Disclaimer: I do not own Enterprise.

Companion story to 'For Elizabeth'.

For Trip

Jonathan Archer climbs the stairs and surveys the delegates, people for over a dozen worlds. His hands are shaking as he rests them on the podium. He scans the sea of faces for anyone familiar, and comes upon a few: Malcolm, Hoshi, Travis and Phlox in the balcony, and Soval a few rows ahead of him. T'Pol isn't there; she's standing along in the waiting area. Trip isn't there, either; he's adrift in space somewhere in a torpedo tube tomb. At least, his body is. Jon had convinced his parents that a burial in space would be more fitting than one in dirt.

Jon begins by thanking them for coming, glancing at each species respectively as he mentions their name. He says how honored he feels to be seeing this day.

As it always is when he's written a speech, he doesn't follow it exactly. It stays on the same general outline, but he always forgets the best lines, changes them somehow so they lose their original effect. Jon doesn't think he's a very good public speaker.

Trip probably would have disagreed. Would've slapped him on the back and told him to have a drink beforehand, to calm his nerves. But Trip isn't there anymore. If Jon were a religious man, he'd say his friend is somewhere better. But Jon's not a religious man, so he must settle for saying that his friend is somewhere else.

Jon quotes Zephram Cochrane, trying to sound inspiring and inspired, but instead, to himself, he sounds broken. "To go boldly where no man has gone before"… but adventures were never fun without Trip, really.

Jon scans the crowd as he delivers his speech, reminding himself that he is building something, uniting worlds, forming the greatest alliance known to any of their species. He reminds himself that he's doing to for them: for the Vulcans and the Denobulans and the Tellarites. He reminds himself that he's doing it for future generations, for children who will grow up playing hopscotch with Andorians. He's doing it for the sake of universal peace and harmony, the chance that many combined will equal a greater sum than the parts would separately.

He tries to sound genuine and selfless, like he's doing it all for the greater good. But that's a lie. He's doing it for all the people he's known who aren't there to see today, for his father and his mother and Admiral Forrest. And most of all, of course, Jon's doing it for Trip.