Rating: G
Genres: missing scene romance
Keywords: first contact
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This story is number 2 in the series Missing Scenes from Season Two
Spoilers: Carbon Creek -- and it won't make any sense if you haven't seen it.
Disclaimer: All things Star Trek belong to CBS/Paramount, not me. (As a missing scene, this story also obviously owes a debt to the episode's writers, Rick Berman, Brannon Braga, Dan O'Shannon and Chris Black.)
Author's Note: Wanted to see if the last one was just a fluke or I could really work with Season Two. Apparently, it's not impossible. Unfortunately, now I really have to slow down and get my other work done. Thank you so much, reviewers. You make it worthwhile!
T'Pol was not entirely sure why she had decided to tell her second foremother's story to Captain Archer and Commander Tucker. Perhaps it was something about Tucker's skeptical, "if it's a good one" -- as if he didn't believe she was capable of it.
She enjoyed telling it far more than she had anticipated, so much so that she failed to notice she was including more details than she probably should have. Realization came when she noticed Tucker's eyes widen in disbelief, and was confirmed soon after, when he interrupted her. "Wait a minute, now. Are you saying Mestral and Maggie MADE OUT? A Vulcan and a Human, kissing in the front seat of a car?"
T'Pol gave him her coolest glance. "I have noticed that Humans often bestow kisses quite casually in greeting or parting."
Tucker grinned broadly. "Yeah, Humans do -- but Vulcans? Vulcans don't kiss at all. Or do they?"
She saw no need to dignify that with an answer, especially since she wasn't entirely sure of the answer. Certainly she had never witnessed such behavior in public, and Vulcans did not speculate about what was done in private. "It is likely that Mestral was taken by surprise."
Trip was still grinning. "But he didn't jump out of the car and run for his life. So we've not only got first contact decades before we thought, we've got a Human and a Vulcan kissing in a car." He turned to Archer. "You know, that just makes my whole night."
Archer said, "I wouldn't get too excited. A goodnight kiss hardly counts as making out." Then he grinned too. "Much as we might like it to."
Tucker laughed, then leaned back towards her. Lowering his voice conspiratorially, he said, "Does this mean that whole only mating every seven years thing is a load of crap, too?"
She was not going to be provoked into talking about something so private. "Do you prefer to engage in puerile speculation about Vulcan mating habits or to hear the rest of the story?"
"I guess the story," Trip said. He leaned back in his chair with arms folded and grinned again. "Especially the parts about Maggie and Mestral."
"I did not realize that you were such a fan of romance, Commander," T'Pol said. "If that is what you are expecting, I fear you will be disappointed."
x x x
After she had left the captain's mess, she had heard Commander Tucker trotting after her in the corridor to catch up. "That really was quite a story," he said, a little breathlessly, as they walked together to the turbolift.
She said nothing. What was there to say?
The doors slid open and he followed her in. He stared at the door and said, "Of course, it would have been a lot more satisfying if he'd admitted he was staying for Maggie."
This was perhaps as good a time as any to clarify a few matters for Commander Tucker. "That would have been highly implausible. Vulcans believe that romance is a poor foundation for successful relationships. Also, their relative life spans would have made it a most unsuitable match. Maggie was presumably approaching middle age. Mestral had not married yet, so we can assume he was quite young. He would have expected to outlive her by at least a century."
"Oh." Tucker looked a little disconcerted. "Still, if two people love each other…"
The doors slid open to B deck. "Vulcans believe that lasting marital affection grows out of shared experiences and mutual respect. Your own scientists have long documented that romantic infatuation derived from physical attraction seldom lasts. No doubt this explains the relative impermanence of Human relationships."
Tucker frowned. "They're not all impermanent."
They arrived at her door. "No," T'Pol said. "However, there can be no argument that, statistically speaking, Humans experience a great many more failed relationships than Vulcans do. I believe you have experienced this phenomenon yourself." She thumbed her door control, anxious to leave the engineer to his own reflections. She had begun to suspect that he took an interest in her that was more than professional, although she was not certain it went beyond that friendship Humans seemed to find so necessary in the workings of their daily lives. For her own part, she had become conscious of having more of an attachment to him than she did to anyone else on the ship. This was unlikely to be a good thing, even if it was perhaps to be expected, given that Tucker knew more about her and also seemed to be a great deal more interested in her than the others were.
Therefore this little dose of Vulcan reality might be salutary for both of them.
But Tucker was not to be dismissed so easily. "But, T'Pol, don't you see that you've done exactly the same thing Mestral did? You spurned the man chosen for you in order to stay here, with us … the smelly Humans." He grinned.
She put her hand in the door to prevent it from closing. She wasn't going to give him the last word on this. "It is not the same at all, Commander. Once he made his decision, Mestral had no way to return home. I can depart whenever I wish. Obviously, my second foremother ultimately did go back to Vulcan in fulfillment of her duty. If she hadn't, I wouldn't exist."
"But you told me you may never marry now. So where does that leave you, if you want any great grandchildren to tell your stories to?"
Where indeed? "I believe it leaves me retiring to my quarters for rest and meditation," she said firmly, conscious that her voice was also betraying some degree of testiness.
He looked solemnly at her, and she felt that unfortunate, impractical sensation of attachment flare up between them, so strong that it almost felt like a measurable physical phenomenon -- which was ridiculous and impossible. For a moment, crazily, she wondered if he was thinking about leaning forward and kissing her, though of course he did no such thing.
She must be much more intoxicated than she had thought.
He smiled, though it didn't reach his eyes. "Well, good night, then."
He turned to leave, and she let the door slide shut.
x x x
Later that night, after some much-needed meditation, she stared down at T'Mir's old purse. It was not logical to carry this family heirloom about with her, but she supposed that in some hard-to-define way it spoke to her own desire to explore … and helped her realize that she was not alone among her people in possessing it.
She smoothed her fingers over the texture of the bag. Mestral had indeed told her second foremother that his decision had nothing to do with Maggie, but T'Pol had decided not to share with Tucker and Archer that T'Mir had not believed him in the slightest. "He was quite irrationally smitten with her -- with all of them, the whole of Humanity," the old woman had said, her knotted, ancient hands clasped tightly together as if the situation could still provoke tension in her all these years later. "I am sure he came to regret his rash decision. His slow aging would have forced him to remain itinerant for the rest of his life. He must have kept his word and escaped notice, since we can find no record of him. Neither, however, can we find any trace of his studies. So his life's work disappeared into nothing; he ultimately made no contribution to the knowledge of his own people. His life was wasted."
"He saved those miners," young T'Pol had pointed out. "And he kept you from starving."
"Yes. Of course, he risked contaminating the natural development of an entire sentient species in order to do it."
"But you helped him."
"I did," the old lady had said softly. "I was younger then. With more experience, I might have chosen otherwise. Not that he would have listened to me. He was quite stubborn."
"On the whole he strikes me as rather admirable," T'Pol had said.
T'Mir had cocked her wizened head at her. "Think carefully about what you admire in others, child. It can lead you to places you never intended."
T'Pol wrapped the purse back up and put it back in its place in her quarters on a Human starship.
Yes, that was undoubtedly true.
Just saw a documentary on PBS about the Mine Wars. There was a settlement named Cabin Creek in Pennsylvania. I wonder if that might have been the model for Carbon Creek (which is a pretty cool name for a coal mining town!).
I love what you did with this story, because it's obvious in the episode that Trip's not going to let this go, especially not after his "large indulgence". I also love th way T'Pol's pensiveness, and the connections she's making between T'Mir, Mestral, and herself fit so perfectly with the purse scene at the end of the episode.
These are just lovely little pieces that really belonged in the episodes. I've toyed with this idea, but I'm not sure I've got what it takes to do every episode. Just might try, though....
Another good chapter honey, I really like the intimacy you've built in this scene, and throughout the series. As others have said this episode is rife for TnT banter and exploration and you caught that very well.
All I can say is yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!! :)
There is an real "Oil City" nearby and I took that name to be the inspiration for "Carbon Creek," but that's just my own theory. I'm pretty sure the episode was set in Pennsylvania. There is plenty of coal around here, so . . . it happened just outside of Pittsburgh. ;) That's MY canon.
I just love this scene! I really think Carbon Creek is one of the most fertile episodes for "behind the scenes" TnT stuff. There's a real sense of intimacy here.
Linda, I believe that in one PM to me JT said there was a town in Penn named Carbon Creek but I searched a Map of Penn and could not find it.
Transilk Convention? Arizona is a beautiful state and no Cold weather, Earthquackes, Fires, floods or other natural disasters. got lots of History here: Tombstone (Gunfight at the Ok Corral) Believe that the Last Apache raids were in Arizona. Mountains, Lakes, Rivers, the Grand Canyon.
:)
Contradict away, Silverbullet! You don't have to take anyone else's "facts" as your own! Maybe if you write down a list of facts as you want them in your own ST universe - what seems logical to you, and refer to them as you write your stories, it might keep confusion at bay. Like keeping your own database of cultural traits, character personality traits, who is married and when, what children they have, timeline for events. I know it gets confusing with all the stories here. That is why I usually wait for a multi-part story to be complete before I start reading it. My poor aged brain can't keep several story lines straight at one time, especially if new chapters are a long time in coming out.
Sorry Alelou, for using your comment space like this!
Hey, anybody know if there really is a town named Carbon Creek? It might be a good host town for a Triaxian Silk convention!
Linda, I am properly chastised and contrite. You are right I do tend to be more absolute in my opinions. goes with age I sppose. Crotchety. Wish that all writers could get together and settle on Ages, Names, whether TnT were married, if they had children and how many, what were there names. As it is a tad confusing at times. Because one doesn't want to contradict anyone else too much
Being fairly new at this game I am still groping around. I have read a fair amount of TnT FanFics and like some slants and not others. I am, as you know, a romantic so I like stories that don't kill off either Trip or T-Pol or break them up.
Your advice will be taken to heart. Thank you for your time and trouble.
Thanks for un-confusing me, Bluetiger and Alelou!
Silverbullet, Sarek died at 201 because he had a disease, in the TNG series. Other Vulcans have lived much longer - in canon and non-canon sources. I don't know where you got this average of 200 years, and I can't say where in all the series, movies and hundreds of ST books I read, that I found mine info. If you want to have it in your story that Vulcans only live 200 years, that is fine. But don't try to convince me that my way of thinking is wrong. As I said in my ST universe Mestral lived to 250 or more, had kids with human women, met and talked to T'Pol before he died. Just write it your way in your ST universe, and that is just as valid. I really want to read your story, the way you see it. But please just don't tell my that my way is wrong, okay? I think you tend to be more absolute about things than I am. I tend to be accepting of contradictions and say both sides (even if mutually exclusive) are both true! That is how I look at life and resolve problems and it works for me. Like if you ask if Mestral died at age 200 or at age 275 - I'd say he died at both ages and be perfectly happy accepting the apparent contradiction. That is the beauty of speculative fiction. You can have it BOTH ways. :p ;)
Oh, and as an example of contradiction, D. C. Fontana who invented Sarek and Amanda when she wrote the TOS episode Journey to Babel, wrote a novel where Humans were the ones who figured out how to splice genes to create a Vulcan-Human hybrid. This predates other novels who had Vulcan healers creating Spock and Phlox saying he figured out how to give Trip and T'Pol a child. Contradictions are the grist of the ST mill. Have fun with it! :D
Alelou, not important enough.
I did like your Missing Scene.
Since it has little bearing on this story, perhaps you could take this debate to the discussion board.
T-Pol told her story in 2152. T-Mir, Mestral, Ston crashed in Carbon Creek in 1957. that is a difference of 195 years.
Apprently Vulcans have two ages: Cronological and Physical. When T-Pol mated with Trip her cronological age was 65 and her physical age was 26. So Vulcan age physically slower than they do Cronoligcaly.
Mestral's apparent Physical age was around 35 so his cronogical age must have been in his 70's.
If he ages one year physically for every year he is on Earth what would his Cronoloigical age be?
I read somewhere that Vulcans life on an average of 200 years. But if Mestral lived another 195 years on Earth added to his 70 some years that would put him at least 270 years old when T-Pol visited Carbon Creek. Perhaps older Cronologicaly. Still think that Mestral probably died somewhere between 2080 and 2100.
Also, Trip mentions Mestrals Ears being seen after he dies. but if Mestral was embalmed his Green blood would be discovered.
Yup, that's what I meant.:)
Linda, I think she means he would be irresponsible to stay on Earth if he had been old enough to already have a mate on Vulcan and left her behind. At least I think that's what she meant :)
I'm kinda dumb today. Not understanding what you mean by being irresponsible if he stayed after he was mated. Stayed where? Please help me, LOL, I'm having a senior momment. :s
Not to mention, if Mestral stayed after he was MATED, he would be quite irresponsible to his mate, which doesn't seem too much like him, although I suppose anything is possible. So I assumed he was actually younger than the actor looked -- nore like T'Pol's age.
There's no gospel here. It's fiction. We can all have it our own ways.
Never say NOT possible, Silverbullet. This is FICTION. Anything is possible. You assume Mestral was 75 when the ship crashed only would live 200 years. I assume he could be as young as 30 human years (generally accepted Vulcan age of majority) when the ship crashed at Carbon Creek. I assume a Vulcan life span of 250 - 300 years - top end. So he could be 230 - 275 or older when T'Pol visited Carbon Creek. Don't be so literal minded, My Dear. Never say never in speculated fiction because it is all about stretching the possibilities! ;) :p
T-Pol was 65 when she mated with Trip. that is young for a Vulcan. Her physical age was about 26 Human years. So, Mestral seemed (in the episode) to be about 35 Human Years which would make his Vulcan age around 75 mayb e a bit more. If he lives until 2050 he would be about 135 Human years and probably over 200 hundred in vulcan years. Which would mean he died between 2080 and the end of the Cnetury. T-POl did not visit Carbon creek until 21 somethng. She could not possiby have met mestral because he would be over 300 or more Vulcan years. Or at least that is the way I am going to write it in future.
It is fun to have various speculations on Mestral's fate. I am enjoying all the Mestral stories and hope more will be written (hint, hint). I think they left T'Pol's meeting Mestral out of the episode so they could put that in a future episode as I always thought they would come back to this story. If Vulcans can live 250 or more, it is certainly possible Mestral would still be alive. Well, at least that is how it goes in my private ST universe, LOL.
Thanks, all!
As far as Mestral's fate goes -- that was just T'Mir's opinion. So any other take on it (specifically Linda's or SilverBullet's) is equally valid, IMO. But I didn't assume T'Pol had met up with Mestral, because I can't imagine they would leave that out of that episode if it had happened. Besides, the mystery is more fun.
I'm so glad you finally got your priorities straight and decided to continue "missing scenes." ;) I agree with Aquarious, these are like crack to me. Love it!
I like your reasons for T'Pol carrying T'Mir's purse around. Since Vulcans are not ones to collect a lot of possessions, it must have been significant to her. Always wondered about its meaning to her. Thanks!
I disagree that Mestral would be itinerant all his life. I think his personality was such that he would crave strong personal relationships and would find a human, or humans he deeply trusted and tell them the whole truth. They would protect him, take care of him. That almost HAD to happen for him to stay so hidden. I also think he would manage to find a way to have children and that he was still alive, but dying, when T'Pol visited Carbon Creek.
Will T'Pol find a T'Mir's note in that purse, by chance? :p
As for that: "Yes. Of course, he risked contaminating the natural development of an entire sentient species in order to do it."
Yes, it rings very Vulcan, but frankly I find that a little tiresome and tiring, and, if I have to be honest, also illogical and untrue: Contamination is the way in order to develop. If Vulcans (and all people) don't learn that, I think that the Federation's future will be very obscure.
Excuse me, that has nothing to do with the story (it is good), but I took advantage of it to expound this two cents of thoughts from my part.
Well once again you are on a roll. I was always sure that Trip wouldn't be able to leave that story alone. It makes sense that he would follow her with more questions.
My favorite line "Think carefully about what you admire in others, child. It can lead you to places you never intended." Oh how true for T'Pol :p
This is a wonderful additation to Carbon Creek. I grinned with Trip when he asked about the kissing in the car [how did T'Pol know about this BTW]. T'Pol reacts strongly when she realizes she has become attached to Trip. Maybe this explains the distance between them in season 2. This was a great missing scene.
These are my crack. ;)
Poor Trip. Probably doesn't even realize yet he's testing the waters for things to come.
Yummy.
Oh Dear, I have Mestral leaving something on Earth that tells of his Love for Maggie, hers for him and that they had married, had a happy life. That T-Pol had known about what Mestral had left when she told the story to Archer and Trip.
Still, this is a nice Missing scene. Good Work
AMAZING. Geez I love these so much. I can't wait for the next one. I think you should do the entire series. lol.
By which I mean, I've been wrapped up in the Carbon Creek story. I read Alelou's story just now for the first time.
OH this is weird! My captcha is "special honolulu." More spooky perfection. :)
I know this is getting repetitive, but THIS IS PERFECTION! For some reason, it gives me chills. I guess it's because I've been so wrapped up in this story lately, betaing for Silverbullet. It totally FITS!!!! I love Carbon Creek.