Enterprise-era Adventure: E² Follow-up

What ever happened to Lorian and his time-displaced NX-01?

I've been watching Season 3 of Enterprise, and I continue to enjoy more episodes from this seaon than any other. I am especially enraptured with E², perhaps one of the most entertaining and rife with adventure possibilities.

Given that the second Enterprise never followed Archer through the subspace corridor, it seems likely that they were destroyed or erased from reality when the "real" Enterprise arrived at the correct destination.

In my Series, however, I'm operating under the assumption that they were not destroyed or removed from reality. Instead, they managed to disable the Kovaalans ships, but when they entered the subspace corridor to join Archer's ship, a power surge in their injector manifold caused a shift that caused them to arrive at the right time, but the wrong place. They were expelled from a secondary exit point near what would someday become the Romulan Neutral Zone, far from the Delphic Expanse.

They encountered a Romulan ship and were engaged by it. After a brief but brutal battle, the Romulan vessel was disabled. Several of Lorian's crewmen - trained in the MACO tradition - boarded the Romulan ship. The damage to their life support and plasma injectors left the entire crew dead, but the majority of their technology and materiel intact. The long-range ship - far from Romulus and Space Navy support - was picked clean of all its useful systems.

By the time Lorian and his crew managed to return to the Expanse, Captain Archer and his crew had successfully dealt with the Xindi and prevented Earth's destruction. Enterprise was successful, but the vessel itself was gone. The E² was a ship lost to time, their century-old mission moot. Rather than travel to Earth, Lorian and T'Pol agreed that - to avoid any further temporal contamination - they needed to leave the region permanently.

As my Series is set after Enterprise Season 4, but prior to the founding of the Federation, E² will have had several more years to travel the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. By the time the PCs encounter them, Lorian and his crew will have encountered many alien races, gleaned a great deal of scientific and exploratory data, and most certainly upgraded their vessel (including the eventual integration of cloaking technology).

I'm still making notes, but I think that Lorian and the E² will show up in one of the early Episodes. Where things go from there, only time will tell.

mactavish out.

Yeah, so... I was kind of hoping for some comments and/or feedback...

Anyone? Anyone?

Oh, and since I'm on this subject, did anyone ever stat out the out-of-time NX-01 Enterprise? I imagine that they upgraded some systems. In fact, I know (based on the episode) that they added a tractor beam. I don't recall them mentioning an increase in warp speed or the addition of shields, but I noticed that their phase cannon energy was blue rather than red (as is standard for Enterprise).

mactavish out.

Okay, here's what I've come up with for the E² Enterprise:

NX-01 Enterprise (E²)

Class and Type: NX-Class Explorer
Commissioning Date: 2151

Hull Characteristics

Size: 4 (220m, 7 decks)
Resistance: 3 [+10] (Polarized Hull Plating)
Structural Points: 80

Operations Characteristics

Crew/Passengers/Evac: 80/10/150 [5 pwr/rd]
Computers: 2 [1 pwr/rd]
Transporters: 1 [1 pwr/rd]
Tractor Beams: 1 ad, 1 fd [2 pwr/rating used]

Propulsion and Power Characteristics

Warp System: 2.3/4.6/5.6 [6.9 (theoretical)] (12h) [2/warp factor]
Impulse System: .4c/.6c [4/6 pwr/rd]
Power: 80

Sensor Systems

Long-Range Sensors: +0/8 ly [6 pwr/rd]
Lateral Sensors: +1/0.5 ly [4 pwr/rd]
Navigational Sensors: +0 [5 pwr/rd]
Sensors Skill: 4

Weapons Systems

Phased Particle Cannon
Range: 10/3,000/10,000/30,000
Arc: fv, fd (360 degrees)
Accuracy: 5/7/8/11
Damage: 10
Power: [10]

Photon Torpedoes
Number: 40
Launchers: 1 fv, 1 av
Spread: 2
Arc: fv or av, but self-guided
Range: 10/100,000/500,000/1,500,000
Accuracy: 6/7/9/12
Damage: 14
Power: [6]
Weapons Skill: 4

Defensive Systems

None

I specifically didn't change the sensors or weapon damage numbers (even though they may be a little better than the original), but I did update the impulse and warp speeds to better reflect what they talked about in the actual Episode (i.e. improvements provided by Haradin traders). Also, they were able to improve their atmosphere processors, doubling their efficiency.

I imagine that there are plenty of other upgrades made to the E² over the century they were in the Delphic Expanse, but I didn't want to overdo it...

[EDIT]: Okay, I rewatched the Episode. They have hull plating, not deflector shields. I've made the appropriate changes.

mactavish out.

I was reading Memory Alpha yesterday and stumbled across this piece of interesting information about the Star Trek Enterprise episode "E²":

The original story pitched by writer/producer Mike Sussman was somewhat different from the aired episode. In Sussman's pitch, the starship Columbia NX-02 would have used Xindi subspace vortex technology to travel from Earth to the Delphic Expanse in order to aid Enterprise in its mission. But because of an incompatibility in respective technologies, Columbia would have arrived in the Expanse more than a century in the past and been marooned there. Archer and his crew would've thus encountered a one-hundred year old Columbia, operated by the descendants of its original crew.

Sussman was asked to revise the story, making Enterprise travel into the past and thus having the crew meet themselves and their own descendants, much as the Defiant crew had done in "Children of Time". Sussman, a long-time Trekkie himself, pointed out the similarity in the stories to the show's executive producers but was overruled. Those in charge felt that the story for "E²" was sufficiently different, and that enough years had passed between the airing of the two shows to explore this theme again. Several online TV critics also noticed a similarity between the two episodes.

I noticed the similarities between the episodes and kind of figured it was on purpose. It cracks me up that those making the decisions at the time thought the stories were different enough that nobody would notice (or care about) the similarities.

Not really relevant to the Episode seed, but interesting nonetheless.

mactavish out.

Lorian - the commander of Enterprise NX-01 [E²] - is a Vulcan-Human hybrid. He is roughly 100 years old (give or take a decade), but is not particularly Spock-like in his construction.

Given that he has been a starship commander for probably about 50-60 years, what do you suppose he'd look like in terms of ICON statistics?

I have been working on him for some time, but I'm really having trouble focusing in on him. Would he be an experienced Jack-of-all-trades, or more of a command/engineering specialist? I imagine that his Attributes and Skills will be fairly high (with roughly five decades of command experience!), that he'd have the Department Head and Mixed Species Heritage Advantages , and that his primary Template would be human.

Now, does he hold Starfleet rank? I'm guessing not. While trained in the Starfleet (and most likely Vulcan High Command) way of doing things, he is not a Starfleet officer. He is a starship commander, to be sure, but not one necessarily beholden to the Starfleet ideals.

I don't have my books with me, so I can't put together a feasible character layout at this time. I will try to get around to it later in the day, or perhaps later this weekend.

mactavish out.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by mactavish

Now, does he hold Starfleet rank? I'm guessing not. While trained in the Starfleet (and most likely Vulcan High Command) way of doing things, he is not a Starfleet officer. He is a starship commander, to be sure, but not one necessarily beholden to the Starfleet ideals.

---

It is possible after all Wesley was made acting ensign then full ensign by Picard and in the "Lower Deck" it seemed that Lt., jg. promotion was based on the position being open. Lt. Paris was reinstated as acting then full LT and down to ensign for a while. So you would think that he could possibly reach lt. Commander rank -- just short of a captian rank-- with out Starfleet Command approval.

I haven't seen the ENT episode in question but I enjoyed reading what you came up with :)

Thanks, Cut. I love taking episodes others consider "filler" and making something more of them. :)

Regarding the whole issue of Lorian's (and the rest of the crew's, for that matter) rank, I guess my question was: Are they really members of Starfleet?

Apart from the fact that there was no Starfleet in 2037 (save perhaps what remained on the time-displaced NX-01), what is the likelihood that the whole system of ranks and protocols would remain in place? Seriously. Over a century without contact with the organizational leadership would certainly prevent a centralized decision-making hierarchy from dealing with unpredictable scenarios that would most definitely crop up over a hundred years.

I consider NX-01 [E²] more of a privateer working toward the specific goal of preventing the Xindi from destroying Earth. Lorian and his crew made it clear that they traded with the Ikaarans and Haridan (among others) for the supplies and technologies that they needed to survive, and it seems like Starfleet and the Earth leadership would probably opposed to such actions (particularly when the technology is 117 years more advanced than the local technological level).

More than that, it seems like the willingness to commit acts of piracy against the original NX-01 in order to get the job done - an "end justifies the means" attitude, to say the least - goes against the policies of Starfleet in the extreme. Lorian, though he eventually relents, was willing to destroy (or at least seriously disable) Archer's Enterprise to save Earth.

While I see the need for a chain of command, neither Lorian nor his crewmembers are ever identified by rank. It seems that Lorian is the commander, Karyn Archer is his first officer, and others are more or less subordinate to them. I imagine there's a chief engineer, a tactical officer, a science officer, and so on, but that they merely have the Department Head Advantage rather than actual ranks. A combination of Starfleet protocols, the needs of the situation, and a century of tradition would seem to form the command structure foundation aboard NX-01 [E²].

Consider: no uniforms, no ranks, no clear titles (other than "sir" and "ma'am"). These all suggest privateer or mercenary rather than the [quasi-]military structure of Starfleet, even in the 22nd century.

I'll put Lorian's stats up later this evening.

mactavish out.

Here's the man:

Lorian

Attributes

Fitness 3
Strength +1
Coordination 2
Intellect 4
Logic +1
Presence 3
Willpower +2
Psi 1

Skills

Administration (Starship Administration) 2 (3)
Athletics (Running) 1 (2)
Command (Starship Command) 4 (5)
Computer (choose Specialization) 1 (2)
Culture (Vulcan) 2 (3)
Dodge 1
Energy Weapon (Phase Pistol) 1 (2)
History (Earth Starfleet) (Vulcan) 1 (2) (2)
Language
English 1
Vulcan 2
Law (Starfleet Regulations) 2 (3)
Material Engineering (Starship Design) 1 (3)
Personal Equipment (Scanner) 1 (2)
Physical Sciences (Mathematics) 2 (3)
Planetside Survival (Desert) 1 (2)
Propulsion Engineering (Warp Drive Engineering) 4 (5)
Shipboard Systems (Flight Control) (Sensors) (Tactical) 3 (4) (4) (4)
Space Sciences (Warp Field Theory) 1 (2)
Starship Tactics (Xindi-Insectoid) (Xindi-Reptilian) 3 (3) (4)
Unarmed Combat (Nerve Pinch) 2 (3)
Vehicle Operations (Shuttlecraft) 1 (2)
World Knowledge (Vulcan) 1 (2)

Typical Advantages/Disadvantages

Curious (+1), Department Head [Enterprise commander] (+3), Excellent Chemoreception (+1), Mixed Species Heritage [Human/Vulcan] (+6), Patron [T'Pol] (+2); Hides Emotions (-2), Obligation [Save Earth from the Xindi] (-1), Vengeful [Xindi] (-1)

Renown

Skill +2

Please comment, offer suggestions, and tell me what looks right, what looks wrong, and what needs chaning.

mactavish out.

Here are the statistics for the Enterprise (E²) circa 2158:

NX-01 Enterprise (E²)

Class and Type: NX-Class Explorer
Commissioning Date: 2151

Hull Characteristics

Size: 4 (220m, 7 decks)
Resistance: 3 [+10] (Polarized Hull Plating)
Structural Points: 80

Operations Characteristics

Crew/Passengers/Evac: 80/10/150 [5 pwr/rd]
Computers: 2 [1 pwr/rd]
Transporters: 1 [1 pwr/rd]
Tractor Beams: 1 ad, 1 fd [2 pwr/rating used]

Propulsion and Power Characteristics

Warp System: 2.3/4.6/6.9 (4 hours) [2/warp factor]
Impulse System: .4c/.6c [4/6 pwr/rd]
Power: 80

Sensor Systems

Long-Range Sensors: +0/8 ly [6 pwr/rd]
Lateral Sensors: +1/0.5 ly [4 pwr/rd]
Navigational Sensors: +0 [5 pwr/rd]
Cloak (Suliban): 6 [5 power/point/round]
Sensors Skill: 4

Weapons Systems

Phased Particle Cannon
Range: 10/3,000/10,000/30,000
Arc: fv, fd (360 degrees)
Accuracy: 5/7/8/11
Damage: 12
Power: [12]

Photon Torpedoes
Number: 40
Launchers: 1 fv, 1 av
Spread: 2
Arc: fv or av, but self-guided
Range: 10/100,000/500,000/1,500,000
Accuracy: 6/7/9/12
Damage: 14
Power: [6]
Weapons Skill: 4

Defensive Systems

Romulan Deflector Shields
Protection: 12 (15)
Power: [12]

I added a Suliban cloaking device and a Romulan deflector shield grid, improved the power of their primary weapon from 10 to 12, and made the assumption that they replaced their plasma injectors, allowing warp 6.9 for up to four hours at a time.

This E² has spent the past four years traveling what will eventually become the Neutral Zone (as well as many other sectors in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants), and they have gathered information that would certainly prove useful to Starfleet. Despite their history, they refuse to deal directly with Earth or its allies for fear of causing further temporal contamination. Consequently, they spend much of their time cloaked, exploring the galaxy.

I think that I may have the E² approach the PCs' starship when T'Pol falls ill with some ailment that their own physician can't treat, but which Starfleet (and the Interspecies Medical Exchange) have the ability to handle. They will likely contact the crew discretely and ask for their help, but further indicate that their presence cannot be revealed. Of course, things go awry when a group of enemy ships (i.e. Klingon, Romulan, Xindi-Reptilian, etc.) appears and the PCs and E² have to work together.

I have a few more ideas to write out, but they'll have to wait until tomorrow; I'm too tired and am going to sleep.

mactavish out.

I agree with the new systems being added over the years . the cloaking device maybe be a little much but still reasonable .

Maybe the e2 could have been shadowing the ship for a while, cloaked, and beaming onboard someone to steal medical supplies or information. The infiltrator is caught, interrogated, and the e2 is forced into either retrieving them or negotiating for their release...

What do you think about an out-of-time E² being used as a strategic resource by one of the factions in the Temporal Cold War?

Perhaps Daniels approaches Lorian and asks for his help in some scheme that history recorded as being accomplished by Enterprise, but which Archer and crew are simply unable to accomplish. Or how about having members of Lorian's crew discover 31st-century artifacts left in Daniels' quarters? The PADD with schematics of various alien vessels, information about previously unencountered species, and so forth. Maybe even information about future technologies as well as the technical specs for producing them.

Maybe Lorian's E² encounters an alien vessel possessing temporal technologies [such as my perennial Krenim Imperium out-of-time ship], or maybe (as they seem to do so often) they stumble across a temporal anomaly of some kind, catapulting them into the far future.

I really like Lorian and his version of Enterprise, and I think that it is shameful to not put such a fine resource to use in an Enterprise-era Series.

mactavish out.

I recently read that this Episode was originally supposed to feature the NX-02 Columbia as the time-displaced vessel rather than Enterprise.

Apparently, Columbia was written as the vessel that - using Xindi subspace corridor technology (presumably scavenged from the wreckage of the probe that attacked Earth) - was displaced to the year 2037 in the Delphic Expanse. The NX-02 encountered by Enterprise was inhabited and operated by the descendants of that crew, but apparently the bulk of the story remained the same (with the exception of Lorian, old T'Pol, Phlox's progeny, Archer's many-times-removed great-granddaughter, etc.).

I was wondering how having Columbia as the ship out of time would have changed things, both in the Episode itself and in the continuity of Enterprise as a Series, particularly since - according to the novels and other apocrypha - Columbia is destined to be destroyed in the war with the Romulan Star Empire.

To be honest, while I more-or-less enjoyed this Episode as it aired, the prospect of Captain Erika Hernandez and her crew being dropped back in time over a century seems pretty cool to me as well, particularly if the Columbia survived the encounter with the Kovallans.

Not sure what to do with this at present, but maybe I'll retcon it into my Star Trek universe at some point.

mactavish out.