The Deltan Dilemma
| Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | The Deltan Dilemma |
| Author(s): | Karin Porter |
| Date(s): | 1997 |
| Length: | |
| Genre(s): | slash |
| Fandom(s): | Star Trek: TOS |
| Relationship(s): | Kirk/Spock |
| External Links: | |
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The Deltan Dilemma is a Kirk/Spock story by Karin Porter. It has art by Shelley Butler.
It was published in the print zine First Time #46.
Summary
"Ordered to transport a delegation of Deltans, including two just reaching sexual maturity, Spock strengthens the link he and Kirk already have in order to help Kirk control his reaction to the Deltan pheromones."
Reactions and Reviews
1997
Karin Porter a new writer and apparently a new guarantee for good plots! Thirty pages with K & S together with two teenage Deltans.....DELTANS!!!!!!!! You can imagine the rest!!! FASCINATING!!!!!!!!!!!!
My favorite line: p.36 "...and heard Spock's mind voice saying, Admiral Komack has just walked into the room; we are surrounded by Romulan Birds of Prey, and the only woman in the room is Harry Mudd's wife..." [1]
A telling of events and once in a while a surface dip into Kirk and Spock, but not enough to let us live that adventure with them.
At times too numerical, or should that be mathematical (haha). Two point four hours later …, one point seven hours to get back to the campsite …, having been gone four point six hours …, it doesn’t add to the story and hampers the flow especially as it is not issued in context with Spock, or Kirk when he teases his friend. I’m not very comfortable with that fake rape scene in the tent. I don’t think Kirk would do a thing like that and neither would Spock render her unconscious, they would’ve found another way of dealing with the saboteurs, without involving the youngsters, but that is my opinion.[2]
This author sure has one great imagination. Those people who grumble that there aren’t any new ideas left …. that all possible K/S plots have already been used should take heed. Ms. Porter is living proof that it just ain’t so. Pubescent Deltans indeed …. what an ingenious concept. I applaud the originality and bemoan the fact that I didn’t think of it first.As this story is in a new zine, I won’t go into particulars. I will say, however, that this well-paced, 30 page story moves right along without ever losing the reader’s interest. The plot makes sense and best of all, as it is the most important element in a story for me, the feelings between Kirk and Spock are there.
The one quibble I have concerns a tendency to tell and not show. It’s a hard one to fix. I know because I’m constantly wrestling with the same problem. Welcome to the wonderful, aggravating, frustrating, agonizing world of K/S writers. May original ideas continue to flow and make Kirk and Spock live in your heart forever.[2]
I found this a refreshingly different idea to bring our guys together for the first time, and I enjoyed it. I understand that Ms. Porter is a new writer and the following comments are made from the viewpoint of a writer who has had to struggle with the same problem. I noticed over and over in the story that the dialogue was just off — too formal or abrupt for a relaxed situation (such as the sex scenes) and too casual for more formal circumstances. Example: calling the hereditary rulers of Delta "the kids." Privately, yes, publicly, no. I also must say that I found it hard to accept the faked rape scene. In my opinion, neither Kirk nor Spock would have used the children in that way. Faked or not, such a situation was bound to traumatize the girl.[3]
2001
In this account of yet another "Enterprise-transports-ambassadors" we are treated to an intriguing view of the Deltan society, namely how puberty effects their children (and everyone in close proximity). It is certainly an unexplored subject and the reader is instantly curious.Another new prospect: if Kirk and Spock strengthen the mild link they share, then Spock will be able to help Kirk control his impulses around the Deltans and render the two Starfleet officers suitable escorts for the trip home. Wouldn't do to rape an underage Deltan, you see. Gets very interesting about now, doesn't it? There's danger, Spock says, that the planned expansion of the link could get out of control and become more than they intend. Ahhh...now we're getting somewhere. I found it especially nice that they were going to have to maintain some sort of physical contact for this to be successful. Let's hear it for physical contact! They decide on a trial run at one of those diplomatic dinners.
So cool. They're both so cool and deliberate about this, businesslike, that you know something's bound to happen. Like what could possibly go wrong when Kirk is depending on Spock to quell his arousal every time the Deltans set him off. What an assignment.
Unfortunately, while this was a very clever setup, the lovemaking was kind of mechanical. What with all the pheromones flying around, this could have set the stage for some tremendous sexual tension, but it didn't work that way. All in all, it was a good story with a good plot device. Just not as erotic as it could have been.[4]