#What We Leave Behind
Text
WIP Wednesday
I’m sorry for being so far behind on all the tag games, I appreciate every single tag! I’m just so tired! this is only the second week in my new job and my brain is still feeling like a fried egg.
But I’d like to share a rough snippet from my latest Starfield wip, ‘What We Leave Behind.’
“Approaching vessel, this is Freestar space. Please hold your current speed and course while we scan you for contraband.”
Sarah’s eyes refocused, and she took a moment to adjust to her new surroundings in orbit above Akila before scrambling to take back hold of the controls. She steadied the ship and dialed the engines back.
Phew, Freestar Security could still be a little jumpy following the war. Rarely would they wait long before assuming you were hostile. But could they have at least done her the courtesy of waiting for the grav drive to spin down first, and her head along with it?
She tutted to herself, aware that the Constellation registry didn’t do her any favours in Freestar space; they were treated as though they were UC Military. Still, the approval to land at Akila City took longer than expected.
“You’re good to go. Have a nice time in Akila City,” said a decidedly cheerier but forced voice over the comms.
“Thank you,” Sarah sent back through gritted teeth. What was it that Aja used to say? Kill them with kindness? Rise above! Aja, I’m trying.
The Frontier may sound like it’s falling apart just before the grav jump, but it was still a reliable ship, and it felt good to let the old girl stretch her legs. And with an experienced hand at the controls, even in Akila’s gravity, she landed light as a feather at the makeshift spaceport.
It had been a while since Sarah had visited Akila City, and she remembered why the moment the cargo bay doors opened. She disliked the state of the place intensely and wrinkled her nose in disgust.
Whyever did Solomon Coe choose Akila, anyway? Sarah mused. The oppressive gravity that made her feel like she had lead in her boots couldn’t have been ideal for a farming community that involves, you know, lots of manual labour?
The Freestar Collective consider themselves a hardy bunch, but this took the biscuit. Not to mention the local wildlife. It’s hardly an ideal planet to settle and raise a family.
At least New Atlantis was built to complement Jemison’s environment, Sarah thought to herself. Unlike the ugly wall of Akila City, surrounding what amounted to little more than a shanty town. She had always understood why Sam had dreamed of escaping this place.
“Hello Commander, can I be of assistance?” Vasco greeted her at the end of the ramp.
Sarah paused, scanning the area with her naked eyes, catching movement, a gang of local kids, perhaps? Or thieves waiting for an opportunity to steal from a ship? “No, Vasco. Protocol Blue. Wait here, guard the ship.”
“Protocol Blue, very well.” 💙
#starfield#starfield fanfiction#wip wednesday#sarah morgan#the coemancer crew#cosmic writes#a starborn coemancer fic#this will be a one shot#starborn#oc calitrix#what we leave behind
20 notes
·
View notes
Text
Unmasked
Author’s Notes: The following story takes place in my Nas Legacy as part of my Monsters and Masks series. Content warnings for original character death, some blood/gore and bigotry towards non-humans. Lots of angst, here, folks.
Nas'haes'uhme – Shaesu to those few in the Empire who deigned to address her by her own name – collapsed upon the rocky ground of Korriban, her vibro-blade falling out of her hand.
She knew it was over for her.
The stab wound to her torso was already bleeding out, and her attackers were unlikely to give her any respite. Her strength was fading rapidly with her limbs barely responding to her commands. She certainly couldn’t muster the strength to stand, much less defend herself.
Haes – her proper given name as a Chiss – had come to this accursed world in the hopes of earning a place amongst the Sith. She ’d been aware that the odds had been against her; she was starting out several years older than the average Sith Acolyte at the academy and besides that she faced considerable discrimination from her ‘fellow pupils’, virtually all of whom were human or Pureblooded Sith. It had immediately made her a target. Even the former Jedi who had been broken and turned to the dark side held an advantage over her in experience if not philosophy.
Of course, had matters gone otherwise, Haes would never have chosen to come to Korriban for Sith training at all.
Two years ago, after the death of her husband (killed by fighting in someone else’s war, she didn’t need to remind herself), Haes had been exiled from the Chiss Ascendancy when her Force sensitivity had been revealed to the authorities. With few connections outside of her own people, the Sith Empire was the only viable place she could go. And as a Force-sensitive, Sith training was the only real path open to her.
Above her stood her attackers, glaring down at their victim. Hanik, a human, and Mathiren, a Sith Pureblood. The two acolytes had ambushed her as she’d stepped outside of the tomb, the ancient tablet she’d recovered laying shattered where she’d dropped it.
It shouldn’t have surprised her that these two would have chanced such a cowardly move out here, so far from the relative safety of the Sith Academy. With their modest individual abilities, they’d have known they couldn’t have taken her on their own in a straight-up fight, certainly not without alerting the Overseers.
They had provoked and even bullied her many times these last few months, and for reasons that were understandable to the Sith mindset. After all, she was alone. A minority of one, without natural friends or allies. She could count on one hand the number of Acolytes on Korriban who were not either human or pureblooded.
And if she was not the first Chiss to ever step down upon this cursed rock, she would have been astonished.
As she felt her breath start to go shallow, her thoughts naturally turned to her children. They’d been the only reason why she had pushed herself even this far.
She wondered what the Empire, and indeed the galaxy itself, would do to them without her being alive to protect them.
She had been heart-broken when she’d left them with the Nedecca family on Dromund Kaas while she’d headed off to Korriban.She was not entirely fond of the couple, who had served in the Imperial Military alongside her husband before he’d been killed in the fighting against the Republic. But they were the closest thing she had to friends in the Empire. They were also not unambitious; if Haes had succeeded in her goal of becoming a Sith and eventually a Sith Lord, they knew they’d be well-rewarded for their aid. For them, fostering a pair of ‘alien children’ had been worth the bother.
But now, in light of her failure to survive and advance, she didn’t think they would do much to protect them, even if they could. They were a practical couple. Besides, they had their own daughter to consider, a few years older than her own children, just last season entering the Imperial Academy on Ziost.
They would not risk either their own lives or their daughter’s future by defying the Sith for a pair of non-human children who were not their own.
She was worried for Nas’ash’dia, of course. It had been months since she’d seen the last holo of Ash. At twelve years old, Haes was leaving her lovely daughter behind at the precipice of womanhood. But she also knew her clever daughter was a survivor; if any non-human child could survive being orphaned in the Sith Empire, then Nas’ash’dia could.
But loath though she was to play favorites, she felt greater concern for Nas'laeso'ucu.
Where his sister was highly intelligent and resourceful, her son Laeso was brilliant. Even as a small child back on Copero, his curiosity and intellect were far beyond Haes’ ability to comprehend, as he would devour book after book. Even then, she and her husband had privately spoken about the limitless future their son had before him. No endeavor would be outside his potential. Now at eight years old, his intellect intimidated the Nedeccas, who observed this young Chiss boy easily pass every test their teaching droid could put to him.
But his intelligence was not what worried Haes. No. She’d gone to great lengths to conceal that Laeso was Force-sensitive.
If his abilities were discovered with her death, he’d follow his mother’s path to Korriban soon enough, likely with the same destiny.
If his abilities were not discovered, his fate might be even grimmer. The Sith of Korriban were usually at least quick. She couldn’t imagine how long a frail child such as Laeso would survive mining ore on some distant slave mine facility.
Haes felt a tear trail down her cheek.
“Hey, she’s still breathing.” Hanik jeered, the insult snapping her consciousness back to reality. “Think this alien schutta is asking for more?”
The anger flared within Haes’ chest, refocusing her thoughts. The building rage was not for herself, but for her children. Her magnificent children who she would never see again and who would almost certainly suffer greatly in her absence. As her teeth gritted in fury, her finger reached out.
Behind Hannik, Haes’ vibroblade lifted off the ground…
The Sith Acolyte screamed out as the weapon impaled him through the back, jutting out of his chest. Blood sprayed out over the rocks, much of it raining down on her.
She smiled at the sensation, the hot, fresh blood of her slain enemy warming her even as the last of her strength and rage was exhausted. Her blade clattered to the ground.
Alarmed at his companion’s sudden demise, Mathiren frantically raised his blade to finish her off.
Haes could only reflect on her legacy.
She’d worn a mask for years to protect her children, desperately attempting to become something she wasn’t.
In these final moments of her life, she was, in fact, a Sith.
As the blade swung down and her life came to an end, Haes could only hope her children would learn to survive by wearing their own masks, without becoming monsters.
Fifteen years later…
The assembled members of the Dark Council of the Sith Empire – ostensibly the twelve most powerful Sith in the galaxy – stood in their council chamber on the top floor of the Sith Academy of Korriban.
Perilous as the existence of any Sith could be, the death of one who sat upon the Dark Council was still considered a remarkable event, even when it was the second such death they had witnessed in less than an hour.
By necessity, this Council meeting had already been well short of a full dozen in physical attendance.
Three of their number – Darth Decimus, Darth Acharon and Darth Hadra – the heads of the Spheres of Military Strategy, Biotic Science and Technology, respectively – were appearing by holoprojection as they’d been committed to overseeing the Empire’s flagging efforts on Corellia.
Three more Councilors – Darth Rictus, the oldest serving member of the Council who commanded the Sphere of Mysteries, Darth Zhorrid, the youngest Councilor who nominally presided over the Sphere of Imperial Intelligence and Darth Aruk who led the Sphere of Sith Philosophy – were entirely absent. Rictus was occupied investigating rumors into the whereabouts of the rogue Sith Lord Darth Jadus, himself a former Councilor and the father of Darth Zhorrid. Zhorrid’s own absence was no great surprise, given the Council’s recent dissolution of the Empire’s once-feared Imperial Intelligence service. No doubt, the young Sith was desperately trying to cling to her crumbling power base. Meanwhile, Aruk was absent while dealing with some dissident conspiracy on the capital world of Dromund Kaas.
A seventh Dark Lord – Darth Baras, who had taken control of the Sphere of Military Offense after Darth Vengean’s fall – had been killed in this very chamber earlier in this session by his former Apprentice in a private duel. That Apprentice had in turn successfully claimed the title of the Emperor’s Wrath before departing.
Finally, an eighth – Darth Thanaton, who had represented the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge for less than a year – now lay freshly dead on the floor.
That left a mere four Dark Lords of the Sith physically present to mark Thanaton’s passing, and to stand witness for what was now to come.
It may have been Darth Mortis who had delivered the death blow to Thanaton in a mercy-killing to preserve the dignity of the Council, but no one could deny the potency of the strange, masked Sith who had just bested their former colleague in a Force duel with a brilliant display. His build was slight and his lineage was unclear; there had supposedly been a ‘Lord Kallig’ many centuries ago in the days of Tulak Hord, but that was ancient history, and the name representing little more than a footnote in the modern Sith Empire.
Nevertheless, despite his unassuming posture and his much-maligned origins, the upstart projected an air of power about them, and not simply because they had just witnessed him crushing one of their number. Thanaton’s time on the Council may have been relatively brief and more than a few found him tedious, but none would have questioned his personal power when he’d succeeded Darth Arctis some months ago.
Off to the side stood the newcomer’s two seconds; a Dashade shadow-assassin and a Kaleeshi Sith Apprentice. Strictly speaking, protocol demanded that the peculiar duo should have remained outside the council chambers, along with their master. None had been properly invited into the chamber. But as it was apparent that Thanaton’s followers guarding the door had failed in that simple task of security (as they had been repeatedly outmaneuvered over the last several weeks during the Kaggath between the two Sith), no one on the Council had bothered to force their eviction. As they had not actively interfered in the fight with Thanaton, to the assembled Dark Lords, they were irrelevant.
The masked Sith Lord paused at that, regarding Mortis, then turning towards the seat in consideration. Finally, he turned back to address all the assembled members of the Council.
“My lords, I’m… I’m truly honored.” He finally spoke; his voice was clear through the filter of the mask, though it was rather lighter than one might have expected from a young Sith Lord who had dared so much.
“I was not expecting this at all.”
The words were humble.
None of the Sith present believed they were sincere, but such was to be expected.
Such considerations were, once again, irrelevant. The strong had overcome the weak. The corrupt had been cleansed.
The ways of the Sith had been preserved, as Thanaton had insisted.
“You just killed a Dark Council member in fair combat.” Darth Marr, the head of the Sphere of Military Defense, pointed out, his iconic masked face looking up from Thanaton’s fallen form.
“What did you expect?”
The deliberations were not without protest.
“He’s only a lord!” Darth Ravage, who ruled the Sphere of Expansion and Diplomacy, was incredulous. “You can’t put a lord on the Dark Council!”
“Quiet, Ravage!” Marr snapped at his junior Councilor. “He’s earned his place.”
The young Sith Lord who had been the subject of the argument tilted his head at the exchange, as if carefully considering something. Finally, his hands reached up behind his head as he unclasped the skull-mask he was wearing, letting it fall away.
A collective gasp could be heard from several members of the Council, including those observing by holo. Ravage visibly gaped while Darth Vowrawn, the head of the Empire’s Sphere of Production and Logistics, chuckled to himself at the revelation. Only Marr and Mortis maintained something approaching a professional decorum, standing in a stoic silence.
The face before them was young; this was no surprise. Everyone knew that Thanaton’s opponent in the Kaggath was an upstart. The face was likewise heavily scarred; the defects crisscrossed him from old injuries. That was also not a surprise; Thanaton himself had protested that this interloper had once been a slave before becoming Zash’s apprentice, and more than a few slaves in the Empire bore such scars.
No. What had startled many of the Councilors was the fact that the face looking back at them was blue with glowing red eyes that regarded each of them with a cool intellect that might have unsettled the Emperor himself.
Incredibly, this newest addition to the Dark Council was a Chiss.
“Are we really going to allow this… this alien filth to sit on the Dark Council?”
If Ravage had been incredulous before, he was now fast becoming apoplectic, looking around the room to his assembled fellows.
“Without even consulting with the Emperor whom we are sworn to serve?” he spat.
“Enough, Ravage.” Darth Marr waved a dismissive hand.
Ravage’s ploy had been obvious. The Emperor, it was well known, rarely took an active role in day-to-day Council matters, even to name a replacement. It could be months – if not longer – before he made his will known.
For a Sith like Darth Marr, who had lived long enough to observe Thanaton’s rise from slave to apprentice of a disgraced master to Sith Lord to Dark Lord of the Sith, such a gap in the Empire’s leadership structure would be unacceptable.
He turned and acknowledged the latest addition to the Dark Council.
”As I have said, he has earned to right to that seat.”
Minutes later, the newly appointed Dark Councilor of the Sphere of Ancient Knowledge made his exit from the chambers, Khem Val and Xalek in tow. The Kalesshi held the discarded Kallig mask in his hands, carrying it reverently.
He had worn many names while walking along the path that had led him to this point.
He was departing from this planet – a planet that had forged him in so many ways – as Darth Imperious of the Empire’s Dark Council. In and of itself, this name meant nothing to him, aside from the authority that had come with it. He accepted that it now referred to him by anyone within the Sith Empire.
Prior to this, he had been commonly known as Lord Kallig. This name had been inadvertently stolen; the consequence of a delusional ancient Force ghost misidentifying him at the Dark Temple on Dromund Kaas. Nevertheless, he accepted that the name had granted him a degree of credibility within the Empire. Regardless, as was now the case with his Dark Councilor title, that name personally meant nothing to him.
For most of his life, he had been called ‘Ozibaumnu’. That name’s origins had been meaningless from the first moment he’d uttered it; a series of barely coherent syllables muttered on the day he’d been sold into slavery as a child. It had nevertheless come to symbolize a breaking with his past, from before he had worn a slave collar. For that small circle of people he now called friends – Ashara, Andronikos and Talos – from them, he would continue to accept that name. From anyone else, it would now be as meaningless in effect as well as in fact.
But none of those names had ever really been his.
His name was Nas'laeso'ucu. Son of Nas'haes'uhme. Brother to Nas’ash’dia.
And regardless of whether he ever used that name aloud, he would never wear a mask again.
END
Author’s Notes: Just in case it wasn’t obvious, several lines of dialogue in this piece were pulled directly from the end of the Sith Inquisitor story on Korriban.
Ozibaumnu’s name originally had a different, more Chiss-appropriate origin. Unfortunately, I lost the notes on that, and when I reread the Chiss naming conventions article, I realized that it didn’t make sense. This is my best effort to reconcile all of those continuity issues. On a related note, ‘Shaesu’ is pronounced ‘Shay-sue’, while ‘Laeso’ is pronounced ‘Lay-sue’ and Nas’ash’dia is pronounced ‘Nazz-osh-dee-ah’, even though her personal name is usually pronounced ‘Ash’. (Yeah, I know Chiss names are weird.)
This story was originally two separate chapters, with Shaesu’s titled What We Leave Behind. The combination of the two seemed to work. (I do love before-and-after stories.)
As stated elsewhere, I’m ignoring Chiss aging rules. As far as I’m concerned, they are approximately the same standard as humans.
Now for the elephant in the room I inserted near the end – yup. Ozibaumnu is NOT the actual descendant of Lord Kallig. I may address this in future stories, but it’s been an idea I’ve been turning over in my head for a long time.
The referenced daughter of the Nedecca family later becomes a Major in the Imperial Army and an NPC in the game. She shows up on Corellia in the Imperial Agent storyline, serving as an aid to Lord Razer. As you might imagine, her reunion with Nas’ash’dia was rather awkward.
I always thought it was hilarious that Darth Ravage was heading the Empire’s “Sphere of Expansion and Diplomacy”, considering he’s one of the least diplomatic Sith in the entire game. On that note, tracking the Dark Council members and their assignment Spheres is a pet-project of mine.
The reasons for the Ascendancy to join forces with an Empire (that usually doesn’t see Chiss as people much less equals) are convoluted and I hope to explore those in the future. But it seemed to make sense that the children of an exile and failed Sith acolyte would be pressed into slavery, rather than being sent back to their people.
I’ve written about Nas’ash’dia elsewhere. It is strange to me that she predated Ozi – and is in fact the Outlander in my Nas Legacy – and yet I’m more comfortable writing about her brilliant but traumatized brother. More about Ash in the future, I hope.
People continuing to fight after being shot or stabbed in the chest is a pet peeve of mine. In real life, that (almost) never happens. The strength just drains right out of you. I try to adhere to reality here with Shaesu.
Thank you for reading, and may the Force be with you.
@abbee-normal @abysskeeper @cryo-lily @eorzeashan @grandninjamasterren @iacyper9 @kartaylirsden @kemendin @magicallulu7 @moxtoons-main @mysterious-cuchulainn-x @taraum @thefrostflower @swtorhub
#swtor fanfiction#swtor#unmasked#swtorpadawan writes#swtor fanfic#my writing#writeblr#oc: ozibaumnu#oc: nas'haes'uhme#oc: nas’ash’dia#oc: nasashdia#the nas legacy#nas legacy#darth imperious#darth marr#darth vowrawn#what we leave behind#dark council#the dark council#darth ravage#darth mortis#korriban#darth decimus#darth acharon#darth hadra
39 notes
·
View notes
Photo
kira and garak being besties is the best thing
ep: 7x25 What We Leave Behind
161 notes
·
View notes
Text
Character Spotlight: Benjamin Sisko
By Ames
We’ve segued so smoothly into Deep Space Nine for our character spotlights here on A Star to Steer Her By that you didn’t even notice it. Thank you, Worf. So this week we’re doing an in-depth look at one of the more complex lead characters of a Trek series, Benjamin Lafayette Sisko. He might be the leader who gets tested the most out of any of our main stars, and he makes probably the most wide-ranging decisions – though typically that decision is “let’s see how this goes.”
From first contacts with the Gamma Quadrant, to yet another standoff with Klingons, to full blown Dominion War, to whatever was going on with the wormhole aliens, Ben’s got a long list of moments for us to consider. So grab yourself a bowl of jambalaya, hop in your solar sail ship, and maybe get a little war crimes as a treat! Scroll on below for our Sisko spotlight and listen to a ton of spare moments on this week’s podcast (jump through the wormhole to 1:04:00). Ow!
[Images © CBS/Paramount]
Best moments
There’s no hurry
Our first contact with beings from the Gamma Quadrant is also DS9’s first breaking of the Prime Directive. In “Captive Pursuit,” Miles is trying desperately to save Tosk from his hunters and Sisko is doing his best to technically stay within the rules, and it’s a rare success of doing both. Telling Odo to take his time in apprehending O’Brien shows that Sisko is coming from a place of real morality.
Find something you love, then do it the best you can
We could name great moments between Ben and his son all day, but there’s more to our list than that, so let’s sum things up with a perfectly pure moment of excellent parenting from “Shadowplay.” Sisko is immediately accepting of Jake not wanting to follow in his footsteps and join Starfleet, and melts our hearts. Doing something he loves and being true to himself is far more important than legacy.
Cardassians love cosmetic surgery
Appropriately, we watched Enterprise’s “Judgment” on the podcast this week and spent most it comparing it to The Undiscovered Country and “Tribunal.” When O’Brien is on trial in Cardassian kangaroo court and his lawyer is doing nothing to defend him, Sisko walks in with an undercover Cardassian spy in tow and wins the whole thing without saying a word. Like a badass.
Humans used to be a lot worse than the Ferengi
We brought this up last week in our Worf chat too, but there’s a general racism towards the Ferengi all through Deep Space Nine. Quark calls Sisko out for it in “The Jem’Hadar” when Sisko and he are butting heads, and by the end of the episode, Sisko has seen Quark in a new light and refuses to leave him behind because Sisko got over some his prejudice (at least a little bit).
I’ll see that you get that chance
Speaking of that prejudice against our lobed friends, everyone and their moogie is dubious when Nog claims he wants to join Starfleet in “Heart of Stone,” which would be a first for a Ferengi. But when Nog tells Sisko that he’s serious and looking for a life that will earn him real respect, the commander takes him at his word and vouches for him, putting in motion one of the best character arcs in Trek.
Some taboos are made to be broken
Throughout the series, the relationships between characters are probably the strongest in Trek, and a true highlight is watching Sisko with his old/new friend Jadzia Dax. It’s such a beautiful scene in the equally beautiful “Rejoined” when Ben tells her that he’d still support her if she decides to break Trill taboo and hook back up with Lenara Khan. He’s that good a friend.
Don’t you see, Admiral? You’re fighting the wrong war.
Around season 4, the show really tests Sisko with some ethical conundrums during the Dominion War. This is one he passes with flying colors. In “Paradise Lost,” Sisko is able to see his old mentor and silver medal winner from Jake’s Evil Admirals list, James Leyton, for what he really is: a megalomaniac who uses the Changeling threat as an excuse to incite a coup. Until Ben steps in!
Presenting the newest honoree in the Order of the Bat’leth
It takes a certain level of crazy to think you can infiltrate the best warriors the Klingons have to offer, and luck for us, Captain Sisko is just that level of crazy. Avery Brooks seems oddly at home portraying a blood-thirsty Klingon being inducted into the Order of the Bat’leth in “Apocalypse Rising,” and even better, he and Odo (mostly Odo) expose Changeling Martok!
Don’t let Bajor in the Federation!
We say it all the time on the podcast and today is no different: Bajor is NOT ready for Federation membership, no matter what Picard says. So when Sisko goes fully nuts after getting zapped by a plinth in “Rapture” and crashes the Federation membership ruling, we are fully supportive of his absolute batshit meddling. And ya know what, it works out for Bajor because of it!
Sisko, you’re baby crazy
Any time Sisko is with a baby is truly joyful. This from a podcast of self-professed non-baby people. But this man’s mirth is so pure we’ve got to give it to him. Avery Brooks isn’t even acting in “Children of Time” when he dandles that baby, or in “The Abandoned” when he’s nostalgic about Jake as a baby, or in “Heart of Stone” when he’s delighted that Vilixpran is budding. This man just loves babies.
Let’s pretend that the Major’s not even here…
By season 6, Gul Dukat is at his lowest point – he’s lost the station, his daughter is dead, and he’s more nuts than Ben in “Rapture”! And Captain Sisko plays him like a fiddle! “Waltz” is such an amazing showcase of acting talent, with Avery Brooks and Marc Alaimo bouncing off each other like pros. Sisko pushes his Cardassian counterpart over the edge and survives the cave of madness, some-freaking-how!
The Emissary has completed his task
Sisko’s final action in this corporeal plane is also the climax of the whole series, culminating the wormhole alien plot that was started at the very beginning. And while we may whine that the Kosst Amojen plotline in “What We Leave Behind” felt rushed at the end, we have to admit that it’s cathartic to have the Emissary make a huge sacrifice to take out the pah-wraiths in the series finale.
—
Worst moments
This is how you hold a grudge
Interestingly, the first taste we get of the jambalaya-slinging commander is him being bitter and fickle in the series premiere, “Emissary.” The show immediately introduces him being a dick to Picard, stewing with rage over Locutus’s part in the Battle at Wolf 359 (as if Picard had any control of that!). He also clearly doesn’t want to be in command of the station, starting him off with character conflict that the series will build on.
If I hear of you hanging around with him…
Continuing our running gag that the only alien species the show seems to think it’s okay to be racist against is the Ferengi we brought up last week with Worf, we see more instances of it from Sisko early in season one in “A Man Alone.” When Ben basically tells Jake to not hang around with Nog anymore, it’s flavored with that anti-Ferengi racism we’re sadly accustomed to.
When in the Mirror Universe, do as the Mirror Universe people do
We have a lot of issues with how DS9 trots out the mirror universe all the time, and it’s at its most uncomfortable when Sisko goes over there and sleeps with his friends’ counterparts in “Through the Looking Glass.” Sure, there’s not much you can do when Intendant Kira sets her sights on you, but it’s simply wrong to take advantage of Mirror Jadzia, regardless of how hot she is.
Abusing your power is so romantic
Sisko is so blinded by love in “For the Cause” that he ignores all the signs that his girlfriend Kasidy has been aiding the Maquis. And then Ben abuses his power as commander of the station to get her out of an inspection when she bats her eyes at him, which is straight-up unethical. As we’ll see, Sisko tends to make terrible decisions when the Maquis are involved…
Red – the blood of angry men
Arguably the most immoral acts that Sisko commits are the war crimes in “For the Uniform.” Even after Starfleet tries to take him off the Maquis assignment, Sisko’s obsession with taking out Eddington has gotten so personal that it clouds ALL his judgment. If we gave Picard grief about removing the residents of Dorvan V, then we’ve got to rake Sisko over the coals for POISONING A PLANET and relocating more people!
Prophets, take the wheel!
Half our Worst Moments come from the last two seasons when Sisko is tested more than any other Trek captain due to the Dominion War. And so often, he chooses the messed up response. I am still trying to figure out his Hail Mary play in “Sacrifice of Angels” when he flies headlong into the wormhole against thousands of ships and ends up asking the wormhole aliens to do a literal deus ex machina for him. Leeeeroy! Jennnnkins!
What’s a better response to a “Yo Mama” joke than this?
I shat on this one in our time travel post, but Sisko using his status as Emissary to let Kira play with the Orb of Time in “Wrongs Darker than Death or Night” because Dukat banged her mom and then gabbed to her about it is absolutely incompetent of him! Why anyone has access to that thing is incomprehensible because it just begs for time shenanigans!
I can live with it… because Vreenak can’t
Arguably one of Deep Space Nine’s best episodes, “In the Pale Moonlight” forces Sisko to make the hardest decision a Starfleet officer has to make – and he jumps at the chance to pick the option involving committing more war crimes. While it is a huge benefit to get the Romulans on your side, Sisko knowingly accomplishes this through lies, counterfeiting, bribery, murder, and most damning of all: enlisting the help of Elim Garak!
Sisko SMASH!
Here’s another instance when Ben abuses his power, this time in order to get access to an ancient artifact from Bajor in “The Reckoning.” And what does the Emissary do once he’s borrowed the tablet without asking permission, promising to take good care of it and that he’ll return it first thing in the morning? He destroys it utterly in a fit of rage, releasing some spirits that nearly gets Jake and Kira killed.
Pick a lane, Ben
I will always give Sisko guff about this. In “Accession,” he has accepted his role as Emissary to the prophets while he’s already serving as commander of Deep Space Nine, and frankly, Ben, you can’t be both! It’s a HUGE conflict of interest. In “Tears of the Prophets,” Admiral Ross gives him some hell for this when he’s torn between the Prophets and Starfleet, and he’s right! Step down!
You’re outta here!
“Take Me Out to the Holosuite" is a polarizing episode that fans either love or hate (even your SSHB hosts are mixed!), but you’ve got to admit: Sisko is a terrible baseball coach! He forces all of this senior staff to play a baseball game in the middle of wartime, cancels his girlfriend’s shipments to make her to play too, kicks Rom off the team, gets obsessively competitive about it, and then gets himself thrown out anyway! How many strikes was that?
They warned you that marrying me would bring you sorrow
Finally, we are still cross with Sisko for knocking up Kasidy. In “The Dogs of War,” Kasidy tells him she’s pregnant because he forgot to take his contraception, even though Bashir is constantly reminding him! This is a world in which having children should always be a choice because future contraceptives are basically magic, AND he’s been told that he’s basically cursed, so take your damn meds, jackwit.
—
Well, we can live with it. We can live with it. We’ve also got more DS9 character spotlights on the way if you keep watching this blog, more Enterprise watch-throughs on the way if you keep listening to us on SoundCloud or wherever you podcast, and more announcements from Ops over on Facebook and Twitter. Computer, erase that entire personal log.
#star trek#star trek podcast#podcast#deep space nine#benjamin sisko#captive pursuit#shadowplay#tribunal#the jem'hadar#heart of stone#rejoined#paradise lost#apocalypse rising#rapture#children of time#waltz#what we leave behind#emissary#a man alone#through the looking glass#for the cause#for the uniform#sacrifice of angels#wrongs darker than death or night#in the pale moonlight#the reckoning#tears of the prophets#take me out to the holosuite#the dogs of war#avery brooks
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
found out the plot of the fake ds9 season 8 episode 1 and I'm fuming.
#it's giving shock value#aside from the killing nog the thing that's set me off is that JULIAN is the one that does it#how can you as a writer misunderstand your own character so much#he wouldn't fucking do that#I'm too tired to talk about it in depth but Oh My GOD#section 31 is like the least interesting part of his character as well#ds9#ds9 season 8#julian bashir#what we leave behind
12 notes
·
View notes
Text
Minsk
#star trek#ds9#worf saying minsk is on a loop in my brain#i was cry laughing as he said it#worf#what we leave behind
9 notes
·
View notes
Text
Finally, after about 4 years, I finished Deep Space 9 last night. It was one of the first things that my boyfriend showed me when we first got together, and now FINALLY we've hit that bittersweet ending.
Great show. Lot of emotions.
11 notes
·
View notes
Note
I don't know if you thought that far about this but I have so many questions about What we leave behind
Was Ethan still with Ciarra when he ran into Kaycee?
When he realized what she wanted to tell him, did it change anything for him?
Does he wishes she would have told him?
Does he ever try to contact her again?
Ok fine there isn't that many questions 🙄😂 but those 4 are really important
LMAO, I just told a friend that I don't think the T/C fic I wrote that same day is a one-off anymore; there is more story to be told.
Is that true here, too? lol
Here's what I think without giving it a whole lot of thought at this point:
Yes, he was still with Ciarra. But were there happy?
It confused him. He also longed for Kaycee for a year after the reset, but she honored his request and kept things professional, so he assumed she moved on. He did fall in love with Ciarra, but would he have if he knew Kaycee still loved him? It was all unsettling to him.
Yes, he does.
I really don't know. To the public eye, Tomas & Kaycee appear to be the perfect couple. And they are happy. He doesn't know she still thinks about the one that got away. Maybe it's the same with Ethan & Ciarra. It's a lot to give thought to.
5 notes
·
View notes
Text
How Do You Want to be Remembered?
What’s on my mind? Why thank you for asking oh curious and nosy social media…I have been pondering something over here.. (Pondering- thinking, contemplating, considering) When you post something online, whether it is here or on any of the thousands of other social sites, do you consider who may be reading it and what impression people will get of you from that post?
The original of this was…
View On WordPress
0 notes
Text
DP x DC Prompt #27
When Dick's parent's fell, his first thought was, "This can't be happening." His second thought was, "What's going to happen to me and my brother now?"
The answer? His brother was older than him, much older. Old enough that he could stay with the circus. But Dick? Dick couldn't stay with Danny. He was too young.
So Bruce Wayne took him in, offered to take Danny in too. Dick begged his brother to join him, but Danny didn't. He smiled at Dick, ruffled his hair, and told him he'd be waiting at the circus for when Dick returned. Promised to send postcards and letters.
Then he was gone. And Dick never returned to the circus.
#finemeal prompt#dp x dc#danny fenton#dick grayson#danny and dick are bio bros#bruce wayne adopts dick#but danny's just old enough to be independent#but not quite financially stable enough to support dick#i also think this is dick's view on what happened#and danny was torn up inside about leaving his brother behind#but was doing his best to make an awful situation tolerable#also?#they're both grieving something fierce#i think it's okay danny doesn't take dick in#but who knows how that affects their relationship#wonder twins#at least that's what my friend calls them#i guess they'd be wonder siblings huh?#wonder siblings#there we go
1K notes
·
View notes
Text
Alright let's imagine a scene that is all too normal in palestine. A palestinian business owner finds his building covered in graffiti stars of Davids and Hebrew that says "gas the arabs" and "death to arabs"
Now imagine there's a reporter there and asks the palestinian business owner what happens and they say "the jews attacked my business"
Pause. Now your response might be "uncle no. Say israelis not jews" and then this is when he would look at you like youre stupid because the israelis doing this are jewish. They are not the Christians or the druze or the palestinian ones with Israeli citizenship. They are Jewish israelis who believe in their religious supremacy. When you graffiti stars of david all over a palestinian business, car, or the street you seek that conflation. it sends a message, this is jewish land and you're next.
The problem is that these videos circulate in zionist circles. "Watch this video of children in gaza calling for the death of jews" "watch how they say they want to fight and kill jews" those children are referring to Israeli soldiers that come in night and do their raids with the star of David attached to their uniform or the ones that bomb them. It's easy to watch those videos and assume that palestinians are indoctrinating their children on anti semitism or you can realize that those children's only interaction with jewish ppl is through violence and parents cannot protect their children from this. Doesn't matter context is lost
Abby Martin went to Jerusalem and interviewed israelis for 2 hours and she says every israeli was extremely confident to say that this land is for them and that they should push the Arabs out and when she interviewed palestinians they spoke of freedom from occupation and their dreams. That's reality. Not the soundbites.
And yet we have invasive youtubers and interviewers constantly in the street of ramallah or wherever in palestine asking palestinians "do you hate jews?" And in those videos you hear those palestinians say "no we have no problem with jews we have a problem with occupation and we have a problem with zionism." Bc this is how we are trained to respond to this trope. Palestinians are very aware what the world thinks of us and the reality is that many palestinians have internalized it and we grow up reading books on the Holocaust and train ourselves to recognize anti semitic dog whistles so zionists don't get the soundbites they want.
So we say "anti zionism is not anti semitism" and we say "israeli zionists" and we do not say "jewish supremacy" even thought it exists in palestine but "zionist supremacy" and in these carefully worded speech we water down what is happening to us in an effort to not deter people away from solidarity. But it means nothing. The world categorically blames palestinians for rising anti semitism they blame us for jewish insecurity globally.
2K notes
·
View notes
Text
My November 12 hour #DirectedbyWomen #FilmFeast is underway.
I'm starting with What We Leave Behind | Lo que dejamos atrás (2022) directed by Iliana Sosa. It's available to stream on Netflix. The documentary is distributed by Array.
What We Leave Behind has been nominated for Best Documentary Feature in this year's Gotham Awards.
NY Times Critics Pick:
"Compositionally calm but never static, the documentary trusts in motes of beauty: a dog lapping water out of a mop bucket; Jorge’s green bristled broom poised above a courtyard floor as he listens; a once-sturdy man lying in bed, his family surrounding him. “What We Leave Behind” insists upon power in stillness, and the poignancy in staying — and leaving." Lisa Kennedy
0 notes
Photo
What We Leave Behind (2022)
0 notes
Text
but the Devil sees all and She thinks you're a beauty
this girl and this devil scene live in my brain live in my brain live in my brain
#I had no idea how perfectly two of my favorite tropes could be combined#subversion of what is good and evil and light as a corrupting force#ITS JUST SO#CHEFS KISS#we know the devil#wktd#wktd venus#venus wktd#I got her scene on my first run and it could not have been more perfect#I knew there were different endings and that one had something to do with jupiter and neptune being together#and I was going for that one#cause you know#I was playing with a friend and at some point I was like “AWH BUT I FEEL BAD LEAVING VENUS BEHIND”#LITTLE DID I KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
808 notes
·
View notes
Text
ripple effect legacy // my tears are becoming a sea, M83
#weaving parallels but god at what cost#something something luffy inheriting the will of a burnt out sun#something something the things we leave behind (broken promises. pain. little brothers. cool fire punch moves)#see the significance of ace is that he spends his whole life asking 'should i even have been born' and then through the positive#impact he has on everyone around him he creates a continuing cycle of change where people reach out a hand to help others#he said 'im not sure i deserve to live' and then became the most remembered and loved and sorely missed dude in one piece#like it's almost comedic how luffy keeps finding his big brother in the stories and best qualities of all the people he comes across vs.#people who knew ace and keep seeing pieces of him in luffy#anyway happy new year portgas d. ace trauma be upon ye~#one piece#op#portugas d ace#portgas d ace#asl brothers#yamato#wano spoilers#one piece spoilers#CJ's edits#amv#monkey d luffy#straw hat luffy#monkey d. luffy#portgas d. ace#CJ's op watch-through
871 notes
·
View notes
Quote
It is time for us to fight, and we do so not because we seek the glory of men, but because the other options are worse. We follow the Codes not because they bring gain, but because we loathe the people we would otherwise become. We stand here on this battlefield alone because of who we are.
Death is the end of all men! What is the measure of him once he is gone? The wealth he accumulated and left for his heirs to squabble over? The glory he obtained, only to be passed on to those who slew him? The lofty positions he held through happenstance? No. We fight here because we understand. The end is the same. It is the path that separates men. When we taste that end, we will do so with our heads held high, eyes to the sun.
I am not ashamed of what I have become. Other men may debase themselves to destroy me. Let them have their glory. For I will retain mine!
Brandon Sanderson, The Way of Kings
#Brandon Sanderson#The Way of Kings#book quotes#lit quotes#life quotes#death#point of living#what we leave behind#journey#quotes
1 note
·
View note
Last Seen Blogs
