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coolrobotsupremacist · 4 years

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Modern Les Mis AU this. Modern Les Mis AU that. Star Wars Les Mis AU when

!!!!!!!!! Not soon enough

The scales have fallen from my eyes, my whole world changed in just one flash of light, Star Wars is the logical place to go for a les mis AU and I can't believe I didn't see it before now. The existence of destiny, the importance and possibility of redemption, heroic doomed rebels, DEmOCraCy.

Weird mix of headcanons and plot? Below.

Jean Valjean as a kind young Jedi trying to keep order in the galaxy even as the Clone Wars escalate. He works himself to the home because he knows that in addition to defending the republic he is also keeping the galaxy safe for his family though he hasn't seen them since he was a child. Order 66 happens and he flees back to his family but is devastated to find them missing, presumed dead. The trauma of war was for nothing and he flees, falling to the darkside and living as an outlaw from both the newly formed Empire. A massive bounty on his head because he's one of the last Jedi known to be alive. Valjean gives into his worst impulses and lives from day to day doing whatever he needs to do to survive and evade the Empire. He stops thinking about the innocent people who might get hurt along the way until one day he comes across a Jedi temple and out pops Myriel.

Big redemption time.

Myriel fixes him up with a new identity and valjean sets out again a slightly less broken man.

Javert is a Bounty Hunter who, unlike most other bounty hunters, refuses to deal with criminals and only chases bounties put out by the Empire. He wears what looks suspiciously like a reclaimed Stormtrooper armour and everyone is too afraid to ask( isn't the point of this job that we DON'T have to wear uniforms)

Fantine meets Tholomyès on Coruscant and when he abandons her she decides to go off world to find work and a new, safe home for her and Cosette.

Cosette is kidnapped by the Thenardiers who are at the height of their power and influence as a family that controls a fleet of pirate spaceships and are on the lookout for force sensitive children to mould into a private army of force users. Fantine, desperate to get her back, turns to the most dangerous and lucrative profession she can find and becomes a bounty hunter in order to raise enough money to hire a team of mercenaries to save Cosette. She ends up teaming up for a bounty with Javert, who wants her help infiltrating a mining station because he suspects something fishy is going on as it's not turning the profit it should be, this just turns out to be its workers being paid a fair wage but Javert is vindicated because, gasp, guess who owns the station?

Hijinks ensue but Valjean eventually agrees to be taken in because he hears why Fantine needs the money and as he's already been exposed as an outlaw he knows he can't do any more good at the station. Fantine shoves Javert down a rubbish shoot and brings in Valjean herself, taking all of the bounty. Then she immediately breaks him out again and they go and rescue Cosette.

Cool battle ensues pew pew pew smash SMASH BOOM. They rescue most of the children and find them good homes all over the galaxy then flee with Cosette to one of the few Jedi temples left. Knowing Star Wars that temple is probably on a desert planet. Thenardiers pirate empire is essentially crippled and he is left with only a few of his child soldiers. He swears vengeance.

Years later Marius is a Prince of a planet with a suitably keysmashy name Snarfan-5? Snarfan-5. With his grandfather as regent Marius trusts that the right thing to do is agree to the demands of the Empire, until he finds out that his Father was a Mandalorian who didn't abandon him but was killed when the Empire attempted genocide in all the Mandalorians. Marius buys a helmet which he vows to never take off until he restores Madalore to its former glory, and starts to reclaim his roots which he's fairly sure have something to do with being good at fighting? He'll figure it out as he goes. Hopefully he can find this Thenardier guy who once saved his father's life.

Then he runs away to join the rebellion.

Enjolras was a Padawan before the republic fell who escaped Order 66, he never got to finish his training and accepts that the Jedi Order had a lot wrong with it but that didnt stop him from internalising all that stuff about the only acceptable love being vague love for people as a whole. He only used his force abilities when absolutely necessary: he considers it an unfair advantage.

Combeferre is fascinated by the force as it's both a proven scientific phenomena and a religion? Wild. When he was a child he wanted to work as a diplomat travelling from planet to planet, solving problems peacefully. Part of him hopes that if enough systems band together, they can force the Empire to yield peacefully.

Coufeyrac doesn't need the force to let you feel the love hes primarily a pilot and picks up Marius on a supply run. Not in the least bit force sensitive, cheerfully so.

Feuilly used to work in a workshop that made cybernetic limbs. He taught himself how to use the force without really understanding until later how unheard of it was. His long-term goal is to rebuild the Jedi without all the toxic feeling repression. He's most fluent in droid because he grew up around them and he really hates how people often treat droids as expendable machinery.

Prouvaire knows about force ghosts, we all know what he's doing with his time.

Joly has taken 345 vaccines for diseases which aren't transmissible to humans but better to be safe than sorry, right? He's always excited to go to a new planet because it means he can research local diseases/medicine.

Bossuet has been accidentally shoved out of 345 airlocks.

Grantaire is technically a darksider. He was a Padawan at the same time as Enjolras but struggles to live by the Jedi code, and was pretty easily seduced to the dark side as a result but he made an even worse Sith than he did a Jedi because he couldn't jam with the cruelty and sadism. Upon realising that the Sith were actually philosophically evil instead of just really liking the aesthetic he sort of sheepishly slips out the back door. The lesson he took from this is that there is no right way to wield power: you either become ineffectual monks or megalomaniac sadists so the only option is to give up. He eventually nominally joins the resistance and he keeps having horrible force visions about all his friends dying which he trys to drown out with copious amounts of alcohol(it never works).

Bahorel is a Wookie. I don't think that requires further explanation.

Marius settles in with them although he learns to keep his mouth shut about the glorious old days of the Mandalorian empire.

Thenardier tried to train his few remaining child soldiers by throwing sharp objects at them. Long story short Eponine still can't use the force and only has one ear but she is very good at dodging things. Gavroche escaped on his own and is basically a 13 year old Han Solo. He stole a novelty yacht in the shape of an elephant, despite this hugely distinctive ship he has never been gotten close to bring caught. Has close ties with the resistance.

Cosette is taught at Fantines insistence how to use the force and blast people to hell and back, she learns these skills pretty well but more importantly Cosette is given more love that any one person needs so she grows up to be exactly as kind and loving as she is in canon. Valjean is secretly delighted to have a Padawan but also scared that he's going to pass his icky Sith germs onto Cosette. Blasters are Fantines speciality; she teaches Cosette to shoot first. They are eventually honest about their pasts with Cosette, mostly because it would be dangerous not to be. Cosette makes the decision to leave dispute the danger not wanting to live in hiding for the rest of her life.

There's a prophesy about a chosen one and everyone keeps mistakenly assigning it to Enjolras but it's very very clearly about Cosette

#Les Miserables #les mis #Fantine #hell yeah she lived #cosette fauchelevent #Marius Pontmercy #Jean Valjean #javert #enjolras #les amis #grantaire

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krinsbez · 5 years

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Book Recommendations: Da Big List, Fiction Edition

Well, I said I’d do more book recs, so here we go...

(note that some of the series recs are out of date, with additional installments written since I previously updated the list)

-Devil's Cape by Rob Rogers is the single best work of superhero prose I have ever read. -The Six-Gun Tarot by R. S. Belcher, in which the unusual inhabitants of a Wild West town (a sheriff who can't die, a deputy who's the son of Coyote, a housewife who used to be an assassin, and more) fight an Eldritch Abomination. Has two sequels, The Shotgun Arcana and The Queen of Swords -"Craft Sequence" series (six books and counting, starting with either Three Parts Dead or Last First Snow, depending on whether you want to read 'em in publication or chronological order, respectively), by Max Gladstone. Set in a modern-esque fantasy world that runs on corporate necromancy and "applied theocracy", the first (in publication order) involves a junior associate in a necromancy firm having to investigate the murder of the god who powers a steampunk city. -The Goblin Emperor by Katherine Addison, in which the half-goblin Unfavorite son of the Elven Emperor is unexpectedly raised to the throne after his father and half-brothers die in a zeppelin crash. -Daughter of the Sword by Steve Bein, in which a Tokyo policewoman catches a case that involves a Yakuza power struggle and a trio of magic swords, with extensive flashbacks (as in, they ultimately take up about half of the book) to the history of said swords. Has a sequel, Year of the Demon, in which the heroine goes up against a cult revolving around a mask tied to the swords. Also, more flashbacks. Now has a third sequel, Disciple of the Wind; there are also a couple of eNovellas, which I haven't read. -Eifelheim by Michael Flynn, in which a Renaissance-era village in Germany interact with a group of aliens whose ship crashed nearby. -Ancillary Justice by Ann Leckie, in which the last remnant of a space warship's AI seeks revenge on the ones who blew up the rest of her and...find out why they did it. Has two sequels, Ancillary Sword and Ancillary Mercy. -The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont, in which the creators of Doc Savage and The Shadow team-up with each other (and L. Ron Hubbard and someone else who is a minor spoiler) on an actual pulp adventure involving Nazi spies, a Chinese warlord, and something which is actually a BIG spoiler. Has a sequel, The Astounding, the Amazing, and the Unknown, in which Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, and L. Sprague De Camp investigate Tesla's final invention. -Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart, in which Master Li, a sage "with a slight flaw in his character", is hired by an immensely strong peasant named Number Ten Ox to investigate a mysterious plague afflicting his village in a "China that never was". Has two sequels, The Story of the Stone and Eight Skilled Gentlemen that are greatly inferior but still enjoyable. -The Kitty Norville books by Carrie Vaughn (15 books starting with Kitty and the Midnight Hour; the count includes a short-story collection and a side-novel starring a secondary character), about the host of a midnight radio show in Denver, who is also a newly turned werewolf. One night, instead of playing random music, she starts talking about the supernatural. Then vampires and other werewolves start calling in... -The Inspector Chen novels by Liz Williams (6 books starting with Snake Agent), about a police detective in a near future Singapore who investigates mysteries that require him to liaise with the Chinese versions of Hell and Heaven. -"Barsoom" series by Edgar Rice Burroughs (11 books, starting with A Princess of Mars): The ur-text of the Planetary Romance sub-genre, one of the definitional texts of soft SF. Rollicking adventures with epic characters in a marvelously imagined world. Long story short; a Civil War vet on the verge of death is astrally projected to not-yet-dead Mars, befriends a group of warlike natives, falls in love with the Princess of another, and turns the whole planet upside down in the name of love. Then he has kids... -"Lensman" series by E. E. "Doc" Smith (6 books; starting with either Triplanetary or Galactic Patrol, depending on your preferences): The granddaddy of all Space Operas, a triumphant example of power creep. The forces of Order and Chaos war for the fate of the universe, using the ultimate police force and an army of space pirates as proxies. -Last and First Men by Olaf Stapledon: An exploration of the future evolution of mankind. Starting in the '30s with the then-current state of the "First Men" (that is to say, Homo sapiens sapiens) until the extinction of the "Last Men" millions of years hence. Redefines epic scope. -Star-Maker by Olaf Stapledon: A companion of sorts to Last and First Men, except with with the scope turned up to eleven, covering billions of years and the entire universe. -Slan by A. E. Van Vogt: Jommy Cross is a Slan, an evolved human possessed of superior physical and mental abilities. Years ago, the Slans took over the world, but their regime was overthrown and now the Slans are hunted. When Jommy's parents are killed, he must learn to survive in a world that hates and fears him...or does it? Jampacked with twists and turns, not to mention being the archetypical "mutant hunt" novel. -Voyage of the Space Beagle by A. E. Van Vogt: The best and brightest of man's scientific minds have been sent into space to explore strange new worlds, and then figure out how to keep the life-forms they encounter from killing them. A rip-roaring tale of of space exploration, alien monsters, and an omnicompetent protagonist. Not only was it a major influence on Star Trek, one episode is the basis for Alien. -"Demon Princes" series by Jack Vance (5 books starting with The Star King): Years ago, the five most dangerous criminals in the known universe joined together to murder or enslave the inhabitants of a small colony. Now the sole survivor is hunting them down one-by-one across the galaxy... The narrative is a great combination of action and mystery, and the setting is full of all manner of interesting worlds and civilizations. -"Planet of Adventure" series by Jack Vance (4 books, starting with City of the Chasch): An Earthman crash-lands on a planet inhabited by four alien species, and the humans they've enslaved, travels the world to find a way home. A marvelous exploration of the concept of Blue-And-Orange Morality. -"Sector General" series by James White (12 books, starting with Hospital Station): Life aboard a massive, multi-species hospital space station in a deeply idealistic 'verse with one of the most diverse bunch of aliens ever devised. The first six books are mostly collections of short stories featuring medical mysteries solved by Dr. Conway (the primary exception is the second book, which is mostly a novella set against the backdrop of an interstellar war and brilliantly inverts the "Hard Man Making Hard Decisions" trope), as he goes from being a trainee to one of the hospital's elite, while the latter six are novels featuring an assortment of characters. -"Cobra" series by Timothy Zahn (9 books and counting, starting with Cobra): A multi-generational tale of super-soldiers in war and peace, with a healthy helping of interstellar diplomacy. A really interesting take on MilSF, where out-of-the-box thinking takes center stage. -"Quadrail" series by Timothy Zahn (5 books, starting with Night Train To Rigel): Frank Compton, former agent of the human government, finds himself working for the mysterious aliens who run the local 'verse's sole form of interstellar travel; a train in space called the Quadrail. Intrigue, action, and plot twists abound, including one of the best Heel Face Turns I have ever encountered. -"Stainless Steel Rat" series by Harry Harrison (11 books, starting with The Stainless Steel Rat, and one short story, which can be found in the collection Stainless Steel Visions). In a far future where mankind has spread across the stars, crime has been eliminated. Well, that's what the authorities would like you to believe; in truth there are still a small handful of individuals maladjusted enough to commit crimes and smart enough to get away with them. James Bolivar "Slippery Jim" Digriz, the Stainless Steel Rat, may be the smartest of them all, a white collar thief and con artist who's almost pathological disregard for law and authority is balanced by a surprisingly strong moral code. Which is why when he is finally caught, the authorities put him to work catching criminals who lack those morals. This is classic SF comedy, with a surprising amount of pathos at points. -"The Parasol Protectorate" series by Gail Carriger (five books, starting with Soulless). A humorous and exciting tale of love, intrigue, mad scientists, and fashion in an alternate Victorian era where the British Empire's power derives from steampunk technology, werewolf soldiers, and vampire politicians. Has a sequel series, "The Custard Protocol" (3 books and counting, starting with Prudence) revolving around the daughter of the original protagonist. Has a YA prequel spinoff, "Finishing School" (4 books, starting with Ettiquette and Espionage) revolving around a teenager who is recruited by a boarding school that trains spies. There are, in addition, a manga adaptation of the first couple books. -Ports of Call by Jack Vance. Myron Tany has always dreamed of traveling the Gaean Reach. When his eccentric aunt acquires a spaceship, it seems his dream has come true...until she ends up marooning him on random planet. Fortunately, Myron is able to obtain a position as supercargo aboard the merchant ship Glicca. The story does not really have a plot per se, consisting primarily of a series of marvelous picaresque vignettes as Myron and his crew-mates travel to different worlds delivering cargo, trying to acquire additional cargo, and periodically running afoul of bizarre local customs. The book just kinda stops at one point, and resumes in a second book, entitled Lurulu. I'm not really describing this well, but they're both very fun, beautifully written books. -The Green and the Gray by Timothy Zahn. A night on the town for a young New York couple takes a turn for the weird when they are forced, at gunpoint, to take custody of a 12-year old girl. They soon find themselves enmeshed in a secret Cold War between two alien races that have secretly been living in the city for generations...a Cold War that is threatening to turn hot. -The Rook by Daniel O'Malley. A young woman awakens surrounded by corpses with no memory of who she is. In her pocket is a letter from her pre-amnesia self, one Myfanwy Thomas. It seems that Myfanwy was a senior bureaucrat for the covert organization in charge of controlling magic and other such weirdness in Britain, and that her amnesiac state is something that was done to her. Myfanwy must therefore investigate the mystery of precisely who that is, while simultaneously do a job about which she knows nothing, without letting anyone realize what's happened to her. Ha a sequel, Stiletto, though I cannot explain the plot without spoiling the previous book. -Throne of the Crescent Moon by Saladin Ahmed. A tale in which an elderly demon-hunting cleric and his paladin assistant team-up with a shape-shifting barbarian girl and husband and wife alchemists to prevent an undead villain unleash an ancient evil, while trying not get involved between the conflict between the tyrannical ruler of their city and a gentleman thief-turned-revolutionary. Did I mention that the cleric's spells invoke the name of Allah, the paladin is a dervish, the barbarian is a Bedouin, and the whole setting draws it's cues not from Tolkien but the Arabian Nights? -"White Trash Zombie" by Diana Rowland (6 books and counting, starting with My Life As a White Trash Zombie). Angel Crawford is an unemployed high school dropout in rural Louisiana with a deadbeat dad, an asshole boyfriend, a drug habit, and no future. After one particularly wild night of drinking and drugging, she gets into a devastating car accident...and wakes up in the hospital without a scratch on her to find that an unknown benefactor has arranged for her to have a job at the Coroner's Office. Which is good because she now has a hankering for brains... -Under the Moons of Mars: New Adventures on Barsoom edited by John Joseph Adams. Exactly what is says on the tin, a collection of original stories set on Barsoom by an assortment of writers. As with any anthology, quality is a bit uneven; some of the stories are excellent Original Flavor pastiches, some are deconstructions or parodies, one or two are just bad. But all in all a great collection. -Worlds of Edgar Rice Burroughs edited by Mike Resnick and Robert T. Garcia. Same basic idea, but for the entire Burroughs oevure, including some of his non-SFnal work. -"Winter of the World" series by Michael Scott Rohan (two trilogies, the first starting with The Anvil of Ice, the second place taking place before the first and in another part of the world, and which I haven't been able to get my hands on ), an epic fantasy taking place against the backdrop of an Ice Age, in which a young man rises from slavery to become the most powerful smith-cum-magician the world has ever known, and together with some companions fights to defeat the sinister primal forces that wish to cover the world in glaciers forever. Much less generic than it sounds, even without going into the appendixes which reveal the real(ish) science behind quite a bit of the magic. -"Spiral Arm" series by Michael Flynn (4 books, starting with The January Dancer). Moderately Irish-flavored space opera, the first book tells the tale of of how a random space captain found a pre-human artifact, of the various hands said artifact passed into, and the conflicts that sprung up in it's wake. The second book turns the first's framing sequence into an epic of it's own, as a young bard hunts down the truth of her parentage. The series notably involves massive retcons with each volume, revealing that what we thought was going on was actually something else, but does so in a way that's compelling rather than irritating. -Dr. Jay Hosler is an entomologist who has written four edutational graphic novels for children (Clan Apis, The Sandwalk Adventures, Optical Allusions, and Last of the Sandwalkers). I've read three and they are amazing. In Clan Apis, a young honeybee desperately searches for her place in the hive, and ultimately finds an unorthodox solution. In The Sandwalk Adventures, an elderly Charles Darwin tries to convince a follicle mite living in his eyebrow that he's not God, by teaching him about evolution. In Last of the Sandwalkers (no relation)...honestly, the story contains so much epic awesomeness, I just want to list it, but it's all spoilers; suffice to say that the title character is A: a beetle, B: could give Sam Carter and Agatha Heterodyne a run for their money in the mad science department, and C: leads an expedition to explore the unknown and along the way discovers truths about her family and the nature of her people's civilization that some people really don't want her to (also you learn stuff about beetles). -Nightwise by R. S. Belcher. Years ago, Laytham Ballard was the Golden Boy of the occult underworld sub-culture. That was a LONG time ago, and no one would ever mistake Laytham for golden. But he's not so much of a bastard that he'll refuse the last request of one of his few remaining friends. What was supposed to be a simple revenge killing, however, turns out to be a lot more complicated and a lot more dangerous than Laytham ever imagined. Has a sequel, The Night Dahlia, which I have yet to read. -Brotherhood of the Wheel by R. S. Belcher. Jimmy Aussapile is an independent trucker, hauling cargo cross-country to support his pregnant wife and teenage daughter; he is also a member of a secret order descended from the Knights Templar that protects the highways of America from monsters both human and not. An encounter with a hitchhiking ghost finds him heading off on a quest, in which he joins forces with the heir apparent of monster-fighting outlaw biker gang who's military service unleashed some serious inner demons, and a State Trooper who's determination to solve a series of child abductions leads her to go rogue. Together, they must battle an ancient evil involving serial killers, human sacrifice, and Black-Eyed Kids. Note that it's loosely tied to Nightwise, in which Jimmy shows up in one scene as a minor side character; meanwhile, an off-hand reference to Laytham is made at one point in Brotherhood, and a minor plot thread in the later novel relates to a major plot thread in the earlier. They aren't even the same genre, with Nightwise being urban fantasy noir instead of horror. All in all, one doesn't have to have read one to enjoy the other,

#Book Recommendations #Book Recs #Fiction #SF #Science Fiction #Fantasy #Big List

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agentsokka · 6 years

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Davekat Fic Recs [P2]

Continuation of my Davekat fic rec list from ye old 2016. An absolute metric shit ton of Damn Good Fics™ have dropped since then, and it’s criminal I haven’t updated that original list in so long.

As per usual with these things, you won’t find much luck here with smut content. Some stories feature scenes, but for the most part, the fics themselves aren’t exclusively about such.

Cheers!

[Oneshots]

English is Full of Really Shitty Metaphors: You knew you probably shouldn't stay on a planet mostly inhabited by trolls once you finished your adult pupation and your blood color became more apparent. You also knew that you should learn a couple of other languages so that your weren't floundering around like an idiot when you eventually did move. Talking to random aliens on the internet seemed like a really good way to practice.

Fatalistic Humor, or, Jokes to Make Post-Mortem: ‘Head over heels’ is an appropriate turn of phrase because falling in love is exactly like throwing yourself down an endless staircase of inconvenient emotion.

i’m at the combination dunkin donuts & urgent care: Karkat Vantas is convinced beyond a doubt that his neighbor is some variety of murderer, until they actually meet in person. Highlights include blood at the laundromat, Dave's weird obsession with candles, and a box of shitty swords.

In Which a Loser is Sick: IN WHICH A LOSER IS SICK AND TRIES TO DENY IT, A TROLL IS ALSO A LOSER AND TRIES TO DENY IT, PISSING PANTS IS DISCUSSED IN THE SAME LINE OF CONVERSATION AS CALMING DOWN, VRISKA IS MENTIONED BECAUSE OF COURSE SHE IS, SOUP IS MADE AND SUBSEQUENTLY IGNORED, AND AN ACT OF AFFECTION IS REPAID BY THE WEAKENING OF AN IMMUNE SYSTEM. Dave gets sick and Karkat takes care of him.

Pretty Friggin’ MATRIMONIAL: Karkat is planning the proposal to end all proposals, but a clueless Dave has plans of his own.

Rumination: Dave and Karkat do some thinking, talking, kissing, and cuddling. Not necessarily in that order.

Self Sabotage and Other Symptoms of a Damaged Soul: Ok so everyone knows Dave and Dirk had a long amazing talk that presumably ended with Dave asking him for advice on the Being Not Straight stuff. My problem is, Dave also spent three years with his gloriously gay twin sister on a fucking space rock while he was right in the middle of coming to terms with all this stuff. So I wrote this mostly to reconcile the gap I think exists there, with a bunch of other Dave centric stuff thrown in with it.

Shitty Punchlines are the Purest Form of Self-Deprecation: Laying somewhere solidly post-credits and wondering, when do we start feeling like winners? Or is that not part of the package? Where's our fucking GameFAQs guide to navigating these stupid first steps into an eternity processing whatever the FUCK just happened, here? Going through that door was supposed to fix everything. Wasn't it? What's it going to take to fix ourselves?

Sleepwalk: Dave has unfortunate nocturnal habits. Karkat handles them better than anyone might've expected.

Start at the Beginning: Don't stop until eternity. And even then. (Davekat, meteor to can land to earth c and on. Happy anniversary.)

Sweatertown - Population: Two: Dave's cape gets hijacked, but Karkat knows what to do about it.

Tested: Dave and Karkat want to escape Aperture Science Laboratories.

That Cultural Divide: “Dave,” says Karkat neutrally, “why are they beating him up?” And your mouth runs dry.

Valentine’s Day: Valentine's Day through the three years on the meteor.

What to do When Your Boyfriend is Too Hot: Moving to a new universe and a new paradigm brings a lot of changes. And Dave kind of likes the way things were before, back on the Meteor, when he had Karkat all to himself and didn't spend sleepless nights waiting for the shoe to fall.

[Multichap]

About a Time I Failed: A doomed timeline AU. Instead of trolling John, Karkat finds himself scrolling through Dave's entire timeline. He is horrified by what he finds, and ends up in a pseudo-friendship with somewhat reluctant Dave. The story spans the rest of this timeline- Dave and Karkat's budding internet romance, the beta kids becoming friends, the start of SBURB, and, eventually, all of them realizing that Dave and Karkat's diversion from the Alpha Timeline has doomed them all. [Incomplete]

And it’s a Downward Spiral from There: One day, the whole world is going to acknowledge you as that one guy who finally made contact with aliens, but if you had known that getting drunk was going to lead up to abduction, a potential probing, and becoming the worst cult sacrifice this side of the galaxy, you probably would have just stayed at home. [Ongoing]

Astronomy in Reverse: Dave and Karkat are intergalactic pen pals, originally paired together for an extra credit school outreach project. Now, three years of correspondence later, they're best friends... and Karkat is finally immigrating to Earth. [Ongoing]

Breathe: Your name is Dave Strider, and there's nothing good about John and Rose changing schools. Without your twin sister and best friend, you've been left socially crippled at school, and barely coping at home. You're nearly certain that your mental health has been slowly spiraling downhill. You have no clue how you'll last the year to high school graduation. In all this, there's just one single ray of light. Your name is Dave Strider, and there's nothing good about John and Rose changing schools. Except for meeting Karkat Vantas. [Ongoing]

**The Calm is Terrifying When the Storm is All You’ve Known**: There were two kinds of trolls who went to Earth: rich shitheads with too much money and free time, and desperate assholes who couldn’t survive on Alternia, even with the best efforts of the young Condesce. Karkat hated the planet almost immediately, but with his home planet too dangerous for mutants, he really didn’t have any choice but to hide out on this weird little diurnal planet. At least he’d be safe. Or so he thought, right before blundering his way into an accidental friendship with the son of an anti-troll terrorist. Slow burn, shifting perspectives; romance really isn't the focus here but it'll still play a significant part; extra content warnings will be posted with each relevant chapter. [Ongoing] [y’all I’m serious read it it’ll water your crops and clear your chakras it’s Good Shit]

cold desert: Curiosity killed the cat. It probably just wasn't as good at being nosy as Dave is. [Ongoing]

Demon Eyes: In which Dave goes in to kill a demon for his bro, and things...don't exactly go as planned. [Ongoing]

Doc Scratch’s School for Supernaturally Gifted Adolescents: One minute you get a mysterious message from a man who types all in white like a jackass, and then the next thing you know you're being whisked away to a mystical school for kids with superpowers. If you weren't Dave fucking Strider, this sort of thing might bother you. [Ongoing]

Fortuitous: Dave and Karkat build a pillow fort and an unexpected chain of events occurs. [Ongoing]

If I Lose Everything in the Fire: The Kaiju - or Horrorterrors, as the trolls call them - first invaded Earth through a transdimensional rift at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. Serving the Condesce in her quest to add Earth to the Alternian Empire, these monsters have terrorized humanity for twelve years. With the help of rebel troll factions and the adaptation of Alternian mind integration technology - The Drift - the Interspecies Defense Program has fought back as the last line of defense between the Kaiju and Earth. Karkat Vantas was a Jaeger pilot, fought for freedom in the Assault on the Breach that brought trolls to Earth. The loss of his co-pilot left him bitter and full of rage, but desperate times have lead to him being recruited to join the fray once more. Dave Strider is the best and brightest the Interspec program has to offer. Jaeger Restoration Project Head, highest simulation score on record, and younger brother of the Deputy Marshal - except he's not allowed in a Jaeger. Nobody expects them to be Drift Compatible. [Ongoing]

i'm sick of the things i do when i'm nervous: Two idiots poke at recovery with a stick. [Complete]

IN WHICH TWO SETS OF HUMAN BROTHERLY BONDS ARE ESTABLISHED, SEVERAL CORRUPT INSTITUTIONS OF MORALITY ARE IDEOLOGICALY DEMOLISHED, A DOG WITCH USES GOD POWERS TO MESS WITH EXQUISTELY CAREFULLY PLANNED INFRASTRUCTURE PLANS FOR SOME TREES LIKE A JACKASS--: --APPROXIMATELY A BILLION FUCKING CONSORTS AND CHESS PEOPLE, ALONG WITH A LOT OF USELESS GOD MODED LAYABOUTS ARE LEAD TO SUCCESSFUL COLONIZATION AND ESTABLISHMENT BY A SUCCESSFUL AND COMPASSIONATE LEADER, AND LONG-SUNDERED SOULMATES TORN APART BY FEAR AND DEVASTATING, MIND-BOGGLING STUPIDITY ARE REUNITED AT LAST BY A WISE, COMPASSIONATE BOSS / GUIDANCE FIGURE AND HIS LOYAL, EFFICIENT RIGHT-HAND MAN. THERE ARE AT LEAST THREE CRYING SCENES, TWO KISSES, AND OVER TEN TOTAL MINUTES OF REAL-TIME DESCRIPTION OF LONGING GAZES AND TENDER HUGS. 2 RESOUNDING ENDORSEMENTS OF BELOVED MUNICIPAL OFFICIALS. PRIMERS ON HUMAN/TROLL INTERSPECIES ROMANCE. THIS TEXT IS SUGGESTED SCHOOLFEEDING MATERIAL FOR ALL REASONABLY GROWN HATCHLINGS GAZING OUT ON THE BLIGHTED WASTELAND OF THEIR PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, WISHING THEY WERE DEAD, AND DESPERATELY YEARNING SOMEONE WOULD CLUE THEM IN ON JUST WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON. RATED 8(17)+ AND UP. [Complete]

M.C. Escher that's My Favorite MC [It’s the End of the World as We Know It]: Dirk has a plan, when he's 18 he's going to take Dave and get him the fuck out of their terrible lives and start over. Until then being the barrier between Dave and Bro is his only job, his soulmate is just going to have to wait goddamnit. Dave has a plan, it involves getting internet famous and not going gay, easy right? Karkat also has a plan, to repeatedly track down his dumb as rocks soulmate and get him to actually talk to him for fuck's sake. [Ongoing]

Midnight’s Son: Dave Strider's father, a prominent detective, is tasked with infiltrating the Midnight Crew. Dave, worried about his father's safety, decides to do a little undercover work of his own and tries to befriend the boss's son, Karkat Vantas. [Complete]

Nothing Risked, Nothing Lost: Try as he might, Dave remembered nothing from the first four years of his life. There were three signs of imminent upheaval. First, the King of Derse disappeared without a trace. Second, the Queen of Prospit dropped dead. The third sign was the return of long-lost royalty. Not like any of this was Dave's concern. Not the war between Prospit and Derse, not the horrorterrors of the Furthest Ring, not the failings of some dumb monarchs. He was a nobody. Not like Rose, a bona fide Seer of Light. He wasn't sure why she wanted them to go to Derse, but he followed her, anyway. Like he always did. [Hiatus]

Off Court: Your name is Dave Strider, and a hospital wasn’t the setting you had imagined when you thought of seeing your twin again. Your name is Karkat Vantas, and having Terezi drag you around her weird human legislacerator training probably wasn’t the worst way you could spend the rest of your sweeps. And then you meet him. [Ongoing]

Palisades, Palisades: In your memories, you see Dave Strider, fourteen-years-old and made up of lean muscle and awkward limbs that he would still need a few years to grow into fully. Crows surround him, all cawing impatiently, vying for the chicken sandwich in his backpack. He swears loudly as he swings a stick at them, trying to get them to leave him the fuck alone. “Stupid feathery assholes,” he’d always complain once he finally shooed them away. You tear yourself out of the memory. You miss him, and you hate yourself for it. [Complete]

The Red Thing: The first time you ever realised there was something wrong with you, you were two sweeps old. You still remember it like it was just yesterday. You were at the playground in your then-community, which you had long since moved from. You’d been playing ‘tag’ with some of the other young trolls, but had tripped and scraped your knees. One of the other troll’s custodial guardians had noticed what had happened, and wandered over to make sure you were alright. You don’t think you’ll ever forget the look on her face when she picked you up and saw the mutant-red seeping through the knees of your pants. Things spiraled downhill quickly after that. You’d never quite understood what was happening when you were young, but you’d known that you’d become an outcast. Other trolls around you started to avoid you. Sometimes they’d throw things at you – food, stones, anything that might hurt you. Other times, they’d call you names – mistake, mutant, freak. You preferred when they tried to hurt you. At least then you could fight back. [Ongoing]

space cowboy disaster zone: Your name is Karkat Vantas, and these nights you eke out a quiet living on Antoren-3, helping around the Caltira Inn or scavenging out in the rust plains. It’s a simple life, and the only excitement you get for the most part is from the stories of other scavengers, a handful of bar fights, and the occasional salvageable wreck. Fresh wrecks, you’ve only seen a handful of times, and when John spots the telltale streak of light from a distant crash in the middle of a rust storm, you’re eager to get first dibs on whatever it might contain, the elements be damned. You don’t expect a survivor. [Ongoing]

Stepping Stones: A series of vignettes concerning the evolution of the relationship between Karkat Vantas and Dave Strider. Or, the troll title: IN WHICH DAVE AND KARKAT DISCUSS THE VARIOUS DIFFERENCES BETWEEN HUMAN AND TROLL GENITALS, THERE IS AN AWKWARD CONFESSION OF EMOTIONS, DAVE AND DIRK FINISH THEIR CONVERSATION ON THE ROOFTOP, DAVE GETS SOME ADVICE FROM A FEW OF THE LADIES IN HIS LIFE, AND THERE IS A SMUTTY EPILOGUE. [Complete]

The Stories We Tell Ourselves: Dave was silent. YES. YOU. The voice answered him before he even had a chance to speak up and voice his confusion or curiosity with a lack of delicacy only a child was capable of. It had a harsh way of speaking, brash enough to be rude and so loud the sound of his voice practically echoed off his skull. In it he could feel the rich, crimson flow of blood, the drip, drip, of molten lava degrading stone so ancient not even the gods of old would have lived to see it form. A being so old, so vast, that even to speak his name would grant one with immeasurable power. It made him shudder, little hands clenching into fists against rough stone. HUMAN CHILD. In which Dave is alone and Dragons exist. Shenanigans ensue. [Ongoing]

Stow Away: Calm and collected, that's Dave Strider. The docking station around him is chaotic and loud but he is like ice, cool and clear. None of that is true of course, but nobody is looking closely enough to notice the way his hands shake and his eyes dart around underneath the opaque plastic of his vintage sunglasses. Dave Strider sneaks on board an Alternian ship in an attempt to flee his shitty situation on Earth. This is the first of many questionable decisions. [Complete]

Time Displacement: Side A: After the events of the game, Dave wakes up in a universe that is familiarly unfamiliar. Sburb didn't happen, all their guardians are alive, and Bro is...different. [Ongoing]

Transcend: Dave doesn't get troll romance, but that's okay because Karkat is bad at it anyway. A journey through all four quadrants and a bit more. [Complete]

#Homestuck #Davekat #Dave Strider #Karkat Vantas #fic recs

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yasbxxgie · 4 years

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N.W.A. was formed back between 1986 and 1987 with the original lineup consisting of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E & Arabian Prince. A 17 year old Ice Cube joined after his old groups Stereo Crew and C.I.A (Criminals In Action) with Kid Disaster (K-Dee) and Sir Jinx who Dr. Dre produced for both dissolved. Shortly afterward, MC Ren and DJ Yella entered the fold and in November 1987 Macola Records released and distributed N.W.A’s debut project on their independent label funded by local hood Eazy-E called Ruthless Records. At the time, Ice Cube was 18 years old and responsible for writing the songs that put the group on the map both locally and nationally, Eazy-E’s “Boyz-N-The-Hood” & “8 Ball” plus N.W.A.’s “Dopeman”.

In August 1988, N.W.A. who were less than satisfied with Macola’s handling of their material switched to Priority Records as a national distributor. They re-released “N.W.A. & The Posse” (not “Straight Outta Compton”) which immediately began moving units and entered the Billboard charts. They also released a new single “Gangsta, Gangsta” on Ruthless/Priority that garnered them even more attention and spread nationwide like wildfire. The song was once again, penned by Ice Cube. It was soon followed by one of the most influential songs in Rap history, “Fuck The Police”.

The next step was to release Eazy-E’s debut LP “Eazy-Duz-It” which was mostly written by MC Ren and The D.O.C. formerly of Fila Fresh Crew but featured contributions from Ice Cube on the aforementioned “Boyz-N-The-Hood”, “No More ?’s” and the spoken word album closer “Eazy-Chapter 8 Verse 10”. It was released in September 1988 and soon joined the re-released “N.W.A. & The Posse” on both the Top Black Albums and Billboard 200 charts, climbing them both at an impressive rate.

In February 1989, N.W.A.’s “Straight Outta Compton” was unleashed on the masses, its meteoric rise up the charts was powered by the Ice Cube penned pre-release singles “Gangsta, Gangsta” & “Fuck The Police” in addition to the single “Express Yourself” that got them some radio play with a video that landed on BET’s “Rap City” and MTV’s “Yo! MTV Raps”. “Express Yourself” featured Dr. Dre kicking rhymes written by Ice Cube and the single and video exposed N.W.A to a much wider audience and expanded their reach even further. Following the sales success of both albums, N.W.A. went on their Straight Outta Compton Tour then picked up some other dates later on but as the tours progressed Ice Cube kept close tabs on his publishing and royalties statements.

By Fall 1989, Ice Cube became frustrated with his situation at Ruthless Records and felt he wasn’t receiving his proper compensation for contributing to the empire Ruthless was becoming. By then, J.J. Fad was Gold, Eazy-E had gone Platinum, N.W.A. was certified Platinum and The D.O.C. had just received his Gold plaque. Cube noted that neither Priority nor Ruthless was spending an exorbitant amount of money on marketing or promotions, they typically sold via word of mouth thanks to the coverage they got in mainstream press as the poster children for “Gangsta Rap”, derived from the N.W.A. single “Gangsta, Gangsta” Cube made significant contributions to.

Ice Cube was 20 years old at the time, constantly butting heads with Jerry Heller and Eazy-E over his splits, points and his royalties from N.W.A’s back catalog in addition to Eazy-E’s. Rather than sign another contract with Ruthless that would no doubt result in Cube continuing being under compensated for his role in the group as well as other albums on the label, he instead opted to go solo. By December 1989, Ice Cube leveraged his value to Priority into a solo deal by telling them Def Jam was interested in signing him.

This resulted in Ruthless Records blocking Dr. Dre from producing Ice Cube’s upcoming debut on Priority Records so he contacted several people in New York in search of producers, among them being The Bomb Squad which he had preliminary talks with. Ice Cube traveled to New York in January 1990 with Sir Jinx heading for the Def Jam offices to meet with Sam Sever, one of the main producers of one of his favorite albums of 1989, 3rd Bass’ “The Cactus Album”.

Sam Sever never showed up for the meeting but by chance Ice Cube ran into Chuck D of Public Enemy who was in Def Jam’s offices handling some business. Ice Cube and Chuck D first became acquainted back in December 1988 when Public Enemy brought N.W.A. & Eazy-E along with them on the Bring The Noise Tour with Ice T, Stetsasonic & EPMD. Public Enemy was in the process of completing their album “Fear Of A Black Planet” and Chuck tells Cube he should come to Greene Street Studios tonight because they were going to record a song called “Burn, Hollywood, Burn” with Big Daddy Kane. Cube came through, recorded a short 4 bar verse and sounded at home over Bomb Squad production… the rest was history.

Ice Cube then spent time with Chuck D fleshing out what he wanted on the album in notebooks and Hank Shocklee of The Bomb Squad stressed that they wanted to make a concise body of work for him as opposed to a few tracks here and there. Next step involved Ice Cube and Sir Jinx spending a couple of weeks at Public Enemy’s pre-production studio and rehearsal space at 510 South Franklin Street in Hempstead, Long Island poring through a mountain of records.

After taking careful consideration of the many records at their disposal, Cube & Jinx selected Funk from Kool & The Gang, Commodores, Betty Davis, Steve Arrington, Funkadelic, Parliament, Sly & The Family Stone, Maceo & The Macks, Bar-Kays, The J.B.’s, Fred Wesley & The New J.B.’s and Zapp in addition to staple breaks from Bob James, Mountain, The Meters, The Turtles, ESG, Cerrone, Melvin Bliss, King Curtis, Lafayette Afro Rock Band, Kid Dynamite and Soul Searchers. Between Ice Cube, Sir Jinx, Hank & Keith Shocklee, Chuck D & Eric “Vietnam” Sadler we have all the ingredients necessary for a classic album.

After close to two full weeks of culling together sample material, additional loops, sounds and song ideas from a cassette tape Chuck sent Cube a month or so prior to him arriving in New York and having Eric “Vietnam” Sadler craft together a bunch of skeletons to work from they eventually moved from there to Greene Street Studios to begin the recording process. Ice Cube had notebooks full of rhymes, some originally intended for Eazy-E and future N.W.A. projects, the ideas he laid down with Chuck and now the beats (some of which were demos originally recorded by Son Of Bazerk and True Mathematics). All that was left was for the Bomb Squad’s mad scientists to put on their lab coats, safety goggles and gloves and try to make a timeless piece of art.

The album itself was created over a 4 week span by The Bomb Squad, Ice Cube & Sir Jinx. The Bomb Squad’s attentions were split between finishing “Fear Of A Black Planet”, putting finishing touches on Bell Biv DeVoe’s debut “Poison”, tour dates and working with other talent they were developing like Leaders Of The New School, Young Black Teenagers and Son Of Bazerk featuring No Self Control & The Band. It was rough going given the scheduling conflicts but eventually the team was able to finish the project. Everyone worked relatively quickly and the album was done, mixed and mastered by Howie Weinberg then was turned in by March 1990. Ice Cube wanted to deliver the album to Priority as soon as possible so it could beat the next N.W.A. project to market.

The album consists of 17 tracks, 3 of which are skits (“Better Off Dead”, “JD’s Gafflin’” & “The Drive-By”) and 3 more were short songs like “What They Hittin’ Foe?”, “I’m Only Out For One Thang” & “Get Off My Dick & Tell Yo Bitch To Come Here”. “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted” had a few features on it, Chuck D on “Endangered Species (Tales From The Darkside)”, Flavor Flav on “I’m Only Out For One Thang” and Yo-Yo on “It’s A Man’s World”. Given Ice Cube’s track record for making misogynistic anthems, the first member from his crew to get a deal was Yo-Yo and his manager was a Black woman, Pat Charbonnet.

Yo-Yo’s verse on this album led to her getting signed to EastWest/Atlantic later on that year. The experience Sir Jinx & Ice Cube gained working on this album plus having The Lench Mob in tow gave them the foundation for Street Knowledge Music. Eventually it led to Ice Cube working with his own iteration of The Bomb Squad, The Boogie Men (DJ Pooh, Bobcat & Rashad) in concert with his road dawgs Sir Jinx & Chilly Chill.

Priority released a single from the upcoming album in April, “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted” b/w “Once Upon A Time In The Projects” but there was no video and although the single was selling it wasn’t receiving any radio airplay. On May 15th, 1990 Ice Cube’s Bomb Squad helmed debut LP “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted” finally hit store shelves. When it debuted on the Billboard charts it was #110 on the Top Pop Albums on June 2nd, 1990. The single “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted” was #2 on the Hot Rap Singles chart right behind Public Enemy’s “911 Is A Joke”.

To provide some context to the era, A Tribe Called Quest’s “People’s Instinctive Travels & The Paths Of Rhythm”, Public Enemy’s “Fear Of A Black Planet”, Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E.’s “New Funky Nation”, Audio Two’s “I Don’t Care: The Album”, Poor Righteous Teachers’ “Holy Intellect” & X-Clan’s “To The East, Blackwards” were all recent releases. By June 9th, 1990, “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted” entered the Top Black Albums at #47 and jumped all the way up to #62 on the Top Pop Albums as the single occupied the #1 spot on Hot Rap Singles.

On June 16th, 1990 it leaped all the way up to #19 Top Black Albums and #27 Top Pop Albums while “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted” b/w “Once Upon A Time In The Projects” remained the #1 Rap single for the 2nd week in a row. It occupied the top position on the Rap charts as #2 was Snap!’s “The Power”, #3 was Power Jam featuring Chill Rob G “The Power”, #4 was MC Hammer’s “U Can’t Touch This” and at #5 was Public Enemy’s “911 Is A Joke”. Ice Cube had just turned 21 and his first solo single was a #1 Rap hit in the age of MC Hammer & Pop/crossover Rap…

What makes this feat all the more impressive was Ice Cube’s single got little to no support at Black radio whereas all of the singles charting below it were. Nonetheless, Ice Cube’s single was still outselling all of the others while Priority was spending the bare minimum on their marketing campaign and promotional materials. The album was pretty much selling itself via word of mouth.

The subject matter on the album included some of the West Coast fare N.W.A. fans were used to from the same Ice Cube who made “A Bitch Iz A Bitch”. Songs like “The Nigga Ya Love To Hate”, “You Can’t Fade Me”, “Once Upon A Time In The Projects” & “A Gangsta’s Fairytale”. The Bomb Squad/Public Enemy influence was evident in cuts such as “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted”, “Turn Off The Radio”, “Endangered Species (Tales From The Darkside)”, “Rollin’ Wit The Lench Mob”, “Who’s The Mack?” and “The Bomb”. The way Ice Cube was able to blend elements of Gangsta Rap with Conscious Rap themes and Sir Jinx managed to combine his West Coast roots and East Coast influences to result in the incredible finished product was a revelation for many who thought Cube couldn’t do it on his own.

The fascinating thing about “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted” was how it was RIAA certified Gold on August 9th, 1990 with no video, no Black radio support and at the time not even a 2nd single released. One of the motivating factors behind the Bomb Squad knocking the album out of the park was when Ice Cube told Hank Shocklee and Eric “Vietnam” Sadler when he informed N.W.A. that he would seek out production from them if Dr. Dre wasn’t involved with his solo project they said he’d be lucky to even go Gold. This was odd considering “It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back” was Platinum at the time as was “The Great Adventures Of Slick Rick” which the Bomb Squad had also made significant contributions to.

Around the same time, N.W.A. released their EP “100 Miles And Runnin’” and a video for the title track on Ruthless/Priority containing several Ice Cube disses whereas Ice Cube made a conscious effort to not address his situation with N.W.A. or even mention them at all on his album. That same month, Priority decided to finally shoot a video for the follow up single, “Who’s The Mack?”.

The job of directing the clip went to Alex Winter and Tom Stern of Propaganda Films, it debuted on BET’s “Rap City” & “Yo! MTV Raps” in mid to late September 1990 and had entered the regular rotation of The Box on October 13th, 1990. Priority urged Ice Cube to release some follow up material which resulted in the “Kill At Will” EP released that November. The EP was self produced by Ice Cube, Sir Jinx & Chilly Chill and was supported by two videos, “Jackin’ For Beats” and “Dead Homiez”. It went Gold in under 3 months and “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted” eventually went Platinum. Far more important than the sales was the lasting influence of Ice Cube’s debut album and the accompanying EP…

What “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted” did was take the style of music Spoonie Gee created, Schoolly D pioneered, Ice T, KRS One (BDP), Just-Ice , Toddy Tee & Mixmaster Spade innovated and Ice Cube made style evolutions in then marry it with the sociopolitical themes Public Enemy addressed on wax but from the perspective of a young person from South Central Los Angeles. This album became a new benchmark for not only artists looking to rebrand themselves after going solo but for new artists making their first project. “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted” was revolutionary but gangsta before 2Pac was.

It set in motion a new timeline and created a lane where Paris, Geto Boys, The Coup, The Lench Mob & later on dead prez for a new generation of emcees and groups that could toe the line between gangsta and conscious post Boogie Down Productions’ “Criminal Minded”. Ice Cube was further able to merge the fanbase that loved Public Enemy, BDP, Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, A Tribe Called Quest, X-Clan, Poor Righteous Teachers and Brand Nubian with one that also loved Ice T, King T, Geto Boys, Compton’s Most Wanted & Above The Law in a way that N.W.A. couldn’t do without Ice Cube.

Ice Cube’s output and evolution between 1988 and 1992 is easily one of the best and most impactful 5 year periods of any Rap artist in the genre’s history. It’s insane to think that span only covers Ice Cube between the ages of 18 to 23. By the time he was 25, he was considered a legend who was instrumental in launching several Rap careers, including Yo-Yo, Del The Funkee Homosapien (and Souls Of Mischief & Hieroglyphics), Threat, Da Lench Mob, Anotha Level & Kausion amongst others.

Sean “Puffy” Combs once told Ice Cube that while he was in the process of putting together “Ready To Die” for Biggie during his days at Uptown/MCA he studied “AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted”. Over the past 30 years solo acts, groups and producers alike have all drawn inspiration from this album and cite it as influential. This opus is one of the many bodies of work that inspired me to write about music, frame it and put it into full context for those who may not have lived to experience the era for themselves. Ice Cube went and fucked up the program… Fuck you, Ice Cube!

[x]

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khantoelessar · 7 years

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Let’s play “What if . . .?”

I want to play a little “What if” game with you. Not exactly an AU, more like a comparison to provoke thought.

Let’s say that the Federation and the Klingon Empire are at war in the original timeline. The Enterprise is defeated in battle. Then the ship is thrown 250 years into the future (by whatever means, wormhole, unstable nebula, whatever you like) but it arrives into this future badly damaged. Only Kirk and 84 members of the crew counting his bridge crew and McCoy have survived. Failing life support kills a further 12.

In this future the Klingons have won but over the 250 years their culture has changed. Slavery is abolished and all people have equal rights. It is a great deal like the Federation except for one important thing. There is no Starfleet. In fact, Starfleet having lost the war have been condemned by history as the villains. All of Starfleet was massacred by the Klingons and while it is not common knowledge there are records that survive, telling of Kirk and the Enterprise.

Now the Enterprise is found floating and adrift by a Klingon Imperial ship. The Captain beams Kirk over (perhaps by doing so he saves Kirk’s life) and questions him as to who he is and where he comes from.

What do you think Kirk would do then? Would he tell the truth or would he evade?

The Klingon Captain refuses to release the remainder of Kirk’s crew from the damaged Enterprise until they reach a space station where the Imperial fleet has a base. And then a beautiful woman enters the picture. She’s a member of the Imperial crew and she’s obviously smitten with Kirk.

What would Kirk do then?

The Captain of the Klingon vessel has granted Kirk access to his ship’s technical manuals as a gesture of hospitality and has planned a welcome feast for him. At the end of the dinner the ship’s first officer starts asking Kirk probing questions and is obviously hostile while the Captain watches silently.

The first officer insults the Starfleet of the past, calling them outlaws and pirates. Kirk is a proud man, proud of Starfleet.

What would he do? In his anger, would he let something slip?

The ship’s Captain having made it clear that he shares his first officer’s opinion of Starfleet, questions Kirk as to where his sympathies lie.

What would Kirk say?

Alone in his room later Kirk paces . . . thinking . . . desperate. His crew is still trapped helpless on the almost destroyed Enterprise. The Klingon Captain of this ship holds them all in his power, is bent on taking them to his base, and refuses to release his crew. Kirk has seen so many of his fellow Starfleet officers die in the war that is for the Klingons now long past.

He paces, thinking, worrying. Kirk, genius-level “walking books on legs” in the Academy, has read the history texts as well as the manuals in the database the Captain gave him access to. He knows what those history texts say of him.

Then the woman comes to him. She makes her attraction know again, makes it clear she idolizes him but she is still loyal to her own captain and crew.

What does Kirk do?

Meanwhile the Klingon Captain and his top officers are having a meeting. The First Officer has discovered who Kirk is. The Captain and the rest express admiration for Kirk, his intelligence and his skill in battle. The First Officer disagrees, calls Kirk a criminal and a traitor to the Empire. The Captain states that a brave warrior is worthy of recognition but agrees with his First Officer’s assessment of the danger Kirk poses. Then based on nothing more than fragmented reports, written centuries ago by the winner’s side of a war, he orders that Kirk be confined to quarters with a guard on his door. Then he goes to confront him.

When the Klingon Captain confronts Kirk with his identity and challenges him as to his intentions what would Kirk say? Would he lie about who he is, about Starfleet? Would he lie about his intentions towards the Klingons and the Empire? What would he say?

The woman helps him beam over to the Enterprise and rescue his crew. But then what? The Enterprise is derelict, destroyed past repair outside of a Star base and they have neither the equipment nor the manpower to salvage her. So what can they do?

Kirk and his crew are stranded in this inhospitable future where they are all condemned as criminals for losing a war centuries ago. The Federation and Starfleet are no more. What would Kirk do? Would he try to reform the Federation or would he and his crew simply try to disappear into the black?

The Captain refuses to surrender his ship and his crew are loyal to him. They believe the history texts that condemn the Federation and Starfleet. The Klingon vessel is too large and complex to be manned by only 73 people, 74 if you count the woman. Without the Klingon crew he can’t fly the ship any more then he could fly the Enterprise even if she could fly.

So what does he do?

The woman helps the Klingon Captain and First Officer escape. The Klingons flood the ship with gas, knocking out all of Kirk’s crew except for him. Kirk manages to escape to engineering but he knows the Captain is following. His crew are once again prisoners and given the slaughter that the Klingons of the past wrecked on Starfleet he knows what to expect at their hands.

What does he do?

Kirk is defeated as is his crew. What does the Klingon Captain do? The Empire has changed from what Kirk and his crew knew 250 years ago. They are not the war mongers that Kirk fought. They’ve learned to value life as well as strength and courage although they do make the mistake of viewing Kirk and his crew through the eyes of the winning side of the war. But the Captain respects Kirk so what does he do? Would he offer Kirk the same choice that Kirk offered Khan and if so, would Kirk take it? Would he accept exile on an undeveloped and uninhabited planet or would he gamble that he and his crew could still escape to rebuild Starfleet and the Federation?

What would Kirk do?

Now let me pose this same puzzle in the reboot universe of Into Darkness.

Let’s say that in a war with the Romulans the Federation falls, Starfleet is destroyed and only Kirk and the Enterprise survive by being thrown 250 years into the future. Most of the crew dies but for 85 and 12 more die due to failing life support.

But then the Enterprise is found by the top General for the Romulan Star Empire. He takes Kirk but imprisons his crew while keeping them unconscious so that they can’t rebel or escape. He doesn’t tell the Romulan Senate about Kirk or his crew because in the 250 years the Romulans have moved away from war as a first resort and now seek to assimilate all new cultures, having learned that many minds can bring greater results and solutions and that willing citizens are much better than subjects ruled by terror and force.

But Starfleet is still the enemy of legend. Kirk and his crew are still remembered as criminals and enemies of the Empire.

The Romulan General wants to restore the Empire to the days of its glory and thinks it has become soft and weak.

So the General tells Kirk, “Build me weapons, build me ships, and aid me in winning wars. Do it or your crew dies.”

What does Kirk do?

His escape plan fails. He believes that his entire crew, his family, Spock, Bones, Uhura and all the others have been murdered. He is utterly alone in this unrecognisable and hostile future with no Starfleet, no Federation, and no one to turn to.

What does he do now that everything he knew is gone and everyone he loves has been taken from him? What does he do?

His attempt to avenge his loved ones fails due to the counter-attack of one Romulan. His “just in case hole card” yanks him out of danger and takes him to the one place he thinks he can’t be pursed to, the home world of his enemy’s enemy. The devise that transported him away was mostly likely destroyed with his vessel, leaving no trace of where he went, or so he thinks.

But he’s wrong and the Romulan officer who beat his first attack has followed him looking for revenge for the death of his father who fell in Kirk’s attack.

Hiding on the planet Kirk receives a communication ordering him to surrender. In that com is a mention of something that triggers hope in Kirk, a wild desperate hope that his crew might still be alive and are on that ship. But then he sees that the vessel that was on its way to capture him has come under attack by the planet’s inhabitants. Without intervention their capture or death is certain.

What does Kirk do?

After the battle Kirk gets the confirmation that he has so desperately been hoping for. His crew is alive after all and they are on board that ship. But they are up there and he is down here. True he has three prisoners of his own to bargain with but it’s obvious that this Romulan is going against the General’s orders; otherwise Kirk and his crew would all be dead. So what does Kirk do now? How can he save his crew without causing more death?

It’s clear these Romulans have no idea about his crew. They can’t be part of the General’s plans nor do they likely have any idea of the danger they are in from him. Kirk’s crew is on board this ship, so near but still so far, still unconscious and helpless. Kirk is alone, without allies, but the Romulan General is still out there and if he doesn’t know yet that this Captain has disobeyed orders to kill Kirk he will soon.

So what does Kirk do?

The Romulan Captain and his officers have learned the truth of Kirk’s crew. They confront him in their ship’s brig, demanding the truth. What does he say to them?

Kirk gives them his truth, his pain at the loss of his family. But the death of his father burns hot within the Romulan Captain.

“Murderer!” he cries at Kirk.

So what does Kirk say to that? How does he reach this man through his pain when his own is still so strong?

The Romulan General has come. Kirk listens from the med bay as the Captain and General verbally spar through the vid screen; Kirk hears the Captain lie to protect him and then feels the ship go to warp. He knows they’re headed back to Romulus but knows that they won’t make it. Not with the ship he built on their heels. But the General’s daughter is here. Kirk recognises her from his time of servitude to the General. She knows about the ship, what it can do. She knows what her father is capable of. So he reminds her of the danger and it’s enough. The attack when it comes is short and the ship he’s on survives. But it’s obviously sustained further damage. They aren’t moving either.

Then the Captain is there. He practically reeks of desperation and anger. He makes it clear that the deaths that lie between them are not forgotten or forgiven, merely put aside for the moment. But he also make Kirk a bargain; his crew’s safety in exchange for Kirk’s help.

So what does Kirk do?

They take over the enemy ship together; they fight side by side, Kirk protecting the Romulan more often than not, saving his life once again in the process. Once the bridge is taken Kirk has a chance. He’s a better fighter then the Romulan; he could take him in a fight. And his enemy, the Romulan General who took his crew from him is helpless before him. But there is the bargain he made with the Romulan Captain who had promised to protect Kirk’s crew, his crew who are still helpless on the Romulan Captain’s ship. Kirk has no vessel of his own . . . or does he?

What does Kirk do?

The Romulan Captain betrays him. The bargain between them is null. The General is about to make his escape and there is no Federation or Starfleet to bring him to trial, to be held accountable for what he did.

What does Kirk do?

Kirk’s crew is still on the Romulan vessel, still helpless and Kirk is desperate to save them. Any chance that his crew might receive justice and mercy at the hands of the Romulans died when their Captain betrayed him. He can understand the Captain’s pain and rage at the loss of his father, none better. But he will not, cannot trust him with the lives of his crew. They are his family, yes, but he is also their captain. His first duty is to their survival and well-being before all else.

So what does Kirk do?

He bargains with the Romulan’s First Officer. A crew for a crew. The First Officer throws challenges and accusations at Kirk, delaying him, obviously stalling. He even accuses Kirk of crimes in the past that he didn’t commit, of plotting the destruction of Romulus with the Vulcans.

What does Kirk say to that? How much time can he waste in argument this close to Romulus? The fight between the two ships had to have been noticed. Time is running out. What does Kirk do?

The First Officer lowers his shields and Kirk beams his crew over. Finally he has them back. After everything they’ve been through, after a year of torment and fear he has crew, his family back!

But there is still the matter of the Romulan Captain and his ship. His crew isn’t safe yet. The Romulan has vowed to stop at nothing to see Kirk answer for the death of his father and he cannot count on him holding to his word to protect Kirk’s crew. There will be no justice for Starfleet personnel here in the Romulan Empire. The Romulan ship is damaged true but repairs are surely under way and Kirk has no way of telling how bad the damage to its engines are through the ship’s shielding.

So what does Kirk do?

Mercy for mercy. Kirk sends the Captain back to his vessel alive along with his two crew members then fires to cripple the Romulan vessel. The advanced weaponry of his ship allows for pin point accuracy. But then the belly of his own vessel explodes including the area where his crew was waiting for him to wake them up. Explodes and kills 72 innocent people, Kirk’s crew, his loved ones, all dead and at the hands of someone whose life he had saved, to whom he had just shown mercy! His ship is going down, caught in Romulus’ gravity well and even if he could surrender it meant turning himself back over to the same people who had enslaved him and had just murdered the last of his crew.

So what does Kirk do?

One final question before I end this Meta, one that again turns everything around and looks at things from a different angle. What if, in the original timeline instead of Kirk judging Khan and his crew solely on the basis of their race (remember that at the beginning Kirk left Khan’s crew in their cryotubes even though he knew that 12 of them had failed, killing the people inside them when all that he knew about Khan at that point was that he was an augment), what if instead Kirk held out his hand to Khan as an equal? What if instead of condemning him based on nothing more than fragmented reports written centuries ago by the winning side of a war, what if Kirk said to him “While our histories say that your race committed atrocities against mine, it cannot be denied that my race committed atrocities against yours. But that was centuries ago and times have changed. The Federation embraces all races, all peoples as equals and there are many races who can match augments in both intelligence and strength. There is a place for you and yours here is you will meet us half way. I offer you my hand as an equal, will you take it brother?”

What do you think Khan would have said to that? Khan, who in his way had always been a builder rather than a destroyer until the end, in his madness? What would Khan have said to a normal human in a position of power over him extending his hand in friendship and equality?

What if in the Kelvin Timeline Kirk had been able to see past his own pain and rage at the loss of Pike to see that Khan too was Captain, a Captain with a crew to defend just like Kirk? What if that along with the fact Khan had saved Kirk’s life twice had weighed more to Kirk on the bridge of the Vengeance then his fear and his anger? What if he had stood by Khan’s crew and demanded that they be accorded the rights of any sentient being guaranteed by Federation law and Charter instead of allowing them to be condemned to indefinite incarceration in cyrostasis without trial on the basis of their race, on the basis of what one of them, their leader had done after Starfleet attacked him first and on the basis that they had lost a war 250 years ago.

Oh what if, what if . . .

Something to think about is it not?

#my meta #khan meta #James T. Kirk #star trek #star trek original series #Khan Noonien Singh #star trek into darkness #Star Trek Kelvin timeline

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