Remembrance - Star Trek / Highlander crossover fic

[Methos]

TITLE: Rememberance

AUTHOR: Methos (methos@btinternet.com)

DISCLAIMER: All things Star Trek belong to a ton of people, this is set just after the 2009 movie, so probably J. J. Abrams and all those people… Duncan Macleod and any other Highlander characters I bring into this belong to Davis & Panzer... Any other characters or universes that get dragged into this mess belong to their respective owners... Nothing is mine, only the extremely twisted idea.

2252, May twentieth.

Duncan turned on his chair to look towards the doorway, the presence of another immortal alerting him to the intrusion long before the door beeped as it slid open. His hand was already half way towards his katana that was stashed under the counter, years of ingrained memory teaching him to always have his sword nearby, the fact that he hadn’t faced a challenge in over seventy years was beside the point.

“Candygram,”

Duncan smiled as he recognised the voice, watching as the face appeared in the doorway as a warning before the door opened to allow him entry.

“Well well, Macleod’s Antiques, you certainly haven’t changed have you?” Methos grinned as he slowly walked into the store, idly looking around.

“It’s a living,” Duncan explained with a grin as he stood up. “It’s good to see you.” He said as he embraced his old friend with a hug.

“And you,” Methos smiled back. “It’s been, what, forty years?”

“Forty seven,” Duncan corrected him as he moved to behind the counter where he had a small fridge, fetching a bottle of water for himself and a beer for Methos.

“British,” Methos raised his eyebrow as he accepted the beer. “Cold, but still…” He smiled as he popped the top open and took a long drink from the bottle. “Mate in five,” He commented idly as he noted the chess set in the middle of a game set to one side.

“I didn’t ask you here for a match Methos,” Duncan commented as he nodded to a chair by the counter so they could sit and talk properly.

“Yes, why did you call me back here?” Methos asked as he moved to take the offered seat. “There are so few of us left, you finally grown tired of antiques and wanted a real challenge?” He asked wryly, a twinkle in his eye showing he was only joking.

“The challenge is right,” Duncan commented, “But not from you old man.” He laughed as he took another swig from his water. “I want to ask a favour.”

“Name it,” Methos nodded seriously, knowing that Macleod had always been there for him when he needed it, so he was more than happy to return the favour when asked, as long as it didn’t pose a threat to him or his head that was.

“Look after the store for me,” Duncan said simply.

“That’s it?” Methos asked with a raised eyebrow. “What, taking a holiday or something?”

“Something like that,” Duncan smiled as he turned to get some paperwork from behind him.

“Why not just close up?” Methos asked curiously. “It’s not as if you need the money, seems like a pretty secure neighbourhood. But then, you could have asked anyone couldn’t you.” He said finally, catching on to what Macleod was doing. “Why did you really ask me…” He trailed off as Macleod turned back to the counter and pushed some papers towards him. “It’s finally happened then.” Methos grinned as he read the papers. “The vaunted Highlander has finally lost his mind.”

“Hardly,” Duncan smirked at him. “It’s something I’ve got to do.”

“Join Starfleet?” Methos rolled his eyes. “Is this one of those immortal mid-life crisis things that I’ve avoided for over five thousand years? Get a cat, a sports car, take up bungee jumping or something.”

“It’s a worthwhile cause.” Duncan defended himself.

“So was NATO, look how that ended, or have you forgotten the Eugenics Wars already, or World War Three, fat lot of good those big organisations did then.” Methos argued back.

“Starfleet’s different.” Duncan commented, not rising to the bait of Methos’ arguments.

“Really,” Methos rolled his eyes as he took another mouthful of the beer. “Look, I get it, you’re bored. The headhunters are gone, there’s maybe a hundred, two hundred immortals left. No Gathering, no Prize, no challenges. You’re looking for something to give your life meaning, I get that. But Starfleet?”

“I didn’t ask you here for your permission Methos,” Duncan said wryly. “I don’t need your blessing to do this.”

“No, the world oldest boy scout doesn’t need blessings or permissions, or common sense it seems.” Methos smirked back. “Looking for new ways to die then, because I’m sure being on one of those great big star ships as it explodes or falls to earth would do the job just as well as a sword.”

“Probably,” Duncan nodded in agreement. “I didn’t say it was going to be easy.”

“Oh that’s reassuring,” Methos laughed back. “Fine, go ahead, sure there’s plenty of planets out there with alien races more than happy to blow that head of yours off with a nice energy weapon or something.”

“It’s worth the risk,” Duncan sighed. “Look, you’ve been around longer than me, longer than anyone. Don’t you get bored of it? The world, you’ve seen it, been everywhere, done everything. There’s nothing else to do here.”

“There’s staying alive for one,” Methos grinned back. “It’s a phase, it’ll pass. Starfleet will fail, then there’ll be another world government, and another, all with the same goals and ambitions. We’ve seen it before, governments, cities, nations, they rise and fall, this one is no different.”

“I think it is,” Duncan said firmly. “I’ve already enlisted, shipping out on Thursday.”

“So I see,” Methos nodded as he read the date on the papers.

“So you’ll do it then?” Duncan asked, hoping that Methos would at least be dependable for once in his ancient life and do as he’d asked.

“Look after the store,” Methos sighed. “Fine, what’s it going to be, two years, three at most?”

“I’ve signed up for a five year mission after qualification,” Duncan explained. “Fast track through the academy and then officer training.”

“Seven years then,” Methos nodded. “You could just sell the place.”

“Methos,” Duncan smiled over, knowing the old man was only kidding. “What’s seven years to us?” He grinned.

“It’s still seven years,” Methos smiled back. “Fine, but I still think you’re crazy.”

“You always did,” Duncan grinned as he raised his bottle. “To Starfleet.” He said as a toast.

“To overgrown boy scouts,” Methos countered as he tapped Duncan’s bottle of water with his beer. “And god help the rest of the galaxy.” He laughed before draining the beer.

 

[Methos]

Re: Remembrance - Star Trel / Highlander crossover fic

TITLE: Rememberance

AUTHOR: Methos (methos@btinternet.com)

DISCLAIMER: All things Star Trek belong to a ton of people, this is set just after the 2009 movie, so probably J. J. Abrams and all those people… Duncan Macleod and any other Highlander characters I bring into this belong to Davis & Panzer... Any other characters or universes that get dragged into this mess belong to their respective owners... Nothing is mine, only the extremely twisted idea.

----------------

2256, July 14

He almost winced as the turbolift doors opened onto the bridge, the lights being far brighter here for some reason than on the rest of the ship. Fighting back the urge to cover his eyes he stepped out onto the bridge, his peripheral vision catching how everyone was already at their work stations before snapping to attention.

“Captain on deck.” Lieutenant Lehane shouted, standing up from the captain’s chair herself and snapping a salute towards him.

“As you were,” Duncan smiled with a small nod as he walked into the middle of the bridge, coming to a stop at the back of the captain’s chair and leaning his arms on it comfortably.

The USS Remembrance was a fine ship, one any Captain would be honoured to command. Launched only last year after the Romulan attack on Earth, she had originally been christened the Lexington but was renamed shortly before launch in memory of those that had died fighting the Romulan Nero.

“This is for you Richie,” Duncan whispered to himself as he looked out the viewscreen, watching the Earth slowly rotate underneath as the Remembrance maintained a steady orbit.

“Captain?” Lieutenant Lehane asked, as she hadn’t quite heard what he said.

“Nothing,” Duncan smiled, shaking his head over at the young officer who was his second in command. The Remembrance was definitely a fitting name for his ship, it had been nearly two hundred and sixty years since the incident with Richie, since Ahriman had tricked him into killing his own student. He’d long since come to terms with what had happened, but it didn’t change the fact that Richie wasn’t here with him, racing those starships as he’d promised all those years ago. “Everything ready?” He asked, bringing his attention back to the present and checking in with the bridge.

“Aye sir,” Lieutenant Lehane nodded.

“Let’s see what she’s got then,” Duncan grinned as he moved around to sit in the Captain’s chair. “One quarter impulse, take us out.”

“Aye sir,” Ensign Daniels commented from the helm, bringing the impulse engines online and slowly moving them away from space dock.

Duncan smiled from the captain’s chair, leaning forward slightly and resting his elbows on his legs as he interlaced his fingers in front of his mouth. It wasn’t the first time he’d left Earth, he’d been to the moon several times before in the past fifty years, but this was the first time he was in control of a ship like this. His eyes widened slightly as Earth began to spin away from them, outside of the view screen, the sun behind the earth giving a momentary flare before it was out of view too, leaving only the blackness of space and distant stars on screen.

It had been nearly thirty years since he’d faced a challenge now, the headhunters of old seemingly extinct now, like much of the human race, the immortals had actually grown weary of the constant fighting and challenges. Towards the end of the twenty first century challenges were rampant, with an immortal coming for his head, or causing trouble for another immortal every week or so it seemed. He’d fought in the eugenics in the mid twenty first century, against men who thought they were better than the rest of humanity, no different from some of the immortals he’d faced over his life span.

After World War Three devastated Earth, he’d been quite happy to go back to simpler times. He’d made his way back to Scotland and happily lived there for nearly forty years, enjoying simpler times in the highlands. That had all changed in the twenty seventies though. Word reached him, even where he had settled in the far reaches of the highlands, that Earth had made contact with an alien race.

The thought was mindboggling, he’d lived nearly seven hundred years now, he’d lived through the centuries where people believing in aliens were ridiculed and thought to be crazy, he’d seen wars fought over ideals and land, the human race fighting amongst itself over petty arguments and natural resources, but the fact that they’d somehow survived to actually make contact with another race of people living out there in the universe, that was something he had to witness himself.

So he’d made his way back to civilisation, moving back amongst people for the first time in too many decades. At first he’d expected the same, wars, fighting, ignorance and fear, the sorts of things he’d come to expect from humanity after half a millenium. It was a pleasant surprise to find that humanity had actually grown up it seemed.

And here he was, nearly two hundred years later. He still remembered standing on that site in Montana, the exact spot where he’d been told the aliens had first landed. Of course that wasn’t the last time they’d visited Earth, in the two hundred years since then he’d witnessed humanity strive to reach the stars with its new Vulcan friends. He’d seen the birth of Starfleet and how many aliens were actually out in the galaxy waiting for them. He’d been at the launch of the first Enterprise ship, watching as Captain Archer took command and brought whole new races and thoughts back to Earth.

Even then joining Starfleet had been something that had only danced across his mind, a quick thought about seeing the stars himself one day. But it was something he’d never actually seriously thought about, just a fleeting fancy really. He was happy in San Francisco, owning an antique shop just as he had done in the twentieth century, watching Starfleet grow from afar and staying out of the spotlight.

Ironically it had actually been a Starfleet Captain that had convinced him to join Starfleet. Captain Pike of the Enterprise had been a regular visitor to his store, a collector of old books and novelties from the twentieth and twenty first centuries. He’d come into the store almost weekly to talk, to reminisce and relax. Over the years they’d actually become good friends, regular chess partners and a valued ear for either of their problems. With Christopher either in command of the Enterprise, or on Earth giving lectures at Starfleet academy, Duncan had become well versed in starship knowledge and information about the academy itself.

He remembered the date exactly, the fourth of May twenty two fifty four. They were in the middle of their weekly chess game, it had been a long running argument from Christopher that Starfleet needed men like him, honourable and knowledgeable men, to go out into the galaxy and prove that Starfleet was a cause worth joining with. For some reason, on that day, Christopher’s arguments had resonated even more with him than they had done normally. They used to be arguments that he could dismiss, arguments that he could tell himself he’d heard before, and that Starfleet was just another organisation like hundreds before it, like armies and peacekeeping forces he’d seen grow, flourish and fail a hundred times or more. But this time Christopher had actually managed to convince him that Starfleet was something new, that humanity really was standing on the edge of something great here.

He chuckled to himself in the captain’s chair as he remembered Christopher’s words. ‘If we don’t have men like you in command, god knows who’ll get the next ship.’

“I’m blaming you for this Christopher,” Duncan muttered to himself as he nodded towards the view screen.

“Engineering say they’re ready for warp Captain,” Lieutenant Lehane called out from the side station where she was working on something.

“Guess we can’t put it off any longer then,” Duncan grinned as he nodded to her. “Ensign Daniels was it?” He asked, waiting before the helm officer nodded back to him. “Pick a star then.”

“Aye sir,” Ensign Daniels smiled as he turned back to his console and picked a route at random. “Course laid in Captain.”

“Let’s go then.” Duncan smiled as he leaned back in his chair, watching as the stars in front of them seemed to stretch for a moment before blazing past in streaks of white.

 

[Gibraltar]

This is an intersting crossover, but as Trek already established one canon immortal in TOS, the combination of the two series makes a twisted sort of logic. And someone with 500 years life experience would certainly make a formidable commanding officer.

Not so sure how valuable immortality is in the age of directed energy weapons that can vaporize you at the molecular level.

You've caught my attention...

 

[Methos]

Thanks... Duncan was born in 1592... so he's coming up to seven hundred as of 2256... in that time he's served in god knows how many wars... he fought under Bonnie Prince Charlie against the British in 1745, in the 1800's he fought in the Napoleonic wars... During the american civil war he first fought in the Union Army but then joined the Underground Railroad...

In World War I, Duncan served in both the French and British armies as a medic. In World War II, he fought in the French Resistance and later worked for British Intelligence...

He's a very interesting character, one with a very solid code of honour and duty... It often gets him into trouble, but it's a code of honour that he's always stuck by... the one thing i've going to have fun with is his sense of chivalry and honour lol... even in the 90's and 2000's he still stuck with a code of chivalry that was engrained in him from the 1800's, which makes him often underestimate women in general...

M

 

[Skywalker]

There's actually a lot of places you could go with a Highlander/Trek crossover. There's Flint, whom Gibraltar already alluded to, and apparently he's actually around 6000 years old as of TOS. Maybe Methos gets jealous when he finds out he's not actually the oldest living Immortal.

I wonder if the Watchers would still exist in a world where there only a couple hundred Immortals left and they're spread all over the Federation. Maybe Section 31 is keeping tabs on them instead.

And, of course, you just know Amanda's found herself some trouble somewhere in the galaxy.

 

[Methos]

lol i was definitely planning on bringing Section 31 in later on... they're a very interesting agency, so i plan on having fun with them...

Yeah i'd thought about Flint... i'm tempted to have him come in later on, perhaps allude that he was Methos' teacher back in ancient Egypt or something... I don't see Methos getting jealous of Flint... he'd probably just shrug and ignore him... like when the 'other methos' appeared in the series, Methos was quite happy to have someone else take over being the oldest for a while and let him just live his life in peace...

Oh Amanda will always find herself trouble... in true Highlander fashion i'm going to try and write Duncan's adventures on board the Remembrance as normal, and then have flashbacks... so he'll flash back to days at Starfleet Academy, maybe his graduation with Amanda and Methos there laughing at him lol

M

 

[Gibraltar]

Hey, where'd this go?!

 

[Jedi Marso]

Possible themes to be explored here:

1. How does MacLeod pass a Starfleet physical, and could he possibly be misinterpreted as an Augment of some sort?

2. Is Flint a 'classic' Highlander immortal or some other aberration? If he is the former, then does MacLeod (or any other immortal) who leaves the bosom of Mother Earth become mortal? How would he deal with that, and might it allow him to have children? Would returning to Earth restore his immortality or would it be gone forever?

3. Are there immortals among the alien races out there? Imagine the first meeting between an immortal Romulan and human. Would they have the Game? Would it have the same rules? Could there be a quickening?

4. What would happen if one immortal hit another with a phaser on full power? Quickening or no Quickening?

5. Have the immortals maintained their secrecy throughout the past two-three centuries?

There's a lot of stuff to mine here.

 

[Jedi Marso]

Another thought:

Imagine a scenario (perhaps similar to Darmok, in which meaningful communication between two species is proving impossible) where Mac meets an alien immortal, and they duel, and MacLeod wins and takes the other's Quickening. He then has all the knowledge and life force of the alien, to include communications and language. Because of this he can facilitate a true first contact leading to communication and diplomatic relations.

Whoa.

 

[Gibraltar]

Another thought:

Imagine a scenario (perhaps similar to Darmok, in which meaningful communication between two species is proving impossible) where Mac meets an alien immortal, and they duel, and MacLeod wins and takes the other's Quickening. He then has all the knowledge and life force of the alien, to include communications and language. Because of this he can facilitate a true first contact leading to communication and diplomatic relations.

Whoa.

Except he's just cut their emissary’s head off. That tends to leave most species a tad bit... peevish.

 

[Skywalker]

If you go down the route of alien Immortals, it makes one wonder what created them all. Was it an external force or just natural development? And would the alien Immortals observe the humans' traditional rules?

 

[Jedi Marso]

If you go down the route of alien Immortals, it makes one wonder what created them all. Was it an external force or just natural development? And would the alien Immortals observe the humans' traditional rules?

Not only that, but what, then, would constitute 'holy ground?' Alien cultures notions of holiness, the afterlife, and such would necessarily range from near-identical to totally alien.

Would a Bojoran immortal consider the entire wormhole to be holy ground?

 

[Jedi Marso]

Another thought:

Imagine a scenario (perhaps similar to Darmok, in which meaningful communication between two species is proving impossible) where Mac meets an alien immortal, and they duel, and MacLeod wins and takes the other's Quickening. He then has all the knowledge and life force of the alien, to include communications and language. Because of this he can facilitate a true first contact leading to communication and diplomatic relations.

Whoa.

Except he's just cut their emissary’s head off. That tends to leave most species a tad bit... peevish.

Heh. Nobody promised it would be easy.

 

[rhubarbodendron]

Methos, have you finished more chapters yet? I'm curious about how Duncan is doing on a starship, what new ways of annoying him Amanda will find (and what new ways of 'collecting' jewelry, latinum and artworks) and what niche the ROG will have found for himself in your personal vision of his future.

Would there be Immortals from other races? An immortal Klingon would make both a nice adversary and a worthy opponent. And an immortal Founder would be extremely dangerous (possibly even the reason for the Gathering?)

 

[Firewater]

Just joined the site. Nice thread you had going here, hopefully you will do some more but doubtful after almost 5 years. To those that talk of Flint, he was actually around 6,103 years old when the Enterprise found his planet, he was born in 3834 BC and the Enterprise found him in 2269 (AD), and if anyone remembers in the end of the episode he found out he was dying. This story is actually taking place before the Enterprise ever found his planet, 2256 (AD).

 

[Jedi Marso]

In many of the recent novels, Flint has been used as character from the 22nd up through the 24th Centuries. I can't remember reading any explanation overturning McCoy's diagnosis of him in the TV show, but the reasonable assumption is that Flint commands knowledge and capabilities beyond McCoy's, and could trick him into believing that if he wanted to in order to preserve his secret in the future. If the universe thinks you are dead, staying hidden is a lot easier.

It would have been interesting to see this story develop further. I wrote a couple of Highlander fanfic stories several years ago (Einar's Saga and Saga's End, under the username Gunnar on the old Highlander message boards), but they weren't crossovers of any sort and I didn't portray any immortals going into space, although that possibility was looming on the horizon in the last story. Given the odd assortment of alien life forms and fantastic creatures in the Trek-verse, the Highlander immortals wouldn't even be the strangest ones out there, except perhaps for the supernatural nature of the Quickening. There is a lot of crossover potential there.

 

[Firewater]

Thanks for that, I haven't read any of the books so that is an interesting fact I didn't know.

 

[Firewater]

lol i was definitely planning on bringing Section 31 in later on... they're a very interesting agency, so i plan on having fun with them...

Yeah i'd thought about Flint... i'm tempted to have him come in later on, perhaps allude that he was Methos' teacher back in ancient Egypt or something... I don't see Methos getting jealous of Flint... he'd probably just shrug and ignore him... like when the 'other methos' appeared in the series, Methos was quite happy to have someone else take over being the oldest for a while and let him just live his life in peace...

Oh Amanda will always find herself trouble... in true Highlander fashion i'm going to try and write Duncan's adventures on board the Remembrance as normal, and then have flashbacks... so he'll flash back to days at Starfleet Academy, maybe his graduation with Amanda and Methos there laughing at him lol

M

The only thing about the idea of Flint and Method is that we know when Flint was born, in the show Method states he can only remember back 5000 years, we have no idea exactly how old he truly is.

 

[Firewater]

The only thing about the idea of Flint and Method is that we know when Flint was born, in the show Method states he can only remember back 5000 years, we have no idea exactly how old he truly is.

Methos not Method, stupid autocorrect.

 

[Jedi Marso]

If you are interested, here is a list of Flint's appearances (scroll to the appendices at the bottom): http://memory-beta.wikia.com/wiki/Flint