#pixie ships

Hello! I actually have not yet, so here you go:

Let's assume everything that happens in SNW (including everything we have yet to see) and everything that happens in TOS happens exactly as we see it.

Post the five year mission (TOS), both Spock and Christine are overwhelmed with ~feelings~ (for each other and in general) and decide they need to Work On Themselves. Spock runs away to Vulcan to pursue Kohlinar and Christine runs away to Earth to pursue an MD. Christine succeeds but Spock does not. As much as Spock finds emotional entanglements extremely inconvenient and generally painful, he can't give them up. Despite all his attempts to convince his Vulcan mentors, and himself, otherwise: he loves Jim Kirk, he loves McCoy and Uhura, he loves his mother, and he loves Christine. He also genuinely cares about people, all people. So he fails to achieve Kohlinar and returns to the Enterprise and his friends, his loved ones.

Post his return to Starfleet (TMP), he starts teaching at the Academy and settles on Earth. Dr. Chapel now works at Starfleet Medical and thus they're in the same city and the same circles. One day they're both having lunch in the crowded Fleet cafeteria and end up sharing a table.

They catch up. Spock lists everything he's gone through in the last few years and slowly realizes Christine already knows. She laughs and says, Spock you're the most famous person in Starfleet and also Dr. McCoy loves to gossip. Spock finds that accurate and logical and they share a small smile. Christine launches into her own rundown but Spock indicates he already knows, too. He compliments her recent research paper. You read it? He says of course and that he knows all about the research trip it grew out of. She's flattered and blushing. He reminds her that Dr. McCoy loves to gossip and she laughs, of course, ha ha, but beneath the words she knows that Mccoy wouldn't 'gossip' to Spock about her unless it got an emotional response from him.

Their lunch is very pleasant but neither knows how to say so, or how to end it. Christine thinks she's too old to be so awkward and after all this time, and yet! Eventually Spock mentions a conference coming up, she confirms she's speaking at it and he says he looks forward to hearing her talk. They part ways.

Three-ish weeks later, she walks out on stage to give her seminar and Spock's in the front row with a handful of cadets he offered extra credit for attendance. The talk is well received, one of Spock's cadets asks a great question and afterwards Christine suggests she join her lab. Christine says she's going to hear a colleague and Spock asks if he may accompany her. She says of course and they end up spending the day together attending talks, speaking with student presenters, and having in depth conversations about the science over meals. Spock remembers Christine's favorite cocktail at the reception and they take public transportation back to San Francisco in order to elongate the evening.

This continues for approximately two years (the time between TMP and Wrath of Khan is up for debate but let's say it's TMP+a 5 year mission before Spock starts at the Academy so 2-3 years on Earth with Christine). They are close friends with deep feelings for each other. With their history and their age and their busy lives and all the complications of human vs Vulcan feelings and norms they don't (re)start any kind of traditional romance. They are comfortable and they are happy.

Then Spock hands Admiral Kirk the Enterprise to head out on an important classified mission that results in Spock's death. Christine is heartbroken. They were in such a good place. Their past didn't haunt them, their future was bright. She is So Angry — at Kirk because he's the reason Spock left and the reason it all happened, at Uhura because she's the one who told her, at McCoy because he wasn't the one to tell her, at Spock for being so perfectly good all the time. But mostly at herself for not telling Spock how important he was to her, for not keeping him with her or going with them, for not stopping it from happening. All her survivor's guilt comes back, and all her resentment that Spock can only ever be Spock. She loves him for it but it makes everything harder, always. Of course Spock sacrificed himself to save the crew, a crew of his friends and his students, how can she be angry at that?

Then she learns that Leonard McCoy has been admitted to Starfleet psychiatric. She goes to him immediately, uses her rank and connections to get in and give him her own assessment. She finds a man who is doubly familiar. He's McCoy one minute, begging her to get him out, and then he looks at her in a way that only one person ever looked at her and it shakes her to her core. Suddenly he's referencing conversations from twenty years ago, from before McCoy or Kirk were even on the Enterprise. It's terrible but also wonderful but so terrible. She promises to come back the next day and as soon as she leaves she puts in a call to the Vulcan embassy, to Ambassador Sarek. He's out, but she leaves a message and they set up a meeting for her.

The next day Kirk and friends break McCoy out and abscond with the Enterprise and she vows to give Kirk a piece of her mind the next time she sees him. She throws herself into work to avoid thinking about the fate of her friends and how she's been left behind again. It helps to imagine punching Jim in the face. She keeps her meeting with Sarek and is surprised to learn Spock told him about her. They get on quite well and he promises to tell her what he learns. She's the second person he calls after the successful reunification of Spock's body and katra, after only Amanda.

Sarek returns to Earth ahead of the crew in order to make the case for leniency. Christine greets him and offers to help in whatever way she can. They strategize for hours for days but just as things get started Earth is under attack. And just as things get dire, a Klingon bird of prey with two whales shows up to turn the tide (literally). Sarek and Christine's trial prep isn't needed because Jim Kirk and crew are the heroes we need always. She still wants to punch Jim, but hugs him instead.

Some weeks after The Incident With the Whales, Spock's door whooshes open to reveal Christine. Taylor Swift starts playing as he invites her in. She starts babbling immediately, says she's sorry to throw all her human emotions at him but losing him broke her, knowing he died alone, knowing they'd left so much unsaid for so long and if this is her chance to make it up to him she's going to take it. You are the love of my life, she says, but more than that you make my life better, you make me better, even when you're not in it. Spock is quiet, listening, watching. He reaches out, touches her cheek, brushes a tear falling down it, and she smiles into the touch, and murmurs thank you for listening and starts to turn away and leave. His hand drops from her cheek to her wrist and he says, Stay.

Christine becomes Spock's lighthouse. He goes where he's needed, he follows Jim Kirk to the ends of the galaxy and beyond, he brokers peace with the Federation's enemies (he tells Christine she doesn't have to come to dinner with the Klingons this time, but when they do actually come to an accord, she's proud of him), and then he comes back to her light. Eventually they get married. Christine thinks she's too old to be a bride, it's silly, old fashioned, and unnecessary, but Sarek convinces her to go along. The ceremony is on Vulcan and attended by their friends and former students, including Jack Crusher I, who brought his bff/bf Jean-Luc as his plus one.

Christine dies many years before Spock. The Vulcans say she doesn't have a katra, or at least not one that can be preserved the way a Vulcan's would, but Spock carries her with him. She's with him on Romulus. She's with him when he watches Vulcan explode in the past of a whole other universe. She's with him when he finds Jim Kirk again. She's with him when he helps rebuild his community. And she's with him when he dies and his katra is set free on New Vulcan.

Spock leaves his belongings to the younger Spock of his present universe. Along with photos of his crew, he leaves recordings of his memories. Spock keeps them safe and mostly secret (he tells Jim, Nyota, and Sarek) until his own old age and death. He bequeaths the recordings to Ensign Bradward Boimler with instructions to publish the other Spock's memoirs now that they can no longer interfere with the timeline. Boimler is extremely confused but Mariner talks him around by telling him Spock must know something they don't and also who turns down the assignment to write altenate universe history about someone as famous as SPOCK. Boimler rises to the occasion (Mariner helps) and the memoir is a success. Its dedication reads:

1 - Ship you wish had been canon?

2 - Newest ship?

3 - Favourite ship?

4 - Ship you want to be canon?

5 - First ship you were crazy for?

6 - Ship you wish had more screen time

7 - First ship?

I see Harry’s relationship to Tom as his most important on the ship. Period. He is close to others, especially B’Elanna, but Tom is special, and has been since their meet cute in Quark’s bar. Fresh out of the Academy, on his first assignment, on his first ship, on his first day – and he chooses to stand up to two of the most senior officers on the ship on behalf of the questionably charming criminal he just met. It reminds me of another Harry, Potter, when he chooses Ron over Draco their first day. And if Voyager wasn’t lost, and Tom went back to finish his sentence, Harry would be stuck on the ship working under people he’d disrespected on day one. That’s very interesting to me. Another example of Harry’s quiet bravery. 

So, best friends, who love each other, is canon in my viewing. Best friends who are in love with each other – yes and no. Certainly I read Harry as closer to and more attracted to Tom (and fwiw also B’Elanna) than any of his canonical love interests. And I read Tom as a little in love with basically everyone because he considers himself so unlovable. Harry is special to Tom, absolutely, but not exactly the way Tom is special to Harry. I think Tom (and fwiw also B’Elanna) considers Harry to be too good for them, the best of them. He thinks Harry deserves better – and he’d feel a lot of guilt about it. Tom is really good at guilt, almost as good at guilt as Kathryn is – and B’Elanna, and Chakotay, there’s a lot of guilt on that ship. Harry’s different because he doesn’t carry around all that guilt. He’s healthier. 

Season 1: Harry and Tom become close right away. Of everyone, Harry is the most upset about being lost in the DQ. His life had a plan – everything we learn about his family and past suggests he lived a charmed, sheltered life (also: I think he’s engaged to Libby because he’s supposed to be, not because he’s particularly attached. She’s pretty and kind and fits into his bubble, but I don’t see a lot of passion in what we get of their relationship.) and getting trapped 70+ years away from home and family is nothing he imagined. Tom was his first friend on the ship, they even met before the ship, by minutes but still, and he clings to that familiarity because it’s the best he’s got out here. Add the second person he gets close to, B’Elanna, who he goes through a traumatic experience with, and then works most closely with, and it makes sense the three of them end up a trio (and for sure I can see it as a romantic triad, though not this early). 

And Tom – Tom needs friends, right off, that’s the number one thing we learn about Tom. He’s actually terrible at being the loner he thinks he has to be/deserves to be. He glomps on to Harry, Kathryn, B’Elanna, Kes, even Neelix and Chakotay. Tom tries to be a bad boy, heartbreaker, buried feelings, laugh it off, basic jerk but he’s TERRIBLE at it. And Harry chooses to be Tom’s friend, eyes open. 

Season 2: So “Non Sequitur” and “Twisted” happen back to back and make it clear that Tom and Harry are each other’s most important person. As I say in my photocap, Harry pretty much explicitly chooses Tom over Libby so that’s a thing. And during the montage of people choosing who to spend their possible last minutes with in “Twisted”, Tom chooses Harry. If I were to insert a P/K romance into canon this is where I’d do it. 

Season 3: S3 brings us “The Chute” which is probably the shippiest Paris/Kim episode, but also an ode to friendship, and both interpretations are pretty great. Tom and Harry spend the entire episode sweaty and share a bed, and then Harry risks his life for Tom and Tom acknowledges it for the declaration of love it was. All GREAT. And if they’d lived the rest of their lives in that prison, at least they’d have been together (and together, I’m sure of it). 

But S3 also brings Paris and Torres closer together (I love them, but do feel for Harry) and an alternate timeline where Harry marries Tom and Kes’s daughter (yikes). 

Season 4-series end: Seven arrives, Paris/Torres are a couple, and Harry fades into the background. He’s still Tom’s bestie, he still has a crush, and if the P/K romance I mentioned earlier happened I can easily imagine P/T and P/K evolving into P/T/K. But it’s all a bit back burnered. 

S5′s “Timeless” is another one of those ‘Harry throws away his whole life to get back to Tom’ episodes but other than that the best we get are scenes of fun in the holodeck and a conversation here and there. 

SO: I think Harry loves Tom and Tom loves Harry. I think Tom might initiate a physical relationship that he would instantly regret (because he thinks he’s using Harry). I think Harry half resigns himself to being in unrequited love with Tom. I think Harry, Tom, and B’Elanna could have a great threeway relationship if they could get over their collective individual hang ups about being worthy of it. And I hope Harry found love when he got home. 

Finally, I think this has been in my inbox for at least 6 months so thank you for your incredible patience, I hope it is worth the wait. 

First and foremost: B’Elanna. Rain shares traits with Tom - cult movies, pizza, cocky quips - and she’s a science-science-scientist who fully and enthusiastically believes in aliens before confirmation so she’s pretty much perfect for B’Elanna. 

[Note: @rikerssexblouse​ was kind enough to write me a version of “Future’s End” where they had the brief non-relationship she had with Tom in canon: Sunshine.]

That said, I absolutely ship her with Tom. It’s set up in canon, he’d certainly be her closest ally for the first few weeks, they share those traits so they’d bond easily. She’d need a crash course in the 24th century and he’d love to exchange it for her commentary on his 20th century obsessions. It could be a lasting relationship (in which case B’Elanna and Seven could have the relationship I always want them to have) or a short lived romance that turns into a comfortable and close friendship. 

Harry and Chakotay doesn’t make as much sense to me. Unlike with B’Elanna, I think the things she shares with Tom are not the things that Harry finds attractive in Tom. And Rain does not give me a “crushing on her professor” vibe even if Chakotay were interested, which doesn’t seem too likely to me – I think he’d treat her the way he does B’Elanna. 

Rain and Janeway would be very interesting. But I think in any scenario where Rain stayed on Voyager, she’d be made crew, Janeway would take her under her wing and avoid seeing her as a potential lover. And I think it would be compounded by Janeway’s guilt that she dragged Rain away not only from her home, but also her future. Rain would not see it that way at all, but Janeway takes on responsibility for everything regardless. I do think it would be fun to write something where Rain is confused and awkwardly tells Tom or B’Elanna that she thinks the captain is flirting with her and she’s freaking out and they’re all ha ha, I know, that’s just how she is, and Rain is both relieved and disappointed. 

Finally, Rain and Tuvok would be an amazing odd couple. I’m not really picturing a romance, but I’d love to explore their friendship given he’s her freakasaurus. 

(Thank you for being so very patient for this response.)

Does Tal Celes have a crush on her captain? Of course. Janeway is Janeway, everyone is at least half in love with her. Celes is Celes so it makes her adorably awkward. She is definitely trying to impress Janeway – not so much to raise her own profile as to prove worthy of Janeway’s uninvited attentions. Eventually, the stress of trying so hard to not fail results in her confessing to Janeway exactly how much of a failure she believes she is. She probably doesn’t realize that telling Janeway  “I’m not really a part of Voyager. I just live there.” makes her feel like a failure, too.

That’s what I’d build a relationship off of. Kathryn would be broody about how she let Celes down and made Celes believe she’d let Voyager down – even if the episode went exactly as it does in canon, afterwards, when she’s alone and the adrenaline wears off, Kathryn would drop into her broody mode and worry that she hadn’t done enough. And Celes, already anxious post-adrenaline herself, would notice and take on all the blame herself, too.

Seriously, these two COULD be caught in a self-recrimination loop forever. But that sounds like a terrible story. 

Now, someone could intervene – Tuvok, Chakotay, Neelix, B’Elanna, Tom, Billy…I can imagine a lot of someones doing this actually – but I like the idea of Celes working up the courage to approach Kathryn herself. Her goal is to convince Janeway she’s not responsible for Celes being good at her job or happy on the ship. She stumbles it, ends up apologizing five times, but Kathryn finds that endearing. And she notices the way Celes looks at her, the attraction she’s trying to hide. And suddenly it all becomes something else.

Janeway would not explore a relationship with one of her most junior crew, a misfit problem child with emotional issues at that. She would offer to mentor her more closely, and it could easily and quickly get messy. Kathryn is an outrageous flirt and Celes keeps her feelings at the surface. They would both spend a lot of time forcing their desires away. So many longing looks, flushed cheeks, and awkward moments. 

Someone could intervene here, too. I think these two would need more intervention than a J/C or Celes/Harry because there is a wider difference in power, experience, and age. But I can also see them having a clumsy, sudden, accidental hook up where they completely forget who they are for a few and are then utterly mortified.

I don’t know if they could ever really get over the hang ups to have an ongoing, stable, happy, healthy romance between equals. Which is hardly a deal breaker for me, but does limit the options for exploration – if someone wants to write a fic to change my mind, go for it! But I see them as a hot mess of guilt more than anything.

Hi! I admit I haven’t been following the RP too closely so this is going off the idea and initial start up of the pairing. But I do find it pretty goshdarn adorable. 

One thing I do note and like about the RP is it starts up after everything’s happened with canon Kes (ignoring “Fury” as we all should always) so there is no question she is an adult. Ocampan physiology is super vague onscreen and canon Kes really fluctuates between being treated as a teenager or an adult based on what the current plotline requires of her, which can make her relationships and flirtations a bit creepy sometimes. For reference, Dalby is 36 in “Learning Curve” while Kes is not quite two and her actress was 21. 

Kes is great for Dalby. She’s an excellent listener, is not afraid of conflict or negative emotions, cares deeply about people, is super supportive, and is young and sweet and a ray of sunshine in the dark. Dalby is less great for Kes as he comes with a lot of baggage. He’s a widower, a criminal, he was fighting (losing) a war, and objects to Starfleet protocol. He’s dealing with a lot of trauma. But Kes is attracted to damage (Neelix, Tom) and to helping (The Doctor, Voyager) and they are both mentored by Tuvok. I think it would be wild and adorable if Tuvok arranged a Kes and Dalby pairing in the Vulcan matchmaking tradition, though Gerron is more her peer, and Tuvok wouldn’t do it unprovoked. If provoked, however, well it’s a cute fic idea. 

I do think this should be a slow burn relationship. I know “Learning Curve” wants us to believe that a few days of Tuvok Boot Camp culminating in a random emergency have solved all of Dalby’s issues but that’s just silly. Dalby needs therapy, but on Voyager he has to settle for Tuvok and/or Kes (or Chakotay, but there’s history there that could easily impede healing) and I can absolutely see that inadvertently devolving into feelings that throw both Kes and Ken off balance before finally settling into a romance. And given that time, and especially if it starts after she’s had the time and space she requests in “Warlord” and the growth she’s looking for in “Scorpion” and “The Gift”, it has a good chance of being a lasting thing. 

Could it have worked in canon? Not in a million years. Kes was shuffled off and Dalby was a one episode and done guest star (why Voyager why). If Kes was not sent away, she’d be more likely to end up with Harry or back with Neelix (shudder), and if Dalby returned he would probably be dating Henley or pining for his dead wife forever. They could maybe bond over their shared and uncomfortable attraction to Tuvok but no, that would never be acknowledged in canon either.

I love Janeway and Kashyk, but a big part of why is that they are doomed. In order for them to work, everything has to be different. That said, I like this thought experiment!

Scenario one, Kashyk is always on the side of good and the reveal doesn’t happen because he is truly attempting to help the refugees. Kashyk and Janeway succeed in their deception on the Devore, go through the wormhole or whatever, Kashyk defects to the Federation and takes up residence on Voyager, where he and Kathryn pursue a romance. This scenario sets up some potentially interesting dynamics between Kashyk and Chakotay as rivals,  Kashyk and Tuvok the telepathic security chief, Kashyk and Neelix since Kashyk’s use on the ship would be similar to Neelix’s in the earlier seasons, and he and Kathryn would have to navigate their relationship around her duty and his angst, etc. But overall it’s not the most creative set up. 

Scenario two, everything that happens in “Counterpoint” happens but Kashyk shows up alone in a shuttle a second time claiming to have ‘actually changed’ now. Janeway does not believe him, he begs her to listen, explains he’s not only disgraced and lost all authority, he’s branded a traitor by his people and an enemy by the refugees. Janeway is unimpressed, tells him he IS an enemy to the refugees and also to Voyager so bye. He says he has nowhere else to go, he’ll be killed. Most of the crew is like, eh, not our problem, but someone – Neelix? I mean, it would be Kes if she were still around (why wasn’t Kes listed among the telepathic crew? Suder was and he died before she left) so I guess Neelix or Tuvok (but he might play the Prime Directive card here), anyway, someone – says not saving him is the same as killing him and we are better than that. Janeway SIGHs (possibly Janeway is the someone and she can’t tell if her Starfleet Principles™ or her attraction is driving it and she is v angsty about it all), brings Kashyk on board and throws him in the brig. 

He stays there at least two weeks while the senior staff argue about what to do with him. At this point they’d have to go back into Devore space to take him back and that would mean risking the ship and their telepaths all over again as well as going n the wrong direction and for what? Eventually they decide to drop him on the next appropriate planet they arrive at and be done with it (Tuvok brings up the Prime Directive here, too, but he is outvoted). Janeway heads to the brig to tell Kashyk what’s what. 

Kashyk obviously hates this plan and tries to change her mind. He pitches the alternative that he (again, like Neelix in the beginning) knows about this region of space and he can help her. He provides a few examples, she starts to waver, and, again, can’t tell why. She doesn’t trust herself so she asks Tuvok to vet his sincerity and/or usefulness to the ship. 

Tuvok and Kashyk have a long, twisty, conversation. Kashyk is culturally opposed to and frightened of Tuvok’s telepathy. But he’s also desperate. Ultimately Tuvok advises he remain on the ship, confined to quarters until he’s completed some kind of rehabilitation, but it’s not right to let him off on a random planet (his reasoning is Kashyk’s survival would be questionable, it’s unfair to the random population, and Janeway would blame herself). 

Thus Kashyk is moved to quarters and starts meeting with Tuvok twice a week for training in sensitivity and Starfleet protocol. He is given access to parts of the database so he can read up on Federation history, philosophy, sociology, and art. He listens to music incessantly. He becomes obsessed with old Earth movies, anything starring Katherine Hepburn. He starts some kind of crafting hobby. Tuvok is his main, basically only, companion, and slowly Kashyk’s starts to question and eventually reject his telepathy bias. He becomes deeply depressed. Agonizes over all the crimes he’s committed. Mourns his society, his convictions. And he’s lonely and scared. 

Janeway meets with him once a month, and anytime something comes up he might be able to comment on. Chakotay tells her to let Tuvok do it, but she insists it has to be her. About six months in they’ve already moved past where he’d be most helpful, and it’s clear to her he’s both depressed and repentant. She starts to visit him more frequently just to talk. Maybe watch one of those movies. They slowly fall back into the tentative friendship they’d shared, and the attraction, though they both suppress it, because it hurts too much. This continues for another six months.

Eventually Tuvok and Janeway petition for Kashyk to be released into the crew. There is push back, but ultimately Starfleet believes in rehabilitation and he gets a conditional release and a position in Security (though he does not receive weapons access unless directly supervised by Tuvok and then only in emergency situations). Janeway and Tuvok make an effort to be seen with him in the mess hall so as to integrate him into the crew. Neelix joins in, then Tom, and slowly the crew start to welcome him into their space. He publicly apologizes to the telepaths, and then to the crew in general. He’s good at his job and by now an expert on Earth and with some time and space he becomes part of Voyager’s crew of misfits and miscreants. 

It takes two years for Kashyk and Kathryn to reunite, but they are rewarded for their patience and hard work with a relationship of equals built on acknowledgement of individual and cultural wrongdoing, redemption and forgiveness, and honesty. Which is a far cry from the deception and desperation their earlier relationship was based on. They are both better for it.