jespah

Shuttlepod pilot, fan fiction writer, sentient marsupial canid.

Jan

2013

Inspiration – Marriage

Marriage matters.

Background

I’m a married woman. And I have been so for over two decades. It was natural, to me, for my marriage to creep into my writing a bit.

Proposals

Oh, the marriage proposal! It’s an occasion for romance and solemnity, but sometimes some silliness as well. In A Kind of Blue, Lili‘s unexpected pregnancy means that Doug drops to one knee when he drops the testing stick – and then he pops the question. In Truth, Bron works hard to convince Sophra’s parents that he will provide for her and love her, and that he won’t physically hurt her, seeing as he’s a Gorn and she’s a Cardassian.

Ceremonies

Worf and Jadzia‘s wedding

The E² stories in particular show tons of weddings. Captain Archer is nearly always the officiant, and so he has to learn all sorts of ceremonies.

He conducts a Jewish wedding for Karin Bernstein and Josh Rosen, and for Shelby Pike (she’s a convert to Judaism) and Andrew Miller, during both kick backs, and conducts a Muslim ceremony for Azar Hamidi and Maryam Haroun both times as well.

Because Chandrasekar Khan is Hindu and Hoshi Sato is a lapsed Buddhist, he may have conducted some sort of combined ceremony for them as well, but neither version is shown. He also conducts a Vulcan ceremony for Tripp and T’Pol, but that is only shown for the first kick back in time and not the second.

Miles and Keiko’s wedding

Cultural traditions or at least something from the Bible (often the Old Testament, and that’s only because I’m more familiar with it) are also inserted into a lot of these ceremonies. For Karin and Josh, for example, it’s the story of Ruth.

Calafan Style

In A Kind of Blue, Lili and Doug marry in the more or less traditional Calafan style. This includes not only the two of them standing up and saying vows, but their required attendants. Treve and Miva aren’t exactly Best Man and Maid of Honor. Rather, they serve to symbolize the openness of those marriages.

Rom and Leeta’s wedding

In Together, when they decide to open up their marriage to Malcolm and Melissa (and, by extension, Leonora), they copy the Calafan style of doing things. That is, there is a primary daytime male-female twosome union, and a pair of nighttime lovers. One for him, one for her. This arrangement, and the Calafan tradition, can happen because of the psionic properties of the entire Lafa System. With shared dreaming that can often become steamy, married couples can have a second relationship. Hence they almost “cheat” but with far fewer consequences.

For the Calafans, the cheating aspect was eliminated by keeping the Mirror Universe Calafans on their own side of the proverbial pond. But when the Mirror teenaged High Priestess Yimar decides to throw open the door permanently (it was opened a crack in order to let Doug through to the Prime Universe), things get a bit stickier. The Calafan people initially adapt because interbreeding is impossible between Mirror and Prime Universe Calafans (although it’s possible between Mirror and Prime Universe humans). However, by the time of Richard and Eleanor Daniels‘s births, interbreeding is possible (they are both part-human from both universes, part-Vulcan, and part-Calafan from both universes). I have not yet explored how the Calafan people handle the end of this final barrier between the two universes.

Daranaean Style

Seppa

For Daranaeans, marriage is a commercial affair, as wives from three separate castes are purchased by their husbands. Divorce does not exist; wives are merely sold to others if found wanting. Or third caste females end up as the subjects of medical experimentation.

Seppa’s life changes when Brantus purchases her to be his third caste wife. But they love each other, and are a good match, as he is with his two other wives, Anatha and Raelia, in Flight of the Bluebird.

Seppa’s mother, Inta, dies as a result of domestic abuse, and the secondary wife, Mistra, is very nearly convicted of the murder of her unborn male fetus, in Take Back the Night. It is the Prime Wife, Dratha, who helps to get Mistra exonerated.

And in The Cure is Worse Than the Disease, the secondary wife, Libba, and the third caste wife, Cama, are not treated well at all by the Prime Wife, Thessa. The triangular dynamic works in her favor but against the two of them.

The Bedroom

There are any number of between the sheets moments for these couples. These are part of many of the stories, particularly in Together and Fortune. In You Make Me Want to Scream, Keiko Ishikawa O’Brien reveals that things with Miles are very, very good. Married people having a good time are also all over the E² stories. This includes two instances of characters (one male, one female) losing their virginity.

Everyday Life

There’s more to marriage than weddings and sex. There are homes and families. In Pacing and The Gift, Doug works on making a home for Lili. That home is being added to in Temper. In Fortune, Malcolm realizes he needs to do something similar. However, because he has less of a mechanical inclination and isn’t around as much, he doesn’t help build the home. Whereas Doug helps build his own house, a small plot point in Together.

Children aren’t a part of every single marriage, but when they are, they are of course a huge part of any couple’s (or group’s) life. Tumult covers some of the ways that children can change the dynamic. And older children, as in An Announcement, can change it again.

Later Years, to Death and Beyond

Marriages with longevity mean that people experience each other’s inevitable declines. In A Single Step, Zefram Cochrane and Lily Sloan Cochrane quite literally depart at death, as do Doug, Lili and Malcolm in Fortune. In Candy, Kevin O’Connor is the main caregiver for Josie (Jhasi), his critically ill wife. To honor their marriage, he takes her to renew their wedding vows. Jonathan and Miva are shown in later years in A Hazy Shade.

Gina Nolan deals with her husband, Michael’s, early death at the hands of the Breen in Hold Your Dominion. Her second marriage, to the Klingon Kittris, is shown in Wider than the Sargasso Sea.

Divorce

The E² stories contain a few calls for divorce. Plus the captain conducts one during the first kick back in time , between Mara Brodsky and Robert Slater. The cause is adultery – hers – as there is a child who clearly is not Robert’s. And he turns out to be the son of Star Trek: Enterprise canon character Walter Woods, who she later marries. In the second kick back in time, this is avoided when Mara and Walter marry. Therefore Robert, instead, marries Ingrid Nyqvist. In Together, Lili and Doug fight bitterly and consider divorce, but ultimately decide against it, particularly to protect not only their love but also their son, Joss.

Upshot

People don’t just ride off into the sunset. And I prefer it that way. They have lives and arguments and privacy violations and sicknesses and sorrows. But they also have kindness, sexiness, togetherness and some pretty profound joys. It doesn’t have to be in the context of marriage, and sometimes it isn’t. But for the characters who do wed, I hope I’ve done their unions some justice.

Jan

2013

Portrait of a Character – Gary Hodgkins

Gary Hodgkins starts out with a lot of strikes against him and doesn’t improve much.

Origins

I wanted a MACO who would be, at times, a bad guy, or a guy with some pretty hard luck. Star Trek: Enterprise canon didn’t really cover that, but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t cover it in fanfiction. Enter Gary Hodgkins, who first shows up in Intolerance.

Portrayal

Gary Hodgkins (Justin Long)

I wanted him to be fairly young and perhaps a decent-looking guy who has a lot of bad things happen to him. He deserves many of these bad things, both in our universe and in the mirror. Bad stuff can happen!

I selected Justin Long for this portrayal.

Personality

Duty-bound but sometimes difficult, Gary follows along in the mischief that Dan Chang often finds himself getting into. It isn’t until the end of his life in the first E² kick back, and during the second, that he finally becomes a decent person. In the prime universe’s prime timeline, he doesn’t really get a chance. This is because, in Intolerance, he becomes permanently disfigured and disabled. This forces him to leave active Starfleet service. He’s often paired with Tristan Curtis as they are friends and sometimes, quite literally, partners in crime.

Relationships

Sophie Creighton

Because Gary dies young during the first kick back in time (and he has behaved rather badly), he has no relationship then. But in the second kick back, he and Sophie wed. I only give a little about their relationship but there’s a lot on their descendants.

Their grandson Richard marries Jolene Tucker, T’Pol and Tripp‘s (and Susie Money and Mario Lattimer’s) granddaughter. Jolene and Richard’s twins, Stephen and Stephanie, are married (respectively) to Marie Helêne Archer (granddaughter of Jonathan, Esilia, Lili, and José) and Connor Greer IV, who is the father of canon character Greer (although that character did not have a canon first name or even a first initial).

Mirror Universe

Justin Long as MU Gary Hodgkins (image is for educational purposes only)

Gary has numerous issues in the mirror universe. He is seen in Coveted Commodity, loyally guarding the Empress in Sick Bay and spelling trouble for Travis.

In Temper, in the first temporal dislocation, he loses his life with a lot of other people from both universes when the Luna is destroyed in a head-on collision with the Bluebird.

In the second temporal dislocation, he dies during a Calafan slave revolt. And in the correct Mirror Universe timeline, he is falsely accused (as is Tristan Curtis) and is executed for helping Chip and Lucy get away with the Empress’s twin children, Takara and Takeo.

Quote

“The captain, when he told us all about it, he said he hoped it wasn’t due to a lack of trust. I mean, I can see how it could be really upsetting. He married an Ikaaran woman the last time out. To know that she kept something that big from him, I mean, that’s gotta be hard.”

Upshot

I’m not so sure where I can go with Gary, as he’s got to be off the ship (the nature of his disability means that he’s got to fly a desk). But there’s no reason why I can’t show him before Intolerance, or in an office or civilian capacity otherwise.

Jan

2013

Review – Demotion

Demotion sets up two separate story lines.

Background

This is a story to nicely bridge between Star Trek: Enterprise canon and the beginning of both E² kick backs in time. There was a prompt about going AWOL, so there was the opportunity. I decided to dovetail with the canon Hatchery episode.

Heroes and Villains

Corporal’s insignia

There have been so many slash stories written about Major Hayes, it’s not funny. But I have never seen him as gay, so I wanted to riff on that a bit. So I wanted see what it would be like for Hayes to be mistakenly confronted with homosexuality. Furthermore, I wanted the person doing the confronting to be nasty about it. It wouldn’t be a little question, gently asked. Instead, it would be accusatory. It would be like an inquisition. In short, I wanted it to be like Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.

The story opens with Corporal Daniel Chang combing his hair and otherwise getting ready for an assignation with Sandra Sloane. He’s guarding T’Pol, and he’s fine with that. But then Hayes tells him to guard her again. But Chang decides he has had enough. Ignoring Hayes’s orders, he instead goes to Sandra’s quarters. He is close to the door but hasn’t hit the chime or knocked yet.

Private’s Insignia

Hayes, nearby, calls him by name and tells him to report to the galley for KP duty as a punishment. Lili and Jennifer are walking by, and they see what’s happening, so they turn to go a different way. They come back quickly, though. It’s when they hear the sound of fabric being torn.

Story Postings

Rating

The story has a K rating.

Upshot

So it’s a quick story, with fewer than 800 words. But I feel it nicely makes my point I had to establish Chang and Sloane as problem children before either kick back in time. I think Demotion does that.

Jan

2013

Recurrent Themes – Members of the Press

The press should survive.

Background

Oh, the press! I suppose I have a bit of a love-hate set of feelings for them. However, they are, of course, necessary in a democracy. Yet they can be awfully intrusive. I well recall reading about Princess Diana’s death, from a car crash after a chase (and horribly hounding) by paparazzi.

So I’m kind of ambivalent when it comes to the Fourth Estate.

Press Appearances

Rona Moran

In Soldiers’ Marriage Project, and in Flight of the Bluebird, Rona is gossipy. It’s her job; she’s a gossip columnist. She is also over the top. However, she’s sensitive to people, and doesn’t take advantage of her sources and connections, and doesn’t belittle anyone except for her third ex-husband, Maurizio D’Angelo. And she even apologizes to him at the end of Flight of the Bluebird.

Craethe

He is a Daranaean reporter, seen in Take Back the Night. Keeping with that species’ sexist ways, he mainly asks the crew of the NX-01 about their marital statuses and whether they have children. He gets a bit of a shock to learn that Erika Hernandez is a captain. He’s also shocked that Jonathan has never married, Malcolm is a father but isn’t married to Lili, and Phlox has three wives who each have three husbands. Lucy is another bit of a shock for him, that she is unmarried, has a daughter and she’s the one working, whereas her ex is the one at home taking care of their daughter.

Craethe reports on Mistra’s trial, back to an unnamed anchorman in the studio. There is also a nameless field reporter who reports on the protests that go on outside the trial. He even meets the Alpha’s Prime Wife, Dratha, and comments on her smell (e. g. her beauty) rather than her intelligence.

Troy Scott

In Where the Wind Comes Sweepin’ Down the Plain, he’s an anchorman in an alternate timeline and reports on a riot at what turns out to be where Otra is being kept. He comments on footage that contains an image of Anthony Parker with an axe.

Martha Fernandes

In Reflections Down a Corridor, she is seen reporting on the news from 2037, including a sideline interview with one Corporal Phillip Green.

Upshot

No doubt there will be more reporters and newscasters in my Star Trek fan fiction’s future, as the news, and the free reporting thereof, are an essential (yet sometimes abrasive) element in any democracy.

Jan

2013

Portrait of a Character – Rona Moran

Rona Moran has more depth than she used to.

Origins

The Dispatches from the Romulan War series covered this unseen Star Trek canon war through the eyes of news outlets. It had been going on for a few years and was winding down by the time I had an idea to contribute to it. And so I decided I wanted a gossip columnist with a heart of gold.

Portrayal

Rona Moran (excuse me, Verona Linda Moran Dodd Fisher D’Angelo Sherwood) is played by real-life gossip columnist Cindy Adams.

Personality

Larger than life and overly

Cindy Adams

dramatic, Rona is every bit the air-kissing celebrity watcher. She’s been married (and divorced) four times, and occasionally digs at her third ex, Maurizio. She has a British background.

She seems as if she’s very shallow. But the truth is, she isn’t.

In Soldiers’ Marriage Project, she reveals that she’s in charge of a charitable trust that provided all the trappings of a group wedding for 1,000 couples where both members were going off to war. The charity provided all sorts of things, including celebrity waitstaff like actress Alyssa McKenna and shortstop Lefty Robinson. Food and hotel rooms were donated, and rings were provided at cost.

As a reporter, Rona concentrates on one couple, as the huge ceremony is otherwise far too overwhelming. And the story she tells about them is sweet, full of hope for their new life together.

Because of her understanding, Jonathan Archer seeks her out during Flight of the Bluebird in order to dispel a rumor, and it’s revealed that Malcolm and Lili talked to her when the Cochrane was launched as they had had to explain their arrangement in a way that would be understood by the free and open press and would not tank Malcolm’s career.

Relationships

She’s got four ex-husbands, but only the third one, Maurizio D’Angelo, is ever mentioned in any detail. Tthe others are, in order, Dodd, Fisher and Sherwood. Dodd and Fisher are two of Elizabeth Taylor‘s real-life husbands, and Sherwood is a shout-out to HG Wells character Crystal Sherwood. In Flight of the Bluebird, Rona Moran is a lot kinder when mentioning him.

Quote

“I want you all to know, darlings, that there is nothing greater in the galaxy than love. The love in this family is self-evident. As for my exes, you all know, darlings; that I have spoken less than kindly of them in the past. But to all of them and, particularly, to my third ex-husband, Maurizio D’Angelo, I want to apologize. At the very least, in the name of the love that we once shared, I do hope that you can forgive me, Maurizio. And for my part, whether or not forgiveness is forthcoming, I swear to you I will not belittle you again.”

Upshot

I have been trying to find a way to give this rather unique character more air time. Rona Moran will be back, darlings!

Jan

2013

Recurrent Themes – Performing Artists

Performing artists in Star Trek? Sure.

Background

The performing arts are canon. In Star Trek: TOS and TNG, members of the crew put on plays and the like in amateur productions, or characters go to shows. In VOY, characters might see a show on the holodeck, or even participate.

Then in the E² stories, there’s nothing different and exciting to do a lot of the time outside of work, so the characters think up some entertainments.

Singing

In the E² stories, the characters play a baseball game. As a means of opening the game, and to fill in the Seventh Inning stretch, Captain Archer finds a singer. Meredith Porter is an Engineering crewman and an older woman, almost as old as Lili. For the game, she sings America the Beautiful and Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

In the Romulan War story, Soldiers’ Marriage Project, a performance is not seen, but it is referenced – pop sensation Kurt Fong and soprano Rosumund Taylor sing Ain’t No Mountain High Enough. Fong shows up again, or, rather, the team responsible for answering his fan mail, in Gainful.

Lili also sings, but she’s not a professional. In Together, she sings O Pato to Joss. Then in Temper, she sings Arroz con Leche to Tommy. In Fortune, she sings La Petite Poule Grise to Declan. And in the E² stories, she sings Maria Elena to, of course, Maria Elena, and reprises Arroz con Leche, but sings it to the infant Valleri Rostov.

Dancing

Aside from Shelby Pike, who had been a ballerina before she joined Starfleet, no one else is a professional. However, in Together, it’s revealed that Jennifer and Frank are particularly good. In Fortune, Malcolm gives Lili dancing lessons as a wedding gift.

In the E² stories, people dance all the time, either at weddings or at various parties. Because Jenny is paired with Aidan, the pairing isn’t quite as good, evoking the fact that she’s not with the right person. Aidan’s no dancer. He mainly just facilitates her movements. First dates and early explorations of feelings are also expressed through dance, particularly between lonely male crew members and Ikaaran women in both of the kickbacks in time.

Acting

In Wider than the Sargasso Sea, aspiring actress Gabrielle Nolan is forced to star opposite aspiring actor and archenemy Desh, who is a Breen. They act as Jane Eyre and Rochester, respectively, in a production of Jane Eyre.

Actress Alyssa McKenna is mentioned in Soldiers’ Marriage Project, but she isn’t acting. Instead, she’s serving food for a charity.

Playing a Musical Instrument

In the E² stories, Rex Ryan entertains everyone by playing guitar. He has a somewhat limited repertoire and mainly plays songs like This Land is Your Land. However, when he gets together with Meredith, and when she is pregnant with his child, they team up. He plays and she sings Danny’s Song (although in both kickbacks, they name their son Nicholas).

Philip Digiorno is a professional violinist. In An Announcement, he’s shown as a young man, and practices a mazurka while Leonora and Alex, his two younger siblings, listen in.

Historical professional musicians are seen in the HG Wells stories on several occasions, and time traveler HD Avery is tasked with fixing a lot of musical missions, most of which have to do with assuring a musician’s death. However, he also works to assure that the Pink Floyd Dark Side of the Moon album is released. Other professional musicians seen in the series include Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper (JP Richardson), members of Lynyrd Skynyrd and Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain. Cobain and the members of Lynyrd Skynyrd have no lines, however.

Stand Up Comedy

While no one is an actual professional, Chip Masterson dreams of his moment of performing stand up in a little comedy club on Risa, where the audience is mainly composed of appreciative Orion slave girls.

Upshot

Where the characters go, sometimes entertainment follows in their wake. I know I’ll show more plays, songs and dances as more stories are written.

Jan

2013

Inspiration – Marriage

Background

Proposals

Ceremonies

Calafan Style

Daranaean Style

The Bedroom

Everyday Life

Later Years, to Death and Beyond

Divorce

Upshot

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Portrait of a Character – Gary Hodgkins

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Sophie Creighton

Mirror Universe

Quote

Upshot

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Review – Demotion

Background

Heroes and Villains

Story Postings

Rating

Upshot

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Recurrent Themes – Members of the Press

Background

Press Appearances

Rona Moran

Craethe

Troy Scott

Martha Fernandes

Upshot

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Portrait of a Character – Rona Moran

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Quote

Upshot

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Recurrent Themes – Performing Artists

Background

Singing

Dancing

Acting

Playing a Musical Instrument

Stand Up Comedy

Upshot

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