Federation, Klingons, and Tezwa

[SicOne]

I haven't read any of the "A Time To..." series, although I do own all of them. But if I understand correctly the general gist of the situation, I'm of the understanding that the Federation (more specifically members of the Min Zife administration) arranged for some nefarious characters on the planet Tezwa to acquire phaser cannons with which they promptly used to blow a Klingon fleet to dust. Somehow, in the aftermath of this incident, the Federation was able to keep their involvement a secret from the Klingons, but I haven't heard if they were able to KEEP it a secret. And I know that Section 31 removed Min Zife and a couple of his henchmen from their positions of responsibility, and they were vanished.

My questions...

(1) Is that a fairly accurate summation of the situation?

(2) In which of the "A Time To..." book(s) is the attack upon the Klingons depicted?

(3) Were these phaser cannons like the ones on Defiant, or more powerful? Were they on orbital platforms, or the
surface?

(4) Is Tezwa a Federation world, a Klingon world, or neither?

(5) Did they (Section 31, or Admiral Ross, or whomever) really kill off Zife and his henchmen, or are they written to be still alive somewhere?

(6) At some point, did the Federation come clean about Zife's involvement in the Tezwa attack?

(7) If so, what was the Klingon government's response?

(8) Did all this happen during Gowron's regime, or Martok's? Or bleed over into both?

(9) If the Federation came clean, in which book did this occur?

Thanks much, folks; educate me.

 

[KRAD]

(1) Is that a fairly accurate summation of the situation?

Pretty much, yeah.

(2) In which of the "A Time To..." book(s) is the attack upon the Klingons depicted?

A Time to Kill by David Mack.

(3) Were these phaser cannons like the ones on Defiant, or more powerful? Were they on orbital platforms, or the
surface?

Way way way more powerful. They were in firebases on the surface.

(4) Is Tezwa a Federation world, a Klingon world, or neither?

Independent. If it was a Federation or Klingon world, none of this would have happened.

(5) Did they (Section 31, or Admiral Ross, or whomever) really kill off Zife and his henchmen, or are they written to be still alive somewhere?

It's assumed they're dead, but it's never been explicitly stated, and there's never been a body....

(6) At some point, did the Federation come clean about Zife's involvement in the Tezwa attack?

(7) If so, what was the Klingon government's response?

(8) Did all this happen during Gowron's regime, or Martok's? Or bleed over into both?

(9) If the Federation came clean, in which book did this occur?

There has been no coming clean at all.

The actual arming occurred during Gowron's regime, when the Federation and Klingons were at war during the fourth and fifth seasons of DS9 (2373, right after Zife took office). Martok succeeded Gowron in 2375. A Time to... took place in 2379.

 

[Enterprise1701]

(3) Were these phaser cannons like the ones on Defiant, or more powerful? Were they on orbital platforms, or the
surface?

I don't know if they can be called phasers or not. The weapons were termed "rapid-frequency nadion-pulse cannons", utilizing a rotating pulse frequency. Each shot from a cannon was millions of separate modulated pulses. They were a counter-Borg weapon that never went beyond prototype stage because they were deemed too complex to be deployed effectively against the Borg. Zife's administration secretly utilized the Orion Syndicate to ship fully built ones to Tezwa.

 

[Christopher]

The TNG Tech Manual established that phasers operate on a principle called the "rapid nadion effect," so apparently a nadion-pulse cannon would be a variant on phaser technology, or at least a relative of it.

 

[SicOne]

(3) Were these phaser cannons like the ones on Defiant, or more powerful? Were they on orbital platforms, or the
surface?

I don't know if they can be called phasers or not. The weapons were termed "rapid-frequency nadion-pulse cannons", utilizing a rotating pulse frequency. Each shot from a cannon was millions of separate modulated pulses. They were a counter-Borg weapon that never went beyond prototype stage because they were deemed too complex to be deployed effectively against the Borg. Zife's administration secretly utilized the Orion Syndicate to ship fully built ones to Tezwa.

So what became of the prototypes, then? I would imagine they were yanked out of the hands of the Tezwans pretty quickly, but have they made an appearance since? Were these weapons described in "A Time To Kill"?

 

[SicOne]

KRAD, Christopher, and Enterprise1701, thanks for the information. It's appreciated.

 

[SicOne]

No coming clean? I'm surprised. I would think Martok would handle it better than Gowron would, and the new presidency (post-Bacco) is far enough removed from the Zife era that I'm inclined to think Martok could be convinced that the guilty parties have paid with their lives and honor might be satisfied. But then again, the rest of the Klingon High Council might not be so understanding. So there's this little potential landmine between the two polities. Well played, writers.

Waitaminute, wasn't this some kind of a side-issue in "Articles Of The Federation"? Wasn't some reporter or news guy on the trail of this secret and threatening to reveal Federation involvement? It's been awhile since I read AOTF but your comments are stirring a memory.

And how did the Klingons respond against Tezwa for the destruction of their fleet?

 

[Hartzilla2007]

(3) Were these phaser cannons like the ones on Defiant, or more powerful? Were they on orbital platforms, or the
surface?

I don't know if they can be called phasers or not. The weapons were termed "rapid-frequency nadion-pulse cannons", utilizing a rotating pulse frequency. Each shot from a cannon was millions of separate modulated pulses. They were a counter-Borg weapon that never went beyond prototype stage because they were deemed too complex to be deployed effectively against the Borg. Zife's administration secretly utilized the Orion Syndicate to ship fully built ones to Tezwa.

So what became of the prototypes, then? I would imagine they were yanked out of the hands of the Tezwans pretty quickly, but have they made an appearance since? Were these weapons described in "A Time To Kill"?

I'm pretty sure they were destroyed.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Waitaminute, wasn't this some kind of a side-issue in "Articles Of The Federation"? Wasn't some reporter or news guy on the trail of this secret and threatening to reveal Federation involvement? It's been awhile since I read AOTF but your comments are stirring a memory.

Yep. A reporter, Ozla Graniv, uncovers the truth after chasing down oddities on Tezwa, and through her old enemies in the Orion Syndicate. She agrees not to break the story on the condition that William Ross - who orchestrated the secret coup that removed Zife - be in turn removed from any position where he would have influence over the Federation government.

And how did the Klingons respond against Tezwa for the destruction of their fleet?

They threw a Klingon Outrage Tantrum and Martok vowed to conquer Tezwa and basically grind it under a Klingon boot in vengeance. Zife and Azernal couldn't allow this, because the Klingons would discover the truth if they controlled the planet, and so, basically, they had the Federation conquer it first. Although they didn't spin it that way, of course...

 

[SicOne]

^ Holy shit, that's pretty ballsy for a reporter to blackmail one of the chief guys in Section 31 like that. I knew Ross had basically retired, but thought he was still a mover and a shaker behind the scenes. IIRC, Bacco knew what Zife had done, but didn't know Section 31 was behind the coup until Ross told her? Or was Ross's involvement with removing Zife only tangential?

How did the Federation conquer Tezwa? Couldn't the Tezwans just use the megaphasers against the Federation fleet with the same ease they did against the Klingons?

 

[DimesDan]

How did the Federation conquer Tezwa? Couldn't the Tezwans just use the megaphasers against the Federation fleet with the same ease they did against the Klingons?

They took them out in a very spectacular and coordinated manner.

It is best to read what happened given how brilliantly David handled those scenes.

 

[Etoile]

Holy shit, that's pretty ballsy for a reporter to blackmail one of the chief guys in Section 31 like that.

I seem to recall she was going to be killed if she didn't - something about being kidnapped naked from her hotel room mid-shower.

 

[Idran]

Holy shit, that's pretty ballsy for a reporter to blackmail one of the chief guys in Section 31 like that.

I seem to recall she was going to be killed if she didn't - something about being kidnapped naked from her hotel room mid-shower.

I'm pretty sure that wasn't anything to do with Ross if I remember right, that was her crime syndicate source that had been involved in transporting the cannons to Tezwa. He told her about what happened, but said she couldn't use him as a source directly without getting killed; that she had to find a corroborating source.

 

[Etoile]

I'm pretty sure that wasn't anything to do with Ross if I remember right, that was her crime syndicate source that had been involved in transporting the cannons to Tezwa. He told her about what happened, but said she couldn't use him as a source directly without getting killed; that she had to find a corroborating source.

You're right, of course. But getting the story was part of it, so I view that encounter as part of her being gutsy.

 

[SicOne]

And all the Tezwa stuff described (Klingon fleet wiped out, Federation fleet kicks ass) occurs in "A Time To Kill"? Or is it spread out over multiple books in that miniseries?

 

[David Mack]

^ All of the ass-kicking is in A Time to Kill. Most of the immediate aftermath is in A Time to Heal.

 

[SicOne]

^ All of the ass-kicking is in A Time to Kill. Most of the immediate aftermath is in A Time to Heal.

Excellent!

 

[Thrawn]

A Time to Kill is really just 100% wall to wall ass-kicking. It's pretty great.

 

[SicOne]

^ Do I need to have read all the previous installments to get it? I own them all, but had been holding off until I had a 9-book gap between reads to fill, but I'm willing to cheat and read the single book if it won't screw up the other 8 for me.

 

[David Mack]

If you read Kill, you'll want to have time to read Heal immediately afterward.