Discovery and the Captain's Table

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Forgive me, it's been awhile since I've read a Captain's Table story so there's probably some details I'm getting wrong here, but bear with me...

I seem to remember a scene in one of the CT novels where a character - who's been in the bar many times before - sees an earlier version of himself in the bar, and tries to warn him about something, but lots of things pop up (people getting in his way, the bar's ambient noise getting louder, drinks get spilled, etc.) which physically prevent anyone from contacting an earlier self.

What I'm wondering is this: Let's say that Saru finds himself in the CT and meets Prime Georgiou. Would he be able to warn her about her upcoming death, or would these rules prevent this from happening as well?

On a vaguely related matter: Does the Captain's Table reach across universes as well? For example, could a mirror universe character find him- or herself in there and meet their prime counterpart? Or other universes neither prime nor mirror?

 

[F. King Daniel]

It's magic not science so... whatever serves the story of the moment?

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

It's magic not science so... whatever serves the story of the moment?

A far wiser man (and far better writer) than I once declared that any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Did some checking...actually the incident I was (mis)remembering was actually Mac Calhoun attempting to warn an earlier version of his old captain, of a disaster that would soon destroy the man's life, but things kept getting in the way and Mac couldn't reach the guy. The novel was "Once Burned".

So it would seem that my original question has been answered - Saru probably would not be able to warn Prime Georgiou of her upcoming death after all.

 

[GaryH]

The Captain’s Table was a whacky concept that wasn’t really needed to have a focus on individual captains, but it seemed like editorial was having fun so enjoy but don’t think too hard about the logic

 

[Ronald Held]

I suppose it would not be revived just to feature DSC captains?

 

[SpaceCadetJuan]

As I recall, in the Pike book a Klingon captain was prepared to tell him his fate, but was persuaded not to either by other patrons or the bartender. She settled for telling him he was buried on Talos IV

 

[chrinFinity]

There were the original six novels, right, and then an anthology in Trade if I'm remembering correctly? But it wasn't an omnibus of the novels, it was new stories featuring other captains (Demora I think, maybe Dax, etc).

EDIT: Regarding OP's question, I sort of get the impression that Saru or Georgiou would be able to meet but one or the other of them would think better of sharing future information, so the magic pub would probably let them hang out together.

 

[Tirius]

^^ I've always enjoyed the concept behind the Captain's Table - and Once Burned as a novel rocked. @chrinFinity is correct that there was a later anthology in trade paperback with stories from different captains, and the place itself got alluded to one or twice in other novels at the time, and also appears in Star Trek Online. The full lineup in the anthology was as follows:

Jonathan Archer of the Starship Enterprise, by Louisa Swann
Chakotay of the U.S.S. Voyager, by Christie Golden
David Gold of the U.S.S. da Vinci, y John J. Ordover
Kira Nerys of Deep Space 9, by Heather Jarman
Klag, son of M'Raq, of the I.K.S. Gorkon,by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Stargazer, by Michael Jan Friedman
William T. Riker of the U.S.S. Titan, by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels
Elizabeth Shelby of the U.S.S. Trident, by Peter David
Demora Sulu of the U.S.S. Enterprise-B, by David R. George III

I don't recall all of them, but I think I remember the Titan story featuring the Riker/Troi honeymoon and the Gorkon story being about how Klag lost his arm. Archer I think spun a tale about beagles.

 

[Csalem]

Sulu story was about her minding her grandmother.

 

[GaryH]

The Shelby story was excellent and had a key continuity point in New Frontier continuity

 

[tomswift2002]

It’s interesting with the Captain’s Table that Captain Picard appeared in it twice. That left open the time travel question. Could a character meet their past/future self in the bar?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

^^ I've always enjoyed the concept behind the Captain's Table - and Once Burned as a novel rocked. @chrinFinity is correct that there was a later anthology in trade paperback with stories from different captains, and the place itself got alluded to one or twice in other novels at the time, and also appears in Star Trek Online.

John Vornholt's short story in the Enterprise Logs anthology was a Captain's Table story as well.

 

[Spot261]

Forgive me, it's been awhile since I've read a Captain's Table story so there's probably some details I'm getting wrong here, but bear with me...

I seem to remember a scene in one of the CT novels where a character - who's been in the bar many times before - sees an earlier version of himself in the bar, and tries to warn him about something, but lots of things pop up (people getting in his way, the bar's ambient noise getting louder, drinks get spilled, etc.) which physically prevent anyone from contacting an earlier self.

What I'm wondering is this: Let's say that Saru finds himself in the CT and meets Prime Georgiou. Would he be able to warn her about her upcoming death, or would these rules prevent this from happening as well?

On a vaguely related matter: Does the Captain's Table reach across universes as well? For example, could a mirror universe character find him- or herself in there and meet their prime counterpart? Or other universes neither prime nor mirror?

I'd tend to see the Captains' Table as a whimsical way of framing stories rather than part of the story itself. The day there's an actual adventure where they have to save it from assimilation, use it as a way of traversing dimensions, or......somesuch is the day an author misses the point.

It's fun and doesn't need to be examined too closely.

 

[JD]

I suppose it would not be revived just to feature DSC captains?

Probably not just for Discovery, but since the anthology came out they've introduced a whole bunch of new captains who could make up a new anthology.
Capt. Ezri Dax of the USS Aventine
Commodore Diego Reyes of Starbase 47 aka Vanguard
Adrm. Heihachiro Nogura also of Vanguard
Capt. Atish Khatami of the USS Endevour (NCC-1895)
Cap. Adelard Nassir of the USS Sagittarius
Capt. Christine Vale of the USS Titan
Cap. T'Pol of the USS Endevour (NCC-06)
Capt. Bryce Shumar of the USS Essex (NCC-173)
Capt. Malcolm Reed of the USS Pioneer (NCC-63)
Catp. Resthenar sh'Prenni of the USS Vol'Rala (AGC-7-10)
The last four are from the Rise of the Federation books, which I haven't read yet, so I'm not sure how big of a role they really play, but I would say that just being main characters in Enterprise who became captains is enough reason to include Reed and T'Pol.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

There hasn’t been a Jonathan Archer story, has there?

 

[Allyn Gibson]

There hasn’t been a Jonathan Archer story, has there?

Yes, in the Tales from the Captain's Table anthology. See a few posts above.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Probably not just for Discovery, but since the anthology came out they've introduced a whole bunch of new captains who could make up a new anthology.

Don’t forget Captain Farkas!

Ok, and the rest of the Project Full Circle captains too. It’d be interesting to see what they did with an O’Donnell story. And it’d be a nice way to maybe get a new story featuring Captain Eden, too.

 

[Paris]

^I'd love an O'Donnell story! He's one of my favorite characters in Beyer's Voyager series

 

[Jinn]

Considering all the captain characters on Discovery (and regulars who probably were captains at one point) I'm sure they could do an anthology just for Discovery. There's Captain Georgiou, Captain Lorca, Captain Pike, Acting Captain Saru, Captain Lorca, The Captain They Were Supposed to Get at Vulcan, Now-Admiral Cornwell (although admittedly we don't know for sure wether she ever was a captain), Leland (was he in charge of a specific ship at any point?), T'Kuvma (kind of) and Kol.