In Cochrane's case it's more likely that he was recruited directly post-Contact, rather than as part of Hero. He was obviously still on Earth and working in relative obscurity, apart for scientific circles, before the flight of Enterprise, after all.

Oddly, Star Trek had its own explanation for Cochrane's unusual longevity as long ago as 1967. So if you've a particular attachment to that episode, you could take it that he has the appearance of the older, scruffier Cochrane in "Enterprise", "Metamorphosis" happens to him sometime in the intervening centuries, his adventures developing and popularizing warp drive come after he eventually leaves Gamma Canaris, and by the time we see him in FI he's reached roughly the same age he was at First Contact again.

Or you can take the more straightforward view that the WDF gave the recruiting pitch to the whole crew of Concordia 1 and Cochrane, at least, signed up; the Order of the Eternal would presumably not be far behind for independently inventing hyperdrive and providing the lever needed to catapult Earth into the Galactic Age. Sure, it had been thought of before - maybe a dozen times in recorded history, all around the galaxy - but that doesn't make it any less of an achievement when it's done in a vacuum, so to speak.

Either interpretation works for me.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
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