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Fan Fic / Written in the Stars

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Written in the Stars is a Star Trek (2009) fanfic by Mia Vaan. The premise of this fanfic is that in the original timeline, Jane Kirk (Fem!Kirk) and Spock were a married couple, even going on to having a daughter and a granddaughter. When she learns this, Jane Kirk in the new Universe tries her best to avoid her destiny, but the universe seems to have other plans...

In 2018, the story was edited and updated by the author. A number of minor changes were made, but the story as a whole remains the same. Alternative link for the story found here.


Written in the Stars provides examples of:

  • Action Girl: Jane Kirk kicks just as much ass as her male counterpart, both in the Prime Universe and the '09 Universe.
    • Pregnant Badass: Jane Kirk from the Prime Universe even had some of her adventures, including her version of Is There In Truth No Beauty? and The Mark of Gideon while pregnant with Amanda. And then gave birth in the middle of a battle against the Klingons. Damn.
  • Agent Mulder: Both Janes.
    Jane: "We went to this planet called 'Gateway' - only that was its name in the other reality and it hasn't been named here yet - where we met this stone called the Guardian of Forever, and it turned out he had saved the body of my counterpart from the other reality. The elder Spock had found her, and he wanted to know if I had her spirit slash soul in my head, which I did, and I've had it in my head for over two years now." (pause) "It says something about my life when that's not the weirdest explanation I've ever given."
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  • Apologizes a Lot: Jane apologizes a lot in this fic. Both Janes, actually.
  • Because Destiny Says So: The Prime Kirk tries to get her younger counterpart to hook up with Spock because she was with him in the original timeline, therefore in her eyes making it destiny. The younger Kirk isn't impressed. At first.
  • Berserk Button: Jane Kirk gets pretty pissed in the first half of the story whenever her counterpart makes not-so-subtle suggestions that she's gaining feelings for Spock.
  • Beta Couple: There are a few minor side couples, though they only get a few moments throughout the fic. The couples include: Chekov/Martha Landon, Scotty/Charlene Masters, Bones/Carol Marcus and Uhura/Kevin Riley. There's also a brief mention of Sulu's canon husband, Ben.
  • Character Development: Jane goes from wanting to control her own destiny to realizing that this doesn't mean she has to refuse Spock's love.
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  • Cluster F-Bomb: What happens when Jane goes all out on the Romulans in chapter seven. It's then promptly lampshaded at the beginning of chapter eight:
    Jane: "I didn't expect they'd imprison us here for life, Bones."
    McCoy: "Well, you should have thought about that before calling them fascist bastards and assholes – and dropping the 'F' bomb a couple hundred times."
    Lemli: "And I don't think flipping the bird at them helped either, Captain."
    Jane: "I doubt they even knew what that meant!"
  • Dead Alternate Counterpart: The Prime Jane is dead, and her katra is stuck inside 09 Jane's head. The last chapter reveals that the Guardian of Forever saved the Prime Jane's body, and they're able to bring her back to life.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Both Janes. They sometimes have snark battles.
  • Dead Guy Junior: Downplayed, but Amanda Georgiana Kirk very probably gets her middle name from her grandfather. And then there's Ama Prime's daughter, who was born long after Kirk Prime's death and has 'Jane' as her middle name.
  • Death of the Hypotenuse: Somewhere between this and The Plot Reaper. Whenever Jane shows a romantic interest in someone who isn't Spock, said potential love interest always dies during whatever disaster is currently befalling the crew. Jane takes this to mean the universe is railroading her into living out her Prime counterpart's life. She might not be wrong, either...
  • Dying Declaration of Love: After spending most of the story trying not to fall in love with Spock, Jane realizes she has, but doesn't have the chance to tell him until she's dying in the reactor. What makes this confession different to most is that she connects with his mind and tells him by showing her the memories her counterpart showed her, of their Prime selves and the life they shared together in the original reality.
  • Everyone Can See It: Jane and Spock discover that the crew were holding a betting pool over how long it would take them to get together. Uhura won.
  • Evil Me Scares Me: Jane's reaction to seeing her counterpart from the Mirror Universe.
  • Fate Drives Us Together: This fic could be an example of this trope done right.
  • Field Trip to the Past: "Oh no, not another field trip to the past!"
  • Flash Sideways: Happens a lot in the fic.
  • Geeky Turn-On: In both realities, Spock first starts to fall in love with Jane when she beats him at a game of chess.
    • Jane gets turned on by the thought of Spock quoting Shakespeare to her.
  • Gender Flip: Only Kirk, but it still counts.
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Spock, of course. And there's Spock and Jane's daughter, Amanda, who's technically a Three-Quarter-Human Hybrid (and Vulcan enough to inherit her father's pointy ears).
  • He Is Not My Boyfriend: Pretty much Jane's motto throughout most of the fic.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Like in the film, Jane sacrifices herself to save the crew. She gets better.
    • In the chapter "King's Conscience", a guilty Kodos gives his own life to save two of the survivors of the Tarsus IV massacre from his insane daughter.
  • Human Mom, Non-Human Dad: Amanda is born from the Half-Human Hybrid Spock and the full Human Jane.
    • Inverted with Roberta Jane Kirk-Scott, mentioned as being the offspring of Uneven Hybrid Amanda and (presumably) fully human Hamish Scott.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Spock, suffering from the effects of Pon Farr, becomes crazed and violent. Jane takes it upon herself to try and pull this trope on him by...relieving him of his pain.
  • Interspecies Romance: Jane and Spock, a Human and a Human/Vulcan hybrid. And of course there's Spock's parents.
    • And Jane and Spock's daughter, technically part Vulcan, married Scotty's son, who's Human.
  • Love Transcends Space Time: Spock and Fem!Kirk end up together in four different realities, no matter what happens.
  • Mama Bear: Several.
    • In an Off Screen Moment Of Awesome, Winona apparently, according to McCoy, "turned into a Mama Bear and scared the crap outta [Khan]" in order to persuade him into giving blood to heal Jane.
    • In the same scene, Jane's Prime counterpart muses that it runs in the family:
    Jane: I'm guessing someone threatened Ama?
    Jane Prime: A group of Orion pirates when she was five. Their life expectancies were shortened to ten seconds.
    • Spock's mother apparently went Mama Bear on the Vulcan High Council when trying to stop the other Vulcan children from bullying him:
    Spock: [Sarek] described it as the only time when the High Council showed any form of emotion.
    Jane: Flat out terror? Well, that proves it. If you anger a mother, you must have a death wish.
  • Married in the Alternate Reality: Jane discovering this is what kicks the plot off.
  • Mate or Die: The fic puts a spin on Pon Farr. Here, not even combat can relieve male Vulcans of the pain, and if a male loses the right to mate with his betrothed, another woman would have to be found before the male died. In the original timeline, Jane offered herself up as a mate for Spock in order to save him, which was how they were married (and how their daughter was conceived).
  • Mindlink Mates: Obviously, given the pairing, although it's downplayed and only really brought up once or twice, and only in regards to the Prime versions.
  • Morality Pet: Towards the end of the fic, Spock begins to suffer the effects of Pon Farr which causes him to become feral, reverting back to what Vulcans were like before the teachings of Surak. He's in such a state that he doesn't recognize any of the crew and attacks anyone who comes near him...apart from Jane. She's the only one he still seems to recognize and even defends her from a group of other Vulcans in a crazed state.
    • In both Mirror universes (the original and the alt reality version) the evil versions of Spock and Jane are each other's Morality Pet. And to a lesser extent, their crew is this to them, too.
  • My Alternate Self and Me
  • Oh, Crap!: This is the reaction of Jane Prime when John Harrison reveals himself as Khan.
    Harrison: My Khan.
    Jane: (sensing her counterpart's dread) Who is he?
    Jane Prime: ...Oh...shit...
  • Other Me Annoys Me: This fic may as well be the embodiment of the trope.
  • Papa Wolf: Spock, at least the Prime version. Jane Prime explains that when she was pregnant, she was taken hostage by the people of Gideon (TOS episode "The Mark of Gideon"). Lesson to be learnt: Don't kidnap a Vulcan's pregnant mate. It will not end well.
  • The Power of Love: The love between Jane and Spock is shown to be so powerful that no matter the reality, the pair will always be drawn to each other.
    • A straight example occurs in chapter two, in which Jane Prime tells the Alt Reality Jane about the incident with the Medusan, Kollos. In this story, the only way to cure the insanity (brought about by looking upon Kollos) is if the victim's true love locks eyes with said victim. Jane did this when Spock goes insane, curing him within seconds.
    • Another straight example, similar to the first, happens when Spock goes crazy due to Pon Farr. He doesn't recognize anyone and attacks anyone on sight...except for Jane, who he even protects from anything he considers a threat to her. It is revealed that this happened because he recognized her as his bondmate.
  • Pun-Based Title: Each chapter title is a play on words of episode titles from the Original Series.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Jane really lets the Romulans have it.
    Romulan: Everything Nero did, he did for the glory of the Romulan Empire.
    Jane: No. He didn't. He did what he did because he lost his wife and unborn child – and he blamed the wrong people for that loss. In case you didn't know, Nero came from exactly 129 years into the future, which explains his ship and its technology. And if the Vulcans on this world don't enact their revenge, Romulus will be destroyed anyway. Because in exactly 129 years from now, a nearby star – that little bright flickering thing in the sky above your Empire – will go supernova. It'll destroy Romulus and its Empire with it, but in reality you would have destroyed yourselves.
    Romulan: Explain.
    Jane: You would have destroyed yourselves because the only one willing to help you was a half-Human, half-Vulcan Ambassador who was too late to inject the Red Matter into the supernova. It stopped it, sure, but then he was chased through the black hole he created by Nero. But do you want to know why he was the only one willing to help you? Because you lot were a bunch of fucking fascist bastards who will spend the next century trying to destroy the Federation – the only ones who can save you! Not just that, but saying things like you just said doesn't make a lot of friends; that you were fucking proud of Nero's actions for destroying Vulcan and ending billions of lives! It's no wonder we didn't want to help you when you fucking assholes needed it! No wait, hold felt you didn't need help because you believed there was nothing fucking wrong with that star. You thought it was a lie created by us in order to mask our supposed “dishonourable intentions”. Your inability to comprehend that we would want to help you, fucking blinded you all to the fact that the star was dying, and unless you get rid of that fucking single-mind of yours, you're going to end up like Vulcan sooner or later. Sooner if the Vulcans detonate the Red Matter, or later if the star dies and kills you all. So I suggest you all shut the fuck up, go and examine those so-called fucking heroes and the fucking star...and think very, very fucking hard about your actions for the next fucking century. I wish I could say this with hope and its true meaning; live long and prosper.
    • She then gives another one to a group of Admirals when she discovers that they were keeping a bunch of colonists under mind control all in the name of a science experiment.
    Jane: Starfleet used to stand for something, and I see now that you need to be reminded of it; we explore, but we also protect. What you were doing to those people was wrong, and you know it. So instead of performing sick and twisted experiments on people, how about trying to help them?
  • Screw Destiny: What Jane tries to do when told that she and Spock were married in the original universe. After falling in love with Spock, she decides to just go with it.
  • Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Just like her male counterpart, Jane does this several times.
    Jane: "Ensign Chekov and Nurse Chapel have commandeered a shuttle and are attempting a rescue mission alone. I'm not leaving them behind, too."
    Commissioner: "Commandeered? You mean stolen! I'll see that they're thrown out of Starfleet for this!"
    Jane: "Before you start quoting Starfleet regulations to my face, let me have a go. Article 7, section 23, lines 89 through 92: "In the event of the reassignment of command on a starship by a Starfleet Commissioner due to extraneous circumstances not involving dereliction of duty by the ship's Captain, said Captain reserves the right, should subsequent events dictate, to resume command if it becomes necessary to ensure the safety of the ship and its crew". I've lost my First Officer, my Chief Medical Officer, my Chief Engineer, and now my Chief Navigator and Head Nurse – not to mention two shuttles, both vital to the full functioning of this starship."
    Commissioner: (almost speechless) " never listen to the rules. How do you know that...?"
    Jane: "Oh, I know all the rules and regulations, Commissioner. I just choose to ignore them when I feel I need to. Because sometimes, doing the right thing means breaking a few rules. Now, I'm getting my crew back. You're welcome to stay on the bridge and complain, but I advise against it. And if you attempt to dish out orders, know that my crew won't listen to a word you say – because command is mine."
  • Shipper on Deck: The Prime Jane is hardcore when it comes to shipping her alternate self with the alternate Spock. This trope is justified in that Jane Prime and Spock Prime were married in their own reality, and Jane Prime just wants her counterpart to be happy.
  • Sliding Scale of Free Will vs. Fate: The story has this as a theme. Jane of the Alt Reality wants to make her own choices, while her Prime counterpart tries to convince her to hook up with Spock, since the Primes did in the original universe. When it's revealed that Jane and Spock hooked up in two other realities, it leaves the question of whether they're all just making the same choices or whether the two are just fated to be together.
  • Star-Crossed Lovers: The fic mostly averts this, but the Spock and Jane in the alternate reality of the mirror universe play this straight in that unions between Vulcans and Humans were forbidden after the Romulan attack on the Kelvin. The pair still fall in love and attempt to bring down the Terran Empire in order to be together.
  • Tempting Fate: Chapter 13 has possibly one of the best examples (and deconstructions) of this trope:
    Spock: "It will most likely be several thousand years before they achieve the technological breakthroughs necessary to result in First Contact. Our stay will be short and uneventful."
    Jane: "Spock, there's still a lot you need to learn from Earth language and probability. Otherwise you'd know not to say that last line. Ever."
    Spock: "Captain, the likelihood of a few simple words changing the outcome of a chain of events in such a way is very low."
    Chekov: "Keptin! I'm picking up something strange from ze planet!"
    Jane: (raises eyebrow at Spock) "You were saying?" (turns to Chekov) "What is it, Chekov?"
    Chekov: "Some sort of high-frequency energy field originating from ze surface."
    Uhura: "Captain! Whatever it is, it's interfering with the comms! We can't broadcast or receive."
    Jane: "See, Spock? This is what a few simple words can do to a situation. For instance, if I say 'things couldn't get any worse'..."
    Scotty: (over the comms) "Cap'n, it's Scotty! I wouldn't recommend using the transporters anytime soon!"
    Jane: "Like I said, you don't use words like that. Ever."
  • There Are No Coincidences: Both Spock Prime and Jane Prime make it clear to Alt Reality Jane that it's no coincidence all the original crew ended up on the same ship.
    Jane Prime: "One thing is changed, and nothing is the same again. And yet the same crew end up on the Enterprise, in more or less their same positions, with similar events happening to them. I think the universe is trying to righten itself again, including the relationship between you and Spock."
  • Together in Death: The Prime counterparts of Spock and Jane die together. Putting a spin on this trope, they're not just lying together; Spock performs a mind-meld and they die connected.
  • Uneven Hybrid: Amanda Georgiana Kirk, daughter of human Jane and Half-Human Hybrid Spock.
  • Violently Protective Girlfriend: Both Janes towards Spock. Both Spocks are the Gender-flipped version.
  • You Can't Fight Fate: The story is about Jane trying to follow her own path instead of falling in love with Spock like her counterpart did. But when she starts falling for him anyway, and discovers that two other versions of herself fell for him, she eventually decides to just go with it instead of fighting back and making herself unhappy.

Example of: