Coming July 2013: STAR TREK ENTERPRISE — RISE OF THE FEDERATION

Discussion in 'Trek Literature' started by Christopher, Nov 2, 2012.

  1. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    ^Why? We're talking Marines, not Section 31. Presumably they have the same rules of engagement as the rest of Starfleet, i.e. using no more force than necessary and making the protection of innocents a priority.
     
  2. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 10, 2005
    Location:
    Confederation of Earth
    ^ And I'm just talking about uniform color. :rolleyes:
     
    Last edited: Jun 23, 2013
  3. Reanok

    Reanok Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Dec 26, 2002
    Christopher thank you for answering my question this reallyi s interesting information that helps better to describe the new unifroms while reading your new novel.
     
  4. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2005
    Location:
    On the USS Sovereign
    Just got started but it seems to be seamlessly moving forward from the last Enterprise book. I am uncertain about Archer's condition since I do not recall any symptoms that he had in the post tv series novels. Is there an active link to the upgraded NX series ships, Christopher?
     
  5. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    Keep reading. It's not "seamless" -- I've jumped forward over a year, and some changes have occurred in the interim.


    It's essentially Doug Drexler's NX-refit design which was featured in the 2011 Ships of the Line calendar.
     
  6. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2001
    Location:
    The Wormhole
    Not really. There are behind the scenes sources which describe the guys in blue shirts in Trek V as Marines, but they weren't described as such on screen. In Enterprise's early planning stages Malcolm Reed was described as a "Starfleet Marine" though that was dropped by the time production began. Otherwise, the term "Starfleet Marine" hasn't been used in anything official.

    Starfleet did have the separate flag grades during Enterprise's run. Admiral Forrest was a Vice Admiral and we saw him as a Commodore in First Flight. Admiral Leonard in Broken Bow was a Rear Admiral. So I'd say there's enough evidence to say "yes."
     
  7. Markonian

    Markonian Fleet Admiral Moderator

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2012
    Location:
    Derbyshire, UK
    You included it in your novel? Awesome sauce!

    Still more than a day until it's on my kindle. Hope the time flies.
     
  8. EliyahuQeoni

    EliyahuQeoni Commodore Commodore

    Joined:
    Dec 24, 2007
    Location:
    Redmond, Oregon, United States of America
    I've heard speculation that Colonel West from ST VI could be a Marine, given his non-naval rank.
     
  9. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2011
    I'm inclined to think that Starfleet Marines cease to exist at some point, primarily because they're conspicuous by their absence.
     
  10. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    May 10, 2005
    Location:
    Confederation of Earth
    ^ You don't have to mention everything all the time.

    Besides, Marines will simply never cease to exist. :)
     
  11. Ronald Held

    Ronald Held Vice Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Feb 21, 2005
    Location:
    On the USS Sovereign
    Christopher I have read far enough to see what caused the problem. Doug's site is down but I found an image that is close to your description. Too bad that ship was not on the cover.
     
  12. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    Maybe next time...
     
  13. The Wormhole

    The Wormhole Fleet Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Jul 23, 2001
    Location:
    The Wormhole
    True, though he did wear a Starfleet uniform with the rank insignia of an Admiral. A Colonel is basically equal in rank to a naval Captain, and one would think that if there were Starfleet Marines they'd have some differences between their uniforms and the Starfleet standard.
     
  14. Markonian

    Markonian Fleet Admiral Moderator

    Joined:
    Jun 2, 2012
    Location:
    Derbyshire, UK
    Only because there are marines in Earth's forces doesn't mean they are part of Federation Starfleet as well. It is made of several species with a longer military tradition in space than Humans. Maybe to Tellarites, Andorians and Vulcans marines are superfluous or anachronistic?

    The Federation is not a homo sapiens-only club.
     
  15. Relayer1

    Relayer1 Admiral Admiral

    Joined:
    Aug 21, 2011
    Location:
    The Black Country, England
    Is there anything in canon stating that The Federation only has one service - Starfleet ? Could they not have a military/peacekeeping force that absorbed the marines ?

    Just because we only saw Starfleet personnel acting in The Dominion War doesn't necessarily mean there aren't any...does it ?
     
  16. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2011
    I assume planets would have their own forces, unless membership requires you to disarm them.

    Still the above is why I support the idea the Macos were folded into security personnel. The supposition there's Marines leads to more suppositions which leads to more suppositions all to support the central premise. Oddly, the central premise isn't wrong IMHO, I just think the Security Personnel *ARE* marines. Just renamed marines who also handle MP work.

    As for Colonel West, he could have been part of Earth Security or have an honorary title from his home planet.
     
  17. Christopher

    Christopher Writer Admiral

    Joined:
    Mar 15, 2001
    True, things shouldn't be kept just because humans do them, but in this case it's more a matter of practicality. "Marines" are a specialized case of infantry, i.e. ground troops -- specifically those attached to naval operations or involved in amphibious warfare. In an interstellar setting, with starships as the basis for any travel from planet to planet, it stands to reason that any infantry -- troops assigned to fight on planet surfaces or conduct boarding operations on enemy ships or stations -- would most likely be the equivalent of marines.

    Now, if we're talking SF universes or futurism in general, one could suggest that the very concept of ground troops might eventually become obsolete, with drones taking their place altogether. In that context, there'd be no infantry and thus no marines. But Star Trek has always been oddly devoid of robots, and the norm has always been to employ live security guards/troops. So it would make sense, at least hypothetically, that there could or even should be a specialized infantry force that would most likely be called either marines or naval infantry. (Although the etymological purist in me insists that starship infantry should be called "Celestines" instead. Except then they sound like a religious order.)

    Again, though, Trek canon doesn't support that view; what we've always seen is that the same security personnel handle both shipboard duties and an infantry-like role. But then, this isn't necessarily a problem. Historically, quoth Wikipedia, "The Marine Corps was founded to serve as an infantry unit aboard naval vessels and was responsible for the security of the ship and its crew by conducting offensive and defensive combat during boarding actions and defending the ship's officers from mutiny." This doesn't sound too different from the role of starship security officers, although mutiny in Starfleet is reportedly a near-unprecedented occurrence. And in modern times, US Marines serve as security at US diplomatic posts abroad. So I'm comfortable with the idea that Starfleet Security already is essentially a marine/infantry force by default. Indeed, one could argue that that's their primary function, and that the kind of ship-to-ship tactical role we've seen characters like Worf and Tuvok perform is in addition to that basic infantry-type role.
     
  18. Charles Phipps

    Charles Phipps Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Sep 17, 2011
    What he said.

    Edit:

    But yes, I figured Starfleet Security was supposed to be pretty badass. Tasha Yarr says their training is the best in the galaxy. It's just they're usually facing down things which can't be defeated physically.

    While this is mostly Roddenberry, also, I could see an in-universe attempt to remove Starfleet's military connotations. Part of the nature of exploration and diplomacy as Starfleet's chief thing would include reassuring people they're not being invaded. Stating they're just "security" and not marines might actually be a bit of political senstitivity.
     
  19. hbquikcomjamesl

    hbquikcomjamesl Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

    Joined:
    Oct 6, 2006
    Location:
    Orange County, CA
    Hmm. Almost halfway through, and you've got a lot of plot threads running concurrently. Without leaving the reader confused. So far, quite good.
     
  20. Stoek

    Stoek Commander Red Shirt

    Joined:
    Dec 10, 2008
    Location:
    Stoek
    My personal take has always been that Starfleet is a USO (Unified Service Organization) basically taking all of the varies military organizations and blending them into one (mostly) seamless whole. Therefore there really are not MACO's or Marines, or Navy, nor Andorian Guard nor Vulcan Protectorate or Tellarite Fuzzy Wuzzies. There's just Starfleet which has elements of all of them.

    Quite honestly I have never liked "Colonel West" and quite honestly given what we saw go on and what was invented in DS9, I personally just dismiss him as a Section 31 agent who they fed the President a line of bull about since I figure that your average civilian in the 23rd and a half century is as knowledgeable about Starfleet and its inner workings as most of us would be about today's military, plus I imagine that any government leader relies on experts to brief him and if you spend too much time doubting those same experts the job is going to get infinitely more difficult than it already is. In this case sadly President Ra Ghoretti got scammed.