Truly a situation where a multiverse portal swap would confuse everyone involved, and not only because Bester can pronounce the letter w.
When I wrote my B5/DS9 crossover for Multiverse wherein Bester meets Garak, I had the Starfleet crew notice the resemblance, of course, but this being the middle of the Dominion War, they just assumed at first that Bester was a Founder who for some reason had shapeshifted into looking like a legendary member of Kirk's crew, and not even in the right 100 something age. And there are some (very few) crossovers which use the actor factor directly, but I've never found one that satisfied me.
Mind you: any plot developing would depend on the age in which they switch places. A young Ensign Chekov ending up on the B5 era when Bester was young would be discovered as a non-telepath (not to mention non-Psi Cop) instantly because chances are he'd end up among other telepaths, and even if he wasn't, if, say, young Alfred B. was on a mission among mundanes, he'd give himself away instantly. Meanwhile, young Bester on board Enterprise might stay undetected somewhat longer, but he'd assume this was an elaborate mind game/test scenario (because these if you take the Psi Corps novels as canon were actually inflicted on telepaths growing up within the Corps as Bester did quite often, and he would be in his early 20s, so school days weren't that long ago), even accounting for the fact the thoughts of everyone around him don't match with that theory. Once he does figure out this is for real, he's absolutely unlikely to simply ask for help and very likely to start implanting orders in people's minds, at which points this turns into another alien intruder with superpowers episode and/or Kirk gets Gary Mitchell flashbacks, only now he thinks it's young Pavcel who's gone insane.
Otoh, if they are middle aged, things might happen a bit differently. Because middle aged Chekov is not only more seasoned but past many a bizarre experience and might be able to bluff long enough to find allies before being arrested as an impersonator. For maximum hilarity, of course, he needs to be en route to B5 when the switch happens and meet with fellow Russian Ivanova first thing. (How on earth he's going to convince her he's not Bester playing games, I have no idea.) Meanwhile, I can't decide whether Bester being dumped in Chekov's place during that encounter with Khan at the start of ST II would consider Khan a fellow homo superior or a mundane with delusions. (Physical superiority and heightened intelligence do not a mutant make, or do they?) He'd definitely try to take advantage of the situation, but how?
You would think that A Piece of the Action alone would convince Kirk of its value, never mind Patterns of Force
Oh God, don't remind me. Patterns of Force is so dumb, and I never can decide whether the "historian" who in it supposedly founded this society or Marla McGivers in Space Seed are a more insulting depiction of the profession.
no subject
When I wrote my B5/DS9 crossover for Multiverse wherein Bester meets Garak, I had the Starfleet crew notice the resemblance, of course, but this being the middle of the Dominion War, they just assumed at first that Bester was a Founder who for some reason had shapeshifted into looking like a legendary member of Kirk's crew, and not even in the right 100 something age. And there are some (very few) crossovers which use the actor factor directly, but I've never found one that satisfied me.
Mind you: any plot developing would depend on the age in which they switch places. A young Ensign Chekov ending up on the B5 era when Bester was young would be discovered as a non-telepath (not to mention non-Psi Cop) instantly because chances are he'd end up among other telepaths, and even if he wasn't, if, say, young Alfred B. was on a mission among mundanes, he'd give himself away instantly. Meanwhile, young Bester on board Enterprise might stay undetected somewhat longer, but he'd assume this was an elaborate mind game/test scenario (because these if you take the Psi Corps novels as canon were actually inflicted on telepaths growing up within the Corps as Bester did quite often, and he would be in his early 20s, so school days weren't that long ago), even accounting for the fact the thoughts of everyone around him don't match with that theory. Once he does figure out this is for real, he's absolutely unlikely to simply ask for help and very likely to start implanting orders in people's minds, at which points this turns into another alien intruder with superpowers episode and/or Kirk gets Gary Mitchell flashbacks, only now he thinks it's young Pavcel who's gone insane.
Otoh, if they are middle aged, things might happen a bit differently. Because middle aged Chekov is not only more seasoned but past many a bizarre experience and might be able to bluff long enough to find allies before being arrested as an impersonator. For maximum hilarity, of course, he needs to be en route to B5 when the switch happens and meet with fellow Russian Ivanova first thing. (How on earth he's going to convince her he's not Bester playing games, I have no idea.) Meanwhile, I can't decide whether Bester being dumped in Chekov's place during that encounter with Khan at the start of ST II would consider Khan a fellow homo superior or a mundane with delusions. (Physical superiority and heightened intelligence do not a mutant make, or do they?) He'd definitely try to take advantage of the situation, but how?
You would think that A Piece of the Action alone would convince Kirk of its value, never mind Patterns of Force
Oh God, don't remind me. Patterns of Force is so dumb, and I never can decide whether the "historian" who in it supposedly founded this society or Marla McGivers in Space Seed are a more insulting depiction of the profession.