Star Trek: Foundations

[Captain X]

“Adrift” Foundations episode #9. Story by CJ Sitter and Rigil Kent. Screenplay by CJ Sitter. Script first released on 11 May 2007.
2 December 2152. The crew of Enterprise run into some unexpected company and what started out as a pleasant first contact with friendly people turns into a frantic search for missing crewmembers.

 

[Admiral2]

"Coming of Age" was pretty good, "Adrift" was okay, but predictable, and there was one thing about Adrift that bugged me:

Spoiler: sleep

At one point toward the end, Reed wakes Trip up from a sound sleep to talk, but if they're rapidly running out of air, isn't it best if they sleep and therefore use up as little breathable air as possible?

 

[Duncan MacLeod]

Captain X, I have to say Foundations isn't bad, I'm enjoying reading it. It's certainly an improvement over Enterprise. Although I wish Archer wouldn't continue to act so unprofessionally towards Vulcans in general and T'Pol in particular. I never liked the anti-Vulcan bias. Even if you don't like someone, a pro doesn't let it interfere with his job. Also the whole reason for it is infantile: the Vulcans won't give us all their warp drive stuff so now I'm mad at them. Puh-lease.

But even though I'm enjoying it, I have to say I kinda like Rigel Kent's Endeavour a little better. And that's strange because you've corrected a number of the things that that I thought were wrong with Enterprise, and he hasn't. At least not as much.

Still, I'm enjoying both and hope that you both will continue with your respective stories. BTW do you think you could give Rigel Kent a little time off so he could finish up Endeavour: Acheron? :thumbsup:

 

[TheLoneRedshirt]

I have enjoyed reading the Foundations stories thus far. In my opinion they are an improvement over the original Enterprise stories. I'm looking forward to future installments.

 

[Captain X]

Wow, I had fans! Anyone still interested?

“Party Lines” Foundations episode #10. Story by Daegan A. Haller and CJ Sitter. Screenplay by Daegan A. Haller. Script first released on 25 May 2007.
17 December 2152. A chance meeting with an old "ally" leads to a tense stand-off for the crew of Enterprise.

“Soli” Foundations episode #11. Story by Rigil Kent and CJ Sitter. Screenplay by Rigil Kent. Script first released on 8 June 2007.
7 January 2153. T’Pol makes a status report to Ambassador Soval regarding recent events aboard Enterprise.

I'll try to answer a few questions while I'm at it.

Admiral2 said:

Spoiler: sleep

I guess it just depends on how a person wants to go out. I don't really see either of them just wanting to nod off and die quietly. Besides, if Reed had let Trip sleep, who'd he have to talk to?

Duncan MacLeod said:
I wish Archer wouldn't continue to act so unprofessionally towards Vulcans in general and T'Pol in particular. I never liked the anti-Vulcan bias. Even if you don't like someone, a pro doesn't let it interfere with his job. Also the whole reason for it is infantile: the Vulcans won't give us all their warp drive stuff so now I'm mad at them. Puh-lease.

There's a bit more to it in the FND-verse. Episode 13 deals with it actually, in case you need something to look forward to.

BTW do you think you could give Rigel Kent a little time off so he could finish up Endeavour: Acheron? :thumbsup:

Heh, he's started on two more additions to Endeavour along with an AU fic set in S2 that has TnT stranded on some planet.

Thanks for the feedback guys. I didn't think anyone was reading over here any more.

 

[TheLoneRedshirt]

Yep, there are a few regulars that still hang out in here. And yes, I would enjoy reading more of your work. Thanks for the links!

 

[Captain X]

Cool. Episode 11 is the mid-season cliffhanger, but we'll be back in mid-September with the conclusion and hopefully begin releasing every couple of weeks again.

 

[Duncan MacLeod]

I hope so because he really stepped way the hell over the line in Soli. Frankly I don't think anything could justify that sort of behavior. That the rest of the crew has picked up on it and is treating her the same way makes it point blank unexcusable. Whatever it was that happened, occurred a long time ago, frankly if he can't control himself better than that after all this time, then he shouldn't even be in the UESPA, let alone in command of a starship.

As for Endeavour, I'm following both the regular and mirror universe stories and enjoying both very much. Maybe you should just kill the nitwit off and put Trip in command in Foundations as well.

 

[Captain X]

You just never know.

 

[Duncan MacLeod]

Have I hit on something?

 

[Captain X]

I wouldn't get your hopes up too high. Archer is going to be around for a long time to come.

 

[Duncan MacLeod]

Damn.

I used the name for a walk-on character in my first novel The Frigate Captain. But there's a world of difference between Jon Archer the Vulcan hater and Gregory Archer the solidly dependable Captain of HMS Spartan.

Can you at least make him more professional? It's ok to feel the anger/hatred/distrust or whatever it is. But a pro doesn't show it, especially not in front of her subordinates. If he can't do that then he should be removed from his command until he straightens out. Which would probably be a good way to do so, now that I think about it.

 

[Captain X]

He's going to go through something later in the season that will make him mature and he'll be a better person and a better captain for it.

 

[Captain X]

Would the three of you like a little tease of what's coming up?

 

[Duncan MacLeod]

I'm game so go ahead.

 

[Captain X]

Cool. These are from a couple different episodes in Season 1.5.



EXT. SPACE - XCV-330 ENTERPRISE

The SS ENTERPRISE, the ringship we’ve seen in numerous pictures, pulls away from an orbital station, presumably the same one we saw the two Archers and Soval in earlier. We can see the outline of North America as the ringship passes between us and Earth, its impulse engines glowing brightly.

INT. XCV-330 ENTERPRISE – CONTROL ROOM

Henry Archer looks over the massive engineering panel in front of him, giving all the displays one last look.

HENRY ARCHER
Everything looks good.
(beat)
Looks like we’re green for warp flight.

We focus on the unnamed CAPTAIN, framing Henry Archer over his (or her) shoulder.

CAPTAIN
Mission control, this is Enterprise. My flight engineer indicates green for warp flight. Are we a go?

MISSION CONTROL (COMM. VOICE)
Enterprise, Mission Control. We concur, green for warp. You are go.

The Captain smiles at the good news.

CAPTAIN
Okay, Henry, let’s see what this engine of yours can do.
(beat, to helmsman)
Take us to warp.

EXT. SPACE - XCV-330 ENTERPRISE

The spindly, awkward form of the ringship stretches and disappears in a flash of light.

INT. XCV-330 ENTERPRISE – CONTROL ROOM

Stars streak past the viewport at the front of the room.

CAPTAIN
How’re we doing?

HENRY ARCHER
Everything looks good so far…

Suddenly, the ship starts to shudder, just as an alarm begins to sound on the engineering panel. The shaking continues to grow worse.

CAPTAIN
What’s wrong?

The engineer looks over the flashing indicators on his panel with bewilderment.

HENRY ARCHER
(with growing concern)
I don’t know! I’m getting conflicting error messages.

CAPTAIN
(calmly, to helmsman)
Drop us out of warp.

The helmsman attempts to comply.

HELMSMAN
I can’t…

The Captain gives the helmsman a few more instructions that we can’t hear over Henry. The look on Henry’s face leaves no doubt as to what he thinks is about to happen. It’s heartbreaking.

HENRY ARCHER
(softly)
Sorry I couldn’t make it to Yosemite this weekend, Jonny.

Off his apprehensive expression we…

FADE OUT.





INT. ENTERPRISE – CAPTAIN'S MESS

We focus on a coffee pot as a hand lifts it and pours the dark, steaming liquid into two nearby cups. The hand pulls the coffee pot back, and we PAN to reveal its owner, CAPTAIN JONATHAN ARCHER. He has a smile on his face as he pours himself a cup of coffee.

ARCHER
Coffee does tend to make the mornings go a little more smoothly.

He puts the coffee pot down and we change angles to see his audience, JUNIOR LIEUTENANT HOSHI SATO and ENSIGN TRAVIS MAYWEATHER. Mayweather smiles at Sato as she tentatively smells her steaming cup.

SATO
(looking skeptically at her cup)
I never have seen the big draw of coffee. I'm more of a tea person myself.
(beat, with a slightly sour look)
It certainly does have a strong odor to it.

Archer and Mayweather share a chuckle at that.

ARCHER
I don't think I've gone a morning without it.

Archer takes a sip from his cup.

MAYWEATHER
Coffee is actually a pretty big trade item, Captain.
(beat, off Archer's interest)
Boomers usually keep a pretty big stock of it and offer it at almost every trade negotiation. In some places it's more valuable than gold or platinum.

Mayweather takes the opportunity to take a swig as well.

ARCHER
(genuinely surprised)
Really? I wouldn't have thought that aliens would be very big on coffee.
(beat, thoughtful)
Who were usually your biggest buyers?



MAYWEATHER
I can only really speak for Horizon, sir, but the Deltans and the Denobulans seemed to be our biggest coffee buyers.

ARCHER
I guess I never really noticed if Doctor Phlox was drinking it or not. Usually I don't see him in the mess hall.

SATO
I saw him in there one morning before the morning rush. I didn't notice if he was drinking anything, though; I was in a hurry that morning.
(beat, looking at her cup again)
I guess if aliens can drink this then I can give it the old college try.

Archer and Mayweather watch intently as Sato takes a drink from her cup. Her face scrunches up immediately with her disgust, but she swallows what's in her mouth nonetheless.

SATO
Yuck!
(beat, wry)
I think this must be an acquired taste. Or maybe a lack of taste.

Mayweather and Archer share another laugh.

MAYWEATHER
(smiling)
At least you gave it a try.

 

[Duncan MacLeod]

If Archer gave her that coffee black, I can understand her reaction. I hate black coffee! But add two cream and two sugars and I love it. Tea, on the other hand must be drunk black with just a single sugar.

OK, so Henry got killed or seriously hurt testing his warp engine on the ringship Enterprise, and Jon blames the Vulcans. Unless the Vulcans actually sabotaged the ship it still seems childish to me. After all, it's been a good 30 years. To still be sad at the anniversary is understandable. To still be acting like a 12-year-old about it, isn't.

Yes, the anger can be there, and even come out on occasion. But not on duty and especially not in front of the crew. There's an old saying in the service - Praise in public, punish in private - I may not have the words exactly right, but it basically means you never dress down a subordinate in front of their subordininates. Doing so destroys that officer's authority. I was only in Air Force ROTC but my instructors drilled that into us constantly, and they always practiced it as well. A few of my friends have also served in other branches - three in the Army (one a corpsman and two officers, a Captain and a 1st Lieutenant, the latter a combat veteran) and the last in the Navy as a PO 1st class aboard an SSN. All have confirmed that this is how their branches handled it as well. And what's more, any officer that violated that rule as constantly as Archer has, vis-a-vis T'Pol, would be in serious trouble and would probably have to explain himself to a review board.

Frankly I'm afraid that you've written yourself into a corner here. The only way to continue with him in command of Enterprise is to do exactly what B&B have always done, give him a free pass - He's the Hero, so there are no consequences no matter how badly he screws up. The only way that I can see to leave him in command is to leave him on the other side of that wormhole long enough for him to straighten up and learn to fly right, and even then he's going to have to pull off some kind of minor miracle to get himself out of the hole he's dug for himself.

I'm sorry CX. I generally like Foundations, but I think Soli was a giant step backwards.

 

[Captain X]

I was only in Air Force ROTC

Same here, actually.

Admittedly, Archer's portrayal may be somewhat colored by how I felt about him in ENT. Mostly here I didn't want his bigotry to go away within a few episodes and I didn't want there to be this insta-trust that we were told existed between Archer and T'Pol on ENT. As for Archer getting a free pass, eh, trust me. The end of Season 1/beginning of Season 2 will see some ... maturing on Archer's part.

 

[Duncan MacLeod]

Aim High. :thumbsup:

As for Archer, I will withold judgement until I see how it plays out.

 

[Captain X]

Cool, hopefully we'll be on schedual with when we've planned to release. Other than that there might be another short hiatus between some of the episodes we don't have done yet. First two are pretty much ready to go though.