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I haven't read this entire tread because I haven't finished the last book, but I have one question.
Why does the Enterprise fire photon torpedos and not quantum torpedos against the kinshaya?
Excellent question! They're fighting extremely close to the planet, as mentioned in an earlier chapter; using their highest yield munitions might have had nasty effects down below and to orbital civilian traffic. I considered a line elaborating but decided the scene moved faster without it.
(If the question was whether the -E still has photon torpedoes, it does, at least according to the Haynes manual I used as my source.)
I haven't read this entire tread because I haven't finished the last book, but I have one question.
Why does the Enterprise fire photon torpedos and not quantum torpedos against the kinshaya?
I have this odd memory of reading somewhere that quantum torpedoes are pretty powerfull, and not used all the time. But, that is a vague memory and it could be part of a forum discussion and that someone on here mentioned it instead of a line from a novel.
Excellent question! They're fighting extremely close to the planet, as mentioned in an earlier chapter; using their highest yield munitions might have had nasty effects down below and to orbital civilian traffic. I considered a line elaborating but decided the scene moved faster without it.
(If the question was whether the -E still has photon torpedoes, it does, at least according to the Haynes manual I used as my source.)
No reason it wouldn't. Since they're a simpler, more established technology, it makes sense to keep them around and save quantum torps for situations where they're really needed.
And there's precedent. On Enterprise, NX-01's armory set still had its spatial-torpedo racks even after they upgraded to photonic torpedoes.
No reason it wouldn't. Since they're a simpler, more established technology, it makes sense to keep them around and save quantum torps for situations where they're really needed.
And there's precedent. On Enterprise, NX-01's armory set still had its spatial-torpedo racks even after they upgraded to photonic torpedoes.
I started book 3 Hall of heroes this miniseries has been full of suprising twists and turns with the Klingons and the Unsung characters and also Picard's crew and Titan's. Ans Ezri too it was nice to see her appear in this series. I've really enjoyed reading this series so far.
So, I read this over the weekend - veritably a glorious banquet of Klingon goodness that I was utterly gorged on by the end.
At first glance, it seems a strange notion - how can a set of 12 birds of prey, even ones possessing entirely new advantages, be the key to causing a galactic crisis?
It is this that I think sets the trilogy out for it is above all a tale of political warfare and, in that arena, they do indeed prove devilishly effective.
What I also liked was the way the grand plot spun out of a control. This was a neat touch for it is to set up a grandmaster villain who's schemes always pay off. Korgh is certainly very careful, but that doesn't render him entirely immune.
By the end he's lost it all by his own hands, he's turned his heirs against him, his plot was taken advantage of by others and he will be prosecuted by the Federation, the ultimate indignity.
Valandris I was very much hot-and-cold on, still see her as an out-and-out psychopath
but maybe Kahless sees something to work with at Spirits Forge?
Weaving in the consequences of Takedown was also effective.
Most of all, I liked how it managed to spin its plot over multiple time periods, while keeping sense of it all. It's no mean feat to have a villain plot for a century, but the back and forth, with new aspects coming in, then going to get the new aspect's origin / back story, then jumping forward, was very smart.
Highly enjoyable. There is going to be more from you John in the world of Trek?
"Always in motion, the future..." -- wait, wrong franchise! Grasping for an equivalent Trek quote; perhaps "Let's see what's out there."
Valandris was unnerving by design, of course. I saw her people as feral children all grown up -- taking natural Klingon aggression and sending it all over the place. Hunting channels it, but without honor to say who and what should be hunted, they're vulnerable to the trick that got played. The path back is only just begun, to be sure, but the odds are better; if you came away thinking that I believe the teachings of Kahless serve the same civilizing function as Surak's for the Vulcans, you're on the right track. :-)
And that is why the internet is still cool for me!
Thanks for the info, that's an interesting angle to it all.
It's been fun following you from Wars to Trek, as then here there was a sort-of sense of 'John Jackson Miller? Who's this guy?' and those of us who knew your Wars work were going: 'This'll be good, we know this guy'.
Thanks! (And hopefully people on the Planet of the Apes boards, wherever they are, will say the same thing about all us Trek alum who are in the new Forbidden Zone anthology releasing later this month!)
I finished reading Hall of Heroes last night. I really was surprised how this novel wrapped up certain story arcs.
Especially Riker and the different Federation and Klingon allies worked. against Korgh and how they stopped his final plans for the Klingon empire. The bait and switch they used against him was well done.I liked the fact he was going to be tried by the federation after discommeneded by the Klingons.
I liked the seeing the Kinshaya were featured in the series and the Breen too. I enjoyed reading this series a lot.
I finished reading Hall of Heroes last night. I really was surprised how this novel wrapped up certain story arcs.
Especially Riker and the different Federation and Klingon allies worked. against Korgh and how they stopped his final plans for the Klingon empire. The bait and switch they used against him was well done.I liked the fact he was going to be tried by the federation after discommeneded by the Klingons.
I liked the seeing the Kinshaya were featured in the series and the Breen too. I enjoyed reading this series a lot.
One of the other elements I liked a lot was one of my favourite characters - Martok. He has Korgh doing all this crap-stirring and Martok wants nothing more than to rip his balls off and feed him to him, but Korgh's protected by age!
All I think I'd meant to note was that in the case of the third cover, Worf was not originally the second figure on it; the first version I saw had a younger Klingon male. The decision was made to get Worf onto the cover; we also liked the notion of Worf lurking behind Korgh, since he was a step behind for the whole series. Had the original younger Klingon remained, I would have figured on that being Tragg. (We also lost a bird-of-prey from an earlier cover that got released, I presume because the two ships were improbably close.)
Book 2, being more about the illusionists, was always going to have more of a fantasy-themed cover, with Doug choosing the demon to represent Cross, the devil behind things. I wound up not including a moment where he literally manifests as an Earthly devil figure, though it would have been easy to do; rather, Tuvok calls such an image up from one in Ardra's database, which I figured had to include devil characters from a dozen worlds. But it's really Cross in spirit.
And, yes, I had considered suggesting Fek'lhr instead, to make it a Klingon demon -- but I wasn't sure he was recognizable from his one scene. I also doubt he'd be able to display the same devilish smile, given all those teeth!
One thing I found surprising was the acknowledgment of the Ardra storyline Michael Jan Friedman did for DC's TNG comic. It's pretty rare for anything from that particular comic series to be referenced in the novels -- offhand, I can't think of another example.
On the other hand, I didn't notice an acknowledgment of the use of Ardra's technology in the Slings and Arrows miniseries. One or two segments of that involved a character who'd developed what Geordi described as a more advanced offshoot of Ardra's holography, and I'm having a bit of trouble seeing how that fits with this story. Unless Geordi's assessment was based on incorrect assumptions, I guess.
I got my start in comics (and still run a research site dedicated to them) so I enjoyed making a nod to the Shanzibar story -- it was an acknowledgment that I wasn't the first to bring Ardra back, and easy enough to bring in as it fit my notion of her having multiple escape attempts. I also used the comic in coming up with my description of Houdini.
I had also looked at whether to acknowledge the House of Kruge member who showed up in a Marvel TNG annual, but I think I bundled that under a mention of family members that hadn't succeeded at anything.
As to Slings and Arrows, I don't remember why I didn't mention it, but I think I on reading it I had concluded that the character involved (Snowden, I think) was using tech that was based on Geordi's brief analysis of Ardra's ship before it went into storage, and not necessarily access to the ship itself. My take was that Geordi did have enough functional understanding of Houdini's capabilities that he could do what he did with it in "Devil's Due" -- and that info would be in Starfleet's files -- and then Slings and Arrows built on that version, building and improving on what Geordi had used.
That said, I also felt that Geordi didn't have the entire picture of how the ship worked (in part because I was never satisfied that the method as described in "Devil's Due" could have produced all the effects we saw), and so I was able to go off and expand in some new directions on the methods involved. Geordi was using the systems that were still logged on when the ship was infiltrated, basically, but he didn't find everything.
(An additional way to reconcile the two would be to have had the Slings and Arrows case relate to any of the other Circle vessels out there, I suppose.)
I got my start in comics (and still run a research site dedicated to them) so I enjoyed making a nod to the Shanzibar story -- it was an acknowledgment that I wasn't the first to bring Ardra back, and easy enough to bring in as it fit my notion of her having multiple escape attempts. I also used the comic in coming up with my description of Houdini.
I guess that was handy, since we never saw the ship in the episode.
I had also looked at whether to acknowledge the House of Kruge member who showed up in a Marvel TNG annual, but I think I bundled that under a mention of family members that hadn't succeeded at anything.
Oh, from the "Riker Special" one-shot. That was supposed to be Captain K'Nera from "Heart of Glory," although the comic completely redesigned him to look more like Kruge. There was no reason to connect that character in the comic to K'Nera at all, so I don't know why they did it. Probably just as well you didn't reference it.
As to Slings and Arrows, I don't remember why I didn't mention it, but I think I on reading it I had concluded that the character involved (Snowden, I think) was using tech that was based on Geordi's brief analysis of Ardra's ship before it went into storage, and not necessarily access to the ship itself. My take was that Geordi did have enough functional understanding of Houdini's capabilities that he could do what he did with it in "Devil's Due" -- and that info would be in Starfleet's files -- and then Slings and Arrows built on that version, building and improving on what Geordi had used.
