So Happy Together
| Star Traks: The Original Series | |
| Episode name | So Happy Together |
|---|---|
| Season | The Lost Years |
| Episode number | 6 |
| Writer(s) | Alan Decker |
| Year | 2376 |
| Stardate | 53591 |
| Chronology | |
| Previous in series | The Next Item Up For Bid [TRK] |
| Next in series | Tricks Of The Trade [TRK] |
| Previous in timeline | The Wrath Of Irma [VEX] |
| Next in timeline | Generation Gap - Part One [VEX] |
Commander Jaroch must venture into the belly of the beast when Counselor Claire Webber is kidnapped by denizens of the Happy Universe. What do they want? Will the Happy Universe saga ever end?
Summary
STARDATE 52785.8
Shortly after Commander Jaroch's return to the USS Secondprize from Waystation (see The Way We Were), he is sitting in Seven Backward feeling rather sorry for himself when he is approached by Counselor Claire Webber. The pair strike up an unlikely relationship.
STARDATE 53591.4
Over the last 10 months, Jaroch and Webber have been not so much dating, but definitely spending time together in an intimate capacity. They take their first vacation as a couple together to see the firestorms on Bersallis III. While there, Webber is grabbed by Happymaster Dillon and taken to the Happy Universe, where the Happymaster plans to remove her mind and replace it with that of his beloved Empress Webber, who was recently reduced to being a brain in a box.
Jaroch is contacted by Alpha, his Happy Universe duplicate, and goes to the Happy Universe to rescue Webber. The fleet of the Empress' Federation of Fun has been decimated by war, but they are starting to rebuild. Getting the Empress a new body is part of that effort. Jaroch finds himself on the lone remaining rebel ship, commanded by the Happy Universe's version of Lisa Beck. The rebels chase the Happymaster's ship, which he has dubbed the Secondprize-A, to Camus II, a planet where many years earlier, Captain James T. Kirk and the USS Enterprise discovered a mind-swapping device. Everyone converges on the planet, where the mind-swapping device is damaged, leading to random brain switching among the foes. Jaroch is eventually able to straighten everything out, and the Happymaster and the Empress are captured. Unfortunately, the Federation of Fun's other remaining ship, the Funship Explorer, is closing in fast. Back on board the rebel vessel, Jaroch makes modifications to the Happy Beam, which is really just a Transference Ray, and they are able to blast the Funship Explorer crew back to normal. The Secondprize-A escapes, but the rebels and the Explorer, set out to de-happyfy the galaxy.
Jaroch and Webber are returned to their universe. Jaroch feels guilty about his actions in the Happy Universe, in particular a dalliance with that universe's Beck, and goes to speak with Webber. Webber is not upset. On the contrary, she apologizes to Jaroch for failing him. Part of her motivation in getting involved with him was to help him get over his feelings for Patricia Hawkins. From things Jaroch said on Camus II, Webber knows that that has not happened. She wants Jaroch to accept that Hawkins may never return his feelings. Jaroch doesn't know if he can.
Featuring
- Commander Jaroch
- Counselor Claire Webber
- Captain Alexander Rydell
- Commander Travis Dillon
- Commander Scott Baird
- Lieutenant Commander Emily Sullivan
- Lieutenant Commander Patricia Hawkins
- Dr. Elizabeth Aldridge
Also Featuring
Author's Comments
As well as being a continuity nightmare, as noted at the beginning of the story, "So Happy Together" is one of the more demented things I have ever written. I can't even begin to explain it.
The Lady's character was influenced quite a bit by "Midnight In The Garden Of Good And Evil." Making her a Southern hostess seemed appropriate and worked quite nicely in the story, I thought.
This story does include one very large example of my anal-retentiveness. Anthony Butler had created the rebel ship, the Ruth Buzzy, in one of his earlier Happy Universe stories. That's not how Ruth Buzzi's name is spelled, though, so I put in dialogue explaining why this happened. I could have just left it alone, but...no, I couldn't. See? Anal-retentive.