Titus: One Order - We Hold

"Those were the orders..."

At last, three of my favourite obsessions — 19th-century Great Mouse Detective and Sherlock Holmes with 24th-century Star Trek — merged and mingled as one little, parodistic crossover, brought to you by me and, pushing my hesitancy aside, I am pleased to introduce the adventures of Star Trek: Titus:

The Bajoran Major Dara Saijahl (portrayed by Captain Sebastian Doran), of the Starfleet Marine Corps, commands the platoon on the experimental Multi-Vector-class USS Titus (NX-274910). The planet Bajor was, long ago, a beacon of civilisation in the Alpha Quadrant of peaceful, spiritual people, believing themselves to be guided by the Prophets of the Celestial Temple, but their way of life was forever changed when the Cardassians arrived, who coveted and annexed Bajor, establishing an oppressive, fifty-year regime and enslaving the Bajoran people on their own homeworld. Born in the once-beautiful Sahving Valley, in a strip-mining labour camp commanded by the notorious Gul Evekor, Dara Saijahl was shown the true nature of the Cardassian Occupation at a young age. He watched the innocent were humiliated and tortured as their overseers led them to their executions. His own mother was raped and murdered before him; his grandparents were buried alive for being too old to work in the mines; he was regularly beaten, often beyond recognition. When one of the mineshafts collapsed, Dara was buried alive under the rubble for fifteen hours, alongside his dead father, and the traumatic experience ultimately left him with a severe case of claustrophobia (fear of confined spaces). Orphaned at the age of seven, he had little chance of surviving the terrors of the Sahving Valley labour camp, but was adopted by an ex-priest, Pol Jobaar, who would become Dara Saijahl's mentor. Under his tutelage, Dara became Pol's novice and was blessed as a prylar (a low-ranking monk), but Pol was unfortunately imprisoned and executed, without trail. Dara Saijahl escaped capture and joined the infamous underground Tahnan Resistance Cell as a freedom fighter, co-ordinating indiscriminate bombings, assassinations, and other guerrilla terror tactics against Cardassian oppressors. He led an attack that successfully freed Sahving Valley Mining Camp, succeeding his vendetta and, arguably, "rightful punishment" against Gul Evekor and his crimes. In 2369, the Cardassian Union withdrew, under political pressure from the United Federation of Planets and other entities, and Bajor was finally free, but left in shambles. Dara had no family and no home, but unlike most resistance fighters, he did not join the Bajoran Militia or the Provisional Government. Dara enlisted with the Starfleet Marine Corps and, due to his familiarity with the Cardassians and their tactics, he rose in ranks quickly in the closing year of Federation-Cardassian Wars until a treaty was formally signed in 2370, which ended all hostilities. He, also, has conducted several command assignments with a special security unit known as the Hazard Team. His achievements caught the attention of high-ranking officials and he was recruited to Starfleet Special Operations Division. In 2373, now a major, he was ordered to command the 10th Special Forces Operational Detachment, nicknamed the "Equestris" (after "Legio X Equestris," the famous 10th Roman Legion, commanded by Julius Caesar), aboard the USS Titus (NX-221-B) during the Dominion War.

In 2375, the Dominion has discovered at a small Starfleet monitoring post on a rocky, M-class planetoid, SV-140, and launches an attack. The USS Titus is ordered into a suicide mission to evacuate the injured from the surface as their battle forces fight the Jem'Hadar on the surface as well as in space, but the hostility proves too much. Titus terminate the evacuation of SV-140 prematurely, leaving some twenty on the surface to die; Major Dara stays behind. (The weapon pictured is a TR-120 Carbine Assault Pulse Phaser and Projectile Rifle — an original design by ME based on the Type-III-B Phaser Rifle and TR-116 Projectile Rifle (which my favourite Trek weapon, thus far). In case you are curious, I shaved off the moustache because Bajorans do not usually wear them and it did not work well with the uniform.)

Models - Jeremy Irons, Christopher Walken | Alien Models - Bajoran | Costume - Starfleet Duty

Medium - Photoshop, 2H mechanical pencil.

Major Dara Saijahl/Capt. Sebastian Doran © Diane N. Tran.
Type-IVc Assault Pulse Phaser Carbine Rifle © Diane N. Tran.
Based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry.