USS Bill of Rights

[melannen]

This exists partly because sarken was having a bad day yesterday, partly because I am insane, and partly because I wanted to practice freehand inking in GIMP. None of those are probably good enough excuses:


Captain Maddow of the United Star Ship Bill of Rights, with her department heads, left to right: Lieut. Commander Olbermann, Chief of Science; Chief of Operations Lieutenant "Andy" ch'Cuper; Lieutenant Stewart, Communications; and CMO Lieut. Commander Dr. Stehpen (DFA Vulcan Science Academy, and *don't* mention the ears.)


Q: Why does Captain Maddow wear the miniskirt & go-go boots uniform?
A: One, because it's an incongruity, and every time she walks into a Command meeting all those Admirals are forced to remember just how rarely women's uniforms get worn in command gold. Two, because it reminds Captain Kirk that he's never, ever going to get to sleep with her, and this makes her heart glad. Three, because it gets her all the girls. (Four, she still thinks Lieut. Commander Olbermann is only teasing when he asks her to please stop for the sake of his blood pressure.)

Q: Why USS Bill of Rights?
A: Because if there's any ship Captain Maddow serves, it would be that one. (A starship called Bill of Rights actually appears in the novel Best Destiny, one of the still rare Starfleet ships with a human female captain; Maddow's ship is the Constitution-class ship which bore the name before that.)

Q: What's up with Dr. Stehpen's ear?
A: Seriously, don't mention the ears.

Q: Why is the art so bad?
A: Because I don't practice enough. Also, I did this entirely with GIMP's inking tool, set to default (and eraser tool). It was good practice, both for brush inking, and for drawing in general; line weight depends partly on speed, so the greater the accuracy, the lower the precision. It *forces* you to use quick free strokes and be confident in them. Which I need much, much work on. But at least on the computer you can erase as much as you have to! And I would have failed totally without lots of reference from this ST:TOS publicity shot: http://greatbignerd.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/star_trek_csg_014.jpg

Q: No, really, WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?
A: Because Star Trek is awesome, and Pundit Round Table is awesome, and they both share the same commitment to freedom, diversity, and knowledge, and believe that evil only wins out over good if good is careless. I've wanted for ages to put them on the bridge of a starship anyway. Also, I'm a complete sucker for crossovers. And the art was actually flowing; that's even rarer than days when the fic is flowing.

Also, I was getting tired of The One Pig as my journal header.

(For those unfamiliar with the terminology, Pundit Round Table refers to a Real Person Fic sub-fandom in which Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Anderson Cooper, Keith Olberman, and lately also Rachel Maddow hand out together, snark a lot, and solve crime. They are all liberal-to-moderate US cable news commentators (more or less), they are all really good at what they do, and they are all magnificently geeky.)

Also, drawing this has made me realize that part of the reason I love Keith so much is that he exactly matches my mental image of Lieut. Harb Tanzer, Enterprise's chief of Recreation. (Also it makes me want Captain Maddow/Dr. Dehner. Or at least want to draw Ana Marie Cox in Dr. Dehner's uniform.)

Comments

[melannen]

This one flowed like OMG, I can't remember the last time a story wanted to come out this badly. (All did was think, "Well, what did real!Rachel do in college?" and then I had ... this.)

And yes! She was actually planning to ask the first time she met him - at a Fleet event, shortly after he got his Captaincy and when she was still a few ranks below him. But the first thing he did was hit on her, and she got distracted for the rest of the night teaching him why hitting on fellow officers is not always a smart idea. She doesn't even think he remembered her, the next time they met, and it just seems awkward to bring it up out of nowhere. She's not sure he knows about what she did in hers, and mentioning it seems uncomfortably like oneupmanship - he's a guy who wears his pride on the outside.

And she does like the guy.

Kind of.

In the same inexplicable way she's fond of old Rear Admiral Buchanan.)

[bessemerprocess]

Aww, Rear Admiral Buchanan is such a stodgy old Admiral. He doesn't even like the Vulcans. He and Sarek have gone to bat a few times, and he still won't admit Sarek won.

[melannen]

Sarek went home afterward and asked his wife to explain the Admiral's logic to him, and Amanda spent the next two hours in hysterics.

[bessemerprocess]

You win the internet.

She just kept laughing again every time Sarek lifted an eyebrow.

[melannen]

I'm re-reading Spock's World right now, and OMG, I just want Amanda to explain humans to Sarek *forever*. Or, on occasion, fail to explain because she's cracking up too hard. (They are so cute together!)

[trouble]

Was this the one where she says "There is nothing little about my husband"? Cuz I use that line all the damned time. (Don is 6'10".)

[melannen]

Yes! On a news interview, in response to headlines about "I Married a Little Green Alien". :D She had to explain it to Sarek, and then he laughed for an entire evening.

[trouble]

That's one of those scenes that is totally cannon and anyone who says otherwise can bite me. I've always had a fondness for the relationship between Sarek and Amanda. :)

[orbitaldiamonds]

WIN.

Both of you! XD