Forwarded by the ASC-VSO Posted: Thu, 20 May 2004 00:56:58 -0400 In: alt.startrek.creative From: kdj2020@webtv.net (Kevin Johnston) Title: "Where No Friend Has Gone Before" Author: Kevin Johnston Series: Enterprise Rating: PG Archive: Yes for ASC Feedback: Welcomed In response to the series shift challenge---- The world called Delta Vega....... "Be a human for just five more minutes, Ensign!" Archer cried out the words, pleading for not only his own life. but for the future of humanity. Behind him, the brook that Tucker had waved into existence gurgled to itself. On the ground, Sato looked up into the alien sky, thinking of the world she had been born on, where all she had ever wanted to do was to help people communicate with each other. "He's too strong. He's advanced beyond anything I could ever hope to be....". Her words trailed off, and she closed her eyes. Tucker moved to her side, bending over, gently touching her hair. "She's smart enough to know when to quit. Are you?" Archer shoved the pain in his side away, ignoring it. Rising from his knees, he gazed into the eyes of an old friend, and saw only the silvery glow. Tucker rose as well, facing his captain. "You can't win, Jonathan. Embrace the future." "The hell I will. Your future is a dead end. What I told her is the truth, whether you know it or not. So you've skipped a few thousand years of evolution, but you've skipped the wisdom those years would have brought to humanity." Archer saw what Tucker did not see nor sense, Sato opening her eyes, summoning one last bolt of power. Shooting it into Tucker's backside, bringing him to his knees. Whirling around to confront her, his eyes went clear for a span of a few seconds, long enough for Archer to dive, grabbing his phase pistol out of the dirt. Squeezing the firing button, he closed his eyes. Hearing Tucker's body hit with a thud, he dropped to his knees, crawling over to the two members of his crew whose voyages amongst the stars had ended so sadly. Feeling for a pulse, he found none. "Captain.", Sato whispered, faintly. Moving to her side, he answered. "I'm here, Hoshi." "It's over." "I know." "You....you can't imagine what if felt like, to almost be a god." And two were dead. Standing, Archer called his ship. "Archer to Enterprise. Beam me up." -------------------------------------------------- His cabin, warm, comfortable. His dog, at his feet, as the pages of the book flew by. The sound of someone asking for entrance. "Come." T'Pol, silently moving into the room. "I wish there'd been some other way.", she said. "But there wasn't. I've logged their deaths as being in the service of Starfleet. They didn't ask for what happened out here." She nodded as she spoke. "We have warp engines on-line, we can leave orbit at any time." "Not yet. I want more time...more time to look out there, and to remember them the way they were before all of this happened." "Of course." And she was gone, leaving him to put down the book, and gaze out into the eternal night. -- Forwarded to ASCL by: Stephen Ratliff ASC Stories Only Forwarding In the Pattern Buffer at: http//trekiverse.crosswinds.net/feed/ ASCL is a stories-only list, no discussion. Comments and feedback should be directed to alt.startrek.creative or directly to the author. Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCL/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: ASCL-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/ From ???@??? Fri May 21 23:08:38 2004 X-Persona: Status: U Return-Path: Received: from n37.grp.scd.yahoo.com ([66.218.66.105]) by sparrow (EarthLink SMTP Server) with SMTP id 1brmOL5TV3NZFjV1 for ; Fri, 21 May 2004 20:04:59 -0700 (PDT) X-eGroups-Return: sentto-1977044-13591-1085195097-stephenbratliffasc=earthlink.net@returns.groups.yahoo.com