Line #16 Fanfic/LostInTheWoods


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lost_in_the_woods_tngfirefly.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Artwork by Marcus S Lazarus]]
3	''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/4603570/1/Lost-In-The-Woods Lost in the Woods]]'' and its sequel, ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5080324/1/No-Good-Deed No Good Deed]]'', by [[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/1716738/Ardwolf Ardwolf]], is a crossover between ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' and ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', set early in Season Three for ''[=TNG=]'' and just after ''Firefly'' concluded its televised run. When Q returns to the ''Enterprise'', he nonchalantly responds to Picard’s demands that he restore the eighteen crewmembers lost to the Borg during his last visit and then follows it by sending the ''Enterprise'' into a parallel universe in the name of his latest test. Woods explores how the two crews interact with each other, culminating in the ''Enterprise'' [[spoiler:completely destroying the Reaver fleet]], and the second explores the consequences of the ''Enterprise''[=’=]s visit in both worlds.
4
5	!!These stories contain examples of:
6
7	* AlienNonInterferenceClause: A key issue faced by the ''Enterprise'' is the extent to which the Prime Directive applies in their current situation while they are in Alliance space, as the Alliance doesn't have warp or subspace but have clearly travelled a significant distance across space. While they ultimately decide not to make direct contact with the Alliance, the ''Enterprise'' crew do provide ''Serenity'' with as complete an upgrade as they can without making the ship significantly more advanced, [[spoiler:and also destroy the Reavers completely once they confirm that the consequences of sparing the Reavers are even worse]].
8	* ArtisticLicenceBiology: The ''Enterprise'' medical staff conduct a detailed examination of the Reavers that establishes how they are created, including the exact effect that the Pax has on their physiology and psychology to turn them so insane.
9	* AuthorityInNameOnly: A good term for Inara's status here, as Mal introduces her to the ''Enterprise'' crew as 'Ambassador'. While Inara quickly clarifies that she's only the ambassador for ''Serenity'' rather than for the Alliance as a whole, her time on the ''Enterprise'' sees her basically being treated as such as she is described as spending time living up to the title by mingling with the various alien races on the ship, with the following result;
10	-->Her reward had been exposure to art and culture of a thousand different worlds, worlds she couldn't even have imagined. She counted herself blessed beyond her wildest dreams.
11	* BackFromTheDead: The fic opens as Q decides to grant Picard a 'favour' by restoring the eighteen members of the ''Enterprise'' crew who were taken by the Borg during their first encounter (although it would appear that Q actually just moved them through time rather than bringing them back from the dead).
12	* ContinuitySnarl: A relatively minor one, admittedly; despite this being set between “Q Who” and “Deja Q” for [=TNG=] (likely in the third season as Crusher is the chief medical officer rather than Pulaski), Data expresses knowledge of his ‘mother’ Juliana Soong, who he only met in the show’s seventh season.
13	* CourtroomEpisode: The ''Star Trek'' sections of “No Good Deed” are essentially this, [[spoiler:as Picard is on trial for violating the Prime Directive and committing genocide against the Reavers]].
14	* CrazyPrepared: When Picard proposes transporting a Reaver on board ''Enterprise'' for analysis, Mal speaks up to make sure that everyone on ''Enterprise'' is aware of the dangers that a Reaver can pose, to the extent that an entire security team is set up to keep the Reaver stunned and contained the moment it arrives, and even then it managed to inflict a serious wound on Worf before it was rendered unconscious.
15	* CurbStompBattle: When the ''Enterprise''-D crew decide that [[spoiler:they must destroy the Reaver fleet to save the humans of the Alliance, although the Reaver fleet consists of over three hundred ships against the ''Enterprise'' on its own, the ''Enterprise'' destroys the entire Reaver fleet in under a minute]].
16	* DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu: Mal's reaction to Q belittling him is to pull a Sisko -- this is, breaking the slimy bastard's nose and threatening to do it again.
17	** River later does even better; she ''rips out Q's vocal chords'' when he condescends to her.
18	* EveryoneHasStandards: In "No Good Deed", [[spoiler:even Jayne is uncomfortable to realise that one of the girls they’re taking to start work in a brothel is legitimately underage, rather than just looking young]].
19	* ExpendableAlternateUniverse: Discussed but ultimately disregarded. Once they've established that they're in an alternate universe, the ''Enterprise'' crew acknowledge that they are in a tricky legal situation, considering that the Alliance consists of humans outside of Earth’s solar system but without access to warp travel which defies all conventional definitions of the Prime Directive. Ultimately, the events in this universe are treated as just as valid as events in their own reality, [[spoiler:to the point that Picard is put on trial for violating the Prime Directive while in Alliance space once the ''Enterprise'' returns home]].
20	* GeekyTurnOn: While Kaylee obviously isn't allowed to learn more about the specifics of Federation technology, she greatly enjoys the chance to see the ''Enterprise''.
21	* GenocideDilemma: The ''Enterprise'' crew face this when faced with the possibility that they could stop the threat of the Reavers as the Reavers prepare to attack a significant planet in Alliance space. As well as the obvious issue of the Prime Directive, the crew consider the possibility of trying to just stop the Reaver fleet rather than destroying it or trying to cure the Reavers of their pax-induced insanity, but they conclude that they lack the time to put either plan into action (and Mal observes that anyone turned back to normal after being a Reaver would likely kill themselves from the trauma of remembering what they did). Eventually, [[spoiler:Captain Picard concludes that the Reavers are too dangerous to be spared and destroys their fleet, although a subsequent court martial concludes that the charge of genocide can't qualify as Reavers can only be male and are psychologically incapable of anything more than killing what isn't like them]].
22	* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: An indirect example of this occurs when Mal initially arrives on the ''Enterprise'' and speculates that Deanna Troi is the ship’s equivalent of a companion, invoking the fact that Troi and Inara were basically the sex appeal for their shows.
23	* LoopholeAbuse: While contemplating [[spoiler:the scale of the Reaver threat, Data observes that from a certain perspective eliminating the Reavers doesn’t violate the Prime Directive as few people actually know that the Reavers exist beyond a myth, so their absence would not significantly affect Alliance civilisation]].
24	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Invoked when the ''Enterprise'' crew are contemplating finding a cure for the Reavers; Mal explicitly states that anyone who returned to normal after spending any time as a Reaver would probably blow their own brains out from the horror of remembering what they had done.
25	* NegativeSpaceWedgie: Q actually has to combine his own powers with the latest spatial anomaly the ''Enterprise'' is tracking to send the ship into the parallel universe of Alliance space, rather than just snapping his fingers to get the job done as usual.
26	* NoodleIncident: In “No Good Deed”, [[spoiler:Inara reflects that the ''Enterprise'' medical staff were able to cure the terminal illness that was killing her in just a few sessions without the rest of her crew aware she was getting treatment (such a disease was part of Inara’s backstory but was only disclosed by WordOfGod)]].
27	* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Picard explicitly notes that it’s not like Data to equivocate when he spends time talking about the history of the Chara system and confirming that he has run various diagnostics to be sure that his results are correct before explaining that the Chara system they’re facing is nothing like the system as recorded in the ''Enterprise'' database.
28	* OutsideContextProblem: The ''Enterprise'' is this for every hostile force in Alliance space; even when one scientist deduces that the Reavers were destroyed by at least one ship with antimatter weapons he can't explain how such a ship might exist.
29	* RammingAlwaysWorks: Defied; when the men in blue gloves fail to damage ''Enterprise'' and ''Serenity'' with thirty-six nuclear missiles, they resort to ramming ''Serenity'' with their ship, and harmlessly explode against the shields.
30	* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: As essentially the highest-ranking member of Alliance space in contact with ''Enterprise'', Mal ultimately serves as this when Picard begins contemplating the possibility of using ''Enterprise'' to destroy the Reavers. While Mal is obviously in favour of eliminating the threat the Reavers pose for good, he recognises that Captain Picard has rules to obey and a personal moral code that drives the captain to be sure that the Reavers are as bad as he's been told before he takes action. Mal therefore assures Picard that he will ultimately follow the other man's lead and let Picard make the final decision, even if he offers all possible advice regarding the nature of the Reaver threat to help Picard make an informed choice.
31	* RulesLawyer: Picard’s defence counsel in “No Good Deed”, Karras, shows his skill in this regard, [[spoiler:clearly explaining the various loopholes that justify the choice to make contact with ''Serenity'' and the decision to destroy the Reaver fleet]].
32	* SecretKeeper: Ultimately the nine members of ''Serenity'''s crew are the only ones aware that ''Enterprise'' was ever in their universe once Q returns the ship to its own reality, although others are aware of certain clues that something was present.
33	* SparedByTheAdaptation: Wash and Book both survive, as the events that led to their canonical deaths never happen. [[spoiler: Q knows it, and tells Mal that he gave Mal's crew a gift that they'll never know they had, before specifically namedropping those two crew members]].
34	* StatusQuoIsGod: Obviously the Prime Directive prevents the ''Enterprise'' crew giving ''Serenity'' too significant an upgrade, and they literally can’t do that much to help River’s mental damage. However, they do give ''Serenity'' as thorough an upgrade as possible while keeping it within the limits of what is possible for the Alliance, as well as paying the crew for their time, [[spoiler:to say nothing of the destruction of the Reaver fleet]]. Once [[spoiler:the ''Enterprise'' returns to its home universe, after Picard's court-martial has concluded one of the additional rulings is that the existence of Alliance space will now be considered a secret known only to the Federation Council and those who have actually travelled to that universe]].
35	* TakeAThirdOption: Brought up [[spoiler:and defied when Picard learns of the scale of the Reaver threat; the point of these events is for Q to put Picard in a position where there ''is'' no third option, and the captain’s choices are to either destroy the Reavers or let the Reavers destroy humanity in this system]].
36	* TranquilFury: Picard declares that it is "completely ''unacceptable''" when he learns that the local government are responsible for River's condition, and immediately volunters the services of the ''Enterprise'' to see what can be done to help her.
37	* TrickedOutTime: A good description of Q's restoration of the eighteen crewmembers killed by the Borg in "Q Who?"; he apparently 'collected' all eighteen of them from a point shortly before he moved the ''Enterprise'' and relocated them to the bridge a few months in their relative future.
38	* TricksterMentor: Karras, Picard's lawyer, speculates that this is Q's true nature, since while he has caused grief, he's also saved lives on a grand scale- prepping mankind for the Borg, and dealing with the Reaver problem.
39	* UnconventionalCourtroomTactics: "No Good Deed" arguably sees Q do this; [[spoiler:he summons a Reaver into the court in a manner that Karras suggests was intended to reinforce their threat to those who hadn't seen the Reavers in person, thus giving them further evidence that Picard was right to interfere and destroy the Reavers to save the Alliance planets]].
40	* WhyDidntIThinkOfThat: Brought up when Doctor Crusher completes her analysis of a Reaver and asks Mal if he's ever heard of a Reaver attacking another Reaver. Thinking about it, Mal observes that not only has he never heard of such a thing, but once the doctor brings it up, he's surprised that Reavers don't just tear ''each other'' apart on their cramped ships before they can even get to other people, confirming Crusher's analysis that Reavers are basically psychologically incapable of working with anything that isn't like them.
41	* WinsByDoingAbsolutelyNothing: From Mal’s perspective, their deal with the ''Enterprise'' is basically this; all ''Serenity'' has to do is sit around in deep space for a month and let the ''Enterprise'' crew study their databanks, and in return they get relatively free reign on the luxurious ''Enterprise'', with a range of exotic food and drink (many of which they’d never normally experience as it comes from other races), and will even get paid a king’s ransom in platinum.
42	* TheWorfEffect: A literal example of this; the ''Enterprise'' crew get a taste of how dangerous the Reavers are when [[spoiler:a single Reaver stays conscious after multiple phaser blasts set on stun and manages to inflict a dangerous wound on Worf’s stomach that damages his sash before they finally knock it out]].

Context Fanfic / LostInTheWoods