mysterious gamma quadrant artifacts (d4s)

Star Trek sideblog

[timetravellr14]

Rokassa juice: Is it fish juice or fruit juice?

Fish juice

Fruit juice

Other (explain!)

Voting ended onJul 17

I've seen both in fanfic. I've been wondering what the most popular opinion is! Feel free to explain your reasoning, if any, in the comments.

[skymallnine]

At some point I just know there must have been some Timefleet officer that carefully researched the era, made sure their graphic tee contained only characters that were appropriate for that specific year, month, and day, and fucked it all up at the finish line because they’re wearing a giant motif of a batman comic but the entire thing is embroidered rather than being printed.

[konggodzuko]

Just remembered that a few months ago I dreamed up a whole episode of Deep Space Nine, and while I've dreamed new movies & tv show episodes up before, I think my subconscious was kinda cooking with this.

So, the premise was that Sisko had a photo in his office of him, Jake, his wife, and his dad, taken before they left Earth. And one day someone notices that Gul Dukat is in the background of the photo, and everyone concludes that Dukat went back in time to try and kill Sisko, so he needs to be stopped.

It rapidly spun out of control from there, and it became a running gag that we kept returning to the photo and more and more of the cast would be in the background until it's basically the entire main & supporting cast. The bridge crew, adult Jake, the O'Briens, Garak, Quark, Rom, Leeta, Nog, even Morn. And in the picture they're all either dressed incognito and trying to blend in at the tables, or they're hiding behind things. The bridge crew specifically are all peeking around a corner like the Scooby-Doo gang.

[skymallnine]

Been thinking about how the internet would function in Star Trek. I think the main difference is that it would be more organized.

In a world where most websites are sustained by ads and data harvesting, users need to stay on the site as long as possible. The goal is to kind of dangle what the user wants in front of them but never quite let them get it. This is why so many things eventually evolve into A Feed, the user has less control over what they’re seeing and has to stay longer to get whatever emotional, social, or informational closure they’re looking for.

Paid subscription (and donation-based) sites are the opposite. They still want lots of people to visit so they can maintain their sub/donation base. But the more unique areas they go to within the site, the more money they cost. So your goal is for people to visit really quickly and leave without pulling down too much data. It’s in your best interest to make the site very organized, so people can find what they’re looking for and then go away to touch grass. This is also why upgrading to a subscription often includes offline features, because downloaded stuff can be enjoyed without hitting the server again.

Of course, Federation website admins don’t have to pay for servers. Possibly if they’re doing something really data-intensive (complicated MMO holodeck games or something), they might need to apply for or build the server farms to support it. But even if that isn’t a factor, it’s still more logistically challenging to maintain a high-traffic website vs. a smaller one. So while smaller sites may have more of a geocities energy, the bigger sites are likely to have the get-in-get-out mentality of subscription sites. Obviously there will be outliers; you’ll always have the webcrawlers Georgs who enjoy the challenge of wrangling many simultaneous users. But in general, the most popular websites will serve lots of users for the absolute minimum amount of time.

This is probably why Star Trek characters don’t really talk about their version of the internet. Because it leans toward fast problem solving, they don’t think about “spending time on the internet”. They think about the specific task they’re doing, and the involvement of the internet fades completely into the background.

This is similar to the way younger folks see the internet less as one thing and more as a collection of apps. But since many apps also use ad-driven, engagement-baity patterns, there’s still that underlying awareness of the internet (or “screen time” or whatever you want to call it). The apps can’t fully recede into the background because they’re too busy rattling everyone’s eyeballs until money falls out.

[wintersnails]

i choose to believe Odo was only like 5’8” or so when he first came to the station but he gradually kept making himself taller so that he could loom over Quark more effectively

[skymallnine]

One side effect of DS9 mostly avoiding Holodeck Malfunction Episodes is that it really does imply that Starfleet is gleefully boobytrapping their own holodecks. Meanwhile Quark is like “no??? dead customers can’t pay me????”

Starfleet officers take a break from setting live holo-tigers loose on their ships only to try the DS9 holosuite and immediately get disappointed. Nodding sagely at each other as they decide that capitalism is “too uptight about safety and regulations.”

[hamkittens]

my favorite genre of star trek photo: character(s) on an accidental pride flag background that really resonates with them

my collection grows

if anyone has any more please send em

[skymallnine]

One underrated aspect of replicators is how strong everyday objects would be. Sure, if you replicate an object as-is, it will have the same weaknesses as before. But with some light editing, you can remove all the features that were a side effect of construction method (seams, joins, variations in thickness, etc). You don’t need those anymore, the object is just going to materialize. And now that it doesn’t have to be built in multiple steps, you can no longer break it by reversing those steps.

Your padd’s screen has no microscopic flaws that will crack first. Your clothing has no weaving-in or backstitching, there’s nowhere it can begin to unravel. The foam in your shoes has perfectly spaced air bubbles, with no thinner cell walls that will wear out early. The knobs on your drawers are contiguous with the wood and won’t come loose over time. Nothing has to be detachable in order to be customizable, you can beam a section away if you want to replace it later.

All of these would be heirloom pieces in previous centuries, passed down through many generations. You recycle them back into the replicator without a second thought.

[kaijudyke]

julian looking at garak

[skymallnine]

What’s interesting about the Vorta is, of course they’re going to suck at diplomacy. They never had to be convinced that the Dominion is good, so they have no idea how to convince anyone else. If you already trust the Founders implicitly, how would you even know how to talk to someone who doesn’t? The only worlds their pitch works on are the ones that already have something Founder-shaped, they just call it something different (e.g. the state).

For the most part, their “diplomacy” is that of a door-to-door evangelist. The goal is not to get converts. The goal is for them to be so offputting and unpleasant that the door slams in their face, reinforcing their own loyalty to the Founders.

The Jem’Hadar are loyal to the Founders, but as a backup they’re also dependent on ketracel white. The Vorta equivalent of ketracel white is that they alienate themselves from anyone who might help them leave. They’re supposed to think they’re being diplomatic, so when their “diplomacy” fails they view the rest of the universe as cruel and persecuting and cold.

See? There is no home for you outside the Dominion. Better make sure we succeed.

(of course, this is a lie, because when Weyoun 6 actually tries to leave Odo is happy to help… and this is so existentially threatening to the Dominion that Weyoun 7 breaks the taboo on harming a Founder in order to make it stop)

[letseyx]

Star Trek Deep Space Nine 4x10 Our Man Bashir

[skymallnine]

What cracks me up about ITPM is the Dr. Bashir angle.

He knows they need the Romulans to enter the war. He’s the only person not in on the plot who knows there’s a bunch of untraceable explosives floating around. He was even there for Quark’s injury, which never got put on the official record.

There’s only one critical piece of information that he’s missing: the vice chairman of the Tal Shiar is currently on the station.

Had Senator Vreenak participated in the grand spy tradition of Mysteriously Appearing In The CMO’s Bedroom, it genuinely would have saved his life.

[deepspacescully]

i think that every few episodes, or at least once a season, ds9 should have cut over to the Infinite War planet to see how kai opaka and jonathan banks were doing

[skymallnine]

Garak is actually so restrained when it comes to designing his own clothes. I have no problem wearing subtler fabrics, but any time I make something, put on the fucking welding goggles, because you’re about to witness 6 of the State’s most disreputable crayon colors kissing on the mouth.

[worflesbian]

love the way martok says worf's name. that's his good friend hwoghoarf

[skymallnine]

Oh to be a Federation latinum miner. You’re a diplomat, sort of. To your ancestors, money was the key to survival. To you it’s an interstellar friendship bracelet. You chart many of the galaxy’s most remote nebulae. Your latinum finds new life and new civilizations (but mostly the Ferengi). You barely interact with people outside your ship. Every year you get pen pal letters from Deep Space 9 thanking you for their allowance and describing their silliest holosuite purchases. Your most beloved hobby, the one you’ve dedicated your life to, is mining engineering. You can put on a killer fireworks show. From time to time you do get visited by pirates.

[n0ahsferatu]

he's not like other girls. he's not even a girl ! he's a crocodile

(btw! a BIG thank you to all the amazing people who have shared my art on here so far! you guys rule, thank you for saying so many kind things about my silly doodles 💕)