#the one good admiral in Starfleet

[cappadocius]

I've decided that if @dduane and Mike McMahan don't find a way to slip Dahai Iohor Naraht in as an admiral on the final season of Lower Decks, I shall be very cross.

[bumblingbabooshka]

I genuinely love how terrible Tuvok is as a leader. The two times he's in charge the people under his command try to mutiny against him. Chakotay has to threaten to beat people up for the Maquis to go back to his lessons and the only reason Harry Kim didn't start a mutiny is because Kes got him to change his mind about going back to get the captain. He was literally like one second away from being forced to walk the metaphorical plank.

They just wanna talk Tuvok :) Neelix literally said it best in 'Learning Curve'

The theme of him being too rigid to lead a wide variety of people is so interesting. I assume that as a security head it's easier because you're supposed to be able to unemotionally carry out tasks...there's a certain personality I'm sure that gravitates towards that line of work and perhaps that personality is the kind that Tuvok works well with but I find his claim that he's 'never had an issue' with teaching others before in Learning Curve to be him being oblivious to those issues. In 'Repression' the Maquis crew are all talking about how they can't trust Tuvok because he's a traitor and there's no real push back against this.

No one brings up anything Tuvok's done to make up for this betrayal or soothe these clearly festering bad feelings because he hasn't. He's done literally nothing. This is season 7. He's spent SEVEN YEARS just letting that whole 'I betrayed half this crew' thing mellow because I doubt he even thought to do anything about it. I love this man - he's gonna get stabbed!!!

Chakotay & Neelix forced to do PR for Tuvok as he just obliviously marches forth, unaware that anyone might dislike him or why he should care if they do.

[simptasia]

got some queer little pins for my best jacket

[isagrimorie]

The more I dig into the Voyager rewatch, and the more I see Janeway is giving in more and more to the Valkyrie she's always inside. The more intriguing Janeway is. I already think she's great but digging deeper into Janeway is amazing.

I keep thinking of how Janeway holds on to the Starfleet regulations and it makes me think of that Doctor Who quote and how she fits the description to a tee:

"Good men don't need rules. Today is not the day to find out why I have so many."

I feel this is Janeway -- she has rules for a reason, she's not evil but she also knows she can go very, very far.

Janeway has been through a brutal border skirmish in the conflict with the Cardassians. She downplays it but, how Kate Mulgrew, it feels like there was a lot more there.

She ranked up from Lieutenant, not because of being a Science Officer but because she's a decorated vet in a bloody siege, where they won.

As we've seen from Sige of AR-558 and the episode in Strange New Worlds ground combat is a whole different beast from ship-to-ship battle.

(Tom looks like a zombie in the last one btw)

Also, IMO, she's one of the more inventive tacticians in Starfleet-- the way she used the torpedoes in Year of Hell as a mine was amazing!

That's a great naval tactic shit. Hot girl navy.

But also, Janeway fits so much the Doctor Who, Good Man Goes to War rhyme:

Demons run when a good man goes to war. Night will fall and drown the sun, when a good man goes to war. Friendship dies and true love lies, night will fall and the dark will rise, when a good man goes to war.

It's also true of Janeway that when the three people that form the basis of Janeway's mental health died and/or became very sick, Admiral Endgame Janeway happened. And then she destroyed the Borg.

Janeway needs rules for a reason.

/edited

[shanastoryteller]

Star Trek please!! Happy Halloween

a continuation of 1 2 3 4 5 6

Admiral Archer is unwilling to take his rescission at face value and demands a more complete explanation. To Spock's relief, and the gathered students' disappointment, he's willing to hear it in his private office.

Captain Pike slips in behind them, which gets him an irritated scowl but the admiral allows it. Spock is only marginally surprised by this. Admiral Archer and Captain Pike are known to be on good terms and James Kirk had entered the academy on Captain Pike's recommendation.

"Explain," Admiral Archer demands.

Spock hesitates.

Starfleet is of course aware of the events that took place on Tarsus IV and so they must be equally aware of James Kirk's role in it. While Admiral Archer certainly has the clearance to know the particulars, it does not mean that he does, and Spock is loathe to reveal these particulars, even to someone who could find them out himself. Additionally, Captain Pike does not have the necessary clearance, and while he does not think that James Kirk would allow his presence if he did not wish him to know, or had not already told him, Spock cannot be certain and there is no way for him to ask.

"Commander," Admiral Archer snaps. "Is this a joke to you?"

"No, sir," he answers. He doesn't find any of this funny at all.

James Kirk steps up next to him and rests a hand on his shoulder. Spock resists the urge to flinch and shoots him a disapproving look. The contact is not skin on skin, but any casual contact is discouraged. James Kirk is very well aware of Vulcan customs.

Then again, his point of contact for Vulcan culture is Sybok. His brother had been significantly more... affectionate after Tarsus IV. Spock wonders if that's something he picked up from his association with James Kirk.

"It's alright," James Kirk says warmly. "Spock, tell Admiral Archer whatever you want him to know."

He doesn't remove his hand. Human's run hot, their physiology not perfectly calibrated to survive in the deep heat of the desert, but even still James Kirk's hand feels unusually warm.

"I was unaware of Cadet Kirk's background with facing impossible odds when I made my accusation," he says. "Having been made aware of it, my perspective has shifted. Cadet Kirk does not allow rules or the constraints of logic prevent him from doing what he believes must be done. This was what he was demonstrating by bypassing and reprogramming my system."

He can feel James Kirk staring at him but he doesn't take his eyes of Admiral Archer.

Admiral Archer frowns. "You didn't know he was on Tarsus IV with your brother?"

That he already knows is a source of relief. The incredulity is less.

"Spock had exams the time I went to Vulcan," James Kirk says. "Sybok loves an excuse to go off-planet, so we usually meet up on Earth. Spock and I have never met before." He turns to him with a grin that Spock is distinctly uncomfortable having aimed in his direction. "I should have known the second I saw you. You look a lot like your mother."

Being compared to one's mother on Vulcan is a high compliment. Or it's supposed to be. Spock's had those same words hurled at him before, but it was with cruelty, as a way to demean him rather than honor the woman who bore him.

James Kirk say the words easily, exactly as they are intended to be spoken.

"You're driving me to drink," Admiral Archer says.

Spock has no idea how to appropriately respond to that.

"What about me? You're driving me to drink," James Kirk says, "which is driving Bones to as of yet unknown heights of nagging. The stress isn't good for him but he keeps threatening me with hypos when I tell him that. Can't I just be concerned for my friend?"

That is not an appropriate response on top of being incomprehensible.

Admiral Archer rubs his forehead. "Chris."

"Sir," Captain Pike returns, grabs the back of James Kirk's jacket, and hauls him out of there like grabbing a wayward kitten by the scruff of its neck.

Spock stands there, unsure, until Admiral Archer glances up and says, "You too, Commander. I'll consider this matter closed."

He nods, "Thank you, Sir," and steps outside to an empty hall. Captain Pike and James Kirk are nowhere to be seen.

Once he returns to his quarters, he video calls his brother.

He doesn't pick up.

Typical.

[sineala]

Are there ANY stony/Star Trek AUs?

Okay. Um. I'm just going to assume this is a legitimate question and not actually a way to express frustration about my progress on the sequel I am writing (I stared at this ask for a while), so I will just conclude that you must have missed the Steve/Tony Star Trek AU I wrote, um, back in 2016:

Straight on till Morning (109848 words) by Sineala Chapters: 6/6 Fandom: Marvel (Comics), Marvel 616, Avengers (Comics) Rating: Explicit  Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply  Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark  Characters: Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Carol Danvers, Janet Van Dyne, Hank Pym, Wanda Maximoff, Pietro Maximoff, James "Rhodey" Rhodes, Clint Barton, Donald Blake (Marvel), Jocasta (Marvel)  Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Action/Adventure, Romance, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Pining, Angst, Secret Identity, Identity Porn, Sex Pollen, Fuck Or Die, Caves, Sex In A Cave, Technobabble, Happy Ending, Cap_Ironman Big Bang 2016, Community: cap_ironman, Podfic Available  Summary: 

Tony Stark resigned his commission in Starfleet five years ago, after a disastrous away mission, and he swore he'd never go back. He just wants to be left alone to build warp engines in peace. But the universe has more in store for him than that, as he discovers when Admiral Fury comes to him with an offer he could never have expected and cannot possibly refuse: first officer and chief engineer aboard the all-new USS Avenger, a starship of Tony's own design. What's more, the Avenger's captain is Steve Rogers, hero of the Earth-Romulan War. Believed dead for over a century, Steve is miraculously alive... and very, very attractive. 

But nothing is ever easy for Tony. As he wrestles with his secret desire for his new captain and his not-so-dormant fears, another mission starts to go wrong, and Tony becomes aware that Steve has secrets of his own -- and the truth could change everything.

So, yeah, if you actually haven't read that one, that'll keep you busy for a while. It's a Trek fusion with comics Steve/Tony, set in the era of the later TOS movies. (This is important so that you can picture the correct uniforms, and also because it actually matters that the events of Star Trek II, III, and IV have happened.) It was a Big Bang fic, so it's got some great art by Ran and Phoenix -- embedded in the story -- and also M_Samro made a really amazing podfic of it, if you like podfics.

For a charity auction in 2017, I promised I would write a sequel, and I plotted the whole thing out and started writing this extremely epic sequel, which was unfortunately, about a plague threatening the galaxy, and I got about 120,000 words in and then 2020 happened and I decided I needed to not be writing it right now. So it went on an extended hiatus.

But the good news is that I've actually gotten back to it! I picked it up again last month and I've put 40,000 more words in it since then and at this exact moment I am currently working on the last scene of Chapter 4 (out of six total)! I swear it is happening! I've been putting in about a thousand words a day for the past month! It is really happening this time! The sequel is coming! I promise! I know it has been years but it's happening!

See? It's happening! (I would include a screencap of the part that is happening, but all of Chapter 4 is pretty spoilery.)

So that will exist! Someday! I mean that!

And if you're asking about Steve/Tony Star Trek AUs by people other than me, there are some! If you filter the AU - Star Trek Fusion tag by Steve/Tony, there are 25 matches. Several of them are related to my fic (remixes, art) but there is some stuff that isn't my fault! I haven't read a lot of them because I was trying not to read things that seemed like they might be similar to mine while I was plotting my series here, and also I have never finished watching DS9, so I skipped the DS9 ones.

Under Stars by vulcanscully: A fun fusion that I thought was interesting because Steve is an ensign and that's not how this usually goes.

Discovery of the Century by DepressingGreenie: More 616 in flavor than a lot of the Trek AUs, this is basically Finding Steve In The Ice but Make It Star Trek. As far as I am concerned, Finding Steve In The Ice is great every time.

and so we rebuild by raeldaza: I'm probably biased because this one was inspired by my fic, but I also really enjoyed this one for not being how these things usually go. A lot of Trek AUs in many fandoms are written through a TOS/AOS kind of lens and will often do a Kirk/Spock thing and make one of them a Vulcan or half-Vulcan. In this one that's Tony, but also he's a terrible Vulcan! He's found a new way to disappoint his father!

Stellar Love Affairs by AvengersNewB: I honestly had never imagined a Star Trek fusion that was also A/B/O but I think it really works here! It's like bringing pon farr full circle.

Xenophilia by Captain_Panda: Captain_Panda has several Trek AUs but I am reccing this one because it's the longest. And also the whumpiest. Everyone loves some good away-mission whump!

So there you go! Live long and prosper! I promise I am still writing this Star Trek AU sequel!

[blanc-ci]

(Inspired* by @wwillywonka ‘s fic excerpt , really good! Go read! Made me want to wax poetic about my own hc for Spock’s relationship with Pike -> Kirk)

A young ensign Spock, not having much experience with interpersonal relationships (Vulcan schooling & Starfleet academy was a pretty straightforward equation, why form relationships beyond the professional contacts necessary to further one’s own career?) and yet, when he meets Captain Pike on his first day assigned to a starship, he becomes absolutely and guiltily infatuated with him.

This is the first person in Spock’s life to seek him out, treat him like a person beyond rank, to try and be his friend- to try and know him. It’s the kind of crush born of awe, glorification, and admiration, where his heart flutters and he can’t help but think, illogically, that he’s witnessing what exactly makes humanity so great wrapped up in a single package.

But that is his Captain and he is at least self aware enough to know infatuation when he’s experiencing it. Spock will never act on his emotions, he’ll stare at Pike’s back and follow closely on his heels. As if he was studying a brilliant, steadfast comet, following the dust left in its trail until, inevitably, it burns itself up. Nothing will come of these emotions. And he doubts he’ll ever meet another person that holds his respect in the same way. Who could possibly open his eyes and change his entire perspective like Pike had? He owed Pike everything.

And then he meets James T Kirk.

This man was new, different- it wasn’t his Captain. Spock falls clumsily into his orbit, they clash occasionally, their steps just out of rhythm with each other. But he finds, eventually, that where he was left staring at his superior’s back, chasing after him, James instead turns to face him, to keep in pace with him.

Knowing Pike felt like a discovery, a breakthrough, knowing Kirk felt like an understanding.

If Pike was a comet then James is a star, his brilliance was blinding, and his pull so great that Spock can’t help but dedicate his whole world to him, constantly drawn towards that warmth. Spock doesn’t realize how deeply he’s fallen in love until he’s completely unable to pull away, and he finds, somehow not that surprisingly, that he has no desire to.

[vanvelding]

I'm going to say one of the nicest things I can about a show about Star Trek: Lower Decks

They played us like a string quartet.

(Spoilers for 4x09: "The Inner Fight")

Lower Decks was sold a Star Trek/Rick & Morty mashup from the start. The first scene is a drunken Mariner literally harming her sidekick, Boimler. It practically screamed, "Mariner & Boimler a hundred tours! Double-u, double-u, double-u dot Mariner and boimler dot com!"

But of course, it also had Star Trek references. One of the earliest is "Who would win in a fight? Khan or Roga Danar?" Why would anyone else in The Federation know or care who Roga Danar is? And there's no imagination on display for the oldest referential paradigm, "Who would win in a fight?" Lazy. Bullshit.

Of course before the end of season one, Lower Decks showed us it was more than that. Boimler was gaining the kind of experience he needed. The story hinted very strongly that Mariner had been in Starfleet a LONG time. She wasn't a omnicompotent mary sue; she was a Commander with her own philosophy/trauma that compelled her to remain an Ensign.

It was a good show and it stood on its own. The references were used well to create interesting stories ("Twovix"), as part of the setting ("Hear All, Trust Nothing"), or just as a gag here and there ("Kayshon, His Eyes Open" and, like a dozen others). The references to the setting become the background radiation, remarkable in how deep a cut they really are (Vendorians?). I've described it to many people as "Star Trek, but everyone has watched Star Trek."

What it wasn't, was related to its namesake. "Lower Decks" was a surprisingly heavy episode about the younger members of the Enterprise crew and their perspective on the missions of galactic import that the viewer usually enjoys an omnisicent view of.

Lower Decks mentions our main cast don't have that omniscient view, but Mariner is a stone-cold badass, Rutherford was part of a secret effort to develop artificial intelligence, Tendi is the Mistress of the Winter Constellations, and Boimler--actually Biomler is no more exceptional than any other Starfleet officer.

So when we get our main cast and the senior officers into a room and they mention Nick Locarno, our thought is, "LOL, another reference. This one from TNG. Not particularly deep. LOL, Boimler is a Beverly Crusher fanboy. I guess it makes sense, they have the character model from the episode with Tom Paris. Clearly, Robert Duncan McNeil is happy to do some voice work. We'll probably make a reference to how much he looks like Tom Paris.

"lol"

Look, if you figured it out then pat yourself on the back. Me? I filed away another reference. I didn't realize that Nick Locarno was connected to the episode of TNG that was this entire series' namesake. The characters even say, "Who?" which is one of the first times they don't get a Star Trek reference. Because Nick Locarno isn't a part of the Star Trek universe they view with an enthusiastic fandomness; it's part of their dramatic history, whether they know it or not.

"ha-ha, I guess Nick Locarno is too deep a cut for the show that called back to Morgan fucking Bateson."

But whatever, A-plot/B-plot. Gags about Starfleet habitually rolling up to seedy establishments in uniforms while looking for information, which is subverted by Captain Freeman being fucking genre savvy (also, wasn't she going to be promoted before getting arrested at the end of season two? I guess getting framed for a crime was deemed to be not very 'admiral-able'). Mariner ends up in a cave with a Klingon taking shelter from a crystal rain.

The pieces are there. Mariner was an ensign during The Dominion War. Two to three years before The Dominion War, Wesley Crusher left Starfleet, our Nick Locarno expy Tom Paris was recruited to Voyager, and Sito Jaxa was an ensign.

And Nick Locarno is in play.

We could have figured it out! We're in the narrative and emotional third act of this series (Tendi gave us the "We'll always be friends" speech last week)! Everyone regular just sat in a room trying to figure out how to help Mariner; we were one fruit salad analogy away from an intervention with Dr. Migleemoo!

Mariner escapes from Cardassian interrogation chambers for fun!

But Locarno is just another TNG reference, like Beverly Crusher. Background radiation. The season's story arc is something original to Lower Decks, which it's proven it's unafraid to do at this point. The series has no relation to "Lower Decks"

And then they fucking hit us with it; Beckett Mariner knew Sito Jaxa. They were friends. Then Jaxa died.

That's Mariner's trauma (that and The Dominion War).

And I didn't see it because I came to see Lower Decks as a series that stood on its own merits as a show while calling back to earlier Treks in a light, non-committal way. And I credit that solely to the writing of the show which leveraged both of those qualities to make an entertaining show that I like before, but now respect.

Just amazing stuff.

[bulkyphrase]

Avengers in Space - a fic rec list

I love the Avengers and I love outer space, and these are a few of my favorite stories that combine the two.

What do you mean we left Clint on Mars? by sara_holmes (@captn-sara-holmes) (WinterHawk, Teen And Up Audiences, 24,537 words)

Summary: “What do you mean we left Clint on Mars?” Cap’s incredulous voice cuts through the stunned silence of the cockpit, loud and shocked. He’s standing there with his cowl in hand, gaping at the holo-screen at the front of the jet. Next to him, Tony is standing with his hands on his head, mouth hanging open in a similar fashion. Over on the other side of the cockpit is Jane, who has both palms clapped across her mouth like she’s trying to hold back hysterical giggles. For his part, Bucky is just staring at the screen like he can’t quite believe what’s going on.

Straight on till Morning by @sineala (Stony, Explicit, 109,848 words)

Summary: Tony Stark resigned his commission in Starfleet five years ago, after a disastrous away mission, and he swore he'd never go back. He just wants to be left alone to build warp engines in peace. But the universe has more in store for him than that, as he discovers when Admiral Fury comes to him with an offer he could never have expected and cannot possibly refuse: first officer and chief engineer aboard the all-new USS Avenger, a starship of Tony's own design. What's more, the Avenger's captain is Steve Rogers, hero of the Earth-Romulan War. Believed dead for over a century, Steve is miraculously alive... and very, very attractive. But nothing is ever easy for Tony. As he wrestles with his secret desire for his new captain and his not-so-dormant fears, another mission starts to go wrong, and Tony becomes aware that Steve has secrets of his own -- and the truth could change everything. Also available as a podfic read by M_Samro (@msamro)

More below the cut!

A Far Better Thing I Do by @brighteyedjill (Gen, Teen And Up Audiences, 5,333 words)

Summary: A mysterious man with no paper trail was involved in a bloody attack on a meeting of Starfleet admirals. James T. Kirk and the crew of the starship Enterprise have tracked him to the Klingon home wold, Kronos, where they have threatened to unleash the experimental torpedoes Admiral Marcus sent with them unless the man surrenders. That man, Steve Rogers, has other ideas.

Into That Good Night by Nonymos (Stucky, Explicit, 73,540 words)

Summary: Steve Rogers has lived for entirely too long—long enough to see the world's end. The heroes are gone, and the Earth is pushing what's left of mankind towards the exit. But when a makeshift team rises from the ashes, when a mysterious presence all but drags Steve there, he begins to think there may be hope yet. As they shoot for the stars one last time, Steve will get proof yet again that the future is nothing if not an echo of the past.

Wandering Stars by @sabrecmc (Stony, Explicit, 24,470 words)

Summary: Alien Steve/Astronaut Tony (oviposition)

Cold Space, Warm Welcome by Annie D (@no-gorms) (Stony, Teen And Up Audiences, 15,572 words)

Summary: Tony’s spent a couple of years flying around the galaxy in his best friend Rhodey’s spaceship the Iron Advance, doing what could perhaps be counted as ‘hero’ work. Among their allies is Steve Rogers, captain of his own crew, with whom Tony has a… potentially friendly relationship. When Steve’s ship is irreparably damaged, Rhodey takes him and his whole crew onto the Iron Advance to recover. Tony’s not at all nervous about this, because so what if this is the first time Steve will see him without the Iron Man armor?

Space Between by NachoDiablo (Samsteve, Teen And Up Audiences, 9,157 words)

Summary: Sam has a quiet life on a newly inhabited planet. He spends his days tending the garden plots and avoiding his past. But right before an impending storm, a fugitive crash lands in his space and upsets his solitude.

The Truth When Captains Meet by Kimra (Gen, Teen And Up Audiences, 2,303 words)

Summary: Steve Rogers wakes up on an alien’s space ship being carried bridal style by Carol Danvers. As far as first meetings go, it’s memorable.

Brisingr by @ironychan (Gen, Teen And Up Audiences, 155,649 words)

Summary: When Jane Foster discovers an object on a course for the inner solar system, it looks like a job for the Avengers. But when what looked like a comet turns out to be a refugee ship from another galaxy, it's not clear whose job this is anymore. Tony Stark and the Vision find they have an uncomfortable amount in common with the creatures called the Brisings, while Jane learns that the aliens are being followed by something they thought they'd left behind five million years ago. Set post-AOU, pre-CW.

Liberate Tutemet Ex Inferis (Save yourself from hell) by Terrenis, with art by @kaiwrites (James "Bucky" Barnes/Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson, Explicit, 55,989 words)

Summary: In the Year 2060, Stark Aeronautics and Space Administration's prestige project, the “Event Horizon”, was on its maiden voyage with the newly developed Arc Reactor Gravity Drive, only to disappear beyond Neptune’s orbit without a trace. Now, seven years later, a transmission from the eighth planet is received, along with a very disturbing audio record. Tony Stark, who not only wants to redeem his reputation, but also needs to know what happened on the ship, goes on a mission with the enhanced Inhuman ragtag crew of the Singularity to salvage his baby. Little do they know that this is literally going to be a trip to hell… Or that totally unnecessary Event Horizon AU that no one asked for. But I’m going to write it anyway.

Catch a Falling Star by tsukinofaerii (Stony, Explicit, 42,741 words)

Summary: When Tony was sixteen, he got to meet his hero, Captain Steve Rogers, the Empire's not-literally-golden boy from the Continuity Wars. When he was twenty-seven, the aforementioned Captain turned Pirate picked him up at the outer edges of space. It would have been a good time to appreciate the abundant nudity that came from spending too much time with space colonists, but Tony had bigger worries than even Rogers' amazing hip-to-shoulder ratio. Something was sending the star-encircling computers that power the galaxy into a tailspin, and it was going to take a lot more than luck and skill to clean the mess up.

Luminosity by CSHfic, VSfic (Stony, Mature, 60,922 words)

Summary: The Avengers organize a two month mission to investigate an anomaly in space that appears to be engulfing planets, Steve is worried about leaving Tony alone, and Hawkeye is just worried about being left behind. But then something goes wrong. Steve drags himself out of the wreckage of their ship, on a planet that shouldn’t exist, the Avengers are missing, Iron Man is torn to scraps, and Tony has a lot of explaining to do. Or, in which Steve has no clue that Tony is Iron Man, and it takes crash-landing on an alien planet for him to find out.

Gravitational Pull by @antigrav-vector (Stony, Explicit, 29,718 words)

Summary: A strange temple floating in space is discovered, and Steve and Tony are the logical choices to go investigate. What they find is going to make or break their relationship...

Inquiries into Orbital Dynamics (The Mission Controllers' Remix) by Muccamukk (Stony, Teen And Up Audiences, 5,591 words)

Summary: When a mysterious object appears in orbit around the Moon, NASA teams up with the Avengers to investigate it. This is NASA's story. Inspired by Gravitational Pull

everybody needs a reason why they run by napricot (Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Peggy Carter/Steve Rogers, Explicit, 77,888 words)

Summary: Pepper doesn’t often regret the improbable circumstances and choices that brought her, Tony, and Jim to the SGC and then to Atlantis. After all, being an intergalactic explorer is way cooler than being the right hand woman of Stark Industries’ heir Tony Stark. But when strangers show up during her Gate team’s milk run of a trading mission, she’s got a bad feeling she knows better than to ignore. Which is how Pepper’s Gate team ends up picking up a stray in the form of a metal-armed runner with a mysterious past and learning about a dangerous new sect of Wraith worshippers called Hydrans. But the Atlanteans aren’t the only ones interested in the Hydrans: there are stories spreading throughout the Pegasus Galaxy about the Nomad and the Widows, three maybe-heroes who have set their sights on the Hydrans and the Wraith. Meanwhile, Tony’s trying to figure out if there’s something more to Atlantis’s helpful new hospitality-oriented subroutines, and Master Sergeant Sam Wilson is trying to have just one offworld mission where shit doesn’t get weird.

a war could be our only hope by @aceofwands (Stony, Explicit, 62,817 words)

Summary: Steve emerges in the future, where the Federation is fighting a war against the totalitarian Dominion. Traumatised from his experience with the Borg, Tony already has enough trouble coping without Steve's return bringing up unexpected feelings.

[carrotsofthepirabbean]

I will say I think part of the reason OG Kirk isn't more popular on Tumblr is because he can't be crammed into the 'If one part of a ship is the unemotional logical one the other one MUST be the bouncy himbo sparkle softboy' cliche. Kirk can be goofy and has a good sense of humor, he teases and laughs, but speaking in Lord of the Rings terms, Kirk isn't Pippin, he's Aragorn.

Which is SO much tougher for the 'must distill every variety of character into the same 5 different people' crowd on Tumblr. There isn't an 'Aragorn' slot because 'incredibly complicated' isn't descriptive enough for cliche. Like yes, he's charming, but it's the quiet sort of charming. Yes, he's a strong athlete and a fighter, but he's fundamentally a shockingly huge nerd and spends his private time reading poetry and thinking about philosophy and what it means to be a leader. Yes, he's haunted, but he has a fundamental hope that keeps shining through. Kirk's got a serious job, and he's a serious person. He's an Adult kind of adult. He's one of the last survivors of a horrific genocide. He's killed people with his bare hands.

Spock wasn't bowled over by how bright and shiny and cuddly Kirk was. Because underneath everything, there's a fundamental sadness and loneliness to Kirk, and a simmering possibility of rage that most people would consider Abnormal. And Spock shares those qualities, though for different reasons. The thing that really shakes Spock (besides Kirk's iron sense of loyalty) is that there are times where KIRK is more coolheaded and professional than Spock is. In everyday terms, Kirk is easily and confidently emotional in a way Spock was always taught was a weakness, but when the shit hits the fan Kirk gets this shine of cold, calculating, James Bond-like brutality/practicality that not only meets Spock's Vulcan control, it will at times go PAST it. Surviving that genocide gave Kirk access to both a level of iron-willed 'do whatever is necessary to live no matter what' and a level of genuinely bloodcurdling rage that, when death is on the line, reads sometimes like a Vulcan on steroids. In a battle-type situation Kirk has absolutely looked at Spock and snapped like 'for god's sake, control yourself', and that is some whiplash a Vulcan doesn't just get OVER.

At the very start OG Kirk is already both wildly famous for and frighteningly good at being a commander, better than Spock is by miles, which forces Spock to confront his self-hate fueled 'Vulcans are better' prejudices over and over again until Spock has a starry-eyed admiration for Kirk that knocks him so hard into love that Spock's teeth rattle. Kirk isn't Some Soft Boy that grows on Famous Vulcan Spock against his will. Kirk is the most talented Starfleet officer in generations- He's Horatio Nelson, except not an imperialist asshole. Spock is (at first) just Some Science Guy who managed to nail one of the most coveted jobs in Starfleet.

Like, what is Tumblr going to do with a Kirk (who is supposed to be the bouncy soft boy half of Spirk) who looks coldly at an alien who is killing people and without hesitation goes 'I am a military man, we have a mission, we don't have time to understand motivations, kill that thing' and calmly walks off? And then Spock, (the unemotional logical one) is the one going after him going 'please, this is a thinking creature, it could be scared or hurt, think of its feelings, at least let me try to talk to it'. And like, the big lesson of the episode is KIRK being convinced by Spock to care more and be more empathetic?

Like, that's not some shit Tumblr can fit into its 'five acceptable personalities for every single ship ever'. There isn't a category for 'one is the logical one and the other one is the guy in charge on the battlefield that the men point their swords at while yelling "to the king!"'

But, it does make me a bit sad, because god, the relationship between Kirk and Spock is unique. Because Kirk is SUCH a freak. If there's a fictional personality grouping Kirk is a part of it's like Kirk, Chris Evans' Captain America, Aragorn, and nobody.

I super agree! AOS Kirk fits the bill more for the ship dynamics tumblr focuses on (and I do really love Chris Pine's performance, not half because it was what introduced me to Star Trek in the first place), but I do find TOS Kirk more intriguing because he has such layers. He's scarily competent, youngest captain in Starfleet and it's not like you get in that position by being a sunshine flower boy - he's got a streak of cold practicality that, yeah, is super apparent in Devil in the Dark. But he's also warm, loving, and physically affectionate with his closest friends, professional with his subordinates and his duties, calculating with his enemies, and overall an exceedingly intelligent individual who does not take his position and responsibilities lightly. And in terms of his relationship with Spock, it was all those things that drew Spock's respect and interest, and not (checks notes) his being a "bouncy himbo sparkle soft-boy". He's just a wonderful character <3

[android-and-ale]

My One Year Spirkaversary!

One year ago today, I put my first Spirk story on AO3!

I hadn't written anything in over four years. I missed it painfully, but it felt like that part of my brain was permanently broken.

Star Trek was my 2023 comfort show, and after 9 months of (re)watching all of the shows and movies, I needed more. That naturally led me to AO3.

A couple months later, I was genuinely surprised when I sat down to write this silly little story. It poured out of me in two days.

Since then I've written 140,000 words of Spirk fanfic in the form of 12 stories and 1 ongoing, novel length fic. I have an embarrassing wealth of WIPs, and write nearly every day.

Looking back at my first story in this fandom, you can see the building blocks of my style. Silly shenanigans, unsubtle Vulcans, day drinking Starfleet Admirals, and, of course, my beloved Space Husbands.

A year later I'm still happy with it. So I welcome you to enjoy my story:

Captain's Logs

Summary: It’s time for Starfleet Intelligence’s quarterly review of Captain James T. Kirk’s improbable Captain’s Logs. Is there enough booze in the Officer’s Lounge to make anything Kirk writes seem remotely credible?

Featuring: * Actual TOS plots! * Vulcans who think they’re subtle! * Jim Kirk’s good natured flirting with anything remotely sentient! * The Strategic Importance of Restrooms! * And, of course, Starfleet Vice Admirals With Questionable Motivations!

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

One of my favourite things about Deep Space Nine is imagining how Sisko's superiors must have been reacting to his shenanigans behind the scenes.

I mean just imagine it.

You're an admiral or something in Starfleet. You belong to an organisation that spans half the galaxy, has access to unimaginable (to many civilisations) levels of technology, and contains numerous different cultures.

You are well aware that the power and technological advancement of the Federation makes you inherently dangerous to less technologically advanced peoples. Like the moment any group is introduced to you, the development of their species is basically going to be changed forever. A single individual fucking around can, if careless, negatively impact an entire world.

Avoiding this kind of thing is therefore one of the core values of your civilisation. Your Prime Directive. There are huge lists of rules and regulations over when it is an isn't appropriate to intervene. People have literally died rather than break them.

And then there's this one world, whose people have only just overthrown an oppressive regime and are looking to join your Federation. You and your colleagues vote to help them rebuild, while steering clear of interfering with any of their politics, of course, and send some of your guys over to help administrate.

One of those guys then goes and DECLARES HIMSELF A GOD.

Like, we, the audience, know that Sisko was chosen by the Worm-Hole Aliens to be their Emissary. We know that he struggled with accepting the role at first and that he had visions and eventually came around to whole-heartedly believing in the Bajoran religion.

But Starfleet doesn't know that! Starfleet isn't inside Sisko's head!

From Starfleet's perspective the most logical explanation for all this is that they sent some guy to the back of beyond, the local people got him involved in their religion and then he either went crazy or saw an opportunity to gain power, and now he can impact the entire planet's political decisions on a fucking whim and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

I mean, this has to be every higher-up's worst nightmare, right? This is the sort of extreme scenario they'd come up with in school textbooks to explain to children why the Prime Directive is necessary.

If the Dominion War hadn't happened, Sisko's main legacy in the Federation would have been "the reason why we have all these extra regulations about interfering with non-Federation worlds, and why all Starfleet Captains operating in the vicinity of such worlds have mandatory psych evaluations every couple of months."

And they can't even do anything about it! They can't remove him and replace him with another Officer, because the local people are 100% on board with this 'Sisko's the Messiah' thing and won't work with anyone else. You can't back away from the situation entirely and give them a few years to repair the damage because it's super critical for the war you're currently fighting.

You can't even really control Sisko, because although he makes a show of being The Good Starfleet Captain, in practice there's always a risk that if you say something he disagrees with too strongly he'll just go off piste and do something else entirely and justify it with: "the Prophets told me to".

Which, again, the audience knows is a very real thing that is actually happening to Sisko, but from Starfleet's perspective could be anything from "Sisko is hearing voices" to "Sisko is legit just pulling things from his ass and trusting that we won't risk pissing off the Bajorans by contradicting him."

Just saying, from the perspective of the Federation, Sisko is probably as well-known a cautionary tale as he is a hero.

[cdr2002]

So one of my favorite things the mirror universe does is put characters in positions their prime selves would hate.

Spock is forced into a leadership position neither version of him would particularly want, though his role as a revolutionary does echo his prime self founding the Unficationist movement later in life.

Smiley, similarly, has even more responsibilities thrust on him than the already overworked prime O’Brien. You just KNOW he’s still having to maintain that bloody space station while also leading the revolution and having to shut down Bashir’s stupid gung ho ideas (thank the prophets for Tuvok) and keep him from shooting their own guys (again)

Federation values peace first Georgiou is reflected by a brutal Emperor who later takes delight in working for Section 31, who are practically the Federation’s “Wolf Inside” to steal a phrase

Freedom fighter Kira is reflected by a slavering dictator who takes a perverse delight in causing cruelty and tries to garner validation while doing it in a manner not at all dissimilar to Dukat.

Tilly is TERRIFIED of Killy and she’s ever really met her.

But what if, for another way to show the mirror universe taking familiar faces and having things go catastrophically wrong? Before anti fascist revolution takes hold and hopefully steers things to a better path, that is.

The wrong people, in the wrong places. The worst people in positions of power.

The novels already had a kernel of this idea with Supreme Legate Dukat as leader of the Cardassian people, and without any Dominion deals to make it happen. Let’s expand on that.

First Minister to Bajor and second most powerful Bajoran after Intendant Kira? Why, Kai Winn of course. She may even take the role of Intendant after Kira’s fall from grace.

Leader of the Klingon people? Many stories give this job to Regent Worf, but I say, what if he is only a regional governor of a section of space under his rule? The throne holder back on Qo’Nos? The man with the cunning to place himself on top? No doubt with Cardassian help for “the good of the Alliance” of course. A man with no respect for Klingon tradition?

I submit to you, Emperor Duras.

Let’s go a century back, to. The Terran Empire would REWARD Kodos for his “original thinking”. A man with such power and prestige that Kirk can’t risk his career to kill him, but he would like to.

And let’s not forget Garth of Izar. Genocide is horrifyingly normal in the Imperial Starfleet, he’s NOT getting mental health treatment. He’s probably still a beloved war hero, maybe even a powerful admiral. A potential contender for the Emperor’s throne after the loss of Georgiou.

Sometimes the darkest reflections are all too familiar.

[lady-joker]

a piece of the action was such a good episode!! jim calling scotty "babe" and "sweetheart" (i swear, he has a flair for and secretly enjoys acting and he's good at it!!), spock also awkwardly getting into character, sticking his shoes on the table even though he's clearly uncomfortable and picking up on jim's drawl with the "youse better keep dialling" LMAOO it's the best. scotty is confused as usual and poor bones left his communicator on the planet but god knows no one can blame him, look at the stress he's under!!! (leave my boy alone and LET HIM REST)

imagine the kind of report starfleet command is going to get from that mission. something like "intervention to reverse the contamination has resulted in the federation taking in the imaginary role of a "big boss", if you will. percentage cut obtained will be put in the planet treasury" - every time an admiral has to read a report from the enterprise missions, they take 100 psychic damage and age 10 years

[isagrimorie]

WARNING: THINKY THOUGHTS ABOUT JANEWAY AND STAR TREK PRODIGY S2.

-----

Ready?

Okay!

----

It's honestly so fun seeing how Janeway interacts when she has a Commanding Officer. It's something we've never seen from all of Voyager, and the Admiral giving her orders being Jellico is such a good one.

Jellico isn't bad, he's just a giant stick in the mud. If people thought Janeway adhered too much to Starfleet in the Delta Quadrant, that would've been nothing if it was Jellico who was stuck in the DQuad.

But also Jellico trying to order Janeway from helping or rescuing members of her crew?

Well, Janeway reacts to those orders just as well as Seven reacts to orders she disagrees with.

LMAO.

I can't believe she did that.

I need Janeway to pull this off in front of Seven because I know, I know that Seven would say something snarky. And then repeat to Janeway, verbatim, all Janeway's lectures about hierarchy and following orders.

And, technically, she wasn't lying!

BTW -- As someone who loves all Borg stuff-- this Transwarp hub is so sexy.

[cglenwilliams]

With Paramount+ pulling “Star Trek: Prodigy” off of its service, I thought it'd be a good time to mention that I love Janeway's arc in Star Trek so much. Because in the real world, there were so many complaints when Paramount announced that there was going to be a woman as the captain in a Star Trek series, and throughout the run of the series she had a small but vocal minority of very toxic fans who just. wouldn't. let. it. go. And what happens to her character in Star Trek canon after the series is over?

She becomes one of the most revered admirals in all of Starfleet history and possibly the greatest single power that the Federation has ever known. Picard acknowledges her as one of the greats. For the future of the franchise we see her name attached to some of the most legendary moments in Federation history, and in the shows -- like Prodigy -- where we actually get to see her again, we see her as a figure of enormous influence.

Kirk and Picard both reached points in their careers where they had to fight with Starfleet to get a starship, even with all of the history and influence they had behind them. When Janeway says that she needs a ship because Chakotay's out there... somewhere, the Federation hands her a ship. And when she returns with a ragtag bunch of alien kids who were piloting a lost experimental Starfleet vessel that they found in a distant quadrant -- but no Chakotay -- the Federation turns around and hands her the recovered experimental vessel as a second ship AND lets her hand-pick these new Starfleet recruits as her crew with no argument.

Because Kathryn Janeway is the biggest badass in Starfleet history. She single-handedly brought her crew home through impossible circumstances and, once they were home after years and years of strife, REFUSED to accept that all of that time had been lost for her crew and dedicated the rest of her life (in an alternate timeline) to finding a way to BEND SPACE AND TIME TO HER WILL and ensure that history changed to the benefit of those under her command.

Arguably, the only Starfleet captain/commander we've followed in a series who had a better post-series career was Ben Sisko -- the first black man to be the lead in a Star Trek series -- and he wound up becoming the Star Trek equivalent of an ascended master. Basically, Ben Sisko ended his time at DS9 by being promoted to LITERALLY A GOD.