buddhism plus Catholicism plus Islam, with an extra helping of fundamentalist Protestant for Winn. Most decent alien cultures have more than one inspiration.

[lucy-moderatz]

[andyoullhearitagain]

Talking about DS9 like:

[vesperstardust]

Self-care is drawing Shaxs doing Bajoran things (I drew him with Kira on DS9 before the season 3 trailer was even out, so as far as I’m concerned I manifested it)

[eggthedyke]

Kira and the Prophets

[exasperatedoctopus]

Bajoran: I love my cardassian (derogatory) son and would never do anything to hurt him despite his Evil, Evil roots and inherent badness due to being a cardassian

Sisko, a Dad: Your fatherhood has been Revoked, please proceed to the nearest runabout

[vaguely-concerned]

I feel like many uneasy relationships and political alliances in the Alpha Quadrant can be summed up with the general sentiment in this quote from the Discworld book 'Going Postal':

Gilt and Vetinari shared a look. It said: While I loathe you and every aspect of your personal philosophy to a depth unplummable by any line, I'll credit you at least with not being Crispin Horsefry.”

Many a deal has been closed by the nominal camaraderie inherent in both parties having to reluctantly allow 'I'll credit you at least with not being Gul Dukat'

[cdr2002]

Mirror universe headcanon:

Intendant Kira actually hates Gul Dukat too. Kira probably hates Gul Dukat in every universe.

He’s tried to maneuver for a greater Alliance presence on Bajor for years, and Kira has spent the majority of her career making sure that doesn’t happen, reducing Cardassian troops to being limited to Terok Nor, Klingons restricted to only planetside military instillations, appointing Bajorans to planetside administrative positions, including as slave overseers…

She knows what an occupation looks like and that that’s exactly what Dukat is planning. And she is not having it.

Bajor may come second to her ego, but it’s still a high priority.

Her protecting Bajor from being fully bled dry by the Alliance might actually be one of the reasons Garak was always trying to kill her…

And of course, it’s one of the ways she and our Kira have more in common than we think…