The girls!! (X)

The Heaviest Five Grams You'll Ever Have To Carry.

Fic Idea Adoption!

i have way too many ideas for fics and i know i won't ever get around to writing them all so i'm putting some ideas up for adoption!! i may or may not write these eventually, but they're too good of ideas to leave sitting in my notes app forever, so i'm releasing them to the void! anyone and everyone is welcome to use them, and feel free to be as ambiguous with the prompts as you want! no particular order but nsfw ideas are at the bottom for anyone who wants to avoid them!

(if you do use any of these, i would love to read the fic!! you definitely do not have to but please feel free to send me anything you write off this list!!)

-john takes rodney to earths moon

-john and rodney find the ancient equivalent of speed. they do Everything

-au where ronon gets earth to repeal dadt bc john tells him it's why he can't be with rodney and ronon goes I Must Fix This (he enlists teyla and lorne and maybe cadman)

-rodney asks ronon to go with john to earth (outcast coda)

-rodney goes on bill nye saves the world after stargate declassification

-evans biggest fear is having to shoot john (and maybe getting a promotion bc of it?) and john finds out

-rodney’s ‘torture too hideous and intimate to recount’ is him being tortured, just for them to realize that torturing his team is a better way to break him

-teyla living out ‘the chosen one’ trope

-what happens to sora after the eye

-au where meredith(female!rodney) comes to atlantis instead of rod and not only is rodney horribly disturbed, he’s furious (and strangely confused) as to why everyone apparently likes him more as a woman

-todd is weirdly obsessed with this strange human he meets, and is determined to get closer to him

-the team is most excited about catching up with todd when they get the confirmation atlantis is going back to pegasus

-everyone complains about rodney’s moods bc no one can complain about the infinitely worse in every way sheppard bad moods, that make everyone on the base wish they were on a hive ship being eaten by two wraith at once

-au where ronon ends up on athos at the same time the wraith come and he sneaks through the gate with the intention of just sneaking away on the next planet but whoops it’s atlantis (ronon pov)

-rodney keeps a memorial for every single scientist lost in his lab and radek shows it to new scientists who start complaining about rodney not caring and risking their lives

-reaper au where’s he’s fed the fuck up with these two stupid men who never actually die when they’re supposed to and it’s more annoying than anything now bc he still needs to show up

-au carson comes to atlantis and is HORRIFIED by becketts retrovirus research and the hoffan drug bc “does the hippocratic oath mean NOTHING here???”

-au where rodney can’t admit to himself what john means to him, until something happens that brings all the alternate rodney’s that have lost their johns to atlantis, and they all fall apart when they see john alive, and john and rodney have to have a Conversation (mcshep? maybe ambiguous? idk yet)

-rodney sees john as three separate entities: the Colonel, who is Professional Important Official Man; sheppard, who is his friend/team lead that he hangs out with and goes on missions with; and john, who he’s always seeming to have very intimate moments with that make him question a lot of how he feels

-early days in the city, elizabeth is sick of the marines shitting on the scientists for not being tough and the scientists for shitting on the marines for not being smart so she makes them try to solve a fake crisis from the other side and everyone is like aww shit this is harder than it looks

-that thing where tough men pretend they don’t care much about someone but then the person gets hurt and Tough Guy go a little feral and then holds them close and whisper pet names (sweetheart, baby, darling, etc) but it’s john and/or ronon after rodney gets injured

-the more important something is to john, the harder it is for him to talk about it, and rodney starts to realize how hard it is for john to talk about what rodney means to him

-a bunch of au sheppards get brought to atlantis and one on them is terrified of flying

-rodney has always said biology was beneath him, but then ford almost died, and was… different, from the wraith. and rodney knew he had to find a way to help ford, maybe find a way to fix his mental problems while keeping the physical benefits. rodney and carson find a way to save ford and sheppard is so thankful he kisses them both

nsfw ideas:

-ronon suggests some planets for trading when they get low on supplies that have an interesting trade system. it seems too good to be true and they wonder why telya hasn't taken them until they find out that they trade goods for sex

-au where john is hired as a spy for atlantis and he seduces people in pegasus to get intel for the city

-sometimes rodney just grabs john (by the hair, throat, back of the neck, chin, etc) and asks who he belongs to and john instantly melts

-rodney decides to be a tease on a mission and teyla and ronon think mckay is just really pissing sheppard off when he pulls mckay away for “privacy” but really he’s just super horny and wants to fuck (or, teyla and ronon don’t realize that their fighting is foreplay)

What IF... Mirabel joined the crew of the Cerritos

Here are some Crossover Ideas with the movie Encanto and the animated series Star Trek: Lower Decks

1.) Mirabel, feeling despondent because of Antonio's gift ceremony being a success, (don't get me wrong she is still happy for him but is sad because she thinks he will eventually abandon her like the rest of her family.) decides to take an evening walk through the empty village. Suddenly she is captured by Orion Pirates and taken off world, probably to be sold as a slave or something. After a few days in captivity, she is rescued by the crew of the Cerritos and that is how she also learns about Star Fleet. With some convincing from Mirabel, and the anomalous situation of Mirabel not existing in any records on Earth, Captain Freeman decides to let Mirabel join the Cerritos as an ensign under the mentorship of Dvana Tendi. Mirabel would then go on to make friends with the rest of the Cerritos crew (mainly Beckett Mariner, Brad Boimler, Rutherford and so on) and go on amazing space adventures while learning to be herself. As a Plot twist I thought maybe Mirabel would be forced to return to earth to help with an unusual anomaly appearing in Columbia. The anomaly in question is a giant Golden dome that appeared in a region of Columbia that was said not be on any map. It turns out when Alma was given the Miracle created by Pedro's sacrificed it also encased the entire Encanto in a Time Bubble. so instead of the Encanto village being fifty years old, like the movie said, several centuries have passed. And when the Miracle broke, because Mirabel wasn't there to save the family, the time bubble also faded exposing Encanto to the new future age. So now a reluctant Mirabel is tasked with trying to integrate the citizens of Encanto into the new age while trying to avoid her family who haven't seen her in over a year.

2.) A few weeks after Mirabel's failed gift ceremony the Madrigals have all but abandoned her. A depressed Mirabel takes a walk in the jungle and gets abducted by Orion Pirates. She is then taken to Orion to be auctioned off as a slave but is then adopted by D'vana Tendi's parents as her and her sister's playmate. As time goes on the Tendi's grow to accept Mirabel as part of the family and train her in the ways of Orion Pirates. When D'vana tells her sisters she wants to join Star Fleet Mirabel decides to go with her. They both join and get assigned to the Cerritos as Ensigns.

that's all I got so far; I hope some of you find these ideas Inspiring.

As the Vulcans say

Live Long and Prosper, Friends

somehow I ended up re-watching all of Lower Decks like twice and am in 2000 words into Mariner/Ransom holodeck sexyfunawkwardtimes ridiculousness set after 'Strange Energies' and I missed the memo that this week we're getting Crisis Point 2.

so now I have to figure out do I keep writing? do I wait for the season to end and see what's up?

I don't want to set the story after Beckett and Jennifer have gotten together because I love them together. But the idea of Ransom getting obsessed with Beckett's holodeck workout programmes after she refuses to tell him anything about hers after she saves the day by kicking him repeatedly in the nuts while he is a disembodied head trying to eat the ship, and discovering that she has completely rewritten that scenario on Gelrak V where he's the one still in the cage and she's the one fighting the gigantic guy who likes to read, and he doesn't know whether to be deeply offended or deeply aroused or deeply offended while being deeply aroused just amuses me too much to let it go at the moment.

Plus I tried to explain how Boimler using the holodeck to create an algorithmic predictive behaviour model in order to pre-interview which Beckett then turns into her own personal therapeutic widescreen Star Trek movie complete with lens flare is exactly the sort of thing Reg Barcley would do, only I got all of maybe 30 seconds into 'Hollow Pursuits' before my BFF and flatmate @lemonsharks noped out so hard because of Barclay's incel energy that I felt bad for my teenage self for enjoying that episode tremendously the first time I saw it and not being squicked.

but the fact that Boimler does not see it as problematic in the least is so BOIMLER.

It's finally Thursday! So: Lower Decks Liveblog time!!

Who is the narrator's voice this time? The director, perhaps? :P Starfleet Academy!! That moment when you know it before the text comes on. And Sito!! Aw, Wesley!!! Aw, baby Mariner, kiddo!!! And the one name nobody remembers. :P Also god, those kids and the four-way friendship... Back in the present, Locarno, so much bullshit, considering how you've treated her before... Oh you fucking asshole, 'junior member'?!?! Soo, how the fuck did you steal all those ships. A fucking D'Deridex, those are HUGE. Tell us about V'ger. C'mon. Oh god please tell me Freeman is trusting Mariner on this. Please tell me this is what last season's finale was the set up for. The Tom Paris line is a bit much, esp. 2 times in a row; "the Maquis would like a word" is great though! Holy shit, Mariner, way to go!!! Aw, T'Lyn! Good anthropologist!! And the depts checking in! Annnd we're pirating, right, Tendi? :P U.S.S. Passaro, stealing your mom's command codes, Beckett? :P Barter by combat, hehehe ^^ And Migleemo, I KNEW IT, he was so out of place in that lineup and had like exactly one moment to shine all season! MARINER DIPLOMANCY FOR THE WIN OFC YOU KNOW THE FERENGI! Like even with the fail, legit good try!

also damn, the "one weakness" plan failing? :P And way to raise the stakes, writers. The ship can't stay in Orion hands, but Tendi?.. Y'know, if any Trek could pull this off well, it's yours. Also not too extremely likely, but hell, who knows? ...The D'Deridex in hiding, you can always count on cloaks! Ooh, Livik comeback, and T'Lyn, lol! ...how long did that LARP take? also Boimler must've told her? Ah, Nova 1, enjoy the ion storm. What chain of command? Holy shit, that's a good excuse for putting Boimler in the captain's chair. The senior staff is making that destroyer battle-worthy; the Cerritos has glorified tractor beam duty... But MAN does it make for a good moment. (yeah, yeah, there's tons of people in the chain of command before him; I imagine he volunteered and Freeman let him because it's his best friend they're saving). OHH even better. Full command away team. AHAHAA the Captain's yacht!!! Someone knows their STO. :P PAYWALL BOMB. Which lieutenant, I wonder... I'm wondering if Starfleet won't want to give up D'Vana and are planning some other sort of barter now that relations are open? "Everyone, shut up, myself included" is one of my favorite turns of phrase. <3 Also "ohh there you are", Boimler, way to go! And Boimler and Mariner ribbing each other in the honest-to-goodness most affectionate way possible! Yeah, T'Lyn, maybe outright ghosting Sokel wasn't the best way of handling it. :P Also, science besties? Why the change of heart?

...yyyeah I was thinking that might have been a warning on a private channel.

But no, that's just D'Erika. And oh man, Tendi's face in the window. That's the face of someone who is code switching into "I am going to have to thoroughly break some bones around here, aren't I." Tl;dr: dammit, Lower Decks team, well done and thank you for doing this, you're amazing! I goddamn cannot wait for season 5, and like for the first time in a while - if I can get my hands on merch, I will buy it to support y'all. Like, you're getting priority in my "life across multiple countries" situation, that's how good y'all did.

Oneshots

My Single chapter fics

Oneshots;

Shit be True - Miraculous Ladybug - Chloe chose the wrong time to screw everyone over.

Marinette and Cataclysm - Miraculous Ladybug - Ever wondered what happens when Cataclysm is used on the human body?

Wing span - Miraculous Ladybug - The Classes first flying lesson

Three and Down - Miraculous Ladybug - An Akuma regresses the ages of the class, literally.

Stressed - Miraculous Ladybug - *Updated 19/07/2022*  Marinette suffers a stoke at school that seems to be normal at first, but is later found to be anything but natural

The Reveal that Wasn’t - Miraculous Ladybug - After discovering Chat Noir’s identity, Marinette has doubts that he would truly love her.

All your little tricks - Miraculous Ladybug - The Downfall of Hawkmoth and his protégé 

Jerks - Miraculous Ladybug - Adrien does something stupid and gets little sympathy

Secrets - Miraculous Ladybug - The Class knows one of Marinette’s deepest secrets, and guard it with their lives.

Fallen - Miraculous Ladybug - An accident occurs when Marinette is relishing in her newest hobby

Betrayal - Miraculous Ladybug - Chat Noir is forced to betray Ladybug, but can only turn to Marinette to help save himself.

Nap Time - Miraculous Ladybug - Marinette is sleep deprived and will not get up

Swimmingly - Miraculous Ladybug - Ladybug can do anything, as long as it isn’t in the water.

An Unexpected turn - Miraculous Ladybug - Hawkmoth wins, but also loses.

Cry of a Wolf - Miraculous Ladybug - An Akuma turns people in animals

King Chilli - Miraculous Ladybug - Kim plays the wrong kind of prank on Ladybug and suffers from the fallout.

Champion - Miraculous Ladybug - Hawkmoth has Akuma’s, Ladybug has Champions

Cure - Miraculous Ladybug - Marinette will do anything to save her father’s life, even if it meant selling her soul down the river to do it.

The Shield - Legend of Zelda - Wild accidentally mentions how Time was able to beat the Gerudo warriors of his Hyrule, Buliara want to see him put his money where his mouth is

Fears - Legend of Zelda - Link finds out about Tetra's most embarrassing secrets. Telink oneshot based on a headcanon I have. Rated T for hinted/mentioned past child abuse

Pockets - Miraculous Ladybug - A Pseudo Collab between me and @lenoreofraven, I say pseudo because she started and I just jumped on the wagon

Ghosts from the Past - Star Trek: Lower Decks - Beckett Mariner has been in Starfleet roughly ten years as of 2380. The Dominion War was 2373 to 2375.

Survivors - Star Trek: Lower Decks - A Continuation of Ghosts from the Past

Traitor - Currently in progress

Therapy - Star Trek: Lower Decks - Beckett finally gets help

Too Much Salt - Miraculous Ladybug - Two beans accidentally over season their food

Meet me inside - Miraculous Ladybug - Chloe pushes Marinette too far and shit hits the fan

Broken - Miraculous Ladybug - The Butterfly Miraculous was damaged when Gabriel started abusing it, leaving invisible scars on his victims. Some scars are more dangerous than others.

@gale-of-the-nomads said I could run with it, so I did.

Off Sick - Miraculous Ladybug - Marinette and her family are forced to self-isolate after one of their regulars tests positive

Redemption - Miraculous Ladybug - Alya is forced on a spending spree, after finding a pile of gift cards that are almost out of date.

Leap of Faith - Legend of Zelda - Link's thoughts on his task to save Hyrule. Set right after getting the paraglider.

Ladybug Fainted - Miraculous Ladybug - Chat finds out Ladybug's identity because she unified too many miraculous and she collapses leaving Chat in a panic. Alya thought Chat was making a Pokémon joke

Infected - Miraculous Ladybug - Ladybug in injured during an Akuma attack that occurred during her patrol while Chat was resting.

A Second Chance - Miraculous Ladybug - An Akuma forces Ladybug to call in a disgraced former member of her team, allowing them to have a chance at forgiveness.

Not a Soul - Miraculous Ladybug - While Chat is on a work trip, Ladybug comes up against an Akuma that has a taste for souls and Ladybug is left feeling strangely empty.

OoT Headcanon - Legend of Zelda - Not really a fic, but it’s close enough

Crack - Miraculous Ladybug - Marinette has a habit that leads to a reveal

A Glitch in the Matrix - Miraculous Ladybug - Max has a hobby that no one can know about

Facsimilie - Miraculous Ladybug - Gabriel was right about there being a Sentimonster, he just wasn't right on who it was.

Since You’ve Been Gone - Miraculous Ladybug - At the first chance they get, Adrien and Kagami leave Paris to escape their controlling parents. When they return eight years later, they find that life has moved on and not in the way they were expecting.

Breaking the Wall - Miraculous Ladybug - Based off of Doctor Who S9E11: Heaven Sent.

Marinette is trapped by an Akuma with only two options; Give up or chisel away at a crystal wall until she is free. The catch? Don't let the Shadow get you.

Princess Justice - Miraculous Ladybug - After a robbery 'gone wrong', Marinette finds herself attending her mothers funeral. Just one incident away from breaking the camels back. Shadowmoth suddenly finds himself realising that he can't control every Akuma he sends out.

Hamilton - Miraculous Ladybug - College Francais Dupont does Hamilton. Goes a well as you'd expect. Something nice and light hearted after my previous fic.

Clingy - Miraculous Ladybug - An ungodly early start has Marinette falling asleep on the bus with her classmates and other students. This leads to an incident that Kagami would deny ever happened. She has a reputation to up hold after all.

Creep - Miraculous Ladybug - After winning a competition, Marinette finds herself with an unwanted admirer and her friends enter detective mode to track them down.

Innocent Angels - Miraculous Ladybug - Marinette is innocent in many areas, she just didn't realise the meaning of her words until too late.

Fetch - Miraculous Ladybug - Ladybug has a plan to get the Miraculous back. Unfortunately, it requires an appendage from Monarch.

Disbelief - Miraculous Ladybug - Gabriel hits rock bottom, but instead of going up, he decides to cut out the one this he is certain on. He just didn't expect to be wrong.

My Gift to You - Miraculous Ladybug - Marinette's mother's birthday is coming up and Marinette doesn't know what to get her. It's only when she finds a forgotten object, that she has an idea. Also part of the War Circle AU.

Nightmares - Miraculous Ladybug - Nightmares aren't uncommon, but when five people who all know each other have too similar nightmares, that can't be a coincidence.

Limp - Miraculous Ladybug - Lila discovers that Marinette is an amputee. She also discovers that everyone else already knows and that she's the last one to find out.

*This was going to be longer but I felt it was finished*

Ashes to Ashes - Miraculous Ladybug - An Akuma goes after Marinette's parents and only stops after the Bakery is in flames, leaving Marinette without her parents and her identity known.

Upper Decks - Star Trek: Lower Decks - 25 years after meeting Tendi aboard the USS Cerritos, Mariner has risen through the ranks, whether she wanted to or not. USS Shran, her fifth command, is scheduled with the Cerritos in order to collect some transferring officers. Set dur the Star Trek Online Klingon War Arc.

Road to Recovery - The Walking Dead - Almost three years after the war with Delta, Clementine suddenly vanishes while fishing, leaving a void in Louis's life. Six months later, she is returned to them. Broken and afraid, leaving Louis and the other survivors of their group to pick up the pieces.

A Sight to Behold - Miraculous Ladybug - Marinette unintentionally reveals a secret to the class, and no it's not her identity.

Delay - Encanto - Dolores starts panicking on her wedding day and Mirabel in elected to prevent Mariano from seeing Dolores's dress, at any cost.

Pulling the Trigger - Miraculous Ladybug - After Marinette is forced to change schools after Gabriel Agreste black listed her and slapped her with a restraining order, the unintended consequences of his actions starts the domino effect that leads to his ultimate downfall.

Stuck on Repeat - Miraculous Ladybug - Lila's day started normally, she woke up, washed, got dressed, had breakfast and went to school. Then Marinette died. And the next day, everything was the same, wake up, wash, dress, eat, walk, watch Marinette die. Wait, what? T/CW: Death. Death Loop. Lila Rossi Redemption. Chloe Bourgeois Redemption.

Battle Cry - Miraculous Ladybug - After the rest of the team finds out the truth about Hawkmoth, Ladybug ended up in a fight with what she assumed to be another Akuma. The fight doesn't go in her favour, and the team discover that fighting by her side is better than fighting against her.

Headache - Miraculous Ladybug - Marinette has a persistent headache for months, assuming it's stress related, she thinks nothing of it. Until she's sent to the nurse after unintentionally disrupting class.

I’d like to know, who’s your favorite crewmen/important character from each series? If you want to! Sorry if you’ve already answered this somewhere, I scrolled your tag and didn’t see it, but the tumblr search function is terrible so I’m reluctant to place faith in it.

I haven’t done something like this yet, so thanks for the challenge! Gonna go in chronological in-universe order, since that’s closest to the order I watched them in:

ENT: This one is a close call between Hoshi and T’Pol but at the end of the day I’ve gotta say it’s Hoshi. She’s my personal hero and so amazing!

DISCO 1-2: Michael Burnham, hands down. She’s the most relatable character to me personally. The guilt complex she has? Oh wow that’s me. Her compassion, her intelligence her determination to do the right thing even if it’s hard or unpopular, the way she makes mistakes but always tries to do better. I love her so so much.

AOS: this is the hardest. I love the AOS characters so much. It’s probably a threeway tie between Kirk, Spock and Uhura with Sulu and Gaila coming in hot on their tails.

SNW: T’Pring. Loved her in Amok Time. She’s great in SNW and I Can’t wait to see her dump Spock for Stonn. It’s gonna be a riot, I’m sure.

TOS/TAS: Gotta be Spock, of course.

TNG: Tasha Yar if she’d gotten more seasons 😢But probably Troi! I think she often gets overlooked, but her performance in “Face of Evil” especially was great. And I’m a sucker for telepathic characters who are half human/half alien and struggle with their parents.

DS9: Again, the DS9 cast is so great it’s really hard to pick just one, but I think I’m most obsessed with Sisko. He’s a really complex and unique character that so often gets overlooked, but he’s got so much going on. Surprised there aren’t reams of Saratoga fics for him when Michael’s got a good number of Shenzhou-Era fics for her. But maybe I’ll just have to write them myself.

VOY: a tie between Tuvok and B’Elanna. Tuvok is an excellent Vulcan character and I love Vulcans. And B’Elanna is another hybrid, which I’ve always found interesting.

LOW: Beckett Mariner! She’s a AOS-Kirk-Type party animal, but just like him, deep deep down she really cares about everyone and she only pushes people away because it’s a coping mechanism for trauma. There’s so much depth to her character and she’s one of Trek’s first openly bisexual characters, so that’s awesome!

PRO: Prodigy is still warming up, so it’s hard to say. But I think Gwyn is my favorite. She’s got so much angst potential in that backstory of hers. Going against her own dad who thinks he’s on a mission to save their people? I love it. So juicy.

PIC: Can I make everyone angry and say Narek? I was hoping he would come back but no, Picard writers hate me specifically.

DISCO 3-4 (it’s basically a different show): Michael again, if we’re being honest. But I also really like Rillak and T’Rina. More milf presidents, please!

I wish I still had the time or energy for fan fiction writing (or that story generation AI was good enough yet to produce the fic I want from a paragraph-length prompt without fucking up continuity). Because the parallels and contrasts between Beckett Mariner and Anakin Skywalker, particularly their mutual fear of loss against the almost opposite trajectory of their backstories (slave-turned Chosen One vs Starfleet neppo baby turned black sheep), and how those things shape their (similar) disregard for rules and their (almost diametrically opposed) attitude toward seeking power and authority really makes me want to dig back into Star Trek/Star Wars crossover fics.

These two meeting would either save both galaxies or destroy both.

Happy Birthday, Rodney McKay

A/N: Takes place after my prompt fic, Piano Man.

It’s not easy, honestly. It takes paperwork, which everyone knows John hates and an actual legitimate doctor’s note from Keller, outlining the benefits in regards to mental health, but once he explains why he needs it, she seems to get on board pretty quickly and by the time the Daedalus is back enroute from the Milky Way, he’s got the approval notice on his desk, which means it’s only a matter of waiting now. And so life goes on. They go off-world. Ronon shoots things while Teyla tries to use a bit of diplomacy to keep them from getting their asses kicked too much by everyone that Rodney manages to offend the people of the Pegasus Galaxy by accidentally touching something he’s not supposed to in search of more ZPMs. It’s almost easy to forget that less than a month ago, they buried Carson Beckett, except he knows they all still feel it. He sees it in the way that Ronon is still skittish around Keller in a way he’d never been around Carson. In the way that Teyla still lights a candle for him at night. But he sees it most of all in Rodney, who’s nowhere near as abrasive as he usually is, who is quietin a way that he never was before. John, for his part, does his best to keep things as normal as possible which is why, despite his previous revelation in regards to McKay (or rather, his feelings for McKay), he’s yet to say anything. He doesn’t want to make things difficult or strained in the event that he’s so far off base because he doesn’t want to deprive Rodney of another friendship if he manages to completely fuck this all up. But as the eighteenth slowly comes upon them, John hopes that he can say what he needs to say without ever actually saying it at all. He just hopes the Daedalus shows up on time. ---

For once, things actually go his way. Colonel Caldwell arrives on that he never actually celebrates (which almost has John second guessing this whole damn thing), but they did at least manage to get a cake from the kitchens and Teyla has managed to guilt Rodney into leaving the labs earlier than usual for a small gathering in the mess. John knows, as soon as Rodney steps inside, that he’s not expecting anyof this. The majority of the science department is there and a couple of marines whose asses Rodney has saved more than once. Elizabeth is there too and Teyla and Ronon are waiting near a badly decorated table. There’s a less than stellar rendition of Happy Birthday before there’s cake and for the first time since before they buried Carson, John sees a genuine, happy smile on Rodney’s face. God, he’s missed that. He stands on the outskirts of the party, watching the festivities, but it’s not long after cake that the group begins to dwindle down, leaving only the team and Elizabeth, who soon after takes her leave. “I hope you are not too upset with us, Rodney, but we simply could not let another year pass without celebrating your birthday,” Teyla says kindly and for the first time, maybe ever, Rodney’s a little speechless. “Honestly,” he says, finally, “with everything that’s… well. I suppose I didn’t really expect anyone to remember,” but John can see just how pleased he is that they did. Of course they would. Teyla rises then and she grips Rodney’s forearms gently, pressing her forehead to his. “Happiest of birthdays to you,” she says, giving him a smile as Ronon claps him roughly on the back and with a single glance over at John, Teyla withdraws. “It is getting late,” she says, and she grabs for Ronon’s arm as if anticipating having to drag him off, but it seems like he hasn’t quite forgotten what John’s planned because for once, he doesn’t argue, only smirks at John as they pass. And finally, they’re alone. “You tired?” John asks, and it’s normal enough that Rodney doesn’t even question it. “Nah. I figured I’d head back down to the labs, get a head start on tomorrow’s simulations and—” “C’mon Rodney,” John wheedles. “It’s your birthday.” “Annnnd,” Rodney glances down at his watch, “it’s almost over, so there’s that!” And John rolls his eyes, but he comes over and nudges Rodney with his shoulder. “C’mon. It’s a nice night out. Let’s at least go out onto the East Pier and have a couple beers.” And this is it, John thinks. His entire plan hinges on this one moment, and he doesn’t realize that he’s actually holding his breath until Rodney finally shrugs. “Yeah, alright. One beer won’t hurt.” --- The walk to the pier is quiet. Most of Atlantis has retired to their quarters, the night shift in the control tower for their nightly briefing before they head out on patrols. For a minute, it’s easy to pretend that there’s no one else on the planet other than him or Rodney. His stomach is in knots the closer they get to the pier and by the time they approach the doorway leading outside, John is sure he’s actually going to puke. This was a bad idea. This was a horrible, awful idea and Rodney’s going to hate him and he’s going to ruin everything between them. This is the moment that he’s going to lose Rodney and--. The doors open on their approach and John knows the exact moment that Rodney sees it, because he hears the quiet gasp. Sitting just outside the door is an upright piano. “What—where did you--?” “I heard you play,” John says, clearing his throat. “When we were home for Carson. The night at the bar—.” “Oh God,” Rodney groans, “I was really hoping you’d forgotten about that.” “You were really good,” John says offhandedly and he gestures weakly to the piano. “And you, you know, looked happy for a minute while you were playing, which was um. Nice to see, you know? Especially considering why we were there. So I just thought… well. I thought maybe it would help if you had something here. To uh, you know… to have here. So. Yeah.” He reaches up and rubs a hand

against the back of his neck, clearly uncomfortable, as Rodney moves over to the piano, stroking his fingers against the ivory keys. “This is… I don’t know how I can ever thank you for this,” and John just shrugs, tips of his ears turning red. “You don’t, you know, have to. Thank me, I mean. I just… wanted to do something nice for you,” he says and when Rodney reaches out, grabbing John’s wrist to catch his attention, his breath catches in his throat, hazel eyes meeting blue. For a moment, neither of them speak aloud, but John thinks that maybe Rodney understands everything he’s not saying. Everything he can’t quite say. You mean everything to me. You’re the best friend I’ve ever had. I love you. What he says instead is quiet, barely above a whisper, “Happy birthday, Rodney.”

for I scorn to do any one a mischief, when it is not to my advantage (~1100 words, POTC, AU of the AU set in AWE, pre- Nellie/Norrington, rated T for language and Nellie’s generally bleak attitude towards death)

the one where Nellie lost her entire family to the fever, went a little mad, became a pirate, realized she’s a rubbish captain but a decent administrator, and still ends up having to deal with James Norrington,

or,

How in hellfire had it all come to this? – Nellie Treat, alias Captain Dyer, was thinking. It was so late it was nearly morning, not that a single sliver of sunlight could be seen in the gloomy depths of Shipwreck Cove’s magazine; she was in her stockings, counting barrels as though she could make more gunpowder appear by force of will alone. It had never seemed a wholly adequate amount, but the advent of war made all her scrounging and stockpiling seem entirely worthless.

There were other worries too, though those were slightly less pressing: if war was coming, and it surely was – it would come to the Cove as a siege, unless their opponents were singularly stupid. Alas, Lord Beckett and the Governors of the EIC were cruel men, but capable. A siege – a blockade – meant long weeks, if not months, without resupply; there was no space in Shipwreck Cove to grow its own crops, and to be sufficient to its own needs. The spring was all well and good (the old, weathered part of her that had once had a husband and children who delighted in word-play laughed, but a short, painful one – a laugh like one from a consumptive wretch), but it could not keep them from starving – and worse, after some time without any fresh rations, living on ship’s biscuit and salt junk and dried peas, and perhaps some fresh fish when they were lucky – that was when illness would set in. And there would be nowhere for any of them to go.

Save Hell.

Nellie began to count again, and kept counting until she heard the tell-tale clatter if footfalls above her head, and an unfamiliar – well, barely familiar – voice calling to her from the world above:

“Captain Dyer! I require a word!”

And when the King of the Brethren Court demanded something, it behooved Nellie to give it. She clambered up the ladder and emerged blearily into the dim pre-dawn light, to find Elizabeth Swann and –

“What the fuck is he doing here?”

“The same as the rest of us, I expect,” countered the Pirate King, pushing – actually pushing – the man she had been walking with forward. “I believe you two have already met, so there’s social niceties done with. Admiral Norrington has volunteered for our campaign, Captain Dyer; I believe you can find a good use for him.”

Like cannon fodder? Nellie thought, but did not say, electing to remain silent while sizing up the Scourge of Piracy himself. He didn’t seem quite as tall as she remembered – though the last time she had seen him, she had been chained up like a dog in a Fort Charles cell, only a few hours from the hangman’s noose. Those years ago, he’d looked as though he’d been hewn straight out of Braintree granite, cold and very nearly cruel – though, she corrected herself begrudgingly, still carefully watching the officer as though he were a street cur who might bite her, Norrington had not been truly cruel, just hard. The hardest case Nellie had ever seen – though Hendricks, after he’d affected a swashbuckling rescue and let her lick the worst of her wounds, had laughed gently, and asked –

An even harder case than you? –

Norrington didn’t look so impervious now. Proud, yes, but … dented. Haunted, even.

So selling the world to Lord Fucking Beckett for the cost of some gold braid on a coat hadn’t been everything he dreamed of?

But Captain Swann was staring at her expectantly, and Nellie hadn’t survived so long as she had in a cruel world  by turning up her nose at any advantages with presented themselves to here, even if this particular one made her think of Greeks bearing gifts far more than any other thing. Fine. She’d be damned before she let her home go without doing everything in her power to save it.

“I’ll be much obliged to you, Norrington, if you can provide me with accurate numbers regarding the strength of the Bombay Marine fleet – and any other information that might make this reek less of Thermopylae.”

The King wrinkled her nose at that – a gesture that made her seem terribly, terribly young – no one had ever told Nellie how young, but Elizabeth Swann seemed younger than Mary had been when Nellie –

Well.

“You may leave him with me,” Nellie said, in a nearly conciliatory tone, “I’ll mind he doesn’t cause any trouble around the Cove. Thank you, Captain Swann.”

(Ought she to be calling Swann ‘majesty’? Nellie didn’t much want to, and not only because King Swann was seeing fit to leave her practically locked in the armory with the man who’d come the closest, in her short and brutal career, to killing her.)

King Swann excused herself with all the pomp of the office, as though she’d been born to it – she might well have been, considering how close her father was to George himself – and leaving Nellie still coolly surveying the man who had been the Scourge of Piracy.

Her neck itched.

“You’re Captain Dyer,” he said, evenly.

“As you see.”

“I remember you.”

“It was a fairly spectacular escape,” Nellie replied, with something that might have been preening, from a less grim woman.

“I still have no idea how you did that.”

“And I’m afraid you’ll have to continue to live in disappointment.”

“I don’t expect I shall ever return to Fort Charles as its master, so your caution, while admirable, is misplaced.” He had a curdled smile on, palpably bitter. “It’s far more likely that someday I shall have to do as you have done.”

But perhaps he realized that Captain Dyer was no more likely to tell him her secret to save his life than she was to satisfy a point of curiosity, and so he left it – and – fine. She would be practical about this. Norrington had very nearly sent her to her Maker, and her shoulder had never been the same since that disastrous confrontation that had led to her capture. But if Norrington was here, and could give her the slightest thing which would help her perform her task and save her home from destruction – well. She could be civil. She would.

“If you are serious, then we shouldn’t waste any more time,” she said, letting herself drop into an old chair that was likely more teredo-worm than teak, “I don’t expect I shall survive this newest adventure, but I am going to try. Sit. Tell me everything you know. I can tell when a man’s lying, mind, so save us both the time and trouble.”

Norrington, looking at her warily, did as she said. “Where would you like me to begin?”

“The beginning and end of the whole affair,” she shot back, “How many ships?”

It was a bleak conversation, indeed.

For the requests: Maybe some Lower Decks whump?

Fuck yeah let's do this. This is 100% set after Brad leaving the ship. (I know season 2 has yet to come out, but bare with me) Set on a Klingon ship. Klingons are easily offended so it would be easy to be put in this situation despite mariners contacts and knowledge.

If any of this isnt correct to the Star Trek Universe I am so sorry I have only seen lower decks and am trying my best to make it good! If it's not good... Ah.... I'm sorry! Also this turned out a bit more angsty at the end than I wanted. It made me tear up a bit but like also I'm super sensitive and a bit emotional anyways lol. also like the amount of research I did was slim so it might not be accurate. Idk I liked what I wrote 🤷🏻

Tw: side character death, swearing, the reader getting totally nerfed by Mariner so she can survive... ANGST

You would like to say you weren't entirely sure how you got into this situation, but you knew exactly how you got into this situation. Beckett Mariner. You couldn't help the memory from replaying in your mind, this all started this morning, your very first day as an ensign on the Cerritos. what a bright eyed kid you had been all those.... 6 hours ago. Your concentration was once again ripped from your thoughts as another prisoner, a Romulan man with a bad attitude. He was missing his shoes and arguing heavily with Beckett. Your eyes drift back down to the large wound on your stomach, Becket had used the Romulan man's shoe laces and her jacket to try to stop some of the bleeding but you were positive that would do nothing. She was trying though. You looked up at the ceiling, not paying much attention to anything else going on around you anymore. Becket sighed and moved back towards where you laid bleeding out. Her jacket was a far darker res than It started and you were begining to lose hope. Anxiety was pooling in your stomach... Or was that internal bleeding? You weren't entirely sure. After a few moments of trying to pay attention to Becketts words your attention was drawn outside of the cell. A large shadow looming over the group of you.

"What happened to the Ferengi man they took away?" You ask Beckett weakly and she starts to sweat slightly.

"He's dead, probably" she said it slowly. It was so much easier to pay attention to her when she spoke slow. You blinked slowly but that blink formed quickly into a harsh wince as you were pulled up by your arm. The Klingon man eyed you over

"you won't make much for entertainment.." his words didn't fully click in your mind. The loss of blood had become too great for most words to have meaning anymore. You knew the words separately but together.. thinking about it made your head hurt. The next few minutes seemed to blur. "(Y/n)? You are going to be ok! I'm going keep us alive" mariner said, but her words no longer seemed to reach you. She watched as your head slowly got lower and lower as you got closer to the room the Klingon was going to put the two of you and another life form in to fight to the death. The Klingon laughed lowly at Becketts words. She had no idea about what was to come. Not until the two of them were placed in the room. The walls were covered in windows. The more Beckett turned, the quicker she realized that there was not another life form coming into the room. It was just you and her and the Klingons were not patient.

"FIGHT NOW" was yelled I'm at the two but Beckett couldn't bring herself to even look at you the wrong way. You just... Sat there looking so.... pitiful. It was a stark contrast to the young ensign she was assigned to keep an eye on. When you got on the USS Cerritos you were happy, excited even, you reminded her so much of Brad. Brad. Her eyes started to water as she eyed you. Fresh out of the academy. She could tell. You had a look in your eye that screamed potential. A little spark of hope even for her. Her heart wrenched more every time she looked at you. "Mariner... I need you... I need you to kill me" you said certainly. You looked up at her weakly. She turned away, "No! I can save us-" but you quickly cut her off, your voice cracking and straining as your speak, "sometimes people can't be saved Mariner. Sometimes people need to die for the greater good. So please- Please, Mariner. Save yourself." She finally turns back to you. The way you look at her, begging to be put down like an injured animal. She untied the shoelace from your waist. You nod, assuring her, trying to give her confidence.

"And you are sure you are ok Mariner?" Carol asked her daughter, who looked... Different. Changed. She didn't want to talk about it. She never wanted to talk about it again. Ensign (Y/n) would be a cautionary tale for ambitious young ensigns looking for adventure right out of training. Ensign (Y/n) would be a ghost story to keep little kids away from deep space. Ensign (Y/n) who was now floating through space, a red jacket tied tightly around their waist.

Counter Clock Incident Redux

When the Senior Crew comes back from an away mission, they mysteriously start to become younger. It’s up to Mariner, Boimler, Rutherford, Tendi, and Westlake to figure out what’s going on before it’s too late.

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4 

Crying rang through Medbay, piercing anybody's ears that happened to walk in. Chang had a baby Ransom in one arm and T'ana in the other, trying to hush them to sleep. Minimum medical personnel was allowed to interact with the senior crew, as seeing your captain as a baby isn't the best for leadership. As a result, Westlake, Tendi, and Chang worked non-stop researching cures and running a mini nursery. 

"Come on, Commander, hush-hush! Go to sleep. Please, for the love of God, go to sleep!" She spun and bobbed around, trying to keep herself awake.

Kitty T'ana stretched her paws out, and her retractable claws came into view. "Oh no no, you don't want to scratch the person holding you," Chang panicked, as T’ana had already scratched up half her body. It was her boss's idea of 'playing.’

Across the small room, Tendi played on the floor with Freeman. Large, colorful wooden blocks were scattered around them as they stacked the blocks as high as possible. Every few minutes or so, one of them would tip the tower over, and both would burst out in laughter. Chang walked over to Tendi with the two babies in tow.

 "Tendi, please take over. They haven't stopped crying for 30 minutes, and I have so many scratches from T'ana that I don't even think the dermal regenerator is going to fix it." Tendi always had a way with kids. She knew how to play with them, feed them, put them to sleep, and she loved them. She would have fit in perfectly as a pediatric nurse on a Galaxy-class ship where there were families, but she was on the Cerritos, with no children on board. This was a small blessing to her. 

Tendi got up from her spot and carefully took both babies. "Just watch over the captain for a moment" just then, Mariner walked into Medbay. "Oh, look, Mariner can help you!"

Tendi pushed Mariner with her hips over to where Chang sat. She plopped down in front of her mother, taking one of the many blocks and handing it to the baby.

"So, where are Boimler and Rutherford, and how is the ship?"

Mariner spoke as all three of them stacked blocks. "Rutherford is researching how to get these guys back to their normal age along with running engineering. Lieutenant Nieli has the bridge. God, he’s awkward at giving orders. And Boimler, well, I think he's in his hidey closet doing a captain’s log."

"How are you doing with" Chang motioned over to baby freeman.

Mariner thought for a moment, "I mean, it's weird, but I'm sure Rutherford can get them back to normal."

At this point, Carol had stacked the small blocks five high. When leaning over to grab more, she accidentally knocked the tower down. Sniffles came from her before the full-blown crying started.

"Oh god, not again" Chang grabbed Freeman and rocked her slowly in her arms. "The crying is nonstop with them," she explained to Mariner.

Beckett started to undo the top of her uniform jacket, causing Chang to raise an eyebrow. From her bra, she pulled out a small bottle of blue liquid.

"Romulan whiskey," Beckett answered before Chang could ask a question.

"But why in your-?"

"I always keep it on me in case I have to deal with extra bullsh*t. And it's in my bra because these uniforms don't have any pockets." 

Mariner moved closer to her mother and opened the cap on the small bottle. Chang stepped away from Mariner.

"What are you doing?" Chang asked

"Back in the 20th century, parents used to put whiskey on their kids' pacifiers to help them relax. Maybe Romulan whiskey will help calm my mother down."

"But, we don't even have a pacifier?"

"It's cool, man; I’ll just put a couple of drops in her mouth, not enough to get drunk off of" 

If the nurse wasn't so sleep-deprived, she probably would have argued against it. However, Chang wasn't exactly against having the babies fall asleep, even if that meant giving them alcohol. Beckett walked over to her mother again and positioned the little glass bottle over her mother's open mouth. The blue liquid was just about to drop into Freeman's mouth as Tendi glanced over and realized what was happening.

"Mariner!" She ran over and snatched the glass away from Beckett, "What do you think you're doing giving a child Romulan whiskey!"

"What the? Tendi, it was to calm her down! They used to do it all the time in the 20th century!"

"20th-century medicine?" Tendi continued as she grabbed the baby from Chang, "that's barbaric."

The two followed Tendi over to the replicator, where she requested baby formula at 37°c.

"Babies need milk, not outlawed whiskey" she started to feed Freeman and make baby noises to her.

Mariner rolled her eyes as Chang added, "Says the person who uses ketchup in her milkshakes." 

Rutherford burst in at that point, waving his PADD around and shouting, "I figured it out!"

Mariner walked up to him as Tendi assigned Chang to change Billups' diaper.

Rutherford started to explain, "so I was doing some research on what happened on the Enterprise over 100 years ago, and apparently after they were able to stop the aging, they placed the crew in the transporter pad. The transporter pad saved the original cellular layout of the Enterprise crew, so when they were beamed just a fraction of an inch, they were able to revert to the normal ages."

He was panting from excitement and running all the way to Sick Bay from engineering.

"We still need to figure out how to stop the cellular de-aging, or else the crew will just become babies again," Tendi pointed out.

"That is where I come in!" Westlake walked over in his tired, disheveled state. 

He held up a hypospray with a gray liquid inside. "This will freeze the cells in place, so they don't keep dying. Once Rutherford uses the transporting beam on them, their cells should reset."

"And we get our senior crew back," Tendi bounced from excitement, "though I will miss having babies around."

The four officers jump at the sound of Chang screeching from the other side of the room.

"He freaking peed on me!" She yelled as she tried to dab the urine off her uniform jacket!

"I might be the only one who misses it, though"

…

"Ok, the coordinates are put in, go ahead and place the crew members on the transporter pad," Rutherford instructed. 

Westlake, Tendi, and Chang set the babies on the pad, and Chang muttered something along the lines of good riddance. Westlake administered the hypospray to each of them. Boimler walked in carrying a stack of uniforms and Mariner followed him with a large blanket.

"The Senior Crews uniform are all pressed to regulation with Combadges and Pips nice and polished."

Mariner mumbled about how brad was a kiss ass, and she unfolded the blanket and threw it over the babies. 

"Mariner! You're gonna smother them!" Tendi pointed out

"And they're not going to fit into their Starfleet issued onesies once they revert back to their original ages. I don't know about you, but I don't feel like seeing Ransom's photon torpedo today!"

"And I'm officially sick," Chang deadpanned before her eyes widened in realization. "Also today? Do you mean that-"

"Rutherford hit it!" Mariner cut Chang off.

Rutherford pressed a button and slid his hand across the screen. Transporting sounds filled the room as the babies disappeared in white light. Moments later, they reappeared a few millimeters to the left. In the baby's place, we're five larger lumps rolling around under the blanket. 

"T'ana," Shax spoke, "You should at least take me out to dinner first." 

"Are we doing some sort of-'' Ransom was cut off by Westlake clearing his throat. Slowly, Jack pulled the blanket off from over his head and let it rest in his lap. Craning his head up, he saw three nurses intently looking at him, along with Boimler avoiding eye contact and Mariner gagging. 

"Good afternoon, Commander," Westlake spoke, and he walked over, tricorder in hand. "It's good to have you back."

"Gah," Freeman sat up, clutching her part of the blanket to her chest, "I feel like I got hit by a shuttlecraft." 

The rest of the crew slowly adjusted. 

"Do you remember anything?" Tendi started to scan the captain.

"No? Not really." She pulled the blanket higher on her. "I would like to know where our clothes are, though."

"Oh, would you fu*king relax!" T'ana snatched a tricorder from Chang and started scanning herself. "I just did physicals on all of you last week! There was nothing that I, nor the nurses, hadn't seen before."

Billups was the last to emerge, face red from embarrassment. He pointed to Boimler, Mariner, and Rutherford. Rutherford waved back.

"Not to worry, sirs, I have fresh uniforms for you, all pressed-" he was cut off by Mariner, who started digging through the clothing stack. She pulled out an operations jacket.

"Ohhh, lieutenant commander pips! Headshot!" she balled the jacket up and threw it to Billups, hitting him in the face and knocking him to his back. "That's what you get for almost phasering me!"

Mariner continued to toss uniforms to the crew, much to Brad's protests. "You're creasing them, Mariner! I spent 30 minutes pressing the pants!"

"Kid," Ransom started, "I really don't care if they're creased. I just want some freaking clothes!"

Boimler defeated look faded into the background as Westlake ordered the crew to report to sickbay. All of them shuffled out as the Ensigns stayed behind.

"I'm gonna miss them being babies! They were so cute!" Tendi stood next to Rutherford.

"I'm not" Chang rubbed her eyes, "I need sleep, a hot shower, and to never see a baby again."

"All I know is I saw way too much of the crew today" Mariner reached into her bra, pulling up a glass of Romulan whiskey. "Want some?"

And things were back to normal.

Well, as normal as the Cerritos can get.

...

Wow, my first multichapter fic is finished! Thanks for the support everyone 

NCIS: Los Angeles Season Eleven Rewatch:   “Let the Fates Decide”

The basics:  With the help of Captain Harmon Rabb Jr., Major Sarah MacKenzie, CIA Officer Sabatino and Navy SEAL Frank Wallace, the team tries to stop World Word Three.

Written by:   Kyle Harimoto wrote “Omni”, “Merry Evasion”, “Chernoff, K” and “Command and Control”, “Granger, O.”, “Ghost Gun”, ��Kulinda”, “767”, “Se Murio El Payaso”, “Assets”/“Liabilities”, “Venganza”, “Superhuman” and “One of Us”.  He co-wrote “Three Hearts”, “Leipei”, “Humbug”, both ends of the “Matryoshka” two-parter, “Smokescreen” Part Two and “Searching”.

Directed by:   Christine Moore directed “Tuhon” and “Reign Fall”.

Guest stars of note: David James Elliott as Navy Captain Harmon Rabb, Jr., Catherine Bell as Marine Lieutenant Colonel Sarah "Mac" Mackenzie, Erik Palladino as CIA Officer Vostanik Sabatino, Alyssa Diaz as NCIS Special Agent Jasmine Garcia, Gil Birmingham as Navy Captain Steven Douglas, Don Wallace as Navy Seal Senior Chief Frank Wallace, Paris Benjamin as Alexandra Duvivier, Kolio Kolev as Muhammad Pliyey and Guy Wilson as Navy Gunner's Mate Michael Skinner are all back from the season 10 finale.  Medalion Rahimi as NCIS Special Agent Fatima Namazi returns from “Choke Point” in season 10.  Ritesh Rajan as Deputy Crown Prince Kamal of Saudia Arabia is back from “The Prince” also in season 10.  Natassia Halabi as Mossad Agent Eliana Sapir, Sara Amini as Laleh Ayari, Kenny Ellis as Noam Weiss and Andreas Beckett as Itay.

Our heroes:  On land and sea, protect the world.

What important things did we learn about:

Callen:  Dated a nice Mossad Agent back in the day. Sam:  Has a real bond with Fatima. Kensi:   Bad ass sniper. Deeks:   Pain in the ass in the field. Eric:  Absent. Nell:   Absent. Hetty:   Good at flying, lousy at landing.

What not so important things did we learn about:

Callen:  Mocks Sam. Sam:  Gives the SEALs permission to drown Callen. Kensi:   Eating. Deeks:   Sleeping. Eric: Absent. Nell:  Absent. Hetty:  The hostess with the most-ess.

Who's down with OTP:    In the world of Kensi and Deeks, she's eating, he's sleeping.  He's afraid of wolves, she made a semi-informed decision to marry him.  All is well.  

Who's down with BrOTP:   Callen teases Sam a bit while he's drilling a hole to save the hostages but all is well with the DVD cover fellas.

Any pressing need for Harm and Mac:  And thus ends our Harm and Mac category.  I'd like to see a short series – maybe take those NCIS rerun weeks in or over the summer and bring back Harm, Mac, Bud and the crew for a six-episode mystery/case/event.   Harm and Mac were never working through 22-years of issues in somebody else's show.  Maybe they can in their own show.

Who is running the team this week?  Hetty.  Feels good.

Fashion review:  For most of the episode, everyone is wearing what they did in the season 10 finale.  At the end in the Riyadh restaurant, Hetty, Callen and Sam haven’t changed.  Kensi has on a black top, Deeks is wearing a pale blue and white thin-striped polo.  

Music:   There is music in the background in the restaurant but is not familiar.

Any notable cut scene:  Not today.

Quote: Sam:  “You like it here.” Fatima:  “Yeah, I mean, don’t get me wrong.  I’m ride or die Beverly Hills.  I don’t even like going east of La Cienega, but I do love it here.” Sam:  “You’re the majority.” Fatima:  “It’s more than that.  I mean, these women, they’re all my age, and they’re just living their lives.  You know, when they put their hijab on in the morning, they don’t have to…I don’t know.” Sam:  “Worry that they’re making an overt political statement when all you’re doing is going to In-N-Out for a double-double?” Fatima:  “Yep, I couldn’t have said it better myself.  And that’s why you’re the man, Sam Hanna.”

Anything else:   The episode begins where the season 10 finale ended for Kensi and Deeks – under fire in Sabatino's pop-up CIA station.  After taking out the fighters looking to kill them, Kensi, Deeks, Chief Wallace and Sabatino block the door that was blown open.  Kensi returns to the station's computer set-up.  The explosion damaged the connection to the outdoor security cameras.  She reboots.  Deeks hopes the CIA station can fly.  It can't.

On the Allegiance, the missile defense system is tracking the terrorists' missiles that are targeting Riyadh and Tel Aviv.  On board terrorist Michael Skinner has six hostages/sailors held in the Damage Control Center.  Sam tells Harm and Captain Douglas that he and Callen heard two shots fired when Skinner took over the Damage Control Center.  Harm wants "that son of a bitch."

Skinner calls the deck.  Captain Douglas tries to assert some authority so Skinner kills one of the Damage Control Center crewmen.  Skinner confirms there are two other dead sailors in the room before disconnecting.

New credits!  Still miss the "San Voir" explosion, truth be told.

Outside the CIA station, two men pull up in a pick-up truck with what looks like a rocket launcher attached to the truck's bed.  As the man in charge of the rocket launcher lines up his target, he's hit by a bullet.  The driver looks to see what happened and get shot center mass by Kensi, who is perched on top of the CIA station.

Once back in the station, Deeks and Sabatino are looking at footage from a just launched surveillance drone.  A convoy of reinforcements are on their way.  They will be at the station in eight to ten minutes.

Douglas and Harm tell Callen and Sam that Skinner chose his hostage room wisely.  The Damage Control Center has one entrance, a sealed, waterproof door.   Sam is worried that Skinner could release firefighting foam on the carrier's deck runways, crippling the ship's ability to send out air reinforcements.  There is no electrical lock to open the door and an explosives breach would cause more causalities.    While Douglas is sure the trained Navy personnel inside the Damage Control Center would fight for their freedom, Callen is equally sure that if they drill the locks or door hinges, Skinner will kill the hostages before they can enter.

Petty Officer Nakagawa advises Captain Douglas and company that missile defense took down two of the four missiles fired and are locked on the remaining pair.  The system worked as planned.  Jasmine Garcia video calls in with news that Hetty, Fatima and Mac are on their way to Riyadh.  Callen asks about Kensi and Deeks.  She confirms the CIA station is under attack from ISIS forces.

Deeks is packing up everyone's go-bags as Kensi tracks the ISIS fighters.  Chief Wallace is working on an improvised attack weapon.  Sabatino is calling Deeks 'Spicoli'.  The two start bickering including Deeks becoming the grammar police.  Kensi looks exhausted.  Chief Wallace asks if this bothers Kensi.  She tells him she's learned to ignore it.  The ISIS fighters are 50-yards out.  

Callen and Sam bring two of the SEALs – in full battlefield body armor - to the Damage Control Center.  One of the SEALs has a dolly with three slim tanks.  As Sam starts to drill a hole in the floor outside the Damage Control Center, the SEALs stand guard at the stairs and corner near Sam.  Pressing the drill hard and using his hand to keep the noise from the alerting Skinner, Sam notices a chuckling Callen.  Sam is not pleased he's being mocked for concentrating.  Callen offers help but Sam is fine.  He keeps offering to help – wipe the sweat from Sam's brow.  Sam tells the SEALs to "feel free to drown this man" when Sam is done.  The SEALs start chuckling.

Wallace's "toy" is ready as Sabatino opens the escape hatch under the CIA station.  They are "jackrabbiting" southeast – there is cover in that area.  Kensi sees the fighters pulling up to the front of the building.  Kensi and Deeks jump out of the building as Sabatino starts firing some grenades at the ISIS fighters.  Chief Wallace takes his tablet while Sabatino grabs some other gear.  The ISIS fighters start shooting at the building.  Just as Wallace and Sabatino close the hatch, the fighters toss a grenade at the file cabinet acting as a door.

As the ISIS fighters get near the door, Wallace's toy is a big gun set up to fire using his tablet.  The gun takes out a few of the ISIS fighters.  As the fighters keep shooting out the front of the station, Kensi, Deeks, Sabatino and Wallace are in the back.  Sabatino is punching numbers into a key pad as Wallace updates the others on the situation out front.  Kensi and Deeks are guarding the group.

When Sam is finished drilling, Callen snakes an endoscope camera through the hole.  Skinner has the hostages lined up against the door.  "Doc" – one of the SEALs – is takes the two tanks and starts pumping 70% nitrous oxide, 30% oxygen into the room.  This will knock out everyone inside.

Wallace's CIA station gun set-up is out of ammo, which is fine with Sabatino – he's ready to roll.  The ISIS fighters notice the shooting has stopped.  Breaching the station, they are all inside when Sabatino blows up the building.  Wallace is impressed with the explosion – "the CIA don't play."  With the intel and weapons inside the building, the CIA has to make sure they destroy anything they can't take with them.  Kensi "loves it when a plan comes together," quoting The A-Team.  Deeks notes The A-Team quote, a quote Wallace heartily approves – "strong choice."

With the camera, Callen sees that everyone inside the Damage Control Center is out cold.  A "hull tech" will open the door.  The SEALs will secure Skinner and his men for questioning while the hostages will be treated by the flight surgeon.  

Douglas and Harm get a call from Hetty.  She is on a plane with Mac and Fatima.  Captain Douglas smiles when he sees Hetty, noting that nothing changes – he's living in cramped, crowded quarters, she's flying private.  Harm and Mac share deep, meaningful stares.  Callen and Sam arrive with Sam asking about Kensi and Deeks.  Fatima provides an update while Mac tells them about the search for French journalist Alexandra Duvivier and Muhammad Pliyev.

Douglas asks if Israel, Iran and Saudi Arabia know if the attacks were launched under a false flag.  They do not.  Retaliatory strikes would lead to an all-out Middle Eastern war.  The State Department has all their personnel working to stop those strikes but the only ones with proof that the attacks were a set-up are Duvivier and Pliyev.  With real diplomacy likely taking months, Hetty and crew have permission to work through back channels.  Hetty wants to know what Skinner knows.

Kensi, Deeks, Sabatino and Wallace are making their way to the last GPS position for Duvivier and Pliyev.  When Sabatino stops to find a better route, Deeks worries about being so exposed.  Wallace agrees – the area is crawling with ISIS fighters.  Oh, Deeks isn't worried about them – "they got guns, I've got guns" – he's more worried about wolves.  Kensi assures him the wolves are likely more afraid of him than he should be of them.  Sabatino doesn't want to talk about wolves.  Deeks moves on to jackals and concerns that they could team up with the wolves, becoming the new Avengers.  Wallace asks Kensi if she knew Deeks before she decided to marry him.  "I made a semi-informed decision."  Sabatino finds a route just as Deeks is sure he sees a Persian leopard.

Skinner is sitting in the ship's interrogation room with Callen, Sam and a standing Harm.  Callen tells Skinner he is going to spend the rest of his life in jail.  Skinner doesn't care since nobody in the room but Skinner knows what is really going on.  Sam brings up one of the other spies who Skinner quickly dismisses as a coward who knows nothing of the plan.  Harm is seething – "You killed my men."  Skinner tells Harm it was an honor to do so.  Callen brings things back to Skinner's co-conspirators.  The SEALs are questioning everyone on the ship.  Sam is sure the spies will turn on Skinner – "you'll never breathe fresh air gain."  Skinner takes a deep breath.  Callen and Sam leave.  Harm promises to make Skinner's life a living hell.  Waiting for the "great jihad to commence," Skinner has prepared his mind.

Fatima is doing push-ups on the plane.  She has a great cardio circuit for long plane trips.  Hetty believes living her life is enough cardio.  Mac envies Fatima's discipline.  She needs her gloves, her mouthpiece and her trainer to get going – Muay Thai.  Fatima would like to train with Mac.  Deciding to help the pilots fly the plane, Hetty leaves for the cockpit.  Before she goes, she suggest Fatima ask Mac about D.C.

Fatima isn't sure how Hetty knows about her assignment request for D.C. - she’s applied for a job at the NCIS field office.  Mac thinks Washington is a great city for someone Fatima's age – restaurants, parks.  Fatima asks about "the guys" but Mac admits she's really not the Bumble type.  Fatima brings up Harm and immediately regrets it.  Mac is fine – they were engaged but "life got complicated."  Fatima thinks it is a "wow" moment that she is going to see Harm for the first time in nine-years.  Mac agrees.

Kensi can see six ISIS fighters and a truck near the last GPS location for Duvivier and Pliyev.  Kensi and Deeks will approach from one side, Sabatino and Wallace from the other.  Wallace leaves saying "wolves and jackals and leopards, oh my," to Deeks, earning a laugh from Kensi.  Deeks is less entertained.

Callen knows they'll get nothing from Skinner – "a complete zealot".  Harm is worried about the safety of the sailors on the Allegiance.  Back with Captain Douglas and the plane with Hetty and company, Callen and Sam see Hetty is missing.  Fatima explains Hetty is flying.  "Of course she is," Callen says.  Mac has two people suggested by the CIA who may be able to help defuse the situation.  Laleh Ayari in Tehran is the daughter of an influential leader who would be receptive to getting a message to her father.  The second person is Eliana Sapir, who Callen knows is Mossad.  Callen and Harm are to go to Tel Aviv to talk to Sapir.  Sam and Fatima are on their way to Tehran to make contact with Ayari.

Sam is worried that Sapir and Ayari have to take their word for what's going on.  The hope is that Kensi and Deeks can find Duvivier and Pliyev to provide the proof.  Everyone is meeting at a private airfield in Riyadh.  Harm asks about Mac's plans.  She and Hetty are meeting with Saudi leadership.  As they're all about to sign off, Callen tells Mac and Fatima that Hetty is better at flying planes than landing them.  Mac seems startled.

With Kensi and Deeks in position, Sabatino walks up to the ISIS fighters and says he's looking for a friend.  Kensi and Deeks come up from behind and start shooting the fighters.  Quickly, all the men are dead.  Their vehicle is also pretty shot up.

In a Riyadh parking garage that looks like the same garage where Deeks bought Kensi's ring, where Kensi and Deeks were in a gunfight  in "End Game", where Callen found the cheating FBI/AUSA lovers in "SEAL Hunter" – oh, I could go on – Team Hetty meets with Callen, Sam and Harm.  Hetty provides introductions.  Harm and Mac share a meaningful stare.  So meaningful that Callen coughs and everyone leaves them alone.  Harm goes in for a handshake – always the romantic – but Mac wants a hug.

There is no sign that Duvivier and Pliyev are near the now dead ISIS fighters.  Wallace wonders if Duvivier hired some of locals to help.  Sabatino's intel says no – she did not know anyone in the area.  Kensi sees ATV tracks.  The four decide to follow.

Callen and Harm are looking for Eliana in a Tel Aviv gym.  Harm is amazed that Callen doesn't have any questions about seeing Mac, his ex-fiancé, for the first time in nine years.  Hey Harm – maybe dial back that ego a little.  Whoops, did I type that out loud?  Anyway, Callen doesn't really care but Harm wants to know about Eliana.  Callen said they worked together, were together for a while and then they weren’t.  Harm says it was the same with Mac and understands.  "Guys like us are, we're not that easy to be with," Harm assures Callen.  Callen doesn't agree – he's completely emotionally available.  

Eliana appears.  She and Callen share a hug and talk about old times.  Eliana knows about the missile launch and wants to talk in private.

Kensi sees a couple in their forties in a home.  Wallace spots the ATV tracks but no ATVs nearby.  The couple are working with something in baskets.  The local marijuana and opium trade is strong in the area.  The four go to speak to the couple.

In Iran, Sam and Fatima are hanging out at a mall.  They watch Lelah Ayari enter one of the stores – she works as a saleswoman.  The store is empty except for another saleswoman.  Once that woman leaves, Sam and Fatima plan on talking to Lelah.

Sam notices how comfortable Fatima is.  She likes Iran.  She's also "totally ride or die Beverly Hills" to the point that she doesn't like going east of La Cienega but she's the majority in Iran.  When the women there put their hijab on they don't…Sam finishes, "worry that they're making an overt political statement when all you're doing is going to In-N-Out for a double-double?"  That sort of insight, Fatima tells him, is why he is "the man."

Kensi tosses a large stone near the structure where the couple are working.  When they stand, Wallace and Sabatino have their weapons drawn.  Based on the couple's clothes – Deeks called the Patagonia ambassadors (they don't hire models) – they are not ISIS fighters.

In Riyadh, Hetty is old friends with Prince Kamal.  She introduces Mac.  Kamal gives his backstory to Mac, including "Hetty's team saved me."  The Prince asks about Sam and states that he is indebted to Sam and to Hetty for all time.  He also knows they are in Saudi Arabia about the missile launch.  Mac explains it was a false flag attack – something she'd like Kamal to tell his family.  He can't without facts and proof.

Deeks has a silly conversation with Sabatino about truffles – that's what the couple with the ATV were cultivating.   A sudden case ignorance for Deeks about truffles, since he spoke about them in "Citadel" but now he's a mac and cheese kind of guy.  Wallace finishes interrogating the couple.  She's an accountant, he's a store clerk.  They like to camp, hunt truffles and make a little money selling the truffles.  ISIS has been kidnapping truffle hunters for ransom so the four of them scared the couple.  The two came across Duvivier and Pliyev, badly dehydrated and running from ISIS.  They provided the couple with water and gave them their ATVs.  With about five miles of gas in the ATVs, they likely haven't gotten too far.  Mac calls – they need proof and need it now.  The Saudis and Israelis are ready to retaliate.  Hetty gets on the call and tells Kensi to do whatever is needed to prevent this war.

In Tel Aviv, Eliana needs proof too.  Callen asks her to trust him.  She brings up London.  Harm brings up Hugh Grant movies and wants to know what the plan is.  Eliana tells him that officials in Israel are like officials everywhere – they are going to do what's in their best interest.  Find an official who is against the retaliatory strikes and give him the proof.  He or she can make the best case to the powers that be.  If they go to someone who supports the retaliation, they will bury the proof.

Fatima and Sam approach Lelah in the store.  Sam explains he has information for the Iranian government that will prove the attacks on Saudi Arabia and Israel are part of a false flag operation.  While Lelah hopes he shares that with the government, she's not sure why he's sharing that info with her.  Fatima talks about Lelah's father, a powerful mullah who has great influence with the country's decision makers.  Lelah and her father are estranged – they haven't spoken in two years.  Her father is not happy with the life decisions Lelah made.  Fatima completely understands.  Lelah is willing to try.

Wallace spots the ATVs, now abandoned.  They are getting closer to Duvivier and Pliyev.

In a private casino, Eliana, Callen and Harm approach a man named Noam.  Security is not pleased to see Eliana.  When they tell her to leave, she's not going until she speaks with Noam.  Security insists and things devolve quickly.  Callen is fighting two guards, Eliana has one and Harm wrestles a guy to the ground.  Noam is a good deal more helpful at this point since "I'm not built to sustain what you just did to my men."

Duvivier and Pliyev were captured by ISIS fighters.  Kensi, Deeks, Sabatino and Wallace see the pair as they are being forced to their knees.  As they are about to be executed, team Kensi and Deeks kill the ISIS fighters.  As Deeks tries to comfort Duvivier, he asks for the files about the false flag operation.  A shaking Pliyev hands over a thumb drive.  Wallace sets up a sat-comm link.  Checking to see the intel is what Pliyev says it is, Wallace clears the info and sends it to all of the team's phones.  Kensi calls Hetty to confirm the data has been transmitted.

Callen has the data as well.

Sam and Fatima watch Lelah and her father pass the information along to two government officials.  The officials quickly leave to share what they know.  Lelah and her father reconcile.

The team gathers for dinner.  Kensi, Deeks and Mac are waiting.  Deeks is done with the desert.  That’s too bad since Kensi is going to Coachella and invites Mac.  Sabatino and Chief Wallace arrive.  Wallace is keeping his walking around the desert jacket, it’s going home with him.  Sam and Fatima arrive.  Sam asks about Nell’s Mom.  No improvement.  Next in are Callen and Harm.  Sam asks about Eliana.  No improvement there either.  Harm finishes a call with Captain Douglas – no new ISIS members found onboard the Allegiance.  Hetty – who reserved the restaurant for the night for the group – wants to see Harm.

The dinner wraps up with Deeks snoozing on Kensi’s arm as she continues to eat.  Callen, Sam, Fatima, Sabatino and Chief Wallace are in a different part of the restaurant smoking cigars and telling stories.  At the bar, Harm walks in on Mac as she’s getting nonalcoholic mojitos in a dry country.  The two have an uncomfortable conversation about why they haven’t spoken in nearly a decade.  Mac doesn’t think they ever gave their relationship a real try.  She’s not asking him to come back but they’re colleagues and not husband and wife because they’re both scared to try.  

Harm didn’t know Hetty – they just met.  Hetty offers him a job with NCIS in San Diego or with the Contingency Response Team.  Harm won’t take it – he loves living on the carrier.  Harm asks what are they doing – she doesn’t know but they’re long past letting the fates decide.

Hetty is having some tea – no mocktails for her - when Callen and Sam stop by.  “It would be like cheating on my Nikka Single Malt with a cheap whore.”  Good grief can Linda Hunt sell that line.  She missed working with the wonderful family the team has become.  Callen credits her with what they’ve become.  While the team is flying back to LA in 90-minutes, Callen and Sam are not.  They are not going on an assignment since it isn’t really official.  

What head canon can be formed from here:   We’re not doing a lot of new head canon  because 11 seasons in, we know who most of the series characters are.  So, here’s a comment on the episode and the three-hours given of primetime television to this case.  Who.  Killed.  Ellie.  Simms.  Who killed Ellie Simms?  The murder of a US Marine – her murder - started this investigation and she didn't even warrant a mention in the finale part of the trilogy.  Disgraceful.

Episode number:  The season 11 premiere and the 241st episode.

Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 Finale Easter Eggs & References

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This Star Trek: Lower Decks article contains MAJOR spoilers for the Season 1 finale.

In terms of references, if “No Small Parts” was the only episode of Star Trek you’d ever seen, you would have been given a crash course on the entire franchise. Seriously, if you wanted to explain to someone, very quickly, what Star Trek was about, it would probably be easier to just have them watch the 26-minutes of the Star Trek: Lower Decks finale, “No Small Parts.” The Easter eggs and references start with The Original Series and end up with a big shout-out to the TNG movies, the infamous Enterprise finale, and one officially licensed Star Trek toy that is somehow now canon.

Beta III and Landru 

The episode opens with the USS Cerritos in orbit of Beta III, the planet from the TOS episode “The Return of the Archons.” In that episode, people all worshiped a bizarre god called Landru, but Kirk and Spock determined that Landru was a computer. Landru encouraged people to go nuts once a day during something called “The Red Hour,” which is kind of like the Trek version of The Purge. Ben Stiller also named his production company “The Red Hour,” a fact which he discussed at length in the first episode of the new Star Trek podcast, The Pod Directive, which is co-hosted by Tawny Newsome, better known to Lower Decks fans as the voice of Beckett Mariner. 

Wondering about the word “return” in the episode “Return of the Archons?” Well, the titular Archons were actually humans from an Earth ship called the Archon. The people of Beta III were actually waiting for “the return of the Archons,” meaning, humans from Earth. So, with the Cerritos back at this planet, this is the third time the “Archons” have returned. 

Kirk and Spock from TAS 

On Ransom’s padd, when he’s talking about Kirk and Spock figuring out that Landru “was a computer,” we see an image of Kirk and Spock, exactly as they appeared in Star Trek: The Animated Series in 1973 and 1974. This is the first time that exact animated series depictions of Trek characters have appeared in another Trek series.

Don’t make me paradox you into destroying yourself!

Captain Freeman’s threat to Landru references one of Kirk’s famous talking-a-computer-to-death speeches at the end of the same episode, “Return of the Archons.” Kirk also famously talked other AIs to death in “The Changeling” and “I, Mudd.” 

“TOS Era”

Ransom says it’s “always weird visiting planets from the TOS era.” Freeman naturally questions him on this, and he explains it’s what he calls the 2260s because it was filled with “Those Old Scientists,” or TOS. Obviously, the joke here is that “TOS” is what fans have been calling Star Trek: The Original Series, since, well, there’s been a Next Generation or TNG. 

“A Gamester of Triskelion or whatever” 

Freeman says she never wants people to get taken advantage of by “a gamester of triskelion.” This references the TOS episode “The Gamesters of Triskelion,” who are revealed to be talking brains who make bets using a currency known as “quatloos.” 

Captain Freeman Day

Boimler mentions that the Cerritos has a “Captain Freeman Day,” which references Captain Picard Day from the TNG episode, “The Pegasus.” This is the third time in 2020 that a new Trek series has referenced Captain Picard Day. In the first episode of Picard — “Remembrance” — Jean-Luc revisited the Captain Picard Day banner. And, in Episode 5 of Lower Decks, Captain Picard Day was also referenced outright.

Exocomp

The robot named Peanut Hamper is an Excocomp, a type of sentient artificial life first seen in the TNG episode “The Quality of Life.” In that episode, the Exocomps were recognized as being sentient in 2369. Lower Decks happens in 2380, so it seems like a lot has happened since then. “The Quality of Life” was also directed by Jonathan Frakes, who, spoiler alert, appears in this episode of Lower Decks. 

Wesley Crusher worked with his mom!

Mariner tries to deflect accusations of nepotism by pointing out that “Wesley Crusher worked with his mom!” This is true! In TNG, Wesley Crusher became an acting ensign on the Enterprise while his mother was a member of the senior staff. Both Crushers were often in staff meetings together! Notably, this episode also ends with Riker and Troi and the USS Titan. Riker and Troi are married and serve together as Captain and ship’s Counselor. 

Wolf 359 was an inside job

Mariner’s bad one-time-date tells her “Wolf 359 was an inside job.” This joke is hilarious, but you can also kind of see why people in Starfleet might believe it. After all, the guy who destroyed most of the Starfleet ships at Wolf 359 was Picard, who had been assimilated by the Borg in “The Best of Both Worlds.” Semantically, because the Borg stole knowledge from Picard’s mind and used him to take down Starfleet, they had inside information. 

As he’s leaving, Conspiracy Theory Guy says “Changelings aren’t real, the Dominion War didn’t happen!” This references the Dominion War in Deep Space Nine, which was mostly perpetrated by the shape-shifting race of aliens called The Founders but more commonly called, Changelings. 

Kalla system and the Pakleds

The faked distress call in this episode comes from the Kalla system. This references the TNG episode “Firstborn,” in which the Kalla system is mentioned as a place the Pakleds hang out. 

However, the Pakleds themselves only appeared in one TNG episode ever, “The Samaritan Snare.” As Boimler and Freeman point out, people thought they were a joke back then, too, but it turns out, they’re not anymore!

Apparently, people eat salmon on First Contact Day

Ransom says the Pakled ship is carving up the Cerritos like a “First Contact Day salmon.” First Contact Day references the First Contact, where the Vulcans first formally landed on Earth and met humans. Why would people eat salmon on First Contact Day? Well, First Contact happened in Montana, so maybe, just maybe, there were salmon there? 

Mariner’s contraband

We knew in Lower Decks episode 1, that Mariner had hidden various outlawed items throughout the ship. But, in this scene, we see way more of it. Here’s a breakdown of Mariner’s stuff.

A Tribble from “The Trouble With Tribbles” et al. Mariner later says she uses it for “personal reasons.”

A fencing foil. This references Sulu fighting with a sword like this in “The Naked Time.” It also references Mariner telling Boimler that he could become a “sword guy” in the first Lower Decks episode, “Second Contact.”

A bottle of Klingon Bloodwine

A Klingon Bat’leth

And…a “Spock” helmet. This helmet is based on a toy from the ‘70s produced by AHI. For years, fans have pointed out the helmet has nothing to do with Spock or Star Trek, despite the fact that it was sold as a real Star Trek toy. Ethan Peck jokingly unboxed one of these vintage Spock helmets in December 2019 on StarTrek.com. The fact that Marnier has one of these helmets as “contraband,” seems to imply the Spock helmet is canon. Other than Xon, this Easter egg might be Lower Deck’s deepest, deepest cut. 

Peanut Hamper’s Refusal to Help

When Peanut Hamper the Exocomp says she’ll “pass” on helping save the ship, Tendi says “What about the needs of the many?” This references Spock’s famous axiom from The Wrath of Khan: “The needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few…or the one.”

USS Titan entrance

Although Riker’s USS Titan has been referenced several times on Lower Decks, and one officer even found himself transferred there in Episode 6, this is the first time we actually get to see Riker’s Luna-class starship in action. The way the Titan looks matches with its appearance on the covers of non-canon novels, as does its register number: NCC-80102. In 2379, Riker became the captain of the Titan and Troi, the ship’s counselor.

RED ALERT!

Riker says RED ALERT twice in these Titan scenes. Once when the ship makes its big entrance, and again when he says “We’re still at Red Alert!” This references Riker’s habit for saying “RED ALERT” really, really loud on TNG.

Riker’s first officer seems to be the same species as Linus from Star Trek: Discovery

The alien in the First Officer’s chair looks very much like the Saurian (lizard person) Linus from Star Trek: Discovery. In theory, “Saurians” have been in canon for a long time — Bones and Kirk drank Saurian brandy in TOS, and a Saurian was a prominent background character in The Motion Picture.

Romulan Ale

Mariner says that Riker is “flush with Romulan Ale.” Although Lower Decks referenced Romulan Whiskey in its first episode, this is the first reference to Romulan Ale. In Nemesis, Riker and Troi had Romulan Ale served at their wedding. So, Troi saying “We’ll talk about this,” might reference the idea that she had assumed that all the Romulan Ale had already been drunk.

Starship refit

Captain Freeman insists that she doesn’t want the Cerritos to have cosmetic changes, saying “I hate it when a ship gets repaired and comes out looking all-Sovereign-class.” This references the idea that the original TOS Enterprise looked very different after its refit in The Motion Picture. But, more specifically, it references the Sovereign-class USS Enterprise-E, the ship that replaced the Enterprise-D in Star Trek: First Contact.

Jax’s Death

Jax is the security chief of the USS Cerritos and unexpectedly dies in the first season of a new Star Trek show. This could reference Tasha Yar — the security chief of the Enterprise — who died in the first season of TNG. Jax’s funeral echo’s Spock’s funeral in The Wrath of Khan, but also, Airiam’s funeral in the Star Trek: Discovery episode “The Red Angel.”

Riker calls Carol Freeman his cha’dich

Like Mariner calling Boimler his “cha’dich,” in “Second Contact,” Riker calls Freeman — Mariner’s mom — the same thing. “Cha’dich” is a Klingon term that means someone is basically someone’s loyal assistant, who does their fighting for them. Picard was Worf’s “cha’dich” in the TNG episode “Sins of the Father.”

We don’t use money anymore

Riker tells Mariner “Why don’t you buy me a drink!” Mariner replies “We don’t use money anymore.” This references the fact that most people in the Federation don’t use money. Kirk says something very similar in The Voyage Home when Dr. Taylor says: “Don’t tell me you don’t use money in the 23rd century,” to which Kirk replies, “Well, we don’t!”

Tulgana IV

The planet the Titan is headed for at the very end of the episode is Tulgana IV. This is the same planet Boimler and Mariner visited in the second Lower Decks episode, “Envoys.” 

Boimler has a picture of Jack Ransom in his new quarters?

It really looks like that Boimler has a round photo of Ransom in a place of honor in his new quarters. This is hilarious and weird. Does Boimler think Ransom actually was his friend?

Armus 

Mariner is so angry that Boimler left the ship without telling her that she says: “I’m going to feed you to an Armus!” This references the oil-slick alien Armus from the TNG episode “Skin of Evil.” Again, this is the creature who killed Tasha Yar.

Riker is still obsessed with the NX-01 Enterprise

Riker says he is late to the bridge because “I was watching the first Enterprise on the holodeck, You know Archer and those guys.” This references the infamous finale of Enterprise called “These Are the Voyages…” which is framed as Riker interacting in a holodeck simulation that recreates the final mission of the NX-01 Enterprise. 

Little Risa and the Little Horga’hn

Riker and Troi talk about visiting “Little Risa” on Tulgana IV, which prompts Troi to ask if “we should bring the little Horga’hn.” This references a statue called the Horga’hn which you’re supposed to display openly on Risa if you want to well…get busy. In TNG’s “Captain’s Holiday,” Riker tricked Picard into picking up a statue.

Oh the Jazz

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Riker’s warp speed catchphrase is: “Give me warp in the factor of 5, 6, 7, 8!” He snaps and counts down to this like he’s getting ready to play jazz. Troi says “Oh the Jazz,” which seems to reference her annoyance with this obsession. In “Second Chances,” Troi mocks Riker for being unable to play a certain trombone solo correctly on a song called “Nightbird.” Riker’s interest in playing jazz, specifically the trombone, started with the episode “11001001.” Most recently, Riker was listening to jazz in the Picard episode “Nepenthe,” when Jean-Luc showed up at his house. And now that Lower Decks has put Boimler on the USS Titan, it seems very, very likely that we’ll be hearing more of Riker’s jazz trombone playing in season 2. Hit it!

The post Star Trek: Lower Decks Season 1 Finale Easter Eggs & References appeared first on Den of Geek.

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What Can Even Be Said About “The Storm” And “The Eye” seriously it’s just 90 minutes of me squeezing a pillow and shrieking at the TV. We’re flashing back to LJ era so let me say the rest of this will be “behind the cut”:

General Highlights:

Everyone Wet Pretty Gnnngghghgh Okay, so. Young friends. Before this episode, stills were released. Everyone’s soaking wet. We don’t know why. Forget the episodes themselves, I have still never recovered from that. 

By Walk I Mean Run: The banter is so good in “The Storm.” It’s setting up this vibe where there’s a parallel episode when John, Rodney, Elizabeth, and the two marines hang out and play cards for ten hours while the storm rages and nobody gets killed or taken hostage and they have a good time. I want that for them. I mean, for me I want them to suffer in really attractive ways, but they could all use a rain day from work.

Nice Job Special FX Team: It’s been 15 years and the water effects still hold up pretty well! 

Even Nicer Job Practical FX Team: How did they not have to cancel filming for a month while everyone recovered from pneumonia??

John Sheppard’s Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day: 

Maybe I Should Do The Negotiating From Now On: You know, if Sheppard and Ford hadn’t threatened Smeeden, would he have even contacted the Genii? I mean, probably, but I’m sure it didn’t help.

KOLYAAAAAAA

I Am Going To Kill You: The little pause he takes, blinking in the rain, after he finds out that she’s dead before he takes a breath and heads into the fray -- MY HEART.

John Sheppard Is Very Good At His Job: Can we just appreciate that he essentially singlehandedly saves the city? This pilot knows how to fight on the ground and I am IMPRESSED.

Let Me Talk To Her: Everything changes on a dime here and I love it I LOVE IT. He runs straight from here into an ambush because suddenly there’s a chance to save her and he knows what it’s like to have failed to save her and like I’m not even pretending this is About The Romance because he has had zero seconds to think about this but you’d better bet that he never sees her the same way again after this. 

I’m Not Aiming At Her: I’m honestly surprised he didn’t shoot Kolya in the head, but then I was distracted because he grabs her haaaaaaaaand. 

I Can’t Give Everyone Their Own List So:

I Take It Back They’re No Longer My NoTP: Rodney and Elizabeth are great together throughout this and I’ve been really appreciating them during the rewatch. I don’t think it’s sexual, but he loves her. Her amused affection for him from day one is repaid here in spades -- not only does he step in front of a gun for her, but he’s got his arm around her while they’re in the rain waiting out the ten minutes until Kolya’s probably going to kill her, and it’s so sweet, in case anyone’s out there wondering, I might OT3 this now.

How’s This For Credibility: The actor whose name I’m not bothering to look up does a Really Good Job with this character. I like the little pauses he takes in key moments and we can see the decision being made -- specifically, when he decides to tell Sheppard that Weir is dead, and you know I love the moment when he decides to let Sheppard talk to her because Sheppard just blinked and Kolya’s found a weakness he can exploit. The character himself belongs as the lead a Shakespearean tragedy, because he’s literally won and then he sees the opportunity for greater power and seals his own doom. It’s all set up at the beginning when you can see him chafing against Cowan’s orders. GENII POLITICS I LOVE IT.

THEN END IT: So a big difference for me watching this now over fifteen years ago is that I’ve since lost a parent, and Sora’s reaction in “Underground” and her actions here have this real grief undercurrent that slays me. She fails to avenge her father and Teyla won’t kill her and UGH. I FEEL IT. WHY THE FUCK DIDN’T WE GET MORE SORA I’M STILL MAD ABOUT THIS.

Shut Up, Doctor Beckett: I love this man, don’t get me wrong, and it’s certainly not Ford’s finest hour, but sweet holy mother of pearl is Carson ever annoying in “The Eye.” When Sora knocks him out, I breathed a sigh of relief. 

Teyla Emmagan Can Do No Wrong: That’s just the theme for Atlantis, honestly. 

There Can Never Be Enough Fanfic About This Episode:

They sit in the storm for Many Hours once the shield goes up and for fifteen years, heroic fangirls have filled that time with lost and lots of closet sex. Honestly, though, I kind of want everyone to just surround Sheppard in a six hour group hug.