No more military than Season 3 of Enterprise when this novel is set anyway. I haven't read it since it was published, but I remember feeling uncomfortable with some of Archer's actions in the novel. But again, not out of place with his other actions throughout.
Christopher's Typhon Pact is still listed as "The Courage of Conscience" in the OPs. Should it be updated to "The Struggle Within"?
Which NF short stories are worth reading? Which ones take place before Mackensie was discovered by Starfleet?
all of them. well, are you on about ones with him as the star or just in general? cuz, IIRC, there's 2 different answers to that.
the closest is "A Lady of Xenex" in the No Limits anthology which stars D'ndai, Mac's brother, which takes places shortly after the scene in Martyr where Mac has to perform services for a widow on Xenex. IIRC, that event is after Stargazer's visit, but prior to Mac leaving for the Academy. Starring Mac, no. There is a short story set during his 'sabbatical' from Starfleet, about a mission he was on on behalf of Nechayev.
Well, there are over a hundred TOS novels, 11 Enterprise novels, 8 Vanguard novels, 8 The Lost Era novels, and to many TOS comics and short stories to even begin to attempt to count.
Though PAD's Starfleet Academy YA novels include Zak, Soleta, and McHenry alongside teen-Worf, so they're kinda NF-ish.
Although those characters actually originated in the Academy books and then got resurrected as part of the NF cast. So it's more like they're proto-NF-ish.
The first one is available for US$5.99 for the Nook, and the rest of the series and the TOS and VOY YA books are all available as used paperbacks for between US$.99 and US$1.99 on the Barnes and Noble website.