The Question, Answer Game

[Eian Flannagan]

Q: I've seen a lot of Hayes/Reed friendship fics (and slash) based on that one scene in Harbinger where they had that fist fight. I really don't get it. This question is for the guys. Could beating each other to a bloody pulp really create a lasting friendship?

Aye, its possible. I have 5 brothers and a sister. There is no way my Máthair and Da could have raised 6 lads and a tomboy daughter under one roof without a bit o' bloodshed. And I admit the lads and I always felt better about things after a good row aired 'em out. I'm not sure about unrelated fellows, but my gut says "aye-yep."

Oh, forgot my question:

Q: If Trip & T'Pol existed in a different Star Trek era, would they have had a better chance at a less-angst-ridden relationship? The fundamentals are still the same, are they not?

Eian

[leslina]

Q: If Trip & T'Pol existed in a different Star Trek era, would they have had a better chance at a less-angst-ridden relationship? The fundamentals are still the same, are they not?

Eian

A: I think so. There didn't seem to be much of an issue with Sarek and Amanda Greyson in the TOS era that I recall. And hell, Pon Farr and lost or not, Vorik jumped a half-human/half-Klingon in VOY. I dunno, I always thought ENT took the whole interspecies taboo a little too far. Humans and Vulcans had established relations for quite some time by the start of ENT. I find it hard to believe that in the THOUSANDS of years the Vulcan race has existed that NOT one would have ever bonded with a non-Vulcan, or that other species and races wouldn't have done the same. By the TNG era there are several examples of interspecies offspring.

My brain cells are sluggish tonight and I forfeit my question to someone else.

[Alelou]

I guess they put the Trellium-D away as in Impulse and later gave most of it away to the Illyrians they'd just beaten the crap out of, according to cannon. (I wonder if the Illyrians opened those empty capsules T'Pol had already ransacked and thought, oh jeez, these guys are SO full of crap!) I personally think the versions I've read in fanfic where they actually do apply it to the shuttles and outer hull when T'Pol isn't around make more sense. Especially since you don't see a lot of anomaly action in the later half of the season. I mean, who'd even go out in a shuttle if you could hit an anomaly? I guess we're supposed to believe they've become expert at charting them.

Question: It's the end of the fourth season, and the network is reluctant to renew. They want some hot, sexy developments -- new characters or plot points or something -- guaranteed to raise the ratings. Suggest them.

[mjimeyg]

Question: It's the end of the fourth season, and the network is reluctant to renew. They want some hot, sexy developments -- new characters or plot points or something -- guaranteed to raise the ratings. Suggest them.

Let's see, first off, fire the guys responsible for killing Trip and keeping TnT apart.

Next I would make sure that the fifth season premiere brings back Trip... it can be done... it has been done.

Then I would allow TnT to begin a PROPER relationship... by the end of TNG Worf and Trois where in a happy relationship... it can be done! Riker and Trois got married!

Next I would have the crew go back to basics... exploring, different races and planets and phenomenon (and nom I don't know how to spell it).

Also, I would begin the intergration of different species into StarFleet... the first Andorian, Tellarite etc.

For a mild arcing plot there could be Klingons or Romulans... but nothing too intensive that would detract from what the show started out as.

Think I'll get the job?

Question:

I was watching Regeneration(ENT Borg Ep) and I was wondering if there was any explanation as to why Picard's crew couldn't find any record of them... clearly Archer's crew and the Arctic Science Teams gave detailed reports. Also, which member of the ENT crew do you think would make the best Borg victim to become a full borg like Picard.

[Alelou]

Drat, I should have specified that for the purposes of my question the fourth season didn't end with *the_abomination*, because they wouldn't have written that thing unless they knew they were cancelled. So Trip is NOT dead. Remember, you gotta really impress the suits with specific ideas, not just suggest getting back to something the suits believe didn't work in the first place. They'd just go ahead and cancel your ass. So I'm re-questioning!

But I'll also answer yours (ignoring the fact that Phlox did get partially Borgified). I think Malcolm would have been the most interesting person to Borgify. His need for a recovery from that would probably require more than his normal way of coping with things, and that could have made a good story. Plus DK handles angst pretty well. (Either T or T would be interesting too, of course.)

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Considering that they still undergo survival training and meditation retreats and long periods of solitude and reflection, I wouldn't be surprised if young Vulcan males underwent (or still undergo) a rite of passage similar to what the Spartans would do to their young men, send em out in the wild.

They do. It's called the kahs-wan. Apparently Vulcan females undergo it too, since T'Pol said she had done it.

[Lady Rainbow]

Yeah, I can see the Borg wanting someone like Malcolm in their collective...think of the tactical/weaponry information they could incorporate in their matrix just from his knowledge!

As for why there probably wouldn't be any info on the Borg by Picard's time: cover-up. The information would be so mind-blowing and panic-inducing that Earth's government would probably suppress that information at the time. (Section 31 maybe??)

As for ideas for the suits:

1) The build-up to the Romulan War. Specifics ideas: maybe a Starfleet conspiracy, tensions with the Vulcan government, some not-so-kosher "discoveries" at the edge of known space (maybe a Romulan listening post, similar to the Vulcan one?) Tensions between Humans, Andorians, Vulcans and Tellarites.

2) Build-up to the new Starfleet ships...I'm sure that the Big E and the Big C wouldn't be the only starships in the fleet with the War looming. We know there's Intrepid, but if that's all we've got, we're in trouble.

3) More exploration of new planets and places, with the goal of gaining as many allies as possible.

Any others?

Q: Who's the most likely to:
a) visit Disneyland?
b) go to an all-night casino in Vegas?
c) do kareoke?
d) show up on duty in a Halloween costume?
e) get roped into an art gallery crawl?
4)

[Eian Flannagan]

Q: Who's the most likely to:
a) visit Disneyland?
b) go to an all-night casino in Vegas?
c) do kareoke?
d) show up on duty in a Halloween costume?
e) get roped into an art gallery crawl?
4)

a) T'Pol (I see Trip dragging her in order to "experience" an example of human childhood normalcy)
b) Phlox (he would be fascinated by the whole xeno-psychology of it all)
c) Travis
d) Hoshi
e) Trip (T'Pol would drag his ass)

I pass on the question...

Eian

[Distracted]

Aw, Eian! No fair! Ya can't just do the fun part and leave the hard part to somebody else. *pout*

Ooookayyy... Ummm....

Q: If you were going to write a crossover episode where an MU and RU character get switched, which MU character do you think would last the longest in the RU without revealing themselves by their behavior? Which RU character would last longest in the MU? Why do you think so?

[blacknblue]

T'Pol in both cases. she would be the only one smart enough to pull it off.

Question: Assuming that Vulcans were not hovering over Earth for the first hundred years solely out of the goodness of their heart, what did they get out of it? I cannot believe that any race would invest that much time and effort into something without getting a payoff. The explanation that they were nipping a potential danger in the bud doesn't wash either. The High Command shown on ENT would not have scrupled to use brutally effective methods to hamstring Human technology to the point of making it impossible for Mankind to become a direct threat to Vulcan influence for centuries at least, even if they did decide to forgo genocide.

So just what payoff did the Vulcans get from Earth? Food? Rare minerals like titanium or platinum? Exotic drugs from the amazon rainforest? Leases to install advance bases in our system so they could be closer to Andorian space? What advantage did they gain from sitting on us for a century?

[TPoptarts]

^ Cable TV?

[Kevin Thomas Riley]

Question: Assuming that Vulcans were not hovering over Earth for the first hundred years solely out of the goodness of their heart, what did they get out of it?

Food and water!

Oh, wait! They're not lizards in disguise are they?

[JadziaKathryn]

Interesting point, bnb. How about this: humans are being groomed as an ally against the Andorians. Only it's a secret operation, courtesy of V'Las and Co., so not many Vulcans know about it. This is a good idea, really, because you can direct humans in such a way that they end up fighting with Andorians (this of course is simple, because as Vulcans you know Andorians are aggressive, easily provoked and irrational creatures.) Anyway, that plan blows up in their face at P'Jem - which could be why they were so royally ticked and wanted to blame it all on T'Pol.

Question: You are asked to write a story revolving around Travis that doesn't directly involve a Boomer ship. What happens?

[Distracted]

Umm...I kinda did that already. He ended up with a half-Betazoid daughter.

Hmmm. Okay, how about this? Travis pilots the shuttle down to a planet for a scientific expedition, but when the landing party gets there, instead of being stuck in the background while the others get all the lines, something happens to take the others out of commission...say there's an alien defense system on the surface of the planet that shoots the shuttle down and puts the Enterprise in a tractor beam, pulling it toward the surface, and the rest of the landing party are injured, knocked out or otherwise incapacitated. So it's up to Travis to find out who shot them down and convince the aliens to let the Enterprise go.

Yeah. I know. It's been done.

Q: Same question for Hoshi in the RU.

[Eian Flannagan]

Umm...I kinda did that already. He ended up with a half-Betazoid daughter.

Hmmm. Okay, how about this? Travis pilots the shuttle down to a planet for a scientific expedition, but when the landing party gets there, instead of being stuck in the background while the others get all the lines, something happens to take the others out of commission...say there's an alien defense system on the surface of the planet that shoots the shuttle down and puts the Enterprise in a tractor beam, pulling it toward the surface, and the rest of the landing party are injured, knocked out or otherwise incapacitated. So it's up to Travis to find out who shot them down and convince the aliens to let the Enterprise go.

Yeah. I know. It's been done.

Q: Same question for Hoshi in the RU.

Ummm...I think you already did that one, too, aye? Virtual Season 6: Khellian arc? Damn good. Better than anything I could come up with to answer the question!

Eian