Babylon by Ariana (PG)

[anglopollyanna.livejournal.com]

Fandom: STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE
Pairing: Kira/Dukat with minor Garak/Ziyal & Garak/Bashir
Author on LJ: ariana_paris
Author Website: Ariana's Stories
Why this must be read:

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.


"Is something wrong?" asked a voice behind them.
Jake turned towards the voice and found Garak standing beside him,
with Ziyal hovering nearby.
"The universal translator seems to be down," he said, before it
occurred to him Garak had sounded pretty fluent in Standard.
"Yes, it was, but it seems to be working again," remarked the
Cardassian.
"What happened?" asked Ziyal.
"I... I'm not sure, but we'll get it under control soon," said
O'Brien, unwilling to confess to any incompetence in front of the
station's resident Cardie, regardless of whether Sisko considered him
an ally or not.
Dax and Worf also came over to join them.
"What is happening?" asked the Klingon.
"The universal translator stopped working for a moment, but it's
back again now," explained Wuppenthaler.
"Obviously," said Worf, looking over the assorted humans,
Cardassians, Bajorans and Ferengi.
"Perhaps there is a malfunction in the communications relay that
connects the translator to the sensor input," suggested Dax.
"Das wäre möglich," agreed Wuppenthaler.
"Afsamru afs sˇûlsal, chir deydido ayal, ja kardasich gekhnacu,"
protested Garak, who did not think his people would have designed the
station so badly.
"va! Do'Ha'bej," growled Worf.
O'Brien sighed.
"Yes, and same to you with knobs on," he muttered.

Things take a more serious turn when Dominion-allied Dukat turns up on the scene. At the same time the problem affecting the translators spreads to the inhabitants of the space station who begin to act a little out of character - or do they?


Babylon

Comments

[iamsab.livejournal.com]

Fuck do I ever love this story. Ariana is so good with the language play. Have you read her (story which I cannot swing a cat without rec'ing) "Halfway"? Mmmm.

Thanks for rec'ing this here!

Ariana Recs

[anglopollyanna.livejournal.com]

Glad I'm not the only one that enjoyed this. Mind you, when I was trying to find it again, I remembered it as 'Babel' by Ariadne, which just goes to show how much the memory degenerates over 7 years!

I used to read all Ariana's stories when I was in the fandom, and particularly liked her Kira/Dukat ones, even though I was more of a slash fan.

Re: Ariana Recs

[http://users.livejournal.com/ari_/]

I'm mostly a slash fan, but Kira/Dukat is one of the het pairings I really like.

Hm, I think I'll go re-read some K/D stories...

Blast from the past

[ariana-paris.livejournal.com]

I can't say I'd exactly forgotten this story, but it has been a good few years since it was brought back to my attention. I remember being very pleased with myself for producing a story that had an actual pseudo-Trek plot! :) Looking through it again, I can't help being critical of some of the writing; my style has changed a bit in seven years (argh, I feel old). But I remember having fun with the accents and languages.

For those interested in that kind of thing, the Kira/Dukat archive is still frozen in time somewhere around 1999 in the Cardassian Romances section of http://astele.co.uk/trek, and although some of its story have disappeared, there are some great stories left.

Thank you so much for the kind recommendation!

Ariana (the author in question)