Question(s) about Chekov

A question for anyone who might know: is there any Trek novel or story that addresses Pavel Chekov's departure from the Enterprise before the run of TAS, and/or his return thereafter? I'm not aware of one, but heaven knows I might have overlooked something.

(And: do we know if Chekov has ever even met Arex, or did they serve on board at mutually exclusive times?...)

 

I thought one of the Lost Years books mentioned something about Chekov leaving for security training at some point. Does this ring a bell to anyone? It's been many years since I read those.

 

I mention it in Ex Machina. As I recall, I said that Chekov had taken a leave of absence for a few months to see if he could make it work with Irina Galliulin (he couldn't).

I think I said in ExM that Arex got a promotion and left when Chekov came back, but it's possible Arex was a backup navigator before Chekov left.

That was after the 5-year mission. Of course, Chekov was the Enterprise security chief in TMP, so presumably he underwent security training during the intervening two and a half years. The novel that actually depicts his security training is Traitor Winds, the third Lost Years book.

 

Of course I understood those were after the 5YM. I was thinking one of them referred to Chekov having left and returned in the past. But I may be thinking of the Ex Machina passage you referred to.

 

Wasn't there a relatively rescent novel, I'm thinking That Which Divides that said that said that during the TAS time period Chekov was still aboard the Enterprise, just training in other areas and therefore not on bridge duty?

 

I think so, though I don't remember which one it was. There isn't the same kind of effort to keep the TOS novels in continuity with each other that there is with the 24th-century stuff, since they're pretty much standalones by necessity.

Although maybe the two could be reconciled if you assume that Chekov's leave only lasted for part of TAS.