A Camelot Knight in Starfleet Command
A further adventure in The Adventures of Sir Lancelot
And parody loosely based on A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
By Bineshii
Chapter 5: Time to Go Home
Daniels paced the length of Captain Archer's ready room, then paced back again, hands clasped behind his back. He paused to turn; facing Sir Lancelot, watching him sitting relaxed in Archer's ready room guest chair, and started his pacing again. He didn't even look at Archer, so put out was he with the man at this moment. Never had Daniels dealt with another man or woman who had thrown so many obstacles in the path of his keeping history on the straight and narrow, as Captain Archer.
Yet, this latest disruption was not actually Archer's fault. Those bungling Klingons in their hap-hazard approach to science and technological development had set this whole aberration in motion. What in history had changed that caused them to crash an experimental ship onto 6th century earth? My god, he would have to track that down and correct it, if he could. If he could do that, the magic reset button would be pushed and an accomplished warrior and inspired social reformer as smart as Sir Lancelot would never be catapulted into the 22nd century with a squire who had the makings of an engineer with the talents of Trip Tucker's caliber. What a mess!
He knew he had to send these two back immediately. Before they absorbed anything more from the 22nd century. Fortunately, these two understood about dangers of time disruption. At least Sir Lancelot seemed to, though that boy, Brian, was a bit rebellious on the subject. Archer was no help, sitting there smirking over getting Sir Lancelot marked down into Starfleet history as a Starfleet officer with the rank of Lieutenant Commander so he fit in under the direction of Commander Reed on that clever eviction of the Klingons from that asteroid. What the hell would the equivalent of knight from King Arthur's time be anyway in such disparate military organizations? It was enough to give a man headache that even 40th century medicine might not be able to cure, let along his own 29th century cures.
Daniels turned in mid pace and confronted Sir Lancelot. "I may not be able to wipe your mind and Brian's of all this 22nd century knowledge. You have been here too long. There are some things not even 29th century science can do."
"Could you not appeal to the men-at-arms of time control in a century beyond your own?" asked in a logical way by the man from a time of belief in witchcraft and magic.
"No! That would make ME a meddler into things that MY TIME should not know! I took an oath!"
"Then I was out of my place even to suggest such a thing," Lancelot said, grinning at Captain Archer.
Then Daniels strode over to Archer's desk and wrapped his knuckles on it, thinking. "Oaths. The people of your time were very big on them. You took an oath of knighthood. And an oath of allegiance to your King." He walked over to Lancelot and established close eye contact. "I may not be able to unravel the Klingon's part in this so that time will reset and you return to ignorance of all you have learned and participated in here. So, I will have to rely on your honor sealed with an oath not to use any of this knowledge for the rest of your life in your own time. I can, at least, send you back to your time. Your part should not be too hard."
Lancelot stood up, his face suffused with anger. "My part, and Brian's, not too hard? Not at all," he said sarcastically. "No, all you would be doing is to make me think whenever I see a friend dying of what I guess could be appendicitis or cancer, that I know there are people in the future and even right in my own time on other worlds, who can fix those things. When I see a friend fallen in battle with horrible wounds, I will think on how you could take away his pain and even save his arm or leg. When I and my fellowship are retreating across a battlefield, I will be thinking about how just one phase pistol could turn the tide of battle. And when I am shivering only six feet from a fire in a cold castle, I will be thinking of how with a touch of your finger, you activate heat and light controls to keep you and your family warm, dry, and able to read all night if you so desire, without ruining your eyes. And when, if I am privileged to die of old age, I will be thinking that the number of my years at my life's end is only your early middle age."
Daniels avoided Lancelot's eyes and stared his feet. He suddenly realized the burden he was placing on this man. "I am sorry. This is the best I can do. Please, as a great favor to your descendants, will you take an oath not to use any of this knowledge that you have? And can you ask your Brian to do so too?"
Lancelot suddenly looked much older than his years. "It appears there is no other option. Even with all the power you have, this power still has limits. It is obvious that I must take such an oath."
Captain Archer stood also, in respect for this man. "Then we are indebted to history more than we thought. We stand on the shoulders of giants, even if their stature is physically less than ours."
...
Brian massaged Lancelot's back and applied a salve that Dr. Phlox had given him.
"This ship is full of Scathaches." Said Brian. "I guess I had a heads up on what a woman can become when I trained with her last year on the Isle of Skye." Then he gasped. He had just let slip the information he was supposed to have kept secret – that Scathach was a female trainer of warriors.
Lancelot grinned. "Don't worry Brian, I already guessed as much from that little slip of the tongue you made when I questioned you about your mysterious shadow warrior. So, you finally tell me the name of your mentor on the Isle of Skye! I had thought she was only a legend before your meeting with her. And the people on this ship thought WE were only a legend. But now I realize there have been woman warriors throughout history. I should have guessed that from the Roman legends of Amazons that my mother read to me from scrolls as a child."
"No one read to ME as a child. None of the people I knew had this skill. Not even Urgan the Strong."
"Brian, reading is a great invention and often a pleasure as well as a useful art. It overwhelms me to realize that everyone in this age is taught to read. It is only a rare privilege in our time."
"I'd like to take some of these padds back with me. Think of all the knowledge we could bring back. And a phase pistol."
"No, Brian. We have been over this before. We took an oath. Captain Archer explained to me why we should not take anything back and Daniels, in his arrogant way, reinforced that. It is not just to preserve the skills I have developed in our time or because I have become one of the best at them. Captain Archer is right that we as a people are not ready for these weapons. Socially, temperamentally, our civilization is in its infancy. But it is a splendid time. I would not trade a fresh cooked rabbit over an open fire for these Starfleet field rations, would you?"
"I suppose not, My Lord. But why couldn't we have both?"
"My Boy, I believe that the one would replace the other without us being able to stop it. Humans discard the good with the bad, just because it is old. I have seen enough of this behavior just within our own time period."
"If you say so, My Lord," Brian said reluctantly.
"To emphasize this further, do you realize that Malcolm could be a direct descendant of you or I?"
"Truthfully? I had not considered that. He doesn't look a bit like you or I."
"No, there are many ancestors for each person, even us. Yet there are some things...ethics, attitudes, beliefs...that I can't quite identify, but make me feel kinship with him. Our people, visiting other worlds one day, I am proud of that, Brian."
"Me too, I guess. But I want to go to other worlds too, now that I know they exist!"
Brian finished the massage and went over to the view port and put his hand on it as if he could catch and hold one of the distant stars streaking by.
Lancelot pushed himself up from the bunk and walked over to Brian, putting his hands on the boy's shoulders to get him to look up into his eyes. "Brian, I know you were upset when I had our computer turned off. But this is not our time, not our place. But we helped to build this. We are important as ancestors to these people. Be content with that, and proud of it. Our lives may not be as long; our lives may be physically harder, but as one of us gives a leg up to someone mounting a tall horse, we as a people did give, or WILL give – however you look at it, a leg up in civilization to our descendants who will build these marvelous star ships."
Lancelot lightly squeezed Brian's shoulders with his hands, then patted his cheek. He wanted the best of life for this boy who was essentially an adopted younger brother. He had considered asking Captain Archer if Brian could stay in this time period. The boy would have greater options in life, his humble origin would no longer haunt him. But Lancelot needed Brian as much as Brian had needed Lancelot. Brian belonged to Britain of the 6th century as much as Lancelot did. With Daniel's help, they would return to live out their lives there.
With that in mind, Lancelot picked up his sword belt and buckled it on. Brian picked up the bag of purposely loose weaving to look like it was from their time. Inside was a glass vial Dr. Phlox had given them with two doses of medication to counter act the dizziness of the return journey to their time. And there were two peanut butter sandwiches which chef had given Brian. Also, Brian had secreted something to take back from this time. It was just a bunch of small things, he thought. It would not matter, would it? Sighing, Brian followed Lancelot to the cargo bay where they were to say good-bye to the crew of the Enterprise and start their return journey to the 6th century on earth.
...
Brian saw that Daniels had set up a shimmering sort of box thing in the cargo bay. He looked around at the now familiar faces of many of Enterprise's crew. He would miss them. He could never forget them, much as Sir Lancelot said they should never mention them back home. Brian went over to Travis and shook his hand. Next to Lancelot, he had never had a better teacher - unfortunately a teacher of things he would never be doing again.
Lancelot headed straight for T'Pol and lifted her hand to his lips. "I will remember that your people were, I mean will be, great friends of my people, one day."
Trip Tucker was standing nearby, a concerned look on his face, Lancelot noticed out of the corner of his eye. Lancelot turned to him with a sly smile. "Take care of this lady. You might be making her the mother of some of my descendents one day. Too bad that I could not have cute little pointed ear children in a more direct line."
Lancelot turned to say good-bye to Captain Archer before Trip Tucker could respond to that. He and Brian said the rest of their good-byes quickly before any tears could start to flow. Then they stepped through Daniel's shimmering curtain and back into a warm afternoon in a clearing that had a week's worth of new grass growing over a trail of burn marks.
Epilogue
Lancelot and Brian had collected their horses from Sir Ector who had been keeping them unused despite Lancelot's mysterious disappearance for a whole week. The knight and his squire rode nine miles from the castle and were approaching the next village on their way back to Camelot.
"We should stop for the night at this village. Unfortunately, Brian, I have only enough money left to buy some oats and hay for our horses. We will have to do without food until we can hunt in the woods tomorrow."
Lancelot dismounted and was about to lead his horse up to a nearby stable.
"We can eat all we would like, My Lord. Here," and Brian dug a pouch out of his saddlebag which was heavy with coin. He handed it down to Lancelot who almost dropped it, not expecting its weight.
Lancelot drew himself up to his full height, hefting Brian's purse with a tight straight mouth and raised eyebrows. "Brain, where in the world did you get all this money? Have you been up to something I would not approve of?"
"Oh, no, My Lord, never. Well, maybe just a little bit. On that space station I traded my smaller dagger and a belt made of chainmail for a couple of kits to make machines. The museum curator said my things were authentic late Roman/early medieval period and priceless antiques. Since I could not take these kits back to our own time, I took them back. He asked me if I would like one-hundred dollars instead, but I could not take computer credits or paper money back with me either. Then I looked at my wrist and the bracelet he had given me that made the fleas march right down my arms and off my body. His cat had gotten fleas and this bracelet cured his pet too. So I asked him for more magic bracelets and he got me a box of 200 of them from his cat doctor. My purse that you are holding contains coins from my selling only five bracelets to Sir Ector's people. And that is only fair, because it was them that I got the fleas from in the first place. Just think what we can get for the rest of these bracelets back at Camelot!"
Lancelot's face relaxed and he smiled. "That is alright then. I see you have done nothing wrong, although I do feel you made a rather sharper bargain with that museum curator than I would have liked. But it is your money, boy, not mine. I will borrow enough from you to feed us and the horses until we return home and then I will pay you back. I don't think this violates our oath at all, because when these bracelets are gone, we do not know how to make more of them."
Lancelot patted Brian on the shoulder and the boy sighed gratefully, smiling at the ground with relief and half closing his eyes under his long fair eyelashes. He would never have knowingly cheated anyone in a trade. He remembered the museum curator had laughed in delight and called him something in jest, what was it now? Oh yes, and he had meant to ask Lancelot about it. He would do so now.
"Sir Lancelot, why did he call me a Ferengi?"
"I have no idea, Brian. Forget it. We have a lot to forget, don't we? But remember, life is good here and we have most of our lives yet to live. Let's get a bite to eat now, good food from our own time from now on. Eh, Brian?"
End note – I hope you enjoyed this story because I enjoyed writing it. If you are a Star Trek fan and have not seen The Adventures of Sir Lancelot; it is a 1950's TV series that I loved as a child and is quite enchanting. You probably could find it on Y Tube or get it from . The characters of Lancelot and Brian are delightful.
If you already are an Adventures of Sir Lancelot fan and have not seen Star Trek: Enterprise, it may still be on a cable channel somewhere. And of course you can get it from . It is my favorite Star Trek series, though I like every Star Trek series and movie.
I have written fan fiction for both these series on and for Sir Lancelot onTumblr. If you liked this story, you may like to try other stories that deal with each of these series alone. And please try your hand at some fan fiction writing yourself if you haven't already! It is a great hobby and could lead on to a writing career as some fan fiction writers have already discovered.
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