DBS wrote:Don't say I didn't warn you!
Re-imagined "These are the Voyages"
It is 2245, and the Federation is about to celebrate the launch of the
Enterprise, NCC-1701. In attendance are ex-President Jonathan Archer,
Admiral Travis Mayweather, Professor Hoshi Sato, and Ambassador T'Pol
of Vulcan. The audience does not yet know the reason for the gathering,
only seeing the three at dinner in Archer's home (as he is quite ill),
speaking of old times. Mayweather says something about how the captain
(April) will be quoting Archer at the ceremony, and Archer replies with
"Oh God, not again! I never could get that to sound right!" (this is the first
mention of Archer's speech). Hoshi reminds them they didn't exactly have
time to work on it.
We flash back to the period immediately before the founding ceremony of
the Federation, where Archer is diligently working on the speech aboard a
clearly battle-scarred Enterprise. The once clean bridge has dozens of
added on panels, consoles, and systems reflecting the rapid pace of
technology (and refits) in the Romulan War. The ship is returning to Earth
to participate in the ceremony and then be drydocked as a surplus
starship. Equipment is lying everywhere, but work is efficient. The mood
aboard is light, with many crewmen reflecting on their decade of front-line
service. Suddenly they receive a distress signal from a diplomatic
transport also en-route to Earth.
Rushing to investigate, the Enterprise finds only two Andorian survivors in
an escape pod, Jhamel and her daughter Talla, barely alive. On
awakening they are pleased to see Phlox, but when the humans approach
both react with terror.
Back in the present, the four retire to Archer's sitting area after dinner.
Archer wonders aloud how humans could have been so opposed to what
they were trying to do "back then", and wonders what some of them
might think now. The door chimes, and T'Pol's assistant summons her to a
late session of negotiations. As she leaves, Archer seems perturbed.
When questioned, he says "It's nothing. I just wonder how many times
we'll see each other again." On that note, the rest of the visitors leave
after a time.
Back in 2161, Phlox and T'Pol manage to coax the patients to tell their
story, of how they were brutally attacked by humans, and their entire
crew killed except for them. The description becomes graphic, but
suddenly Archer receives a call from the bridge. Shran has arrived in
his own transport, and demands to know what has happened. Normally
hot-headed, Shran, perhaps due to his relationship with Archer, believes
the story that Enterprise was not involved, but demands that Archer find
out who committed the crime. Just then, both ships are attacked by an
unknown ship.
In the present, T'Pol has sensed something very wrong, and after the
meeting stops by Starfleet Medical. The doctors there tell her that Archer
has only a few weeks to live at most, provided he move to the hospital
the next day. T'Pol tells them that, in her opinion, Archer should be left to
spend his last days as he pleases, and asks for something to help him be
mobile for the next few days, telling them how important the launching
has been to him.
On the Enterprise, defending both themselves and the transport is made
difficult because several of the tactical systems have been removed in
preparation for the mothballing. But with the help (and close coordination)
of Shran's ship, they are able to cripple and board the attacker. A
boarding party captures several humans, renegade Terra Prime
members, along with particularly strange technology. The humans claim
that they got it from a human arms dealer from the Centauri colony, but
Archer doesn't buy it. The crew immediately sets out tracing the materials.
In another location, figures discuss their strategy. The Enterprise finding
the wreck was part of the plan, as was Shran. But the fact that the latter
has not already made a serious incident out of the situation has
concerned them. Perhaps they underestimated Shran's character. They
decide that they must move immediately.
The morning of the ceremony, Archer's three guests arrive at his home
very early. and after giving him some medicine, take him to a waiting
shuttle.
A short time later, we see the four sitting in reserved boxes at the launch
ceremony. The new Enterprise gleams in the sun as the ship is christened.
Captain April, in his address, defers to Archer's choice nearly a century
earlier in that rather than quote him, he will re-play the opening speech at
the founding ceremony of the Federation. Archer waves it off angrily and
tries to ignore it. The memory seems very painful to him.
In 2161, T'Pol, Reed, and Trip have determined that the technology is
definitely alien, and probably Romulan. Soon, the staff pieces together the
plot. Romulan agents covertly supply and equip Terra Prime fugitives,
ensuring that they attempt to sabotage the Founding of the Federation.
They must have figured that by attacking Shran's family; the most volatile
alien known, would start an incident serious enough to derail the process.
And if in his revenge Shran destroyed the most famous starship in the
fleet and killed the primary speaker of the event, so much the better. As
they begin to compile a report, the ship is attacked again, this time by a
far more powerful enemy. Shran's ship and Enterprise are quickly
overwhelmed and attempt to flee at high warp.
Touring the new ship, Archer comments on how far technology has come,
what has changed over the years, etc. The communications officer
indicates to Hoshi that her language programs are still in use today. As
they leave the ship, they pass the transporter room, which Archer would
rather use. Mayweather leads him on, claiming he has a celebration in
mind elsewhere. They brush past a twelve-year-old boy who is stunned to
actually meet "Captain Archer". Surprised (mostly at not being called "Mr.
President"), he asks the boys name, learning it is Jim. Hoshi recognizes
the boy from a transport they had taken together from the Tarsus IV
colony, and is happy that they will take the same transport home,
promising that she will find him and tell him all sorts of stories. After a
handshake, they pass onward to the shuttlebay, getting into a vaguely
familiar shuttle. Archer barely notices, but makes a sharp remark about
how easily the older models are re-painted. Archer climbs into the back
and sits, reading a book. Some time later, the ship arrives in a docking
facility, and Mayweather helps everyone off the ship into the corridor.
Archer is increasingly annoyed by this, and turns to leave several times,
but T'Pol urges him on.
Back on the original Enterprise, things go from bad to worse as it is
realized that their long-range communications are jammed. Hoshi quickly
concocts a plan where the full report is copied and transmitted to Shran's
ship with their oldest systems, which have been luckily unaffected. As
soon as the transmission is complete, the ships split up. One of them has
to escape to tell the truth about the incident.
Arriving on the bridge of the ship, Archer sees the placard on the wall and
nearly collapses in emotion. He is standing on the his Enterprise after
nearly ninety years! Memories come flooding back to him, and he is
shocked that the ship even still exists. Travis states that there wasn't
much to work with, but almost fifty years ago the wreck was found in a
scrapyard, and the Starfleet Museum bought the ship for scrap value. He
adds that the ship stayed in preservation until a few years ago, when
thousands of volunteers from throughout the Federation restored her to
launch condition. The ship is revealed to be a museum, and that the
Admiral has procured it for the day as a gift for Archer. When asked
about how he never heard about the fate of his ship, Mayweather reminds
him he was "kind of busy". Archer then tells us the story of the last time
he stood there.
The ship that was chasing them was faster and far more powerful. It
became clear that the intention was to finish off Enterprise and then
destroy Shran's transport. The carnage would only add to the magnitude
of the incident. A few hits later and Reed indicates that there are no more
weapons available. Trip calls up saying that the reactor is about to
overload and destroy the ship unless they drop out of warp. Archer
formulates a desperate plan. He tells Trip to evacuate and prepare to
jettison the engineering section, timing it to detonate in the path of the
attacker. Without answering, Trip gets to work preparing the sequence. At
the last minute, he realizes that there is no way to properly time the
detonation remotely, and closes the door behind the last crewman,
remaining in the section despite Archer's calls down.
The maneuver works, but the Enterprise is hopelessly damaged, and as
Shran's ship escapes all Hoshi can do is issue a weak distress call before
they are forced to abandon ship. Even so, the attacker is almost upon
them when they are driven off by the Columbia and the Renown, a
battlecruiser of Romulan War fame.
The scene fades to Archer standing silently on the bridge, nearly in tears.
After a few moments, he thanks everyone for making the visit possible. A
minute later, they leave to go to the ceremony. Archer takes one last look
around the bridge before joining his friends. The audience is treated to a
rapid cycling of memorable moments from the series before fading out.
Some time later, and with Trip's seat hauntingly empty, Archer mounts the
dais to deliver the opening words of the founding ceremony. We hear the
same part of the speech that was played at the Enterprise's
commissioning, only this time we can hear all of it.
The camera focuses on Archer, fading to as he appears now, as he walks
towards the airlock of his ship for the last time. As he looks out the
window, the view follows his to the new Enterprise leaving dock for the
first time. The episode fades out with the "Final Frontier" monologue
performed by every captain in the series.
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Be nice...I know it is kind of cheesy, but I hope less so than the original ep!!!