DISCLAIMER: It's Paramount's galaxy.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: A/TP. Archer and T'Pol discuss Earth and Vulcan arrogance and hypocrisy after episode "Stigma"
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ARROGANCE
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Captain Archer and Subcommander T'Pol were eating dinner in the Captain's mess. Commander Tucker had declined the invitation, apparently recovering from the long hours he had spent with Doctor Phlox's second wife Feezal installing the neutron microscope in sickbay. T'Pol was sitting across from Archer picking at her food. Even with Trip's absence, the atmosphere was more subdued than usual. The recent events at the Interspecies Medical Exchange conference on Dekendi Three were undoubtedly to blame. Archer wasn't happy with the silence. She had kept him in the dark about her medical condition and he decided they needed to discuss the incident further and clear the air. "What's troubling you Subcommander?"
She looked up and frowned slightly. "I'm preoccupied with something that happened during the hearing."
Archer nodded. The threat of T'Pol being recalled by the High Command didn't sit well with him, not to mention the disclosure of her condition. Pa'nar syndrome, apparently serious with no known cure. He had been furious with Tolaris in the first place, after what had happened when they aided the stricken Vulcan vessel the previous year, and now this new revelation just added insult to injury.
T'Pol seemed to sense his train of thought and shook her head. "The details of what happened are upsetting, but it's not what I'm thinking." She seemed reluctant to continue, but then something changed in her continence. Over the past few months, the two had become more comfortable around the other. Whatever it was on her mind, she apparently decided it was worth sharing with him. "In fact, it was something you said during the hearing that is bothering me."
"Oh?" This was a surprise. The last thing he wanted was to add to T'Pol's troubles. He thought back to try and recollect what he might have said. T'Pol didn't wait for him to discover it on his own.
"You claimed that Earth got rid of bigotry nearly a century ago. That humans are not afraid of diversity and don't persecute it but embrace it."
Archer nodded. He recalled saying that, and wondered what it was about that fact that was bothering his First Officer. He had heard for years from every Vulcan he met how humans were too volatile, too irrational, and too narrow-minded. Hell, T'Pol herself had said as much when they first met. But humans had come a long way in the last century in the aftermath of the Third World War, and from what he saw during the hearing, Vulcans were the ones who were being prejudiced and narrow-minded. Unwilling to develop a cure of Pa'nar syndrome because it was transmitted by mind melds, a frowned upon practice of a minority.
"When we left Earth a year ago on this mission," T'Pol continued, "do you recall the protestors outside the Vulcan Compound in San Francisco?"
Archer shifted in his seat. "There's usually a few," he admitted. Come to think of it, the Terra Prime movement that had existed for decades was still active on Earth, albeit in small numbers. Archer had a feeling he wasn't going to like what was coming next. It was never comfortable to be on the receiving end of T'Pol's arguments.
"There were many protesting Star Fleet sending its first Warp Five vessel out amongst the stars. Not only in San Francisco, but at the other Vulcan Consulates as well. Some of those protestors don't want any aliens on Earth. Any alien influence in Earth affairs or culture. They are quite adamant and want Earth and humans to keep to themselves."
"I get your point," Archer replied, now a little irritated. Not so much with T'Pol, but with his own error in omission. It was easy to point to the faults of others while remaining blind to your own. That applied equally to individuals as well as the species as a whole. "Perhaps we aren't as free from bigotry as I thought."
"Nor Vulcans as I thought," T'Pol commented. She finally placed down her utensil, apparently deciding she wasn't hungry. "That's just it. How easy it is for us to become arrogant. Vulcans and humans. We're more alike than perhaps either of us are willing to admit."
Was T'Pol referring to them as individuals or the species as a whole? It didn't matter. She was right either way. Archer was used to thinking of the Vulcans in that way, and yet his lecturing of the Vulcan doctors at the hearing was just as arrogant and hypocritical. "I suppose, both our species don't seem to learn from our own history."
T'Pol nodded. "Precisely. How often is it that those who demand tolerance are the most intolerant? Those who deride hateful and bigoted speech are the ones who are the most hateful and bigoted. Those who profess diversity are the ones most opposed to diverse thought."
Archer knew his First Officer wasn't referring to him specifically, but couldn't help feel swept up in her general statements. "I think it is not as dire as you make it out to be," he replied. "Perhaps it's always two steps forward and one step back. Hopefully, we're progressing in the right direction. Both as individuals and as civilizations."
T'Pol didn't appear convinced. "It was not too long ago that I shared similar convictions as those Vulcan doctors. An arrogance and unspoken air of Vulcan superiority." She sat up and looked intensely at Jonathan. "If I ever succumb to that sort of hypocrisy again, you must make me aware of it and challenge me on it."
Archer nodded.
"And I will do the same for you," she finished, leaning back. She finally seemed to relax and glanced at her plate, as if wondering if it was time to try again with the meal.
"As you've done just now," Archer replied with a smile. "Thank you."
T'Pol picked up her fork, but then looked back up at Archer. "I fear, the time is fast approaching, when both our worlds will have to deal with these demons face to face."
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THE END
Author's Note: Just finished rewatching the second season of Star Trek Enterprise. I thought Archer lecturing the Vulcans about getting rid of bigotry a hundred years before on Earth, in light of the Terra Prime protests we learn about later, was a bit much. T'Pol's premonition will realize itself in the fourth season with "The Forge/Awakening/Kir'Shara" for Vulcan and "Demons/Terra Prime" for Earth.
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