Garashir

Garashir is the slash ship between Julian Bashir and Elim Garak from the Star Trek fandom.

Season 1
PAST PROLOGUE

Julian is having lunch when he is approached by a Cardassian. He asks to join Julian, which he allows and introduces himself as Garak. The only Cardassian left on Deep Space Nine. He asks if Julian is new to the station, and Julian nervously says that he is. He does know of Garak and how he's been there awhile, and says that there are rumors that he stayed to be the eyes and ears for his fellow Cardassians. Garak asks if he's implying that Garak is a spy, but Julian assures him that he wouldn't know. Garak sees his open mind as the essence of an intellect. He does have a clothing shop nearby and invites him to come by if he's ever in the need for something to wear, or, if like him, he just wants to stop and chat. He gets up to leave, but not before placing his hands on Julian's shoulders and saying that it was very nice to make such an interesting friend.

Bashir then runs up to OPs and tell O'Brian that the spy sat down with him at the replimat. Sisko says that they don't know if Garak is a spy, but Bashir insists that he is. That he just came up and started talking to him of all people. Jadzia asks what Garak would want from him, but Bashir isn't sure. He assumes that he wants federation medical secrets and assures Sisko they're safe with him. Bashir suggests that he have a monitoring device placed on him, just in case, but Sisko says it should be fine as long as he's careful with Garak.

Garak finds Doctor Bashir on the Promenade, but dispenses with pleasantries. He notes the two recently arrived Kohn-Ma terrorists, which immediately worries Bashir. Garak, however, convinces him to come to his shop that evening at exactly 20:55 hours to "buy a suit." Bashir eventually understands and leaves. Unsure of what to do, Bashir asks Sisko for advice. Sisko recommends that he keep his appointment, as he understands it is a means for unofficial communication.

Bashir, arriving two minutes late to Garak's, is quickly herded into a back stall, where he is allowed to overhear the Klingon sisters agreeing to sell a small cylinder of bilitrium to Tahna in the Bajor system in four hours. Once they have departed, Bashir asks what bilitrium is, and Garak informs Bashir that it is a rare crystalline element, the atoms of which can release a tremendous amount of power. Garak also happens to know that Tahna was fleeing from the Cardassians for the theft of an antimatter converter.

Season 1
Past Prologue
 * Julian offers Garak some Tarkalean Tea.
 * Garak calls Julian kind.

Quotes
"Truth is in the eye of the beholder, doctor. I never tell the truth because I don't believe there is such a thing. That is why I prefer the simple straight line simplicity of cutting cloth."

- Garak; Cardassians

Behind the Scenes
"I gave Garak some of the best years of my life!"

- Alexander Siddig

"They misstepped with Ziyal from the beginning. Honestly. They were trying to do something, and god love them. It would have been nice if Garak had a squeeze, but nobody could replace dear Julian."

- Andrew Robbinson

{{Quote|It worked from the very first scene we did together, at lunch on the replimat...there was a kind of freeson beteween us, a kind of energy between us that they really loved. It just hadn't worked with any other characters for me. They tried to do all the ordinary things they tried to do with young leads at the time. They try and make sure that they have a love life, and everyone that came in and out of my world it just didn't click. So, kinda, my love life was really Garak.|Alexander Siddig

Fanon
Fans quickly noticed chemistry between the two, and instantly started to ship them. Shippers, and Garak fans in general, had to wait till the second season after Garak's first appearance for more moments between the two. As the two continued to spend more time together, the ship began to grow. Fans were disappointed when both Garak and Bashir were given random love interests, but still kept the ship alive. The ship is considered almost as iconic as Spock/Kirk, many fans knowing about the pairing without being fans of the series. This also led to fans scrambling and waiting for one of their ships to get together, although this continued to not happen long into Discovery.

When the series was airing, some fans even sent some fic to Andrew Robinson. He seemed to enjoy them.

Fan fiction and fan art between the two varies. Common for post-canon AU's mostly involve the two getting together on Cardassia, as many believe that Bashir would go to Cardassia to treat patients who were nearly killed during the Dominion War and don't have access to Starfleet medicine. Canon divergence AU's will also show points throughout the series where they believe that the two would have gotten together, and either end up in a secret relationship or in an on and off again relationship. Like all Star Trek pairing, Mirrorverse fic is also popular.

On AO3, Garashir is the most written ship for Garak and Julian. It is also the most written ship in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine tag and the fourth most written in the Star Trek tag.

Fandom
FAN FICTION
 * Garashir tag on fanfiction.net
 * Garashir tag on fanfiction.net

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Trivia

 * Andrew Robinson has stated on every occasion possible, that he portrayed Garak as an omnisexual that was in love with Bashir.
 * During quarantin 2020 Alexander Siddig and Andrew Robbinson put together a four episode series about Garak and Bashir reuniting on Cardassia.