hi I finally got my thing in a place where I feel comfortableish calling it done so. here
My au is set around DS9 era (around season 4ish onwards, so the years 2372 to 2376 ish) so it's around the start of the dominion war. Biiiig emphasis on 4x11 Homefront and 4x12 Paradise Lost btw, that's a lot like how Earth is most of the time under the bishops.
(img id in alt and under cut)
My Torch uses he/she/it because @/regionalatbandito's baby oul au radicalized me to he/she Torchbearer and then also she's yk. jesus figure and all that. But yeah it's vulcan, and has naturally stronger than average telepathy. Growing up, people were kinda wary of him due to his power, so she got used to being alone and othered, which made it easier for it as he got older to see how awful Starfleet and the Federation were. Since she didnt have friends growing up, and her family came in contact with her as little as possible, he put all its energy into studying, with a special focus on telepathic discipline. As a teenager, she would frequent the Vulcan Science Academy library to look at older texts and resources that contained theories and skills that were deemed too "outdated" or "irrelevant" to teach, especially ones about how pre reform vulcans would use telepathy in battle. This is where it learned about the hallucinatory projection thing. Very few could do it back then due to how strong one's raw talent had to be, so it was seen as closer to a myth or story than an actual thing (hence why it's not taught in schools). Torch ran away pretty soon after finding out about this, and then at some point came into contact with someone who had a copy of an ancient manuscript talking about it, which he then acquired somehow and taught itself how to do.
Clancy's a trill, but she grew up on Earth, in a Federation orphanage. She kinda always knew that she'd end up going to Starfleet Academy, since there was really only one way to get out and explore (also the career paths someone growing up in an orphanage can look forward to are very limited). From the time she started high school, she had already caught the attention of (then captain) Keons. He told Nico about her, and they started keeping an eye on her. She ended up being pulled from high school a year early, due to Nico himself sending her a letter offering her a spot in the Academy. She accepted, of course, and passed her classes with flying colours, and was part of Red Squad. Right after she graduated, she served under Keons on a pretty basic year long mission that was mostly checking up on various federation allies. Keons was promoted to bishop pretty much immediately after they returned to Earth, and Clancy spent a while on the ground, but she got bored and missed space, so she snuck onto a ship leaving for a mission. They found her out pretty quick, since she wasn't on any roster, and reported her to Starfleet HQ. I havent really figured out too much from there until she gets onto another ship (legally this time), so we're actually just gonna. brush by that. Anyway, she's been on this new ship for about a month when they find an uncharted planet with some strange readings, and decide to check it out. Clancy is part of the away team, and while she's planet side, she finds a ship and a strange readings generator that was being used to disguise the ship. For whatever reason, she doesnt report this, and instead sneaks back down just before her ship leaves. They come back for her once they realize she's gone, but while she's there she sees the banditos and Torch.
okay yeah that pretty much covers the basics. Bishops are gonna be in a seperate post btw cause I have soooo much to say about them. Story is also gonna be a different post. I'll link them both to here once I actually write those, but for now it's 2:30am and I am tired lol
