Swansong: glossary

This is a glossary for my Star Trek interquel (First Contact/Enterprise) fanfiction piece “Swansong“.


Alcubierre was a human scientist, a precursor of Zefram Cochrane, who formulated what Solkar described in 2117 as “conjectures” which Solkar nonetheless considered an early part of humanity’s development of warp drive.

In real life, Miguel Alcubierre Moya was inspired by Star Trek.


Annular warp drive was a technical term for the warp drive design used by Vulcan High Command ships in the early 22nd century. The name (from Latin annulus, meaning the area between two concentric circles) referred to the characteristic shape of the type of warp engine used in this drive: a large ring, typically outside and encircling the (usually rounded) main hull of the vessel.

In 2117, Solkar described the annular warp drive technology then in use by the Vulcan High Command as “functionally a warp five engine pushed beyond its real capacity,” and considered it a “dead end” development path.

This is my more preferred of the two terms for Vulcan warp drive. The other is “coleopteric warp drive” — see XCV, below.


Bozeman was an Earth city where Zefram Cochrane lived or worked. In 2117, Solkar asserted he would not be welcome there while speaking to Cochrane; Cochrane retorted that he himself welcomed Solkar and that Bozeman “owe[d Cochrane] that much”.

This is, obviously, Bozeman, Montana, the primary setting of Star Trek: First Contact. As a fun aside, Bozeman is a plausible place both to find a nuclear missile and a lot of leftover ionising radiation in the event of a global thermonuclear war, but that’s not why it features in Star Trek; the reason it features is because it’s Brannon Braga’s hometown.


The Carterites were a group active on Vulcan in the early 22nd century. While under the impression that Zefram Cochrane, who was human, had a human brother on Vulcan, Christina Chu Kelowitz thought that brother might be a Carterite. While responding to her, Cochrane mentioned that he’d “almost managed to forget about” the Carterites.

This is a reference to Federation: The First 150 Years, which mentions that in 2073, Zebulon Carter, a Central Intelligence Agency operative assigned to infiltrate Vulcan, simply disappeared; it turned out later that he’d “gone native” out of admiration for Vulcan society. In Federation, Earth doesn’t discover this until 2252 (the Discovery end of the EnterpriseDiscovery interregnum), but I’ve decided that it’s either known or suspected much earlier in this timeline, because that amuses me.

As Vulcans are often used as a Jewish metaphor, particularly in TOS, I figure Carterites are a metaphor for really intense philosemites. However, since the Vulcans are sufficiently powerful not to be at risk of harm or serious annoyance from the Carterites, Cochrane’s feelings about them are mostly amusement and embarrassment, both as the guy who made first contact and invented warp drive (giving the Carterites Vulcans to annoy and making it possible for them to do so), and on behalf of his species as a whole.


The Christopher twins, Sofia and Fenella Christopher, were United Earth Space Probe Agency astronauts serving on the command crew of the UESPA starship Enterprise (XCV 330) from 2117 onward. They were considered highly energetic, extroverted, fun-loving people; they started a crowd chant at Enterprise’s commissioning ceremony, and Max Forrest confided in Zefram Cochrane that he thought they might have “pregamed a little”. As professional astronauts in the early 22nd century they were nonetheless obviously very competent.

Sofia and Fenella are intended as descendants of Captain John Christopher from TOS: “Tomorrow is Yesterday”, and possibly his son, Shaun Christopher. While writing them, I realised I’d accidentally named them after BioShock 2 character Sofia Lamb and her voice actress, Fenella Woolgar. I don’t know why I did this. No connection is intended. However, I’ve come to see them as being English.


Zefram Cochrane, born 2030, was a human physicist (referred to by Solkar as a “warp field theorist”) known for being the principal theorist responsible for developing human warp field engineering to viability (i.e., developing warp drive), organising the construction of the first successful human warp drive, and piloting the first human warp ship, Phoenix, on her historic flight.

Humans who grew up after Cochrane’s invention of warp drive treated him as, in Christina Chu Kelowitz’s words, “history in the flesh,” a status Cochrane deeply resented. Cochrane preferred that people treat him informally, as an equal, and liked Max Forrest and Ningali, among others, more because they did so.

Remarks and assertions by Cochrane and others suggested that his political views as of 2117 were broadly anti-fascist, anti-imperialist, and anti-militarist.

By 2117, Cochrane was serving as Director of the United Earth Space Probe Agency. While Cochrane still had considerable power in the Agency, he appeared to be voluntarily trying to cede leadership to the degree he felt comfortable doing so, and appeared to believe that other leaders at the Agency were trying to gently manoeuvre him out in any event (although it appeared that, if that did prove to be the case, Cochrane would not have any desire to object).

At that time, Cochrane was 87 years old; he walked with a stick and had some difficulty with his knees that limited the speed at which he could move. He considered himself to have gotten “soft and old” and considered Solkar’s assertion that he “look[ed] well” to have been a lie, but also vehemently objected to being perceived as “frail”. Nonetheless, he believed he would not live to see warp 5.

Judging from their mutual use of the Vulcan term of endearment t’hy’la, Cochrane and Solkar were romantically involved as of 2117, and implicitly for a long time before that. It appeared at that time that they were very infrequently able to see each other due to unclear prevailing circumstances; however, their affection did not appear to have been diminished.

Cochrane’s two major canon appearances are TOS: “Metamorphosis” (played by Glenn Corbett) and Star Trek: First Contact (played by James Cromwell). Of the two, First Contact, which is often considered the best TNG film, is by far the better known.

During First Contact‘s filming, Cromwell was 56; if Cochrane was Cromwell’s age, he’d have been born in 2007. However, virtually every canon and licensed source uses the chronology established by dialogue in “Metamorphosis”, which places Cochrane’s birth in 2030, 2031 or 2032 depending on how you interpret that or later canon, suggesting Cromwell’s Cochrane is actually an extremely rough 32 or 33. I think the psychological implications of that chronology are interesting so I kept it.

Cochrane/Solkar is a much-discussed ship considering its absolute paucity of source material (fan inferences about Vulcan norms concerning physical touch, plus the blocking of one scene in First Contact, plus a trading card game) but I think it’s an interesting ship so I kept it.


A communicator was a device used by United Earth Space Probe Agency personnel to communicate in the early 22nd century. Communicators would chirp to signal an incoming transmission. Communicator calls were generally carried out using radiotelephony procedure.

The definition of “communicator” clearly included both software and hardware; as of 2117, it was possible to reprogram a conventional cellular phone to function as a communicator.

In 2117, UESPA director Zefram Cochrane refused to use a purpose-built communicator, considering it “another piece of easily fried electronic junk”; instead, he reprogrammed his phone to function as a communicator. Cochrane’s reprogramming appears not to have been quite perfect; as well as triggering a chirping alert tone, incoming communicator calls would occasionally trigger Cochrane’s phone ringtone (Francisco de Tarrega’s “Gran Vals”).


Community Memory was a resource available in the early 22nd century which, among other things, allowed users to access general biographical data on prominent individuals, including Zefram Cochrane. In 2117, while under the impression that Zefram Cochrane might have a brother (due to an intentionally misleading choice of words on his part), Christina Chu Kelowitz noted to Cochrane that Community Memory did not mention he had one.

I think of Community Memory as a hardened post-Third World War successor to Wikipedia, which was presumably lost in the war. Infrastructurally, it’s presumably something like a cross between Mastodon and Wikipedia. The use of “Memory” is intended to suggest it’s a predecessor to the canonical Federation archives at Memory Alpha. The use of “Community Memory” is intended to evoke the pioneering proto-BBS by that name.


The Council was an entity which had some control over the affairs of the United Earth Space Probe Agency in 2117.

I have no idea what the Council is, but as I think of UESPA as a distinctly political actor, I think the Council is a cross between the US National Space Council and the Council of Europe.


Diplomatic protocol as of the early 22nd century, and for long enough beforehand to be “old” in 2117, dictated that the correct ceremonial greeting for a human welcoming a Vulcan was “Vulcan honours us with your presence,” and the correct ceremonial response was “Your welcome honours us”.

This is based on Spock’s impersonal ceremonial greeting to Sarek in TOS: “Journey to Babel”.


Enterprise (XCV 330) was a Starliner-class starship in the service of the United Earth Space Probe Agency. She was equipped with a Starfleet Mark One variable-geometry hybrid warp drive, which had a maximum velocity of warp 2 but provided her with exceptional manoeuvrability and power efficiency by contemporaneous human and Vulcan standards.

At the time of her initial commissioning, Enterprise appeared to be operating from Mars’ moon Phobos, as she came to Earth from there for her commissioning ceremony.

The ship’s name was chosen unilaterally by Zefram Cochrane. Privately, Cochrane’s choice of “Enterprise” was inspired by the 24th-century Federation Starfleet ship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E), with which and with whose crew he had had a significant encounter surrounding human–Vulcan first contact in 2063.

Publicly — and to some extent genuinely — Cochrane named the ship in reference to the 20th-century NASA Space Shuttle orbiter Enterprise (OV-101). He did so on the grounds that that ship opened the way for later Space Shuttle flights and that he hoped the Starliner might be similarly groundbreaking.

In a personal conversation with Cochrane, Solkar questioned Cochrane’s choice of name, noting that most previous human ships named Enterprise had been ships of war. Cochrane defended his choice on the grounds that he was reclaiming (reappropriating) the name, and that the meanings of the word ‘enterprise’ (“initiative and resourcefulness” and “the willingness and energy to try something new”) were appropriate to the starship’s mission.

The initial command crew of Enterprise (XCV 330) included:

  • Commander Maxwell “Max” Forrest, command pilot
  • Dr Alnari Odan, chief medical officer
  • Senior Mission Specialist Christina Chu Kelowitz, chief engineer
  • Fenella Christopher in an unspecified capacity
  • Sofia Christopher in an unspecified capacity

Enterprise canonically exists, has that name and registry number, and looks broadly as I’ve described her in “Swansong”, but we have absolutely nothing solid about her otherwise. “Swansong” is, in part, my idea of what she might have been like.


An event happened in February 2064 CE which was significant to Zefram Cochrane and Solkar in such a way that in private conversation, they referred to “February 2064” to indicate an extremely high level of certainty, implied to be greater than 100%.

I have an idea of what happened. It was not romantic for Cochrane or Solkar at the time, but gained romantic significance over time. However, I don’t know if I’ll ever write it so I’m not giving more detail about it here.


Maxwell “Max” Forrest was a United Earth Space Probe Agency pilot as of 2117. He was born in 2089 or 2090, given that Zefram Cochrane referred to him being 27 in 2117.

Max was relatively young, but took a leading role in UESPA’s Starliner Project. He was the command pilot of the UESPA starship Enterprise (XCV 330); during his tenure, he held the position of Commander. In that role, he had final authority over who was assigned to his ship.

Max was close with Zefram Cochrane, who told Christina Chu Kelowitz in 2117 that Max “might as well be my son”. He was also close with Solkar.

When Cochrane affectionately called Forrest “a Semper Fi little gremlin,” the use of Semper Fi suggesting some connection to the United States Marine Corps, Max corrected him by saying “Semper Fortis,” suggesting instead that Max had some connection to the United States Navy.

Maxwell Forrest is, obviously, a canon character from Star Trek: Enterprise, played by Vaughn Armstrong (I don’t recall whether he was ever addressed as Max in that series). The significant difference in Max Forrest’s characterisation here is intended to suggest that, while Max is always very competent, captaining Enterprise (XCV 330) forces him to grow up and get a lot sadder and wiser very fast.

I wondered how Forrest got to be a vice admiral in a Starfleet that didn’t really have any actual fleet to speak of. Pre-Starfleet starship command experience might explain that.

Max’s implied attachment to the US Navy is drawn from beta canon, where he considers joining the Navy while in his teens.

I also thought Max personally insisting on nautical tradition might explain how we get from the more Air Force, civilian aerospace, and unique traditions embodied by existing space agencies, and presumably by UESPA, to the more Navy traditions exhibited in Starfleet from Enterprise onwards.

Based on Vaughn Armstrong’s age in Enterprise, in 2117 Max should actually be about 10 years younger than he is in this fic — but hey, it’s the future.


Gallatin Field was a spaceport serving Bozeman, Montana, United States. In 2117, upon deciding to come to Bozeman on Zefram Cochrane’s invitation, Solkar requested that Cochrane meet him at Gallatin Field.

Bozeman Yellowstone International Airport, informally Gallatin Field, does indeed serve Bozeman. It’s not a spaceport now but presumably after first contact literally happened there it would be one by 2117.


“Gran Vals” was a 1902 composition by Francisco Tárrega. Zefram Cochrane’s cellular phone occasionally played “Gran Vals” to indicate an incoming call.

Gran Vals,” which is rather nice on its own, is, of course, the Nokia tune. Cochrane was born years after Nokia folded in real life; his ringtone is “Gran Vals” because he’s aware of the history and it amuses him to have it that way.


High Thhaei was a language spoken by Vulcans. Despite tutoring from Solkar, Zefram Cochrane had only ever been able to learn a few words as of 2117.

This is decades before Hoshi Sato develops the Universal Translator (she won’t even be born for another 12 years) so humans would be more front-of-mind aware that Vulcans spoke a different language at this point than they would in the ENT era. However, we don’t have enough canonical information on what the languages of Vulcan are like for me to reconstruct them from solely canonical sources.

I primarily use the Vulcan Language Institute’s Vulkahnsu to represent Vulcan, with the exception that I use two loanwords from Rihan, Diane Duane’s realisation of the Romulan language, as their endonyms: thaessu for the Vulcan people, thhaei for the Vulcan common language. This is because the Vulcans being named anything similar to “Vulcan” — e.g. whl’q’n, as in standard Vulkahnsu — feels a little too convenient for my tastes.

The reason Cochrane never managed to learn much High Thhaei is because I conceive of it as basically Ithkuil.


Impulse drive was a form of sublight propulsion used by human ships, among others. It was known at one point as torchless torch drive, but this term was considered outmoded by 2117. Impulse drives of the type used in 2117 had baffle fins and tended to produce a blue radiance even when inactive.

Impulse drives’ canonical mechanism of operation puts them in the class of high-power, high-specific-impulse, high-thrust reaction drives known as “torch drives”. This is hilarious to me because torch drives are called that because they would produce an extremely large and dangerous ultra-hot drive plume if operated, whereas we never see impulse engines produce a drive plume at all.

Consequently, I have decided that impulse drives are torch drives without the torch (“torchless torch” drives, if you will). Baffles are the handwavia that allow this to happen.


The International Space Station was a United Earth Space Probe Agency space station in Earth orbit in 2117 CE. She was named for a previous station which was operational in the late 20th and early 21st century CE; some older people called her the “ISS-A” to distinguish the two. Her core module was orbited in 2112.


Jamaharon was something Max Forrest jokingly suggested Solkar should “seek” while farewelling him at the commissioning ceremony of Enterprise (XCV 330) in 2117; Forrest was riffing on the standard Vulcan formal valediction.

Live fast and get fucked or whatever. Technically human-Risian first contact comes way after this but it’s not solidly enough established in canon that I couldn’t do this to amuse myself. Maybe Solkar told Max about Risa.


Jon was an individual who Henry Archer had tried or was trying to teach to surf as of 2117. By that date, Archer had mentioned this fact to Zefram Cochrane, who remembered it at the Enterprise (XCV 330) naming ceremony.

This is, of course, Jonathan Archer, who at this point would be about 4 or 5 years old. Maybe Henry already knows he has Clarke’s disease, which canonically will completely disable him by 2122 and kill him in 2124, and is getting as much time in with his kid as he can.


Christina Chu Kelowitz was a United Earth Space Probe Agency engineer in the early 22nd century. When Zefram Cochrane met her in 2117, he thought she could not possibly be older than 25, suggesting she was born no earlier than 2092.

Kelowitz served as chief engineer of the UESPA starship Enterprise (XCV 330) beginning in 2117. As of 2117, she held the grade of senior mission specialist, having been promoted from mission specialist, grade one, three weeks prior. Max Forrest referred to her as “C-dog”.

In 2117, during a conversation with Zefram Cochrane, Kelowitz used the phrase “where no one has gone before” in a way that Cochrane found sufficiently emotionally resonant that he asked if he could borrow it.

Cochrane is canonically the source of the “where no one has gone before” quote, in his Warp Five Complex dedication speech, which he will give in 2119, two years after this fic is set.

Kelowitz is named for a minor character from TOS: “Arena”, but I didn’t have any particular connection in mind.


MARA was an acronym for “matter–antimatter reaction assembly”. In the early 22nd century, it was used as shorthand for the device that would eventually become known by the standard term “warp core”.


Zach Marcus was a United Earth Space Probe Agency engineer in the early 22nd century. As of 2117, they held the grade of senior mission specialist and the position of chief engineer on the International Space Station. They were installed in their position by Zefram Cochrane personally.

I do in fact fully intend that Zach is an ancestor of Carol Marcus and her father Alexander. Don’t know why.


Ningali, whose surname was not mentioned, was the operations officer on the International Space Station in the early 22nd century. Zefram Cochrane, who was legally the station’s commander, considered her to be its real commander. He felt she had a habit of assigning him security personnel as “minders” against his will, but liked her because she didn’t “treat [him] like a god”.

Ningali is presumably Indigenous Australian given that her personal name, which is the only part of her name I established, is from the Western Desert language.


Doctor Alnari Odan was a Trill who was a United Earth Space Probe Agency astronaut and served as chief medical officer aboard the UESPA starship Enterprise (XCV 330).

Alnari is a semi-OC whose presence is based on one of several conflicting canons around XCV 330, specifically that it had a Trill crewmember. Licensed material has tended to imply the Trill crewmember was a host of Dax, but that feels a little small-worldy even for me (and the timeline is a little short; Dax technically shouldn’t have its first host for some time after this).

Instead, Alnari is a host of Odan, the first Trill symbiont portrayed onscreen in TNG: “The Host”.


OKB was an aerospace manufacturer in the early 22nd century. It manufactured a marque of shuttle called the Needletail, which Zefram Cochrane considered to be fairly rare.

Research and design bureaus (OKBs) were a type of Soviet military R&D institution. Subsequent to the fall of the Soviet Union, most major “real” OKBs were privatised and then eventually amalgamated into United Aircraft Corporation. I like to think the new Soviet Union in this fic nationalised UAC and turned it into a single giant OKB.

Hirundapus caudacutus, the white-throated needletail, is a species of bird present in, among other places, Russia.


Paris was an Earth city. In 2117, Solkar suggested it was more likely he would be welcome there than in Bozeman.

Paris is, in beta canon, the capital of the Federation. I’m implying here that, although UE and the Federation haven’t yet formed, Paris is already a common and recognised port of entry for extraterrestrial species and thus, in a period of human–Vulcan tension, Solkar believes he would be more likely to be tolerated there than in Bozeman, which at this point hosts humanity’s most significant defence installation, the Warp Five Complex.


The Phoenix was a human spacecraft which Christina Chu Kelowitz characterised as “a groundbreaking” “human warp ship” in which “the Vulcans ha[d] been involved”.

The Phoenix is, of course, the original warp ship from Star Trek: First Contact.


The Phoenix-type drive was a type of warp drive known in the early 22nd century. Judging from Solkar’s description of it to Zefram Cochrane in 2117, the drive had a maximum velocity of warp 1.

I assume a Phoenix-type drive is any drive which is a direct, mostly unmodified descendant of the warp drive on the Phoenix.


Red Mars was a science fiction novel from the 1990s. It was the first book of a trilogy. It was about human colonisation of Mars, but because it dated from before the development of either warp or impulse drive, it depicted colonisation by chemical rocket ships without the benefit of artificial gravity.

It’s by Kim Stanley Robinson. The trilogy is the Red Mars Trilogy. I liked it. Cochrane is speaking for me there.


Senior mission specialist (SMS) was a staff position in the United Earth Space Probe Agency in the early 22nd century. SMS ranked directly above mission specialist, first class (MS1). Zefram Cochrane considered it “quite impressive” for a 25-year-old to be a senior mission specialist.


Lily Sloane was an aeronautical engineer who worked with Zefram Cochrane. She was sufficiently well-versed in warp field theory and influential in its early development to dispute several theoretical questions with Cochrane; at the unveiling of the Starfleet Mark One variable-geometry hybrid warp drive in 2117, he considered that the drive’s viability proved her to have been right on “pretty much everything”. Judging from the way Cochrane and Solkar spoke about her, she had died by 2117.

Lily obviously appears in Star Trek: First Contact, played by Alfre Woodard. If Lily was Alfre Woodard’s age, then she was born in 2019, which based on the “Cochrane is 33” timeline makes her 11 years older than him. She also lived through the same radiation poisoning that made him look like a 56-year-old James Cromwell at 33. My feeling is she died of natural causes.


Solkar, born 2003, was an officer of the Vulcan High Command. He began serving some time before 2063; his most famous act during his service was his participation in the human–Vulcan first contact in that year, during which he held the rank of commander (equivalent to a contemporaneous naval or later Starfleet captain) and the position of starship captain.

In 2117, Solkar held the position of Vulcan High Command liaison officer to the Starliner Project. He may still have held the rank of commander, as he did not correct Christina Chu Kelowitz when she referred to him as Commander Solkar.

Judging from their mutual use of the Vulcan term of endearment t’hy’la, Solkar and Zefram Cochrane were romantically involved as of 2117, and implicitly for a long time before that. It appeared at that time that they were very infrequently able to see each other due to unclear prevailing circumstances; however, their affection did not appear to have been diminished.

Solkar’s year of birth could be deduced from the fact that Cochrane, who was born in 2030, knew Solkar to be 27 years his senior.

Solkar is a beta-canonical composite of canonical Solkar (an unseen character who we know only as an ancestor of Spock) and the unnamed Vulcan captain from First Contact (played by Cully Fredricksen). The identification was made in behind-the-scenes remarks and a licensed collectible card game, but is well enough accepted that if you refer to “Solkar” this will be the guy that people think about. While it never comes up in this story, Solkar is accepted (with minimal dissent) as the father of Skon (b. 2058), who fathered Sarek (b. 2165), who fathered Spock (b. 2230).

See Cochrane’s entry above for notes on Cochrane/Solkar shipping.


The Soviet Union was a polity active on Earth in the late 21st and early 22nd century. It shared a name with a previous state which dissolved in 1991. Its people were colloquially referred to as “Soviets”. Cities in the Soviet Union included Leningrad.

The presence of the Soviet Union is based on the fact that TOS, like a lot of other science fiction before the late 1980s and early 1990s, assumed the USSR would be around forever. I like to think that after the war, Russian anarchists and communists overthrew the remnants of the Russian Federation and established a new, genuinely compassionate and socialist polity which also happened to be called the Soviet Union, but was significantly different (in the same way that in Charlie Stross’ Singularity Sky, the “United Nations” is actually our Internet Engineering Task Force functioning in a UN-like way).


Space Central was a facility on Vulcan. It operated to at least some degree in a confidential manner, as Zefram Cochrane referred to it as being “hermetically sealed,” but not completely so. During the same conversation with Solkar, Cochrane suggested it would have been worthwhile for Solkar to try to retrieve restricted stardrive information from Space Central.

Space Central is mentioned in TOS: “Amok Time” as the orbital traffic control authority for Vulcan. Out-of-universe it reads most readily as an artifact of nobody having invented the Vulcan High Command yet.

However, as an Enterprise fan I decided to interpret it differently. In Enterprise, the High Command is the de facto military government of Vulcan. I like to think of Space Central as being the beating heart that still oversees all civilian and many military spaceflight operations and is too complex to disassemble — disliked by the High Command but indispensable.


“Sparkling crap from the east of France” was Max Forrest’s characterisation of the beverage with which Alnari Odan helped christen the UESPA starship Enterprise (XCV 330).

This is, of course, Chateau Picard. Max is correct to refer to it as sparkling wine, rather than champagne; Chateau Picard is in La Barre and is therefore not in the Champagne region of France. Canonical evidence suggests Max is also correct to refer to it as crap.


Starfleet 5 was a UESPA Starfleet Program mission, pending as of 2117, during which Enterprise (XCV 330) would travel to Alpha Centauri. Zefram Cochrane expected that Enterprise would remain under Max Forrest’s command at the time, and intended to take ship with him.

Cochrane is identified as “Cochrane of Alpha Centauri” in TOS: “Metamorphosis”, but subsequent canon means he would have had to go there very late in life (we do not, in fact, have confirmation that he ever gets there at all). Starfleet 5 reflects my decision that he does attempt to go there sometime shortly after 2119 (two years after this fic, and the last time he was definitely on Earth per ENT: “Broken Bow”), and that he disappears either on the way or shortly after arrival.


The Starfleet Mark One variable-geometry hybrid warp drive was a form of warp drive developed by human warp field theorist and engineer Henry Archer, based in part on an independent rederivation of the principles of the Vulcan annular warp drive. While the Starfleet Mark One could only achieve warp 2, its manoeuvrability and power efficiency were superior even to the drives of the much faster Vulcan ships then in service. Zefram Cochrane described it as mechanically reminiscent of a “subspace surfboard” (Christina Chu Kelowitz likened it to a “tiller,” while Solkar characterised it as a “sail”).

Cochrane expressed the opinion that the viability of the Starfleet Mark One proved that, on several questions of warp theory, he had been wrong and Lily Sloane had been right.

The first ship to utilise a Starfleet Mark One drive was the UESPA starship Enterprise (XCV 330).

The Mark One is derived from the rings on the canon XCV 330, which came to be seen by some fans as an annular warp drive based on the later introduction of Vulcan annular warp drive craft and the knowledge that humans and Vulcans were semi-cooperating on technology (which may have allowed technological osmosis) during the early period of warp flight, which is the most likely time for the XCV 330 to have existed in canon.

The fact that it’s more manoeuvrable and efficient than Vulcan drives is also consistent with Henry Archer’s canonical character (one thing we know about Henry’s work is he managed to come up with a more elegant solution to “the flux paradox” than any of his senior Vulcan colleagues managed), and Cochrane considering him a “genius” for it explains how Henry ended up heading up the Warp Five Program, which was initiated two years later.


The Starfleet Program was a crewed spaceflight program under the auspices of the United Earth Space Probe Agency which was about to commence in 2117. Starfleet Program missions were designated with sequential ordinal numbers, e.g., Starfleet 1, 2, 3, etc. Starfleet operations were coordinated at the Starfleet Flight Center.

The Starliner-class starship Enterprise (XCV 330) was the first starship built for the Starfleet Program.

As you might expect, I intended the UESPA Starfleet Program to be a forerunner of Starfleet. Obviously they eventually stop using numbered missions. Canonically, the United Earth Starfleet is chartered sometime between 2112 and 2136; I figure the Starfleet Program is such a smashing success that UESPA functionally has to spin it off into its own autonomous entity to cope with the workload.


The Starliner class was a class of starship developed by the United Earth Space Probe Agency with Vulcan involvement during the 2110s. Members of this class were referred to by the generic term “Starliner,” and less frequently by the type designator “XCV”. The Starliner had a maximum warp velocity of warp 2.

When talking to Zefram Cochrane, Solkar described the Starliner class as a “signal achievement,” implicitly for Cochrane and/or the Agency.

Starliner is the existing beta-canonical name of the class and consequently the fandom term of reference for it. I didn’t base the Starliner development timeline in this fic on any existing beta-canonical reference; it’s based entirely on the fact that Enterprise (XCV 330) is agreed by most canonical sources to have served in the 2120s, and I wanted her to be the first Starliner in service.


The Starliner Project was a starship development project active under the auspices of the United Earth Space Probe Agency up to 2117. It produced the Starliner-class starship.


The phrase “star trek” and variations thereof were habitually used by Zefram Cochrane.

Cochrane gets the only use of the exact phrase “star trek” in the entire franchise, during First Contact. It makes some sense as a 1960s show title, but as a 2060s turn of phrase it would be so bizarrely out of context that I have to imagine it can only be explained by Cochrane being the kind of neurodivergent motherfucker who would blithely keep using it, to the bemusement of everyone around him.


Tarasova, who lived or worked in Leningrad, Soviet Union, was the inventor of artificial gravity.

There is as yet no alpha- or beta-canonical attestation of the inventor of artificial gravity. Tarasova is an OC I might use later.


Kotaro Tasaki was a colleague of Zefram Cochrane’s who worked in Bozeman. Max Forrest had done some offence to Tasaki prior to the naming ceremony of Enterprise (XCV 330), leading Cochrane to joke that before inviting Forrest to dinner in Bozeman he would first have to ascertain whether Tasaki had forgiven him.

Tasaki’s existence and work at the Warp Five Complex are alpha-canonical. The name Kotaro Tasaki is beta-canonical. Any interaction between Max Forrest and Kotaro Tasaki is my invention.


T’hy’la was a word in a Vulcan language which had multiple meanings, including “brother”, “friend”, and “lover”; of those, the primary and default meaning was understood to be “lover”. Zefram Cochrane and Solkar used it affectionately for each other when speaking privately. Due to the covert nature of their relationship, when pressed to describe it by other humans, Cochrane used half-truths and equivocation, translating “t’hy’la” misleadingly as only “brother” or only “friend”.

The word t’hy’la (and the definition “friend”, “brother”, “lover”) is from Gene Roddenberry’s personal queerbaiting of the Trek fandom in the novelisation of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, where it’s used by Spock for Jim. Since Solkar is an ancestor of Spock (and what we know of us gives us plenty of reason to assume Spock took strongly after him), it felt appropriate for him to use it here. Since canon hints that Cochrane is much more cosmopolitan, open-minded, and idealist than his Enterprise-era successors, it makes sense that he would use it freely in return.


Torchless torch drive was an early term of art for what eventually became known as impulse drive. By 2117, the term was considered outmoded, but recently enough so that Christina Chu Kelowitz felt obliged to note that explicitly to Zefram Cochrane.

Presumably they changed from a description of how it works (it’s a torch drive but torchless) to its most important function (specific impulse high as fuck).


The Trill were a sapient species. As of 2117, they were known to humanity, implicitly relatively recently so; Zefram Cochrane thought of them as “among our newer friends in the galaxy”.

TNG: “The Host” strongly suggests that the joined nature of the Trill is not common knowledge among human multispecies medical practitioners at the time of that episode, which takes place in 2367. Consequently, Cochrane would think of them as just humanoid aliens.


Type one warp drive was a human warp drive type used in the early 22nd century. Qualifications in type one warp drive were considered desirable for a generalist spacecraft engineer.

I assume this is near-synonymous with the Phoenix-type drive above, since it can’t include Henry Archer’s Starfleet Mark One drive at the time it’s mentioned (as the public and hence classifiable existence of the Starfleet Mark One didn’t begin until after the Type 1 classification was first mentioned).


The United Earth Space Probe Agency (UESPA), referred to briefly as the Agency, was an Earth supranational organisation established in the mid-21st century (preceding the formation of other “United Earth” institutions, including Starfleet and United Earth itself). It superseded national space agencies, carrying out and facilitating spaceflight operations on behalf of all people on Earth. The Agency was supervised by an entity which Zefram Cochrane referred to informally as the Council.

Zefram Cochrane played a role in the establishment and development of UESPA such that by 2117 he considered the Agency to be his magnum opus. In 2117, Cochrane was serving as the Agency’s Director, its executive head.

UESPA programs included the Starfleet Program, which Zefram Cochrane asserted was exceptionally dangerous compared to other programs operated by the Agency. The Starfleet Program appeared to be coordinated from the Starfleet Flight Center.

Facilities and vessels operated by UESPA included the International Space Station and the starship Enterprise (XCV 330).

I consider UESPA to be as much a political organisation as a space agency, which is why Cochrane is so concerned about its internal politics in this fic.


V’Las was a senior official in the Vulcan High Command as of 2117. He was a powerful personal and political enemy of Zefram Cochrane and Solkar, both of whom considered his “true motives” to be “obscure,” in Solkar’s words. He had sufficient power to have Solkar’s clearance to access sensitive engine data held by Vulcan Space Central revoked.

As of 2117, Cochrane personally resented V’Las for refusing to share the scientific knowledge underpinning the Vulcans’ warp drive, which was more powerful than humans’, describing him as an “arrogant bastard” who “winged [the Starliner] before she [could] even take flight”. Cochrane believed that V’Las secured Solkar’s assignment as the Vulcan High Command liaison at the naming ceremony of Enterprise (XCV 330) so that, owing to Cochrane’s attachment to Solkar, Cochrane would be less likely to ask searching questions.

There was some private matter to which Cochrane and Solkar were both privy as of 2117 to which, at that time, they believed V’Las was not. When considering the possibility that V’Las might have attained knowledge of the matter, Cochrane was aghast and began to apologise to Solkar. Solkar, for his part, believed that V’Las did not yet know, but appeared resigned to V’Las eventually knowing, suggesting he would “meet [that] with dignity when it [did]”.

V’Las is portrayed by Robert Foxworth in Enterprise, in which he is a significant antagonist and Administrator of the Vulcan High Command. He doesn’t have an alpha- or beta-canonical date of birth, but given that Vulcans age at ~2.35× the speed of their characters, he’s likely old enough to have already been a senior High Command official by 2117.


The type designation XCV was used by Solkar in 2117 to refer to the Starliner class of starship. Zefram Cochrane objected, prefering to call it simply the Starliner.

The XCV hull classification symbol is alpha-canonical for Enterprise (XCV 330). Mike Okuda backronymed it to Experimental Coleopteric Vehicle (XCV), but I respectfully disagree on the grounds that I hate the word “coleopteric” (meaning “sheathed wing”); it feels contrived. Cochrane speaks for me here.


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