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Q & A - inspiration for alternate realities

dstyer

dstyer

Commander
Red Shirt
I was just re-reading the novel Q & A by Keith R.A. DeCandido and would like to ask the following:
In Chapter 17, there are brief scenes in several alternate realities. I would like to know if anyone has determined where Keith got his inspiration for these alternates. I've figured out some, and would like help with the rest.

Page 231 USS Enterprise – Following the deleted ending from Star Trek: Nemesis.

Page 232 FSS Enterprise – Branching off from events in “The Icarus Factor”.

Page 233 USV Enterprise - ??? Picard is hardwired into the ship.

Page 234 US Enterprise - ??? Featuring a Captain Wesley Crusher.

Page 236 ISS Enterprise – Branching off from TOS “Mirror, Mirror” but going in a different direction than what was seen in Deep Space Nine.

Page 237 USS Enterprise – Following the timeline glimpsed in “Tapestry.”

Page 239 IKS Qu' - ??? Klingons have conquered the quadrant.

Opinions, thoughts and other comments welcome.
 
I think they just come from Keith's own imagination. With countless alternate timelines in the multiverse, they can't all be spun off of events we know.
 
KRAD does still occasionally post on here, so if you're lucky you might be able to get an answer directly from him.
 
The ISS Enterprise (page 236) was, I figured, from the Mirror Universe of Diane Duane's Dark Mirror, which was written before DS9 went to the Mirror Universe.
 
^ Not exactly. In Dark Mirror, Dr. Soong was executed in an Imperial purge and never created any androids. The ISS Enterprise in Q&A had Lore as first officer, so they can't be the same universe.
 
dstyer said:
I was just re-reading the novel Q & A by Keith R.A. DeCandido and would like to ask the following:
In Chapter 17, there are brief scenes in several alternate realities. I would like to know if anyone has determined where Keith got his inspiration for these alternates. I've figured out some, and would like help with the rest.
Click to expand...
Happy to help. :)

Page 231 USS Enterprise – Following the deleted ending from Star Trek: Nemesis.
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Correct. I actually really really hated that deleted scene, and so took a certain joy in consigning it to an alternate timeline and to firmly establish in the mainline timeline that Picard didn't even know who Martin Madden was.

Having said that, I was kind of intrigued by the notion of Hedril as the new ship's counselor......


Page 232 FSS Enterprise – Branching off from events in “The Icarus Factor”.
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Not just that: Worf and Troi also continue their relationship -- perhaps because Riker isn't around.


Page 233 USV Enterprise - ??? Picard is hardwired into the ship.
Click to expand...
Just a notion of my own, something more futuristic than Trek ever really did.


Page 234 US Enterprise - ??? Featuring a Captain Wesley Crusher.
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Just a straight-up alternate timeline in which Picard pursued the sciences rather than command -- maybe his fight with the Nausicaans turned out differently, maybe he never even had the fight with the Nausicaans, so he followed a much different career track, not coming to command until later. Meanwhile, Wesley eventually became a captain.


Page 236 ISS Enterprise – Branching off from TOS “Mirror, Mirror” but going in a different direction than what was seen in Deep Space Nine.
Click to expand...
I actually came up with a TNG mirror universe notion of my own when I was in college, before Dark Mirror was published. Never really had a plot, but two things I thought would be the case if the MU was still nasty was that La Forge would never have been allowed to live and that Lore would be there instead of Data. So I ran with that.


Page 237 USS Enterprise – Following the timeline glimpsed in “Tapestry.”
Click to expand...
Oh yes. Given Q's involvement in that story, I had to look in on Lieutenant (j.g.) Picard a decade later.


Page 239 IKS Qu' - ??? Klingons have conquered the quadrant.
Click to expand...
Nothing specific, just a timeline in which the Klingons were not the shiny-happy Klingons of TNG. I wasn't thinking "Yesterday's Enterprise" exactly, but the same sort of general notion, where the Federation-Klingon alliance didn't really go anywhere.
 
I love those glimpses, and the FSS prefix (Federation Starship) makes a lot of sense. History's gonna get interesting when the Federation starts exploring nearby alternate realms they way it explores different quadrants now.
 
Markonian said:
I love those glimpses, and the FSS prefix (Federation Starship) makes a lot of sense. History's gonna get interesting when the Federation starts exploring nearby alternate realms they way it explores different quadrants now.
Click to expand...

Well Memory-Omega in the Mirror Universe does that I believe.

At least they view other realities, not sure how often they send people to them.
 
I've just re-read the 5th interlude of Q & A. It was revealed that Q sent the Enterprise to the Borg before Voyager would encounter them (for some reson). In the same novel Q uses reverse psychology to trick Picard into going to the planet's surface. If you combine those facts would that mean that Q is or has impersonated admiral Hayes, @KRAD ?
 
Jinn said:
I've just re-read the 5th interlude of Q & A. It was revealed that Q sent the Enterprise to the Borg before Voyager would encounter them (for some reson). In the same novel Q uses reverse psychology to trick Picard into going to the planet's surface. If you combine those facts would that mean that Q is or has impersonated admiral Hayes, @KRAD ?
Click to expand...

What do you mean? That interlude is talking about "Q Who", not "First Contact".
 
Idran said:
What do you mean? That interlude is talking about "Q Who", not "First Contact".
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After re-reading it again I missinterpreted the "Them" for the Voyager's crew and not for Them. Sorry :(
 
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I like how the Klingon-controlled Enterprise was called the Qu', which is the Klingon word for Enterprise. At least the Klingons cared enough about the ship to keep its name... :klingon: :lol:

As for the USV Enterprise: Kind of scared me, to be honest. What happens if that Picard gets cabin fever? Can he ever disconnect?
 
Hey, KRAD, did you take any inspiration for the alternate Enterprise scenes in Q & A from the somewhat similar setup in Maximum Warp Book 2?
 
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