Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!newsswing.news.prodigy.com!newscon06.news.prodigy.com!prodigy.net!newsread.com!news-xfer.newsread.com!postnews.google.com!f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com!not-for-mail From: pseudonymsockpuppet@hotmail.com Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Subject: NEW: DS9 (Kai's Fables) The Mirror of Hubris, 1/1 Date: 7 Jan 2005 13:12:47 -0800 Organization: http://groups.google.com Lines: 80 Message-ID: <1105132367.520394.244660@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.41.233.124 Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" X-Trace: posting.google.com 1105132372 9489 127.0.0.1 (7 Jan 2005 21:12:52 GMT) X-Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 7 Jan 2005 21:12:52 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: G2/0.2 Complaints-To: groups-abuse@google.com Injection-Info: f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com; posting-host=209.41.233.124; posting-account=bFa0DQ0AAAB9Z5Uzf_YF23NsFaW9vpt- Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:161835 X-Received-Date: Fri, 07 Jan 2005 13:12:52 PST (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Title: Kai's Fables: The Mirror of Hubris Author: Pseudonymonious Puppet de Sock Contact: pseudonymsockpuppet@hotmail.com Series: DS9 Rating: G Archive: sure, whatever, where ever. Summary: When a Cardassian looks in a mirror, what does he see? Note: With apologies to Aesop, these are various Aesop's Fables re-written for the Star Trek Universe. As before, yes, I'm a sock puppet. If I wanted the world to know who I really am, I would have posted it at my website and as myself. Since I'm not, I don't. The elderly Kai waited patiently for the last of the children to settle down. This was Kira's favorite time of day, sitting in the garden after school let out to tell all of the old stories and fables to the youngsters who came to visit. She set her glass of tea on a nearby table and looked around at the group of fresh, young faces. "Have I told you the story of the Mirror of Hubris?" she asked. When they shook their heads no, she sat back and began: "There was once a Cardassian whose job and his pleasure was to write about the occupation of Bajor. His reports were disseminated throughout Cardassian-controlled space, full of tales glorifying the Cardassian ways. He took great joy in his work and put careful thought into the vitriol that filled his writing. Meticulously examining every aspect of Bajoran life, he gleefully expounded at length on each flaw and perceived shortcoming in Bajoran culture, our people and our beliefs. Any point, however isolated, where any Bajoran fell short of our ideals was even more fodder for his reports. He never wrote of positive things about Bajoran life and he would find any negative--however miniscule--in an effort to diminish those positives that couldn't be ignored. Obviously, among Cardassians he was a much loved and revered writer. He assumed that among Bajorans he was equally hated and reviled. He became paranoid, convinced that every communication between terrorist cells and even every public transmission was a signal in a plot to assassinate him. Seeing devious attacks and conspiracies against him everywhere, he increased his own attacks on the Bajoran people, writing about them as if they were little better than animals. He hired a bodyguard to protect himself from Bajoran terrorists who would stop at nothing to kill him. Every minute that he wasn't writing was consumed with monitoring every transmision or any sub-space fluctuation that could be a coded signal, carefully dissecting everything to look for references--however obscure--to him. When the occupation ended, he was sure that the Bajorans would never feel safe until he, most of all, was eliminated. When the list of Cardassian war criminals was released, he didn't even bother to look at it because he was sure that his name was at the top of the list. Constant paranoia became his normal way of life; convinced that Bajorans were demanding his head, he continued to write of his disgust with Bajorans--but under an assumed identity. He was sure that by varying the name that his works were distributed under, he would be more difficult to track. While traveling one day, the ship he was one experienced trouble and was forced to dock at a Federation space station for repairs. Entering the station, he looked around nervously, noting the location of every Bajoran in the vicinity. When the security officer verified his identity, he was certain that the officer said it purposefully loud in order to alert the Bajorans present. He was confused when the officer handed his identification back and wished him a pleasant stay. Ten agonizing steps was all he could manage before the uncertainty got to him. He whirled about, yelling his name and asking all the people there if they heard it. When station security tried to calm him down, he grabbed a Bajoran man by the arm and demanded to know what the Bajorans were going to do to him. The Bajoran man looked confused for a moment and then he asked: 'Should your name mean anything to me?'" Kai Kira paused to take a sip of her tea. "The smaller the mind, the greater is the reflection that they see in the mirror," she said, emphasizing to her young audience the moral of the tale she had told them. Saying goodbye, she watched them run off, full of youthful enthusiasm and energy. NewMessage: