
Fanart by Lledra for Zeta Flashpoint; used with permission
A Vow EternalThe fic was initially a standalone, but has since received a one-shot follow-up- "All the Stars Aligned
"- and there are plans for longer sequels. The third story in the series, "On the Precipice
", was released in July 2025.
A Vow Eternal contains examples of:
- Above the Influence: After Mariner’s emotional confession to Boimler about her PTSD relating to the Dominion War, the two kiss properly, but Boimler rejects the idea that they do anything more right now as he’s worried he’d be taking advantage of her emotional vulnerability. While Mariner rejects the idea that she’s that messed up, she accepts his request to wait until they’re back on the Cerritos and then see where this new development is going in a calmer environment.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: A key part of this fic is Mariner and Boimler becoming aware of their deeper feelings for each other and deciding to start a relationship.
- An Arm and a Leg: In Mariner’s duel with Xaneer the Gorn, she manages to slice one of his arms off.
- Armor-Piercing Question: As Mariner becomes increasingly concerned about the Arrowhead crew having some agenda, when Boimler points out that they wouldn’t be going to the trouble of sharing all this information if they were just going to kill the two, she tries not to concede that he makes a good point;“Stop disproving my paranoia with well-thought-out arguments!”
- Awesome McCoolname: While posing as a stranger for Mariner to flirt with, Boimler introduces himself as ‘Burcephilas Dagger’.
- Berserk Button: Mariner is still dealing with her anger regarding the Dominion War, which leads to her attacking innocent Cardassian farmers in the middle of a PTSD-induced flashback.
- Call-Back:
- While Boimler is talking with Rutherford about events at the bar, Rutherford mentions that Mariner was deeply affected by Boimler’s departure after his promotion to the Titan. When the Titan comes up in a later talk, Mariner assures Boimler that, putting her own emotions on the topic aside, Boimler deserved the promotion and she had no right to be angry at him about that.
- When Mariner has her PTSD breakdown and is subsequently ‘confronted’ by Boimler, she states that she should have known “venting to some random Klingon” wouldn’t help her get over everything.
- When Boimler and Mariner receive a free trip to Risa, Boimler immediately recalls the location of the villa Jonathan Archer stayed in during his first trip to Risa (Star Trek: Enterprise, "Two Days and Two Nights"), Mariner anticipating and sharing in Boimler's enthusiasm to check out that villa if it still exists (as it turns out, the villa was demolished, but most of the furnishings and decorations were moved to a suite that Boimler and Mariner claim for their stay).
- After Boimler and Mariner have reconciled after Mariner assumed Boimler was cheating, Mariner reminds Boimler of everything else they've been through over the past year since starting their relationship, such as Boimler accidentally trapping Mariner, Tendi and T'Lynn on a pre-warp planet for a year due to time dilation ("Fully Dilated").
- The Cameo: At one point Captain Arrowsmith calls Cardassia Prime to update his contact on events during their mission, with said contact being Garak (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine).
- Crazy-Prepared: When Arrowsmith returns Boimler and Mariner’s uniforms after they regained consciousness, he slipped trackers into their shoes so he could find them if either attempted to escape.
- Cross-Cultural Kerfluffle: A minor example of this comes up in "All the Stars Aligned"; while Starfleet officers are not normally permitted to accept 'Thank You' gifts, Mariner receives two exclusive tickets to a luxury spa after saving an alien ambassador from a gang abduction, as the ambassador's people are new additions to the Federation and their culture believes that every act of kindness should be repaid.
- Dangerously Close Shave: In an amusing twist, "On the Precipice" has Boimler cut himself while trying to shave off his beard with more advanced razors, whereas Mariner does a smoother job with an old-fashioned razor based on an old prank she played on her father.
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Easily Forgiven: In "On the Precipice", once Mariner has learned the truth and Boimler has regained consciousness after he's injured on an away mission, he quickly forgives Mariner for her mistaken assumption he was cheating. - Everyone Can See It: When Rutherford and T’Lynn learn what happened between Boimler and Mariner in the bar, they each observe that they had some awareness of a deeper relationship between the other two.
- Everyone Has Standards: While the crew of the Valiance left Starfleet because of conflict with the bureaucracy, Captain Arrowsmith makes it clear that even in their new role as mercenaries he and his crew don’t take any jobs that would be opposed to Starfleet’s core values, such as not taking any jobs that would involve violating the Prime Directive.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: In "On the Precipice", after Boimler and Mariner have repaired their relationship, Boimler decides to shave off his beard as he feels he doesn't need the "reminder" of his other self any more.
- Foregone Conclusion: Even when the two agree to wait to seriously analyse their new feelings once they’re back on the Cerritos, moments such as Mariner reflecting that Boimler’s cute make it clear that they’re just ‘delaying the inevitable’.
- Hero with Bad Publicity: Boimler recognises Arrowsmith from reports he read at Starfleet Academy as ‘the Defector of Cardassia Three’, with reports stating that Arrowsmith and his crew defected in the last days of the war. Arrowsmith corrects Boimler and Mariner that he and his crew deserted when they realised they had been sent after a civilian refugee fleet rather than a military target.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Using a virus designed by Rutherford and Tendi, the Valiance crew are able to trick the enemy ship into registering itself as the enemy so that the ship's guns target itself.
- I Choose to Stay: While Arrowsmith offers Mariner a chance to join his crew, he accepts her decision to remain in Starfleet and on the Cerritos, albeit subtly acknowledging that Boimler is one of the reasons she’s staying in particular.
- In Spite of a Nail: It's confirmed in Chapter Four of "On the Precipice" that despite Boimler and Mariner's relationship upgrade, the events of the fifth season happened basically as in canon.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Boimler seems set to become this for Mariner after she tells him more about her PTSD, offering her comfort and assuring her that she can be better. Mariner even finds herself reflecting that Boimler was this even before their new feelings became a factor, recalling how he made her feel better about herself and her role in Starfleet as he encouraged her out of the downward spiral she’d been in when he was assigned to her.
- Loophole Abuse: Essentially the reason why Cardassia hired the Arrowhead company to protect the colony; part of the terms of the treaty they signed after the Dominion War restrict the military resources Cardassia can deploy a certain distance outside their system, but hiring mercenaries serves as a loophole as the Cardassians aren't deploying their own resources to protect that system.
- Love Confession: During their holiday on Risa ("All the Stars Aligned"), after Their First Time, Boimler explicitly says "I love you" to Mariner, and she swiftly reciprocates the sentiment, reflecting that it's easy to say that to Boimler when he makes her feel safe and secure in every way imaginable.
- Mistaken for Cheating: "On the Precipice" opens with Mariner walking into the bar to see Boimler apparently kissing a new ensign he's been mentoring, but she leaves too quickly to see Boimler push the ensign away and make it clear that he's committed to Mariner.
- Mood Whiplash: At one point Rutherford is shown brooding in his cabin, feeling alone now that Tendi has returned to Orion and Mariner and Boimler are presumed dead. His mood immediately picks up when Boimler and Mariner call him to confirm they’re still alive and have set up a video call with Tendi so she can help Rutherford create a virus for an upcoming mission.
- My God, What Have I Done?:
- After Mariner attacks a pair of Cardassians when the sound of them working metal on a grindstone triggers a flashback, once she snaps out of the moment she’s horrified to realise she just attacked civilians working on farming tools
- Mariner basically does this to her own behaviour retroactively when she recalls how, during Boimler’s time on the Titan, she modified her Cardassian escape holoprogram to include Boimler being held prisoner just so Mariner could leave "him" behind. Faced with a fresh reminder of her issues with the Dominion War, Mariner is left further horrified with her actions, feeling that deliberately leaving even a hologram behind like that basically spits in the face of the people who genuinely died as prisoners during that conflict.
- In "On the Precipice", after Mariner has spent a week in basically a blind rage due to believing that Boimler was cheating on her, she's left horrified when Tendi and Rutherford are able to provide proof that she made a mistake, even before Ransom reveals Boimler's requested a transfer and he returns from an away mission in need of urgent medical attention. Fortunately, once Boimler regains consciousness, he
accepts Mariner's apology and the two swiftly reconcile.
- Oblivious to Love: In "On the Precipice", Boimler is completely unaware that a new ensign on the Cerritos is flirting with him until said ensign kisses him in the bar... at the moment when Mariner walks in, thus giving her the impression that Boimler's been cheating on her before he can shove the ensign away and make it clear he's committed to Mariner.
- Open Secret: Suggested regarding Boimler and Mariner's relationship upgrade; they don't officially declare anything to the senior staff, but Freeman sees enough that she makes arrangements with Ransom to ensure the two are on shifts and assignments together so they can spend more time as a couple.
- Out of the Frying Pan: Mariner avoids a shuttle explosion by venting unstable fuel mid-flight, only to come out of warp in the middle of an orbital firefight near an unknown planet; Boimler makes the explicit analogy and Mariner criticises how cliché that observation is as the shuttle starts crashing.
- Reasonable Authority Figure:
- Ransom was at least potentially this, as he was willing to move around the schedule when Mariner requested an assignment that didn’t put her alone with Boimler while they were dealing with personal issues (without specifying what those issues were), but when he can’t find any alternatives Ransom simply advises her to work on whatever problem she’s having with Boimler. When "On the Precipice" (set after Freeman transferred to Starbase 80 and Ransom became captain) opened with Mariner attacking Boimler in a rage in the belief that he was cheating on her, although Ransom has Mariner sent to the brig for a few days with various denotations on her record and threats of possible demotion, once Mariner learns what really happened and resolves to apologise Ransom recognises that her desire to atone is genuine, and notes he's been subtly delaying Boimler's plans to transfer to give them a chance to make up.
- Despite the protests of some of his crew, Captain Arrowsmith is shown to still be sympathetic towards Starfleet and the Federation's overall purpose, accepting Boimler and Mariner's initial attempts to escape and ultimately trusting them to assist in the final confrontation with their current enemy.
- Captain Freeman ultimately agrees with Mariner and Boimler's argument that Arrowsmith and his crew should be allowed to go free despite the official policy to capture the "defector". In the subsequent one-shot "All the Stars Aligned", when an ambassador gives Mariner two tickets for a full vacation on Risa as thanks for saving his life as part of his culture's belief in repaying acts of kindness, Freeman lets Mariner use those tickets for a holiday with Boimler despite Starfleet's usual policy against such gifts.
- Romantic Fake–Real Turn: The fic essentially opens with one of these when Mariner asks Boimler to pretend to be a stranger so that she can show a friend from a previous assignment that she’s “still got game” by flirting with a seemingly random person. While they don’t do anything more intimate than dance in a bar, culminating in Mariner kissing Boimler on the cheek, the emotionally charged moment leads to them both starting to re-evaluate their feelings for each other during the subsequent mission.
- Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!:
- Captain Arrowsmith and his crew officially deserted from Starfleet when they realised that the Cardassian convoy they’d been sent to attack was actually just a refugee fleet of civilians fleeing Cardassia Prime in anticipation of the Dominion turning on them.
- When Freeman learns more about Arrowsmith’s reasons for deserting from Starfleet, she agrees with Mariner and Boimler’s defence of his actions, “accidentally” editing her log of recent events so there’s no reference to the Arrowhead company and no reason to bring it up.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here!: In "On the Precipice", after Mariner becomes convinced Boimler was cheating on her, following a week of hostility from her as she refuses to let him explain his side, Boimler went so far as to request a transfer, although Captain Ransom delayed putting anything through until Mariner realised what actually happened and was willing to apologise.
- Small Role, Big Impact:
- Mariner’s old friend, Lieutenant Alison Engelhorn, only features in the first chapter of "Zeta Flashpoint", but Mariner’s impulsive desire to prove her ‘rizz’ to Alison leads to Boimler and Mariner becoming aware of their chemistry as a potential couple. If Alison hadn’t shown up, the subsequent events with the Arrowhead Company would have likely just been an interesting addition to Mariner and Boimler's shared experience as friends rather than the final catalyst to them becoming a couple.
- Likewise, the ensign who carelessly missed that one of the containers he was loading on to Mariner and Boimler’s shuttle had a brief leak; if he had been paying closer attention, the subsequent shuttle accident wouldn’t have happened and the two wouldn’t have had time to properly evaluate their feelings away from the rest of the Cerritos crew.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Invoked during a conversation between Mariner and T’Lynn about Mariner’s current hangover;Mariner: I know you mean well, I just feel and look like shit right now.
T’Lynn: I do not profess to know what excrement feels like, but I can indeed verify you do not look like it, or at least not in a literal sense. - Their First Time: Boimler and Mariner have their first sexual encounter with each other during their trip to Risa for their one-month anniversary (both had held back beforehand as they didn't want to push the other too fast).
- True Love is Exceptional:
- Invoked when Mariner realises that she’s just told Boimler more about her past than any of her past relationships or even her parents are aware of, realising that Boimler is the one thing she doesn’t doubt in a universe of uncertainty.
- Also comes up when Boimler reflects that he's only seen Mariner cry four times in their years of being friends, with two of those being when they were alone together.
- Walk-In Chime-In: Tendi essentially attempts this when she’s added to a chat between Rutherford and Boimler and Mariner. Unfortunately, her comment of “But you’re not alone” doesn’t work because Rutherford didn’t explicitly say that he was alone before she joined the call, Tendi admitting that she thought he was going to say something else.
- Wham Line: Chapter 4 of "On the Precipice" ends with Ransom receiving classified information from Admiral Nechayev;Nechayev: "Starfleet Command received confirmation that Starbase 80 has been destroyed."
- What the Hell, Hero?: Subtly expressed by T'Ana in "On the Precipice" when she observes that it's good to see Mariner doesn't hate Boimler any more when he returns from an away mission injured and unconscious, Mariner having learned that Boimler didn't cheat on her while he was away.
