Throwback Fic: The Black Ships
A West Wing/Battlestar Galactica Crossover.
Posting Requested by @oparu (sort of)
Roslin/Adama, the Battling Bartlets, some implied subtext.
Rated: T Political Thriller
Summary: A few weeks before Christmas, late in the Bartlet Presidency, a fleet of interstellar refugees arrive at Earth and changed the world. But is it the end of the saga, or the beginning of a much more complicated one?
Chronology: Set in BSG's second season after Epiphanies but before Sacrifices, and in the West Wing's mid sixth season vaguely after Liftoff.
"Do you seriously believe that as soon as a large number of space ships enter orbit that there won't be SETI scientists all over the globe breaking out champagne and readying press releases? They've already stated that their first move upon extraterrestrial contact would be to make a public announcement because for some bizarre idea they think that it would belong to the entire globe and not just one nation."
"It also is a safeguard in case someone in government decides to try and make them disappear," Kate added with a nod.
"They've actually thought about that?" Toby asked.
"I can't imagine why they don't trust the Central Intelligence Agency," Jed mumbled.
Leo spoke up for the first time. "I agree with Commander Harper. We should be careful how much of our culture we expose these people to and how much contact we allow them with Earth. Carefully limit it."
Bartlet shook his head. "I'm not going down on the same page with Tokugawa Yoshinobu."
"You won't if that's as hard to spell as it sounds like it is," CJ commented.
"The 15th Tokugawa Shogun…" Bartlet was greeted with blank stares. "Commander Harper, please tell me they still teach naval history at Annapolis."
"Last I checked, sir, but it's threatening to be replaced by underwater basket weaving."
The President nodded, choosing to ignore the errant bit of sarcasm. "Would you care to explain to those people who Tokugawa Yoshinobu was?"
Kate tilted her head to the side, and glanced at the senior staff, as if she was mentally accessing some file in the hard drive of her brain. "In 1853 four ships, the Mississippi, Plymouth, Saratoga, and Susquehanna under the command of Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Yokosuka, Japan. Yoshinobu was the ruling shogun in Japan at the time. His government's policies excluded all foreigners form the islands except a few Dutch and Portuguese trading vessels with extremely restricted access. Two hundred years of isolation and relative peace were effectively ended by the U.S. Navy's military superiority. The Japanese called them the Black Ships because of their color and the smoke that billowed from their steam engines."
"Four years later the shogun was out of a job in the Meiji Restoration that revolutionized Japanese culture," the President added.
"And indirectly led to the attack on Pearl Harbor and the beginning of World War II," Kate added to the President's explanation.
"We can't stick our heads in the sand, Leo, or else that fleet will be our own Black Ships. They could sit in orbit and dominate this planet and we would have little to say in the matter. We don't have the luxury of taking this slowly." Jed looked around the room. "Not to mention that we have a moral imperative not to turn away people in need."
