Babylon
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| Star Trek DS9 Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Babylon |
| Author(s): | Ariana |
| Date(s): | 1997 |
| Length: | |
| Genre: | |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: Deep Space Nine |
| External Links: | Read at the author's site |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
"Babylon" is a Star Trek: DS9 story by Ariana.
It was posted to alt.startrek.creative and won an ASC Award.
Summary
"Synopsis: All hell breaks loose on the station as, gradually, communications systems and universal translators fall victim to some mysterious epidemic. While the Federation staff struggle to communicate with their Bajoran hosts, Major Kira takes over the station, just as Dukat makes the mistake of his life. Takes place just before the episode "Empok Nor".
Reactions and Reviews
Three cheers for a wonderful story! This has been a premise I've wondered about since I started really getting into ST back in 1989. Well done, Ariana! [1]
Even under the best circumstances, leaving Kira, Garak and Odo in charge of a captured Dukat isn't a good idea--but it makes a smashing story. Throw in a little problem with the UT (and an imaginative but easy-to-follow way of representing this in print), and our boys and girls not quite themselves, and this is entirely a wonderful read. [2]
Trek gave us a nifty gadget: the Universal Translator. A complex piece of tech that amazingly allows almost everyone to communicate with everyone else. Pretty cool, huh? Until, of course, it breaks down.Kudos for Ariana for tackling such a premise: what would happen if the translator broke down hours before Dukat and his Dominion entourage are supposed to return from the Gamma Quadrant? It is complex and fascinating, and her consistent attention to such details as accents (poor Dax has a problem with "h's") give this story a polished and layered feel.
There was fantastic interaction between Kira and Dukat, a great sizzle of chemistry that made it so enjoyable to read, but Ariana also focused on Ziyal, giving some much needed insight on just what Ziyal's life was like on the station.
The dialogue simply sparkles throughout and it is a well-paced story filled with twists and turns. The stand-off between Garak and Dukat was fabulous as well, really playing off the tension between these two.
Great work, combining tech and a taunt plot line! I had the honor of beta-reading this story, watching it unfold and wondering if any of my guesses were right:> [3]
A truly complex and complicated story that makes you wonder how the interpreters at the United Nations survive <G> Wonderful character moments abound - and the odd teaming of Kira and Garak against Dukat is fun to read. [4]
Absolutely wonderful - clever, funny (and Garak's use of Standard was SO sweet! 'My head hurt.' :)) And I loved the hint of danger that Dukat presented, and the way, try as she might, Kira just cannot seem to keep her hands off that spectacular man. I'm jealous, too, that Ariana thought of such a neat way to exploit the Universal Translators before *I* could think of it. [5]
I liked the way Ariana handeled the UT and the subsequent problems with diffenrent languages. Her portrayal of Garak especially in his scenes with Dukat did not ring true with me, though. [6]
Along with the warp drive, the universal translator is a defining piece of Star Trek technology -- without it, the Star Trek universe as we know it simply couldn't exist. Ariana brings her linguist's skills to giving us a picture of how DS9 would continue (or fail, as the case may be) to function in the absence of that little techy miracle, the UT. In Ariana's 'Babylon', some characters can speak multiple languages, with varying degrees of fluency, others are left pretty helpless. The theme of communication/miscommunication is echoed on an intimate level as well. There are a couple of heart-breaking scenes of would-be lovers finding out the hard way that their feelings are unrequieted. I won't spill the beans as to who's involved, but the feelings are real to all of us. Who among us hasn't been there? -- both as rejector and as rejectee. I just didn't know Ariana was hiding somewhere listening! [7]
In the Star Trek universe, the Universal Translator is taken for granted, except in rare episodes such as ST:TNG's 'Darmok' and DS9's own 'Babel'. This story is an interesting look at how DS9 would manage if they were presented with a situation where the translators fail.I love the idea behind this story. A simple plot device that is the starting point for an exploration of communication. Think about it for a moment - who speaks what language? In a universe with Universal Translators, who speaks more than one language? Do people speak with accents? Well it turns out Dax does. Her Standard seems very close to Eliza Doolittle about halfway through her elocution classes <g> And since Sisko's Bajoran is mostly concerned with religious ceremonies, he sounds like he's swallowed the King James Bible!
Although not a comedy, there is a thread of humour running through the story. [8]
References
- ^ alt.startrek.creative, September 1997
- ^ alt.startrek.creative, March 1998
- ^ alt.startrek.creative, March 1998
- ^ alt.startrek.creative, March 1998
- ^ alt.startrek.creative, March 1998
- ^ alt.startrek.creative, March 1998
- ^ alt.startrek.creative, March 1998
- ^ 2004 rec at Crack Van