Date: 31 May 2013 02:06 Title: 100, Part Trois
My opinion of the Wadi keeps sinking lower the more you describe the role they play in the Dominion. I mean does this species have any other moral code except to gamble?
Date: 31 May 2013 02:05 Title: Artistry
You know I've just realised something. Liska and Eris seem to be the only two Vorta who have a sense of aesthetics, or maybe they are just two oddballs of their race!
Author's Response: Vorta have a sense of aesthetics. Weyoun was unsure about how to judge Ziyal's paintings, with her father effectively being his boss. Don't want to say anything bad about Dukat's bastard kids.
Date: 31 May 2013 02:04 Title: You make me want to scream
Liska giving Eris some tough love huh? A nice little follow-up to Eris act of mercy in saving the pet. Though I wonder if Eris is more annoyed at letting down herself of letting down Liska?
Date: 31 May 2013 00:49 Title: Alien of the Week
Brave Bynars! They refused to hand over sensitive information to the Dominion, and since they are practically incapable of putting up a fight or any meaningful resistance, all they could do is kill themselves as a last act of defiance. Grim stuff but it makes you appreciate a race that was not done justice in that TNG season one episode!
Date: 31 May 2013 00:46 Title: If I could do it over again
The very fact Tarska is here trying to broker peace between the Federation, Klingon and Romulan Empires is enough evidence that the Dominion and the Cardassian Union has lost. This is a very nice additional to the behind-the-scenes moments of the end days of the Dominion war. I personally think you should compile all of these ficlets together, or at least the ones concerning the war, to create one MEGA Dominion war story to cover the entire war. Not just some sort of historical book, but a full-blown epic as you utilise all the characters and all the players to make it work!
Date: 31 May 2013 00:40 Title: Small Universe Syndrome
Wow! Nazar served on board the Enterprise D! You definitely did Barclay's stutter some justice! I could so hear his voice! And what Riker said at the end; well that is the sort of thing Riker would say!
Date: 29 May 2013 21:38 Title: Independence, Part II
Fate has been cruel to the Cardassian people. They finally overthrow Central Command's grip upon them and the Obsidian Order is becoming no more, especially with that botched first strike into Dominion space to destroy the Founders, and the Cardassian people were actually changing for the better.
Then Dukat came along and destroyed all of that progress, and the final result was the near annihilation of the Cardassian race. It just makes me loath Dukat even more!
Date: 29 May 2013 21:34 Title: Independence, Part I
Eris finally gets a conscience! It is just a pity it took eight hundred million Cardassian deaths, the defeat of the Dominion in the Alpha Quadrant, and God knows how many billions who died in this war.
Tarska's restraint is also noteworthy because is race are known to hold grudges but faced with this level of destruction and death... Tarska has changed as much as Eris, and they are both seeing that there hast to be a better way.
A good read!
Date: 29 May 2013 21:31 Title: Mirror, Mirror
Ah! The mirror universe version of the Dominion. It would make sense that it would be peaceful and the Jem'Hadar would not be the monsters who ensured its existence but would be the people who formed the backbone of the MU Dominion's humanitarian efforts. A clever reversal and poor MU Liska...
Date: 29 May 2013 21:28 Title: Man's Best Friend
I know exactly where you got that scene from! It was from Letters From Iwo Jima! You copied that exactly from that scene with those two Japanese soldiers and one of them is ordered to kill a dog because it annoyed the senior soldier.
Except in this ficlet the Jem'Hadar killed both the pet and the father (which is the only difference), while the consequence is the same; Eris gets demoted and this explains why Eris is outranked by Liska.
Date: 29 May 2013 21:21 Title: Gifted
Liska may be great with tactics and strategies, but she has never fought in a situation where she has been cut off from the Dominion, and the problems are already beginning to show. Supply lines being squeezed, vital commodities and resources being rationed. In such a desperate state Liska is taking bolder risks with only a finite amount of ships and resources, which cannot be so easily replenished unlike in Dominion territory in the Gamma Quadrant. So it's clever how you are exposing the Dominion's weaknesses, something which DS9 did but not to such a degree as you have done.
Date: 29 May 2013 21:09 Title: A Happy Ending
Looks like Nazar's nightmare came true then...
Date: 29 May 2013 21:06 Title: Last Words
I wonder if this Andorian soldier was one of those who participated in the Battle of Hesperus, the battle referred to in chapter 10 of the weekly free-writes (Milestones)?
If it were then it would add some extra weight and importance to this ficlet.
Date: 29 May 2013 21:03 Title: Missing You, Part II
So if there was a Ferengi transport, then Eris must have done some quick-talking to convince the Ferengi that she was not an intruder. However, I always thought that Eris had beamed over to that Jem'Hadar vessel and the ship left once Eris had beamed aboard?
Though my memory of the DS9 episode "Jem'Hadar" may be a little rusty...
Date: 29 May 2013 20:59 Title: Missing You
One of those out-of-this-world experiences and who knows maybe Stefan did talk to Carmen, though perhaps it was merely a dream. However -- and I think this is the point of your story -- sometimes dreams have a basis in reality and very rarely dreams can give you advice! I know this to be true because I have had such dreams from time to time!
Date: 29 May 2013 20:56 Title: Downtime
The Federation is at war, and all Nazar wants to do is finish off his book as quickly as possible to work out who the murdered was! Talk about having the right priorities!
Date: 29 May 2013 20:55 Title: 100, Part Deux
Gosh, in the 24th century the media is even more quicker at reporting battles and casualties. Very much reminiscent of today's media...
Date: 29 May 2013 20:53 Title: You're Too Late
What a futile journey, and ironically it was for nothing given how the Rundstedt was attacked (and there may have been some loss of life), and even if the battle had ended there would be no survivors. The Jem'Hadar would see to that...
Date: 29 May 2013 20:51 Title: Butting Heads
Some clever tactics on Monroe's part, and I hope Liska pays attention to this battle giving how the Dominion will be in a similar situation in about a year's time.
Date: 29 May 2013 20:49 Title: Kids, Part III
The Cardassian way of life is a hard one: conscription, a legal system devoid of justice, the Obsidian order and a Central Command which controls the people more than the government does. But they accept that and that is the weirdest thing, they accept this totalitarian system so Cardassians are indeed a strange race. Strange to humans that is...
Date: 29 May 2013 20:45 Title: Kids, Part II
One thing that has always interested me about your story is your inclusion of Islamic characters and examining the fictional future of the Muslims. I have always wondered where you got that idea from, because Star Trek has always glossed over what happened to Earth's religions in the future and whether they still exist or have spread to other worlds.
Date: 29 May 2013 20:43 Title: Kids, Part I
So many times in Hollywood and in fiction you read or see characters in their final moments, or in a really dire situation, but on some kind of special bracelet, ornament or antique given to them by a loved one or a member of family. But I like your prospective to what is a rather clichéd thing, and told this small story from the person who gave such a gift.
Date: 29 May 2013 20:39 Title: Food for Thought
Another great ficlet. I almost, almost, taste the Cardassian food but the best bit was Gul Kellem's question. I had never ever considered what happened to spent vials of white and your answer is both simple, practical and very elegant!
Nice one!
Date: 29 May 2013 20:37 Title: Unrequited
A Jem'Hadar who wants more than just victory and the fight, a Jem'Hadar who wants a bit of recognition and glory? I did expect that you know because in their own way Jem'Hadar -- despite their brutality -- are rather humble in that they serve the Founders and fight only for the Founders and not for personal gain or glory.
I wonder if First Olat'Klatal is an Alpha and as such is one of those Jem'Hadar who think rather differently to the Gammas? Or is this the seeds of something much more serious within the Dominion ranks? The Jem'Hadar want more than just fighting, they want other aspects of a humanoid life, aspects which the Founders have not given them and will not give them. Is this the first precursors to a Jem'Hadar revolt in the greater scheme of things?
Date: 29 May 2013 20:33 Title: Secrets
Behind every great war leader is someone who is prepared to sacrifice many people and soldiers to achieve that final victory. Though such a brutal task is clearly destroying Rosarev piece by piece, despite him being an Andorian and as such one who is more inherently aggressive and more warlike in ones frame of mind.