In Between Days series

Sep

2016

Portrait of a Character – Trinning

Trinning is a doctor.

Origins

The Daranaean Trinning started off as a teenaged boy, one of Mistra‘s children. In later stories, I realized I needed a doctor character, so he was elected. He also ended up sympathetic, a family man with a loving home life for all three of his wives.

Portrayal

Stock image of Anubis

Daranaeans aren’t really ‘played’ by anyone. I see Trinning as looking a bit like a Doberman with uncropped ears. As an adult, I picture him as resembling the Egyptian god of the dead, Anubis.

He could be a rather handsome Daranaean.

Personality

Kind, intelligent, and loving, Trinning sees curing Thylacine Paramyxovirus as being his life’s work. But he also comes home to a rousing, loving family life, where he does his best to treat his three wives as equally as possible. He even treats his third caste wife with dignity and respect. That’s still rare in Daranaean society.

Relationships

Kathalia

Trinning’s Prime Wife is a high class Daranaean woman, and is a daughter of Acreon, their war hero. Sharp-eyed readers will remember her from Some Assembly Required, and her father from Take Back the Night. In Some Assembly, Kathalia shows a particularly enlightened attitude by referring to her half-sister Morza (who is a secondary female) as her sister and dropping the half- prefix.

Jamae

In Some Assembly Required, this secondary confesses to her friends that she thinks Trinning smells the best of any boy. In Flight of the Bluebird, he refers to her as his first love.

Tamira

This third caste female is only seen in Flight. She is niece to lab ‘volunteer’ Fyra and mother to Erda, who is a toddler.

Mirror Universe

There are no impediments to Trinning existing in the Mirror Universe.

Anubis, the jackal-headed Egyptian god of the dead

Because the Y Chromosome Skew only affects human (Terran) males, the Daranaeans would not necessarily have a population skewing heavily male. And in the prime universe, their population skews heavily female, hence their caste system.

Therefore, it’s possible that he would have only one wife on the other side of the pond. Without a caste system (I have never written MU Daranaeans, but the idea is of some interest to me), he might just marry his first love, Jamae.

Quote

“The table has four legs, and none of them are any longer than the others. If they were, the table would fall. You are one of my loves, regardless of your caste.”

Upshot

When I wrote the first Daranaean stories, it seemed as if the men would invariably be the bad guys. Trinning, instead, is a hero.

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Aug

2016

Portrait of a Character – Rellie

Rellie is a kind of short order cook.

Origins

During Temper, the only intelligent way to get Lili onto the Defiant was for her to be disguised as a Calafan slave and work in a kitchen. This meant creating a kitchen manager (the position would not really be that of a head chef). Enter the Xindi humanoid Rellie.

Portrayal

Mia Sara as Rellie (image courtesy IMDB)

Rellie is played by actress Mia Sara. This lovely actress has a long history and has science fiction cred.

Personality

Efficient and smart, she will only go so far to look out for her charges. They are (Lili, Polloria, and Aliwev) adults and are not really her responsibility. She just wants to save her own skin, or at least make her job easier. When Lili arrives, and knows how to cook, it’s as if a dream has come true for the oppressed slave kitchen manager.

Relationships

Rellie has no known relationships.

Mirror Universe

Rellie has only been a part of the Mirror.

Mia Sara as the prime universe Rellie (image is courtesy of the DC Comics wiki)

Does she exist in the prime universe?

It’s an interesting question.

I sometimes confuse her a bit with Dayah, who is also a Xindi humanoid, and is of a similar vintage.

But their fates are rather different, even though they are both oppressed women. Rellie, like a lot of Mirror Universe women, has to be ruthless and self-serving. In our universe, those personality traits would be looked upon as flaws.

Quote

“We must always tell them that we can do anything they ask. No matter if it seems at all impossible or difficult. You have been doing this for years. Surely you know that by now. Never show any weakness.”

Upshot

I created this character for a specific purpose, and I think she fulfilled it fairly well. Since her placement was the result of the second alternate timeline in Temper, there are any number of other Mirror Universe niches she could fill. Maybe I’ll pick her up again.

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Aug

2016

Focus on the Terran Empire

The Terran Empire is a huge part of my fan fiction.

Focus

A focus (unlike a spotlight) is an in-depth look at a Star Trek fanfiction canon item and my twist(s) on it.

Of course, all of fan fiction is like that, but the idea here is to provide a window into how a single canon concept can be used in fan fiction.

Background

A lot of what happens in the Terran Empire absolutely defies logic (Vulcan pun only partly intended). Even in a multiverse with seemingly infinite (or thereabouts) universes with infinite variables, it makes no sense that our heroes’ counterparts would all be serving together.

Okay, so it’s really just a vehicle for tossing a bunch of evil twins onto the screen. Let’s run with that.

In order to make it all work, I decided on a few helper characteristics which would explain things better. Of course the real reason why there are a lot of men in the Mirror Universe is because of who was hired, particularly during the TOS era. For a show and a premise that were touting sex and violence, men would have to be hired in order to up the violence ante. For my fanfiction, I explain this away with the Y Chromosome Skew.

But what about the Terran Empire? First off, the TOS era would have undoubtedly showed a white man in power. Certainly, in canon, the person in charge is a man. But then ENT comes around, and Hoshi Sato declares herself Empress. To my mind, she would have a need for a successor and she could succeed as Empress if she operated under Machiavellian principles.

Hall of Mirrors and the Succession

A review of the Mirror Universe stories I have written creates a semblance of a decent history of the place. The first story is The High Cost of Dissidence, where Lili‘s counterpart’s family dies. Under Emperor Phillip (tyrant Phillip Green in our universe), Charlotte’s father is arrested as a dissident for daring to speak his mind.

Next is Paving Stones Made From Good Intentions, where Doug, a mere child, is sent away to a brutal school.

After ENT Canon

After the canon MU episodes comes Throwing Rocks at Looking Glass Houses, where Hoshi kills off all rivals (including T’Pol, Ian, and Phlox) and the Emperor, and consolidates her power ruthlessly.

In between, Hoshi and Rick Daniels hook up during The Stranger, and she becomes pregnant. His death is faked and she gives birth to Jun.

In Reversal, the Empress Hoshi is ensconced in power but is bested by Doug as Jennifer, Tripp, and Beth also escape.

Next up is Brown, where Hoshi is pregnant for a second time (by Aidan), and Chip holds back while José and Frank sniff around her.

In Ceremonial, Tripp and Beth have their own child, Charlie, as they become citizens of the MU Lafa System.

By the time of Coveted Commodity, she is pregnant by Travis.

Next is Gilded Cage, where Aidan is further disgraced and is planning to leave. The Conspiracy advances that subplot.

In Temper, when Travis is killed, Hoshi taps Andrew to take his place. When Andy meets Melissa for the first time, it’s shown in The Play at the Plate. He plans his escape when Melissa dies, in Escape, a deed that is seen from another angle in Shake Your Body.

Fortune shows more of the Mirror, including fast-forwarding ahead to not only Melissa’s death, but Norri‘s as well.

At about the same time as The Play at the Plate, Susan is looking to give up drinking, in The Pivot Point.

Much later, in Bread, a Mirror Leah Benson escapes to Andoria and is reunited with Diana Jones.

HG Wells and the Terran Empire

The royal family is reunited in He Stays a Stranger.

The Empress’s less than dignified death is shown in Who Shall Wear the Robe and Crown? She is succeeded by Jun and Kira.

During TOS, the Captain’s Woman, Janice Rand, is killed by Marlena Moreau in That’s Not My Name. The crime is investigated as Rand was allegedly the Emperor’s niece, in It Had to be You.

And finally, in Mirror Masquerade, Travis and Hikaru Sulu are switched, and it’s up to the Temporal Integrity Commission to put everyone back where they belong.

Upshot

With my fanfiction, Hoshi’s life reads a lot like Caligula’s or Nero’s, and that was by design. In bits and pieces, it ended up being a somewhat epic saga. It could use more development in later years. In the Barnstorming series, I add a Mirror connection, but the Empire is supposed to be gone by then. But I like it and will find a way to bring it back.

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Aug

2016

Portrait of a Character – Boestus

Boestus is a politician.

Origins

For Flight of the Bluebird, I wanted there to be Daranaean elections. Much like the United Nations does today, the USS Bluebird and its captain, Malcolm Reed, would be brought in, in order to observe and prevent violence at polling places. Vidam was already going to be the liberal candidate. He needed an opponent, so I created the conservative standard-bearer, Boestus (pronounced beast-us).

Portrayal

Irish wolfhound puppy

Like most Daranaeans, Boestus isn’t really ‘played’ by anyone. He is an older fellow so I see him as being gray. This image of an Irish wolfhound works well.

Personality

Traditional and somewhat unyielding, Boestus feels that the traditional Daranaean life and home are important. He wants them to continue. But he is directly confronted by its inherent injustices. Unlike a lot of present-day real life politicians, he is capable of seeing the error of his ways, and learns how to change.

Relationships

Nitha

Like all Prime Wives, Nitha was very expensive. But she is concerned when the end is coming for Shura. Unlike what happens in other traditionalist Daranaean households, she may be higher up in the food chain than Carya and Shura are, but she isn’t cruel to them.

Carya

The secondary wife of Boestus is also somewhat defiant and is protective of Shura, who cannot defend herself.

Shura

In a traditional Daranaean household, a third caste female is called ‘last caste’ and is euthanized at menopause and seen as being useless. But Shura stands up for herself, an act that helps Boestus to see the error of his ways and change his mind.

Mirror Universe

As with many other characters, there are no impediments to Boestus existing in the Mirror Universe.

Arkin’s, chiot Irish Wolfhound, propr. L. et S. Pruvot (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The MU is a tougher place, but the Y Chromosome Skew only affects human (Terran) males and not Daranaeans.

With a more balanced society, at least in terms of the gender of children being born, Boestus might end up with just one wife. For a conservative looking to better himself and social climb, he would likely only end up with Nitha.

Quote

“I am supposed to protect you. Acreon is taking on these humans’ ways far too much. You have seen what their women do, and how they act and how they dress. It is; it is not right.”

Upshot

I really loved working with this character, understanding him as a person and making him a rival but not a bad guy. Boestus is the very essence of people who can disagree without being disagreeable, who can admit when they are wrong, and who can change. I would like to write him again some time.

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Aug

2016

Portrait of a Character – Dayah

Dayah is a doctor – almost.

Origins

For Together, I wanted a wise woman who would have a bit of medical-type training. Enter the Xindi humanoid, Dayah.

Portrayal

Kate Winslet as Dayah (image is for educational purposes only)

Dayah is played by actress Kate Winslet.

The actress is beautiful, yes, but also somewhat chameleon-like. She has played old-fashioned before (Titanic, anyone?) and so I think she could almost inhabit the role of a young grandmother type if she wanted to.

Personality

Intelligent and reserved, Dayah knows the score in the Witannen facility and teaches what she knows to Lili. She is also a big part of Lili and Jennifer surviving the experience.

Relationships

Emmiz

In the Witannen holding facility, Dayah is paired up with every male, but it’s Emmiz who she really cares about. He loves her back, even though she is old enough to be his grandmother.

Mirror Universe

There are no impediments to Dayah existing in the Mirror Universe, although I doubt she would be anyone’s prisoner.

What If (Kate Winslet song) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

I write Mirror Universe women as being overly beholden to men, but that might only apply to human (e. g. Terran) females. What if it didn’t apply to Xindi humanoids?

If that were the case, then Dayah might have the opportunity to have an independent kind of life, with self-determination. It’s an intriguing idea.

Quote

“Just, consider how today is going to be, and tomorrow, here. And think of the future later, when it has come and it matters. Be happy today. Tomorrow you could be in another unit, and things would not be so nice.”

Upshot

I don’t think I’ll be able to find a place for this character, but I do like her. About the last she’s heard of is a letter to Lili, so maybe they continue to correspond. I don’t know.

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Jul

2016

Portrait of a Character – Colleen Romanov

Colleen Romanov is artistic.

Origins

I needed to fill the NX-01 with women for the E² timelines. In order to distinguish this character from the others, I decided to give her some visual artistic talent. This comes in rather handy when, during The Three of Us, Maryam and Azar get married.

Portrayal

Portrait of a Character – Colleen Romanov

Mischa Barton as Colleen Romanov (image is for educational purposes only)

Colleen is played by actress Mischa Barton.

This lovely young actress seems to have had some weight issues lately. She seems to have gotten middling roles; not too highbrow, but also not too trashy.

She also has a DUI conviction on her record.

Personality

Friendly and knowledgeable, the skilled pilot is also a bit of a visual artist. For Maryam and Azar’s wedding during The Three of Us, she paints the bride’s hands (and the maid of honor, Tracey Carter) with food coloring as there is no henna. She draws a procul and a malostrea on Maryam’s hands.

Relationships

Ethan Novakovich

Colleen’s only known relationship is with Ethan. They marry during both kicks back in time. In Everybody Knows This is Nowhere, she reveals that he is rather shy, and she practically had to convince him she had found a new life form in a cargo bay before he would realize that they should be together.

Mirror Universe

Colleen doesn’t have any impediments to existing in the Mirror Universe.

Mischa Barton as Mirror Colleen (image is for educational purposes only)

However, because I created her after writing Fortune, she does not show up there during the In Between Days main storyline.

That does not mean that she does not exist and, given her weight issues (the actress suffers from depression), Empress Hoshi might want her around and not see her as too much of a sexual threat. But given that women are so scarce in my version of the Mirror Universe, she probably has someone. But if her prospects are poor, then her mate and protector might not be someone who is so nice, perhaps Tristan Curtis or Gary Hodgkins.

Quote

“Yes, that’s supposed to be a procul, but I didn’t get in all fourteen legs. And here, is a malostrea.”

Upshot

Like a lot of characters in my overall storyline, Colleen exists for support and not much more. But she’s a decent utility infielder type of player, and may be back. To write her as a part of the Mirror Universe could prove to be a fruitful exercise.

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Jul

2016

Portrait of a Character – Cama

Cama gets a bum rap.

Origins

As I wrote The Cure is Worse Than the Disease, the idea of a tripartite Daranaean society (four parts if you really want to get technical, and include the men) began to shape up. As a result, I needed to have a representative from what Captain Erika Hernandez ends up referring to as the ‘bargain basement caste’. And so I created Cama.

Portrayal

Irish Setter image, intended to represent Cama (image is for educational purposes only)

Like nearly all Daranaean characters, Cama isn’t really ‘played’ by anyone.

I tend to use images of dogs, so the idea here is that she would resemble an Irish Setter quite a bit. Despite her low status, she could potentially be rather beautiful in appearance.

Personality

Forced into a subservient role, Cama chafes under male control, and would prefer to be the architect of her own destiny. Hence she ‘proves’ her breeder value by selectively aborting any daughters she may be carrying. It’s not just for the selfish reason of wanting better treatment; it’s also because she doesn’t wish her existence on anyone. But she’s also an old school third caste Daranaean female. Hence, she is illiterate.

When she turns menopausal, she is shipped to a research facility that is investigating a cure of Thylacine Paramixovirus. Fortunately, that facility is run by Drs. Trinning and Rechal, who care about their test subjects. In Flight of the Bluebird, Cama gets to show just how heroic she really can be, even in her own quiet way.

Relationships

Elemus

Just like Libba and Thessa, Cama can only have a relationship with the male she is sold to. That is Elemus. While he isn’t exactly kind, he is not actively evil, either. He is certainly not like the murderous Arnis.

Mirror Universe

In the Mirror Universe, life is rougher for every kind of female, and that includes humans and, of course, Daranaeans.

Irish Setter as Mirror Cama (image is for educational purposes only)

But women are also, often, sexier. Maybe she uses her body to get ahead, or at least to survive.

Quote

“See, all you do is you take off a little sprig. And you stick it in your mouth and get saliva on it. It has turned grey, see? That means I am carrying another boy child, just like my pouchling.”

Upshot

I was so glad to not just leave it with her, and find a way to show Cama again, and make it obvious that she had survived her childbearing years. Plus maybe, at least a little bit, Elemus did care for her after all.

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Jul

2016

Portrait of a Character – Geming Sulu

Geming Sulu serves some purposes.

Origins

Doug needed one last kill in order to get on board the ISS Enterprise and, eventually, the ISS Defiant. I decided that, as in canon, he would kill his superior officer in order to get there (this is, after all, the Mirror Universe where he and Geming are first seen). And so, he knifes Geming in the gut, as Geming is slated to be the MACO CO and Doug is not. Blood on his hands, Doug gets what he wants.

In the prime universe, things are of course rather different, and Geming is the father of Joss‘s wife, Jia.

Portrayal

Jet Li as Geming Sulu (image is for educational purposes)

Geming is played by actor Jet Li.

I like this handsome actor of Chinese extraction. It doesn’t hurt that his martial arts background dovetails well with the martial arts connection to the canon character, Hikaru Sulu.

Personality

Intelligent and thoughtful, the Geming of our universe is a good father. He and Mai reconcile after their divorce, and remarry. He settles on Lafa II and they rebuild their lives together.

Relationships

Mai Sulu

Geming’s only know relationship is with Mai. He predeceases her, according to Jia, in Fortune.

Mirror Universe

Geming exists in the Mirror Universe, and is Doug’s last male human kill (Deborah Hadden is killed accidentally when Doug escapes to our universe). There is nearly nothing known about him, but that’s as one would expect; because a part of the recitation of Doug’s kills in Fortune is how meaningless some of them are, and how they can be almost mechanical.

Quote

“The Lafa System is certainly far from everything else. This is why I moved here when Mai did. I meant to tell you; I suppose being nearby did us both some good. We’ve decided to reconcile, and to remarry.”

Upshot

Geming, like other peripheral characters, flits in and out but rarely has the spotlight. But every storyline needs supporting characters, and so he might return at some point in time.

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Jun

2016

Portrait of a Character – Noemy Chelenska

Noemy Chelenska started off as just a sounding board for Milena.

Origins

As a part of Rick Daniels meeting Milena Chelenska, he is originally hit by a car. Milena, a doctor, thinks she needs to treat him, but that’s unnecessary, given that his blood is spiked with stem cell growth accelerator. As she watches him rapidly heal without any intervention on her part, someone had to take pictures and be the person who she would bounce ideas off. Enter Noemy, who gets her name from a family friend.

Noemy is also seen in Day of the Dead; she’s only fourteen when Tripp Tucker and others liberate Dachau.

Portrayal

Barking up the Muse Tree | jespah | Janet Gershen-Siegel | Klara Issova

Klara Issova as Noemy Chelenska (image is for educational purposes only)

Noemy is played by Czech actress Klara Issova.

I like to try to get actors of the same or a close ethnicity and Issova certainly fits the bill. It’s a bonus that she was in Anne Frank: The Whole Story, and plays a Holocaust survivor.

Personality

Brittle and damaged, Noemy and Pawel are constitutionally incapable of getting together, or so it seems. Even in the late 1960s, after having known each other for over twenty years, she still can’t call him first. They are at a stalemate until Rick arrives and turns their lives upside-down.

Relationships

Pawel Balcescu

Noemy’s only known relationship is with Pawel. They meet after their liberation from Dachau when they are waiting, with Milena and Mrs. Klinghofer, at a transit camp. This puts their meeting after the end of Day of the Dead.

Mirror Universe

There are no impediments to Noemy existing in the Mirror Universe.

Portrait of a Character - Noemy Chelenska

Klara Issova as Mirror Noemy (image is for educational purposes)

As an artist (she is a portrait photographer), she would be in an elite class and could be rather wealthy indeed.

Quote

“What do you mean to do? We do not; I will not have you speed her along.”

Upshot

Prague Spring

For a character who started off as little more than a sounding board, she lives through the Velvet Revolution and even captures it in pictures.

Not bad for the ol’ gal, eh?

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Jun

2016

Portrait of a Character – Thomas Digiorno-Madden

Thomas Digiorno-Madden is a bridge character.

Origins

In order to get the open marriage/arrangement really going among Lili, Doug, Melissa, Norri, and Malcolm, and to really amp it up and certainly require that Melissa have a connection to the Beckett marriage, the best and easiest way of accomplishing that was for her to conceive Doug’s child during Together. There is no planning for Tommy at all (or for Kevin).

But the truth is, the arrangement cannot exist or at least begin without him. He is absolutely indispensable at the beginning of his life and, it turns out, at the end of it as well.

Portrayal

Portrait of a Character – Thomas Digiorno-Madden

Kiefer Sutherland as Thomas Digiorno-Madden (image is for educational purposes only)

Tommy is played by actor Kiefer Sutherland. I had originally thought of Tommy as being dark-haired. But I thought of Sutherland in 25, and could not get him out of my head.

I love this image of the actor, and I have used it, with a flame in place of the ’24’, as the cover of Seven Women.

Personality

Duty-driven and honor-bound, Tommy is the kind of person who Erika Hernandez utterly depends upon and, later, so does Captain Robau. If you don’t know who Robau is, Google him. I can wait.

Relationships

Cindy Morgan

Tommy mentions her in Seven Women, that it was sort of a secondary relationship versus Joss and Jia. They were essentially forced into a one-room schoolhouse on Lafa II, and there were few romantic prospects. But she wasn’t the one, and they both knew it.

Takara Sato Masterson Tucker

Takara, the Empress Hoshi Sato’s only daughter meets Tommy in a dream during Fortune. I had originally decided that that would be it, and they would not see each other again. Temper would remain an outlying temporal fluke. But then the idea of then being together in dreams was be a good one. So I wanted her to be his only semi-attainable love match. During Eight, in the Out of the Caves of Lafa II chapter, she reveals that she believes her son is really Tommy’s. I’m not so sure how I feel about that, as there are virtues to making Tommy the father or making Charlie Tucker IV the father.

But either way, Tommy and Takara are a bit like what would have happened to the overall storyline if the crossover in Reversal had failed, and Doug and Lili could not truly be together. It made sense for some of the endings to not be such happy ones.

Theme Music

During Temper, Tommy’s music is Green Day’s When I Come Around.

Mirror Universe

It is impossible for Tommy to have a Mirror Universe counterpart, as he is already a Prime Universe/Mirror Universe crossbreed.

Kiefer Sutherland as Tommy in the Mirror Universe (image is for educational purposes only)

In Temper, though, it is established that he and also Marie Patrice are having the easiest time adjusting, and Tommy is drawn more strongly to that side than any of that crossbred generation. It’s likely that the two things that draw him are the possibility of a much faster command and Takara herself.

Truth is, Tommy in the Mirror is meaner. But he probably would have been similar to what he became, a lifelong soldier. In many ways, Tommy is Doug without real love and a home in his life. The most significant thing he contributes to the timeline (assuming he isn’t Charlie Tucker IV’s father after all) is the sacrifice that ends his life.

Quote

“Here come the flames.”

Upshot

Tommy’s adult life is not well-documented. There is a lot more to tell. He will be back.

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Portrait of a Character – Trinning

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Kathalia

Jamae

Tamira

Mirror Universe

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Upshot

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Portrait of a Character – Rellie

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Mirror Universe

Quote

Upshot

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Focus on the Terran Empire

Focus

Background

Hall of Mirrors and the Succession

After ENT Canon

HG Wells and the Terran Empire

Upshot

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Portrait of a Character – Boestus

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Nitha

Carya

Shura

Mirror Universe

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Upshot

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Portrait of a Character – Dayah

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Emmiz

Mirror Universe

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Upshot

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Portrait of a Character – Colleen Romanov

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Ethan Novakovich

Mirror Universe

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Upshot

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Portrait of a Character – Cama

Origins

Portrayal

Personality

Relationships

Elemus

Mirror Universe

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Upshot

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Portrait of a Character – Geming Sulu

Origins