Looking for New York in all the right places
Last night I sat on my bed for nearly four hours, and wrote down all my feelings about exactly how the crew of DS9 would do Hamilton. This wasn't completely out of the blue; it's something I've been pondering at the back of my mind for a few weeks. But eventually, as always, my head got too full and I had to write it down somewhere. This isn't really a fic (I do not know how to write fic) - it's just my thoughts. But 
such_heights and
raven said I should put it online, so here it is. All 5,400 words of it. (For anyone concerned: I have currently seen up to ep 5.8 of DS9, so there are mild spoilers up to there, I guess, and no spoilers beyond that.)
So Julian gives Garak this biography of Hercules Mulligan, and is all ‘read this it’s super important it’s about a TAILOR who was also a SPY and does that SOUND FAMILIAR’ *glares at Garak whilst still trying to look suggestive* and Garak is all WHO ME I’M JUST A SIMPLE TAILOR *wide innocent flirty eyes*. Anyway he reads it, and has many THOUGHTS and DISAGREEMENTS about the whole thing. (As well as more than a few sections he wholeheartedly loves, and has copied over to a padd of his own to keep and read over again. Not that he would EVER confess this to his Dear Doctor.) And so a few days later when Garak’s having lunch with Julian again they start arguing about it (because they are in love and that’s what Cardassians in love do, they argue, and one day soon Julian will realise this) and Jake happens to walk past as they’re talking, just as Julian is saying something really emphatic about Mulligan and Hamilton, and Jake thinks this sounds interesting so he stops to listen. And it’s only when Nog (who has been stationed at DS9 as part of his Starfleet training) literally walks into him that he realises he’s been standing eavesdropping for like ten minutes and is completely riveted. So he goes over and asks Julian if he can borrow the padd, and Julian is delighted at his good taste and gives it to him whilst not for a moment letting up his argument with Garak, who is now gesticulating so wildly that his tarkalean tea has sloshed all over Quark, who was passing at an inconvenient moment with a tray of bloodwine for a group of Klingons. Everything descends into total tea-and-Klingon related chaos whilst Jake slips away already reading the book.
A week later and he’s read the bio of Mulligan, as well as a bio of Lafayette (so THIS is the dude his dad’s middle name comes from!) and most importantly he’s read the Chernow bio of Hamilton (twice, the second time highlighting key passages) and everything he can find about the American Revolution. Nog is a bit annoyed because he’s got a few days' leave and he wants to hang out with Jake but all Jake wants to do is read about the life of some dead human from centuries ago. And one evening Jake is enthusing about it over dinner with Sisko, and Sisko happens to mention this classic 21st century musical that’s all about this Hamilton dude, and how it was really important and completely changed the face of musical theatre (and theatre in general) forever, and oh did I mention I once played the lead in a Starfleet production? There’s probably a holo-recording somewhere. Now Jake has never really been interested in musicals before but he’s interested in this, so he gets hold of the soundtrack and OH MY GOD IT’S THE GREATEST THING HE’S EVER LISTENED TO HOLY CRAP and he listens to it non-stop for ANOTHER week, and by the end of that week everyone on the station has it stuck in their heads and most of them don’t even know why. It gets to the point where some people start to suspect it’s a weird Gamma Quadrant virus that has infected their brains and got this music stuck in their heads, and they don’t know how it got there. But that’s another story. Anyway by now even Nog is on board and he and Jake have most of the lyrics memorised and have started having impromptu rap battles as they sit and watch the promenade. Jake has a LOT of feelings about Hamilton the young boy who lost his mother, Hamilton the revolutionary, Hamilton the founder of a nation, but most of all Hamilton the WRITER who wrote his way out of his circumstances and generally wrote like he was running out of time. And Jake KNOWS what that impulse feels like, and he’s never come across it in someone else before and he stays up talking about this with Nog till REALLY late at night. Nog understands Hamilton's need to prove himself as a soldier, but generally is more on the side of Burr - keep your cards close to your chest and play to win, that’s the Ferengi way. He’s impressed with Burr’s pragmatism. And so they talk and they talk and they talk.
Then one day in the midst of all this, Kira tells Sisko about how a few of the orphanages that took in children (Cardassian and Bajoran) after the war are really struggling at the moment, and are hoping to hold some sort of fundraiser. (Do Bajorans use money? IDK I can’t remember and who even knows how money in the Trek universe works anyway) And she was hoping that maybe as the Emissary Sisko might be able to do something to help raise awareness, or at least put in an appearance as that would make everyone really happy. And Sisko talks to Jake about this over dinner that night and Jake is suddenly STRUCK by a GENIUS IDEA: they could put on a show of Hamilton! With the senior staff of DS9! And perform it on Bajor! There’s some sort of Bajoran festival coming up, so they could time it to coincide with that and use it to raise awareness/aid for the orphanages. Sisko thinks this is a great idea, and encourages him to organise it. So the next day Jake and Nog create and replicate a load of posters advertising auditions (Quark tries to charge them to put them up in his bar) whilst discussing all their grand plans for the show. Kira is thrilled. (Jake is also a big star on Bajor. ALL the young Bajorans have a crush on the Emissary’s son. This will be super popular.)
SO anyway word gets around and people actually show up for Jake and Nog’s auditions! They really, really want to see the senior staff singing and dancing! (And frankly they’re excited that the entire senior staff is ON the station, as they so often all seem to take off for mysterious missions and apparently leave like Quark or Garak or idk Third Ensign from the Left in charge.) The auditions are held on the promenade, and quite a crowd gathers to watch. Odo harrumphs at the mass of people clogging up his promenade, but actually nobody is too rowdy and he ends up getting really into it, often forgetting himself and tapping along to the songs. (Jake notices this, because he is a writer and is training himself to notice things, and he later gives Odo the role of Musical Director, which mostly means operating the sound system, ie. having a key role whilst not being in the public eye) Meanwhile Nog is initially inclined to be a bit critical of the people auditioning (he came across this old Human show once called Z Factor or Q Factor or something like that where people sang and judges were rude to them and it was hilarious) but Jake pokes him until he starts saying nice things. And so they start to cast people!
Some people are really easy. Julian surprises everyone by auditioning for the part of earnest young John Laurens, not Hamilton, but everyone knows he secretly (or not so secretly, sorry Julian) wants to be Hamilton. And as Jake wanted to play Laurens anyway - because he wants to direct it and he can’t star AND direct - he gives Julian the role. Julian attempts modesty but is really not very good at it. But he is very good at portraying Hamilton, even if he doesn’t have the strongest voice on the station. He and Jake have also had long, long conversations about Hamilton’s drive and work ethic, over the past few weeks. The other medical staff have become used to Jake hanging around the infirmary getting in the way, but they’ve all known him since he arrived on DS9 when he was half the height he is now, so they don’t mind. Julian just gets Hamilton - his need to achieve All The Things, to prove his worth, his complete disregard for all obstacles in his path when he sets his mind to something. In public he puts up good naturedly with his staff’s digs at how there’s ‘a million things he hasn’t done’ (when they find him slumped asleep over his research at 6am) and in private he frets about whether it’s a bad thing that he identifies so very strongly with ‘I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory’…but all that’s to come. At the audition he performs a Frank Sinatra song with aplomb, and suddenly finds himself as Hamilton.
Sisko is next, and really there’s only one person he could play. He wasn’t originally going to audition at all, but Jake talked him into it - he knows he has a wonderful voice and come on wouldn’t you love to be in the play again? He’s cast as Washington before he even opens his mouth, but they make him sing anyway. He gives a stirring rendition of ‘Who Am I’ from Les Mis, which leaves Jake open-mouthed and Odo privately resolving to look into this particular musical further. And at the end he takes a bow and has a big smile on his face as everyone cheers their singing captain, and it’s clear he’s having a great time.
Kira is not usually a remotely performing person, but she feels she ought to get involved with this as it's really all her fault. And as soon as she hears that the play is about a bunch of revolutionaries fighting to free themselves from oppression she is suddenly much more enthusiastic! She comes onstage and performs this Bajoran folk song that gets faster and faster until she runs out of breath. She’s initially really awkward about it but then relaxes into it and actually starts to laugh at the end, and there’s spontaneous applause. (Dax gives her a BIG thumbs up, and Sisko applauds loudest.) It doesn’t take very long for Jake to decide to cast her as Lafayette, Revolutionary Hero. (She's pleased, and proud, and determined to give it her all; she's also really annoyed to discover that her character is twice referred to as 'Lancelot', because dammit that guy was a jerk and totally deserved the punch she gave him that one time.) She can’t do a French accent, so instead decides to do it in an exaggerated accent from a different part of Bajor, which she assures everyone will go down very well with the watching Bajorans.
After some discussion, Jake and Nog decide not to double-cast the parts in the traditional way, because that means most people have fewer lines to learn, which is good as they have a busy and occasionally explosive station to run. Jadzia has all the swagger and the charisma and general TROLLISHNESS to play Jefferson, which DELIGHTS her, and she immediately starts reading up on the guy (‘he invented the swivel chair?!’) and also tapping into Curzon’s rap skills and Emony’s dance moves. (It’s a good thing she doesn’t have to rely on Audrid’s rap skills and Tobin’s dance moves, she comments to Ben later, or she’d be thrown off the station.) Worf shows up to lurk at the back during Jadzia’s audition, but then disappears off back to the Defiant, muttering about Klingon Opera.
Garak does not attend the auditions, but Jake and Nog cast him as Mulligan anyway. When they rock up to his shop later to inform him of this he protests, but in such an overdramatic way they could tell he had just been waiting for this moment all along.
Kasidy happens to be on the station whilst all this is going on, and it turns out she is ALSO already super into this musical! It’s been a secret dream of hers to play Angelica since forever, and she demonstrates this to an impressed Jake and a completely smitten Sisko by singing the entirety of ‘Satisfied’ without even having to look up the lyrics. Her crew confirm that she has been known to play the soundtrack on repeat during long hauls. Jake drags her off to discuss the finer points of the musical over tea later, and asks her to help him and Nog direct. What a great stepmother he’s chosen for himself (not that she and his dad are married yet, but he’s sure they’ll get there. With some prompting from Jake, if necessary.)
Rom is awkward and nervous, but he and Leeta audition together. They're not senior staff so not technically required to audition, but Nog really wants his dad to be in the show. And Rom really wants Leeta for moral support. (Quark rolls his eyes and tuts and mutters derogatory things about hu-mans under his breath, and secretly wants in). Rom is super happy to get the part of James Madison (a main role, but smaller and more in the background than all the other main roles, which is just how he likes it), whilst Leeta, whose singing is passable but whose dancing is amazing, gets the role of Peggy and also chief choreographer.
Eliza proves harder to cast, until Miles drags a protesting Keiko onto the promenade and tells everyone in no uncertain terms that she has the best voice of anybody on this station, and he glares round as if DARING anyone to challenge this assertion. Keiko plays this down and is also initially really nervous but then Miles whispers something to her, dashes off, and returns a few minutes later with Molly. He hands her to Keiko, who holds her in her arms and sings an old Earth song called ‘Lullaby for a Stormy Night’ by a little-known artist called Vienna Teng, who has a small but devoted cult following. She looks at Molly the whole time. Molly looks back very seriously, and sometimes tries to join in. Turns out nobody disputes Miles’ claim, and after a long, spellbound pause where everyone is too enraptured to breathe, let alone clap, a blushing Keiko is cast as Eliza. Molly is cast as all the younger Hamilton children. (Jake isn’t sure any of them actually appeared in the original musical, but she’s too cute not to cast, and now that he’s an expert in Alexander Hamilton’s life he is determined to make this as accurate as possible)
Miles meanwhile is far too self-effacing to want to be on a stage, and refuses to budge on this even when Keiko AND Kira AND Julian all try to convince/plead/blackmail him until he sings. (Julian threatens to show everyone a video he made of drunk and fervent Miles dressed in a period-accurate pirate costume singing Irish drinking songs, but it’s an empty threat. Miles has got equally embarrassing stuff on him). Instead Miles volunteers to build the set and operate the techie stuff, which is great news for everyone. If the Chief can handle this temperamental, vole-infested space station, what could be so hard about one little musical? Right??
Quark initially refuses to have any part in this whole affair, except selling drinks (for a very small profit, most of which will go to the orphans of course) during the interval. But they need someone to voice James Reynolds, and when Nog explains to him that this role involves charging someone a large fee for something he was previously getting for free, Quark decides he’s in. (He’d secretly wanted this all along, of course, but it was beneath his Ferengi dignity to audition for a human show. What if the Grand Nagus found out?!? His cousin Gaila would never do anything like this. Gaila owns a moon). Somehow he also ends up playing some dude called Charles Lee in Act 1, whose main role is to take some extremely sensible self-preservation precautions on the battlefield, (Staying Alive is Good For Business, Rule of Acquisition number...something) and for some human reason ends up being ridiculed and shot at for this. Quark finds he empathises with Charles Lee.
The role of Maria Reynolds causes some problems - there’s talk of double-casting her, but Leeta doesn’t really want to play her as she feels the role feeds into the sexually promiscuous stereotype that everyone associates with Dabo girls. Then Odo shyly shuffles forward and clears his throat, and there’s a moment when everyone thinks he’s going to volunteer, and why not, but actually he announces that he’s just been in touch with his very good friend Lwaxana Troi, and she is planning to visit the station with her baby in the next few days, and she has a marvellous singing voice. And it’s been his observation that she has no qualms about performing in front of crowds of people and has fewer inhibitions than many people. Perhaps he should inquire…? (The reply comes back a little while later that YES she would be THRILLED and she has already started listening to the soundtrack in preparation. She is very flattered to have been cast in a role that is apparently usually reserved for younger actresses, and is looking forward to inhabiting the role, and seeing the station again, and especially seeing you, dearest Odo. Odo does not relay that last part.)
Odo himself is possibly even more reluctant than Miles to get onstage in front of all his Bajoran deputies who will probably no longer take him seriously after this. He’s not in Starfleet, he shouldn’t have to participate in Starfleet’s nonsense. But after Kira takes him to one side and practically begs him to join the play - how can he refuse? He’s never been able to deny Nerys anything. To his tremendous relief, the boys give him two small roles, so he barely has to be onstage at all and instead can concentrate on making sure everyone else hits their cues - he’s to be Samuel Seabury in Act One, and George Eaker in Act Two. Not very pleasant men, either of them, which Jake and Nog are at pains to assure him is no reflection on his own character at all - they just happen to be two very small roles.
Morn is passing by on his way to Quark’s, when someone grabs him and shoves him on stage. He has no idea what’s going on, but before he’s really figured it out, someone has told him he’s going to be playing some guy called ‘John Adams’ in a Bajoran fundraiser. Before he can protest, someone else quickly explains that this role has no lines.
King George should be a hard role to cast…but Jake and Nog have already decided they have to get Gul Dukat to play the part. They HAVE to. When they talk to Sisko and Kira about this idea, both initially express strong reservations - whilst the idea of Dukat as the prissy King George is, indeed, the stuff of glorious satire, it would probably ruin the festival atmosphere somewhat to have the leader of the Occupation back on Bajor during a holiday. Or ever. Looooong discussions ensue, and the four of them end up getting very hysterical and high on life and then they actually CALL Gul Dukat, which looking back was a terrible idea, dear god. But anyway they call him and it’s the middle of the night and he’s really confused and irritated to be woken up by a less-than-serious Kira, a frankly giggly Sisko, and two young people who aren’t even Starfleet officers. But he’s also intrigued. And when they put to him a proposal that he is to play the KING in an ancient Earth drama which will be performed to the Bajorans…well, how can he resist? Think of the propaganda opportunities! Think of all those Bajoran workers, I mean, citizens, looking up to him as their glorious leader! He could really put that sort of thing to use in his line of work. But he can’t really leave Cardassia at the moment, the political situation being…volatile, as it is. But, no, it’s ok, Sisko reassures him - you don’t need to actually come here, you just need to record a few videos! We will send you the music, the lyrics, you just need to learn them and record them and send us the vid! We can then project it in the relevant scenes. We know you come across very well on camera…and so, incredibly, it’s settled! Gul Dukat will record several videos of his performance - yes, he can send them multiple takes of each scene, yes he can experiment with the choreography and costume, no, he cannot experiment with the lyrics - and in return he will receive a recording of the full performance, which he can use however he chooses. (Sisko neglects to mention that they will edit out any shots of the watching Bajorans before they pass this recording on.)
Finally, Burr. Burr is the other part that’s REALLY hard to cast. At the end of the auditions, they still haven’t cast him, and Jake is worried. They’ve cast everyone else - Nog is going to be playing Philip Hamilton, so he can direct the first act whilst Jake is playing Laurens, and Jake can direct the second act whilst Nog is playing Philip. Then Nog suggests Worf. This is partly because he’s the only senior staff member who hasn’t got a role in the show, on or offstage, but mostly because he points out how hilarious it would be to see the dour Klingon singing the catchphrase ‘smile more’ and advocating caution. Jake is sceptical, but they really need a Burr and so the pair of them make their way over to the Defiant. To their relief, they find Jadzia already there, which is good because hopefully it means the Commander will be in a good mood (though possibly bad, because there’s a chance Jake and Nog just interrupted them before they started to have their terrifyingly violent sex, and that is a bad position to be in). But actually it turns out Dax has beaten them to it and has come to persuade Worf to audition. It’s for a good cause, Worf! What’s more honorable than that?! (don’t say ‘A good death’) Dax reveals that Worf’s singing voice is glorious and Worf scowls and looks menacing and generally totally fails to come around, until Jake puts on ‘Wait for It’. At first he’s unimpressed (‘Wait for it? Why wait for it? Anything worth having is worth fighting for! This man has no honour! I could not convincingly portray this character. And this music is nothing like Klingon opera!’) but then it gets to a line that hits him: ‘I am the one thing in life I can control’. He makes Jake go back and play that bit again. And again. And then the next line. ‘I am an original, I am inimitable’. And then, suddenly, gruffly, he changes his mind and decides perhaps he could start to understand this character after all. Dax kisses him. Jake and Nog decide not to push their luck, so they thank him and flee before Dax and Worf start actually taking off their clothes and putting dents in the walls, and each other.
And so rehearsals start! They’re on a rather tight schedule, as the festival is in four weeks, but they pull together and fortunately it’s a really quiet time on the station. (Only one major incident involving an unexpected vortex appearing in the command level which sucked in a few important pieces of equipment and deposited a strange glowing orb before popping out of existence again. They haven’t figured out what the orb is for yet. Oh, and there was a random uptick in the breeding cycles of those damned Cardassian voles, which turned out to be due to a heating duct malfunction - the duct was gradually starting to overheat, and the rising temperature apparently made the voles frisky. Turned out to be a good thing as it alerted them to the duct issue before it exploded. Never thought they’d be grateful to the voles. Oh, and there was that day when O’Brien ended up 20 seconds out of phase with everyone else, due to a transporter accident, which was thankfully resolved without resorting to time travel, but in the meantime did make the lighting cues in rehearsal rather challenging. All in all, a very quiet few weeks.)
They were planning to replicate all the costumes, but Garak takes this as a personal insult and instead hand makes everyone’s outfit. Miles works hard on building a set, complete with spinning stage, and is surprised and delighted to be joined, late one night, by an insomniac Sisko. From then on, the two of them work on building the set together, and it’s a masterpiece when it’s finished. Jake and Nog - and Leeta, their choreographer, and Kasidy, co-co-Director - put everyone through their paces, whilst Odo makes sure the rehearsals run to time, and takes charge of all the cues, as well as the music. There’s the odd tantrum, a couple of minor injuries (Sisko TOLD Dax that a swivelly chair on a moving stage was a terrible idea, but would the Old Man listen? No. Of course not. Fortunately their lead actor is, in fact, a doctor not an actor, and all is ok in the end.)
Er anyway I’m sure a lot more hilarious and exciting stuff happens during the rehearsals, but I think I may have been writing this without taking a break for like three hours and I should probably go to bed or something. BUT FIRST - they do the show! In fact it’s so popular that they end up doing it TWICE. All the children from the orphanages get to go along, and a lot of them go both times. Kai Winn shows up and tries to make a speech and claim responsibility for the whole enterprise, but nobody pays her any attention.
Keiko manages to get through her entire part without crying (except when the play calls for it) but then bursts into tears at the end of the second show when a child comes on stage to give her some flowers, and Molly says 'that’s my MUMMY' really happily. Julian is dazzling and passionate and everything Hamilton should be, and somehow also manages to tend to an elderly Bajoran lady who faints during the interval, because really he’s a doctor not a revolutionary hero. Sisko is fucking MAJESTIC and somehow, though an astonishing freak of nature, manages to be bathed in golden sunlight every second he is onstage. (He signs autographs as 'General Emissary’ afterwards, and gives out baseballs to all the children.) Jadzia clearly has the BEST time and just fizzes with energy and attitude whenever she’s onstage (though she does regret the loss of the swivel chair) and Worf is just. Well, Worf, frankly, blows everyone away. (He is asked to give an encore of ‘Wait For It’ and ‘The Room Where it Happens’ later). Kasidy, if anything, has an even better time than Jadzia and simply shines as Angelica. Sisko watches from the wings and Jake watches Sisko watching and ‘satisfied’ is frankly the understatement of the century. Lwaxana has the time of her LIFE. (Her baby plays baby Philip.) Kira is determined to do her best, which she does, even the really tricky rap song, but really it wouldn’t have mattered if she had forgotten every single one of her lines because all the Bajorans cheer and whoop the whole time she’s on stage. Her blush clashes with her hair.
Garak’s presence garners a bit of a muted reaction from the audience at first, as they’re a bit confused to see a Cardassian playing a revolutionary hero. But he wins them over with his performance, (somehow almost too realistic, Julian comments later, and Garak raises his eyeridges in mock surprise) and the young Cardassian orphans, who have grown up on Bajor, really appreciate his presence. They also appreciate Gul Dukat’s holographic appearance, but in a very different way. Before the show, Jake stands up to introduce the play, to talk a bit about the context, and to explain the old Earth tradition of ‘pantomime’. He and Nog then proceed to give out bags of rotten fruit to all the kids in the audience, with instructions to throw it at a certain royal hologram. (Garak joins in from the wings.) (And yes you can’t actually hit such a low-tech hologram, but it’s very cathartic nonetheless) Rom and Leeta both have a great time, and afterwards Rom talks about maybe starting up a theatre group on the station. Quark is unimpressed (‘first a union, now a theatre group?! Next thing you know you’ll be filing down your teeth and giving money to charity!’) but he really does only take a very small profit from the day’s takings, and the rest goes to help the children. (What is even wrong with him. The Grand Nagus better not find out about this.) Leeta is ambushed by a bunch of kids after the show, who want to know where she learned to dance like that? So (much to Rom’s unending admiration) she negotiates an unprecedented weekly day off from working at Quark's to come to Bajor and teach a dance class. Nog’s very moving performance as Philip Hamilton elicits audible sobs from Rom backstage, and Jake’s performance as Laurens elicits much quieter but no less heartfelt sobs from Sisko. Jake and Nog also both get flowers after the show.
Afterwards, there’s a cast and crew party, which somehow merges with the Bajoran festival celebration into a huge cacophony of joy and merriment and snatches of musical songs. Kira and Leeta teach Jadzia, Rom and Kasidy a traditional Bajoran dance involving a lot of frenzied footwork and whirling of flaming sticks, whilst Sisko watches, laughing, arms tight round an exhausted but beaming Jake. Nog, similarly exhausted but also really keyed-up, is using the opportunity to get to know some of the Bajoran girls better, whist the Emissary’s Son is safely out of the way. (He loves Jake, he’s lucky to have such a great best friend, but honestly how is a guy supposed to meet girls when his best friend is in all the teen magazines?!) Worf and Odo try to stay out of the spotlight, but people keep coming up to them to congratulate Worf on his performance, and to try to book him for shows, to his total horror and Odo’s dry amusement. Odo is also trying to keep an eye on Quark, who he’s sure is up to no good somewhere. Miles and Keiko also sit out of the spotlight, indulging in some peace together (they haven’t had much time together over the last week, what with all the rehearsals and set-building) whilst keeping half an eye on Molly, who has befriended a group of Bajoran and Cardassian children. There are children running around everywhere, but when a minor collision occurs between a small head and the corner of the stage, it has to be treated by a very soothing Nurse Jabara rather than DS9’s CMO, as it seems that Hamilton and Mulligan have, rather a-historically, disappeared to a dark corner together (everyone on the station who didn’t already know this was coming was left in no doubt after an early rehearsal, where Julian blushed and stammered his way through the line ‘I think your pants look hot’ before faking a medical emergency and fleeing to the infirmary, to the amusement/exasperation of the assembled cast).
The celebrations go on till late. When at last the stage (which worked perfectly, thanks Miles) and the sound system (monitored to an inch of its life by Odo) and the costumes are all packed up, and left with the Bajorans they all head back to DS9, except for Kira and Leeta who stay on Bajor to continue celebrating the festival. It’s all been such a huge success, that Jake decides to make this an annual event, for as long as he is on the station, in aid of the orphanages. Odo’s pushing for Les Mis, and Jadzia’s discovered something called ‘Grease’ that she’s desperate to try, but Jake thinks perhaps they’ll do ‘In The Heights’ next year. It looks pretty fun, and he knows his grandfather has a few feelings about that musical, which he should discuss with him sometime. Nog vows to be back on the station at the same time every year for as long as his Starfleet schedule allows, to help out with whatever show they put on. And as they sleepily head back to their shared quarters in the habitat ring, they decide that if this is going to be their legacy, it’s a pretty good one.
such_heights and
raven said I should put it online, so here it is. All 5,400 words of it. (For anyone concerned: I have currently seen up to ep 5.8 of DS9, so there are mild spoilers up to there, I guess, and no spoilers beyond that.)
So Julian gives Garak this biography of Hercules Mulligan, and is all ‘read this it’s super important it’s about a TAILOR who was also a SPY and does that SOUND FAMILIAR’ *glares at Garak whilst still trying to look suggestive* and Garak is all WHO ME I’M JUST A SIMPLE TAILOR *wide innocent flirty eyes*. Anyway he reads it, and has many THOUGHTS and DISAGREEMENTS about the whole thing. (As well as more than a few sections he wholeheartedly loves, and has copied over to a padd of his own to keep and read over again. Not that he would EVER confess this to his Dear Doctor.) And so a few days later when Garak’s having lunch with Julian again they start arguing about it (because they are in love and that’s what Cardassians in love do, they argue, and one day soon Julian will realise this) and Jake happens to walk past as they’re talking, just as Julian is saying something really emphatic about Mulligan and Hamilton, and Jake thinks this sounds interesting so he stops to listen. And it’s only when Nog (who has been stationed at DS9 as part of his Starfleet training) literally walks into him that he realises he’s been standing eavesdropping for like ten minutes and is completely riveted. So he goes over and asks Julian if he can borrow the padd, and Julian is delighted at his good taste and gives it to him whilst not for a moment letting up his argument with Garak, who is now gesticulating so wildly that his tarkalean tea has sloshed all over Quark, who was passing at an inconvenient moment with a tray of bloodwine for a group of Klingons. Everything descends into total tea-and-Klingon related chaos whilst Jake slips away already reading the book.
A week later and he’s read the bio of Mulligan, as well as a bio of Lafayette (so THIS is the dude his dad’s middle name comes from!) and most importantly he’s read the Chernow bio of Hamilton (twice, the second time highlighting key passages) and everything he can find about the American Revolution. Nog is a bit annoyed because he’s got a few days' leave and he wants to hang out with Jake but all Jake wants to do is read about the life of some dead human from centuries ago. And one evening Jake is enthusing about it over dinner with Sisko, and Sisko happens to mention this classic 21st century musical that’s all about this Hamilton dude, and how it was really important and completely changed the face of musical theatre (and theatre in general) forever, and oh did I mention I once played the lead in a Starfleet production? There’s probably a holo-recording somewhere. Now Jake has never really been interested in musicals before but he’s interested in this, so he gets hold of the soundtrack and OH MY GOD IT’S THE GREATEST THING HE’S EVER LISTENED TO HOLY CRAP and he listens to it non-stop for ANOTHER week, and by the end of that week everyone on the station has it stuck in their heads and most of them don’t even know why. It gets to the point where some people start to suspect it’s a weird Gamma Quadrant virus that has infected their brains and got this music stuck in their heads, and they don’t know how it got there. But that’s another story. Anyway by now even Nog is on board and he and Jake have most of the lyrics memorised and have started having impromptu rap battles as they sit and watch the promenade. Jake has a LOT of feelings about Hamilton the young boy who lost his mother, Hamilton the revolutionary, Hamilton the founder of a nation, but most of all Hamilton the WRITER who wrote his way out of his circumstances and generally wrote like he was running out of time. And Jake KNOWS what that impulse feels like, and he’s never come across it in someone else before and he stays up talking about this with Nog till REALLY late at night. Nog understands Hamilton's need to prove himself as a soldier, but generally is more on the side of Burr - keep your cards close to your chest and play to win, that’s the Ferengi way. He’s impressed with Burr’s pragmatism. And so they talk and they talk and they talk.
Then one day in the midst of all this, Kira tells Sisko about how a few of the orphanages that took in children (Cardassian and Bajoran) after the war are really struggling at the moment, and are hoping to hold some sort of fundraiser. (Do Bajorans use money? IDK I can’t remember and who even knows how money in the Trek universe works anyway) And she was hoping that maybe as the Emissary Sisko might be able to do something to help raise awareness, or at least put in an appearance as that would make everyone really happy. And Sisko talks to Jake about this over dinner that night and Jake is suddenly STRUCK by a GENIUS IDEA: they could put on a show of Hamilton! With the senior staff of DS9! And perform it on Bajor! There’s some sort of Bajoran festival coming up, so they could time it to coincide with that and use it to raise awareness/aid for the orphanages. Sisko thinks this is a great idea, and encourages him to organise it. So the next day Jake and Nog create and replicate a load of posters advertising auditions (Quark tries to charge them to put them up in his bar) whilst discussing all their grand plans for the show. Kira is thrilled. (Jake is also a big star on Bajor. ALL the young Bajorans have a crush on the Emissary’s son. This will be super popular.)
SO anyway word gets around and people actually show up for Jake and Nog’s auditions! They really, really want to see the senior staff singing and dancing! (And frankly they’re excited that the entire senior staff is ON the station, as they so often all seem to take off for mysterious missions and apparently leave like Quark or Garak or idk Third Ensign from the Left in charge.) The auditions are held on the promenade, and quite a crowd gathers to watch. Odo harrumphs at the mass of people clogging up his promenade, but actually nobody is too rowdy and he ends up getting really into it, often forgetting himself and tapping along to the songs. (Jake notices this, because he is a writer and is training himself to notice things, and he later gives Odo the role of Musical Director, which mostly means operating the sound system, ie. having a key role whilst not being in the public eye) Meanwhile Nog is initially inclined to be a bit critical of the people auditioning (he came across this old Human show once called Z Factor or Q Factor or something like that where people sang and judges were rude to them and it was hilarious) but Jake pokes him until he starts saying nice things. And so they start to cast people!
Some people are really easy. Julian surprises everyone by auditioning for the part of earnest young John Laurens, not Hamilton, but everyone knows he secretly (or not so secretly, sorry Julian) wants to be Hamilton. And as Jake wanted to play Laurens anyway - because he wants to direct it and he can’t star AND direct - he gives Julian the role. Julian attempts modesty but is really not very good at it. But he is very good at portraying Hamilton, even if he doesn’t have the strongest voice on the station. He and Jake have also had long, long conversations about Hamilton’s drive and work ethic, over the past few weeks. The other medical staff have become used to Jake hanging around the infirmary getting in the way, but they’ve all known him since he arrived on DS9 when he was half the height he is now, so they don’t mind. Julian just gets Hamilton - his need to achieve All The Things, to prove his worth, his complete disregard for all obstacles in his path when he sets his mind to something. In public he puts up good naturedly with his staff’s digs at how there’s ‘a million things he hasn’t done’ (when they find him slumped asleep over his research at 6am) and in private he frets about whether it’s a bad thing that he identifies so very strongly with ‘I imagine death so much it feels more like a memory’…but all that’s to come. At the audition he performs a Frank Sinatra song with aplomb, and suddenly finds himself as Hamilton.
Sisko is next, and really there’s only one person he could play. He wasn’t originally going to audition at all, but Jake talked him into it - he knows he has a wonderful voice and come on wouldn’t you love to be in the play again? He’s cast as Washington before he even opens his mouth, but they make him sing anyway. He gives a stirring rendition of ‘Who Am I’ from Les Mis, which leaves Jake open-mouthed and Odo privately resolving to look into this particular musical further. And at the end he takes a bow and has a big smile on his face as everyone cheers their singing captain, and it’s clear he’s having a great time.
Kira is not usually a remotely performing person, but she feels she ought to get involved with this as it's really all her fault. And as soon as she hears that the play is about a bunch of revolutionaries fighting to free themselves from oppression she is suddenly much more enthusiastic! She comes onstage and performs this Bajoran folk song that gets faster and faster until she runs out of breath. She’s initially really awkward about it but then relaxes into it and actually starts to laugh at the end, and there’s spontaneous applause. (Dax gives her a BIG thumbs up, and Sisko applauds loudest.) It doesn’t take very long for Jake to decide to cast her as Lafayette, Revolutionary Hero. (She's pleased, and proud, and determined to give it her all; she's also really annoyed to discover that her character is twice referred to as 'Lancelot', because dammit that guy was a jerk and totally deserved the punch she gave him that one time.) She can’t do a French accent, so instead decides to do it in an exaggerated accent from a different part of Bajor, which she assures everyone will go down very well with the watching Bajorans.
After some discussion, Jake and Nog decide not to double-cast the parts in the traditional way, because that means most people have fewer lines to learn, which is good as they have a busy and occasionally explosive station to run. Jadzia has all the swagger and the charisma and general TROLLISHNESS to play Jefferson, which DELIGHTS her, and she immediately starts reading up on the guy (‘he invented the swivel chair?!’) and also tapping into Curzon’s rap skills and Emony’s dance moves. (It’s a good thing she doesn’t have to rely on Audrid’s rap skills and Tobin’s dance moves, she comments to Ben later, or she’d be thrown off the station.) Worf shows up to lurk at the back during Jadzia’s audition, but then disappears off back to the Defiant, muttering about Klingon Opera.
Garak does not attend the auditions, but Jake and Nog cast him as Mulligan anyway. When they rock up to his shop later to inform him of this he protests, but in such an overdramatic way they could tell he had just been waiting for this moment all along.
Kasidy happens to be on the station whilst all this is going on, and it turns out she is ALSO already super into this musical! It’s been a secret dream of hers to play Angelica since forever, and she demonstrates this to an impressed Jake and a completely smitten Sisko by singing the entirety of ‘Satisfied’ without even having to look up the lyrics. Her crew confirm that she has been known to play the soundtrack on repeat during long hauls. Jake drags her off to discuss the finer points of the musical over tea later, and asks her to help him and Nog direct. What a great stepmother he’s chosen for himself (not that she and his dad are married yet, but he’s sure they’ll get there. With some prompting from Jake, if necessary.)
Rom is awkward and nervous, but he and Leeta audition together. They're not senior staff so not technically required to audition, but Nog really wants his dad to be in the show. And Rom really wants Leeta for moral support. (Quark rolls his eyes and tuts and mutters derogatory things about hu-mans under his breath, and secretly wants in). Rom is super happy to get the part of James Madison (a main role, but smaller and more in the background than all the other main roles, which is just how he likes it), whilst Leeta, whose singing is passable but whose dancing is amazing, gets the role of Peggy and also chief choreographer.
Eliza proves harder to cast, until Miles drags a protesting Keiko onto the promenade and tells everyone in no uncertain terms that she has the best voice of anybody on this station, and he glares round as if DARING anyone to challenge this assertion. Keiko plays this down and is also initially really nervous but then Miles whispers something to her, dashes off, and returns a few minutes later with Molly. He hands her to Keiko, who holds her in her arms and sings an old Earth song called ‘Lullaby for a Stormy Night’ by a little-known artist called Vienna Teng, who has a small but devoted cult following. She looks at Molly the whole time. Molly looks back very seriously, and sometimes tries to join in. Turns out nobody disputes Miles’ claim, and after a long, spellbound pause where everyone is too enraptured to breathe, let alone clap, a blushing Keiko is cast as Eliza. Molly is cast as all the younger Hamilton children. (Jake isn’t sure any of them actually appeared in the original musical, but she’s too cute not to cast, and now that he’s an expert in Alexander Hamilton’s life he is determined to make this as accurate as possible)
Miles meanwhile is far too self-effacing to want to be on a stage, and refuses to budge on this even when Keiko AND Kira AND Julian all try to convince/plead/blackmail him until he sings. (Julian threatens to show everyone a video he made of drunk and fervent Miles dressed in a period-accurate pirate costume singing Irish drinking songs, but it’s an empty threat. Miles has got equally embarrassing stuff on him). Instead Miles volunteers to build the set and operate the techie stuff, which is great news for everyone. If the Chief can handle this temperamental, vole-infested space station, what could be so hard about one little musical? Right??
Quark initially refuses to have any part in this whole affair, except selling drinks (for a very small profit, most of which will go to the orphans of course) during the interval. But they need someone to voice James Reynolds, and when Nog explains to him that this role involves charging someone a large fee for something he was previously getting for free, Quark decides he’s in. (He’d secretly wanted this all along, of course, but it was beneath his Ferengi dignity to audition for a human show. What if the Grand Nagus found out?!? His cousin Gaila would never do anything like this. Gaila owns a moon). Somehow he also ends up playing some dude called Charles Lee in Act 1, whose main role is to take some extremely sensible self-preservation precautions on the battlefield, (Staying Alive is Good For Business, Rule of Acquisition number...something) and for some human reason ends up being ridiculed and shot at for this. Quark finds he empathises with Charles Lee.
The role of Maria Reynolds causes some problems - there’s talk of double-casting her, but Leeta doesn’t really want to play her as she feels the role feeds into the sexually promiscuous stereotype that everyone associates with Dabo girls. Then Odo shyly shuffles forward and clears his throat, and there’s a moment when everyone thinks he’s going to volunteer, and why not, but actually he announces that he’s just been in touch with his very good friend Lwaxana Troi, and she is planning to visit the station with her baby in the next few days, and she has a marvellous singing voice. And it’s been his observation that she has no qualms about performing in front of crowds of people and has fewer inhibitions than many people. Perhaps he should inquire…? (The reply comes back a little while later that YES she would be THRILLED and she has already started listening to the soundtrack in preparation. She is very flattered to have been cast in a role that is apparently usually reserved for younger actresses, and is looking forward to inhabiting the role, and seeing the station again, and especially seeing you, dearest Odo. Odo does not relay that last part.)
Odo himself is possibly even more reluctant than Miles to get onstage in front of all his Bajoran deputies who will probably no longer take him seriously after this. He’s not in Starfleet, he shouldn’t have to participate in Starfleet’s nonsense. But after Kira takes him to one side and practically begs him to join the play - how can he refuse? He’s never been able to deny Nerys anything. To his tremendous relief, the boys give him two small roles, so he barely has to be onstage at all and instead can concentrate on making sure everyone else hits their cues - he’s to be Samuel Seabury in Act One, and George Eaker in Act Two. Not very pleasant men, either of them, which Jake and Nog are at pains to assure him is no reflection on his own character at all - they just happen to be two very small roles.
Morn is passing by on his way to Quark’s, when someone grabs him and shoves him on stage. He has no idea what’s going on, but before he’s really figured it out, someone has told him he’s going to be playing some guy called ‘John Adams’ in a Bajoran fundraiser. Before he can protest, someone else quickly explains that this role has no lines.
King George should be a hard role to cast…but Jake and Nog have already decided they have to get Gul Dukat to play the part. They HAVE to. When they talk to Sisko and Kira about this idea, both initially express strong reservations - whilst the idea of Dukat as the prissy King George is, indeed, the stuff of glorious satire, it would probably ruin the festival atmosphere somewhat to have the leader of the Occupation back on Bajor during a holiday. Or ever. Looooong discussions ensue, and the four of them end up getting very hysterical and high on life and then they actually CALL Gul Dukat, which looking back was a terrible idea, dear god. But anyway they call him and it’s the middle of the night and he’s really confused and irritated to be woken up by a less-than-serious Kira, a frankly giggly Sisko, and two young people who aren’t even Starfleet officers. But he’s also intrigued. And when they put to him a proposal that he is to play the KING in an ancient Earth drama which will be performed to the Bajorans…well, how can he resist? Think of the propaganda opportunities! Think of all those Bajoran workers, I mean, citizens, looking up to him as their glorious leader! He could really put that sort of thing to use in his line of work. But he can’t really leave Cardassia at the moment, the political situation being…volatile, as it is. But, no, it’s ok, Sisko reassures him - you don’t need to actually come here, you just need to record a few videos! We will send you the music, the lyrics, you just need to learn them and record them and send us the vid! We can then project it in the relevant scenes. We know you come across very well on camera…and so, incredibly, it’s settled! Gul Dukat will record several videos of his performance - yes, he can send them multiple takes of each scene, yes he can experiment with the choreography and costume, no, he cannot experiment with the lyrics - and in return he will receive a recording of the full performance, which he can use however he chooses. (Sisko neglects to mention that they will edit out any shots of the watching Bajorans before they pass this recording on.)
Finally, Burr. Burr is the other part that’s REALLY hard to cast. At the end of the auditions, they still haven’t cast him, and Jake is worried. They’ve cast everyone else - Nog is going to be playing Philip Hamilton, so he can direct the first act whilst Jake is playing Laurens, and Jake can direct the second act whilst Nog is playing Philip. Then Nog suggests Worf. This is partly because he’s the only senior staff member who hasn’t got a role in the show, on or offstage, but mostly because he points out how hilarious it would be to see the dour Klingon singing the catchphrase ‘smile more’ and advocating caution. Jake is sceptical, but they really need a Burr and so the pair of them make their way over to the Defiant. To their relief, they find Jadzia already there, which is good because hopefully it means the Commander will be in a good mood (though possibly bad, because there’s a chance Jake and Nog just interrupted them before they started to have their terrifyingly violent sex, and that is a bad position to be in). But actually it turns out Dax has beaten them to it and has come to persuade Worf to audition. It’s for a good cause, Worf! What’s more honorable than that?! (don’t say ‘A good death’) Dax reveals that Worf’s singing voice is glorious and Worf scowls and looks menacing and generally totally fails to come around, until Jake puts on ‘Wait for It’. At first he’s unimpressed (‘Wait for it? Why wait for it? Anything worth having is worth fighting for! This man has no honour! I could not convincingly portray this character. And this music is nothing like Klingon opera!’) but then it gets to a line that hits him: ‘I am the one thing in life I can control’. He makes Jake go back and play that bit again. And again. And then the next line. ‘I am an original, I am inimitable’. And then, suddenly, gruffly, he changes his mind and decides perhaps he could start to understand this character after all. Dax kisses him. Jake and Nog decide not to push their luck, so they thank him and flee before Dax and Worf start actually taking off their clothes and putting dents in the walls, and each other.
And so rehearsals start! They’re on a rather tight schedule, as the festival is in four weeks, but they pull together and fortunately it’s a really quiet time on the station. (Only one major incident involving an unexpected vortex appearing in the command level which sucked in a few important pieces of equipment and deposited a strange glowing orb before popping out of existence again. They haven’t figured out what the orb is for yet. Oh, and there was a random uptick in the breeding cycles of those damned Cardassian voles, which turned out to be due to a heating duct malfunction - the duct was gradually starting to overheat, and the rising temperature apparently made the voles frisky. Turned out to be a good thing as it alerted them to the duct issue before it exploded. Never thought they’d be grateful to the voles. Oh, and there was that day when O’Brien ended up 20 seconds out of phase with everyone else, due to a transporter accident, which was thankfully resolved without resorting to time travel, but in the meantime did make the lighting cues in rehearsal rather challenging. All in all, a very quiet few weeks.)
They were planning to replicate all the costumes, but Garak takes this as a personal insult and instead hand makes everyone’s outfit. Miles works hard on building a set, complete with spinning stage, and is surprised and delighted to be joined, late one night, by an insomniac Sisko. From then on, the two of them work on building the set together, and it’s a masterpiece when it’s finished. Jake and Nog - and Leeta, their choreographer, and Kasidy, co-co-Director - put everyone through their paces, whilst Odo makes sure the rehearsals run to time, and takes charge of all the cues, as well as the music. There’s the odd tantrum, a couple of minor injuries (Sisko TOLD Dax that a swivelly chair on a moving stage was a terrible idea, but would the Old Man listen? No. Of course not. Fortunately their lead actor is, in fact, a doctor not an actor, and all is ok in the end.)
Er anyway I’m sure a lot more hilarious and exciting stuff happens during the rehearsals, but I think I may have been writing this without taking a break for like three hours and I should probably go to bed or something. BUT FIRST - they do the show! In fact it’s so popular that they end up doing it TWICE. All the children from the orphanages get to go along, and a lot of them go both times. Kai Winn shows up and tries to make a speech and claim responsibility for the whole enterprise, but nobody pays her any attention.
Keiko manages to get through her entire part without crying (except when the play calls for it) but then bursts into tears at the end of the second show when a child comes on stage to give her some flowers, and Molly says 'that’s my MUMMY' really happily. Julian is dazzling and passionate and everything Hamilton should be, and somehow also manages to tend to an elderly Bajoran lady who faints during the interval, because really he’s a doctor not a revolutionary hero. Sisko is fucking MAJESTIC and somehow, though an astonishing freak of nature, manages to be bathed in golden sunlight every second he is onstage. (He signs autographs as 'General Emissary’ afterwards, and gives out baseballs to all the children.) Jadzia clearly has the BEST time and just fizzes with energy and attitude whenever she’s onstage (though she does regret the loss of the swivel chair) and Worf is just. Well, Worf, frankly, blows everyone away. (He is asked to give an encore of ‘Wait For It’ and ‘The Room Where it Happens’ later). Kasidy, if anything, has an even better time than Jadzia and simply shines as Angelica. Sisko watches from the wings and Jake watches Sisko watching and ‘satisfied’ is frankly the understatement of the century. Lwaxana has the time of her LIFE. (Her baby plays baby Philip.) Kira is determined to do her best, which she does, even the really tricky rap song, but really it wouldn’t have mattered if she had forgotten every single one of her lines because all the Bajorans cheer and whoop the whole time she’s on stage. Her blush clashes with her hair.
Garak’s presence garners a bit of a muted reaction from the audience at first, as they’re a bit confused to see a Cardassian playing a revolutionary hero. But he wins them over with his performance, (somehow almost too realistic, Julian comments later, and Garak raises his eyeridges in mock surprise) and the young Cardassian orphans, who have grown up on Bajor, really appreciate his presence. They also appreciate Gul Dukat’s holographic appearance, but in a very different way. Before the show, Jake stands up to introduce the play, to talk a bit about the context, and to explain the old Earth tradition of ‘pantomime’. He and Nog then proceed to give out bags of rotten fruit to all the kids in the audience, with instructions to throw it at a certain royal hologram. (Garak joins in from the wings.) (And yes you can’t actually hit such a low-tech hologram, but it’s very cathartic nonetheless) Rom and Leeta both have a great time, and afterwards Rom talks about maybe starting up a theatre group on the station. Quark is unimpressed (‘first a union, now a theatre group?! Next thing you know you’ll be filing down your teeth and giving money to charity!’) but he really does only take a very small profit from the day’s takings, and the rest goes to help the children. (What is even wrong with him. The Grand Nagus better not find out about this.) Leeta is ambushed by a bunch of kids after the show, who want to know where she learned to dance like that? So (much to Rom’s unending admiration) she negotiates an unprecedented weekly day off from working at Quark's to come to Bajor and teach a dance class. Nog’s very moving performance as Philip Hamilton elicits audible sobs from Rom backstage, and Jake’s performance as Laurens elicits much quieter but no less heartfelt sobs from Sisko. Jake and Nog also both get flowers after the show.
Afterwards, there’s a cast and crew party, which somehow merges with the Bajoran festival celebration into a huge cacophony of joy and merriment and snatches of musical songs. Kira and Leeta teach Jadzia, Rom and Kasidy a traditional Bajoran dance involving a lot of frenzied footwork and whirling of flaming sticks, whilst Sisko watches, laughing, arms tight round an exhausted but beaming Jake. Nog, similarly exhausted but also really keyed-up, is using the opportunity to get to know some of the Bajoran girls better, whist the Emissary’s Son is safely out of the way. (He loves Jake, he’s lucky to have such a great best friend, but honestly how is a guy supposed to meet girls when his best friend is in all the teen magazines?!) Worf and Odo try to stay out of the spotlight, but people keep coming up to them to congratulate Worf on his performance, and to try to book him for shows, to his total horror and Odo’s dry amusement. Odo is also trying to keep an eye on Quark, who he’s sure is up to no good somewhere. Miles and Keiko also sit out of the spotlight, indulging in some peace together (they haven’t had much time together over the last week, what with all the rehearsals and set-building) whilst keeping half an eye on Molly, who has befriended a group of Bajoran and Cardassian children. There are children running around everywhere, but when a minor collision occurs between a small head and the corner of the stage, it has to be treated by a very soothing Nurse Jabara rather than DS9’s CMO, as it seems that Hamilton and Mulligan have, rather a-historically, disappeared to a dark corner together (everyone on the station who didn’t already know this was coming was left in no doubt after an early rehearsal, where Julian blushed and stammered his way through the line ‘I think your pants look hot’ before faking a medical emergency and fleeing to the infirmary, to the amusement/exasperation of the assembled cast).
The celebrations go on till late. When at last the stage (which worked perfectly, thanks Miles) and the sound system (monitored to an inch of its life by Odo) and the costumes are all packed up, and left with the Bajorans they all head back to DS9, except for Kira and Leeta who stay on Bajor to continue celebrating the festival. It’s all been such a huge success, that Jake decides to make this an annual event, for as long as he is on the station, in aid of the orphanages. Odo’s pushing for Les Mis, and Jadzia’s discovered something called ‘Grease’ that she’s desperate to try, but Jake thinks perhaps they’ll do ‘In The Heights’ next year. It looks pretty fun, and he knows his grandfather has a few feelings about that musical, which he should discuss with him sometime. Nog vows to be back on the station at the same time every year for as long as his Starfleet schedule allows, to help out with whatever show they put on. And as they sleepily head back to their shared quarters in the habitat ring, they decide that if this is going to be their legacy, it’s a pretty good one.