Trek It!

by Robert T. Jeschonek

  Onboard Voyager, in the regeneration alcove area in the cargo bay, Axum tries to convince Seven to come with him and join the resistance to the Borg. She says she needs to think about it.

  B'Elanna and Tom are reunited in Sickbay, and she finally breaks down and cries from the stress of fighting to save herself and her child and having to face him as a Borg. They reaffirm their love for one another.

  Harry mopes in his quarters, feeling guilty and responsible for having been a Borg pawn. Tuvok consoles him...a little.

  In the mess hall, Noah and Marla talk about their redemption. He says he expected something more, like a thank you. She says he shouldn't have, because they just did what they should have done in the first place...and all that matters is that they know themselves what they did.

  Seven talks to Chakotay, looking for guidance in her decision. He tells her that she must do what's best for her...but he would miss her if she left. He even touches her hand.

  Onboard the Best, Janeway discusses the future of the Scourge and the New Federation with Omega and Annorax. They say they will use Bedlam as a focal point of operations; it will move through Borg space at warp one, annihilating Borg, and they will supplement its firepower. Zenya of the Imic is onboard, a telepathic liaison with his people, and he agrees that they should work together. Janeway speculates that perhaps one day, the New Federation and the UFP will connect.

  Seven meets with Axum in Astrometrics and tells him that she's decided to remain on Voyager rather than join him in the rebellion. They have a heartbreaking goodbye, and he leaves for Korok's sphere...after which she questions her decision...then walks out to find Chakotay.

  FAIL CALL: Star Trek: Voyager: Madborg - FAIL or UNFAIL?

  FAIL! As much as I loved developing Madborg, things didn't work out. Pocket passed on the novel, and I moved on to the next proposal.

  Dutch Data of the USS ÜberEnterprise?

  Since when do James T. Kirk and Jean Luc Picard serve as co-captains of the USS ÜberEnterprise? Who is "Dutch" Data, and why does he paint in the nude? Can gigaphasers and blinkporters help the Mega Federation's Unifleet unravel the mystery of why all life has vanished from the Milky Way Galaxy? The answers can be found in my entry for the Strange New Worlds VI contest, "Our Million-Year Mission."

  After pushing the envelope of Trek fiction in different ways in "Whatever You Do, Don't Read This Story" and "The Shoulders of Giants," I decided to take things to the absolute limit in my story for Strange New Worlds VI. I wanted to shake things up by stretching the characters, technology, and concepts of Star Trek as far as I could. By setting the story a million years after the original series, I was able to let my imagination run wild. Even as I ventured into new territory, I tried to make the story a tribute to the spirit of Star Trek, with its sense of infinite wonder and possibilities.

  "Our Million-Year Mission" – FAIL or UNFAIL?

  "Our Million-Year Mission" takes place a million years after the era of the original Star Trek series and follows the crew of the hyper-advanced starship USS ÜberEnterprise. It's a ship that comes equipped with omnisensors, a hypercomputer, blinkporters, a hull that can turn transparent, and a shipmorph reconfiguration system that allows the ÜberEnterprise to reshape itself in a multitude of ways.

  As for the crew, it includes the greatest names from Enterprise crews throughout the ages. Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Sulu, Uhura, and Chekov serve alongside Picard, Riker, Geordi, Worf, Troi, and Dr. Crusher. Of course, everyone onboard is a hologram...except one. Data stands as the lone non-holographic being on the ship, though his sanity has slipped away over the millennia. He calls himself "Dutch," paints in the nude, genetically engineers mutant cats, and flips out when Geordi seeks his help with a new problem: the ÜberEnterprise encounters the Milky Way Galaxy, located 700 million light years from its original position...and completely devoid of life.

  An away team discovers the truth on the lifeless planet Earth. A vast, disembodied intelligence calling itself The Convergence appears and reveals its secret:

  "WE ARE THE CONVERGENCE," said the voices. "WE ARE HUMANS, VULCANS, KLINGONS, FOUNDERS, VIDIIANS. WE ARE EVERY SENTIENT SPECIES IN THE MILKY WAY, EVOLVED INTO A PERFECT UNITY OF PURE THOUGHT."

  The Convergence moved the Milky Way Galaxy to avoid a collision with another galaxy. Now, this vast intellect wants to switch off its stray children, the ÜberEnterprise holograms, and close the book on the ancient past forever. That's the plan, at least, until Kirk steps forward and argues for his crew's survival: "We are not merely echoes of your past," said Kirk, becoming increasingly impassioned. "Remnants of what you once were. We are masters of our own destiny...and that destiny is exploration...pushing back the frontiers of the heart and mind as well as the universe. We are what was once best in humanity and the Mega-Federation...and that is not only worth preserving, but nurturing."

  Data, meanwhile, argues for his own death. He has been around too long without being able to evolve, and it has driven him mad.

  In the end, The Convergence grants everyone's wishes, allowing the holographic crew to continue to exist and explore the universe...and allowing Data to evolve by giving him an organic human body. The ÜberEnterprise sets out into the depths of space, accompanied by The Convergence in its own vehicle of choice: the Milky Way Galaxy.

  FAIL CALL: "Our Million-Year Mission" - FAIL or UNFAIL?

  UNFAIL! From the start, I had a good feeling about "Our Million-Year Mission," but completing the story had its rocky moments. When my first reader, my wife+ Wendy, finished reading the first draft, she said half of the story was strong, and half was in need of drastic revision. According to Wendy, the lacking half was the original sequence featuring Data and Geordi. In the first draft, Data was deactivated from the start, and Geordi and Reg Barclay spent half the story working to return him to consciousness. Wendy, whose editorial instincts are always excellent, said she felt strongly that the deactivated Data sequence dragged. With just a few days until deadline, I decided to take my wife's advice and rewrite half the story.

  Wendy was right. In the rewrite, I kept Data conscious--and seemingly insane--from the start. Making Data a more active participant from the start injected needed energy into the story. As the deadline raced closer, I wrapped the rewrite, handed off the new draft to Wendy, and held my breath.

  She loved the new draft. I made a final pass through the manuscript, giving it a quick polish, and mailed it. As "Our Million-Year Mission" headed for Pocket Books, I felt tremendous relief and optimism.

  At least until I saw the film Star Trek Nemesis. In my story, set one million years after the original series, Data was a featured character. In Nemesis, however, Data was destroyed. I hadn't foreseen this possibility while writing the story; I now thought for sure that my story's chances of winning Strange New Worlds VI were nonexistent. I completely gave up hope that "Our Million-Year Mission" would see print.

  As dismal as things seemed, the story not only made the cut but won the grand prize. Plus, the editors used it as the basis of a new category, "Speculations," which would feature stories that bend or break continuity to expand Trek in new directions. Editor Dean Wesley Smith later said, in an interview, that "'The Million Year Mission' by Robert Jeschonek is I think the best pure Star Trek and science fiction story I have gotten."

  Sticks and Stones

  After completing "Our Million-Year Mission," I continued my quest to sell a Trek novel to Pocket Books. In fact, I cranked up my efforts to the max; 2003 became the year of the novel quest. Now that I'd won a prize or honorable mention in three Strange New Worlds contests, I was no longer eligible to participate. It was time to graduate, and selling a Trek novel seemed like the next logical step.

  I started the year by writing an entire Enterprise novel on spec (without being assigned) and submitting it to the editor for consideration. The book, Sticks and Stones, focuses on Hoshi the linguistics expert, who makes a critical mistake on an alien world that almost leads to disaster. Other c
rew members play key roles, too: Archer and Trip must escape an alien zoo without being able to speak the local language; T'Pol pushes herself to the breaking point as she races to rescue her teammates; and Dr. Phlox must perform surgery while blind.

  Take a look at the following proposal and see if you can guess the fate of Sticks and Stones.

  Enterprise: Sticks and Stones – FAIL or UNFAIL

  Part One: Vox

  En route to investigate a nebula, the Enterprise crew encounters a fleet of massive, heavily armed ships heading for the planet Vox, home to a species on the verge of developing warp technology. After an attempt at contacting the fleet draws weapons fire, Archer sets course for Vox to warn the inhabitants. Though the Enterprise can outrace the fleet, she'll need 12 hours to reach Vox, leaving the crew just 12 hours on the surface before the fleet arrives.

  When Archer's away team lands on Vox, Hoshi has trouble communicating with the locals. She finally realizes that the aliens speak (and hand-sign) three different languages, carrying on three conversations at once. She gets through to one of the otter-like inhabitants, Nalo, who agrees to guide the team to the planet's leaders.

  The Enterprise team crosses a breathtakingly beautiful see-through city that looks like it was built from multicolored pastel stained glass. Nalo leads the group to meet with government officials in the ministry building, but Archer's warning of invasion is met with skepticism. While translating between Archer and the leaders, Hoshi unknowingly says something that sets off a riot.

  The leaders and a crowd of spectators are furious because Hoshi used the forbidden slur mazeesh. (Based on Nalo's use of the word, she had thought it meant "beauty.") As her teammates are beaten and subdued, Hoshi is gagged, sentenced to death, and jeered by the whole crowd except Nalo.

  As the mob howls for her blood, Hoshi is dragged off and dumped into a tiny underground cell that's barely big enough to hold her. When the cell heats up, she thinks she's being incinerated...but instead, the base of the cell melts, dropping her into a tunnel. Nalo is there, armed with a heating device, and he convinces her to escape with him into a tunnel network.

  Meanwhile, back on the surface, Archer and Trip are locked up in a transparent prison. They feel like animals in a zoo cage as a crowd of curiosity seekers gawks at their every move. Archer's attempts at communicating with the crowd only lead to mockery...and are followed by the arrival of interrogators armed with implements of torture.

  Down in the tunnels, Hoshi and Nalo reach an underground camp full of gun-toting Vox. Nalo tells Hoshi that the gag on her mouth is permanent...and he reveals what he claims is the origin of the slur mazeesh: it was a name given to the Vox people by aliens who hunted, killed, and devoured them in a long-ago era of enslavement. The most shocking discovery, however, is that Nalo intentionally set up Hoshi by feeding her an incorrect definition for mazeesh. By getting her to use the word in front of the crowd, he planned to make her a symbol of free speech around which his rebels could rally.

  While Hoshi tries to figure out what to do next, Malcolm Reed, commanding Enterprise, realizes the away team is in trouble when they don't answer hails, and a set of bio signs disappears. Though the missing bio signs could be due to electrostatic interference from a polymer that's plentiful in the Vox city, Malcolm fears that a member of the team could be dead. (The bio signs belong to Hoshi and are undetectable because she's deep underground.) Malcolm orders the preparation of an armed squad and a shuttlepod for a rescue mission.

  Meanwhile, in the Vox prison, Archer and Trip's interrogators seem to be teaching them a Vox language...but Archer realizes it's a trick to get them to repeat the word mazeesh and secure their own death sentences. Before the interrogators can torture them, the humans take them hostage and try to escape. Instead of letting the prisoners out, the guards let in the mob from the street, and Archer and Trip take a beating.

  Elsewhere in the city, T'Pol, who was unable to help the others but managed to escape the ministry, fights a running battle in the streets as she tries to reach the away team's shuttlepod. She pushes herself to the limits of her endurance, dispatching one opponent after another...all the while wrestling with feelings of guilt for leaving her shipmates behind, though it was the logical thing to do.

  Back in the underground camp, Nalo explains to Hoshi that mazeesh is part of a forbidden language whose every word is considered profane; he claims the language was banned because it allows for the expression of dangerous ideas. His faction, the Free Speakers, plans to resurrect this language the next day with Hoshi's help. Resolving to escape at the first opportunity, Hoshi eventually drops into an exhausted sleep.

  Onboard Enterprise, Malcolm dispatches the rescue squad after intercepting a video feed of the riot in the ministry. Another set of human bio signs disappears on the planet's surface, then reappears. (The bio signs belong to Trip, who is in terrible shape.) Communications personnel crack the Vox language and contact Vox Defense Minister Olera; he sees the rescue shuttlepod as a threat and launches three rockets at Enterprise.

  Back on the surface, Archer wakes after the prison assault to find Trip severely injured and unconscious. When three young, receptive Vox get his attention from the street, Archer struggles to communicate without the aid of Hoshi or a translator device. He convinces the three Vox to press the guards for medical attention for Trip, but the guards refuse their request and chase them off. One of the three, Lyra, promises to return and help Trip.

  Meanwhile, T'Pol continues to run toward the shuttlepod. Seeking respite from the ceaseless attacks in the streets, she ascends to the elevated web of transport tubes crisscrossing the city.

  In the underground refuge of the Free Speakers, Hoshi is awakened by Folcrum, an elderly Vox who has sneaked into the camp. While the Free Speakers sleep, Folcrum explains that he's a lexicon, one of the walking dictionaries who preserve the consistency of spoken language on a world with no written language, and therefore no books. He says that Nalo's language revival is a prelude to revolution and will include mass executions of lexicons. She agrees to leave with him after arming herself from the Speakers' cache of weapons.

  When Vox aircraft fire on the rescue shuttle and prevent it from landing, Malcolm orders it back to the Enterprise and calls for a team to prepare to beam down to the planet. The three rockets launched by the Vox link up, forming a composite attack ship...but the pilots call for help when fire breaks out on their vessel. Fifteen minutes after the pilots are rescued via transporter, an explosion rocks Enterprise.

  While the ship is under attack in orbit, T'Pol makes progress through the tube network on the surface, but her Vox pursuers, adept at running on all fours and fighting in close quarters, have the advantage. When the Vox converge on her from all directions, she escapes outside, running over the tubes instead of through them...only to find herself caught between fast-approaching sleds on a tube's surface.

  Back underground, labyrinthine tunnels lead Hoshi and Folcrum to an enormous cavern containing abundant natural wonders and a village. In the Garden of Yesterday, multicolored flowers generate light, as well as a complex, constantly changing blend of scents. Folcrum says the Garden holds secrets, but he reveals only half a secret to Hoshi: he claims the Vox were not the true mazeesh, though he won't say who was.

  Onboard the Enterprise, Dr. Phlox witnesses a suicide bombing after examining the injured Vox pilots. When two of the pilots come in contact with each other, they explode in an Enterprise corridor. Wounded by shrapnel, Phlox is caught in a turbolift with the third pilot, who brutally dispatches the two security officers in the car. As Phlox loses his vision, the Vox comes for him...but bolts away when the turbolift doors open.

  Meanwhile, in the tube network on the planet's surface, T'Pol leaps down from one tube to the next to evade approaching sleds...then must continue her death-defying descent to avoid more attackers. She survives a close call, only to be knocked from a tube by one of the sleds. Though she reaches another tube, she hits it hard and starts to
slide off, just as another sled races toward her over the tube's surface.

  Back at the prison, Lyra returns to Archer's cell with a gang of friends and a plan to free him. When Archer makes a commotion, the guards open his cell to the street like they did when he and Trip took hostages. Lyra and her allies rush in...but when they start beating on Archer, he wonders if they intend to free him or kill him.

  In the Garden of Yesterday, lexicon leaders Oric and Giza tell Hoshi that the lexicons of the garden found refuge there ages ago, after a major revision of the languages. During that and subsequent revisions, lexicons were silenced with permanent gags like Hoshi's and replaced. While seeking sustenance from the nutrient mists that preserve silenced lexicons, Hoshi passes out, convinced that her hosts have tricked her.

  As Hoshi falls unconscious, T'Pol fights for her life on the tubes. The Vox sled runs over T'Pol's hand, crushing it, but the sled's weight prevents her from sliding off to her death. As the sled moves forward, freeing her, she pulls herself onto it with her uninjured hand and battles the pilot for control. Overcoming the Vox, she crashes the sled through the wall of a building and is thrown to safety. Returning to street level, she fights through one last mob and reaches the shuttlepod...only to pass out from exhaustion once she's safely inside.

  Meanwhile, after the explosion onboard the Enterprise, Malcolm hunts down the escaped Vox, which has holed up in the armory. Though the Vox has taken a hostage and is armed with a phase pistol, Malcolm single-handedly subdues the creature.

  While Malcolm hauls the Vox off to the brig, Archer finally escapes the prison on the planet's surface. After his Vox allies smack him around enough to make it look good for the guards, they whisk Archer and Trip out of the cell. Eluding pursuit, Lyra's gang rushes the escapees across town to a safehouse; though the building is transparent, they take refuge in a room concealed by cleverly arranged mirrors.