Hey everyone,
I wanted to share a project I’ve recently posted over on AO3 that serves as a major Season 5 character arc and a massive "fix-it" for the series finale. It's written as a teleplay/scriptment script-prose hybrid, designed to bridge the gap between the end of Enterprise and the birth of the Federation.
It is intended to be in compliance with the live-action TV canon - at least as far as I remember it. I have also taken some inspiration from behind-the-scenes trivia that the show creators originally intended T’Pol to instead by a young T’Pau. This, combined with the knowledge that T’Pau famously turned down a seat at the Federation Council inspired me to consider how T’Pol might fit in to both the Earth-Romulan war and the Vulcan reformation, following the end of season 4.
Title: The Price of Logic
Author: The_Caledonian_Insurgent
Rating: Teen+ (For intense themes, depiction of wartime captivity/interrogation, and permanent physical injuries)
Characters: T'Pol, Trip Tucker, Jonathan Archer, Phlox, Shran, Hoshi Sato, T'Pau.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/89030321/chapters/236318606
Logline:
When Sub-Commander T’Pol is rescued from a covert Romulan black-site during the Earth-Romulan War, she returns to the Enterprise with permanent physical and psychological scars. While the Vulcan Council tries to institutionalise her as a political liability, Trip Tucker refuses to let her hide behind her mental walls - challenging her to rebuild her identity from the ashes and give birth to a new philosophy: analytical empathy.
What to expect:
VULCAN COUNCILLOR #2
This operation was a black ops insertion with no emergency extraction protocol. Our tactical projections indicated that if T’Pol were discovered by the Romulans she would be killed within hours. Her unexpected survival has created an inefficient expenditure of diplomatic resources.
ARCHER
So now that she has shown unprecedented strength and survived a month of systematic mutilation by the enemy, you – her own people - want to lock her away again because… it’s more politically convenient for you?
VULCAN COUNCILLOR #1
(Unfazed)
Captain Archer, you fail to grasp the delicacy of the situation. How can we be sure Sub-Commander T’Pol is mentally capable of keeping our state secrets in her current condition? You ignore the fact that this incident has already created extensive intelligence containment issues with the Andorian Imperial Guard.
ARCHER
Then stop keeping all of us in the dark! You know, listening to you three, it’s like the last few years never happened. You sound exactly like the old High Command.
It’s completely finished and split into a tidy three-part structure. I’d love to know what fellow ENT purists think of the expansion of the Vulcan/Andorian political dynamics, the attempt to redeem the finale, and the incorporation of T’Pau in the epilogue!
Drop a comment here or over on AO3 if you check it out!
I wanted to share a project I’ve recently posted over on AO3 that serves as a major Season 5 character arc and a massive "fix-it" for the series finale. It's written as a teleplay/scriptment script-prose hybrid, designed to bridge the gap between the end of Enterprise and the birth of the Federation.
It is intended to be in compliance with the live-action TV canon - at least as far as I remember it. I have also taken some inspiration from behind-the-scenes trivia that the show creators originally intended T’Pol to instead by a young T’Pau. This, combined with the knowledge that T’Pau famously turned down a seat at the Federation Council inspired me to consider how T’Pol might fit in to both the Earth-Romulan war and the Vulcan reformation, following the end of season 4.
Title: The Price of Logic
Author: The_Caledonian_Insurgent
Rating: Teen+ (For intense themes, depiction of wartime captivity/interrogation, and permanent physical injuries)
Characters: T'Pol, Trip Tucker, Jonathan Archer, Phlox, Shran, Hoshi Sato, T'Pau.
Link: https://archiveofourown.org/works/89030321/chapters/236318606
Logline:
When Sub-Commander T’Pol is rescued from a covert Romulan black-site during the Earth-Romulan War, she returns to the Enterprise with permanent physical and psychological scars. While the Vulcan Council tries to institutionalise her as a political liability, Trip Tucker refuses to let her hide behind her mental walls - challenging her to rebuild her identity from the ashes and give birth to a new philosophy: analytical empathy.
What to expect:
- A True Character-Driven Fix-It: Like most of us, I was deeply unsatisfied with how Enterprise ended. This story treats Trip and T'Pol's connection with the gravity it deserved, spanning all the way from the war to the signing of the Federation Charter and an epilogue decades later.
- Vulcan Philosophy Lore Expansion: It dives deep into post-Kir'Shara Vulcan culture, exploring how a telepathic species structurally processes severe trauma instead of just using future space medicine to magically "fix" everything.
- Ensemble Focus: While the emotional core is Trip and T'Pol, it features major roles for Archer fighting a bureaucratic battle with the Vulcan Council, Hoshi helping with rehabilitation through linguistics, and Shran being the ultimate pragmatic ally.
VULCAN COUNCILLOR #2
This operation was a black ops insertion with no emergency extraction protocol. Our tactical projections indicated that if T’Pol were discovered by the Romulans she would be killed within hours. Her unexpected survival has created an inefficient expenditure of diplomatic resources.
ARCHER
So now that she has shown unprecedented strength and survived a month of systematic mutilation by the enemy, you – her own people - want to lock her away again because… it’s more politically convenient for you?
VULCAN COUNCILLOR #1
(Unfazed)
Captain Archer, you fail to grasp the delicacy of the situation. How can we be sure Sub-Commander T’Pol is mentally capable of keeping our state secrets in her current condition? You ignore the fact that this incident has already created extensive intelligence containment issues with the Andorian Imperial Guard.
ARCHER
Then stop keeping all of us in the dark! You know, listening to you three, it’s like the last few years never happened. You sound exactly like the old High Command.
It’s completely finished and split into a tidy three-part structure. I’d love to know what fellow ENT purists think of the expansion of the Vulcan/Andorian political dynamics, the attempt to redeem the finale, and the incorporation of T’Pau in the epilogue!
Drop a comment here or over on AO3 if you check it out!
