[Galaxy] 2161.10.11 - Cochrane Arena: Archer

[Ethan Armstrong]

[ Cochrane Arena: San Francisco, Earth ]

Captain Jonathan Archer made his way down the ramp and on to the main
podium, nodding to the assembled guests of honor as he passed them.
Ambassador Thomas Vanderbilt of Earth, Sarahd of Andor, Ambassador
T’Jan of Vulcan, Ambassador Natha Kell of Tellar, Chancellor En’Ralan
of Coridan, Ambassador Titus Oleet of Centauri and Commander of
Starfleet Admiral Thomas Garroway, with Admiral John Brown.

He took his place behind the lectern and waited patiently for the
polite applause to quiet down.  When it did, he softly cleared his
throat and began.

“Greetings and welcome. I’m Captain Jonathan Archer of the Earth
starship, Enterprise. To our honored, distinguished guests -- welcome
to Earth, and welcome to San Francisco.” The polite applause rose
again, then fell.

“Over fifty years ago, through Human ingenuity, we finally found the
answer to the burning question. Are we alone? Zephram Cochrane’s warp
drive made it possible and visitors from another world came to Earth.
Humanity’s future was changed forever.” Archer left a long pause, the
arena stayed silent.

“Then, about ten years ago, a bunch of brave young men and women began
a journey which would change, not just their lives, but the lives of
millions of others. They made those first naive steps, to explore a
wider frontier, travelling further than any one had imagined possible
and experiencing more than they had dreamed."

"Those voyages took them to many new worlds and they made
many new friends along the way. It has been a long time since
Enterprise, Challenger, Meridian, Yorktown, Intrepid and the ships
that have followed them, took these, baby steps, into an unknown
future."

"Unfortunately they also made new enemies." he stopped, observing a
solemn moment with the thousands who spread out before him before
resuming. "Some were forced against us, driven by fear of change.
Others were against us as we took a moral initiative, in standing up
for the weak and oppressed. And some saw our ingenuity as a threat to
their existence. We have fought a long, hard war, that has tested the
foundations of our alliance. We will also not forget the actions of
Terra Prime. Some of us are still afraid, but we have looked within
ourselves and discovered there are better ways to deal with this
fear."

"But that act of misguided hatred and terrorism was not allowed to
break the bonds. Even this war has not severed the threads that keep
us. No, the testing fires of the last ten years have only hardened our
unity. Tempering us as we’ve been formed into something new. Something
stronger. And today we meet together again to testify, that we will
not be broken apart."  he took another moment to look around the arena
as a quiet ripple of agreement rose up.

"Back to the original question: are we alone? Our generation is
privileged to know that the answer is unequivocally /no/, we are /not/
alone. And with the other races of the Milky Way Galaxy and our Alpha
Quadrant allies, we are all explorers -- driven to know what is over
the horizon, what is beyond our own shores. As we pioneer new
relationships, they prove to us that:  no matter how far we travel or
how fast we get there, the most profound discoveries are not
necessarily beyond that horizon … they’re within /us/.”  Pause.  “All
of us.”  Pause.  “Woven into the threads that bind us, all of us, to
each other.”

“The ‘Final Frontier’ begins in this Arena..”

The crowd began to murmur, excitedly, the volume rising as the seconds
ticked by.

“We stand together!”

Cheers now, a crashing wave of cheers that, it was discovered later,
could be heard miles away from the Cochrane Arena.