For the Ask Meme, I'm gonna go with Passengers, and the Space Ikea fic...
I'm very glad someone remembers Passengers this fondly :D I still love it so much!
Okay, let's see, what are some secrets I can tell you about Passengers and IKEA Intergalactic....
The problem with Passengers is that most of the secrets are very intentional and will be revealed throughout the course of the series - if and when I manage to get back to that 🙈
Hmmm... Oh! I tried probably five times to work in the scene of the students (plus occasionally Jo and/or Cal) playing one of several games involving a rubber ball. It ended up getting a very brief mention in chapter 2, where they are engaged in a game involving "a deck of cards, a small rubber ball, and a lot of shouting."
Originally, there was a whole thing where we watch them play, and even a second game involving a silver hoop hovering in mid-air and some other paraphernalia, and it was going to establish Ren's proficiency at ball-throwing, which qualifies him to go outside and do the scanner-toss. But in the end, those scenes slowed the pacing too much, so they had to go 😅
Same for the scene where the generator powering the transphasic scanner overloads. There is a lot of worry about monitoring the output closely, and during the spacewalk, Aya goes to help the professor and Sophie keep it in check. Originally, we were going to witness the overload and ensuing fallout (instead of just hearing it happened in Emil's report at the very end), but it detracted from the main tension, so it was banished to offstage.
As for a Real Secret(tm).....
When Jo tries to blow up the pirate tech threatening the ship and hits a snag, she swears (the only time we've heard her swear so far), using the expression "Jesus sufferin' fuck" That expression (including the apostrophe) was chosen very deliberately. As was the reference she makes to the "hammer throw competition at one of the festivals her mother had taken her to as a child." Let's just say Ian is going to be incredibly happy with Jo at some point in the not-so-distant future 😁😁😁
Now, as for IKEA Intergalactic...
It doesn't really have a specific time when it takes place (apart from "pre-Picard"), but it does technically fit into the middle of Preparations. On the way to pick up Mtumbe et al from Trill, Sirena comes upon the storeship and because Steward was in a redecorating frenzy, they stop and go find new beds. And fish tanks. That's why, in Preparations, they suddenly have a ton of IKEA furniture they need to assemble XD
Also, it's only hinted at in Preparations and hasn't come up in Star Trek: La Sirena (yet), but Emmet is having a rough go of it throughout this whole time period. There wasn't a particular trigger, but he's just feeling particularly sleepy (i.e. depressed), which is why Emil didn't want to leave him alone on Sirena and stays with him when he falls asleep in the armchair in the welcome hall. If and when I ever pick that story up again, we're going to talk about that in more detail, but for now, this is the explanation for Emmet's extra-sleepiness.
Also also: I have some vague ideas of what the holos get up to on their little adventure, though nothing is set in stone yet. The one thing I do know for sure is that it will end with them earning the privilege of free IKEA furniture for life. (Well, for the rest of their digital existence, whether that be ten years or two hundred.) Rios is going to be very confused by the furniutre catalogues popping up in his subspace feed at regular intervals - always with profuse "thank you" notes attached and coupons for free furniture.
This really makes me want to re-read and work on continuing these fics 😍 Thank you so much for asking!
(Based on this post)