Any Enterprise E novels set before First Contact?

[ConRefit79]

I was wondering if there are any Enterprise E novels set before First Contact? We know they were on the Enterprise E at a year before First Contact. And who knows how long since the end of Generations.

After what is established in TNG S2, I'm sure Picard would have faced court martial again for the loss of the Enterprise D.

Why would Riker choose not to move on and accept a command somewhere else?

Another post about if his death in Nemesis got me wondering how interesting his character was in the movies. Like Spock, his biggest hurdle with understanding humans was emotions. But once he got them and could turn them on and off at will, I don't find him that interesting as during the series.

Geordie replaces his visor.

 

[Stephen!]

There some novella ebooks set during the first year of the Enterprise E
http://memory-alpha.wikia.com/wiki/Star_Trek:_The_Next_Generation_-_Slings_and_Arrows

There's also the novel, "Ship of the Line" and the STNG Section 31 novel, "Rogue."

 

[Mage]

Ship Of The Line is best forgotten if you ask me. I felt it was really badly written. And the idea that Starfleet would integrate part s of the E-D into the E-E for sentimental reasons just felt weird.

Rogue was actually pretty ok. Not my favorite of the Section 31 novels, but still pretty good.

Haven't read Slings And Arrows though.

 

[UssGlenn]

Wasn't Ship of the Lline the one where they say Bateson's crew from Cause and Effect was all men even though we see his First Officer is a woman in the Episode?

 

[Cap'n Crunch]

I read the Slings and Arrows series a little while back. They were somewhat hit and miss for me. They're mostly good but there were one or two I didn't care for. I had always assumed that the miniseries was more serialized, and was somewhat surprised to discover that they are actually more of a series of standalone stories.

 

[USS Triumphant]

And the idea that Starfleet would integrate part s of the E-D into the E-E for sentimental reasons just felt weird.

From the Wikipedia entry for USS Enterprise (CVN-80), the new aircraft carrier that is just being laid down now: "The steel from CVN-65 will be recycled and used to construct CVN-80." There's also material from the previous World Trade Center in the new World Trade Center building. It's a thing humans definitely do - and especially with their ships and other vehicles. I even have a friend who reworked part of his old totaled car that he loved into an add-on for his new truck, and dubbed his truck "Timmy 2". (The car was "Timmy", of course. )

I thought "Ship of the Line" was a fun read - but definitely nothing approaching canonical.

 

[Christopher]

After what is established in TNG S2, I'm sure Picard would have faced court martial again for the loss of the Enterprise D.

What I learned in my research for The Buried Age (which depicts the Stargazer court-martial) is that it isn't really true that every captain who loses a ship is court-martialled -- rather, there's a court of inquiry to determine whether there's evidence of negligence that would warrant a court-martial. If there's no reason to suspect negligence, there's no need for the court-martial, though many captains readily invite one to make sure that all the circumstances of the ship's loss are put on the record.

Wasn't Ship of the Lline the one where they say Bateson's crew from Cause and Effect was all men even though we see his First Officer is a woman in the Episode?

There were two women on the Bozeman bridge in "Cause and Effect," in fact. Both of them appear as characters in DTI: Watching the Clock, which was my attempt to portray the Bozeman more accurately than Ship of the Line did. In addition to changing the gender ratio of the crew, that book claimed the Typhon Expanse was a colonized and routinely patrolled region along the Federation-Klingon border, rather than a remote, uncharted territory as explicitly described in the opening log entry (multiple times, in fact).

 

[Enterprise1701]

Ship Of The Line is best forgotten if you ask me. I felt it was really badly written. And the idea that Starfleet would integrate part s of the E-D into the E-E for sentimental reasons just felt weird.

Wasn't Ship of the Lline the one where they say Bateson's crew from Cause and Effect was all men even though we see his First Officer is a woman in the Episode?

Yeah, Ship of the Line somehow wound up as a book that poorly meshed with the onscreen canon episode that it was supposed to tie into.

 

[F. King Daniel]

I like Ship of the Line enough that I forgive the continuity errors. I was especially fond of Bateson's crew.

It was cool to see it referenced fairly recently in... I think it was Cold Equations?

 

[Ensign_Rowan_McGrath]

I like Ship of the Line enough that I forgive the continuity errors. I was especially fond of Bateson's crew.

It was cool to see it referenced fairly recently in... I think it was Cold Equations?

Bateson was captain of the USS Atlas during Destiny and Cold Equations.

 

[Desert Kris]

The real frustration with Ship of the Line is that Diane Carey did such a great job with the Final Frontier giant novel, IMO, launching the Enterprise on a version of her maiden voyage. I was stoked for the potential of the Sovereign-class Enterprise, but SotL didn't seem to give that newer Enterprise a first adventure that matched up to the earlier work. I did get a kick out of the idea of revisiting Bateson and his crew; yet even though I had watched the episode several times I didn't pick up on the continuity issues. I was more concerned that there was so much other stuff thown into the novel, that it was the book that clarified the concept of a story lacking focus. Too many notes.

 

[Christopher]

I like Ship of the Line enough that I forgive the continuity errors. I was especially fond of Bateson's crew.

It's not a bad story, it's just not a story that fits into continuity. It's more like a work of historical fiction that used a fictionalized version of the Bozeman crew and its experiences in place of the real historical figures. There's no reason an out-of-continuity tale can't be enjoyed -- e.g. all the older books that no longer fit into continuity, like The Final Reflection and the Rihannsu series.

Although it is rather unusual for a book to be incompatible with prior continuity like what "Cause and Effect" established about the Bozeman crew and the Typhon Expanse. It's surprising those conflicts didn't get caught at the outline or manuscript stage. Or that, if they were caught, they were let through anyway. Perhaps someone felt that the details of the episode were minor enough to be glossed over for the sake of the story. Still, we heard Picard's log entry about being "the first Starfleet vessel to chart this unexplored region" four times in the episode, so changing it into a Federation border territory with established starbases and colony worlds is pretty major. (True, the Bozeman's presence seems hard to reconcile with Picard's claim, but presumably it was lost before it could transmit any charts back home.)

 

[UssGlenn]

True, the Bozeman's presence seems hard to reconcile with Picard's claim, but presumably it was lost before it could transmit any charts back home.)

We can also draw a distinction between charting, which I consider a systematic mapping process, and less formal exploration and travel into a region. Charting -> Exploration -> Travel

 

[Christopher]

We can also draw a distinction between charting, which I consider a systematic mapping process, and less formal exploration and travel into a region. Charting -> Exploration -> Travel

I dunno, I think charting would be the first step of exploration. First you need to make the maps so you can plan out where you specifically want to go from there.

Although the TOS/TNG idea of "charting" is kind of outdated. In space, you don't actually have to go somewhere in order to chart it. With the telescopes and techniques we have today, we're able to detect exoplanets around stars hundreds of parsecs away. By the 23rd or 24th century, it should be possible to make detailed charts of large swaths of the galaxy without actually needing to go there physically at all. So the idea of needing to send a ship to do the charting is naive. The charting would've been done by telescopes and long-range sensors. You'd already know what stars, planets, nebulae, etc. were there and where they were. Maybe sending a ship would be useful for filling in the details about smaller-scale things like asteroids and comets, but I'd think the main thing you'd send a ship for is more detailed exploration of specific planets that were already charted beforehand.

 

[Mage]

From the Wikipedia entry for USS Enterprise (CVN-80), the new aircraft carrier that is just being laid down now: "The steel from CVN-65 will be recycled and used to construct CVN-80." There's also material from the previous World Trade Center in the new World Trade Center building. It's a thing humans definitely do - and especially with their ships and other vehicles. I even have a friend who reworked part of his old totaled car that he loved into an add-on for his new truck, and dubbed his truck "Timmy 2". (The car was "Timmy", of course. )

I thought "Ship of the Line" was a fun read - but definitely nothing approaching canonical.

Recycling materials is one thing. But scratched consoles.... I doubt anything like that ever happens. I get the concept, I really do. I have that same mentality for some things. But that just felt out of place and weird.

 

[Csalem]

Bateson was captain of the USS Atlas during Destiny and Cold Equations.

Indeed, but in Cold Equations he does mention captaining the Enterprise-E at one point.

 

[Burning Hearts of Qo'nos]

Indeed, but in Cold Equations he does mention captaining the Enterprise-E at one point.

I remember reading that and looking it up. That's how I heard about SoTL in the first place. I generally keep Memory Beta open nearby whenever I read a new treklit book. It's wildly distracting at times, haha.

 

[Enterprise1701]

Although the TOS/TNG idea of "charting" is kind of outdated. In space, you don't actually have to go somewhere in order to chart it. With the telescopes and techniques we have today, we're able to detect exoplanets around stars hundreds of parsecs away. By the 23rd or 24th century, it should be possible to make detailed charts of large swaths of the galaxy without actually needing to go there physically at all. So the idea of needing to send a ship to do the charting is naive. The charting would've been done by telescopes and long-range sensors. You'd already know what stars, planets, nebulae, etc. were there and where they were. Maybe sending a ship would be useful for filling in the details about smaller-scale things like asteroids and comets, but I'd think the main thing you'd send a ship for is more detailed exploration of specific planets that were already charted beforehand.

But sending robots ahead to scope out safety is boring! I want to live dangerous like Kirk but not get disintegrated for not looking where I leap!





(I'm being facetious. I recognize the obvious logic flaw behind Star Trek in general.)

 

[Destructor]

Although it is rather unusual for a book to be incompatible with prior continuity like what "Cause and Effect" established about the Bozeman crew and the Typhon Expanse. It's surprising those conflicts didn't get caught at the outline or manuscript stage.

Also, having Picard place the events of BoBW after the events of 'Chains of Command' was a pretty egregious editing error, particularly for such a heavily promoted hardback.

 

[tomswift2002]

I dunno, I think charting would be the first step of exploration. First you need to make the maps so you can plan out where you specifically want to go from there.

Although the TOS/TNG idea of "charting" is kind of outdated. In space, you don't actually have to go somewhere in order to chart it. With the telescopes and techniques we have today, we're able to detect exoplanets around stars hundreds of parsecs away. By the 23rd or 24th century, it should be possible to make detailed charts of large swaths of the galaxy without actually needing to go there physically at all. So the idea of needing to send a ship to do the charting is naive. The charting would've been done by telescopes and long-range sensors. You'd already know what stars, planets, nebulae, etc. were there and where they were. Maybe sending a ship would be useful for filling in the details about smaller-scale things like asteroids and comets, but I'd think the main thing you'd send a ship for is more detailed exploration of specific planets that were already charted beforehand.

I remember a few episodes where Data would mention that a certain planet was only listed in the charts from automated probe, like the planet and system where Tasha Yar died. So it would make sense to send a ship out.