Written by Heather Jarman
Copyright 2002 by Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.
In This Gray Spirit by Heather Jarman, Cardassian ambassador Natima Lang arrives at the Bajoran space station Deep Space Nine for a hopeful diplomatic mission between the enstranged planets Cardassia and Bajor. While continuing it's exploration mission in the Gamma Quadrant, the starship Defiant has been damaged and is getting repaired by an unusual species - whose biological differences have created a civil war.
It was interesting to see the juxtaposition of the genocidal civil war of the Yrythny, as well as the aftermath of the Cardassian occupation of the world of Bajor. Colonel Kira struggles with trying to help the Cardassian people who had occupied her planet. Having Shar's bond mates pining away for Shar, who is of course stationed on Deep Space Nine as a StarFleet officer, to come back home to them was rather annoying to me. Perhaps I do not really understand Andorian bonding, but I would be able to understand the bonding more if the bonding was more of a physical medical necessity, like the Vulcan Pon-Far, instead of the Andorian bonding being a racial necessity. While I understand Shar wanting to be independent, his not wanting to confront his bond mates - which is basically his family - was both immature and disconcerting to me, with tragic consequences. Shar's developing a relationship with a Yrythny girl in order to search for a cure for both of their peoples was almost infidelity to his family.
Pancho
All people smile in the same language.
