(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;

[universal_charm]

_{[ His ears were burning, so naturally he has to stroll on over at some point. He didn't miss you talking to Beverly, and he didn't miss that you looked at him once or twice. So, he's just going to sidle up at some point, flashing a bright smile. ]}

Hi there. Are you a friend of Beverley's?

[experiencepoints]

[Let's just assume by now Beverly's talked her down from wanting to fight him for her. So she'll just look vaguely surprised at being approached.]

I'd like to think so, anyway... I owe her a lot.

I'm Nightingale. You're Kirk, right?

[universal_charm]

_{[ One would hope. He doesn't want to fight and ruin Beverly's party, after all. That's just rude. ]}

Yes, that would be me - but you can just call me Jim if you like. A pleasure to meet you, Nightingale.

_{[ He held out his hand to her, flashing that oh so charming smile. ]}

[experiencepoints]

Uh, right. Jim, then.

[She smiles back, but it's a pretty nervous one. She doesn't know this guy, but Beverly called him team, so she doesn't want to start off on the wrong foot. She shakes his hand, as well, but her grip is fairly light and loose.

she didn't even notice he was attempting to be charming.]

It's nice to meet you. You're from Beverly's world, right?

[universal_charm]

Sort of.

_{[ He pursed his lips ever so slightly as he tried to work out how to explain things. ]}

She is from further in the future than I am. And at the same time I am also from a different timeline. We share a more or less common past like the events that led to First Contact and the formation of Star Fleet and the Federation, but our timelines split so I am the Kirk she knows from history and also not.

_{[ He let out a laugh, looking just a touch apologetic. ]}

I don't know if that made any sense. It's always a bit hard explaining the differences in time.

[experiencepoints]

[She takes a moment to think it through.]

I think I get it. Was it time travel, or just a parallel timeline sort of deal?

[universal_charm]

It was time travel that turned into parallel worlds. Like I said, we have a common history, but there's a divergent point and now there is my timeline and her timeline. Similar, but not quite the same - with some very glaring differences.

I like to explain it like a river. It's flowing nice and straight and then all of a sudden there's giant rock through into the middle, and the river splits in two. Beverly is one branch with her version of me that she knows, and I'm in the other one.

[experiencepoints]

Yeah, I get it, don't worry. It's not even close to the weirdest time bullshit I've seen.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He placed a hand on her shoulder and very gravely said - ]}

It really is the worst, isn't it?

[experiencepoints]

[She goes stiff for a second, and kind of just... takes a step back from his hand, but otherwise doesn't comment on it.]

Honestly, it doesn't even make the top five of weirdest shit I've had to deal with.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He has to laugh a bit at that. ]}

Really? What's number five?

[experiencepoints]

[She has to think for a moment, and then.]

The Fleet here, probably.

[universal_charm]

_{[ That gets a bigger laugh. ]}

Yeah - yeah that making the top five sounds about right. Okay, number four then?

[experiencepoints]

You know I haven't actually ranked them, right? I guess, probably my team?

[universal_charm]

_{[ And cue more laughter though it's softer this time. ]}

Also something I can relate too.

How long have you known Beverly?

[experiencepoints]

... Complicated? I got sent back to the last place I was in for a while. Or got memories from there, or something. Over a year now, at least.

[universal_charm]

_{[ He flashed another smile, though it was warmer rather than charming this time. ]}

Good - I'm glad Beverly's had such a good friend around.

[experiencepoints]

That's a little... Well, I didn't make a good first impression, but I hope I count as a good friend now.

[Her own smile is pretty wry.]

[universal_charm]

From the look Beverly had talking to you earlier, I would say so.

_{[ He grinned over his drink. ]}

If it helps, I don't think I made a stellar first impression either.

[experiencepoints]

Well, she seems to like you anyway. But I will bet you mine was worse.

[she's getting a drink herself, finally]

[universal_charm]

Hmmm? And how exactly did your first meeting with her go then?

[experiencepoints]

Badly. And awkward. I accidentally made her storm off from the beach.

[universal_charm]

Oh come on, you have to give me more than that!

[experiencepoints]

... I told her that I'm planning to kill the Atroma?

[universal_charm]

That - that does seem extreme enough to make her storm off, yeah.