#subcommander dax

DAX is younger than ZEX by like five or ten years or so, and he’d recently graduated from a VUX military academy by the time the War broke out. He got shipped off with many other VUX, and he and ZEX ended up in the same squadron. ZEX at this point hadn’t been promoted to admiral, but his military genius was already very clear, and he shot up in ranks rapidly. ZEX liked DAX’s skills and no-nonsense attitude and ability to mind his own business, and ended up keeping him close beneath him throughout the war. This got DAX some side-eyes from other VUX, since even at that point rumors about ZEX’s proclivities were circulating, but DAX knew being near ZEX was the safest place to be in a war. DAX and ZEX became war buddies, saving each other’s lives and such, and as ZEX got promoted higher and higher, he kept DAX close by his side. DAX became one of his closest and only confidants, and eventually he trusted DAX enough to tell him about his xenophilia (wrote a fic about that too). While DAX didn’t really understand it, he didn’t condemn ZEX for it, which was more than ZEX could say for anyone else.

After the War ended, the High Council got more and more irritated by ZEX’s open xenophilia, and voted to kick him off planet to Alpha Cerenkov. DAX, in the meantime, felt purposeless and directionless without a war to fight or ZEX to follow. When ZEX asked him if he’d come with him to Cerenkov, DAX jumped at the chance. Since then, DAX has lived on Cerenkov with ZEX as his closest advisor, taking care of daily dramas and such and handling busywork, and usually serving as a voice of reason for ZEX’s stranger ideas. He doesn’t really like socializing with others, but he’ll do it if he has to. He’s completely centered his life around ZEX and is fully prepared to spend the rest of his life with him (he’s already spent 20 years with him on Cerenkov by the time the game starts), and as such, he gets a bit threatened and jealous when you come in and start messing things up for him with your human-alien shenanigans with ZEX.

ZEX and DAX have known each other for so long that while DAX never refers to ZEX as anything but “sir” or “Admiral”, DAX feels quite comfortable calling ZEX out in ways that others might see as insultingif he thinks he’s doing something stupid or dangerous, and ZEX can tease DAX and read him better than anyone else can, often serving as a bit of a translator for him. They’re very comfortable with and around each other, and they’re a lot of fun to bounce off of each other as a result, haha.

It’s implied in a lot of ways that DAX’s feelings for ZEX run a bit deeper than he’s willing to acknowledge. He knows that ZEX’s passions only lie in aliens, not his own species, so he’s never said anything to him about it and probably never will. He’s content to just stay by his side and try to keep him safe. ZEX has no idea that DAX has any such interest in him - it’s never even occurred to him. Ironically, he’d probably roll with it if DAX told him. As to whether ZEX could really love DAX the way he wants though, that’s a harder thing to answer…

It’s a hard situation, I’m not sure if there’s really an answer that’ll make everyone involved happy, haha. As long as ZEX stays alive, then DAX can live with things as they are. I’m not sure a ZEX/DAX/Captain situation would help much either, since DAX will always be jealous and resentful of the Captain just for being human and he has no attraction or interest in the Captain at all. I dunno, it’s tricky, haha. And if you want, you can read DAX’s loyalty to ZEX in an intensely platonic way as well. But in general I like to imagine that ZEX and DAX are alive somewhere, going about their daily routine as usual, and definitely not torn to bits by monsters.

As mentioned, DAX usually says things as shortly and bluntly as he possibly can. One of his favorite phrases is “so you say” which he tends to use when he either doesn’t want to continue the conversation, thinks you’re an idiot, or doesn’t believe what you just told him. ZEX has known him so long that he can usually tell what DAX really means whenever he says that and loves teasing him about it, which bugs DAX to no end.