Where I re-read Star Trek: Vanguard

[Charles Phipps]

STAR TREK: VANGUARD was a series that I didn't really know what I was getting into when I first picked up a copy of Harbinger. I was a big fan of NEW FRONTIER and had read individual works like the Department of Temporal Investigations but was not really familiar with either @David Mack or other authors works in-detail.

The world presented in these books is a dark, pragmatic, realpolitic filled storyline that goes deeper than even Deep Space Nine in terms of moral ambiguity as well as ruthlessness. The characters are deeply flawed and fail to rise above their circumstances as often as they succeed.

This is the Starfleet of Nimbus III, the land of insane Admirals, and your typical "evil project" like the Pegasus or Insurrection events but without Kirk or Picard to call things out. The fact it takes place in the colorful TOS era makes it all the more interesting.

I admit, I don't know as much about this series' behind-the-scenes as I'd really like to, despite the fact I recall that it had a "story bible" that I remember reading and included some cool details like a casting call. I hope that fans of the series will throw in their thoughts as I go along with this.

Vanguard Reviews

Harbinger (Vanguard #1)
Harbinger notes
Harbinger annotations
Summon the Thunder (Vanguard #2)
Summon the Thunder notes

Vanguard Supplemental Material

Vanguard Series Bible by David Mack
Vanguard Series Bible Addendum by David Mack
Vanguard Schematics #1
Vanguard Schematics #2
USS Sagittarius Exterior Schematics #1
USS Sagittarius Interior Schematics #2
USS Sagittarius Technical Info and Crew
Harbinger Annotations by David Mack

Other WIR

The Vanguard series
The New Frontier series
The Stargazer series

 

[Charles Phipps]

Star Trek: Vanguard: Habinger

Book 1

Synopsis: Returning from its historic first voyage to the edge of the galaxy, the damaged U.S.S. Enterprise™ journeys through the Taurus Reach, a vast and little-known region of space in which a new starbase has been unexpectedly established. Puzzled by the Federation's interest in an area so far from its borders and so near the xenophobic Tholian Assembly, Captain James T. Kirk orders the Enterprise to put in for repairs at the new space station: Starbase 47, also known as Vanguard.

As Kirk ponders the mystery of the enormous base, he begins to suspect that there is much more to Vanguard than meets the eye. It's a suspicion shared by the Tholians, the Orions, and the Klingon Empire, each of whom believes that there are less than benign motives behind the Federation's sudden and unexplained desire to explore and colonize the Taurus Reach.

But when a calamity deep within the Reach threatens to compromise Starfleet's continued presence in the region, Kirk, Spock, and several key specialists from the Enterprise must assist Vanguard's crew in investigating the cause of the disaster and containing the damage. In the process, they learn the true purpose behind the creation of Vanguard, and what the outcome of its mission may mean for life throughout that part of the galaxy.

Analysis: Well, I've decided to pick up David Mack's VANGUARD series after re-watching the first season of STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. I enjoyed the handling of combining the TOS era with NuTrek advances as well as serialized storytelling. So, I was intrigued by the possibilities of a series seemingly based on combining the premise of DS9 (a long-range space station on the frontier of Federation Space) with the time period of the Original Series. So, how did it work? Remarkably well, actually, and Discovery could take a number of lessons from David Mack on how to write "dark" Trek.

Indeed, this is the darkest incarceration of Star Trek I can remember reading and it does so without the "Space Whale" elements of armies of cyborg zombies or scary dogmatic aliens who hate humans. Instead, what makes Vanguard dark and personal is the human stories (even for the aliens) which are going on. The space station Vanguard is a place where the humans of Roddenberry's enlightened future are nasty, meanspirited, lost, confused, and full of all too believable emotional trauma. The fact Kirk, Uhura, and Spock find the place deeply unpleasant during their short visit also nicely establishes it's not a revisionist take on the Federation but it's THIS SPECIFIC PLACE which is the Mos Eisley of their territory.

Harbinger works essentially like an anthology of collected stories. We have Commodore Reyes, who is the fuming admiral who clearly hates his position on the Vanguard despite the fact he has convinced himself it's of vital Federation importance. We have T'Prynn, a Vulcan intelligence agent whose life was ruined by the culture which raised her. She's also a lesbian or bisexual character in literature which is still catching up for the show. Then there's my favorite character of Pennington, who is a crusading reporter in an adulterous affair that both seem like are things which shouldn't be needed in the 23rd century. The only character I really didn't warm to was Cervantes Quinn who seems a bit like a much-less competent Han Solo wandered into the Trek universe.

The premise of the first book is Starfleet has constructed Vanguard to secure their position against Klingon and Tholian Space (or possibly something bigger). While sending out one of their ships, it gets destroyed by the Tholians and a government cover-up is enacted to prevent war with the former. Because if the Federation goes to war with the Tholians, they'll be easy pickings for the Klingons and vice versa. This ties into everyone else's story because Quinn stole the materials which the starship was replacing, Pennington is lovers with one of the dead crewmen, and Reyes is the architect of the cover-up with T'Prynn as his agent.

I found T'Prynn the most interesting of the characters and enjoyable even though she seemed the most like a book character. I love the idea of a Vulcan who has just been utterly screwed over by her culture from birth until present. I also like the fact she's an amateur jazz piano player because that's just a character quirk which says so much about the character. Watching her handle Reyes' dirty work while maintaining her Vulcan stoicism worked well.

I also very much like the dualistic cowardly and crusading elements of Pennington. In the 21st century, being exposed as an adulterer is bad but hardly life-destroying but he's terrified of it and goes to elaborate lengths to cover it up. He also is outraged by Starfleet's various actions and cover-ups but is less concerned about actually revealing the truth than the "Big Scoop." He's a mass of contradictions and I like the implications he's just a terrible selfish person in his marriage but an excellent journalist. Still, it makes you wonder what Orianna (his lover) ever saw in him.

I really enjoy the creation of the Taurus Reach and the DS9 habit of taking a place that is normally passed through in Trek and making a fully developed region. There's not much in the way of settlements in the setting, no Bajor or Cardassia, but there's a lot of ancient history here. The Thollians, the Klingons, and the Federation all staking a claim with the ancient Shedai. Vanguard itself is a kind of mirror inverse of DS9, being a rapidly constructed Federation meant to preserve the flag in the same way DS9...wasn't.

This feels very much like the set up for a new series with original characters and very little in the way of guest stars from the canon. There's a few but they're not central. Instead, the book asks us to go on a ride with an entirely new set of heroes and a tone much darker and more "realistic" than Trek normally goes. Much to my surprise, I'm entirely onboard and fascinated with the stories of its flawed and human cast (even the nonhumans).

In conclusion, I really loved this book and will be picking up the other installments of the series. I like the handling of Starfleet and the Federation's politics in this time period. It's a little more off-beat and less utopian but not so much as to be unrecognizable. I think the troubled protagonists really bring out the heart of this story and the darker, more militaristic realpolitic motivated Starfleet causes the story to have more stakes. You don't think these guys will do the right thing and yet when they don't, it's still surprising.

 

[Charles Phipps]

https://davidmack.pro/writing/storming-heaven/the-finale/

Oooo, this is good.

A lot of David Mack stuff on his website that I remember being originally familiar with but having forgotten existed.

I've added it to the opening post.

 

[David Mack]

The only character I really didn't warm to was Cervantes Quinn who seems a bit like a much-less competent Han Solo wandered into the Trek universe.

Cervantes Quinn was in no way modeled on Han Solo. Quinn's inspiration was TOS characters like Harcourt Fenton Mudd and Cyrano Jones — except, as with everything else in Vanguard, darker in tone and backstory. Quinn is many things Solo never was: an alcoholic, an undiagnosed manic-depressive, a widower, and an ex-mercenary with a guilty conscience. And, as with the rest of Vanguard's core characters, he is on a journey of personal redemption. Give him some more time before you judge him.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Cervantes Quinn was in no way modeled on Han Solo. Quinn's inspiration was TOS characters like Harcourt Fenton Mudd and Cyrano Jones — except, as with everything else in Vanguard, darker in tone and backstory. Quinn is many things Solo never was: an alcoholic, an undiagnosed manic-depressive, a widower, and an ex-mercenary with a guilty conscience. And, as with the rest of Vanguard's core characters, he is on a journey of personal redemption. Give him some more time before you judge him.

Yeah, I'm probably far too harsh on Cervantes Quinn that i think deserves a credit just for all the Don Quixote references that should probably have been a clue to his actual character. There's a bit of humor to the Rocinante also being the name of his ship as well given it's use for another franchise's primary ship. Part of what I like about Vanguard is it really does give an idea of what life on these Deep Space stations would be like in the TOS era and hints as to what sort of civilian spacer life is like that we only got hints about with folk like Mudd and Jones.

Also, it's a good moment that he basically pushes a button and blows a dog-whistle that every Tholian in the Universe hears.

 

[Jedi Marso]

I really enjoyed this series, particularly the setting, the fact that it was early TOS, and the characters. Oddly enough, I didn't care much for the Shedai although was sort of the binding glue of these stories.

Vanguard was the kind of place I'd have run a FASA Trek campaign, especially one that used elements other than just starfleet. Trader Captains and Merchant Princes, The Orions, The Klingons, all of them would have been at home here.

I guess it says something that the only Trek books I retain hard copies of are The Final Reflection, Strangers in the Sky, Federation, and the entire Vanguard series. (That's aside from my RPG materials and stuff like the Franz Joseph Technical Manual, Forbin's shipyard book, spaceflight chronology, Mr. Scott's guide, and so-on.)

 

[Charles Phipps]

I really enjoyed this series, particularly the setting, the fact that it was early TOS, and the characters. Oddly enough, I didn't care much for the Shedai although was sort of the binding glue of these stories.

Vanguard was the kind of place I'd have run a FASA Trek campaign, especially one that used elements other than just starfleet. Trader Captains and Merchant Princes, The Orions, The Klingons, all of them would have been at home here.

I guess it says something that the only Trek books I retain hard copies of are The Final Reflection, Strangers in the Sky, Federation, and the entire Vanguard series. (That's aside from my RPG materials and stuff like the Franz Joseph Technical Manual, Forbin's shipyard book, spaceflight chronology, Mr. Scott's guide, and so-on.)

It does have very strong RPG energy and reminds me a lot of the kind of places I explored in Traveller and Star Wars D6.

The stakes are very high but they're mostly taking a backseat to the personal journeys of all of the characters, which is definitely something I like my Star Trek.

As for the Shedai, they do come off as something that I have mixed feelings regarding. Though I really enjoyed the theory of one poster here that "God" in The Undiscovered Country was an imprisoned Shedai who was running a very long con on Sybok.

Not even a particularly powerful energy-based alien and one capable of being killed by Klingon weaponry of the TOS era.

 

[Charles Phipps]

STAR TREK: VANGUARD: HARBINGER THOUGHTS

As much as I loved NEW FRONTIER and STARGAZER, I feel like the world created in VANGUARD is a lot deeper and worth discussing in much greater detail so, in addition to my reviews, I'm also going to add more thoughts after every review that don't fit properly into it. A lot of these comments will be, bluntly, on stuff that is wholly irrelevant to the plot.

1. Pennington's adultery plotline sticks out with me because it makes me wonder what human sexual mores are like in the 23rd century and how they change to the 24th century. Cheating and adultery have existed since pair bondings have always existed but you'd think there might be a bit of progress in the area about what is and is not permissable for long distance relationships when space travel is involved. Then again, I always tended to view monogamy as depicted in STTNG as more flexible than in TOS which was always closer to things in the 20th century. Riker and Troi seemed to be in an open relationship for much of TNG.

2. Much is made by the author about the switch from ENT jumpsuits to miniskirts for women and Orianna complains about them. This reminds me of how Rebecca Rominj had to fight for the skirts of the TOS era on SNW. I have to wonder if the skirts are mandatory or are an option that female officers ca choose on their own in the Federation.

3, I really enjoyed Commodore Reyes thinking that Pike not commanding the Enterprise is the end of an era and it hits a good deal harder now that we have SNW to illustrate what sort of captain he was for a decade and change. He's really condescending, even snide, to Kirk and that's more memorable than being friendly as we see with Sisko and Picard.

4. I really liked Ambassador Jetanien’s talk about a war caused by a mistranslation and it reminded me a bit of Hitchhiker's discussion of how floating words caused an epic space war only ended by a dog eating the victors. Similarly, I remember the Klingon dictionary talking about how Maltz (AKA John Laroquette in STIIITSFS) helped make the revised version. So, presumably, the nuances of Klingon are still lost until said dishonored warrior helps them figure out the specific cultural contexts. I wonder of that is partially why peace became possible.

5. I really liked the character of Anna Sandesjo and kind of wish she and T'Prynn had a longer story arc together. They actually had a really fascinating dynamic and the way it ended up illustrates just how dark the series will get. That's still a ways off, though. It is a relationship that is, above all things, interesting.

6. The origin of Scotty's bottle of green is one of my favorite moments.

7. Knowing T'Prynn dies in a Transporter accident in "The Lesser Evil" makes me sad as its such a sad and undignified death for such a great character but I suppose that is the point. Mind you, I haven't really read much of the DS9 Relaunch novels and like how this backstory develops the character.

8. Doctor M'Benga also is another character who it is interesting to run his new version up against the novel's interpretation. David Mack does a lot more with his time on Vulcan this time around.

9. The Bombay's final battle was exciting and well-written until the end. The thing is that the damage they did was utterly pointless because we know the Tholians are justified. They just killed a bunch more and made the situation worse.

10. The cover-up meetings for the destruction of the Bombay had strong Iran Contra feelings and are a sense of just how compromised everyone, even our heroes, are. The free press, the clandestine nature of the activities in the region, and the colonization effort that is largely about securing trade routes but also making a shield around their project is all extremely well done politics--and deeply depressing.

11. I feel the relationships in the book are very raw and real. While I wonder at Pennington and Orianna being so damn cagey about their affair, I felt like Reyes and Desani had one of the best relationships, and the grief of Orianna's husband felt suitably potent. Intense relationships and deep romances have rarely been a thing in Star Trek and this does a great job with them.

12. The smearing of Pennington and the destruction of his career to protect Vanguard and, to an extent, prevent a war is interesting in how odious it is. It feels very strongly inspired by the Iraq War and highlights just how far from the Federation ideal our heroes are. Especially as it feels like there were plenty of other avenues to pursue and it is so short-sighted. After all, preventing a war with the Thollians is great but did you bother asking WHY they did it and whether it will happen again.

 

[David Mack]

Yeah, I'm probably far too harsh on Cervantes Quinn that i think deserves a credit just for all the Don Quixote references that should probably have been a clue to his actual character. There's a bit of humor to the Rocinante also being the name of his ship as well given it's use for another franchise's primary ship.

It’s worth noting, then, that Star Trek: Vanguard – Harbinger was published in July 2005, six and a half years before the first Expanse novel, Leviathan Wakes, which was published in November 2011.

Also, it's a good moment that he basically pushes a button and blows a dog-whistle that every Tholian in the Universe hears.

Not quite accurate — he accidentally disables the device that is masking the signal being produced by Starfleet’s top-secret research outpost.

1. Pennington's adultery plotline sticks out with me because it makes me wonder what human sexual mores are like in the 23rd century and how they change to the 24th century.

The thing to remember about this is that humans are not monolithic in culture. Just because polygamous or open relationships might become generally socially acceptable on 23rd-century Earth, that doesn’t mean that everyone feels that way about their relationships. And with Pennington, the idea behind his character is that he is a great journalist, but in many ways a pretty lousy human being. While he pays a price for his infidelity, the more important aspect of his story is that T'Prynn uses false leads to set him up with a story whose sources are just wrong enough to discredit him and, by extension, cast doubt on any actually accurate reporting that might come out concerning the destruction of the USS Bombay. (A story inspired by the public smearing of Dan Rather.)

8. Doctor M'Benga also is another character who it is interesting to run his new version up against the novel's interpretation. David Mack does a lot more with his time on Vulcan this time around.

I'm intrigued by what the writers of the Strange New Worlds tv series have done with the backstory of Doctor Joseph M'Benga. As for how that relates to his cousin Doctor Jabilo M'Benga on Vanguard remains to be seen. ;-)

9. The Bombay's final battle was exciting and well-written until the end. The thing is that the damage they did was utterly pointless because we know the Tholians are justified. They just killed a bunch more and made the situation worse.

Were the Tholians really justified? They were certainly disturbed by the signal that escaped from Ravanar IV, but that was not a sector of space to which they had made any claim. Did that momentary disruption of their ThoughtLink, terrifying as it was, justify an act of war against a defenseless colony?

As for your assertion that the loss of the Bombay and her crew was "pointless," I disagree. Their sacrifice sends two powerful messages. To the Tholians and other adversaries of the Federation, it says "Starfleet will defend our people to the death, and we will take as many of you down with us as we can." In terms of discouraging future aggression, that’s a vital statement. Second, to Federation colonists it says "Starfleet will not abandon you, even if it means we die with you. Colonize these worlds: we will have your back." That's a crucial message to ensure public confidence in colonization efforts. (It also sets an example to other Starfleet crews: "This is the level of commitment we expect of all of you.")

 

[Charles Phipps]

It’s worth noting, then, that Star Trek: Vanguard – Harbinger was published in July 2005, six and a half years before the first Expanse novel, Leviathan Wakes, which was published in November 2011.

Oh yes, no mistake there. I did admittedly wonder if there was a connection but that was whether the pair of writers compromising James SA Corey (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) were fans of Star Trek Lit. After all, we know they're big gamers so why not.

Not quite accurate — he accidentally disables the device that is masking the signal being produced by Starfleet’s top-secret research outpost.

Thanks for the note.

The thing to remember about this is that humans are not monolithic in culture. Just because polygamous or open relationships might become generally socially acceptable on 23rd-century Earth, that doesn’t mean that everyone feels that way about their relationships. And with Pennington, the idea behind his character is that he is a great journalist, but in many ways a pretty lousy human being. While he pays a price for his infidelity, the more important aspect of his story is that T'Prynn uses false leads to set him up with a story whose sources are just wrong enough to discredit him and, by extension, cast doubt on any actually accurate reporting that might come out concerning the destruction of the USS Bombay. (A story inspired by the public smearing of Dan Rather.)

Cool notation about the link between Dan Rather and the smearing of Pennington. I think on a purely emotional level, you handled it extremely well. Especially when we meet Lora and she seems like a fantastic lady to be married to. Pennington's grief is real and his feelings too but all the complications like the fact that Orianna never wanted to be with him permanently and his sleazy Mission Impossible attempt to cover up their affair make it all a lot more messy in a way that Star Trek or fiction in general isn't done. Weirdly, I'd say the affair and its fallout is my favorite part of the book.

I also really did "see" Tommy Lee Jones and Ewan McGreggor as their characters per the Story Bible. Particularly Reyes' sourness and Pennington's charming but slightly sleazy quality ala Moulin Rouge.

I'm intrigued by what the writers of the Strange New Worlds tv series have done with the backstory of Doctor Joseph M'Benga. As for how that relates to his cousin Doctor Jabilo M'Benga on Vanguard remains to be seen. ;-)

Haha.

Were the Tholians really justified? They were certainly disturbed by the signal that escaped from Ravanar IV, but that was not a sector of space to which they had made any claim. Did that momentary disruption of their ThoughtLink, terrifying as it was, justify an act of war against a defenseless colony?

Very good questions and I can only respond as a reader and how I'd view it as an author mysellf.

I don't comment on the Tholians much in my comments section because there's still so much to be revealed in the book series (and deserving of a post all their own) but I tend to think of them in this book as "the guys guarding the Holy Grail or Imhotep's tomb in adventure movies." Our heroes are poking the tombs of very bad things in the name of science and history but are unwittingly going to release something absolutely horrifying as a result.

There's also the fact the Federation has unwittingly committed an act of war against the Tholians already by giving them all a seizure. In any other Star Trek work, the Tholians revealing that Starfleet unwittingly has a weapon that could kill all Tholians everywhere potentially (or at least incapacitate them) would just result in the Federation handing it over or destroying them because, "We're not like that." Here? In Vanguard? It's not so clear and you could see the officers (even Commodore Reyes) choosing to keep it as a deterrent or Sword of Damocles over the Tholians for future conflicts/negotiations.

It then becomes a question of whether the Tholians secrecy about the Shedai is justified because revealing "Here be Dragons" seems like the ethical and sane thing to do but as we see with the Meta-Genome, all it might do to unethical people is advertise the artifacts of doom laying about.

(And later Star Trek novels would wrestle whether there is such a thing as an artifact of doom at all or just how you use it--because the Meta-Genome is what cures the Andorian reproductive crisis)

As for your assertion that the loss of the Bombay and her crew was "pointless," I disagree. Their sacrifice sends two powerful messages. To the Tholians and other adversaries of the Federation, it says "Starfleet will defend our people to the death, and we will take as many of you down with us as we can." In terms of discouraging future aggression, that’s a vital statement. Second, to Federation colonists it says "Starfleet will not abandon you, even if it means we die with you. Colonize these worlds: we will have your back." That's a crucial message to ensure public confidence in colonization efforts. (It also sets an example to other Starfleet crews: "This is the level of commitment we expect of all of you.")

True, I may be oversympathizing with a bunch of crystal spiders as the wronged party here.

In my reaction, I'm thinking the tragedy isn't just the loss of the Bombay but the four Tholian vessels as well. Because both parties have good reason to be doing what they're doing and Starfleet unwittingly fired first (akin to Professor X and Cerebro in X-men 2 being used as a weapon). The number of deaths that happened just hardens the conflict and we know the Tholians will never forgive or never forget any of this while Starfleet will bury it in a warehouse with the Ark of the Covenant and Guardian of Forever--leaving most people to just think the Tholians are jerks for no reason.

To add a 13# in my reactions, it's also interesting to note the colonists in Starfleet are someone we might well look at differently from the 1960s to 2005 (which is square in the War on Terror--which I have to wonder about the influences of ala George R.R. Martin and Mereen) to today. In the 1960s, a bunch of colonists are bold pioneers going out to settle and build. Now, unknown to them, the Federation is sending a bunch of people to claim "unclaimed" worlds that just so happen to be places where the Tholians were once slaves. The colonists are ignorant of any malice but taking what absolutely is already owned by other people (the Tholians in this case). All because they didn't leave a sign up and them not "using" it makes it seem wasteful.

 

[Christopher]

Oh yes, no mistake there. I did admittedly wonder if there was a connection but that was whether the pair of writers compromising James SA Corey (Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) were fans of Star Trek Lit. After all, we know they're big gamers so why not.

If they knew it had been used as a spaceship name in another recent science fiction franchise, they would've probably come up with a different name for their own spaceship. Subtle homage is one thing, blatant copying is another.

Rocinante was the steed of a major figure from Western literature. It's not that surprising that more than one creator would independently reference it as the name of a vehicle, especially if they want to evoke the idea of a dreamer pursuing a lost cause, an underdog tilting at windmills, or something of the sort. So there's no reason to think they were referencing Vanguard instead of referencing the obvious literary precedent that Vanguard was also, separately referencing.

 

[Charles Phipps]

If they knew it had been used as a spaceship name in another recent science fiction franchise, they would've probably come up with a different name for their own spaceship. Subtle homage is one thing, blatant copying is another.

Rocinante was the steed of a major figure from Western literature. It's not that surprising that more than one creator would independently reference it as the name of a vehicle, especially if they want to evoke the idea of a dreamer pursuing a lost cause, an underdog tilting at windmills, or something of the sort. So there's no reason to think they were referencing Vanguard instead of referencing the obvious literary precedent that Vanguard was also, separately referencing.

Yes, horse=spaceship is a pretty good point. Like naming your conqueror's ship Bucephalus.

It's also why Acknowledgements should be more common, IMHO. Nothing wrong with writers making an homage here and there but if you name your blue-skinned admiral Th'raaw'n, you had best say mention Timothy Zahn.

 

[Christopher]

Nothing wrong with writers making an homage here and there but if you name your blue-skinned admiral Th'raaw'n, you had best say mention Timothy Zahn.

I think that crosses the line between homage and plagiarism. Homage would something more like having a character named Admiral Z'aahn, something more indirect and less blatant.

 

[Charles Phipps]

I think that crosses the line between homage and plagiarism. Homage would something more like having a character named Admiral Z'aahn, something more indirect and less blatant.

I can't really say where the line is and wouldn't go that far myself. If it's just a name among many, like listing the people at a Starfleet party, it's different from actually having a character-character named after the one from Zahn but you're right that it's better to ere on the side of caution even with acknowledgements.

 

[NickolasDay]

Star Trek Vanguard is a series of books in which the author describes his impressions of it. He notes the dark and realistic world of the story, which differs from more familiar series such as New Frontier or Deep Space Nine. In his opinion, the characters in the series are deeper and more complex, and the plots offer moral dilemmas and ruthless situations.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Star Trek Vanguard is a series of books in which the author describes his impressions of it. He notes the dark and realistic world of the story, which differs from more familiar series such as New Frontier or Deep Space Nine. In his opinion, the characters in the series are deeper and more complex, and the plots offer moral dilemmas and ruthless situations.

I think he's not wrong as much as I love New Frontier and Deep Space Nine. While I don't think darker and more cynical is more "realistic", I do feel that the books were very good at getting into the heads of the main characters and making them incredibly "alive" to me as a reader.

I consider the Vanguard series as a fully-realized series in its own right and one of the best Trek works (my knowledge is far from comprehensive admittedly) even if I generally prefer lighter fair.

 

[Christopher]

Star Trek Vanguard is a series of books in which the author describes his impressions of it. He notes the dark and realistic world of the story, which differs from more familiar series such as New Frontier or Deep Space Nine. In his opinion, the characters in the series are deeper and more complex, and the plots offer moral dilemmas and ruthless situations.

Was this post written by AI? It's basically just a rephrased summary of the opening post, and the first sentence doesn't make sense.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Was this post written by AI? It's basically just a rephrased summary of the opening post, and the first sentence doesn't make sense.

Oh no....they've awakened.

The chatbots are reading TrekLit!

 

[Charles Phipps]

Harbinger Annotations

Before moving onto the next book, I'd thought I'd make some comments about David Mack's annotations regarding Harbinger.

https://davidmack.pro/writing/harbinger/authors-annotations-stv1/

Chapter One

The Enterprise’s mission to breach the galactic barrier, and the events that followed concerning Gary Mitchell, Elizabeth Dehner, Lee Kelso, et al, were all established in the second TOS pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”

It's interesting to set this at basically the very "beginning" of Star Trek and thus allow Vanguard to process through the years of TOS.

Although a “Starbase 47” was mentioned in the TNG episode “Parallels,” it is unlikely that it and Vanguard are the same facility. In the 100+ years separating the events of Harbinger and TNG, the author assumes Vanguard was decommissioned and its numerical designation was reassigned. Also, the Starbase 47 in “Parallels” was part of an alternate reality, and might not exist in “official” 24th-century Star Trek continuity.

I wonder which is worse to serve on given events, Starbase 47 or Lower Deck's Starbase 80, which appears to be a waste recycling/disposal center of some sort. The kind of place the Malon would be very much at home aboard.

Chapter Three

The existence of the Martian Colonies and their prominence in Federation politics were established in the TOS episode “Court Martial.”

While "only" 92,143 people died in the destruction of Mars in Picard, you have to wonder what happened to what I assumed would be a Martian disapora. Also, how many people were actually living on the planet in the 25th century. Millions? I can't imagine that it was more than that since even Starfleet's amazing skill at evacuation would suffer some sort of failure point. Though I suppose we could assume a good chunk of the planet was on the other side of it, underground, or in domed cities.

Tellarites’ tenuous grasp of human social niceties has been established in Star Trek Enterprise, and in various recent novels and novellas, including the character of Lieutenant Commander Mor glasch Tev in Star Trek: S.C.E.

I feel like ENTERPRISE may have overdone it by making the Tellarites have arguing as their hat. I always felt like the Andorian ambassador was being somewhat insulting versus literal. Logic is literally the Vulcan religion while being gruff angry arguers I just took to be a stereotype he was engaging in.

Chapter Five

I am curious if Lurqal was a QuchHa' (Unhappy One) because it seems like surgically altering those already infected with human DNA would be much easier than what Voq went through in his ordeal. Then again, Voq seems to have done a total body transplant of what we presume was probably the real Ash Tyler. Also from the DS9 and TWT episode, the infiltrators seem to be a lot more human behaving than Klingon. Lurqal seems fairly Klingon and just a good actress, though.

Chapter Six

Oriana D’Amato’s husband, Lieutenant Robert D’Amato, was established in the TOS episode “That Which Survives,” in which he was killed ca. 2268. No mention was made of his marital status in that episode; his marriage to Oriana is a creation of the author.

Honestly, this just makes me sad and the fact that he probably never knew about what happened with his wife too. Honestly, I liked Oriana and Lorna for what little we see of both women on-page too. It's easy to see why Pennington would love both, though it seems very much that his love is a shallow lust-driven kind and he would have gotten over Oriana if he'd had some time to fume about her using him for sex while her husband was away.

The character of T’Prynn was established and killed in the DS9 novel Mission: Gamma, Book Four: Lesser Evil by Robert Simpson, and she also appeared briefly in The Art of the Impossible by Keith R.A. DeCandido.

One of my favorite Vulcan characters and a great LGBT one. It's kind of tragic and morbid to know that she was created with such a death date--especially given it reminds me of TMP's transporter tragedy. That event traumatized me as a six year old.

The effects of green Orion females on males of various humanoid species was hinted at in the original Star Trek pilot “The Cage,” and it was explicitly confirmed in the Enterprise episode “Bound”. (In my opinion, this explains a lot about how Marta stays alive in the TOS episode “Whom Gods Destroy”….but that’s another story.

I'm curious if Paramount will go with the LOWER DECKS idea that only a small subsection of Orion women have pheromones (or at least the power to manipulate people with them--like all Vulcans can mind meld but only a few are good at it) or Tendi is part of the minority. Personally, I hope they go with Jessie Gender's theory that Tendi is trans and absolutely make no big deal about it. It's outpatient in the 24th century.

 

[Charles Phipps]

Harbinger Annotations

Before moving onto the next book, I'd thought I'd make some comments about David Mack's annotations regarding Harbinger.

https://davidmack.pro/writing/harbinger/authors-annotations-stv1/

Chapter One

The Enterprise’s mission to breach the galactic barrier, and the events that followed concerning Gary Mitchell, Elizabeth Dehner, Lee Kelso, et al, were all established in the second TOS pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”

It's interesting to set this at basically the very "beginning" of Star Trek and thus allow Vanguard to process through the years of TOS.

Although a “Starbase 47” was mentioned in the TNG episode “Parallels,” it is unlikely that it and Vanguard are the same facility. In the 100+ years separating the events of Harbinger and TNG, the author assumes Vanguard was decommissioned and its numerical designation was reassigned. Also, the Starbase 47 in “Parallels” was part of an alternate reality, and might not exist in “official” 24th-century Star Trek continuity.

I wonder which is worse to serve on given events, Starbase 47 or Lower Deck's Starbase 80, which appears to be a waste recycling/disposal center of some sort. The kind of place the Malon would be very much at home aboard.

Chapter Three

The existence of the Martian Colonies and their prominence in Federation politics were established in the TOS episode “Court Martial.”

While "only" 92,143 people died in the destruction of Mars in Picard, you have to wonder what happened to what I assumed would be a Martian disapora. Also, how many people were actually living on the planet in the 25th century. Millions? I can't imagine that it was more than that since even Starfleet's amazing skill at evacuation would suffer some sort of failure point. Though I suppose we could assume a good chunk of the planet was on the other side of it, underground, or in domed cities.

Tellarites’ tenuous grasp of human social niceties has been established in Star Trek Enterprise, and in various recent novels and novellas, including the character of Lieutenant Commander Mor glasch Tev in Star Trek: S.C.E.

I feel like ENTERPRISE may have overdone it by making the Tellarites have arguing as their hat. I always felt like the Andorian ambassador was being somewhat insulting versus literal. Logic is literally the Vulcan religion while being gruff angry arguers I just took to be a stereotype he was engaging in.

Chapter Five

The Klingon practice of surgically altering their spies to infiltrate enemy institutions was established with Arne Darvin in the TOS episode “The Trouble with Tribbles.”

I am curious if Lurqal was a QuchHa' (Unhappy One) because it seems like surgically altering those already infected with human DNA would be much easier than what Voq went through in his ordeal. Then again, Voq seems to have done a total body transplant of what we presume was probably the real Ash Tyler. Also from the DS9 and TWT episode, the infiltrators seem to be a lot more human behaving than Klingon. Lurqal seems fairly Klingon and just a good actress, though.

Chapter Six

Oriana D’Amato’s husband, Lieutenant Robert D’Amato, was established in the TOS episode “That Which Survives,” in which he was killed ca. 2268. No mention was made of his marital status in that episode; his marriage to Oriana is a creation of the author.

Honestly, this just makes me sad and the fact that he probably never knew about what happened with his wife too. Honestly, I liked Oriana and Lorna for what little we see of both women on-page too. It's easy to see why Pennington would love both, though it seems very much that his love is a shallow lust-driven kind and he would have gotten over Oriana if he'd had some time to fume about her using him for sex while her husband was away.

The character of T’Prynn was established and killed in the DS9 novel Mission: Gamma, Book Four: Lesser Evil by Robert Simpson, and she also appeared briefly in The Art of the Impossible by Keith R.A. DeCandido.

One of my favorite Vulcan characters and a great LGBT one. It's kind of tragic and morbid to know that she was created with such a death date--especially given it reminds me of TMP's transporter tragedy. That event traumatized me as a six year old.

The effects of green Orion females on males of various humanoid species was hinted at in the original Star Trek pilot “The Cage,” and it was explicitly confirmed in the Enterprise episode “Bound”. (In my opinion, this explains a lot about how Marta stays alive in the TOS episode “Whom Gods Destroy”….but that’s another story.

I'm curious if Paramount will go with the LOWER DECKS idea that only a small subsection of Orion women have pheromones (or at least the power to manipulate people with them--like all Vulcans can mind meld but only a few are good at it) or Tendi is part of the minority. Personally, I hope they go with Jessie Gender's theory that Tendi is trans and absolutely make no big deal about it. Just bite the bullet like DISCO did with casual LGBT representation on the crew.

Chapter Nine

p130 – Details regarding Tholian ships were intended to be consistent with background information from The Lost Era: The Sundered by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels.

Vanguard is the Bible for my vision of the Tholians, really. Just like I love the Andorians primarily because of the books and Pava from Starfleet Academy versus ENT, regardless of how much I enjoy Jeffrey Combs.

Chapter Twelve

Councillor Gorkon is, of course, a younger version of the man who will one day be Chancellor Gorkon (Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country).

I like seeing this version and acknowledging later events, the idea that the plan to rescue his son that ended with him killing him was actually a huge success. It's just Reyes and Starfleet didn't realize they'd impressed him.

p207 – Councillor Duras is an ancestor of the Duras family-members seen in several episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation and the feature film Star Trek Generations. His existence is established in Errand of Fury by Kevin Ryan.

I do have to wonder if ST lore has overemphasized the Duras family as a generational collection of shitheels. The one in ENT was scum, the one here is scum, Duras' father was scum, and so on. You have to wonder if there's any Duras who weren't utter asshats or if that's just a quality of being a Klingon noble in general.

Chapter Fourteen

Although Kirk’s speculations here seem to contradict the certainty of Reyes’s declaration that the Bombay had been lost with all hands, I prefer to think of it as an expression of Kirk’s refusal to face no-win scenarios … and not at all as a fuckup because I forgot that I had already confirmed the deaths of those 220 personnel.

Ha!

Kirk’s rumination on gender politics at Starfleet Academy is a reference to, and rebuttal of, Dr. Janice Lester’s accusations of institutional sexism in Starfleet, in TOS: “Turnabout Intruder”.

I like the kind of interesting tightrope than Vanguard walks between acknowledging the social progress from the 1960s when the TOS show went as well as putting in little tidbits here and there of gender politics as well as old fashioned attitudes (see Pennington and Orianna's affair for example plus Reyes' not being willing to directly talk to Desani about wanting to become parents). I think it was done very well and seems like a culture that has organically developed from ours but isn't quite to the liberated utopia of TNG.