#DS9 Rules of Engagement

[walkingstackofbooks]

DS9 4x17 Rules of Engagement thoughts (I’m re-watching, so beware spoilers for future episodes!) [9 July ‘23]

Worf having nightmares makes his possible quip in Rejoined that Klingons dream about "things that would send cold chills down your spine and wake you in the middle of the night" less funny. That's a traumatic experience thing, Worf, not a Klingon thing.

I didn't think Klingons cared about civilians overly much. (edit: my memory was of Odo telling Bashir in Way of the Warrior "Don't count on that blue uniform to protect you. In the heat of battle, Klingons aren't very choosy about their targets." Which isn't exactly civilian-specific but also close enough that this outrage feels very manufactured. Plus they attacked DS9 not knowing about the number of civilians on the station.)

Sisko has the shortest skant, no?

The Klingon lawyer just outright stating the Klingons' ulterior motives in the case: "When Worf is extradited, the Federation will be forced to admit that one of its officers committed a massacre. That will put you on the defensive throughout the quadrant. And while you're busy trying to repair a badly damaged reputation, we'll find ourselves with certain opportunities."

"We can't put a man's heart on trial!" Sisko's outrage.

Ohhh I've just remembered how much second hand embarrassment there is in this episode...

"May I enter this file into evidence? Or do you have something to hide?" Ughhhhh, that's such a twisted way to do it

The way Quark's is filmed XD

"You have told me one thing - you're worried." Sisko's A++ analysis... but knowing what comes next I don't know if that was a set-up to make Sisko more confident.

Ughhhh, I'm cringing already as the attorney makes Worf feel unKlingon

Why is the Vulcan judge not stopping the Advocate more forcefully?

Sisko's exasperated eyeroll when Worf takes the Advocate down...

"Constable?" "Good news." Finally

"Care to step onto my battlefield?" Oh, it's gonna get good now Sisko's leading it.

"Miraculously, everyone survived!" I live for the way Sisko presents

"Tell me, Advocate, isn't it possible?" As always, Sisko is electric

"I should not have accepted the mission." "I'm glad you realise that. That was your first mistake. What was your second?" Take him down, Sisko

"But I do not feel like celebrating." "Part of being a captain is knowing when to smile, make the troops happy even when it's the last thing in the world you want to do. Because they're your troops and you have to take care of them." "Life is a great deal more complicated in this red uniform."

I don't have a great deal to add to this one. Sisko is incredible. Worf is at his worst. 🤷‍♀️ I really like the way the interviews and flashback were done, though.

[palominodragon]

lol at the antagonist in this episode of DS9 pulling out the "video games cause violence" argument. What a dick. Got me yelling "someone's taste in fiction doesn't define who they are in reality!" at the damn screen.

[slippery-domjot-balls]

[wipbigbang]

This is Round Two of the Artist Claims for the 2023 round of WIPBB. You may claim up to three fics this round. If you want only one fic, please fill out the form once with your top choices. If you want two fics, fill out the form twice with your first choice in the first form submission with one unique ID and the second choice in another submission with a different unique ID.

The form is located at https://forms.gle/ES2D3d2mTG1nU4Pk6.

Round two of the art claims will go on until July 1st. A partial list of available fandoms are below:

One Piece

Only Murders in the Building

Original Work

Pacific Rim

Power Rangers

Pyre

Rules of Engagement/Teen Wolf

RWBY

Spider-Man

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

Star Trek: Discovery

Star Trek: The Next Generation

Star Trek: Voyager/Star Trek: Prodigy

[dalesramblingsblog]

Addendum to the stuff I've said in the past about the DS9 writers being big TOS fans: I mean, c'mon, they went out of their way to make Rules of Engagement, which is really the first court martial episode of Star Trek to recapture the magic of... well, Court Martial, the famed Ion Pod Episode, by which I mean it makes precisely as much sense. That's zero. It makes no sense.

You can sit here and tell me all day long that the workings of its legal procedures can charitably be described as "whacked out," and... yeah, that's why it's so fun, dammit. It's terrible, about as terrible as having an unexplained Eject Ion Pod button on the captain's chair for no discernible reason beyond "the drama." But God it is fun to watch with your parents and tear it to shreds.

(LeVar Burton's direction is reliably great though, his directorial work is never less than stellar and going through this rewatch in sequence is giving me a newfound appreciation for his talents.)

[iliadette]

Advocate Ch'Pok in Rules of Engagement accusing Worf of being an uncontrolled killer because he enjoys a violent hologram program, and Jadzia exclaiming "It's not the same thing! It's a simulation!" but in vain, airing on tv 20ish years before the shipping wars, the advent of antis, and the fandom purity culture, that feels really on the nose...

[hawkp]

Nobody:

Everyone @ the camera in 4x18: 👁️👄👁️

[scurvygrass]

Thinking about it, the ethical implications of telepathy for the federation are immense. Is telepathic evidence admissible in court? Can Betazoids serve on federation juries? Can they become lawyers? What about mind melds? If that Vulcan judge in “Rules of Engagement” had requested a mind meld, could Worf have pled the fifth amendment? Could a judge grant a warrant for telepathic examination?

In The Price and Drumhead we see that Betazoids (well, Deanna Troi at least) have some reservations about how their powers are used on non-telepaths, but there doesn’t appear to be any hard and fast rule. I wish they’d included Betazoids in DS9’s homefront arc because a telepathic security force sounds fucking Terrifying and is something that star trek would have a lot to say about.

[raisinchallah]

you know ive seen it discussed that doctor who star trek crossovers would never work because the doctor is too anti authority and star trek is too rules based so they would sort of explode upon impact but i think ds9 is the most learn to live with the weird trek and the fifth doctor is the most pro authority leading them to be able to comfortably meet in the middle where the fifth doctor tries to engage in cultural exchange by teaching them how to play cricket in the middle of a moment of heightened tension with the dominion because only horrible things happen to the fifth doctor and friends turlough and garak have a very strange conversation leaving turlough to believe hes been poisoned and garak believing he gave him a rousing pep talk to get better at lying tegan and leeta become drinking buddies and well i shant say what julian and the fifth doctor do and what it represents about reflexive perceptions of sci fi franchises from across the atlantic and idea exchange within and the places within cultural memory of popular british franchises remembered nostalgically by american tv writers and such forth sisko tries to teach the doctor baseball but none of it sticks the station sustains a terrible attack and the fifth doctor and his friends must watch more people die horribly in front of them and honestly its not even the weirdest thing that week for ds9 end scene

[aquamonstra]

DS9's Rules of Engagement is putting me in a confusing spot by establishing that Klingons have lawyers, when they clearly established in The House of Quark they don't even have accountants??

[saavikamhere]

The Rules of Kunitkalifee for anyone interested btw...

PROPER SEQUENCING OF THE KUNITKAILIFEE AND THE KAILIFEE CHALLENGE FOR THE BETROVAL OF THE VULCAN MALE AND FEMALE AS AGREED BY PATRIARCH SHONN AND MATRIARCH T’FON TRANSCRIBED BY SHINN

[Translated, Lt. Rev Ganymede, DS9]

THE MALE OF THE BETROTHAL SIGNALS THE BEGINNING OF KUNITFALIFEE AT THE ANOINTED PLACE

THE FEMALE OF THE BETROTHAL ENTERS THE ANOINTED PLACE. WITH THE FEMALE, THE MATRIARCH ENTERS THE ANOINTED PLACE BY PALANQUIN

THE MATRIARCH OF THE FEMALE AND THE PATRIARCH OF THE MALE MEET WITH ALL HOSTILITIES PAUSED.

THE MATRIARCH MAY BRING AN HONOR GUARD THE PATRIARCH MAY ONLY BRING THE MALE AND THE FRIENDS OF THE MALE.

IF BOTH THE MATRIARCH AND THE PATRIARCH ACCEPT THE BOND IN QUESTION FOR KUNITKALIFEE THEN KUNITFALIFEE IS RESOLVED WITH THE RINGING OF THE MALE.

THE MALE AND FEMALE WILL JOIN AND MATE

NEGOTIATIONS OF THE BETROTHAL IN QUESTION DURING KUNITKALIFEE MUST BE MADE BY BOTH FAMILIES, BEFORE KUNITKALIFEE CAN BEGIN. IF THERE IS A CONFLICT ON EITHER SIDE, THEN IT IS WITHIN THE RIGHT OF THE PATRIARCH AND THE MATRIARCH TO DEFEND THEMSELVES IN COMBAT.

ARRANGEMENTS MUST BE MADE BEFOREHAND BY ALL PARTIES TO REDUCE THE LIKELIHOOD OF VIOLENCE TO BREAK DURING THE HEIGHT OF PLAK TOW.

[Translators note: "Blood Burn"]

REGARDING KALIFEE - THE CHALLENGE

ANY MEMBER OF THE KUNITKALIFEE MAY ENACT THE CHALLENGE, KALIFEE, AS ACCEPTED OR DENIED BY THE MATRIARCH.

IF THE MALE CHALLENGES, HE IS DENIED BY THE MATRIARCH, AND PUT TO DEATH. IF ACCEPTED KUNITFALIFEE IS RESOLVED.

IF THE FEMALE CHALLENGES SHE WILL CHOOSE HER CHAMPION, AS APPROVED BY THE MATRIARCH, TO ENGAGE IN COMBAT BY KALIFEE ON HER BEHALF. IF KALIFEE IS DENIED, THEN THE FEMALE IS PUT TO DEATH.

IF KALIFEE IS ISSUED BY NEITHER THE MALE NOR FEMALE, BUT BY A THIRD PARTY, THEN THE ISSUER CHOOSES EITHER THE MALE OR FEMALE TO DEFEND FOR ON THEIR BEHALF. IF THE MATRIARCH ACCEPTS, COMBAT BY KALIFEE BEGINS. IF SHE DENIES, THE ONE WHO ISSUED KALIFEE IS PUT TO DEATH.

THE PATRIARCH MUST ACCEPT TERMS OF ALL CHALLENGES ON PAIN OF DEATH.

THE PATRIARCH MAY ENACT AN APEAL FOR LOGIC IF INTENTION IS TO DENY KALIFEE. THE MATRIARCH WILL LISTEN TO THE CASE OF THE PATRIARCH. HOWEVER, THE MATRIARCH HAS FINAL SAY IF KALIFEE WILL BE ACCEPTED OR DENIED. IF THE APEAL IS ACCEPTED, KUNITKALIFEE IS RESOLVED. IF DENIED, THE PATRIARCH AND THE MALE ARE PUT TO DEATH.

NOR PATRIARCH NOR MATRIARCH CAN ISSUE KALIFEE.

ONCE COMBAT BY KALIFEE IS ACCEPTED, BOTH PARTIES MUST FIGHT TO THE DEATH, RESOLVING KUNITFALIFEE.

THE MALE AND FEMALE ARE TO MEET AT THE ANOINTED PLACE OF THE PATRIARCH EVERY SEVEN YEARS ON THE PONN FARR OF THE VULCAN MALE AND FEMALE.

THE FIRST KUNITKALIFEE IS TO ESTABLISH RITES OF BETROTHAL BETWEEN THE VULCAN MALE AND FEMALE. SUBSEQUENT PRACTICE MUST BE RENEWED ON THE VULCAN PONN FARR.

[Saavik's note: this was done with T'pring and Spock when they were 7 years old, as they were forced to touch during Plak Tow]

THIS IS THE VULCAN HEART THIS IS THE VULCAN SOUL

END

[thegeminisage]

STAR TREK UPDATE TIME. wednesday we did voy's "deadlock" and last night we did ds9's "rules of engagement" and voy's "innocence."

deadlock (voy):

this one was soooo fun and exciting. harry kim is now the wrong harry, just like o'brien is 30 minutes from the future. not the same guy we started with in both cases. why is this stuff always happening to harry, also. please give him a break

also, i cannot believe they killed that baby. yes we have an alternate baby from the other ship but STILL.

janeway talking to janeway was a real another earth moment. god i'm fucking obsessed with her. imagine just chit chatting with yourself like that. they really were gonna let both crews live on one voyager too no "you guys aren't the REAL voyager crew" here. just like john crichton and his different shirts......

that question of whether any given character would fight their clone or fuck them. janeway would fuck her clone. kes would too possibly. it's really too bad we couldn't get tuvok on tuvok action in this episode

it really was the cutest baby, is the thing. take a little baby and stick tiny horns on its forehead and go it's a space baby for star trek!! :D like putting that dog in the unicorn costume and calling it an alien on tos. girl, if this was my baby, i would be reminding them for the rest of their LIFE that they were the baby on star trek.

that said, there is a huge logistical problem of how this baby was born. if a human mother is giving birth to a half-alien baby with, say, tiny adorable spikes on its tiny adorable head that would potentially adorably rip through all her uterine tissue (which iirc WAS the complication suffered), would we not consider: a c-section? like, they acted like beaming the baby out was a last resort, because it's, you know, a baby. i get that. i'm willing to roll with that, because they had to do something to it after which didn't even WORK on one of the ships, killing said baby, because beaming the baby out was a bad and risky business. do you know what's not a bad and risky business? a c-section. we've been doing those since shakespeare was alive. it's OLD old school.

this is my problem with voyager. i enjoy it a lot most of the time but they just don't pay attention to the DETAILS. it has a better way with character interaction than tng did, the cast is way more loveable, but the plot is like swiss fucking cheese

rules of engagement (ds9):

this episode was by and large quite dry. i do love worf's struggle with like am i klingon or am i human bc it's very spocklike and i'm a sucker for little guys who can't seem to find anywhere to fit in, BUT

worf never really gets to land anywhere with this. i really, really, REALLY hate to come out defending tng over ds9, but in tng he was quite literally one of the only characters, besides data, to have a series-long arc: he fell from grace, and then was restored to it. was it good or interesting to watch? ehhh. but it WAS an arc, in a series that desperately lacked them. and then ds9...took him back to square one? i want to trust the process, but i have been spoiled re: some alexander plots and also that thing with his brother...i don't think he's returning to grace bro. i feel like he's really not too different from season 1 worf, except he's older and a dad now.

furthermore, most of the episodes asking whether or not worf is a klingon or a human usually involve some klingons going "hey has living among humans made you a fucking pussy? it has, hasn't it?" and then worf beats their asses (sometimes metaphorically, but often literally) and they back off. to ds9's credit, this isn't EXACTLY what happened here, but it's pretty close. and, continually, it is a little racist to be like "yeah the defining trait of klingons, who are almost always played by black actors, is that they're unrestrained savages on the battlefield." give us some depth!!! i know there's more to klingon culture than that because we get to see characters like dax and kor explore it. in fact, the only time we ever got to see worf HIMSELF explore it was when he was trying to teach it to alexander, who thought it was stupid because his mom thought it was stupid. i wonder what makes dax and kor and alexander and his mom so different than worf 🤔 think hard.

THAT SAID. the end of this episode, after worf won, and everybody was like yay worf won :D and sisko and worf went to worf's quarters on the ship and worf was like yeah no actually. i should NOT have fired on that ship. that was fucking stupid. and sisko's like you're damn right it was stupid and gave worf a whole ass lecture after HAVING HIS BACK all episode. that's loyalty. sisko had some excellent fucking scenes in this ep. i love when he gets really mad but i also love that when he threatens people, it's with a smile. i'd like to think he picked that up from kira.

speaking of loyalty, also, wtf is up with o'brien. bro, just lie. "yeah i would have taken the shot" JUST LIE. you know the trial is a farce anyway. you guys were bros on tng. JUST LIE! YOU CAN LIE TO COPS

finally, speaking of cops, i did NOT enjoy odo calling himself a police officer in this episode. he's NOT a cop he's a SECURITY GUARD there is a DIFFERENCE

innocence:

why does every single episode with tuvok go so hard...

firstly, did you guys know he has 4 babies. he has 4 babies and he breeds orchids and he has been married for 68 slutty, slutty years. AND HE CAN SING! he plays the lute and he can sing and he used to sing his babies to sleep. every time he talks about his family i take maximum psychic damage and need to lie down for 1000000 business years

like, fatherhood mode activated. vulcan childred are more well-behaved but he still knows how to raise. children. oh god

they were such adorable kids, too. on tos every child was so offputting but all the tng kids and so far all the voyager kids have been so fucking cute, it's unreal. like OBVIOUSLY you wanna tuck them in and sing them to sleep and OBVIOUSLY tuvok indulged them even though he's a logical vulcan

"they are part of my identity i am incomplete without them" AAAAAGHHH

also, tuvok trying to teach these little kids emotional control and vulcan meditation techniques. it's so cute but also such a kind look into vulcan culture. like, all we got from vulcan culture before now was filtered through spock's eyes, and this culture rejected him to the point where he never felt at home on his own planet. which means that they obviously have some problems, but fast-forward a century and change and let us see it from the perspective of a long-suffering vulcan dad who has already raised 4 babies and you DO see the kindness in treating children like little people ie being honest with them, respecting what they say, teaching them to control their emotions. spock basically got slapped with a rolled-up newspaper every time his face twitched but tuvok showed a lot of patience in teaching these kids to identify their emotions and then PRACTICE letting them go. in was really cathartic in a way

the twist about the age was VERY shocking but mostly because it shows up in the animated series, except in that the enterprise travels to a world where everything is backwards, including the aging processes. i don't really think you could have wrapped it up any other way though

final note janeway being so excited about first contact. nerd. she reminds me SO much of kirk <3

NEXT TIME: ds9's "hard time" and "shattered mirror" so that should be one hell of an evening

[theygotlost]

Every episode of Star Trek DS9 ranked by me and @gar-trek (video)

Text version:

S TIER: Civil Defense, Rejoined, Bar Association, Trials and Tribble-ations, The Ship, The Ascent, The Magnificent Ferengi, Far Beyond the Stars, Change of Heart, Take Me Out to the Holosuite, It's Only a Paper Moon

A TIER: Babel, Rules of Acquisition, Necessary Evil, Rivals, Crossover, The House of Quark, Fascination, Past Tense parts 1 and 2, Improbable Cause/The Die is Cast, Family Business, Little Green Men, Our Man Bashir, Hard Time, Body Parts, Let He Who is Without Sin, In Purgatory's Shadow/By Inferno's Light, Business as Usual, Empok Nor, Rocks and Shoals, Behind the Lines, Favor the Bold, You Are Cordially Invited, Waltz, One Little Ship, In the Pale Moonlight, Treachery Faith and the Great River, The Emperor's New Cloak, Field of Fire, Badda-Bing Badda-Bang

B TIER: Emissary, Move Along Home, The Nagus, The Storyteller, The Forsaken, In the Hands of the Prophets, The Siege, Invasive Procedures, Melora, Armageddon Game, Whispers, Paradise, Profit and Loss, Tribunal, The Jem'Hadar, The Search parts 1 and 2, Visionary, Through the Looking Glass, Explorers, The Adversary, Hippocratic Oath, Indiscretion, Starship Down, Rules of Engagement, To the Death, Looking for Par'Mach in All the Wrong Places, Nor the Battle Too Strong, The Assignment, The Begotten, Doctor Bashir I Presume, Ferengi Love Songs, In the Cards, Call to Arms, A Time to Stand, Sacrifice of Angels, Resurrection, Who Mourns for Morn?, Honor Among Thieves, Wrongs Darker Than Death or Night, His Way, Valiant, The Siege of AR-558, Penumbra, Tacking into the Wind

C TIER: Captive Pursuit, Vortex, Battle Lines, Progress, Accession, The Alternate, Playing God, Blood Oath, The Wire, The Collaborator, Second Skin, The Abandoned, Heart of Stone, Prophet Motive, The Sword of Kahless, Sons of Mogh, Shattered Mirror, The Quickening, Apocalypse Rising, Things Past, The Darkness and the Light, Ties of Blood and Water, Sons and Daughters, Children of Time, The Sound of Her Voice, Afterimage, Prodigal Daughter, Chimera, Till Death Do Us Part, Strange Bedfellows, The Changing Face of Evil, When It Rains, The Dogs of War

D TIER: Past Prologue, Q-Less, Dax, If Wishes Were Horses, Cardassians, Second Sight, Shadowplay, Equilibrium, Meridian, Life Support, Distant Voices, Shakaar, The Visitor, Homefront, Paradise Lost, Crossfire, Rapture, A Simple Investigation, Time's Orphan, Image in the Sand, Shadows and Symbols, Once More Unto the Breach, Covenant, What We Leave Behind

F TIER: The Maquis parts 1 and 2, Defiant, The Muse, For the Cause, For the Uniform, Blaze of Glory, Statistical Improbabilities, Inquisition, The Reckoning, The Tears of the Prophets, Chrysalis, Profit and Lace, Inter Arma Enim Silent Leges, Extreme Measures

Don't remember well enough to have an opinion even after reading the plot summary: A Man Alone, The Passenger, Dramatis Personae, Duet, The Homecoming, The Circle, Sanctuary, Destiny, The Way of the Warrior, Return to Grace, Broken Link, Soldiers of the Empire

[slippery-domjot-balls]

DS9 S4 E18 Rules of Engagement

Why did they decide to break the 4th wall in flashback/interview style for this episode?

The script has wall breaks written in. Do we like them?

They hurt me. It is a well written episode just odd choices.

But it was neat to hear how decorated Miles O'Brien is as a member of Starfleet. 22 years of service. Received commendations 15 times. 235 military engagements in his career.

One cool dude.

[frogblast-the-ventcore]

I've been having thoughts on Star Trek recently, and what I would do to make appeal to me more. Very few people will likely see this, but I wanted to get my thoughts out of my brain. I'm aware that many of the things I describe as issues come down to real-world factors (multiple writers, costuming, realities of being a show made by humans), but I'm choosing to ignore those.

My top 5 things that would improve Star Trek in my personal opinion. Under the cut. Stuck the one that's probably gonna be most controversial first, to get it out of the way.

1) make Starfleet more openly military inspired

This boils down to me finding stories with militaries in them, and military sci-fi, engaging. I would change three major things, and a lot of minor things.

The three big things are: give Starfleet an actual Marine Corps, give Starfleet an intelligence service (that actually has an onscreen presence), and give Starfleet space fighters. Two of those things solve some major issues the series has, the other is just fun, but all of them bring Starfleet much much more in line with modern navies. And Starfleet is a navy, it is a military. The series dances around it, but that's what they are, so they should drop the pretenses and say that's what they are.

The Marine Corps and intelligence service ideas fix big issues the series has had. Having actual Marines makes it so that Starfleet wouldn't be incompetent in ground battles, like we see in DS9 and other shows. Plus you could leverage the tech of the setting for some really cool kit. A semi-related point here is: stop waffling back and forth with the phasers to make them look not like weapons (the TNG era shows were really bad with this). Just make them have the general form factor of a modern pistol or an actual rifle with a stock. Stick with the later TNG era idea of the phasers firing pulses instead of beams, those just look better on screen. I know the series is about spaceships doing spaceship things, but an actual organized ground combat only makes sense. You cannot take on planets and win wars without putting boots on the ground to hold it.

For the intelligence service, it makes it much easier to have espionage style stories without making the main characters do everything. Real militaries don't have ship captains leave the ship to go do commando raids. Give Starfleet Intelligence (and Section 31 - we'll get to them) actual special forces units to do that stuff. Have them attached to the ship for specific missions, and follow the actual team on their mission, so we can see competent examples of special operations on the show. I want my Space Green Berets dammit.

For the space fighters, this is mostly just for rule of cool because any realistic phaser array would be instant death for fighter craft, but you can hand wave it away with an explanation that most main phaser arrays/disruptor cannons/what have you are not optimized to shoot at small fast targets like fighters and shuttles. This also allows for CIWS to come into play if the fighters are firing photon torpedoes/missiles at enemy capital ships. Pulse phaser based CIWS turrets are an awesome idea and would look very visually cool imo. Plus having a space fighter corps just adds the element of having more potential characters to examine, and makes for very cool set pieces (imagine a Star Trek version of BSG's Starbuck and Viper vs Raider battles for example).

The little things are things like, have the characters give salutes, have visible medals/award ribbons on dress uniforms (which tbf, the various series set earlier in the timeline actually do, I don't why they dropped this), have more military inspired jargon, naval traditions, songs, etc.

Finally, they really need to have a consistent uniform with nametags and POCKETS for God's sake; I would very much base the uniforms off of Star Trek Online's 2410 Odyssey uniforms, they're a truly excellent Star Trek uniform "family", and has distinct duty, dress, utility, medical, and admiralty uniforms that do a much better job of differentiating between specialist roles.

2) establish firmly that the Federation is socialist, not communist

This is more me getting annoyed at pop culture meme-ification of the Federation, but I want explicit mention of the Federation being socialist, in the sense of a middle ground between capitalism and communism.

I'd start by making it expressly clear that the Federation as a whole has a currency. Call it whatever (credit was used a few times). Have it based on a non-physical abstract value (say something like energy usage for a replicator). But have it exist. Have a form of physical currency of some form for purposes of trade with other interstellar nations as well. Sure, by all means, have Earth itself be a utopia where a combination of Federation social safety net policies and similar United Earth-specific policies make it so no one needs currency to live *on Earth*, but having an entire interstellar civilization have no money makes no sense.

Adding to that, I want an actual explanation of the social safety nets that the Federation provides. What does a life on nothing but the bare minimum standard of living in the Federation look like. I would wager it's very good by our standards, but not by theirs; an exploration of how those values and expectations have changed would be cool.

Next, have corporations be a thing that gets explored. Have some be state-owned, have some be private owned. We already have examples of corporations and such in canon (Yoyodyne Propulsion Systems for example), but no idea what that looks like. I think exploring what the Federation's economy looks like under an interstellar system of democratic socialism would make for interesting stories. Not to mention, just based on the interstellar scale of the Federation, there would definitely be the equivalent of megacorporations, and exploring what a megacorporation would look like in a socialist environment would be interesting in my opinion.

3) add more grey morality and move away from "people are perfect, the Federation is perfect"

To Trek's credit, it has started to do this in more recent entries, and ofc DS9 made it clear that the Federation was not a perfect utopia, I just want more of these things. Section 31 ties into this. I don't honestly mind that they exist. Every other interstellar polity in Trek has a shadowy organization like Section 31. Not having one may be a good moral statement on the part of the Federation, but makes no practical sense. Have them be a subunit of the larger Starfleet or Federation intelligence community, make it so they're under extreme scrutiny and oversight after what happened in DS9, but the Federation needs an organization to counter things like the Obsidian Order and the Tal Shiar.

4) make the series sexier/more appealing to monsterfuckers, and showcase more nonhumanoid aliens in general

This one is very much personal to me, but I'm pretty tired of having only the most human-looking aliens be the ones that get the romantic attention. Give me Star Trek Online style Tzenkethi, have species like Tholians be acknowledged as just as attractive as a human, have species that aren't just "human with makeup" be a part of Starfleet crews, show us what adaptations for those non-humanoid body plans/life support needs would be like. And have somebody fuck a Gorn already.

5) explore topics the series has shied away from

I want to explore things that the series either left unexplored, hinted at, deemphasized, or dropped.

A big one of these is religion within Starfleet, and specifically human religion. I find it not very believable that human religion would have gone away after contact with aliens, especially considering real world discussions and decrees from human religions on this subject. In addition, we mostly see alien religions as something either practiced in isolation from others (even of their own kind), or as something shown in a more negative light. Regarding it's place in Starfleet, the original series had a chapel onboard the Enterprise. I would add those back to Starfleet ships (at least ones big enough for them), and have actual chaplains onboard alongside counselors to handle religious matters.

Another thing to explore is interspecies relationships. This one is something that does come up in Trek, but not often, and how it's handled is inconsistent in my eyes. I want more of this, and more of it involving characters that aren't human.

Semi-related, a society like the Federation, that has come into contact with species like the Denobulans (for example), would very likely have a much more liberal interpretation of what constitutes an acceptable relationship - we ought to see more romantic relationships, family dynamics, and friendships, that are beyond our own modern human norm, and these sorts of relationships should be afforded the same level of respect.

[elimgarakdemocrat]

2376 Bajoran Election | Elect.Wiki.Org/Fed

The first Bajoran General election under the Third Republic took place on February 2, 2376. The 676 seats in the Bajoran Parliament were selected based on proportional representation, with voters for parties below the 5 seat threshold having their votes redistributed to other parties of their choice. Shown are all the parties that gained seats, with their adjusted vote totals.

The Progress Faction was able to gain a plurality but not a majority of seats, and had to form a coalition to rule. The Peace Faction refused to provide the necessary seats, and as such the Progress Faction was forced to form an alliance with the Pagh Vedeka faction.

Progress Faction [40.9% of the vote, 277 seats]

Platform: To promote the material conditions of the people of Bajor, via economic development and intersystemic cooperation.

Scientific Universalist Party [15.5% of the vote, 106 seats]

Platform: To promote the ideals of scientific rationality and its application to the wellbeing of the Bajoran People.

Voter base: educated elites, many of whom are Alienists (people who believe the Prophets to be time-controlling aliens rather than Gods)

Prophetic Democracy Party [13.2% of the vote, 89 seats]

Platform: To strengthen the Pagh of the Bajoran people.

Voter base: rural professional middle class. Almost entirely Prophetists (people who believe the Prophets to be Gods)

Social Democratic Party [5.8% of the vote, 39 seats]

Platform: To promote the general welfare.

Voter base: urban professional middle class and some of the working class. Mix of Prophetists and Alienists.

Communist Party (Marxist) [3.3% of the vote, 22 seats]

Platform: Workers of the World unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains! [In Federation Standard]

Voter base: mostly urban former hardline revolutionaries, largely ones who disagreed with the dehumanization policies the Communist Party tried to engage in following the Federation withdrawal from DS9.

Democratic Socialist Party [2.2% of the vote, 15 seats]

Platform: To promote the welfare of the working people of Bajor.

Voter base: urban educated elite and some of the urban working class.

Pluralist Party [0.9% of the vote, 6 seats]

Platform: to promote the rights and values of minority species on Bajor.

Voter base: almost entirely humans settled on Bajor, and some non-humans who live in human districts.

Peace Faction [28.2% of the vote, 190 seats]

Platform: To promote a free and truly independent Republic of Bajor.

Independence Party [17.2% of the vote, 116 seats]

Platform: To free Bajor by resisting the intrigues of intergalactic empires.

Voter base: rural liberals of many stripes. The Independence Party was the political wing of the Bajoran resistance and ruling party during the provisional government, but lost much of its base due to attrition in that time period.

Prophetic Liberation Party [5.3% of the vote, 36 seats]

Platform: To liberate the Bajoran working class via the will of the Prophets.

Voter base: left-wing Prophetists.

People's Party [2.5% of the vote, 17 seats]

Platform: To oppose the machinations of politicians and produce a government that truly works for the people.

Voter base: low social trust voters.

Communist Party [1.7% of the vote, 11 seats]

Platform: Workers of the World unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains! [in Bajoran Standard]

Voter base: former hardline revolutionaries. The Communist Party was the political wing of the hardline Bajoran resistance fighters and the opposition during the provisional government. Lost power in several schisms over the species character of Communism.

Communist Party (Nalist) [1.5% of the vote, 10 seats]

Platform: D'jarra ga, Tessipa ga, Pagh'ten ga Pagh. [Traditional Nalist slogan, roughly translates to No Caste, No Lords, No Prophets But The Soul]

Voter base: former hardline revolutionaries who split from the Communist Party when it refused to fully carry through on dehumanization policies following the Abandonment of DS9.

Pagh Vedeka Faction [24.5% of the vote, 166 seats]

Platform: To restore the dignity of Bajor through strength; for only in strength is there dignity.

Prophetist Party [11.2% of the vote, 76 seats]

Platform: To glorify the prophets and create a new Bajor in the image of their plan.

Voter base: hardline Prophetist conservatives, many members of higher D’jarras. Most older Bajorans who remembered the pre-occupation status quo.

Bajoranist Party [5.2% of the vote, 35 seats]

Platform: To promote the unique interests of Bajoran people against alien interests.

Voter base: rural conservatives who are less focused on religious issues. Mostly still Prophetists.

Reparationist Party [3.6% of the vote, 24 seats]

Platform: To extract reparations from the Former Cardassian Oppressors, and bring justice to the victims of the Cardassian Occupation.

Voter base: hardliner anti-Cardassians, often in areas more heavily affected by the Cardassian Occupation.

Revanchist Party [2.6% of the vote, 18 seats]

Platform: To restore Classical Bajor to its True and Original Borders.

Voter base: hardliner anti-Cardassians, generally from urban provinces.

Bajoran Independence Party [1.2% of the vote, 8 seats]

Platform: To free Bajor by resisting the intrigues of intergalactic empires, by force if necessary.

Voter base: former Independence Party members who disagreed with the isolationist and pacifist stances of the party.

Communist Party (Surakist-Cesarist-Khanist) [0.7% of the vote, 5 seats]

Platform: To liberate the proletarian mass of Bajor against the bourgeois decadence of the ruling class.

Voter base: former members of the Communist Party who followed the teachings of Vedek Li, who sought inspiration from major “communist” figures throughout history.

Unaffiliated [6.4% of the vote, 43 seats]

Jeraddoist Party [4.2% of the vote, 28 seats]

Platform: To preserve the natural beauty of Bajor against industrial exploitation.

Voter base: educated elites disgusted with the energy plant on the moon Jeraddo and other similar development projects

Libertarian Party [1.3% of the vote, 9 seats]

Platform: To challenge the cult of the omnipotent state and defend the rights of the individual.

Voter base: educated elites who dislike the main political parties

Communist Party (Maoist) [0.9% of the vote, 8 seats]

Platform: To serve the people, never benefiting oneself, always benefit others.

Voter base: former Communist Party (Marxist) voters who agreed with the fundamental interspecies nature of Communism in the speciescharacterism schism, but disagreed with the Marxists for participating in bourgeois coalitional thinking.

This is part of a series I'm calling Exarchates, about the politics of Bajor and Cardassia post DS9.