#until post-canon cardassia times

[vaguely-concerned]

okay. listen. a Concept. garashir roughhousing (gone (psycho)sexual) and at one point bashir wakes up from the high of finally getting to express all his repressed aggression in a safe space with someone who not only accepts that in him but can match him and is actively Into It, especially when he stops holding back some of his lil gmo twink strength, to be horrified like 'oh my GOD garak your nose is bleeding hang on I'll get a napkin or something I'm so sorry holy shit' and garak's lying there woozy with lust gazing up at him with wide betrayed eyes like 'no wait don't go you haven't even stabbed me yet :'('

(obviously this is mostly a shitpost, but I'm just saying I think they could provide a certain kind of space for each other that way. julian gets to have a place to live out all the rougher, less socially acceptable sides he usually has to downplay and push away to seem as non-threatening as (augmented) humanly possible with someone who loves him and who appreciates getting the entire spectrum of julian bashir, from the most obnoxiously annoying and needy to the unsettlingly coldly ruthless and back. and garak gets to have the shit beaten out of him in as medically safe and infinitely loving way as possible and/or finds he can still use his bloodied hands and take care of someone with them. this to me is the definition of what one might call a win/win situation. like don't get me wrong they would be having a lot of embarrassingly tender yearning gently-stroking-your-hair-and-holding-your-hand sex too. but. also this. which I think is also very tender, just in a different way. do you feel me.)

[ectogeo-art]

For the ask game!-- 'Fox In The Henhouse' + 'Sunset Over Risa'

Yay thanks for these! (These are for the ask game about sending made-up titles and I say what fic I’d write to go with them.)

Fox in the Henhouse - Post-canon Cardassia Garashir, centering on Garak doing power plays and machinations within the PTA at the elementary school that their kids go to. <3 At first Julian doesn’t mind because, whatever, it’s some harmless enrichment for his bored husband. But then things get out of hand at some point.

Sunset Over Risa - Hmmm maybe Garashir phone sex during “Let He Who Is Without Sin…” Like, Julian and Leeta are doing the Bajoran breakup thing where they sleep around, and Julian quickly gets tired of banging these randos because there’s really only one person he wants right now (Garak) and he’s not even here. He video calls Garak to show him the sunset one night just because he thinks it’s beautiful and maybe it reminds him a bit of some outfit he’s seen in Garak’s shop. They end up talking for hours until long after the sun has set. At some point Julian laughs and says he probably should have been out having wild sex since it’s his last night on Risa, but he actually kind of prefers the company he spent the evening with. It’s tantamount to a love confession and it just slips out. Time slows down as Julian waits for Garak to process and respond to this. Then, Garak says he wouldn’t want to deprive him of any of the worldly delights of the pleasure planet during his vacation, so he’d be happy to help Julian get off himself. Phone sex with feelings. And they lived happily ever after. <3

[crowfootwrites]

Devotion & Diplomacy

I am nothing if not an impatient b, so I'm moving forward with posting! Tagging a few who asked/I think might be interested! This story is currently standing at 10 parts, so if you wanna be added to a tag list, lemme know! @horta-in-charge @deepspacedukat @bigblissandlove1 You can also read on AO3!

Daro doesn't make his first appearance until Part II because this first part is a lot of setting things up and getting to know our daring OC. We do, however, see some other familiar faces!

For some background, the Federation-Cardassian Armistice was signed in 2367; the Phoenix Incident occurred this same year, which helped settle the formation of the Demilitarized Zone. The Occupation of Bajor ended in 2369, at which time Cardassia withdrew from Terok Nor. There is a 3 year gap between when the armistice occurred and when the Federation-Cardassian Treaty was finalized in 2370 – this story will take place in 2367, with the understanding that our OC is basically traveling to and from Cardassia Prime frequently in order to broker peaceful relations and encourage the signing of the treaty.

Warnings: none really in this part; Jellico being a dick (canon-compliant) | Words: ~2,450

Anyway, without further ado:

Emrys sighed quietly and pinched the bridge of her nose as the voices of the men down the table from her increased in volume, desperate to be heard over one another. She’d been sitting at this table far too long for her own liking and it still felt as though everyone was talking in circles. It’d be a miracle if they accomplished anything today.

A familiar voice began climbing, adding to the chaos. Without looking, Emrys could identify it as her one-time communications partner, Varsek – a hulking Aenar with limited patience. How he’d managed a career in communications, Emrys would never know.

As had been the case over the two weeks, Emrys knew that once most of the Cardassians and Federation members present, Starfleet officers included, had descended into a rage-fueled argument, there’d be no progress for the remainder of the day. Out of the corner of her eye, Emrys spied the only person she could count on to always remain calm - another Federation delegate, the Vulcan, Romar - but even he was sporting a raised eyebrow. As the highest ranking Starfleet officer and only woman present, Emrys was disinterested in the prospect of another pointless day and opted, yet again, to put her foot down.

Placing her finger and thumb between her lips, she let out a short, shrill whistle. The yelling halted immediately, with all eyes suddenly on Emrys as she rose from her chair and planted the palms of both her hands on the long conference table before her.

“Gentlemen,” she began, before anyone could interrupt. “We are getting nowhere, and quickly.” She made eye contact with each participant around the table in turn, recognizing the importance of acknowledging everyone present, if only to soothe their pride. She found in the responding gazes of the Cardassians genuine frustration and hostility, but perhaps also some desperation there. And in her fellow Starfleet officers, exasperation and some retrospective shame.

“We’ve agreed that shouting will not solve the issues we’ve come together to discuss, but we seem to end up engaging in this behavior with every meeting,” Emrys continued. “It is unbecoming of us all.”

In her momentary pause, she was interrupted by the Cardassian Gul-Tar Ziven, who also rose from his seat. She met his gaze with a calm confidence that she hoped belied the feeling of overwhelm that had been slowly settling in her stomach. Failing in this mission could mean losing the peaceful relations between Cardassia and the Federation that had only so recently been won. And given everything that Emrys had lost in the Federation-Cardassian War, she couldn’t allow that to happen.

Stoic as ever, Ziven’s expression gave nothing away as he addressed the men and women, so recently enemies, gathered around. “Lieutenant Commander Beck makes a fine point,” he declared, his voice a peal of thunder across the table’s expanse. The lighting deepened the shadows beneath his eye ridges, his face a series of sharp planes in black and gray. He made for an imposing figure among the brutal Cardassian architecture of the room and clad in solid brown armor, and Emrys took a deep breath to try and remind herself that this head of the Cardassian Union was no longer her enemy.

“Perhaps it would be best,” he suggested, planting his clenched fists on the table before him, his widening stance reinforcing the power he commanded over the room, “if we took a recess.”

As Emrys opened her mouth to respond, Ziven held up a hand to silence her. “The short breaks we’ve been taking have clearly not had a lasting effect. I suggest that we adjourn for a few weeks, giving us all time to review proposals and consider our options individually. Perhaps when we reconvene afterward, we will all be more amenable to compromises.”

Emrys’ lips pursed into a frown as she exhaled hard through her nose. Although she agreed that a longer break might be more effective, she was loath to leave Cardassia Prime without anything set in stone. Peace was too tenuous at this point to feel confident that it would continue, especially without near-constant Starfleet presence to remind the Cardassians of what they’d lost in the war and why they had signed the armistice in the first place. The prospect of having to report yet another extended recess back to Captain Jellico and Vice Admiral Nechayev, without any results, also sat heavy on Emrys’ mind. They were sure to be displeased, and neither were known for mincing their words.

“I propose that we reconvene in three weeks time, so that our… esteemed guests,” he added with a hint of sneer that Emrys wondered if anyone else caught, “will have adequate time for travel in addition to this little hiatus.” Emrys glanced around at the various Federation members present, recognizing that some of them genuinely looked like they needed a visit to their homes. They had already been on Cardassia for two weeks, and for some, like Emrys, this was only the most recent in a long string of visits designed to soothe tensions with the Cardassian Central Command as they collaborated on developing a more formal treaty. 

“We are in agreement, Gul-Tar.” With a conciliatory nod, Emrys took her leave. She wound her way through the broad, windowless halls of the Central Command building lost in thought, and made for her temporary quarters. She hated the gloom of the capital buildings on this planet - it was much more pleasant outside, in the bright and balmy sunshine. But inside, surrounded by intense and inhospitable architecture, with dark halls and rooms bearing strange combinations of outdated construction and modern technology, she felt out of place and unwelcome. Like many of her fellow Federation members, she was eager to get off-world, although she would not have time to go home.

Not that she had a home to go to. 

In her quarters, she contacted Captain Jellico, trying to maintain composure despite her frustration as his face appeared on the viewscreen. 

He gave her a tense smile. “Beck. The negotiations?”

Emrys sighed. “Ziven has called for a three-week recess.”

“Three weeks?” His clasped hands on the desk before him tightened.

“Aye, sir. As I’ve mentioned, there has been significant opposition to the points presented in the last couple of weeks, and today’s session was devolving into absolute chaos, frankly. I will have to rethink our approach for when we reconvene. I believe we can still make progress, but there are some items that I don’t believe the Cardassians are willing to compromise on, such as their continued contact with the Xepol-”

“Commander, it sounds as though you might be losing some control here,” he cut in, sounding aggravated.

Emrys opened her mouth to object, but he continued on. “If you cannot bring the Cardassians to compromise on the Federation’s priority points, we will need to bring someone else in. This peace was too hard-won and is too precarious for us to allow the Cardassians to continue drawing this process out.” The edge in his voice had Emrys’ hackles up and she took a deep, discreet breath to calm herself. Jellico might be her superior, and one of the people who had helped initiate the truce in the first place, but he could still be an ass. Emrys knew from experience.

“Sir, with all due respect, you say that as if we have the power to pressure the Cardassians into meeting our demands.” She hinted at what she knew the captain wouldn’t say out loud, wouldn’t confirm, not to her anyway. “We don’t have that kind of power right now and I wouldn’t be surprised if the Cardassians knew as much.”

“Enough,” he snapped. “That is beyond the scope of your rank. Your job is to follow orders and they have already been given to you.” Emrys sat back in her chair, aware of the ticking in her jaw. 

“You were selected for this position for a reason, Lieutenant Commander. Arbitrate, make them settle. Preferably in short order,” he demanded, glancing away from his screen for a moment, as though someone had come into his office.

Given a direct order from her superior officer, there was little she could say or do next.

“Aye, sir,” she replied through clenched teeth.

She watched as Jellico was handed a PADD by someone off screen. He reviewed it for a moment, then turned back to Emrys.

“The USS Enterprise is currently passing near the Cardassian border on a mapping survey before returning to cross Federation space. I am arranging transport aboard for you - their findings may be useful in nailing down some coordinates on the Demilitarized Zone,” he said almost dismissively. “They’ll be in touch to pick you up.”

Emrys sighed, barely managing to suppress the desire to roll her eyes. “Thank you, sir.”

Jellico ended the transmission without another word and Emrys tossed her head back against the top of her chair, heat rushing to her face as Emrys vacillated between wanting to scream and wanting to cry. She settled for neither, instead hanging her back over the deeply uncomfortable chair and gazing around at the temporary quarters she’d been assigned - a room that reminded her a little of a prison cell.     

— — —

Emrys clasped her hands tightly behind her back, her shoulders drawing upwards instinctively as she rematerialized aboard the Enterprise – transporting always made her stomach turn. With a deep exhale, she glanced around at the familiar faces gathered in the transporter room and smiled. 

“Welcome back aboard the Enterprise, Lieutenant Commander,” Captain Picard announced, and Emrys stepped eagerly off the pad to shake his hand. 

“It’s been a long time, Captain,” she replied. “It’s wonderful to see you again.” Without waiting for a reply, Emrys glanced to the Captain’s side and her smile grew into a grin as she launched herself into the waiting embrace of Counselor Troi. 

“Deanna!” she exclaimed, pressing her face into her friend’s shoulder, letting her excitement run rampant, knowing that Deanna would feel the wave of it and realize just how much she’d been missed.

“It’s so good to see you, Emrys,” the counselor murmured, squeezing her tightly. The two women had attended the academy together and been fast friends ever since – but their veering career paths had led them away from each other for far too long. 

As Emrys withdrew, she noticed Captain Picard tempering a grin of his own as he cleared his throat and moved to introduce the other crewman present. He motioned to the handsome human man with striking blue eyes standing beside him. “You know my first officer, Commander William Riker, I presume?”

“Of course!” Emrys exclaimed with a firm shake to Will’s hand. “Good to see you again, Will.”

“Good to see you, Emrys. Glad to have you on board,” he said with a wink. 

Deanna ushered Emrys into the hall, the captain and Will lingering back in the transporter room. “I’ll show you to your quarters, and then perhaps we can grab some dinner and catch up,” she offered. Although she and Deanna corresponded regularly, Emrys was excited for the chance to catch up in person, and eagerly agreed.

After tossing her bag atop the bunk in her quarters, she and Deanna headed for Ten Forward, grabbing a table near one of the large glass windows. Emrys’ shoulders relaxed at the sight, glad to be back in space and off Cardassia Prime for a while.

“So, how have you been?” Deanna asked eagerly, a spoonful of chocolate ice cream halfway to her mouth.

Emrys groaned. “I’m better now,” she muttered. “But long stretches on Cardassia listening to men argue about exact coordinates of the Demilitarized Zone hasn’t exactly been pleasant.”

“I take it the peace talks aren’t going well?” she murmured, glancing to make sure no one could overhear her. Emrys appreciated her consideration. The last thing the Federation needed was more worried citizens.

Emrys shook her head behind her glass of Alvanian brandy. “We’re a little… stuck,” she said quietly. “I think it will turn out alright, I mean, negotiation is an art, you know? We have to cycle between slow and quick progress. If everything happens too quickly, or we push too hard, the Cardassians may find themselves having misgivings. We could wind up right back where we started. But my superiors don’t seem to agree - it’s like they expect progress at warp nine.” 

Deanna patted her hand empathetically. “Yours is a difficult spot to be in. I certainly wouldn’t want to do your job.”

Emrys snorted. “They’d shit themselves if you offered. They’d consider your abilities to be giving them the upper hand.”

Deanna smiled around a spoon full of ice cream. “That’s why I’d never offer,” she muttered. She paused thoughtfully before pinning Emrys with a meaningful stare.

“Have you been home recently?”

Emrys sank back into her seat. A pang of guilt settled below her heart. “I haven’t had a lot of time to make it all the way back to Earth,” she muttered, not meeting her friend’s eyes. “And… with Silas gone, there’s really no reason to.” She shook her head slowly, trying to clear the dull ache that was forming behind her eyes as she thought about her brother. 

Deanna, perhaps sensing Emrys’ discomfort, changed the subject. With a sly grin, she sat back and crossed her legs. “And have you been… seeing anybody lately?”

Emrys laughed harshly, the sound carrying in the mostly unoccupied Ten Forward. “Yeah, a whole bunch of angry Cardassians.”

Deanna snickered, but doubled down, wanting an actual answer. She waited, gazing at Emrys with a raised brow.

With a sigh, Emrys shook her head. “This post has been taking all my time and energy. I go where they tell me, leave when they tell me - I’m always working or on my way to work, essentially.”

“What about that Vulcan on your team? What was his name? R-”

“Romar,” Emrys groaned after another pull of brandy.

“Romar!” Deanna repeated excitedly. “What about him?”

Emrys shrugged, trying not to call to mind her efforts to become closer to Romar, only to be brutally (for a Vulcan) rebuffed. “He wasn’t interested.”

With a frown, Deanna grasped one of Emrys’ hands. “I’m sorry, my friend. It seems like you don’t have a lot of time for yourself right now, and I can’t imagine how difficult that must be,” she fretted. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

Emrys pulled her hand from under Deanna’s, only to place hers on top and pat Deanna’s hand softly. “Let’s just talk about you, hmm?” She gave her friend a small smile. “I’ve missed you, you know?”

With a hum and smile tinged with heartache for Emrys, she nodded. “I’ve missed you too.”

[eco-lite]

I never make my own posts on tumblr but I’m foregoing my lurking for a second to crosspost this review I wrote of A Stitch in Time. I kept it generic for the locals on goodreads, but I though people on here my like it. Review is pasted below the line.

How do I even begin to review a book that fostered such emotional attachment that I found myself bringing it with me around the house just to have it nearby?

Elim Garak is just one of /those characters/ for me. I knew from his first appearance in Deep Space Nine that I was not going to be normal about this man. A former intelligence agent for the Obsidian Order, Garak was exiled to Terok Nor/Deep Space Nine for reasons we never come to learn in the show. It's clear that blood is on Garak's hands, but he is such a deeply complex and likable character that it doesn't truly matter what he's done in his past--not to Julian Bashir, station CMO, who is drawn to Garak's lies and secrets and mysterious personality. The two form a close but tenuous bond based on a mutual love of engaging conversation and literary critique.

We come to learn bits and pieces of Garak's past throughout the show, but it's not until Andy Robinson's A Stitch in Time that all of his past is laid bare. As the actor who portrayed Garak, Andy put a lot of time into coming up with a backstory and motivations for his character. And boy, did that time and effort pay off. Andy has brilliantly constructed the world of Cardiassian society and Garak's history within it. It's clear that he understands Garak in exactly the same way I do, and that was truly special (and sometimes harrowing) to experience. There were many moments throughout my reading where I found myself staring introspectively into the distance as I reflected on how closely I could relate to the bitter loneliness of this book. Andy, why are you staring into my soul? I thought this was supposed to reveal things about Garak, not me!

The novel is framed as a nearly-400-page letter to Julian, asking him to bear witness to Garak's past and his healing from it. This letter is an explanation of why Garak is the way he is--a baring of his soul to the one person who has ever been willing to understand. It's a terribly intimate piece of writing. Although their relationship has grown distant, Garak ends his letter by inviting Julian back into his life--to behold the person he has become, and share in the healing of himself and of Cardassia.

Andy handles this story beautifully, and gives so much depth to Cardassian society and its people. Kelas Parmak is a gift of a character, and Palandine, Pythas Lok, Tolan, and Mila the regnar are all wonderful additions to the Star Trek canon. I also love the ideas introduced about spiritual and political healing--both things the war-ravaged Cardassia desperately needs. Although this novel deals heavily with loneliness and isolation, betrayal and manipulation, it is ultimately a hopeful story. Both individuals and societies can heal with the help of community--a timeless message we all need to hear.

If you've read this book, please talk to me about it! I have so many thoughts I couldn't put into this review, and like Garak, "the surest way to [my] heart is through conversation."

[spocks-kaathyra]

A brief history of Pythas's relationship with death

(Another one of my more-outline-than-fic fics. TW for suicidality and attempted suicide.)

A few years post-canon, Pythas develops a respiratory infection that becomes serious due to how fucked up his lungs are from the Fire. Forced to confront the possibility of his death, he realizes, to his surprise, that he wants to live.

Pythas grew up fighting to survive. As a child, and at Bamarren, and even in his early years in the Order, he did everything he could to keep himself alive. On his first mission where he had a brush with death, he was terrified, as anyone would be. But in this business, there comes a point where your fear of death conflicts with your ability to follow your orders. So Pythas simply detaches the part of himself that feels that fear, as he's so well-practiced at. But a fear of death and a will to live are two sides of the same coin. It's hard to get rid of one without getting rid of the other. Staying alive becomes a chore to him, just another order. And he follows that order, as he follows every order. The years wear on, and he goes from pawn to gamemaster, and eventually the only thing keeping him alive is his sense of duty. His life belongs to Cardassia; it's not his to take. When he hears the bombs in the distance, he dares to hope, for the first time in years. He hopes that he'll finally be set free.

Of course, he's not so lucky. When he wakes up on that biobed with Nal standing over him, in more pain than he imagined possible, he grieves. Not for Cardassia, or for his body, but for that irresponsible hope that he could've died. He hates Nal for saving him, for taking away his only chance at freedom. When he's functional enough to pick up a hypospray, he tries to correct her mistake. With no Cardassia to serve anymore, there's no obligation keeping him from putting an end to the pain. But Nal stops him. She begs him on her hands and knees to stay, and, in doing so, gives him a new obligation—to her. He stays alive, through all his painful recovery, because she asked him to, and he's never been able to disobey an order.

Now, years later, he's once again confronted with death. Lying awake in pain, fluid building up in his scarred lungs, he realizes that he doesn't want to go. He wants to live to braid Nal's hair in the mornings. He wants to live to eat tlaloberries from Elim's garden. He wants to live to see Cardassia heal, and play what part he can in the process. He wants to live to see himself heal. For the first time since he was a child, he's scared to die. He cries in Nal's arms until he runs out of breath. He'll fight to survive, this time, because he wants to.

[lietwice]

i want..... more post-canon verses. just all the variations of what could've happened. particular flavours that I've thought of are:

garak has kept in touch with julian by writing letters, except when julian comes to visit, it turns out garak has been lying ( surprise surprise ) about the state of things so that Julian wouldn't worry too much about him.

garak has kept in touch with julian by writing letters, including ASIT, which is basically his life story, and is being weirdly open with him via letter. when julian comes to visit, though, he goes back to his lying self and won't open up in person ( or not without some pushing, at least )

for whatever reason we decide, garak can't stay where he is. could be due to the state of cardassia, because of enemies, because of his episodes of psychosis, or any other reason. and from there, there are also several other possible variations - he could communicate this to julian, or he could imply it to julian ( think garak concentrating real hard at 3am, writing out the question 'how to ask for help without asking for help' so he can brainstorm ideas ), or he could try to communicate it but the information fails to get there. he could ask julian to come to him, thinking maybe he just needs a little bit of help and then he'll be fine ( he's wrong and maybe a little bit delusional and needs to be told gently ). so many possibilities.

garak can't keep in touch with julian for some cardassia-wide reason ( communications blackout type thing ), so he has to get creative about getting his attention. maybe there are some starfleet volunteers, and he does something he's sure will be big enough that julian hears about it via starfleet. or he could pass on a message via them, except it's cryptic and weird because of course it is, because that's the only way he can let julian know he wants to contact him.

then there's all the possibilities with kids. variations of my essan verse. garak could be in contact with julian already when he adopts him, and then the next time he writes to him he's like 'btw I've accidentally adopted a child'. or OR or a combo of one of the other things I said. so he's lying about the conditions on cardassia or something, until he adopts a child, and at that point he's like 'hey so you know when i said it was fine to live here? now it affects this child so it's actually not fine'.

ok so also imagine the communication issue is a thing, right, so they haven't been in touch. julian comes to cardassia to help via starfleet, but still doesn't know how to find or contact garak. and he's been there a while and maybe given up, when he finds garak via garak bringing a child in for medical treatment.

and that's just what i can think of rn. pls come at me with ideas. or if you like any of the above pls tell me!!! let's write stuff!! can also apply to non-julian characters IF we plot a pre- or mid-canon connection. all of these only work for people garak already has a strong connection with hence why it's mostly suited best to julian.

[nebulouscoffee]

Any favorite garashir tropes?

Omg, so many! I'll try to limit it to five :)

That thing they do where they start talking about something (often something Very Important) by using an allegory- because that's the only way they can be honest about it (or at least, more honest)- and then get increasingly frustrated by the vagueness of the verbal dance they're doing but neither of them wants to come out and Say It because they're stupid and competitive idiots so they proceed to stretch the metaphor further and further until they're twisting themselves into pretzels trying to stick to it and then at last it snaps. Usually by this point they have begun making out furiously (I love this trope SO much, and my humble contribution was 'Pretenders' chapter 8 lmaoo)

Post-canon letter-writing. I just feel like these two were made for the epistolary format, like they both choose their words (and Lines) so deliberately, they're both always willing to commit to a bit, and also they're both long-winded and witty and cringe (I can't believe it's canon that Julian describes his whole coma dream to Garak over lunch and Garak is actually so interested to hear it? It's just sweet okay!!) More than that, I think what draws me to this ship is the way that they're both storytellers; who've both lived with secrets and lies so long they see themselves more as "characters"/archetypes/roles than people, who both carefully tell truths about the people they are (and were) by spinning self-mythologising narratives (aka, "the lies"). I find this so beautiful because like in some ways their narratives were forcibly spun for them when they were children; so I love how in each other, they find someone that's really willing to listen (regardless of whether they "deserve" it), someone who'll give them the space to maybe learn to spin a new narrative. The idea of them continuing to do so by crafting long letters to each other is very in-character imo, and also romantic in a way that's very them (looking for hidden meanings between the words! Subtext! Wordplay, obfuscation, backtracking, who-will-crack-first, the waitinggggg between responses, all great stuff👌)

Julian's forgiveness of Garak's past being tested- like, personally I think it's OOC for Julian to suddenly start lecturing him about his past, I think it's far more interesting for them to have conflicts over Garak's (often atrocious) present behaviour and opinions- but every now and then, especially if he's living on Cardassia, Julian is going to see stuff that brings home to him in a very real way what Garak used to do for a living. It's such good angst, I love it! Especially when Julian is forced to acknowledge the parallels to Sloan, or that Garak might not actually have moved on from some things

One of them casually does something small that happens to be a Big Deal in the others' culture, but the other can't call them out on it because that would be Acknowledging The Game- and ofc, there's always the possibility that it wasn't deliberate, and isn't it just so much nicer to pretend? Either way, they refuse to directly talk about it, leading to much confusion and hilarity as they try and call the others' bluff by increasingly escalating the stakes and aggressively talking about books till they just end up looking like idiots

They never actually got together during the show. Don't get me wrong, I like reading stories where they get together at the wrong time and mess each other up lol, genuinely I love this pairing for The Range (it is entirely possible that their conversation in the finale ends up being their last!) But I am, at heart, a big sap, so my favourite version of the garashir get-together is them finally figuring it out post-canon. Also, it's genuinely so interesting, like- what do you do when your exiles and secrets and wars are all over & you're finally the person you need to be to make something you always wanted work? (What do you mean, you can just go after it? For real? Like you can actually just ask? Outrageous! Lol) Also, it lends itself so well to other entertaining tropes, like 1. absolutely unhinged levels of UST & long-distance pining, 2. Garak having a funny freakout over some small domestic thing which drives home to him how much ds9 domesticated him, 3. them just like. trying to figure out how to exist as regular people & relaxing into a sort of intimacy and authenticity they've never experienced before, 4. them being huge workaholics who barely see each other during the day but still give each other something nice to come home to, 5. them learning each other's languages & customs, 6. Garak angsting that this is all temporary and Julian is definitely going to leave him, 7. war orphans (I'm not much for kidfic generally but there is something touching about these two characters redefining parenthood and "legitimacy" for themselves; even if not as parents just by helping "unwanted" children in different ways, especially considering what happened with Ziyal), 8. Julian leaving Starfleet & practising more culturally sensitive and less exploitative medicine on a ravaged alien planet which shows how far he's come, and I'm sure there's many more but wow that's already so many! Post-canon garashir endgame my beloved

[dimensionalspades]

Canon Corrective: Julian Bashir

Julian remains a bit of a woman/manizer(??) in his first year of DS9. Julian craves interactions and connections in every category and seeks them out at his new post. This lessens as time goes on and he grows more confident in himself and becomes more comfortable with being in his own company.

The big one, Romance: DS9's writers were great but they absolutely biffed almost every romantic interaction with Julian. As for me, Julian tends to be allergic to romance concerning patients. Being a doctor and being a partner are 2 very separate modes for him. That being said, in cases where a partner needs medical help in some fashion (short or long term), Julian provides without issue, and has practices in place to ensure that should he and the person break up, the information gained and treatments done aren't affected and their care is uninterrupted.

Julian does still hit on Jadzia when arriving on the station and once or twice afterwards, but after she rejects him, Julian focuses on learning to be her friend (and works on not idolizing people). He has an incredible platonic love for her, considering her one of his truly closest friends. Occasionally they'll play wingman for each other at Quark's or spend long hours trying to solve a mystery in the lab.

Jezri as it is in the series is not canon to this blog, but if there's a time that an Ezri would like to develop something from the ground up, I'd be happy to discuss.

Parents: Julian cut Richard and Amsha off when he was roughly 16, moving to Starfleet campuses as soon as he was accepted. They spent years attempting to reconnect, and while he unfortunately gave in to their demands on some occasions, Julian quickly learned that neither would change. After a massive fight with Richard, Julian cut contact for what he thought was the final time, and it isn't until DBIP that Julian is forcibly reunited with them and has to grapple with everything. It goes about the same, except that Julian does not concern himself with Richard's sentence. Instead, he just cuts them off again. As of Postwar, they attempt and fail on many occasions to reconnect.

Sloan and Section 31: Sloan's attempts to recruit Julian fail full stop. He only cooperates because Sisko directs him to. All episodes still run the same. After Extreme Measures, Julian struggles with the mysteries surrounding Section 31 and wants answers, but he is very protective of himself given what they've done to him.

Post-canon: Julian remains on DS9 per the end of the series, but beta canon is only selectively picked from. None of the s31 books are canon to the blog, but ASIT is, and Julian occasionally goes and spends a few months on Cardassia to assist with relief efforts.

[ao3feed-ds9]

If I need to leave you (I won't fight it)

https://ift.tt/rD8icgT by dftea (demon_faith) After the war, Garak’s letter arrives too late: Julian has already left on a five-year research mission to the Gamma Quadrant. Garak tries to move on, until he receives an urgent summons from Kira: 'Julian is dying. He’s asking for you.' Bad Things Happen Bingo: Misdiagnosis Words: 4618, Chapters: 1/1, Language: English Series: Part 5 of Bad Things Happen Bingo (dftea) Fandoms: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine Rating: Explicit Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Categories: M/M Characters: Julian Bashir, Elim Garak, Original Female Character(s), Kira Nerys, Jabara (Star Trek), Girani Semna Relationships: Julian Bashir/Elim Garak, Julian Bashir/Other(s) Additional Tags: Post-Canon Cardassia (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Pining, Casual Sex, Hanahaki Disease, Sex Pollen, Near Death Experiences, ajanal sex, Angst with a Happy Ending, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Getting Together, First Time, Bad Things Happen Bingo

[arodrwho]

i have at last finished watching ds9 and as far as endings go that one was not my favorite. i am making some alterations:

odo stays with the link for like. a month. and then he comes back to ds9. he visits the link often but he doesn't rejoin the link permanently, and the station is still his home

sisko also comes back before too long. he's in and out via visions for a little bit but he physically returns to the station well before the baby is born. after that he continues to be in and out to a much lesser degree, doing Prophet Things at odd times, same way he used to get visions at odd times, just this is somewhat more often

miles and keiko leaving... i'm not sure how i'd alter that one exactly bc in my perfect ideal world they simply Don't Leave, but if they must leave i want them to return eventually :( and until they do i fully believe miles & julian are doing the space future equivalent of playing dnd over roll20 at LEAST once a week like clockwork

worf... i am Less Sad about him leaving bc the new duties feel good & right for him. this is satisfying. however he returns to the station as often as he can & still thinks of it as home base

garak, similar to worf, i'm less sad about the idea of him leaving bc returning to cardassia & helping rebuild feels Correct. satisfying conclusion to his arc. however,,,,, there is absolutely no way in hell he just stops having lunch w julian. i dont care if they end up eating together while on a space zoom call once a week while garak's got the world's shittiest connection, they are keeping their lunches

i think ? that probably sums it up?

also. not a post-canon hc so much as an outright change but i would maybe have sisko reach out to jake instead of kasidy - or at least in addition to kasidy. i know he loves his wife but like. thats his son yknow? who has already lost a parent v suddenly & violently before. i just feel like if he had to choose only one of them to talk to, he'd choose his kid

anyway.

to conclude: yes

[idonotbitemythumbatyou]

Working title is "Baseball on Bajor" and it's a 10-ish year post canon about the survivors of DS9 dealing with becoming religious figures in the new mythology of Bajor.

The warrior of Qo’nos; Exalted to the highest family in his empire, he handpicked the ruler of his people. And thus an empire became a friend to Bajor

The tinkered healer; The prophets whispered that he would need to be more for his task and so at Adigeon he was transformed. His enjoinment to Cardassia made a friend of a foe.

And here are all the times "friend" shows up in chapter 3 of The Seven Year Prologue

Julian always felt like he had done something wrong when Kira wanted to talk to him. They were not as close as he would have liked, and every overture of friendship he’d made so far had been interpreted in the least charitable light possible.

“Garak and I are not really friends. And...” he snorted, “you don’t have to worry about me trusting him.  So while I appreciate your concern, there’s really no need.”

“Everyone knows we’re friends. I don't see the point of keeping this part of it secret.”

But then, that was just the sort of man Miles was. He might struggle with the words, but the love for his friend was never in doubt. At least he was willing to be seen in public with him. Then again, a dark part of Julian wondered why all the people who loved him were so embarrassed to admit it. Maybe it had to do with how apparently "hateable" he was.

and the following self indulgent scene with Dr. Lense is a long bit but it has "friend" in it four times.

“It’s a shame we didn’t meet then. We could have helped each other.”

“So you’re not the cutthroat monster your reputation suggested?”

“No!” Dr. Lense - Elizabeth - laughed. It was an undeniably lovely sight: warm and safe. He wanted to nestle into that laugh and experience it as she did. Or, barring that, close the distance between them to feel that warm safety by proxy. “But I really could have used a friend like you in the academy.” she said.

Until she said it, he hadn’t thought about how much he’d isolated himself in his pursuit of almost-perfection. “I know what you mean,” he said. Their eyes met and for a terrifying moment Julian thought they might kiss.

But she stood up and took another sip of her drink, breaking… whatever that was. “I’m getting engaged, by the way.” she said, pouring herself some water, “I’m going to propose on our next shore leave.”

“Oh! Congratulations!” Julian exclaimed, trying to swirl the energy in the room back to friendly - rather than flirtatious - repartee 

“He’s brilliant. He has the driest humour…" she smiled to herself, no doubt thinking of her soon to be fiancee. "I think you’d like him, actually. He’s Andorian.”

“Is he really?”

“Yes!”

“Forgive me if I don’t believe that you know what an Andorian looks like…”

“He is!” Again, that careless laugh. “Do you…" she tapped the rim of her glass with her fingernail and avoided his eye, "do you have someone?”

“No.” He spoke without hesitation. Because he didn’t, really. 

What else could he say? ‘Yes actually I’ve been sleeping with an older man - a disgraced exiled Cardassian - for almost two years. He lies to me constantly. We have nothing in common but that we like each other and I’m not always entirely convinced of that. He doesn’t seem to care if I live or die. And I think I might have feelings for him. Everything about the relationship is humiliating. And most humiliating of all: I think he has feelings for me but he’s so disgusted by it that he’d rather be alone than acknowledge the connection. He barely wants to acknowledge that we’re–’

“Friends.” Julian said, tipping his glass towards her, “I have no shortage of friends”

This week’s word is…

✨ FRIEND ✨

Find the word in any WIP and share the sentence containing it. Reply, reblog, stick it in the tags, tag us in a new post, or keep it private. All fandoms, all ships, all writers welcome.

[wanderingwriter87]

realistically, when it comes to miles reacting to garashir as a Thing, i think there's a spectrum of what i consider to be in-character, but let's talk about it for a second. canonically the garashir friendship at least pre-exists miles and julian becoming actual friends by at least a year, so miles already knows julian has weekly book club meetings with the cardassian spy (and as suggested in that one meta about pretense as the center of the garashir dynamic) that might actually be one of the reasons why miles doesn't trust him until after armageddon game. but regardless, he knows.

enough events of "the wire" took place in full public view, so even if julian is actually observing medical ethics for once, everyone, including miles, knows that garak was very sick and julian saved his life. a lot of them probably also know julian kept vigil in garak's quarters for (unspecified montage amount of time), and yes thanks im feeling very normal about that being an actual canonical fact.

and from there, garak and julian have a palpable intimacy and yes, love, between them. canonically we see garak and miles needle each other about their little (platonic?) love triangle, so again, this is something that is woven into the julian and miles friendship from the beginning. i know im repeating myself im still trying to work through my own thoughts on this leave me alone.

then garak and julian get back from being in prison together. does julian tell miles that he witnessed tain's shri-tal? i honestly don't know. either way, they were in fucking prison together. miles knows what that's like.

so anyway i guess im saying that when julian writes from post-canon cardassia about his shotgun political wedding or whatever miles is probably....not that surprised and makes peace with it more quickly than he expected to. i don't think he's happy about it, at least not initially, but there's no way he could honestly be like WHAT!!! NO ONE SAW THIS COMING! LEAST OF ALL ME, HIS OTHER CLOSEST FRIEND!

[razmerry]

me: haha it’s just a silly little star trek au. I promise I’ll be normal about it

me when it’s time for locus:

Fr the amount of lore I have stacked up in my brain for this man... all 3 of you who read these posts better be ready to do some scrolling because I am rotted in the cabeza. 

Here’s some feverish rambling about one of my favorite rvb characters (of all time):

- Locus is a changeling, courtesy of my most genius moment in this AU 2 years ago. At the time I was only watching bits and pieces of DS9 whenever my mom had it on, but I got enough to immediately know it was perfect for him. Like Odo, Locus is one of the hundred baby changelings who got sent out into the galaxy with no memories. But I think he probably floated in space for a long time before landing anywhere, so he is decently old physically. 

- As continued, Locus followed a similar path to Odo, but instead of landing on Bajor, he crashed onto Cardassia in the wild lands, where he lay for a very long time. Until one day, he was found by a Cardassian military group - which included Felix and Siris. Since the equivalent of the Halo Great War would be the Dominion War, that’s when this is set. At first, the Cardassians just think this is a mildly interesting slimy sample, but when set near their weapons, they find that it can transform into them. All of a sudden Locus becomes very important to the Cardassians, even more so when they discover he can change from one weapon into another. And that’s what they think he is at this point - some kind of shapeshifting weapon. This is also why they call him Locus - I’m twisting canon a bit, but I’m gonna say that a particular type of phase rifle that they use is a “Locus” model. 

- Eventually, one day as the squad is sitting around talking, they start to prompt Locus to change into one of the soldiers. To all of their utter shock, they discover he can do this, and is in fact a sentient, living creature. But they are in a war after all... and he is still a weapon. (can I get a you are nothing more than a suit of armor and a gun?) Locus becomes an unofficial member of the military squad, who manages to survive in ragged numbers. He’s used both as a soldier and as a physical weapon/armor, which as he’s known nothing else but these Cardassians, he accepts as a fact of life. After the war ends and Cardassia is ravaged, his story would proceed much like it did in canon - he joins up with Felix and Siris, working as a mercenary on distant worlds. I’ll talk more about Siris once I draw him, but at some point Felix and Locus end up working together without him and eventually make their way to Chorus. Which I’ll talk more about when I draw Doyle and Kimball. Goddamn the thoughts in this head.

- Just as Odo has limits to his shapeshifting, I wanted to give some to Locus as well. He does still have to periodically rest in his liquid state, because I think that’s very funny. But his main weakness is that he’s an incredibly good shapeshifter, able to mimic people and things down the smallest detail - he’s just an incredibly terrible actor. He can look like your friend, but if he opens his mouth he cannot convince he’s them. So Locus mostly does spying/background work, which makes Felix desperately he - the “people person” - was the one who could shapeshift instead. 

- Locus’s weird little obsession/mancrush with Wash is one of my favorite little details about him, and when you can literally turn into someone I think that leaves some very fun doors open. Just to explain that ridiculous second extra drawing I made. 

- During the equivalent to seasons 11/early season 12, Locus is fully presenting himself as a normal Cardassian, and he and Felix are riding on basically the same backstories they use in the show - old war buddies turned rivals, etc etc. I think Felix would spin himself as a soldier who was forced to do terrible things during the war, but is trying to redeem himself by helping out the rebels (who are Bajorans in this AU). However Locus, as he is wont to do, just plays himself as an ice cold mercenary who is neutral to either side of this conflict. 

- As time goes on during the late season 12/season 13 equivalent arc, Locus does spy work, frequently disguised as a Bajoran or a Human. He begins to favor these forms (as he grows more and more conflicted about himself), something that Felix absolutely hates. Post-season 13, he would rarely change into a Cardassian again. His scar is something that he keeps, though - originally he gave it to himself because the leader of the original military squad (the suit of armor and a gun guy) had the same scar, and Locus saw him as an authority/father/mentor figure. Post season 13, he keeps it a reminder to himself and to keep him in check. 

- God I can talk about Locus for hours. I’m so fond of changelings. Can I get a hell yeah for any pronouns Locus? Changelings are literally The gender fluid. 

Alright I’m done now, I promise I’ll be normal about the rest of this AU (lying). Next week is Siris!

[ectogeo-rebubbles]

Gonna self-rec bc you encouraged it in the tags haha, but there are many many incredible fics in the fandom that you should check out too! I’m just being lazy rn. (In general I post/reblog my fic recs under the tag “fic rec” and I have like probably an overwhelming number of fics bookmarked on ao3 haha. But you can look there until I stop being lazy.)

Garashir:

and if you don’t love me now, you will never love me again - Broken Link getting together scenario <3

save me from the dark - The Wire AU where Julian has to do some mad science to save garak. Re-Animator aesthetic.

home is wherever I’m with you - Garak exile angst plus Julian fucking him so good that it makes him doubt his loyalty to Cardassia.

nothing to hide - I write a lot of Our Man Bashir AUs but this one is my favorite (Garak got incorporated into the program as a hologram too, and Julian is telling Garak later about the embarrassing way that that went)

Siskarak:

you’re a criminal as long as you’re mine - it’s a long way back to the station from Cardassia after the events of Second Skin and Garak and Sisko make good use of the time ;) my most lighthearted yet not insubstantial siskarak fic

so I lied, I cheated - In the Pale Moonlight AU where I make everything worse. siskarak longfic with a side of insane garashir. truly Heathers but with middle-aged men.

redacted - not really siskarak but rather Sisko&Garak. I wanted to explore some headcanons about their potential dynamic during their time on Starbase 375 in the beginning of s6

a sampling of even more cursed rarepairs, mwahahaha:

a contract is a contract is a contract - Quark/Brunt fic set during Body Parts. dubcon

a drop of honey - sloanshir and garashir. Julian attempts to honeypot Sloan during IAESL, Garak comforts him before and after

the pros and cons of being possessed - messy but sweet Kira/Keiko ficlet. dialogue-heavy. I have ThoughtsTM about The Reckoning and The Assignment

these sordid kinds of things - Kira/Winn ficlet about political power struggles and reluctant alliances and fingerbanging

gaslight gatekeep girlboss - Winn and Ziyal ficlet. women being horrible to each other <3

speech is silver, silence is golden - bahaha i just remembered this one. pre-canon Garak/Morn crackfic (Garak gags Morn during sex lmao) with a heavy dose of Garak angst (and pre-Garashir implications)

Hey who's got the DS9 fic recs?

[ofhouseadama]

I want to know your thoughts about post-Canon Established Relationship Julian and Garak and the actual stress and obnoxiousness (so I have heard from my spouse 😂) of being the partner of a researcher because a) what is time? science waits for no one b) except oops when you overload yourself and sleep for 48 hours c) apparently the laundry still has to get done d) and apparently it’s very alarming to unfold clothes before putting them into the wash and finding it covered in unknown biohazards

(Support is wonderful and all but sometimes they wish I would just consider the dishes <3)

I think at first they're both working so much that it's not an issue, because as far as Garak is concerned, Julian is working in service to Cardassia and is doing good works for Cardassia. And Garak himself is always called in during an emergency of the government; everyone is pulling double duty and sometimes volunteering for triple duty. So even once they're together and living together and know that they are heading into the great unknown together -- they're both on call for every natural disaster and unexploded ordnance and fraught situation. They don't get the luxury of hunkering down together, or worrying together, or panicking. They have to get up and react and get to work.

But once things start to settle, three or four years in, and Cardassia has a new constitution and a new form of government and has two or three free elections and food is growing and the water is drinkable and the hospitals and clinics are staffed and people are becoming doctors and nurses and hospital administrators again -- when Garak is serving in Ghemor's Senior Council and Julian is working at Corat Damar Memorial Hospital and lecturing as an adjunct professor at some prestigious university that survived the bombing and managing his own research on top of that and medical students and graduate students and fellows and post-docs... they're both still busy, but Garak's work at least has a sense of boundaries. There's a work day, and sure sometimes he's still answering messages at nine at night and taking the odd subspace call when it's 10 AM on Cardassia III and 2 AM for him--but he has staff now. A whole administrative body of staff.

And Julian is still trying to single-handedly cure every disease and conduct every new surgery and keep every dying child alive. He's the doctor of last resort in some circles, and sometimes when he answers a page, he doesn't emerge from the hospital again for several days.

Garak is proud. He really is. He's proud that Julian is renowned and trusted and venerated and celebrated. That he's respected by his colleagues and by Cardassia. That yes, Julian's service as a doctor in a Cardassian hospital that he helped build after the war, brick by brick, makes some things easier politically but--

Proud isn't quite the word for what Garak feels about the fact that Julian saw Cardassia brought to her knees and stayed, even when he wasn't asked. Stayed in the rubble and dust and ashes because he wanted to help, stayed and built a clinic out of a tent, and then a MASH unit out of pre-fab, and bullied Starfleet into assisting with the construction of a new hospital on the bombed-out skeleton of the old one. Garak doesn't know what the right word is. He's still waiting for the catch. So he doesn't complain.

He wants to be selfish with Julian so badly. But Cardassia has always come first. Will always come first. Must always win.

Until the first baby, anyway. Parental leave is sacrosanct on Cardassia, especially on a Cardassia that is desperately trying to re-populate after a billion-plus dead. And then Garak and Julian both run headfirst into their own issues with parenting and fatherhood and family. About what a home is. How a home functions. What they want to do themselves and what to leave to their staff. Cardassian children are expected to come with their parents to work, that duty to Cardassia and duty to the Family are entwined. Which has some uhhhh traumatic implications for Garak, historically, and Julian's father has an interesting career history and very little in regards to a sense of service or duty so that first year of parenthood is just ripping off a long sequence of scabs off a long sequence of poorly-healed wounds.

But eventually, after the fourth child, maybe the fifth, when Garak finally looks up after ten years and realizes that Julian isn't going anywhere, he starts finding new and creative ways to threaten Julian if he doesn't put his dirty clothes in the hamper or may the ancients save him. Sometimes Garak has to threaten to sedate him and kidnap him from the lab when he won't stop trying to fix a problem that won't be fixed in a night. He invites Julian's students to dinner to force Julian to come home.

(Julian's at least pretty good, at least, about making sure he's at least home for dinner and bath time most nights, and makes it to sports games and recitals and performances without fail, because those are also sacrosanct in Cardassian society. Especially after the bombardment.

The kids come to work with him half the time anyway.)

[getoutofmyjaneway]

Beta Cannon: the Pre Voyager Era of Kathryn Janeway | Mosaic v The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway

This weekend, I got a copy of the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway from a local book store. For how frequently we speak about Mosaic in the community (despite having some flaws) I was shocked that I had not heard a lot about this book and assumed it was a bad thing. And yeah in some regards it was (see @mia-cooper’s post on the subject). I have a lot of feelings (I’ll post a proper review at a later point) but one thing that did stick out to me is the divergence from what we have considered Beta Canon, aka, the extended universe of Star Treks told through novels, short stories, video games, etc. After completing the novel, I jumped right into my old standby copy of Mosaic, which has dictated a lot of Janeway’s back story since 96. Both of these novels cover the beginnings of Janeway’s life and how she was shaped into the woman we know. 

TLDR The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway changes a lot of things for no reason. Some of these are for the good. Some for the bad. And some, for like no good reason at all, like it was fine as it was, and was accepted cannon for like 25 years, but sure fine whatever.

I will mention that, as Mosaic has been a book in my library and I have read it too many times, so of course, I do have a bias toward it. Additionally, I feel like it is fair to mention here that authors of Fanfiction have leaned on this as their bibles since 1996 as Mosaic is written by Jeri Taylor, one of the show-runners for Voyager. Because of its connection with a showrunner, Mosaic is also integrated into the canon of the show. It seems that most points that are taken from Mosaic in the Autobiography are only included because of their existence in cannon material.

Anyway, this review is going to focus on the characters that shape Kathryn and I will end with my final thoughts. This is long so to respect your dash, you are going to have to click keep reading. You’re welcome.

Obligatory Spoiler Warning for ALL of Mosaic, chapter 13 of Pathways, and chapters 1-7 of The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway

Edward Janeway

In all media, I feel like we can safely say that Kathryn Janeway is in fact a daddy’s girl. Her relationship with her father is very important to her, so it is interesting to see how it is portrayed very differently in both novels. In Mosaic, a lot of the highlights of Janeway’s earlier years revolve around time spent with him. From giving her special attention after ‘Your Sister’ was born, to consoling her after her losing tennis match and subsequent walk home in the rain, and trips to Mars, Kathryn mentions great fondness of quality time spent. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway he is more described as an absent father, one that she always wanted to see and please. When he was home, she wanted all of his attention and to impress him greatly. She wished to follow in his footsteps after gaining a love of flight and the stars with a plane ride and a telescope he gave her. He tried to prepare her by detaining the events of the current conflict with Cardassia and inviting Starfleet brass over for dinner. Overall, in her early childhood, it makes more sense for Edward to not be around often. There is not a lot of conflict between the sources, other than the details of the aforementioned tennis match and different childhood nicknames.  

Edward is in a crash aboard an experimental ship on Tau Ceti Prime which leads to his death. This is where the big differences begin. In Mosaic, Kathryn and her fiancé are also on board. In  Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, Kathryn is still on the Al-Batani. The fall out of this event has a great effect on Kathryn of course in both novels. As this is a missive shaping event of Kathryn’s life, I felt it very jarring to be changed. This moment shaped Janeway and gives us good context for why she handles situations the way she does. I see this trauma and I understand her character better, for dealing with the loss of two of the most important people in her life all at once.

Gretchen Janeway

The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway was good to Gretchen Janeway as her character is basically a blank slate. We know little about her from Mosaic as it mostly focuses on Kathryn’s relationship with her father (and other male influences in her life). It is nice to learn more things about Grechen as with Edward’s job, it is likely that Kathryn was mainly raised by her. Other than being an artist, she also wrote some of the Flotter holos and wrote a number of children’s stories about the people of Bajor during the occupation. She does a lot of humanitarian work with the refugees from Bajor during the occupation. She loves to garden and get her daughters involved. She has a close bond with Phoebe due to their overlapping interests, but you can tell that she strives to support her in what she does. Overall, I like getting know Gretchen to be someone of than Kathryn’s mother.

Phoebe Janeway

 I was shocked when researching Memory Alpha for this review, Phoebe is never named in any Cannon media up to this point (Star Trek Prodigy could very well change this). We know Janeway has a sister and she is an artist, but that is it. Both novels keep her very similar personality-wise. In both stories, Kathryn is not looking forward to being a big sister. They also both mourn the loss of their father together. In Mosaic, she is not mentioned much. Kathryn tells her she is not old enough on an off planet trip and Phoebe plays pranks on her. The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway goes much more into depth. They don’t get along when they are younger. They fight a lot. I feel this is a very realistic portrayal of real siblings, vying for attention and approval, snapping when they don’t get their way.  They both excel at what they do, Kathryn in her studies and Phoebe through her art. They seem to need to one-up each other at every turn.  As they grow up, they grow closer together, as many siblings do. Points added for giving Phoebe a wife, something which has been included in a lot of fanfiction. Overall, there are no big conflicting points.

Mark Johnson

Kathryn’s fiance at the time of the Voyager’s disappearance, Mark is a very different part of Kathryn’s life in both novels. In Mosaic, he is a childhood friend and went by his middle name Hobbs. Seemingly always two steps behind Kathryn, he did a lot of the same activities that she did, tennis and swimming in the underground cave systems. He did these poorly, and this makes Kathryn always look down upon him. They reconnected after her father’s death and she fell head-over-heels for him. Personally, I always felt this was a little uncharacteristic of Kathryn, to run away from her responsibilities to be with a man. It just seems very out of character and has always bothered me. The  Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway takes a completely different approach. She meets Mark as a friend of Pheobe and her wife as a widower. They hit it off and they fall hard. You can see the conflict in Kathryn as she debates how to move forward with a relationship as they have different outlooks on life. She has a drive to explore but does not want to be an absent parent. She debates quitting, which I don’t think is something Janeway would have ever done. Overall she decides to accept Mark’s proposal just before taking command of Voyager. This makes the Dear John situation a lot more believable as it makes sense that he would want to move on with his life much quicker. Overall, I have to just ask, why? I know Mark doesn’t have a lot of character, but why change basically their whole relationship dynamic? 

Justin Tighe

Justin is a character I actually like for selfish reasons. This explains why I was very miffed that he was nowhere to be seen in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Justin is Kathryn’s first love, they were coworkers, engaged and in love, and dies in the same accident that takes her father. As a person who always wanted Chakotay and Janeway to get together, this incident perfectly gives the reason. She is afraid to get romantically involved with a crew member because of the nature of the job. This dynamic is seen between Picard and Nella Daren in TNG very well. Kathryn has learned the hard way that she can lose a person under her command and how it feels when you are in love with that person. In early Voyager, you can see she isolates herself from the crew and it takes time for her to get comfortable. And during Night she relapses to her old ways. This is the way I have always justified Janeway’s reluctance to have a romantic relationship during their time in the Delta Quadrant. By understanding her background, I have a lot of respect for that choice. Her relationship with Justin really shaped how she handles relationships and without the impact he had on her life, it actually makes her character weaker.

Owen Paris

Owen is Kathryn’s mentor. In Mosaic, they meet as he is reviewing her junior honors thesis advisor on massive compact halo objects. From here they gained a relationship built on respect and learning. It makes sense that, as he was her personal mentor, that she would be close with his family, and why she would seek out Tom as a person to bring with her to the Badlands mission. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, she does not meet him until she is on the Al-Batani. This doesn’t only weaken her relationship with Admiral Paris, but moreover weakens her relationship with Tom. If he was her superior officer, why would she develop such a ‘big sister’ mentality to Tom if she didn’t have as many opportunities to meet him?

Tuvok

Mosaic does not go too much in depth with Tuvok and Janeway’s relationship, but its sister novel Pathways does. In Pathways, Tuvok meets Janeway when he is an ensign under her command of the USS Bonestell. The Bonestell and the Billings, two ships that Janeway served on, tend to get confused a lot. Most sources have Janeway’s first command as the Voyager, Including Voyager itself -  “It doesn't seem like my first command is shaping up the way I expected,” Janeway Shattered. The Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway has her and Tuvok meet on the Al-Batani. I actually really like the dynamic between them, as they grow to respect each other over a much longer period of time. I also like that, though Janeway climbs through the ranks, it does not change their relationship dynamic as she still relies on him and asks him advice as if they were equals. I think giving them a longer time to build their relationship. Also would like to note that Janeway and Tuvok also had a friendship with the original CMO of Voyager, Dr. Fitzgerald. I always wanted to know more about the Pre-Caretaker crew and I would have loved to see this dynamic and how the grief of losing a close personal friend in the Caretaker incident would impact them both.

Also I feel obligated to shout out the Janeway and Tuvok story in Star Trek Waypoint One-Shot. I need to get around to doing a series retrospective, but this short story I have not seen anyone talk about and I love it so much. Please read Waypoint. Okay next.

Other characters

Cheb - Janeway’s boyfriend in Mosaic. He was kind of an asshole and got her into trouble. He is not in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway and I see no problem with this.

Boothby - “[he is the] head groundskeeper at Starfleet Academy. When I was a cadet, he used to give me fresh roses for my quarters,” Janeway Revulsion. Boothby is not in Mosaic. In the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway, it is explained that her mother loved to garden and this was something that Boothby did as a gradian figure to make her feel at home and destress. Makes sense.

Aisha - A childhood friend of Katheryn’s. Only in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Mosaic has this weird thing about highlighting the relationships with only the men in her life, so it is nice to see her have some other female friends.

Nexa - Katheryn’s roommate at the Academy.  Only in the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. Nexa helps broaden Kathryn’s horizons by helping to learn about Exoliguisticts, first contact, and the Betazoid culture. Again nice to see her have other female friends.

Riker - Yes they go on a date in Mosaic. He is not mentioned in the  Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway. I know he is a gag character but I still liked it.

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Final Thoughts

A lot of characters were changed between these two novels. There is a lot to like and a lot to hate. I really like what the Autobiography of Kathryn Janeway did with characters like Tuvok and Gretchen Janeway. Other characters were not so lucky (Justin, sweetie I’m so sorry that they would erase you like that, oh my god). It’s a mixed bag, but one thing I need say is... why?

We have had a good thing going here with the established canon as is. Mosaic (and Pathways) is the foundation of which the last 25 years of fanworks and the relaunch novels are based on. Why change history when it is already written?

Always, would love to hear your thoughts and thank you for reading my novel of a post. I will see you in the full review.