(no subject)

[dancingmd]

Who: Beverly Crusher, Ezri Dax, James Kirk, Leonard McCoy, and Pavel Chekov - and you, should you like to stop by!
Broadcast: video
Action: Málum
When: April 5

[So Beverly may or may not have taken a few tequila shots. And she may or may not be quite drunk and affectionately effusive about... everything. Thus she has something Very Important to tell the Fleet, which she does from inside Málum with some of her Starfleet companions around. Thankfully, one of them is holding the camera or this feed would be a lot more intolerably shaky.

It's also one of the rare times you'll find her in her Starfleet Uniform.]

Today! [Beverly claps her hands together.] Today is an important holiday back home - First Contact Day! It marks the time when humans finally launched the first spaceship powered by warp drive and that was also the same day we met the Vulcans. [She frowns, her thoughts coming more slowly than is usual.] I don't think we've had any Vulcans here in the fleet, unless it was a long time ago before I came. Which is really weird when you stop to think about it, that there's been Humans and Cardassians and Trill but no Vulcans. Or anybody else really. Vulcans kind of look like elves so I've often wondered if maybe they are but just so many universes removed that it's not quite the same.

[Clearly someone is giving her A Look from behind the camera and she points an admonishing finger at them.]

I'm getting there! [She straightens up and pats her hair, getting back into "lecture" mode.] What probably many of you don't know, is that I saw all of this, first hand, the last time I went home. You see there were the Borg - only we're not going to go into them because this is supposed to be a celebration - and they were trying to go back in time to ruin the warp ship so the Vulcans wouldn't come down to see us so of course we had to go stop them even though we're not supposed to time travel - and for good reason too, it's a pain in the ass. One time Mark Twain followed us onto the Enterprise and it was this whole thing though I guess it worked out all right in the end because then he wrote A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court so that's good. And he really was very nice and understanding of why he couldn't tell anyone what he saw.

[Another pause as she tries to figure out why she started talking about Mark Twain. Ah! Right!]

So anyway we had to go back in time to stop the Borg and so we met Zefram Cochrane who invented the warp drive and he was completely not like any of us expected and you know, sometimes they say you shouldn't meet your heroes? We'd all been taught about what a great genius he was, and that's true, but I guess they didn't really want to mention in the history books that he really liked to party and building the ship wasn't some noble, selfless endeavor to advance science - it was a difficult time in human history, and he needed the money. But that's the beautiful thing isn't it? People are complicated and may not always be what you expect but they still can do great things. And that's really what First Contact Day is about, celebrating the amazing things we've already done and the things we'll do in the future too. Together.

[This nerd, y'all. You should come party with her.]

Comments

Action

[candothat]

[Chekov, not in uniform since the Atroma thought that it would be fun to bring him here in his pajamas instead, is a few drinks in himself. Although he would firmly deny any accusations of drunkenness, his claims about Russia's contributions to the universe at large are getting increasingly ridiculous.]

The other thing that no one mentions about Cochrane [and, while he's still speaking Standard, his accent is reaching new levels of incomprehensibility] is that he used the theories and designs of a Russian scientist--Tsiolkovsky, no one even remembers him--when creating the warp drive. Ultimately, it is a Russian invention.

[bi_otic]

I'm guessing warp drive is what you guys call FTL?

[He's not even going to bother to dispute the claims. He has other questions.]

[candothat]

This depends. Is FTL an abbreviation for faster than light?

[This had better not turn into breaking the prime directive...]

[bi_otic]

Yeah, of course. What else would it be? I mean, I think it would be necessary for any space-faring organization, especially if you've gone far enough to contact other races.

[candothat]

I have no idea, but I would rather not assume that other universes have sensible abbreviations. [He's not entirely sober, please forgive him.] Of course we have that capability, and we only make contact with other races that also have the means to travel faster than light.

[bi_otic]

[Thankfully he's very forgiving]

Really? What if they need help?

[candothat]

Aha, then it becomes difficult. The commanding officer must decide if they are willing to break the Prime Directive and risk the repercussions of doing so.

[bi_otic]

And what are the repercussions, usually, for breaking the prime directive?

[candothat]

Usually? A court-martial, I think.

Re: Action

[dancingmd]

But he's not the one who got it off the ground now, hmm?

[candothat]

[A dismissive handwave that narrowly avoids taking out Chekov's neighbor.] Details. Tsiolkovsky was centuries ahead of his time, he had no means of harnessing the energy necessary to warp space.

[dancingmd]

[She grins, amused by the dangerous trajectory of his hand.]

If it makes you feel better, I don't think Cochrane would disagree with you. He wasn't much interested in credit or fame, just the practicalities of getting the job done.

[candothat]

And yet he received the credit and fame regardless. [A dramatic sigh. He finishes his drink, orders another, and pushes far more chips than the drink costs towards the bartender.]

[dancingmd]

He was the one to make contact after all.

[candothat]

Yes, yes, I'm very impressed by Cochrane's contributions to modern interstellar propulsion. [He doesn't sound impressed at all.] Some people are so favored by their circumstances that I almost believe in luck.

[dancingmd]

[She raises an eyebrow.]

I wouldn't call being born and growing up in the middle of World War Three lucky.

[candothat]

Details. [That's a pretty big detail, Chekov. He's smiling, though, so he obviously knows he's being ridiculous.]

action;

[universal_charm]

_{[ Thankfully Kirk has been around long enough to be able to get to the real words beneath the accent. He is slightly inebriated himself - buzzed, you might say - which either makes it harder or easier depending. ]}

You're lucky Scotty's not here, there'd be a fight.

[candothat]

Scotty would never fight with me, I'm his favorite. We debate.

[universal_charm]

You think you're everyone's favorite.

_{[ He's probably not entirely wrong on that count though. ]}

Oh, I don't know, I think this would be a fight. Scotty has his national pride too, you know.

[candothat]

Not everyone's favorite. Not even Scotty's, not really. Keenser is his favorite. I'm no one's favorite.

[He sounds quite sure of himself. Then again, he's certain of most of the things he says after he's had a few drinks.]

It would be an intense debate, yes, but not a fight. We're scientists, Captain Jim, we settle our disagreements with words.

[universal_charm]

Now now, none of that Russian pessimism on a holiday!

_{[ He reached out and ruffled the red curls fondly. ]}

You have not met some of the scientists I know then. Debates can get pretty heated. Passion, you see!

[candothat]

Realism, Russians are realists, and reality doesn't observe holidays.

[He's not bothered enough to do anything more than look slightly exasperated, but excuse you Jim, he's a grown man.]

Which scientists are these? I want to disagree with them.

[universal_charm]

No, it's pessimism. Reality has sunny days, after all.

_{[ That you might be, but you're still adorable. ]}

If you want that, you should come spar.

[candothat]

I made an observation. An observation cannot be pessimistic.

[Isn't there a rule somewhere that says you can't be adorable after, say, age twenty-one? Chekov thought he saw that somewhere.]

Ah, no. No thank you. I would rather not be embarrassed in front of you.