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The Vulcans’ presence was incredibly brief considering its importance. After landing, they described in brief their species and culture. Cochrane then took them on a tour of the compound and described the events of the first warp flight. Then, quite abruptly the Vulcans ended the meeting and left for their homeworld.

During the brief interlude, the Vulcans had managed to achieve what appears to have been their sole goal – to imbue in humanity the motivation to build upon their recent achievement. After leaving Earth, the scout ship radioed its discovery and detailed its findings while offering a vague suggestion for continued contact.

The suggestion, in its entirety read: “The human species does appear to hold significant potential for a spacefaring civilization and is almost certain to fulfill if further interference is limited. Official contact and cultural exchange should be established and maintained but the Vulcan people must be careful to avoid over inundation to prevent corruption of the human culture.”

This is far more vague than the usual detailed and comprehensive analysis that was and is the hallmark of Vulcans. There are numerous attempts at explanation for this, all of which are lacking. Also, the scout ship apparently deviated from its flight plan that it filed with its report. Off course, by accident or by design, the ship was never heard from again.

Of course, this is not unheard of but one line in the aforementioned report leads some to believe that it was intentional: “We are having difficulty with our navigational sensors but do not expect much more trouble. We may explore the area surrounding [Lee’s Nebula].” Exploring the Lee’s Nebula area with damaged navigational sensors is not a logical course of action and could be considered tantamount to suicide at the time. However, most believe that the crew simply thought they had solved the problem when they ventured into uncharted territory.

But no matter the fate of the individual ship, Vulcans knew of humans and humans knew of Vulcans. It was now before Cochrane’s team to build ships capable of exploring interstellar space. Resources were extremely scarce in the Post Atomic years and it had been a significant effort to find the required materials for the small and solitary Phoenix. The effort before them would be fifty times as challenging. But in the end, they surmounted this by twenty-five year old spaceship hulks.

Several decades before the start of the Third World War, the United States of America executed the Interstellar Manned Exploration Project. Ten ships capable of traveling into interstellar space for decade long missions were constructed. The first two achieved marginal success and returned to Earth prematurely. The last two, Charbydis and Antares, were lost entirely and never heard from again. The project was then cancelled and the remaining six ships were mothballed in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Hawaiian Orbital Construction Space Station (or H.O.C.S.S.). Over the course of the years, one ship was destroyed, however the other five remained usable.

This is what Cochrane’s team had realized. The ships were perfect for adapting to warp travel; the only major upgrade being the warp system itself. Minor upgrades included inertial dampers, an extremely primitive version of a deflector screen to guard against the interstellar medium, and enhancements to the habitable areas. Using one of the very few orbital space-planes still left in existence after the Third World War, several of Cochrane’s team managed to gain access to the HOCSS and the ships located there. While his colleagues set about proving that such an endeavor could be successful, Cochrane himself directed his efforts at convincing the few remaining political leaders to support the project and garner sufficient sources.

Ultimately, he was successful, convincing the leader of the Eastern Coalition to support the project. With the support of the largest remaining government in North America, Cochrane’s team were able to restore HOCSS to an operational state, from which his team was able to begin work on refitting the first warp fleet. It would take two years to restore HOCSS, gather the needed resources and technology, and make the necessary modifications.

Eventually, the refit process would evolve beyond the project of Cochrane’s commune and grow to include the top scientists from all over the world. Scientists had been well protected by their governments during the brief War as all the political leaders of the team understood that those who could device a way to strike back after the initial nuclear exchange would ultimately be the victors. However, there was of course no real way to claim victory in the aftermath of a nuclear holocaust.

But the end result was that many of the scientists who had been conducting interstellar and technological research before the War were still alive, albeit their research facilities and much of their data lost. The directed effort of scientists and researchers worldwide led to the creation of the New Earth Scientific Research Council.

[ August 05, 2001: Message edited by: Stingray ]

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Ultimately, he was successful, convincing the leader of the Eastern Coalition to support the project. With the support of the largest remaining government in North America,

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I thought ECON were the bad guys? An Eastern Coalition of the Russian Federation, China, North-Korea and more of these happy countries?

It's very hard to conjecture what the Vulcans would have done after first contact. It seems that the Vulcans were reluctant to give any help or technologies to the Terrans, as the Post Atomic era lasted to the end of the 21st century.

Anyway, the Eastern Coalition can be substituted for anything, I didn't do any research into it, just made up a name and went on with the story. (that's part of the reason why i decided to post it here)

It is, but I took my shot at it and I thought I did a pretty decent job. Bear in mind this was written well before the whole Vulcan attitude in Enterprise was revealed.

But the actions of the Vulcans come directly from something which is written in my first story, which deals directly with the visit itself. Unfortunately, I can't find it and I hope that I didn't lose it (like my long story about the engineers designing the Excelsior ). Part of what was explained was just how the hell Cochrane and company and the Vulcans got around the whole massive corruption of the timeline thing.

Just because it sounds historical or like a summary doesn't mean its quality and form can't be critiqued.

::contemplates not saying this::

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Originally posted by Stingray:
You know, Star Trek ISN'T real...?

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