#the sisko is of bajor

[lucy-moderatz]

Computer, erase that entire personal log.

[star-trekster]

Saint Sisko

[sleepy-marten]

One of the stickers I made ages ago for DS9... What I would give to watch this show for the first time again

[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.

[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'

[obrienmustsuffer]

The Emissary would be proud of me.

[tokidokifish]

zwierze got to cardassians and it reminded me of how fucked it is that they go through that entire episode talking about what a shit situation it is without ever touching about how horrifying it is that rugal's supposedly loving adoptive parents have allowed if not taught him to hate himself for being cardassian.

[usstrekart]

"Penumbra" (S07E17, Stardate 52576.2) has a lot of table-setting to do and as a stand-alone episode it suffers as a result. I really enjoy the Sisko elements, and it is good to finally get some semblance of resolution on the Worf/Ezri problem.

I really struggled with what to focus on in my episode poster. ultimately I decided to center in on Ben's model of his house. It really is sad that before the story is over that we do not get to see him realize this dream with his new bride...

[lucy-moderatz]

[vesperstardust]

Bajoran Tarot (in a circle, starting left) Celestial Temple (The Star) Ten of Orbs (Ten of Pentacles) The Borhya (Judgement) The Emissary (The Magician) Derna (The Moon) Invasion (Death)

[satans-trek]

The Emissary will wield the Sword of Stars

[mollypaup]

I do not think Sisko would have killed Tuvix but I also do not think Janeway would have dirty bombed that colony.

[bijoumikhawal]

one thing bugging me about bajoran religion and world building is its implied worshipping the Pagh Wraiths isn't like, a new thing in Bajoran culture (obviously they were originally part of the Prophets, but they seen to have retained worship after that) and they're a despised religion, but the way that operates irl is more complex than how DS9 allows it by very literally making the Pagh Wraiths villains? I always hate when fantasy and sci-fi media does this "evil god with evil worshippers" thing because of this

[obrienmustsuffer]

[cdr2002]

It just hit me

The wormhole wasn’t discovered in the Mirror Universe because the Prophets were protecting the mirror Bajorans from contact with the Dominion, because the mirror universe Alpha Quadrant was in a far more volatile position with the Alliance being far more fairweather friends than the Federation and the Emissary (presumably still Ben Sisko) not ready for his task, and then later dead (unless they whisked away Mirror Sisko and we don’t know); not to mention the eventual quadrant-wide war that erupted when the Rebellion formed.

So in a way it was a good thing?

I don’t know that I’m right but I want to confidently believe that I am