Otter's Rock

 For Fandom 5k 2026 (which is, alas, the last round of fandom5k) I wrote a Star Trek Original Series genfic starring Uhura, Chekov, and Sulu. It required copious amounts of technobabble, for which I am indebted to sixbeforelunch and the Ad Astra discord.

Title: The Storms of Gamma Huvrai
Author: beatrice_otter 
Fandom: Star Trek: The Original Series
Characters: Sulu, Uhura, Chekov
Written For: RisalSoran  in Fandom 5k 2026

Summary: "Matvei Mironovich understood the perversity of the universe," Pavel said. "And so do I. Which is why I know that our entire command staff will choose to explore planets by shuttle in this system where we cannot use transporters safely and hand-held communicators will be useless across anything more than short distances. And there will be a surge in ion waves at the critical moment and the shuttle will be damaged, and so will the ship, or some other emergency will arise, and we will not be able to rescue them or call for help."

"Come on, our luck isn't that bad," Hikaru said.

"Luck, Mr. Sulu, is not a phenomenon that exists," Mr. Spock said.

At AO3. On Ad Astra. At Squidgeworld. On tumblr. On Dreamwidth. On Pillowfort.


The briefing was scheduled for 0900, which gave Nyota time to check in with both the gamma shift communications officer as he went off-duty, and the alpha shift officer who would be covering for her during the briefing. It was nothing she hadn't anticipated; the system they were approaching was a red dwarf system near to a quasar, and the resulting interaction with local solar winds led to several standing ion storms in key places around the system that would interfere with just about every system on the ship, in one way or another. Most relevant to her job, it would make communications difficult both within the system and outside it.

There were things a skilled officer could do to compensate, of course, and they had the best equipment the Federation could produce to punch through the interference, but it was still an extra headache.

"Good morning!" Hikaru said cheerily as she entered the briefing room. "How are the communications systems faring?"

"We should be able to get critical messages through to Starfleet, but don't expect any personal mail until we're out of the system," Nyota said. "If the Federation ever wants to talk to anyone in this area of space, they're going to need to invest in heavy-duty relays a lot closer together than normal." One of her jobs, while they were in the system, would be to collate data and figure out what equipment would be needed for a long-term communications presence to and through this part of the sector. As of right now it was all theoretical; they didn't have any contacts out this far, nor any plans for colonies in the area, nor any pressing strategic needs … but any of those factors could change easily, depending on what they found in their survey.

( Read more... )

For caseficexchange  I received an AMAZING podfic:

[Podfic] 'Goodfellow' by Beatrice_Otter (109 words) by Anonymous
Fandom: Rivers of London - Ben Aaronovitch
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Peter Grant & Thomas Nightingale
Characters: Peter Grant (Rivers of London), Thomas Nightingale, Danni Wickford
Additional Tags: Case Fic, Organized Crime, Podfic, Podfic Length: 1-1.5 Hours, Audio Format: Streaming, Audio Format: FLAC
Summary:

Podfic of 'Goodfellow' by Beatrice_Otter

There had been thefts at three successive Goblin Markets, and one incident of serious vandalism, before Robin Goodfellow had deigned to call in the munificent arm of the law—in this case, the Special Assessment Unit, colloquially known as the Folly, and disparagingly called the Isaacs by the demi-monde. Which just goes to show that after over a century of alternating condescension, neglect, and active persecution, it takes more than a few years of community-focused policing to change community perception. Even when that policing is being done by a handsome and charismatic DC such as myself.

But there are also a lot of other great fics which you should totally check out! My favorites are:

( Murderbot, Babylon 5, Elementary/DCU, TOS, Andor )

 

I use the same name everywhere so I am beatrice_otter on AO3. Treats are awesome.

I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am not inspired that way." This letter is long with lots of suggestions and preferences if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for a long time and am usually very happy with my gifts.

The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.

I have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.

( General Likes and Dislikes )

( Fandom For Robots )

( Rivers of London )

( Peter Wimsey )

( TNG )

( DS9 )

( Star Wars Legends )

( Crossovers )

( Voyager )

( Enterprise )

The Naboo royalty is one of the most fascinating bits of the worldbuilding the Prequel Trilogy gives us, because it's so weird. And people don't really ... grapple with that very much, even in fic, but tend to take it for granted. We have an elected monarch (and why give an elected official a hereditary title?!?) who wears elaborate ceremonial robes and elaborate ceremonial makeup that literally nobody else in their society wears. This person has a reign name that is not the name they grew up with, and which they will keep as their primary professional name even after they are no longer monarch. And even their personal name seems to have changed. (There are two choices--either all the handmaiden's names were changed to match Padmé, or all of them including Padmé changed their names.)

This elected monarch is surrounded by body doubles/bodyguards who are not only good at fighting and can pass for the monarch in a pinch but who can also be the one making decisions and treated as the monarch in important diplomatic situations. Yes, sure, the reveal of the Real Padmé when dealing with the Gungans is cool, but why the fuck is the decoy the one leading the negotiations. Like. If Sabé-wearing-Padmé's-clothes-and-makeup had negotiated a treaty and signed it, would that treaty still be legally binding even though Sabé isn't Padmé? It sure seems so! Why didn't they swap Padmé back into the lead for the negotiations, and then back out for safety when the negotiations conclude?

( Read more... )

I use the same name everywhere so I am beatrice_otter on AO3. Treats are awesome.

I would rather get a story you were happy with than "well, she said she liked x, so I guess I have to do x even though I don't like x and/or am not inspired that way." This letter is long with lots of suggestions and preferences if you find it helpful, but feel free to ignore it if it is not helpful. I'm fairly easy to please; I've been doing ficathons for a long time and am usually very happy with my gifts.

The most important thing for me in a fic is that the characters are well-written and recognizably themselves. Even when I don't like a character, I don't go in for character-bashing. If nothing else, if the rest of this letter is too much or my kinks don't fit yours, just concentrate on writing a story with everyone in character and good spelling and grammar and I will almost certainly love what you come up with.

I have an embarrassment squick, which makes humor kind of hit-or-miss sometimes. The kind of humor where someone does something embarrassing and the audience is laughing at them makes me uncomfortable. On the other hand, the kind of humor where the audience is laughing with the characters I really enjoy.

( General Likes and Dislikes )

( Early 20th Century )
( Regency (and fantasy) )

( Modern Day )

( Modern Day--Apocalypse/Dystopia )

( Robots! )

( Wormholes and War )

( Dealer's Choice )

( Grab Bag )

Does anyone work on the Open Doors project at AO3? Or know someone who does? I am trying to do something similar on Ad Astra, and need some advice from someone who knows the OTW archive software better.

Specifically, there are a couple of people who had accounts and fic on the old Ad Astra archive who are now dead, and we would like to make sure that their works are preserved by transferring them to the new archive. We would like them all to have the same format that unclaimed works imported by Open Doors have on AO3--"by name [archived by archivist]". We have successfully achieved that with shorter works, but I'm trying to import a fic with 363 chapters and half a million words. It cannot be imported; the archive times out. I thought that if I imported the first chapter and then uploaded the rest of the chapters manually, it would work, but trying to import only the first chapter timed out the archive as well. Then I thought about importing another work that would import, changing the title and chapter text to the one I wanted, and then manually adding further chapters. But it's listing it as just "Archivists" in the author space, without the name of the original author.

Help!

ETA: figured it out myself!

Never mind, I figured it out myself!

The issue is that when you are uploading a fic for someone else, you are required to put their email in the box so they are contactable. This person is dead and I have no idea what their email address was when they were alive, so I put in the archivists' email. So the system decided that it was just by Archivists despite having the name of someone else and having the box checked that it was someone else's fic that archivists was posting.

I made up an email to put in instead, and it posted as "by name [archived by archivist]" just as it should.

highadrenalineexchange has revealed authors, and I can reveal what I wrote! I had a lot of fun with a Vedero-focused Goblin Emperor fic.

Title: The Obloquy of Newness
Author: Beatrice_otter
Fandom: Goblin Emperor
Characters: Vedero Drazhin
Written for: DontStopHerNow in High Adrenaline 2026
Summary: Vedero would like nothing more than to study the stars. If only court politics and gossip did not get in her way ...

Author's Note: Betaed by Irina. Title from The Old Astronomer by Sarah Williams.

On AO3. On Squidgeworld. On Dreamwidth. On tumblr. On Pillowfort.



Vedero could barely see her hands as they worked.

That was alright; they knew their business. They did not need to see more than the ghostly outlines of the white tubs in the sink to fish around in the sodium sulfite solution with rubber-coated tongs and grab the edge of the paper and hold it up so that some of the fluid would drip off, before settling it gently in the tub of acetic acid that would stop the silver halide crystals from continuing to develop. She counted the seconds, and then moved the paper to the sodium thiosulfate that would wash away the excess silver from the paper, so that when she took the images out into the light, they would not be re-exposed.

( On the whole, it was a very meditative process. )

I have had recs from several recent exchanges, but haven't actually posted them. So! Here we go.

Five Figure Fanwork Exchange is the most recent! I received two fics, both of them lovely:

a star or two beside (5070 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: The Goblin Emperor Series - Katherine Addison
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Characters: Maia Drazhar, Chenelo Drazharan, Shaleän Sevraseched, Shaleän Sevraseched's Wife, Ursu Perenched, Original Characters
Additional Tags: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Chenelo Lives, Alternate Universe - Maia Has a Good Childhood, POV Multiple, sailing ships, References to Illness
Summary:

It is something out of a wonder-tale when a stranger arrives at Isvaroë and whisks Maia and his mother away.

Before, After, Always, Already (9151 words) by Anonymous
Chapters: 1/1
Fandom: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Relationships: Kira Nerys/Keiko O'Brien/Miles O'Brien
Additional Tags: Post-Canon, Post-Canon Bajor (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Summary:

Keiko was over Miles's shoulder in the video message. "Hi, Nerys!" she said. She looked the same, too, although her hair was up, and she was in uniform. "We're moving to Bajor!"

Other faves from FFFX include:
( Five Figure Fanwork Recs )

 

( AU5k Rec )

( Fic In A Box Recs )

Someone pointed out that the Crocker-McMillin Mansion in New Jersey might be a good model for Wayne Manor. There aren't many good pictures of it that don't come from real estate listings, but I really like what we see and the mix of "classic Edwardian Mansion Stately Home" and also "modernized for current living". So here it is.


Details: built between 1903 and 1907. Three stories, 75 rooms, 50k square feet, on 12.5 acres. Of those 75 rooms, 21 are bedrooms, and 29 are bathrooms. When it was built, there were a lot of other buildings on the estate: greenhouses, barns, stables, a dairy, gatehouse, garage, workshops, and bathhouses on the river. There were nine single houses and four duplexes for employees, and a two-story house for the head gardener. I think most of those other buildings have either been torn down or sold off--the estate was originally around 1k acres, and now you can tell there are a lot of other buildings around.

( Pics of the interior )