NEW TNG: One Friendship (Z. Cochrane, L. Sloane, 1/1, G)
monkee
Author: monkee
Email: wie...@earthlink.net
Series: TNG. I guess. Shades of ENT and VOY, too, though.
Rating: G
Codes: Zefram Cochrane and Lily Sloane
Part: 1/1
Date Posted: 6 January 2003
Summary: Zefram Cochrane and Lily Sloane talk after the Friendship One probe
is launched.
Disclaimers: Paramount owns all things Star Trek.
~*~
There were no ferns in the Crash and Burn; Zef had seen to that. He'd
pitched them out the front door himself several months ago, just after the
bar's owner had set them out. "This isn't a fern kind of place, Charlie,"
he'd said, and the subject was closed. Now, Lily Sloane stood at the front
entrance and smiled at the noticeable lack of greenery. Zef was right, of
course. It really wasn't a fern kind of place.
Compromises had been made, though. Zef was a reasonable man, and he knew
that Charlie deserved to make a buck or two. After all, the Crash and Burn
was considered a landmark these days. Charlie built an extension out front -
that part was for the tourists, and featured a jukebox that didn't actually
have to be smacked in order to function. Also, in a spot of honor sat the
very table that Zef and the Vulcan captain, Senet, had shared on the night
of first contact. People came from all over the world to see it, which was
kind of nice, Lily supposed.
A scruffy head popped up from behind the bar. "Hey, Lily," Charlie said,
with a preoccupied wave. It was happy hour, and the place was packed.
"He out back?" she shouted, over the cheerful din. He nodded briskly and
turned back to his customers.
She started toward the rear, but was brought up short by the view out the
bar's front window. Bozeman, Montana was thriving these days. At times, she
couldn't reconcile the sight of the bustling streets with her memory of the
town from four years ago, before first contact, back when she was constantly
hungry and scrambling to get her hands on a few square meters of titanium
for the Phoenix. The transition was nothing short of miraculous.
Jean-Luc had been right. It was an exciting time to be alive. Everything had
changed after the Vulcans' arrival. People were already referring to the era
as a 'New Renaissance,' and the term was completely appropriate. First
contact had galvanized Earth to action. Finally, cultural differences and
ingrained, but ultimately meaningless, issues were giving way to common
sense and unity. Survivors from every nation were joining together and
taking the first, wobbly steps toward forming a unified planetary
government. Even ECON was represented. Old prejudices die hard, and Lily
still found it difficult to believe that the eastern coalition hadn't been
regrouping and plotting further destruction, as she and everyone else had
thought. But it turned out that the devastation there had been complete,
too, and they were every bit as eager as the rest of the world to rebuild
their culture and find a more peaceful way.
Yes, it was an exciting time to be alive, but it was also frustrating,
particularly for an engineer trying to design a new starship engine. She'd
just spent another unproductive day with the Vulcan scientists at their new
embassy in San Francisco. She'd been hoping to get some constructive
feedback on her latest theories on starship propulsion, but they were as
tight-lipped as ever. She didn't expect them to hand her their technology on
a silver platter, of course, but it would be nice if they'd at least treat
her like...well, a fellow engineer.
She sighed and shook her head, then went out the back door to the original
Crash and Burn, a tent that was now Zef's private domain. There he was,
poring over the specs of his Next Big Thing, a starship capable of more
sustained and reliable warp speed. She couldn't help but smile at the sight
of him - he looked so damned respectable these days.
He glanced up and saw her standing there. "Hey, Lily," he said, cheerfully.
"Would you mind giving the jukebox a whack on your way over? It's not
working."
She inspected the old jukebox, which he refused to get rid of. Grinning, she
saw that the problem was just what she expected. "All the whacking in the
world isn't gonna help if it's not plugged in, Zef."
He grunted, but she could see that his attention had already returned to his
blueprints. She plugged in the machine and winced as it activated suddenly,
filling the room with loud, discordant music - The Doors, if she wasn't
mistaken. At this point, she knew almost as much about century-old rock
music as Zef did. She joined him at the small table and waited as he
muttered to himself about some anti-matter equation.
"It's awfully crowded out front for a Tuesday," she said, conversationally,
when it became obvious that he'd forgotten she was there. "What's up?"
"Oh, I guess they came in for the launch," Zef said, distractedly.
"What launch?" she asked.
"The probe," he replied.
"Friendship One? You launched it?" She couldn't keep the astonishment out of
her voice, and had to make a concerted effort to close her mouth, which had
fallen open in shock.
He looked up, finally, clearly surprised by her tone. "Sure," he said,
blinking. "Why not?"
Lily settled back into her chair, and tried to figure out why the news
disturbed her so. "I don't know, Zef," she said, dubiously. "I'm not sure we
thought this one through enough. Putting that thing out there might have
ramifications we haven't considered. What did the Vulcans say?"
"I don't think anyone told them," Zef said, with what might have been a sly
twinkle in his eye. "Why should we? It's our planet...our probe."
"They don't know?" Lily shook her head and whistled low.
"Lily," Zef began, in what she recognized as his persuasive mode. Usually,
she loved seeing him like this - full of enthusiasm and newfound nobility,
but this probe situation was serious. Still, she let him talk. She wanted to
be convinced.
"We have to do this," he continued. "It's the next logical step. We have to
reach out. We know what's out there, now. Not just the Vulcans, but
countless others! New life! New civilizations! And a future..." He glanced
around surreptitiously, even though they were alone. Captain Picard had
convinced them of the importance of keeping their knowledge of what was to
come to themselves. "...a future that, quite frankly, we could never have
imagined. We have to get started."
"Not everyone out there is all that friendly," she countered, remembering
the Borg with a shudder. "There's no telling how that information might be
used." She paused, trying to remember exactly what the committee had decided
should be included in the probe's database. "The antimatter specs weren't
still on there, were they?"
Zef frowned. "Actually, I think they were."
"Damn," she said, quietly. "I think we need to be more careful about this
stuff, Zef. It's one thing to reach out with a little Vivaldi. It's another
thing to hand people information that they may not be ready for, or can turn
against us."
He considered her thoughtfully. "You may be right," he conceded. "But the
committee was adamant about launching it right away. I don't think I could
have dissuaded them, even if I'd tried. Besides, you know as well as I do
that nothing will probably come of it. The odds of that probe encountering
much of anything are slim - it was really more of a symbolic thing..."
He was interrupted as someone strode into the tent, unannounced. He was a
tall man with dark hair, upswept eyebrows, and distinctively pointed ears.
His deep blue, ceremonial robes gave him an almost regal appearance.
Ambassador Soval.
Lily groaned inwardly, and had the sinking feeling that something was about
to hit the fan. Neither she nor Zef had been able to get a handle on Soval
yet. Captain Senet had been downright affable and animated in comparison.
Soval was remote and seemed to disapprove of anything and everything humans
did. He struck Lily as almost arrogant, but that couldn't be, right?
Arrogance was an emotion.Still, you didn't have to be telepathic to see that
he was somewhat agitated now.
"You launched the probe," he stated, flatly, without preamble. His dark eyes
were flashing as he stared at Zef.
Zef started to gesture at the chair beside him before thinking better of it.
He cleared his throat. "Well, not personally, but yes - it went up today."
The Vulcan stiffened, almost imperceptibly, and Lily could have sworn that
she saw his nostrils flare. But that couldn't be, right?
"You humans have absolutely no idea what you are doing," Soval said. "Your
actions prove that you are irresponsible, impulsive, and unprepared to join
the interstellar community."
Now it was Zef's turn to bristle. "I think we've proven ourselves," he said,
his eyes narrowing. "You're underestimating us. This planet has been through
a hell of a lot - but we never gave up."
"You never gave up," Soval corrected. "In the time that I have been on
Earth, I have come to realize that the launch of your vessel was
an...aberration. You are one man; you had the vision, the intellect, and the
will to build and launch a warp-powered ship. But that does not mean that
your people are ready for what lies ahead. There are still outrageous
travesties of justice occurring on a daily basis in so-called 'courts' on
this planet..."
Lily could no longer hold her tongue. "Only one or two," she said,
defensively, "and not for long." Soval looked down at her disdainfully, as
if he had only just noticed that she was sitting there. Yes, there were
areas of the planet where the recovery from the post-atomic horror was
unfolding at a slower pace, and she'd heard of the kangaroo courts remaining
in a few remote areas. But was that any reason to dismiss humanity? "You
Vulcans are a piece of work," she fumed. "Don't we get any credit at all for
our accomplishments over the past four years? They've been substantial, you
know."
"Credit is irrelevant," Soval said. "Your accomplishments do not change the
fact that you launched a probe containing information that should not
have..."
Zef had had enough. "If you're so concerned about it, why don't you
intercept it, or shoot it down? You're more than capable of that."
"Vulcans do not summarily 'shoot down' or intercept other species' probes,"
Soval said, sharply. "Unlike you, we have rules and protocols for our
interactions with others."
He paused for a moment, and scrutinized Zef's face. Zef was alert, but still
relaxed, refusing to be riled further, which was clearly irritating Soval
even more, despite his alleged lack of emotion. Lily wished, briefly, that
she could get up and turn the jukebox off, or at least down. The atmosphere
in the room was tense, and she was pretty sure the Troggs weren't helping.
In fact, the pounding bass and repeated refrain of "Wild Thing" were almost
certainly making things worse.
"I don't think you appreciate how grave this situation is," Soval said.
"Suppose your people had intercepted a probe like this twenty of your earth
years ago? The information it contained might have fueled your global war -
perhaps it would even have been a catalyst."
"I agree that launching it was probably an error in judgement," Zef said.
"But I also think you're overreacting."
"I am not," Soval said. "We are trying to help you. Had you asked, we would
have strongly recommended against this launch. I must contact my government
about this incident. I will be recommending that we become more involved in
your efforts to join the interstellar community. You are clearly still a
risk to yourselves and others."
With that, he turned and swept out of the room, his robes flowing in his
wake.
"MORE involved!" Zef sputtered, but Soval was gone.
Zef shook his head and rolled his eyes. "He's wrong, Lily," he told her.
"We're ready for this. You and I KNOW what the future holds for humanity."
Lily smiled reassuringly, because Zef was her friend, and she didn't want to
take away any of the hope and energy that made him what he'd become in
recent years. But she was afraid that she did know what the future would
hold, at least the immediate future. The Vulcans were not going to help
them, and, in fact, would probably be hindering them every step of the way.
Yes, eventually they would scratch and claw their way into deep space - she
knew that, and would have been sure of it even if she hadn't ever met
Jean-Luc Picard. But it was going to be a long, rough road, and when the
first ship of exploration left the planet, she and Zef would not be on it,
as they'd hoped. That privilege would fall to a new generation.
She was disappointed, but found that she'd already accepted it - had maybe
even already known, on some level. No one had promised her anything.
Besides, she would still have an important role to play. If scratching and
clawing were to be involved, well - that was her specialty. And someone
would have to stand beside Zef, the brilliant aberration of a man who had
made all of this possible. The frustrations and disappointments of the years
ahead would be the hardest on him.
"Forget Soval," she said to him, now. They had work to do. She was
determined that this new ship would be built, with or without the Vulcans'
help. She gestured toward Zef's work. "Show me what you've got, and I'll
grab us some beers."
The End.
Sara
> Author: monkee
It was great to see these two in action again! You've got them both
just perfect here, monkee. And lovely to see some continuity between
the events of First Contact and Enterprise.
Thanks very much for a great glimpse at two of my favourite characters
from the past (future?)
Sara
monkee
their lives were like after First Contact.
monkee
"Sara" <sara...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:eff93ed7.03010...@posting.google.com...