I fondly remember reading this before and I recall too the wonderful picture of Mendral that went with. I guess the memory of the drawing skews the memory of the story somewhat, in that I recall it being sweet and adorable, as indeed it is, particularly in the opening sections. However, as the story progresses we get insight into Lavelle's faith and family home, a picture of the faithful few of those on the Ent-D who keep alive the tradition, a glimpse or hint to somewhat of the decline of the faith in Trekian history AU or not, and of course we get an idea of a true cultural exchange here between Sam and Mendral. The church experience resonates with Mendral and the hope of salvation, redemption or a saviour rings particularly true, the fervent wish of hope given this alternate universe's fate for the Cardassians and the brutal oppression of the faith under the Bajoran Occupation. Here too, we get a reveal of some history and the cost to the Cardassians (and indeed the ultimate cost to the Bajorans), with an indication that the Federation seems to be offering help of a sorts at least to some Cardassians. Why more so in this universe than in the Prime one wonders. We also see a reach for the fate of the Dukats and how much their fate impacts on those like Mendral with hope and faith. But just like that, just as Skrain and his daughter's life and living imparts example, revelation and hope to Mendral, Mendral's experience in the Church has brought a greater revelation to Sam about his own faith and belief system values and perhaps a truer meaning of Christmas.

Well this is a well thought out attempt to explain how the Prophet Orbs could backfire and create a much worse reality. The explanation on how Sisko own faults and flaws reflect by the Orb of Possibilities lead to devastation to Bajor and how that feed out to the other worlds. The irony that the last hope as the species is the Ferengi and how to have any hope for that reality need the good Dukat to accept the pain of a reduce memories of the orb powers.

On whole it was well written and does give food for thought on the Mirror Universe.

First of all...I love Sisko's reaction to using the words "Dukat" and "gentle" in the same sentence. That was trippy enough for me to see.

Awesome idea behind the creation and perversion of the mirror universe. The whole idea of "Great power comes great responsibility" I think applies aptly to the Bajorans and the Prophets; you even mention that, it wasn't until all history of this incident had been erased from time that the Prophets sent more orbs to Bajor. They waited until Bajor was ready for the power of the orbs before trying again with them.

You also raise an insane idea to contemplate - the infinite universe theory doesn't just apply to our universe and the decisions of each of us. It also applies to every other universe. You liken it to a virus, and that's so very disturbingly true - this one misguided act creates a multitude of "infected" universes. It's nice to imagine just the mirror and just us; we're all good, they all have goatees...but no, you present us with an idea that I think gets lost among most of us. There isn't just one mirror universe, there are billions to choose from.

I also liked that you included warping of the other races' histories as well, not just Earth's. Another problem I see often in Star Trek; the MU seems to be a look at just an alternate Earth. They acknowledge everything is different (even show it on screen), but you never seem to get an idea for how differently the other cultures were affected in the mirror, other than their interactions with Earth.

And how very ironic that the fate of universes lies with one man that so many people hate. Hooray for (good) Dukat.

The ritual, in particular, is poignant and graceful - exceptionally believable. You do a good job of creating sympathy, particularly for a character who, in canon, is hardly sympathetic at all. But it spins and it works, and that is a testament to your skills and your obvious affection for the characters.

I keep coming back to the ritual, the repetition of the names, the imagery of spiritual guidance, and the affirmation that there will be healing and there will be rejoicing, and that the remainder of the lives of the bereaved and those left behind, that it is not one long wail of despair. There is an acknowledgement that bereavement does, eventually, come to an end, as the survivors go on, having learned from the experience, grown and changed.

Well done!

It's interesting how you put the divergence from us to the MU as happening at the time of George Washington (instead of him refusing a third term and riding off into the sunset). It's somewhat unclear in canon. In ENT, Phlox notes that both universes have the same Shakespeare but that other works of literature differ. It's unknown whether he goes as far back as the Bible, Plato's Republic or even just to Samuel Richardson's Pamela, Or Virtue Rewarded (1740). Perhaps he doesn't go even as far back as that.

In TOS, Marlena Moreau (Kirk's woman) refers to him as a Caesar, so there is some convergence with Ancient Rome, but that doesn't necessarily pinpoint the moment of divergence one way or the other (personally, I use the Roman Republic, 450 BCE).

The MU is, as you know, one of many possible variants (see the TNG episode Parallels), but it's the one that we see the most, and has the most fully-realized canon history. Small wonder that it can prove irresistible to fan fiction writers!

In your story, what I'm seeing is that an idea for good becomes corrupted and twisted by circumstances. What you have is the kai - an imperfect being - attempting to instill perfection. And that's - as you noted - never going to work, or at least it won't work as expected, or hoped for.

Once again, good intentions with disastrous results. Now,  where have I heard that before?

This had the feel of a WW2 escape story - whether allies tryiong to get out of a POW camp or perhaps more in keeping with say the persecuted Jewish trying to escape from the ghettos or prison camps.

I also really liked the unusual mode of escape - though being an escape pod the name was in the title. LOL! And is typical of AU Dukat his thoughts are completely on Ziyal and he takes the scarily risky gambit of sedating her but because he knows it is the better choice in the situation. An interesting response to the prompt and furthering of AU Dukat's (back)story.

A very risky escape and so many things could have gone wrong. Even such a little thing as one of the masks damage could cause a lot of problems with their plans. It appears that the dissidents had done it many times and knew what to do, but there's always that unknown factor of accidents.

And the terrible situation of saving a life (two lives) at the cost of others. For Dukat it clearly was terrible and I wouldn't be surprised if he backed out of the whole operation and insist on saving his pilot's wife if not Ziyal. But his daughter was more important for him than anything and her life most precious. It didn't mean that he'd stop caring about the unknown woman's fate in the slave camp, but he decided to go on with the plan, even after learning what a sad decision had been made to allow this to happen.

He couldn't forget easily the harsh words the pilot had said about Ziyal, but I wonder if he later realised that he had done exactly the same thing. He did chastise himself for that, but his first reaction was ugly. Maybe it also was the pilot's first reaction and he later, too, regretted his words. It did seem that his attitude changed a bit and he was softening each time his eyes were on the bundle in Dukat's arms.

In the end they arrived  at the planet and Dukat can enjoy the relative freedom (relative, because as long as the Bajorans aren't gone it's not real freedom), but very sad news await him there. He doesn't know yet how true his last thought was.

For a moment I worried about those kids. Of course, the behaviour of one was disgraceful and disgusting, but at first it seemed like only Hirhul had a problem with that and everyone else just stared at him with 'what's your problem?' look. And I thought, "Oh, my! What kind of society is it going to be?"

But then my faith in them returned, seeing that there was someone who didn't approve of Damon's behaviour. Even if their reasons were a bit different, especially Sorvin's, a disgusting thing is disgusting no matter what kind of reasoning and philosophy is judging it.

Hirhul's approach to expressing his opinion wasn't very diplomatic, but at least he did say something. I feel that if he didn't, he'd regret it more than alienating those kids, with whom he wouldn't want to make friends anyway.

And who knows, maybe she just found some that he would, even if one 'insults' him in the traditional Vulcan way.

This is a great, worldbuilding story. A lurk into Cardassia's past, so deep into that past that Cardassians didn't call themselves Cardassians, yet.

A lot of different--and difficult--matters are discussed in this story. We see prejudice related to gender: Tehir must pretend he is a woman, because as a man he is believed not to be imaginative enough to wrote stories. Obviously, this is a wrong assumption, since that's exactly what he does. Then we have the terrible situation of the Hăzăkda, who are being exterminated in the name of some twisted science with blessing or not-less-twisted minds. And complete inaction of probably most respected person on Habitia--Ăstraya. I guess her word and her protest would mean a lot, but she doesn't offer anything in defence of the slaughtered race.

Hebitia is in trouble, but there's hope for them. It would appear that discovering another habitable planet in their system helped to change something. At least we see that Tehir doesn't have to hide behind his female pseudonym and his name is known to public.

After all tragic and sad things we learnt about Tehir's Hebitia, we have a chance to see one of the greatest achievements of the Hebitians: their colonisation of the planet. It's just the beginning and a lot of work is ahead of them, but it's a great step for their society. I can only hope that discovering how great the universe is--they had known it before, but had they really understood and experienced it?--would help them overcome their racial and gender prejudice and see that they have more in common and not that much divides them.

A very brave piece of story telling Nerys. Well done for having the courage to write it. I know it must have pained you to do so.

Ugh horrible! A really horrid depiction of the horrors of occupations and invasions, when children are targeted and can be seen as viable targets for the military for whatever purposes it is truly horrible and cold.

Skrain shows such fatherly love to Ziyal. Given the horrid situation in which they are trying to survive as a family, Skrain really does his best to be a kind and even positive for Ziyal's sake (and I dare say his too). That said, it must be very difficult as a father to a daughter with no mother figure to discuss any 'women problems' which can be incredibly troubling or embarrassing for the teenagers going through puberty. But for Skrain the thrust is to make sure that Ziyal feels assured and loved. Aw.