Fic Rec: "How To Be Bad" (Star Trek)
This fic reinvents the TOS episode "Mirror, Mirror" by taking the story into the reboot universe...and also making it hilarious. Why not? There's nothing funnier than the dead seriousness of a dangerous parallel world like the Terran empire.
It also takes advantage of the slightly different dynamics between characters in STXI because it's essentially a Kirk/Uhura buddyfic. Their relationship is handled in an amusing and light-hearted way that's totally believable and distinctly belongs to these versions of the characters as opposed to their TOS counterparts, who in a 60s show would never be given any significant kind of relationship besides an either romantic or purely professional one and who certainly did not have any indicated history of once being bantering/flirting young classmates. Though I'd hardly make the generalization that Uhura is often written as a supplement to Spock and not her own person, I can't avoid the observation that lots of writers probably would have somehow made her relationship with Spock more important in a fic like this or alluded to it more, and would never have dreamed of developing any kind of prominent friendship between her and Kirk in a way that actually doesn't have anything to do with him whatsoever. Of course, ninety6tears also wrote the brilliantly multi-layered "Vulcans Don't Play Basketball," which involves her and Kirk growing close in a way that has possibly everything to do with Spock, though interestingly that story also has very little of him in it; I have no problem with that kind of love-triangle/pre-threesome dynamic in general. But given the big prevalence of romance fic, it's always refreshing to see characters well-used in a completely gen way.
Title: How To Be Bad
Author: Layla (ninety6tears)
Characters & Pairings: Uhura, Kirk, McCoy, Scotty
Universe: STXI
Rating: R
Summary: Only Jim Kirk could turn bucking the everyday evils of a tyrannical empire into a bonding experience.
Link: "This is the best thing that's happened to me, in years..."
It also takes advantage of the slightly different dynamics between characters in STXI because it's essentially a Kirk/Uhura buddyfic. Their relationship is handled in an amusing and light-hearted way that's totally believable and distinctly belongs to these versions of the characters as opposed to their TOS counterparts, who in a 60s show would never be given any significant kind of relationship besides an either romantic or purely professional one and who certainly did not have any indicated history of once being bantering/flirting young classmates. Though I'd hardly make the generalization that Uhura is often written as a supplement to Spock and not her own person, I can't avoid the observation that lots of writers probably would have somehow made her relationship with Spock more important in a fic like this or alluded to it more, and would never have dreamed of developing any kind of prominent friendship between her and Kirk in a way that actually doesn't have anything to do with him whatsoever. Of course, ninety6tears also wrote the brilliantly multi-layered "Vulcans Don't Play Basketball," which involves her and Kirk growing close in a way that has possibly everything to do with Spock, though interestingly that story also has very little of him in it; I have no problem with that kind of love-triangle/pre-threesome dynamic in general. But given the big prevalence of romance fic, it's always refreshing to see characters well-used in a completely gen way.
Title: How To Be Bad
Author: Layla (ninety6tears)
Characters & Pairings: Uhura, Kirk, McCoy, Scotty
Universe: STXI
Rating: R
Summary: Only Jim Kirk could turn bucking the everyday evils of a tyrannical empire into a bonding experience.
Link: "This is the best thing that's happened to me, in years..."