Missing Scenes from Season Four: These Are the Voyages

Part I

Disclaimer: All things Star Trek belong to CBS/Parmount.

Spoilers: This may not make much sense unless you've seen the somewhat notorious series finale "These Are the Voyages," which was written by Enterprise creators Rick Berman and Brannon Braga.

Author's Note: In hindsight, the last chapter wrapped up the 'real' missing scenes series, just as "Terra Prime" was the true finale of Enterprise. This new set of 'missing scenes' (more a sequel, really) plays off the official finale episode, which was a departure from all previous episodes because it was actually set up as a series of missing scenes from the episode "Pegasus" of Star Trek: The Next Generation.

It is my personal belief that this was done to allow the show to be 'reset' extremely easily, as well as to bid fond farewell to a franchise that had been in production on the Paramount lot for many years. If the unfortunate effect was to slight Enterprise and its fans(while also infuriating Trip's fans, Trip and T'Pol shippers, Shran's fans, etc) … well, that doesn't mean we can't find a canon-friendly way to have some fun with it. So, if you'd like, you can think of this as a valentine to fanfic readers.

Many thanks as always, reviewers. Even if you are allergic to TATV, I think you may enjoy this one, which will have multiple parts. However, I should probably note that the holo-fic Beverly begins to share with Deanna gets rather silly indeed. If you're not a fan of low comedy, you might be happier ending the missing scene series with this chapter.

After the captain reported on the disposition of Admiral Prescott and revealed Will's own role in that, Beverly said, "Now I know why you look like a man who's had the weight of the world lifted off his shoulders."

Will smiled. It was true, he actually did feel lighter. "I sure don't mind seeing the back of the Admiral."

From the other end of the conference room table, Geordi said, "That must have been a difficult decision."

"Excruciating," Will said. "It was so bad I even asked the ship's counselor for help. Not that she really gave me any!" He grinned teasingly at Deanna, who opened her mouth in feigned outrage.

"Excuse me! Didn't you say you found the NX-01 program useful?"

Picard turned a baleful eye on her. "The NX-01 program on the holodeck? Please tell me you're not serious."

Beverly muttered, "Oh, here we go."

Deanna said, "Why not? Starfleet recommends it as a resource for officers facing a difficult command choice."

"I thought it was pretty interesting," Will said. "Sometimes it's easy to forget those guys had to agonize over their decisions, too."

Picard scowled. "I hope you realize that program bears only the most glancing relationship to the truth."

Beverly smiled thinly. "And you really don't want to try to enjoy a holo-program with Jean-Luc Picard when he thinks it 'bears only the most glancing relationship to truth'."

"I wasn't there to enjoy it," Will protested. "Anyway, what was so wrong about it? It seemed pretty close to everything I've ever heard about the NX-01."

"Is history a matter of what people have heard, or is it a matter of what actually happened?" Picard snapped. "I suppose you also believe the Mary Rose sank on her maiden voyage!"

Will didn't happen to believe anything about the Mary Rose, as it happened – and his colleagues all looked as blank as him. Too bad Data was on the bridge.

Or, perhaps, thank goodness Data was on the bridge.

Apparently having decided to ignore their sad lack of knowledge of said Mary Rose, Picard said, "You know, after I experienced that travesty on the holo-deck, I wondered how they could get it so wrong, so I did some checking. Apparently this absurd version of events started with a very brief, inaccurate version of the story in a popular children's book some twenty years ago. Then came a popular historical drama that expanded on that inaccurate version. And then there was a novel about the NX-01 in which their chef, of all people, was made the main character. And apparently all ofthat nonsense then served as the basis for this ridiculous holo-program."

Will glanced at Deanna. Honestly, the captain could be such a tight-ass sometimes. "Weren't they working from actual ship recordings? What's so wrong about it?"

"You'd be better off asking what it got right," Picard said. "For one, Captain Charles Tucker III was in charge of Starfleet's warp development program from the middle of the Romulan War until his retirement. He wasn't even aboard the NX-01 in 2161."

Riker looked over at Geordi, who grinned. "He's right. Tucker looms large in the history of warp drive."

Deanna said, "What about his relationship with T'Pol? I heard that was real, at least for awhile."

Picard frowned. "There's no evidence they were ever linked by anything other than a short-lived hybrid child an isolationist cloned when he was trying to stir up trouble."

Beverly leaned over to Troi and said, "The captain has no sense of romance. I can clue you into some rather nice patches to that program, if you'd like a happier ending."

"A patch on rubbish is still rubbish," Picard growled.

"You can't be certain those two weren't actually together," Beverly countered. "There were many rumors about it at the time. They appear together repeatedly in various records of that era. She was the principal mourner at his funeral. They lived in adjacent apartments! And only after he died did she go back to Vulcan."

Picard sat back in his chair and folded his arms. Will began to suspect this was a rehash of an old argument, especially when the captain got a rather merry glint in his eye. "Some historians suggest she actually had a romantic relationship with Captain Archer."

"And some historians are idiots," Beverly said, and leaned back in her chair, folding her own arms and glaring at him.

Picard grinned and turned to Deanna. "What we know for certain is that T'Pol wasn't aboard the NX-01 in 2161 either. For that matter, Malcolm Reed had command of his own vessel by then – one that had obtained major victories in the Romulan War. Hoshi Sato was already back at Starfleet Command working on what would eventually become the universal translator. And Shran had risen quite high in the Andorian Imperial Guard. It's absolutely ridiculous to believe that a man of his stature faked his death to hide out from criminals over a jewel."

"Yes, don't ever try to show that program to an Andorian," Beverly said. "Or a jeweler."

"So none of it happened?" Will said, beginning to get quite annoyed. "Nobody sacrificed himself to save the captain and the birth of the Federation?"

Picard said, "There was a very bad explosion aboard the NX-01 in 2161. That's why she was decommissioned after only ten years of service. But it was from a Romulan mine left over from the war. Twelve crewmen lost their lives, and there were a number of serious injuries. Earth's government decided to cover up the cause – feelings were running high and peace with the Romulans had just been achieved."

Troi said, "And that cover up led to this … confusion?"

Beverly said, "It probably didn't help, but I think it's fairly obvious that the team that put this one together simply chose drama over historical fact at every turn, which I might add…" – she glared at Picard – "…is perfectly reasonable if you're creating a holodeck program that never claims to be documentary. Take Jonathan Archer's speech. It's well-documented that he got help from a team of speechwriters back on Earth. It took weeks, and there's a whole set of interim drafts you can look at anytime you want. And it was finished well in advance of the signing ceremony. It had to be – Earth's government had to approve it, and they wanted to give the founding planets' delegations a chance to review it beforehand, too. But that would have been rather dull to watch, wouldn't it?"

Picard said, "And this nonsense about their chef! They didn't have replicators in those days, you know, so they had to depend on that man for all their meals … and he knew it. According to everything I've ever read, he was a tin pot dictator. Everyone did their best to stay on his good side. Even Archer admitted that, when it came to Chef, he always picked his battles."

Deanna eyes narrowed. "How is it that you two know so much about this?"

Beverly blushed. "I've always been fascinated by the rumors about Tucker and T'Pol."

"I simply detest bad history," Picard said.

"Well, count me in on that," Riker said. "I feel like I've been had, big-time."

x x x

Deanna looked up and down the corridor. It was empty. Beverly had said that the "romance mode" of NX-01 was worth a look.

"Computer, start program NX-01. Romance mode."

"This program offers 22 romantic character combinations and five romantic sub-genres. Please choose the default setting or specify your preferences."

"How can there be 22 romantic character combinations?"

"Character combinations available include Tucker/T'Pol, Archer/T'Pol, Reed/Sato, Archer/Sato, Mayweather/Sato, Tucker/Sato, Archer/Tucker, Archer/Reed, Reed/Tucker, T'Pol/Sato, Phlox/Sato, Archer/Tucker/T'Pol..."

"Computer, stop!" This was mind-boggling. Who had had the time to come up with all this? "And the romantic sub-genres?"

"Available romantic sub-genres include traditional romance, tragic romance, comedic romance, romantic angst, and erotic romance."

Erotic romance? She was willing to bet that one was popular, but she would be too nervous that someone might walk in on her at an embarrassing moment. "What is the default romance setting?"

"Tucker/T'Pol tragic romance."

"Oh." She sighed. How was that any different from the real story, or at least what she had always thought was the real story? Not to mention, she just wasn't in the mood for tragedy. Indeed, sometimes she wondered why anyone ever was.

Also, the simple fact was that she found Jonathan Archer more attractive than Charles Tucker. But obviously a captain couldn't have a ship-board romance that didn't raise all sorts of red flags about his judgment and ethics…

Maybe she'd better ask Beverly for a more specific recommendation. Or maybe she could talk Beverly into doing the program with her. Beverly could indulge her Tucker/T'Pol fascination while Deanna watched the captain interact with … whom?

Hmm. Perhaps that explained all those romantic character combinations.

x x x

"Enter when ready," the computer said, and opened up onto a pristine meadow of waving purple flowers.

"This is a good one," Beverly said, leading the way in. "A little romance, some suspense, some adventure … I think you'll enjoy it."

"How many of these patches have you seen?" Deanna asked.

"Well, I usually stick to Tucker and T'Pol stories. But there are plenty more than that. People can upload their own patches, you know. And they do, all the time. You just have to know what to ask for. They're listed in the holodeck database."

Deanna had never even heard of such a thing. "But why?"

Beverly smiled. "Jean-Luc may be content to just call the thing rubbish, but there are people who enjoy 'fixing' it. Or just playing with it. Don't tell anyone, but I've written a couple of these myself."

"Is this one yours?" She'd better be careful about what she said.

"Oh, no, no," Beverly said. "But this is one of the ones that inspired me. This author is much better at specifying the action than I am. It's hard work writing a good holo-program. The computer gives you the sets and the people, but you have to specify exactly what they do. A lot of patches tend to come out a bit flat – people just stand around talking to each other like robots and nothing ever happens. Or you barely recognize them because suddenly they're weeping or slobbering over someone or inexplicably needing to get dressed in a ball gown. Of course, if you ask me, in the original program they were pretty badly out of character, too."

Deanna frowned. "Do you really think it's as far off as the captain says? I thought they had real ship's recordings to work from."

"I've seen some of those source recordings, and they just don't match what I see in that default program. Yes, the people look pretty much the same, but it's just … different. For one thing, it's a lot slower and duller in real life. You realize that boredom was probably their biggest challenge at those old warp speeds. And people weren't so gorgeously made up. And finally, they just didn't act like they do in the program. Can you really believe that Archer would have hugged a Vulcan? Or that T'Pol would have squeezed Shran's shoulder?"

"I hadn't noticed, actually," Deanna said weakly.

Beverly sighed. "Sorry. I'm such a fanatic, I forget that other people don't obsess over it like I do. Look, here comes the shuttle pod!"

The pod landed, and out spilled nearly the entire command crew: Archer, Tucker, T'Pol, Reed, Sato, Mayweather, and a dog. "What kind of away team protocol is this?" Deanna said. "Have they left any command officers on board?"

"Call it dramatic license," Beverly said. "There's the famous Porthos."

"Now that would be an interesting character to play."

"I actually tried it once just to see what it was like. But I couldn't even bring myself to bark at the scary aliens."

"The who?" Deanna said.

Porthos started barking furiously as a vast circle of reptilian aliens with large expanding crests around their heads rose up out of the field of flowers and pointed their weapons at the NX-01 crew.

"Maybe they're just being excessively cautious?" they could hear Commander Tucker suggest, even as the NX-01 crew formed a tight circle, their own weapons raised.

"This isn't exactly going as planned," Captain Archer said. "Hoshi?"

The communications officer raised her voice, speaking a bit haltingly in a strange tongue.

One of the aliens said something back. It didn't sound very friendly.

"Why isn't the universal translator working?" Deanna whispered. They were in objective mode, but she couldn't help not wanting the guys with the big guns to notice her.

"Their translators were primitive compared to ours," Beverly said. "It took them awhile to figure new languages out."

"But we have a good one and this is our holodeck."

"It's more fun this way."

Suddenly, the alien who had spoken barked a command, and all of the aliens fired at once on the little group, which slumped to the ground. Even the little dog was knocked out.

"The end," Deanna said.

"Very funny," Beverly said. "We're just getting started."

TO BE CONTINUED