2163

Along The Way

            “Archer was in command of NX-01 Enterprise. After the Xindi year in 2154, everything kind of changed for him,” Valerie told her fiancé.

            “I’m still listening. But I think maybe I’d like to head home,” Bernard replied. The bill was already paid for electronically, so they joined arms and started their walk back home, in San Francisco, not far from Starfleet Headquarters. Walking was so much easier than ground transportation on an earth of ten billion people. Some people simply took a transporter from one place to another, but most people preferred keeping two feet on the solid ground.

            “I love living here,” Valerie said. “It’s the most beautiful city on Earth.” She glanced at Bernard, and he looked back.

            “I’m sure some people might think differently.”

            “They’d be wrong,” she chuckled. They walked in silence the one kilometer to their apartment from the restaurant. They climbed the stairs to the front door and while unlocking the lobby Bernard looked at Valerie.

            “So, Erika Hernandez was not your great-great grandmother? Because, you look a little like her.”

            “I’m getting to it. OK, like I said, after the year of Xindi in 2154, Hernandez was made captain of Columbia, the second Warp 5 ship. Captain Hernandez looked up Archer and they thought maybe they could spark it up again. They did, kind of.” The elevator arrived and they ascended to the 17^th floor with little conversation.

            “So they were both captains now.”

            “Yes. And they made a go of it. They worked together but on different ships. They were both in command of Warp 5 ships, for a while the only two in Starfleet I guess they got together whenever they could, but it got to be less and less. Then the Romulan War started. Columbia was sent to that front. And then the ember kind of died. Great Grandpa said four years and too much separation, responsibility, a war. It wasn’t meant to be. Of course he would say that!”

            They entered their modern apartment that overlooked San Francisco Bay. Indeed, their status in Starfleet entitled them to this premium dwelling. Valerie Archer, a Commander, and Bernard Scott, a physics instructor and Lieutenant at Starfleet Academy, together doubled their housing entitlement provided by Starfleet.

            “I’ll put on some tea,” she said, kicking off her shoes and tossing her jacket over the sofa. A few moments later she joined Bernard in their great room and continued her story.

            “The war started in 2155,” Bernard said.

            “Yes, until 2160. Captain Hernandez was entangled in a battle; she and her crew were destroyed, including Columbia.”

            “I remember that from Modern History class my first year at Academy.”

            “Captain Archer wasn’t sent to the front, but he didn’t return to Earth until just after the war ended.  Enterprise NX-01 was decommissioned in 2161 when he chartered the Coalition of Planets. He also helped negotiate the Romulan Neutral Zone.”

            “How long was it before he met your great, great (?) grandmother?”

            “I’m getting to that. Keep your shirt on, Lieutenant.”

2163

            “Good morning, sir.”

            “How are you this morning, Grace?” Admiral Archer replied to his private assistant as he came into the office.

            “Good, Admiral, thank you. I transferred the log and debriefing files from 2152 to your terminal.  I’m having trouble with 2153, but I’ll have it sorted out before the end of the day.”

            “Very good. I don’t need them immediately. I’m still in 2151.”

            Jonathan Archer entered his Starfleet office that overlooked the Golden Gate Bridge and the beautiful bay of San Francisco. Furniture was minimal, a desk and chair, several guest chairs, some cabinets and a well-designed computer terminal that took up the least amount of space while maximizing ergonomics.

He hung his damp rain coat on a hook that had kept his admiral’s uniform dry underneath. In front of the large smoked window he stood absorbed in thought, his hands clasped behind his back. He felt the solid floor under his boots. Being on the ground the last year had been a chance to reconnect with old friends and establish some important connections with Starfleet officers and ambassadors. On the other hand, the occasional flirtation with zero gravity also held a hunger for deep space. He remembered Homer’s sirens: beautiful, irresistible, and sometimes deadly. He was about to sit down when his secretary opened a com.

            “Admiral, there’s an incoming message for you,” Grace announced to him from the reception area. Her plain image adorned the monitor on the wall. He sat and turned on his view screen. A neatly organized desk reflected the attention to detail Archer had put into his most recent accomplishment: the Coalition of Planets charter documents which included 20 other worlds. “It’s from the Soval, sir”.

            “Patch it through,” he answered. A mature Vulcan woman’s face appeared where Grace’s had been a second before. He transferred the image to his desk viewer.

“Yes, Commander?”

            “Good Day, Admiral. We understand that you wanted to be contacted directly regarding our survey of Akal.” The face was mostly expressionless, the hair more grey than black.

            “Are you sending a report?” He scanned the face for a hint of information.

            “No, Admiral. I called to inform you of a situation that is incongruent with expectations.”

            Archer’s heart skipped a beat and then galloped a little faster. Straightening a little more in his chair, he leaned towards the monitor. “This isn’t a secure channel,” he reminded the face.

            “It is not a sensitive matter outside of the planet. It appears that they have skipped several centuries of industrial development in energy production. Based on your original report from Earth year 2151, fossil fuels were not in usage at the time.”

            “No, they weren’t,” Archer concurred with a nod. “But that was a decade ago. It’s not unlikely they could have reached that level of technology.”

            “I agree, Admiral, and fossil fuels would be a natural development. However, they are not using fossil fuels. Nuclear fission facilities are operating in eight different, highly populated coastal locations. Obviously a leap from where they ought to be.”

            Archer’s mind puzzled for an alternate explanation, but he couldn’t find one. In the twelve years since their first visit, no one had returned to monitor their progress. The Romulan War had suspended any missions not critical to its success for all planets within the coalition. This included Vulcans neglecting a prior agreement between the Vulcans and Starfleet, at Archer’s request, that Vulcan, with its faster, more numerous star ships, stop by every five earth years to ensure the natural development of the population.

            “Nuclear? Are you getting neutrino emissions?”

            “It’s not matter-anti-matter, Admiral.”

            “Then what is it?”

“They are using natural mined elements,” she answered.

“Natural?”

“Thorium.”

“Thorium? And they’re mining it there, it’s not imported?”

“We can’t be certain without a physical examination of their supply process.”

“Thorium isn’t used in weapons, is it?”

“No, Admiral, no significant weaponry has been made using Thorium.”

Now Archer was puzzled. Malurians exploiting the resources of the planet had unwittingly poisoned the water table where they installed a secret an anti-matter generator for their own profitable purposes, primarily weapons manufacture.

“Any signs of environmental contamination?” Archer asked. While he spoke he pulled up some information about Thorium on his database.

            “Given that this is a Starfleet system that has not made First Contact we have not sent a landing party to investigate. We have scanned from low orbit only.”

            “Starfleet needs your cooperation on this matter, Commander. I’d like you to go into an equatorial geo orbit at parallel zero and send survey teams right away at coordinates zero forty. Scan for Malurian vessels and bio signatures. And find out where that Thorium is coming from.” Archer knew Vulcans didn’t like to take orders from humans, Starfleet, but with Archer, respect ran deep and this ship was at his disposal. The Vulcan face disappeared from the screen.

            Incognito visits by the Vulcans were intended to prevent warp capable peoples from returning and interfering with the natural development of this civilization.

            Archer transferred a file from his year 2151 list to a pad. He got up from his desk and shut off the monitor. Putting the pad in the deep pocket of his raincoat, he headed out. Grace sat in front of a computer screen with a headset, speaking into it, stopping when he entered the room.

            “Yes, Admiral?”

            “Tell Command to assign me on the next ship headed to Sector 7. If nothing is headed that way in the next five days I want one assigned. I’m going home for the rest of the day, but contact me if the Soval calls back. I don’t expect to hear from them right away but anything is possible with the Vulcans.”