Maybe that implies that it causes some sort of brain damage that impedes higher thought processes? That etymology makes me imagine some sort of biochemical-induced ferality or the like; a more targetted nerve agent that doesn't break down the entire CNS, but merely certain parts of the brain.
The Great Chronological Run-Through
- Thread starter Deranged Nasat
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Maybe that implies that it causes some sort of brain damage that impedes higher thought processes? That etymology makes me imagine some sort of biochemical-induced ferality or the like; a more targetted nerve agent that doesn't break down the entire CNS, but merely certain parts of the brain.
^Yeah, but what we know about theragen suggests that it simply kills people, and does so quickly. So there'd be no time to observe any such behavioral change.
Well, maybe it was named for the fate of survivors who got low doses. Or maybe it isn't Greek at all -- maybe it's an Anglicization of an Andorian word or something.
Well, maybe it was named for the fate of survivors who got low doses. Or maybe it isn't Greek at all -- maybe it's an Anglicization of an Andorian word or something.
Maybe the observed effects recalled a legend from the culture of the observer, something about people being struck down as though they were agonized beasts? I could see some shaken officer referring to "This Beast-Maker", and the name stuck?
Immortal Coil, chapter 19
Another very short piece that I went back and forth on including, but ultimately decided to because it serves as a neat little prologue to a set of stories which we haven't dealt with yet, but which will thread through the rest of the chronology: the Artificial Intelligence issue. Appropriately, it doesn’t deal with any sort of origin or explanation for android existence, but immediately emphasises the timeless nature and enigmatic endurance of AI in the galaxy. Ruk has already existed for millennia, and his original purpose is a mystery to him and to us.
Roger Korby makes his first (and in the flesh, last) appearance.
****
Inception
This one is a little odd. The environmental protection/reckless progress issue is certainly a worthwhile one that could use some exploring - it's something we haven't seen too much of in this setting - but its presentation here suffers from the inclusion of some uncomfortable details that don't always seem to fit the setting. Is the Federation – or parts of it – so reckless and short-sighted that this sort of occurrence (the destruction of habitats by ill-thought out "corporate science" solutions) is happening with any frequency? Resources in this society aren’t rare, after all – the Federation may not have achieved quite the post-scarcity economy of TNG, but it has access to countless sources of energy and mineral resources and a robust colonization program on top of this. Details like mega-corporations and scientists being paid to achieve outcomes, selfish corner-cutting and a powerful economic industrial complex seem out of place to me. It doesn’t really feel like the Federation. That said, a strength of the book is its acknowledgement of the distinction between "Earth" and "the Federation" - most definitely not the same thing - but it still makes me rather uncomfortable.
To be fair, the issue of the increased availability of resources does comes up – Mars was promised that its environmental concerns would be paramount since mining in the Belt was so successful - but sometimes that makes the greed and short-sightedness seem even stranger.
As for the point of the story, the novel is what it is; a romance piece and a quiet character study. The intense emotions and relationship angst could be a little thick on the ground at times even for me, but, then again, considering the subject matter, I don’t see any reason why it should have been handled differently. I’d rather have a romance than an attempt to shoehorn two civilian scientists into a “Starfleet adventure”. As an outing for Carol Marcus and Leila Kalomi, it works quite well.
On the positive side of things, and stemming from that logical choice to keep things "small", we get to see a lot more of civilian Humanity. Earth and Mars, the Human business structure, as well as exploration of everyday Human lifestyles; it all helps restore a bit of balance in the face of the overwhelming Starfleet focus typical to Trek. I found particularly effective the manner in which Earth-bound Humans' worldviews were naturally smaller. There were mentions of allied civilizations like Argelius and Axanar, visits to Vulcan embassy gardens, etc., but while obviously a part of people’s awareness these had no immediate presence or relevance. It’s a big universe when you haven’t got a high-warp starship underneath you. For the first time since the Federation was founded in this chronology, I feel that we're getting a sense of United Earth and the Martian Colonies as their own entities rather than central provinces of the Federation, and keeping that distinction alive is important. Earth is a member of the Federation - the Federation is something other than Earth society.
The environmental theme is definitely worthy of exploration, don’t get me wrong on that count. Given the almost casual manner in which Starfleet interacts with planetary ecosystems much of the time, it could use more attention as a theme. The debate between Kirk and Kent was well handled. I'd note too that it's all particularly intriguing in light of this being, in part, a Carol Marcus book. The concern about the wonders and benefits of advanced technological development Vs the dangers and possible abuses is taken to its conclusion in Project Genesis. Since Vanguard will focus on the political and morally compromising aspects of Genesis development, it's nice that we get a prologue of sorts here that takes the environmental angle. As someone who is probably closer to the Kent side of the argument than the Kirk, I couldn’t help but see in my mind's eye the Genesis Wave sweeping across planets. Also, it brought to mind the arms race in “The Chimes at Midnight”. Good stuff.
For all my griping that the mega-corporations and reckless corner-cutting feel out of place in this setting, I do like the acknowledgment of the impact of Federation activity on local planetary ecosystems. Funnily enough, the incidents referenced here all seem like legitimate concerns that the Federation would face without having to be rapacious and reckless. The environmentalists mentions such concerns as an outbreak of cold virus on Argelius, brought in by Federation supply ships; Federation efforts at alleviating population pressures on Axanar that involve deforestation (confirmation that Axanar has now joined the UFP; it also makes sense that they would have population issues, since they’re very long-lived and have peculiar environmental requirements, which would limit their colonization. Also, if they're a recent member, as is quite possibly implied, they might be eager to make the most of any Federation development programs); and threatened habitats on Berengaria VII (fear that hunger for dilithium will lead to Starfleet moving on the caverns where the dragons breed; dilithium is a scarce resource, and so in this case the potential greed and the concern over it makes sense).
I also liked Kirk’s defence of Starfleet’s occasionally military objective when he points out that some cultures consider lack of military preparedness or martial power to be a weakness on a level beyond the merely practical, and that successful cultural exchange and peaceful contact can depend on military preparedness as much as any other factor. That flexibility is of course lacking in some of the extremist characters and their highly focused perspectives.
One thing I disliked: the “only Vulcan in Starfleet” business cropped up once. That never made sense, and I always ignore it. Unless we take it to mean that Spock is the only Vulcan in the UESPA branch of the fleet, which is definitely workable. Yes, I think we'll go with that. A simple enough fix.
First Appearances of Things That Are Important
Most notable, Carol Marcus. She's pregnant by the end, too, so David Marcus also.
Continuity
The cause of the Martian uprisings is revealed (or at least a particular event that has been latched on to as illustrative of the decision to break from Earth control is mentioned). A Terran conglomerate grew tired to waiting for squatters to leave disputed land and just blew them up, killing 65 people.
The “technology disease” that kills Kent's wife strikes me as possibly related to the Synthococcus novae that will affect Dr. Sevrin.
Next Time: SCE: Foundations, chapters 2-7. It's Scotty time!
Another very short piece that I went back and forth on including, but ultimately decided to because it serves as a neat little prologue to a set of stories which we haven't dealt with yet, but which will thread through the rest of the chronology: the Artificial Intelligence issue. Appropriately, it doesn’t deal with any sort of origin or explanation for android existence, but immediately emphasises the timeless nature and enigmatic endurance of AI in the galaxy. Ruk has already existed for millennia, and his original purpose is a mystery to him and to us.
Roger Korby makes his first (and in the flesh, last) appearance.
****
Inception
This one is a little odd. The environmental protection/reckless progress issue is certainly a worthwhile one that could use some exploring - it's something we haven't seen too much of in this setting - but its presentation here suffers from the inclusion of some uncomfortable details that don't always seem to fit the setting. Is the Federation – or parts of it – so reckless and short-sighted that this sort of occurrence (the destruction of habitats by ill-thought out "corporate science" solutions) is happening with any frequency? Resources in this society aren’t rare, after all – the Federation may not have achieved quite the post-scarcity economy of TNG, but it has access to countless sources of energy and mineral resources and a robust colonization program on top of this. Details like mega-corporations and scientists being paid to achieve outcomes, selfish corner-cutting and a powerful economic industrial complex seem out of place to me. It doesn’t really feel like the Federation. That said, a strength of the book is its acknowledgement of the distinction between "Earth" and "the Federation" - most definitely not the same thing - but it still makes me rather uncomfortable.
To be fair, the issue of the increased availability of resources does comes up – Mars was promised that its environmental concerns would be paramount since mining in the Belt was so successful - but sometimes that makes the greed and short-sightedness seem even stranger.
As for the point of the story, the novel is what it is; a romance piece and a quiet character study. The intense emotions and relationship angst could be a little thick on the ground at times even for me, but, then again, considering the subject matter, I don’t see any reason why it should have been handled differently. I’d rather have a romance than an attempt to shoehorn two civilian scientists into a “Starfleet adventure”. As an outing for Carol Marcus and Leila Kalomi, it works quite well.
On the positive side of things, and stemming from that logical choice to keep things "small", we get to see a lot more of civilian Humanity. Earth and Mars, the Human business structure, as well as exploration of everyday Human lifestyles; it all helps restore a bit of balance in the face of the overwhelming Starfleet focus typical to Trek. I found particularly effective the manner in which Earth-bound Humans' worldviews were naturally smaller. There were mentions of allied civilizations like Argelius and Axanar, visits to Vulcan embassy gardens, etc., but while obviously a part of people’s awareness these had no immediate presence or relevance. It’s a big universe when you haven’t got a high-warp starship underneath you. For the first time since the Federation was founded in this chronology, I feel that we're getting a sense of United Earth and the Martian Colonies as their own entities rather than central provinces of the Federation, and keeping that distinction alive is important. Earth is a member of the Federation - the Federation is something other than Earth society.
The environmental theme is definitely worthy of exploration, don’t get me wrong on that count. Given the almost casual manner in which Starfleet interacts with planetary ecosystems much of the time, it could use more attention as a theme. The debate between Kirk and Kent was well handled. I'd note too that it's all particularly intriguing in light of this being, in part, a Carol Marcus book. The concern about the wonders and benefits of advanced technological development Vs the dangers and possible abuses is taken to its conclusion in Project Genesis. Since Vanguard will focus on the political and morally compromising aspects of Genesis development, it's nice that we get a prologue of sorts here that takes the environmental angle. As someone who is probably closer to the Kent side of the argument than the Kirk, I couldn’t help but see in my mind's eye the Genesis Wave sweeping across planets. Also, it brought to mind the arms race in “The Chimes at Midnight”. Good stuff.
For all my griping that the mega-corporations and reckless corner-cutting feel out of place in this setting, I do like the acknowledgment of the impact of Federation activity on local planetary ecosystems. Funnily enough, the incidents referenced here all seem like legitimate concerns that the Federation would face without having to be rapacious and reckless. The environmentalists mentions such concerns as an outbreak of cold virus on Argelius, brought in by Federation supply ships; Federation efforts at alleviating population pressures on Axanar that involve deforestation (confirmation that Axanar has now joined the UFP; it also makes sense that they would have population issues, since they’re very long-lived and have peculiar environmental requirements, which would limit their colonization. Also, if they're a recent member, as is quite possibly implied, they might be eager to make the most of any Federation development programs); and threatened habitats on Berengaria VII (fear that hunger for dilithium will lead to Starfleet moving on the caverns where the dragons breed; dilithium is a scarce resource, and so in this case the potential greed and the concern over it makes sense).
I also liked Kirk’s defence of Starfleet’s occasionally military objective when he points out that some cultures consider lack of military preparedness or martial power to be a weakness on a level beyond the merely practical, and that successful cultural exchange and peaceful contact can depend on military preparedness as much as any other factor. That flexibility is of course lacking in some of the extremist characters and their highly focused perspectives.
One thing I disliked: the “only Vulcan in Starfleet” business cropped up once. That never made sense, and I always ignore it. Unless we take it to mean that Spock is the only Vulcan in the UESPA branch of the fleet, which is definitely workable. Yes, I think we'll go with that. A simple enough fix.
First Appearances of Things That Are Important
Most notable, Carol Marcus. She's pregnant by the end, too, so David Marcus also.
Continuity
The cause of the Martian uprisings is revealed (or at least a particular event that has been latched on to as illustrative of the decision to break from Earth control is mentioned). A Terran conglomerate grew tired to waiting for squatters to leave disputed land and just blew them up, killing 65 people.
The “technology disease” that kills Kent's wife strikes me as possibly related to the Synthococcus novae that will affect Dr. Sevrin.
Next Time: SCE: Foundations, chapters 2-7. It's Scotty time!
SCE: Foundations, chapters 2-7
The first part of a prequel-flashback for the Corps of Engineers; here it serves as our introduction. It does a good job of conveying what the SCE series will be about - character pieces and episodic adventures built around engineering dilemmas. I appreciate how this story explores a relatively mundane engineering crisis - no attacking aliens, no weird anomalies, just accidents and technological innovation. A day (albeit a very difficult day) in the life of a Starfleet engineer. It's nothing special, but certainly inoffensive, and it reads nicely. Plus, of course, it truly establishes the SCE as an organization that exists and has its distinct quirks.
It also establishes Scotty as something that both exists and has its distinct quirks.
First Appearances of Things That Are Important
Montgomery Scott, on his way to take up his post as Chief Engineer of Enterprise, albeit diverted by this incident at the Neutral Zone.
The USS Lovell, a re-commissioned Daedalus hulk, and its crew - Daniel Okagawa, the captain, Mahmud al-Khaled, the SCE commander, and lower crewmen like Anderson and O'Halloran, and Ghrex. All will be recurring elements.
Continuity
This is the first piece to explain the current situation with the Romulans during this time period. The treaty has held for a century, with no violations, and there's been nothing but silence from the Neutral Zone. The asteroid outposts established at the end of the war are still there, watching (in practice, watching nothing).
Qualor II is a Starfleet surplus yard by this point. No word on whether or not Zakdorn run it, or what that means for Zakdorn-UFP relations. Vanguard will show us that the Zakdorn are both known to the UFP and ranging far from home in this time period, but their relationship to other races is unknown.
Lieutenant J'Lenn is Alpha Centauran. It's implied that she's non-Human, but it's never stated explicitly and the wording is flexible enough to work around with ease. She's "from a world in the Alpha Centauri system", where she grew up breathing an atmosphere richer in oxygen that Earth's. We can assume this is either Centauri IV or VII, since III doesn't seem to have that trait (plus, since III is the primary Centauri world, it seems unlikely it would be thought of as "a world in the AC system"; the wording suggests one of the add-on worlds). If she is a non-Human as implied, it doesn't mean she's from some native species, merely that she was born and grew up there. So, while she's no doubt intended to be from an Alpha Centauran native species, she's easily interpreted in a manner that fits the continuity. Nonetheless, the story arranges for her death, as punishment for the gall.
Next Time: The prologue to Harbinger, but since that's about five pages, I'll also do a much weightier piece too: A Less Perfect Union, our first Myriad Universes outing!
Wait, that's deliberately not in continuity at all. I regret my hubris!
The first part of a prequel-flashback for the Corps of Engineers; here it serves as our introduction. It does a good job of conveying what the SCE series will be about - character pieces and episodic adventures built around engineering dilemmas. I appreciate how this story explores a relatively mundane engineering crisis - no attacking aliens, no weird anomalies, just accidents and technological innovation. A day (albeit a very difficult day) in the life of a Starfleet engineer. It's nothing special, but certainly inoffensive, and it reads nicely. Plus, of course, it truly establishes the SCE as an organization that exists and has its distinct quirks.
It also establishes Scotty as something that both exists and has its distinct quirks.
First Appearances of Things That Are Important
Montgomery Scott, on his way to take up his post as Chief Engineer of Enterprise, albeit diverted by this incident at the Neutral Zone.
The USS Lovell, a re-commissioned Daedalus hulk, and its crew - Daniel Okagawa, the captain, Mahmud al-Khaled, the SCE commander, and lower crewmen like Anderson and O'Halloran, and Ghrex. All will be recurring elements.
Continuity
This is the first piece to explain the current situation with the Romulans during this time period. The treaty has held for a century, with no violations, and there's been nothing but silence from the Neutral Zone. The asteroid outposts established at the end of the war are still there, watching (in practice, watching nothing).
Qualor II is a Starfleet surplus yard by this point. No word on whether or not Zakdorn run it, or what that means for Zakdorn-UFP relations. Vanguard will show us that the Zakdorn are both known to the UFP and ranging far from home in this time period, but their relationship to other races is unknown.
Lieutenant J'Lenn is Alpha Centauran. It's implied that she's non-Human, but it's never stated explicitly and the wording is flexible enough to work around with ease. She's "from a world in the Alpha Centauri system", where she grew up breathing an atmosphere richer in oxygen that Earth's. We can assume this is either Centauri IV or VII, since III doesn't seem to have that trait (plus, since III is the primary Centauri world, it seems unlikely it would be thought of as "a world in the AC system"; the wording suggests one of the add-on worlds). If she is a non-Human as implied, it doesn't mean she's from some native species, merely that she was born and grew up there. So, while she's no doubt intended to be from an Alpha Centauran native species, she's easily interpreted in a manner that fits the continuity. Nonetheless, the story arranges for her death, as punishment for the gall.
Next Time: The prologue to Harbinger, but since that's about five pages, I'll also do a much weightier piece too: A Less Perfect Union, our first Myriad Universes outing!
Wait, that's deliberately not in continuity at all. I regret my hubris!
I'm not sure if this is where it was discussed or not, but DC Fontana's Pike novel was controversial in having Scotty be part of Pike's crew. I wanted to add that I recently have read the first DC TOS comic series and there's a flashback story in the second annual about Kirk taking command of the Enterprise for the first time and both Scotty and Sulu are part of Pike's crew. It was fairly shocking how hostile the crew was to Kirk just because they were so fond of Pike. I found that pretty unprofessional for Starfleet career officers - but to be fair I could see Scotty acting like that to anyone who replaced Kirk.
Number One is taken out of the story with a serious injury (crushed by heavy equipment or something dropped on her) which I think is the last we see of her until New Frontier. Ironically, she also ends the ST Early Voyages comic with a different serious injury, a head injury in one of those scenes where the ship is rocked - this is set before the DC comic annual for what it's worth. I've read a theory, probably not meant to be serious, that after the head injury Number One had amnesia and took a new identity of Christine Chapel. I don't really subscribe to that theory, but it's interesting and I don't completely hate it.
Number One is taken out of the story with a serious injury (crushed by heavy equipment or something dropped on her) which I think is the last we see of her until New Frontier. Ironically, she also ends the ST Early Voyages comic with a different serious injury, a head injury in one of those scenes where the ship is rocked - this is set before the DC comic annual for what it's worth. I've read a theory, probably not meant to be serious, that after the head injury Number One had amnesia and took a new identity of Christine Chapel. I don't really subscribe to that theory, but it's interesting and I don't completely hate it.
That was the first annual, actually. The second told the final adventure of the 5-year mission (a return to Talos IV, with Klingons), and the third (and last) annual in Vol. 1 was Peter David's "Retrospect," about the love of Scotty's life.
John Byrne's IDW comics Romulans: Schism and Leonard McCoy: Frontier Doctor depict Number One as the captain and later admiral in command of the Yorktown toward the end of the 5-year mission and in the pre-TMP interregnum. And she appeared in the early drafts of The Lost Years: A Flag Full of Stars, but was written out of the published version.
I did a massive Trek comic read on my pc last night (I have that CD rom that has all the comics up until 2002). A lot of them were pretty good, some forgettable.
I will be reading the Byrne Trek comics eventually when I get there in my massive reading marathon - I'm going mostly by publication date, and I'm up to 1991, so it'll still be a little while lol. I'm reading just the ones that I'm most interested in for the early years, but around 2004 or so I have everything. I'm glad to know there's more Number One stories to come.
I will be reading the Byrne Trek comics eventually when I get there in my massive reading marathon - I'm going mostly by publication date, and I'm up to 1991, so it'll still be a little while lol. I'm reading just the ones that I'm most interested in for the early years, but around 2004 or so I have everything. I'm glad to know there's more Number One stories to come.
I wouldn't say that either Scotty and Sulu were actively hostile or insubordinate to Kirk in that annual -- they just made a couple of semi-sarcastic comments about the eagerness of their new captain, a man they knew next to nothing about at that point. Movie-era Scotty is quite embarrassed when he realized that Captain Kirk overheard him that day.
And I thought it was cool to have Scotty and Sulu carry over from Pike's crew, although I suppose it puts a bit of a spanner in the works for "The Menagerie" if Pike worked with anyone other than Spock on the current Enterprise crew.
Not really, since Pike commanded the Enterprise for at least 11 years. Vulcan's Glory creates a problem by putting Scotty on the crew before "The Cage," but the DC annual is set a decade or so later. It establishes is that Scott and Sulu were aboard in 2264-5, but that doesn't mean they had to be there in 2254.
That's not what I was saying. I was saying that it dilutes the drama of "The Menagerie" if there are two other people on board the Enterprise that served with Pike. And I never interpreted the Annual to mean that Scotty and Sulu were around for the events of "The Cage."
Harbinger, Prologue
A surprisingly springy and humorous tone to what will be a very serious and often highly sober series, but a lot of fun. Opening the Vanguard saga with what is essentially comedy is an interesting choice.
Not much to say here, of course, because it's about five pages, but as a set-up for an interesting and compelling mystery it works fine.
First Appearances of Things That Are Important:
The Taurus Reach.
The Taurus Meta-Genome. Decker's crew just scraped the galaxy's greatest weapon and most astounding medical miracle off of some mold, and they have no idea that this is going to kill and revive Spock, create and destroy entire planets, nearly start half a dozen wars, push branches of Starfleet to the moral breaking point, save the Andorians from extinction, and also there'll be sapient moss at one point.
Matthew Decker and the Constellation.
***
“A Less Perfect Union”
I’m counting the Myriad Universes stories for this project because they’re entirely compatible with the novel ‘verse; they exist as part of the same extrapolation/expansion from the source material. Since distinct quantum realities and branching timelines are a physical reality in the Trek ‘verse, these stories, which draw on the bank of Novel ‘verse lore, are essentially just chapters that take place elsewhere, and while they have no overlap or exchange with the main narrative (with a single exception down the line), they’re still thematically relevant and illuminating.
This is the first of two “missing faction” tales from Myriad Universes, detailing a Federation that formed without the participation of one of the original member races. Here we have Humans standing apart from the interstellar community, the point of departure from the prime timeline being Paxton’s threatened attack on San Francisco, which here takes place successfully. The story as a whole, though, is actually structured in a way that winds up deliberately moving us past its initial focus by taking a longer and more distant view of the matter under discussion. It’s quite clever in how it proceeds to leave the original matter unresolved in any conventional sense and instead focus on the wider extrapolations of the theme; examining the slow process of building trust, the time it takes to build bridges. In the end, it’s not about Earth and the Coalition but about something more encompassing - the process of reconciliation in general - and the Coalition’s future success transfers its focus away from Earth and toward a world even more prone to xenophobic and isolationist withdrawal, and segregated by even greater mutual mistrust: Romulus. As T’Pol closes the main body of the text (more or less) by summarising the journey that Humans are in the long process of undertaking, the story moves forward onto the next, potentially even more daunting, task: to build a productive relationship between the Coalition and the Romulans. It’s strongly implied in the distant epilogue that by the time this is truly underway, many decades later, the Earth Commonwealth has indeed finally joined the Coalition, confirming T’Pol’s cautious hope.
It strikes me that what we’re experiencing here, symbolically, is the acceptance of a less insular and Earth-centric perspective, and one that works with a more patient and long-term view, as well as a less invested one; that is, a Vulcan perspective. The story expands its horizons from centring on Earth to simply making Earth a piece of a larger puzzle - that is to say, the story mirrors its content through its presentation, in that it embodies the journey Humans are required to take. The writing moves us from Human concerns into acceptance of Vulcan outlooks, and places the fate of Earth on a Vulcan timescale once again, representing the reconciliation of Humans with their estranged old mentors, now possible partners.
Like the Ithenite officer noted before the Babel conference, Humans have finally returned to the fold - and have truly done so, not just politically as a part of the Coalition.
That’s the theme, and it works well, but there’s also something else to digest here, which is the alternate history itself. Thinking about it, it would seem that in this timeline, the Sphere Builders nearly won after all. The Xindi Crisis was resolved, but the fallout almost derailed the future on its own. Nonetheless, the Federation did form after a fashion. It’s interesting to consider how those early years might have unfolded without Humans as the “neutral brokers” and originators of the true peace (although Archer himself was still involved, all but staging mutiny in order to take Enterprise back and forth between the prospective Coalition planets). This might explain why there are more overt symbolic reminders of unity in the Coalition than in the UFP – three scripts (Vulcan, Andorii and Tellarite, presumably) on their ships’ hulls, a very integrated interstellar fleet service, etc. It causes me to idly wonder if they had to try a bit harder to make it work and ultimately that emphasis led to a more integrated whole.
The alternate Earth history is interesting, and it’s nice to have a look at United Earth itself as a major power in local space, rather than Earth-as-integral-to-the-Federation being ascendant. I particularly liked the justification for how Paxton’s attack led to the isolationist movement’s victory. Terra Prime and the other isolationists, in a deft piece of political manoeuvring, folded the fallout of the attack around their own concerns. They demanded that Paxton be tried on Earth for crimes against Humanity - with the exclusivity of “Humanity” entirely intentional. This led to a wave of popular support that left Samuels and the government unable to resist the demand, and opened the door for the isolationists to define the events around their own discourse - while simultaneously and deliberately distancing the non-Humans through the obvious middle finger they were giving them. I liked this detail. Politics often unfolds on a basis of great natural cunning and pro-conscious understanding of how to ride and direct the currents. There doesn't have to be a plan, but people can be masters of this sort of manoeuvring.
The upshot of all this is that we have familiar Human characters with their personalities essentially intact – Pike, Kirk, McCoy, etc. – but populating a Starfleet that distrusts romanticism or abstract ideals; there’s no drive to exploration but a more overtly defensive and militaristic outlook, even if it isn’t geared for war. Not too dissimilar to the Vulcan fleet prior to the Syrranite revolution, interestingly enough. The spacefaring Humans are now sad and suspicious realists.
There are lots of fun details: Rumours of a government plant at Canaris, inserted to sell the idea of alien influence on breakaway factions in order to justify a crackdown on the colonies that were agitating for greater independence from Earth’s authority. There’s also discussion of places like Halka and Rigel, where Earth takes an exploitative role in local politics to ensure its supply of resources like dilithium. Rigel is particularly notable, in that Earth was supporting the Chelons against the other Rigelians until the Chelon people began questioning the extent of Human influence on their leaders, upon which Earth backed the people of Rigel V instead. When the races took steps to reconcile so as to reassert joint control over their star system, the Humans discovered the “oppressed” Kalar and backed them in their raids on the more advanced Rigelian species.
Continuity
As noted, the Coalition seems to have expanded more rapidly than the Federation, since its explicit and implicit membership includes a number of races who will be of the UFP but as yet (2264) are not. Among races we already know of, Denobulans, Coridanites, Ithenites, Saurians and Tiburonians appear or are mentioned as members, but there are also (making their first appearances) Aurelians and Skorr, Triexians or Edoans, Caitians, Deltans, Efrosians, Betazoids, Gnalish, Ktarians, Zaranites, Zaldans, Catullans, Kazarites, Grazerites and Rhaandarites. The fact that worlds like Grazer and Zalda, which in the prime timeline are implicitly pre-warp in this era, have joined considerably earlier might imply that the Coalition has a looser policy toward technologically primitive nations than the Federation, which might equally explain its rapid expansion. (Hedford’s insistence that she wants Earth to be treated as an equivalent to Vulcan, Andor and Tellar during the first Coalition talks, and not, say, the Grazerite or Rhaandarite homeworlds, also suggests that worlds like Grazer are both new members and political minnows. Earth joining, though, is like Rigel joining the UFP in Tower of Babel. Appropriate, then, that Earth controls Rigel in this reality).
Enolian spice wine is served. Whether that means the Enolians joined the Coalition or just trade with it is unknown.
New characters who will become notable in the prime timeline include Pavel Chekov, Gav (here being bluntly demanding about his counterparts’ voting intentions, just as he will be in the standard timeline), Nancy Hedford, Nem chim Loak, Ra-ghoratreii (here a fleet officer), Stonn, T’Pring, T’Prynn, and Nyota Uhura. Also, of course, the Romulan commander, who displays the same personal qualities we’ll see in his counterpart - he is, of course, the prototype “Honourable Romulan”, the patriot soldier weary of politics and power struggles - here given the sdrawkcab name of Keras.
The Coalition ships are named after various familiar figures: Gral, Kuvak, Soval, V’Lar, Vanik. The Federation will have a USS Soval; no word yet on the others.
Naturally, we have alternate takes on familiar events from the early- to mid- 23rd Century. The Battle of Donatu V was in this case a joint action by Earth and Coalition forces to head off a Klingon invasion plan (in this reality, it followed an attack on Sherman’s Planet). Tarsus IV and the actions of Kodos took place, and the affair complicated Earth-Coalition relations further when the Coalition refused to allow Trill relief ships to cross the border, presumably leading to Kodos’ decision. The Columbia (not that one, the one from The Cage) indeed crashed on Talos IV, but since that’s in Coalition territory, Pike can’t actually take his ship there to investigate. I guess we can add the Talosians to the list of people who lose out in this reality (which includes Spock (never conceived), Carol Marcus (killed by Vulcan fire), Jonathan Archer (whose dream was made reality but in a way that left Humanity out in the cold, something he could never put right) - and the Rigelians).
The Romulans are trying to disrupt the Coalition/Earth talks because, as in the prime Romulans a century earlier, they fear the rapid expansion of other races, and political unity in the region of Vulcan is viewed as a threat; whether to their homes or to their manifest destiny depends on what form a given Romulans’ paranoia and xenophobia take. Humans in particular expand rapidly, and with a unity of Earth and the Coalition, it’s going to get much worse.
As a final point, we have our first mention of such planets as Halka, Organia, and Mestiko.
Next Time: Shards and Shadows: "The Greater Good". The Talosians lose out again.
A surprisingly springy and humorous tone to what will be a very serious and often highly sober series, but a lot of fun. Opening the Vanguard saga with what is essentially comedy is an interesting choice.
Not much to say here, of course, because it's about five pages, but as a set-up for an interesting and compelling mystery it works fine.
First Appearances of Things That Are Important:
The Taurus Reach.
The Taurus Meta-Genome. Decker's crew just scraped the galaxy's greatest weapon and most astounding medical miracle off of some mold, and they have no idea that this is going to kill and revive Spock, create and destroy entire planets, nearly start half a dozen wars, push branches of Starfleet to the moral breaking point, save the Andorians from extinction, and also there'll be sapient moss at one point.
Matthew Decker and the Constellation.
***
“A Less Perfect Union”
I’m counting the Myriad Universes stories for this project because they’re entirely compatible with the novel ‘verse; they exist as part of the same extrapolation/expansion from the source material. Since distinct quantum realities and branching timelines are a physical reality in the Trek ‘verse, these stories, which draw on the bank of Novel ‘verse lore, are essentially just chapters that take place elsewhere, and while they have no overlap or exchange with the main narrative (with a single exception down the line), they’re still thematically relevant and illuminating.
This is the first of two “missing faction” tales from Myriad Universes, detailing a Federation that formed without the participation of one of the original member races. Here we have Humans standing apart from the interstellar community, the point of departure from the prime timeline being Paxton’s threatened attack on San Francisco, which here takes place successfully. The story as a whole, though, is actually structured in a way that winds up deliberately moving us past its initial focus by taking a longer and more distant view of the matter under discussion. It’s quite clever in how it proceeds to leave the original matter unresolved in any conventional sense and instead focus on the wider extrapolations of the theme; examining the slow process of building trust, the time it takes to build bridges. In the end, it’s not about Earth and the Coalition but about something more encompassing - the process of reconciliation in general - and the Coalition’s future success transfers its focus away from Earth and toward a world even more prone to xenophobic and isolationist withdrawal, and segregated by even greater mutual mistrust: Romulus. As T’Pol closes the main body of the text (more or less) by summarising the journey that Humans are in the long process of undertaking, the story moves forward onto the next, potentially even more daunting, task: to build a productive relationship between the Coalition and the Romulans. It’s strongly implied in the distant epilogue that by the time this is truly underway, many decades later, the Earth Commonwealth has indeed finally joined the Coalition, confirming T’Pol’s cautious hope.
It strikes me that what we’re experiencing here, symbolically, is the acceptance of a less insular and Earth-centric perspective, and one that works with a more patient and long-term view, as well as a less invested one; that is, a Vulcan perspective. The story expands its horizons from centring on Earth to simply making Earth a piece of a larger puzzle - that is to say, the story mirrors its content through its presentation, in that it embodies the journey Humans are required to take. The writing moves us from Human concerns into acceptance of Vulcan outlooks, and places the fate of Earth on a Vulcan timescale once again, representing the reconciliation of Humans with their estranged old mentors, now possible partners.
Like the Ithenite officer noted before the Babel conference, Humans have finally returned to the fold - and have truly done so, not just politically as a part of the Coalition.
That’s the theme, and it works well, but there’s also something else to digest here, which is the alternate history itself. Thinking about it, it would seem that in this timeline, the Sphere Builders nearly won after all. The Xindi Crisis was resolved, but the fallout almost derailed the future on its own. Nonetheless, the Federation did form after a fashion. It’s interesting to consider how those early years might have unfolded without Humans as the “neutral brokers” and originators of the true peace (although Archer himself was still involved, all but staging mutiny in order to take Enterprise back and forth between the prospective Coalition planets). This might explain why there are more overt symbolic reminders of unity in the Coalition than in the UFP – three scripts (Vulcan, Andorii and Tellarite, presumably) on their ships’ hulls, a very integrated interstellar fleet service, etc. It causes me to idly wonder if they had to try a bit harder to make it work and ultimately that emphasis led to a more integrated whole.
The alternate Earth history is interesting, and it’s nice to have a look at United Earth itself as a major power in local space, rather than Earth-as-integral-to-the-Federation being ascendant. I particularly liked the justification for how Paxton’s attack led to the isolationist movement’s victory. Terra Prime and the other isolationists, in a deft piece of political manoeuvring, folded the fallout of the attack around their own concerns. They demanded that Paxton be tried on Earth for crimes against Humanity - with the exclusivity of “Humanity” entirely intentional. This led to a wave of popular support that left Samuels and the government unable to resist the demand, and opened the door for the isolationists to define the events around their own discourse - while simultaneously and deliberately distancing the non-Humans through the obvious middle finger they were giving them. I liked this detail. Politics often unfolds on a basis of great natural cunning and pro-conscious understanding of how to ride and direct the currents. There doesn't have to be a plan, but people can be masters of this sort of manoeuvring.
The upshot of all this is that we have familiar Human characters with their personalities essentially intact – Pike, Kirk, McCoy, etc. – but populating a Starfleet that distrusts romanticism or abstract ideals; there’s no drive to exploration but a more overtly defensive and militaristic outlook, even if it isn’t geared for war. Not too dissimilar to the Vulcan fleet prior to the Syrranite revolution, interestingly enough. The spacefaring Humans are now sad and suspicious realists.
There are lots of fun details: Rumours of a government plant at Canaris, inserted to sell the idea of alien influence on breakaway factions in order to justify a crackdown on the colonies that were agitating for greater independence from Earth’s authority. There’s also discussion of places like Halka and Rigel, where Earth takes an exploitative role in local politics to ensure its supply of resources like dilithium. Rigel is particularly notable, in that Earth was supporting the Chelons against the other Rigelians until the Chelon people began questioning the extent of Human influence on their leaders, upon which Earth backed the people of Rigel V instead. When the races took steps to reconcile so as to reassert joint control over their star system, the Humans discovered the “oppressed” Kalar and backed them in their raids on the more advanced Rigelian species.
Continuity
As noted, the Coalition seems to have expanded more rapidly than the Federation, since its explicit and implicit membership includes a number of races who will be of the UFP but as yet (2264) are not. Among races we already know of, Denobulans, Coridanites, Ithenites, Saurians and Tiburonians appear or are mentioned as members, but there are also (making their first appearances) Aurelians and Skorr, Triexians or Edoans, Caitians, Deltans, Efrosians, Betazoids, Gnalish, Ktarians, Zaranites, Zaldans, Catullans, Kazarites, Grazerites and Rhaandarites. The fact that worlds like Grazer and Zalda, which in the prime timeline are implicitly pre-warp in this era, have joined considerably earlier might imply that the Coalition has a looser policy toward technologically primitive nations than the Federation, which might equally explain its rapid expansion. (Hedford’s insistence that she wants Earth to be treated as an equivalent to Vulcan, Andor and Tellar during the first Coalition talks, and not, say, the Grazerite or Rhaandarite homeworlds, also suggests that worlds like Grazer are both new members and political minnows. Earth joining, though, is like Rigel joining the UFP in Tower of Babel. Appropriate, then, that Earth controls Rigel in this reality).
Enolian spice wine is served. Whether that means the Enolians joined the Coalition or just trade with it is unknown.
New characters who will become notable in the prime timeline include Pavel Chekov, Gav (here being bluntly demanding about his counterparts’ voting intentions, just as he will be in the standard timeline), Nancy Hedford, Nem chim Loak, Ra-ghoratreii (here a fleet officer), Stonn, T’Pring, T’Prynn, and Nyota Uhura. Also, of course, the Romulan commander, who displays the same personal qualities we’ll see in his counterpart - he is, of course, the prototype “Honourable Romulan”, the patriot soldier weary of politics and power struggles - here given the sdrawkcab name of Keras.
The Coalition ships are named after various familiar figures: Gral, Kuvak, Soval, V’Lar, Vanik. The Federation will have a USS Soval; no word yet on the others.
Naturally, we have alternate takes on familiar events from the early- to mid- 23rd Century. The Battle of Donatu V was in this case a joint action by Earth and Coalition forces to head off a Klingon invasion plan (in this reality, it followed an attack on Sherman’s Planet). Tarsus IV and the actions of Kodos took place, and the affair complicated Earth-Coalition relations further when the Coalition refused to allow Trill relief ships to cross the border, presumably leading to Kodos’ decision. The Columbia (not that one, the one from The Cage) indeed crashed on Talos IV, but since that’s in Coalition territory, Pike can’t actually take his ship there to investigate. I guess we can add the Talosians to the list of people who lose out in this reality (which includes Spock (never conceived), Carol Marcus (killed by Vulcan fire), Jonathan Archer (whose dream was made reality but in a way that left Humanity out in the cold, something he could never put right) - and the Rigelians).
The Romulans are trying to disrupt the Coalition/Earth talks because, as in the prime Romulans a century earlier, they fear the rapid expansion of other races, and political unity in the region of Vulcan is viewed as a threat; whether to their homes or to their manifest destiny depends on what form a given Romulans’ paranoia and xenophobia take. Humans in particular expand rapidly, and with a unity of Earth and the Coalition, it’s going to get much worse.
As a final point, we have our first mention of such planets as Halka, Organia, and Mestiko.
Next Time: Shards and Shadows: "The Greater Good". The Talosians lose out again.
I have to admit, I never quite understood why Terra Prime's successful terror strike would've made Earth more inclined to follow their isolationism rather than discrediting it altogether. But then, I guess a lot depends on what happened in the aftermath. Immediately after al-Qaida attacked the US on September 11, the vast majority of the Muslim world was repulsed by the act and felt great sympathy for the US. But then Bush used 9/11 as an excuse to launch an unjustified invasion of Iraq, and thereby played right into al-Qaida's narrative of the US as an invader out to destroy Islam, which cancelled out a lot of the sympathy and support we'd gained. Maybe something similar happened here -- the alien governments responded harshly enough to the attack that the resultant anti-alien feeling on Earth negated the sympathy that humans would've felt toward them after the attack.
ALPU asserts that the Chelons are from Rigel IV, rather than III as in the main timeline, and makes no mention of the "Vulcanoid" Rigelians, aka the Zami. This is a minor enough detail to be overlooked, but it's possible that there was some kind of drastic political upheaval/migration in the Rigel system within the preceding century. Maybe, in the absence of Federation membership to stabilize things, Chelon resentment at the First Families' exploitations grew to the point that they invaded and conquered Rigel IV, and maybe Rigel III was rendered uninhabitable in the resulting war, so that the Chelons ended up making IV their new homeworld. Or something.
ALPU asserts that the Chelons are from Rigel IV, rather than III as in the main timeline, and makes no mention of the "Vulcanoid" Rigelians, aka the Zami. This is a minor enough detail to be overlooked, but it's possible that there was some kind of drastic political upheaval/migration in the Rigel system within the preceding century. Maybe, in the absence of Federation membership to stabilize things, Chelon resentment at the First Families' exploitations grew to the point that they invaded and conquered Rigel IV, and maybe Rigel III was rendered uninhabitable in the resulting war, so that the Chelons ended up making IV their new homeworld. Or something.
I guess it ran something like this:
Human Isolationist: "John Frederick Paxton has committed an outrage that will live in infamy! United Earth will see justice done for the million Human lives he took!"
Denobulan: "He murdered Ambassador Blux and her aides! Denobula demands the right to try him!"
Human Isolationist: "Oh well, if you think a handful of Denobulans are more important than justice for the million Humans..."
Denobulan (sternly): "That was not my meaning at all, sir".
Human Isolationist (sarcastically flippant): I guess his real crime wasn't that he killed a million people on Earth, but that he killed a literal handful of Denobulans".
Denobulan (irritated): "No, but...
Human Isolationist (with great feeling): "In Earth's time of tragedy - in the second terrible attack Humanity has suffered in only two years - we see this callous disregard for the vast, vast majority of Paxton's victims - the Human victims. Frankly, ambassador, I'm offended".
Random Human in Crowd: "As a completely unaffiliated individual not at all working with this man in any capacity, I must too express outrage. Is this what the proposed Coalition will look like? Human lives and Human needs can be sacrificed on the altar of politics so long as the sensibilities of aliens are appeased?"
Denobulan: "Now, wait a minute. Denobula requests extradition of Paxton - "
Humans: "BOOOO! BOOOOO!"
(Or something).
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I love Kirk's line in A Less Perfect Union about Sarek's impostor being a better actor than Anton Karidian. 
Great stuff, Deranged Nasat. Fascinating discussion.
Funny moment: I read this
and cursed myself for finally having spoiled something significant from Vanguard. Then I read it again and went, d'oh!
Funny moment: I read this
and cursed myself for finally having spoiled something significant from Vanguard. Then I read it again and went, d'oh!
Shards and Shadows: "The Greater Good"
Once again, we have a depiction of the Terran Empire as an inherently unstable system; this time, we're told of entrenched corruption, incompetence stemming from officers promoted above their abilities for reasons of politics, and the embarrassment suffered by the Starfleet because of it. They try some damage control through the promotion of Pike to a position of prominence (ironically, ahead of more capable officers). This Pike, in contrast to the driven, powerfully intellectual man of the prime reality, is weak-willed, selected for command because he’s photogenic and pliant. It's appropriate, perhaps, that in both realities Pike is considered the "perfect Starfleet officer", but in this reality the perfect officer is completely lacking in substance, an illusion that the culture can't even try to live up to. The Mirror Humans (sorry, Terrans) might be very aggressive and ambitiously driven, but they wouldn't impress the prime reality's Talosians, I suspect. They too have succumbed, in their own way, to the easier but less rewarding, less substantial path. Mirror Kirk is shaping his dreams and losing himself in them, without awareness or care for how his culture and civilization are rotting away.
We have some insight into imperial fleet politics. Too much of this sort of back-stabbing political weaselling would grate, but for short visits like we have here it’s quite fun. Kirk also displays a possibly uncharacteristic self-awareness in not desiring to go any further once he has the Enterprise. He reflects that the lure of ever-increasing reward would lead some beings to challenge the admiralty, the government and eventually overextend their reach, to disastrous results. It’s perhaps amusing that this limited degree of sense and restraint actually serves to prevent the system from destabilizing in the short term, while in the mid- to long-term it's still on course for that brick wall I've mentioned before. Spock, we’ll see, will have no such limits to his ambition, albeit with a different motive entirely...
This is the first time that the Empire’s policy toward telepathic species is made a plot point; we learn that telepathic races have been systematically destroyed with prejudice, considered threats to an empire the dominant species of which is so rarely psionic. This is a thread that will run through the rest of the Mirror Universe arc. As yet, though, we’re not given an explanation as such for why Vulcan telepathy isn’t an issue. That will be explored somewhere down the line.
First Appearances of Things That Are Important
Marlena Moreau, one of the very few characters whose mirror universe version is of far greater importance than her regular self.
The Tantalus device. I feel a bit better for poor Dr. Adams when I consider that his “secret weapon” helped bring down the empire and so, in the long run, the entire imperial system.
Continuity
There are a number of fun twists to what we know/will learn about the regular 23rd Century. We have Tantalus penal colony, where the neural neuteralizer is blatantly intended as an agonizer from the start (the colony has been updating the technology and hosting science fairs, which sound fun, in the "Mirror Phlox would like them" sense). We also have Dr. Adams losing his mind by starting to blabber about the wrongs of abusing political prisoners or the possibility of rehabilitating people rather than lobotomizing them, the nut. There's also Kirk's history on the Farragut. Amusingly, it’s strongly implied that this Kirk sicced the dikironium cloud creature on his captain and crewmates somehow, allowing him to ascend another step up the ladder.
Next Time: Declassified: "Almost Tomorrow". While we've been meddling around in alternate realities, Starfleet has been busy in the Taurus Reach...
Once again, we have a depiction of the Terran Empire as an inherently unstable system; this time, we're told of entrenched corruption, incompetence stemming from officers promoted above their abilities for reasons of politics, and the embarrassment suffered by the Starfleet because of it. They try some damage control through the promotion of Pike to a position of prominence (ironically, ahead of more capable officers). This Pike, in contrast to the driven, powerfully intellectual man of the prime reality, is weak-willed, selected for command because he’s photogenic and pliant. It's appropriate, perhaps, that in both realities Pike is considered the "perfect Starfleet officer", but in this reality the perfect officer is completely lacking in substance, an illusion that the culture can't even try to live up to. The Mirror Humans (sorry, Terrans) might be very aggressive and ambitiously driven, but they wouldn't impress the prime reality's Talosians, I suspect. They too have succumbed, in their own way, to the easier but less rewarding, less substantial path. Mirror Kirk is shaping his dreams and losing himself in them, without awareness or care for how his culture and civilization are rotting away.
We have some insight into imperial fleet politics. Too much of this sort of back-stabbing political weaselling would grate, but for short visits like we have here it’s quite fun. Kirk also displays a possibly uncharacteristic self-awareness in not desiring to go any further once he has the Enterprise. He reflects that the lure of ever-increasing reward would lead some beings to challenge the admiralty, the government and eventually overextend their reach, to disastrous results. It’s perhaps amusing that this limited degree of sense and restraint actually serves to prevent the system from destabilizing in the short term, while in the mid- to long-term it's still on course for that brick wall I've mentioned before. Spock, we’ll see, will have no such limits to his ambition, albeit with a different motive entirely...
This is the first time that the Empire’s policy toward telepathic species is made a plot point; we learn that telepathic races have been systematically destroyed with prejudice, considered threats to an empire the dominant species of which is so rarely psionic. This is a thread that will run through the rest of the Mirror Universe arc. As yet, though, we’re not given an explanation as such for why Vulcan telepathy isn’t an issue. That will be explored somewhere down the line.
First Appearances of Things That Are Important
Marlena Moreau, one of the very few characters whose mirror universe version is of far greater importance than her regular self.
The Tantalus device. I feel a bit better for poor Dr. Adams when I consider that his “secret weapon” helped bring down the empire and so, in the long run, the entire imperial system.
Continuity
There are a number of fun twists to what we know/will learn about the regular 23rd Century. We have Tantalus penal colony, where the neural neuteralizer is blatantly intended as an agonizer from the start (the colony has been updating the technology and hosting science fairs, which sound fun, in the "Mirror Phlox would like them" sense). We also have Dr. Adams losing his mind by starting to blabber about the wrongs of abusing political prisoners or the possibility of rehabilitating people rather than lobotomizing them, the nut. There's also Kirk's history on the Farragut. Amusingly, it’s strongly implied that this Kirk sicced the dikironium cloud creature on his captain and crewmates somehow, allowing him to ascend another step up the ladder.
Next Time: Declassified: "Almost Tomorrow". While we've been meddling around in alternate realities, Starfleet has been busy in the Taurus Reach...
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Deranged Nasat, did you think about doing the ending of "Year of Hell, Part II" in the 2170s in this run-through? That is when it takes place chronologically, after all.
Also, what will you do with "Living Witness"?
Also, what will you do with "Living Witness"?
My approach to this project is admittedly rather inconsistent - when it comes to fragmentary pieces like individual chapters or parts of larger books I take them on an individual basis. Whether I include them depends on whether or not I happen to think it sensible to extract them; whether I think they're useful or interesting placed in their chronological position. Something like the brief epilogue of an episode like "Year of Hell" wouldn't really be sensible, especially since that scene takes place in a distant part of the galaxy entirely disassociated from the "regular" unfolding story of the Trek galaxy. My aim here is essentially to try experiencing the novel 'verse extrapolation of the canon material from an unconventional perspective by making the most of the fact that it's supposed to be essentially one big universe explored over the course of more than two centuries. I'm following the story, basically. I'm not going to be overly committed to putting every piece in its right place.
As for "Living Witness", that'll go at the very end, I imagine. (As a random aside, that's my favourite season four episode of Voyager. My favourite season three episode is "Distant Origin", season five is "Counterpoint". The other seasons I'm undecided at the moment).
^Well, "Living Witness" would only be the second-last thing chronologically if you count The Collectors.
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