hathycol: (s7 kira)
[personal profile] hathycol
Title: The Battle of Betazed, through the conversations of Lwaxana Troi
Author: [livejournal.com profile] hathy_col
Rating: PG
Prompt: “Occupying Dominion forces, meet the unconquerable Lwaxana Troi. P.S. She’s got family.”
Summary: Being the leader of a resistance cell was no fun at all, particularly when it was combined with childcare.
Author’s Notes: This is un-betaed due to time constraints, so any mistakes are my own. Thank you to the prompter (promptee?), I really enjoyed getting to write this.





When it ended, when the Federation relief ships landed and Lwaxana sat down in the wreckage of her house with only Barin and the clothes she stood up in, she realised that the last – weeks? Months? She wasn’t even sure – had blurred into one awful whole. Only the words stood out.

before

Lwaxana made sure that her wig was on straight and her cleavage was shown as its best before answering the comm.

“Hello, Odo!” she trilled, sounding genuinely delighted as an image of the Changeling appeared on screen. “How is life on the station?”

“Busy,” he replied dryly. “The war is making life a little difficult here. How is Betazed? Your family?”

“Odo,” Lwaxana said fondly, “you’re my husband. I might not know you that well, but I do know you’re not here for a chat.”

Odo sighed, and put his hand under his chin. “You’re right. I’ve heard rumours that Betazed is very near a Dominion line. Too near. I’m sure that Starfleet knows about it, of course, but how are your planetary defence grids?”

Lwaxana laughed, surprised. “The Dominion won’t get to Betazed, Odo. We’re perfectly well protected by the fleet, and we have a strong planetary protection system.”

“I know that, but I heard that your grid hadn’t been updated for half a century, and the fleet…”

“My daughter serves on the flagship for Starfleet,” Lwaxana snapped, shocking even herself. “I know what dangers the fleet are in. Believe me.”

“Ah,” Odo had the good grace to look embarrassed. “I’m sorry. I knew that, of course, I’m just worried for you.”

Lwaxana gave a sigh, letting her shoulders slump a little. “It’s fine, Odo. It’s not your fault she chooses to stay on that ship. Betazed will be fine though – let those awful Jem’Hadar try!”

“Madam, I doubt even a fleet of Jem’Hadar warships could best you.”

“Quite right! Now, let’s talk of more pleasant things. Barin is growing up much quicker than I could have imagined…”

--

after the skies burned

When the Dominion came to her door, though, Lwaxana was prepared. The power to her house had shut down at the same time that Betazed had lost the protection grid, and starships had burned in the sky but she tried to protect what she could, keeping Barin near at all times. She wished bitterly that she had more food in the house, and hoped that she would have enough to last for a time.

The knock at the door was a shock, however. She held tightly on to Barin, and hoped his mind wouldn't register her fear as she opened the door to be greeted by a troop of five Jem'Hadar soldiers and more surprisingly a female Vorta leading the group.

“You must be Ambassador Troi,” said the Vorta, with what she clearly thought was a winning smile. “My name is Eris, and I do hope that I and my Jem'Hadar can enter your home.”

“No,” Lwaxana said flatly. “You are already on my planet, and that's bad enough. I will not permit your soliders despoiling my home.”

Eris's smile didn't change. “I'm sorry, I didn't explain myself. My Jem'Hadar and I are going to enter your home, and it's well-advised that you don't object. The young ones of this planet scream so much when we do any damage to their parents. So, will you stand aside and let us enter.”

“Well, you'll have to forgive me if my hospitality isn't up to much, then,” Lwaxana said with a tight smile, and stepped aside. “Somebody has turned my power off.”

“So kind,” Eris beamed. She turned to her small band of Jem'Hadar. “You two, follow me in,” she commanded. “The rest of you, fan out and keep an eye on the area.”

The Jem'Hadar opened with frightening speed, two of them barging into Lwaxana's house, leaving Lwaxana to trail behind with Eris. “Please, lead me in,” Eris said, the insufferable smile refusing to leave her face. Reluctantly and slowly, Lwaxana lead the Vorta into her living area.

“You may as well sit down,” she said stiffly. “It seems I no longer have a choice.”

“There's always a choice, Ambassador Troi,” Eris replied. “Still, I'll sit. The Jem'Hadar are happier standing, in my experience.” She settled herself into the biggest chair in the room, leaving Lwaxana sitting in the smaller chair designed for guests.

“Well now,” Lwaxana said. “You're here. What do you want?”

Finally sat down, she took a moment to try and concentrate on the mind of the Vorta sat opposite her. The Jem'Hadar she had already written off as dead losses – their minds were tactical, and full of anger, and a desire for the drug they called the white. There was nothing to be gained there, but she hoped that the female Vorta might give her something useful.

“Ah, you're trying to read my mind,” the Vorta said, sounding genuinely delighted. “Do you know, it's lovely to deal with a species that invades minds so politely. You won't get through, of course. Not all Vorta can resist psychic attack, but the Founders bred enough of us to have some limited power. You won't be able to get through to any of us, Ambassador Troi.”

“Apparently not,” Lwaxana said, and sighed. “Is that why you're here? To prove that we can't read you?”

“Oh, you'd have found that out in your own time. No, I'm here to offer you to the friendship of the Dominion.”

Lwaxana nodded slowly. “Fine. Why me?”

“Oh, several reasons. You are, after all, a daughter of the Fifth House of Betazed, the Holder of the Sacred Chalice of Riss, and Heir of the Holy Rings of Betazed. Your daughter serves on the flagship, and you are one of the most important ambassadors in the Alpha Quadrant. Even your husband is a Founder! The Dominion researches its new members, and we want to assure you that we can keep all of these titles in tact if you will show your people that we really mean you no harm and this can all be done quite peacefully.”

“Peacefully?” Lwaxana shouted suddenly, leaping out of her chair. Startled, Barin began to cry. “You come to this planet, you kill innocent Betazoids, you ruin this ancient civilization that has never committed a harm to another race, never, and you call this peacefully?”

“Ambassador Troi,” Eris said calmly, “you have seen the Jem'Hadar now. You have no weapons. Thus far, this is the peaceful way.” She looked at Barin, and allowed disgust to cross her face briefly for the first time. “You should tend to your... infant. In the meanwhile, I implore you to lead your people peacefully and allow them to embrace the Dominion as the friends that we could be, if you let us. We won't hold your previous Federation membership against you at all.”

“Get out,” said Lwaxana coldly. “I am not afraid of you, and I am not afraid of them.” She pointed at the Jem'Hadar soliders to emphasise her point. “You will leave, and you will leave now.”

--

the ration queue

‘Mrs Troi, I wouldn’t even know how to begin scrambling a code to get past the Dominion.’ The blond man had an outward expression of schooled nonchalance, carefully looking anywhere than at Lwaxana, keeping the patrolling Jem’Hadar carefully in the corner of his view.

‘Nonsense!’ Lwaxana thought desperately. She had waited a week to engineer this meeting, casually standing in apparent silence in the queue for rations. She had tested to see if the Jem’Hadar had the ability to listen in on Betazed conversations, but thus far it seemed safe enough. She still hadn’t tried it out near a Vorta, though.

‘Starfleet will come without us appealing to them. We’re too near Vulcan for them to let this go on for long. If we just keep our heads down…’

‘Keep our heads down?’ Lwaxana thought furiously, trying carefully to keep her face schooled in casual indifference. ‘They’re already taking people away in the night. We can’t wait any longer for Starfleet – if we can just get a message to them, give them some information… and I know that you used to trade a lot of goods you shouldn’t have been doing. You should be an expert at this.’

‘I can’t risk my family to build a communicator!’ the man thought desperately.

‘You don’t. You won’t. We already have the communicator, we just need someone to scramble out a signal. I won’t take no for an answer – we all have family we need to protect.’

The queue moved forward very slightly. ‘Fine. But don’t bring it to my house.’

‘Then it’s agreed. We’ll keep your family safe.’

Lwaxana hoped that was true.

--

a phaser (slightly used)

Being the leader of a resistance movement was absolutely no fun at all, particularly when it came to combining it with childcare.

“Please, Jazon, just hold him for a while.”

“And how am I meant to fix this shoddy excuse for a phaser and care for your child, Lwaxana?” The engineer was radiating exhaustion and hunger but then, so were most Betazoids these days.

“I have been on my feet all day, trying to find out from that vile Vorta woman where they’re taking the people that go missing in the night. I am spending all night trying to fix up on the only weapons cache on this planet, and tomorrow I will do it all again, will you please just give me a moment’s peace and hold my beautiful but heavy baby?”

Lwaxana shouted the last part, and Barin started to cry again. Jovan didn’t even look the slightest bit ashamed.

--

a threat realised

“We know you’re there, Ambassador Troi!” called Eris in an unnaturally loud voice as the warship passed over Lwaxana’s house for the second time. “We could have taken you captive, or killed you and your child at any time. We want you see this!”

The weaponry thudded into Lwaxana’s house again as she watched from a distance, horrified. Jem’Hadar soldiers surrounded her house impassively as Eris continued her diatribe.

“You could have been a friend to the Dominion! This is what happens if you stand up the Dominion, and sneak off in the night to form resistance cells, after begging me all day for more food rations for your people. You could have saved yourself all this!”

‘Lwaxana, we have to go,’ Jazon urged, fear rolling off him.

Lwaxana thought about the Sacred Chalice of Riss, and the Holy Rings as her house burned. She cried as she was guided away by Jazon, but was consoled by the image of taking one of the phasers they were painstakingly storing and shooting Eris in the chest.

--

a relief mission, of sorts

‘There’s someone coming,” Jazon thought urgently. Inside the cave that had become the resistance centre, Lwaxana grabbed a phaser.

‘Jem’Hadar?’

‘Betazoid,’ Jovan confirmed, ‘but I don’t know her.’

Lwaxana’s hand curled tighter around her phaser. Not every Betazoid had spurned the offer of the Dominion’s friendship, as the resistance cell was beginning to discover. This new camp was temporary, though, and only known to a select few. Lwaxana reached out desperately, hoping this new person was one of the people she’d quietly approached in the days before the Dominion had destroyed her house, hoping that she’d recognise the mind and not give herself away.

“Stand down!” she cried out loud suddenly. “Stand down! It’s my daughter! Thank the Four Deities, it’s Deanna!” She made to run out of the cave, but forced herself to stand still for a moment, and waited for Deanna to be escorted into the cave by Jovan.

“Ah, Deanna,” she said airily. “So good to see you. How have you been?”

“It’s good to see you too, Mother,” Deanna said with a smile, before running to Lwaxana and holding her tight. ‘I thought you were dead,’ Deanna thought fiercely. ‘The house was gone, and there was no sign of you…’

‘Darling, it takes more than a little invasion of the planet to stop me.’ She pulled away gently from Deanna. ‘Have you met Jovan? He’s been quite marvellous in helping replenish weapon stocks, but we could do with a little help from Starfleet, I will admit. Is Jean-Luc here?’

‘I’m part of an advanced scout party, Captain Picard is waiting to hear from us… I’m glad to see you too, Mother.’

‘I’m glad to see you too. However, I have a quite large resistance cell to lead here, and I could really do with knowing some intelligence from outside. We assumed, of course, that the Tenth Fleet was destroyed? Here, you should probably see some of the layout of the caves we’ve discovered…’

“Let me look at you, Mother,” Deanna said, out loud. Reluctantly, Lwaxana took a small step back. “How bad has it been? Starfleet’s intelligence was sketchy.”

“I told you, I can cope with anything.”

“Really?”

Lwaxana took a deep breath. “They’re starving us, Deanna. They queue every day for food, and we don’t always get it. They take people in the night, and no one know where. There are Betazoids working for them. It’s been very, very bad Deanna, and I wish I had never lived to see this, and I am going to make them pay for what they’ve done to my people.”

“Just as I thought, then,” Deanna said grimly. “Shall we go and look at your weapons cache, Mother?”

--

an epilogue

“If you hadn’t laid the groundworks, this wouldn’t have happened,” Deanna said. “You saved Betazed, not the Federation. You should be proud, Mother.”

Lwaxana looked around at the scorched earth that had been her family’s house, Barin playing in the ruins. “So that’s the Dominion defeated, then.”

“They’re still fighting the Breen in some sectors, but yes, I think it is.”

“Fine.” Lwaxana stood up. “That’s the last time they’ll occupy my planet, then.”

Date: 2010-06-19 12:45 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] sophia-gratia.livejournal.com
I. Love. This. Unconquerable is right – and the more Lwaxana in this world, I say, the better.

For some reason, Deanna's "Shall we go and look at your weapons cache, Mother?" is my favorite line – there's something grimly humorous there that captures the Troi women perfectly.

Well played!

Date: 2010-06-19 12:47 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hathy-col.livejournal.com
Oh, thank you! I was so worried about getting their interaction right, it's one of my favourite things about the Troi women. I'm glad you enjoyed it. :-)

Date: 2010-06-19 02:08 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rubynye.livejournal.com
This made me throw my hands over my head and cheer! It's wonderfully Lwaxana, and I always love stories about the bits of canon we don't see.

(PS What *were* they doing with the people who vanished?)
(PPS Did she get to shoot Eris?)

Date: 2010-06-19 03:14 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hathy-col.livejournal.com
1. When I looked up 'betazed invasion' on Memory Alpha I ended up finding the synopsis to a book called 'The Battle of Betazed' which mentioned Betazoids being taken away for psionic testing during the night. I've never read it, and I don't know anyone who has, but it intrigued me as an idea so I thought I'd throw it in a little. Plus, you know, generic Bad Dominion Activity.

2. Right in the chest while Deanna watched. I don't think Lwaxana wants to remember it, though.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Date: 2010-06-19 04:29 pm (UTC)
cantarina: donna noble in a paper crown, looking thoughtful (dw - martha jones)
From: [personal profile] cantarina
I really enjoyed this. I love how strong but still imperfect Lwaxana gets to be here and her stubborn grace dealing with Eris, who was pitch-perfect for a Vorta. The scenes between she and Deanna were really touching in an understated way; all of the depth of their relationship without trying to throw it in our faces.

Date: 2010-06-21 12:03 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hathy-col.livejournal.com
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it. :-)

Date: 2010-06-19 11:36 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] anya-valerin.livejournal.com
Very well done. You did a great job capturing Lwaxana Troi.

When I wrote my Dominion War story (with my own unique characters - not canon characters) I used both the 'Battle of Betazed' and the RPG guide 'The Dominion War Sourcebook' to get a bit of information about what happened on the planet during the time.


Date: 2010-06-21 12:05 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hathy-col.livejournal.com
I have to admit that I mostly cribbed quite a lot from Memory Alpha - when I took the prompt, I didn't even know that there was a book of The Battle of Betazed. I only recently watched all of Deep Space Nine (it has been a good year) and when they mentioned almost in passing that Betazed had been taken by the Dominion I ended up shouting 'WHAT ABOUT LWAXANA?!' at the screen, and then this prompt came up, and all was well.

I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Date: 2010-06-20 02:46 am (UTC)
ext_112014: (Default)
From: [identity profile] skitty-kitty.livejournal.com
The world needs many more Lwaxana fics. ;D I think you captured her character beautifully, thanks so much for sharing!

Date: 2010-06-21 12:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hathy-col.livejournal.com
There should be more Lwaxana in the world, she's just marvellous. Glad you enjoyed!

Date: 2010-06-20 02:29 pm (UTC)
lullabymoon: Number One looking off screen (Default)
From: [personal profile] lullabymoon
Excellent! You really managed to capture Lwaxana and it's awesome.

Date: 2010-06-21 12:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hathy-col.livejournal.com
Thank you!

Date: 2010-06-21 01:02 am (UTC)
ext_2353: amanda tapping, chris judge, end of an era (ds9 damar)
From: [identity profile] scrollgirl.livejournal.com
Here via selenak. This was wonderful! Go Lwaxana!

Date: 2010-06-21 12:06 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hathy-col.livejournal.com
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it!

Date: 2010-06-21 09:01 am (UTC)
ext_20950: CJ Cregg - Learning is delightful and delicious, as by the way am I (learning is delightful and delicious)
From: [identity profile] jacinthsong.livejournal.com
Here via where_no_woman - omg, this is the fic I have been wanting to read for about a year. I LOVE HER. Thank you!

Date: 2010-06-21 12:07 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hathy-col.livejournal.com
There should be more Lwaxana in the fanfiction world. TRUFAX. Glad you enjoyed it!

Date: 2010-06-21 06:54 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] loneraven.livejournal.com
Oh, this is great. This is really great. Lwaxana is unsinkable. And I love how you give us the outline of the story - it might be novel-length in other hands, but you give us the bits that matter.

Date: 2010-06-23 05:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hathy-col.livejournal.com
Thank you! I love Lwaxana (who doesn't?), so it was far too much fun to write, in places.

Date: 2010-06-21 09:00 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lilyoftheval5.livejournal.com
Wonderful.
You did Lwaxana justice....

Date: 2010-06-23 05:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hathy-col.livejournal.com
Thank you!

Date: 2010-07-02 10:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] skywaterblue.livejournal.com
Awesome! I love the idea that Eris is a Vorta bred to deal with psychic races, and that they're aware she's special to Odo and that marks her out. Well thought out! :D

Date: 2010-07-03 08:28 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] hathy-col.livejournal.com
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it. :-)

Date: 2014-05-16 10:53 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] soupytwist.livejournal.com
[personal profile] loneraven linked me to this, and I am so so so glad she did. This is brilliant. LWXANA. This is just gorgeous glimpses of what her life might have been like during canon events, and it fills a space in my soul. Thankyou.

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