I hate loose ends... (The Fall & Titan SPOILERS)

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by bfollowell, Jan 2, 2014.

  1. bfollowell

    bfollowell Captain Captain

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    I hate loose ends. We're all aware of the whole lost Ascendant story-line from the DS9 novels. I realize it may be a little early but it looks like we may be getting set up for another hanging thread. I'm putting the finishing touches on The Fall: Peacable Kingdoms. Since the Andorian reproductive crisis has been corrected, I thought we might find out the fate of the Andorian transporter duplicates from Titan: Fallen Gods, but they still haven't been mentioned since that novel. Looking at the upcoming novels for 2014, it doesn't look likely that we'll find anything out this year. While not as big a plot element as the Ascendants, it does seem like a fairly large item to just forget about.

    Is anyone else as curious about these guys as I am?

    - Byron

    EDIT: Right after posting this, I remembered the novella, Titan: Absent Enemies, coming in February. Maybe there'll be something related in that one.
     
    Last edited: Jan 2, 2014
  2. JWolf

    JWolf Commodore Commodore

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    I'm hoping that we can forget that Fallen Gods was even written. It wasn't good enough to continue. I thought that the transporter incident with the Andorians was a rather poor idea.
     
  3. Jeff

    Jeff Lieutenant Junior Grade Red Shirt

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    Speaking of loose ends, does Riker's promotion signal the end of Titan as a series?
     
  4. Captain Clark Terrell

    Captain Clark Terrell Commodore Commodore

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    Not clear either way.

    Akaar's statement that Riker could retain Titan as his flagship suggests that he may still command the vessel in the short-term. It's not clear what Vale's status will be given her actions in The Poisoned Chalice, so Titan may have a new CO if Riker doesn't captain the ship himself.

    --Sran
     
  5. Nob Akimoto

    Nob Akimoto Captain Captain

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    Well at the end of Peaceable Kingdoms the President Zh'Tarash implies that Riker was trying to get away from desk duty and back to exploring on Titan and that she was going to try to talk him into staying at Starfleet Command for a while.
     
  6. zarkon

    zarkon Captain Captain

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    I think this falls under "let us never speak of this again"
     
  7. F. King Daniel

    F. King Daniel Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Whereas I think it's long overdue that the ramifications of some of the transporter's godlike abilities be explored. Let's see what effect this has on the galaxy when people realize they can be xeroxed.
     
  8. zarkon

    zarkon Captain Captain

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    Federation did something nice of that kind - Cochrane got transported to the enterprise and assumed the teleportation method copied him and deleted the source, which obviously terrified him - before he was told that only the earliest prototypes did that.

    Does raise some interesting and disturbing possibilities though - clone a genius to hurry a tech breakthrough during war, cloning battle experienced soldiers....
     
  9. Julio Angel Ortiz

    Julio Angel Ortiz Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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    Part of the problem is that, IIRC, in-novel it's been three years since Fallen Gods. It was a weird plot point to leave dangling given where the series goes next.
     
  10. JD

    JD Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Don't forget, we do have Absent Enemies coming out in February. I'm pretty sure it takes place post-The Fall, so it could give a good idea of where Titan is headed next as a series.
     
  11. Captain Clark Terrell

    Captain Clark Terrell Commodore Commodore

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    Right. Rumor has it Absent Enemies is bringing back the mysterious aliens from "Schisms," which took place early in TNG's sixth season. Both Riker and Sariel Rager figured prominently in that episode.

    --Sran
     
  12. Sci

    Sci Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    I honestly don't care. I didn't enjoy Fallen Gods and I'm quite happy to presume that the entire matter was somehow resolved to everyone's satisfaction, perhaps with the Tholians left smarting as they warped away shouting, "And we would have gotten away with it if it weren't for those meddling Starfleet officers! One day, I'll get you, Will Riker!" ;)
     
  13. Deranged Nasat

    Deranged Nasat Vice Admiral Admiral

    For what it's worth, I dislike loose ends, too, although this isn't a major one. I'd like to see it acknowledged somewhere, even if it's only an affirmation of Sci's apathy (;)) - a throw-away comment letting us know the matter was resolved offscreen (or is somehow being investigated). The "Andorian Crisis" arc is over now (I'm very impressed that it sustained a decade's worth of stories), and that's the only real dangling plot point I can think of - especially since it implied that factions within the Andorian intelligence service had been co-opted by the Tholians, meaning it's slightly more meaningful than "we have a few duplicates around".

    I also agree with KingDaniel that exploring the potential uses and misuses of transporter duplication could be interesting - there's a lot of potential there, particularly for exploring dilemmas rather unique to the setting.

    PS: I must admit to preferring dedicated follow-ups wherever possible; my only real complaint about the otherwise fantastic Full Circle, for instance, was that the Changeling arc was dropped so rapidly and concluded offscreen.