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Greatest moments? *spoilers*

F. King Daniel

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I was wondering what everyone's favourite moments in Trek Lit were?

My most recent was in "Rough Beasts of Empire", when Spock has the meeting with Praetor Tal'aura and gets his Unification movement legalized. That's the closest I've come in a long time to standing up and cheering while reading a book.
 
The last like page and a half of Vanguard: Precipice. No joke, I literally did stand up and cheer.
 
I recently reread Yesterday's Son and Time For Yesterday - two of my most favorite. One great moment, early in Yesterday's Son, involves Kirk, Spock, and McCoy. Kirk and Spock are in the turbolift talking about their trip to Gateway, when McCoy dives in and says he's coming with them. Kirk tries to dissuade McCoy, finally saying that they only have permission for two to use the Guardian of Forever. Meanwhile, Spock stands by quietly and when Kirk puts it to him about McCoy not being able to go, Spock says he anticipated McCoy's conduct and did secure permission for all three to go.
It's a pure delight to read and some of the best interchange between those three I've read.
 
In Greater Then The Sum, when Picard finally completely opens up to Beverly about why he is so scared to start a family. Such a beautifull, hartfelt moment. When of the rare moments when Picard shows his funerabel side.
 
McCoy's speech in Spocks World.
Understanding the full complexities of Zek's grand plan in 32nd rule.
Quentin Stone disrespecting picard in A Rock & a Hard Place.
Enterprise delta design explained in Federation
Calhoun sentencing Nelkar to a photon torpedo barrage in New Frontier book 3 or 4.
 
New Frontier is full of them, though they might not be to everyone's tastes.

My favorite is Zak, declaring his prison cell an embassy: "Then you will not be invited to our first formal dance. And that, sir, will be your loss." It's from one of the first four, can't remember which.
 
Two really stand out for me:

In VOY Full Circle when Janeway and Chakotay finally admit their feelings for each other and Janeway allows herself to pursue a (albeit brief) relationship with Chakotay. It was such a sweet moment, and something that I think a lot of VOY fans (myself included) had been waiting for.

In ENT Kobayashi Maru when Archer must decide whether or not to leave the vessel behind. When I was reading that scene it played out like a tense emotional moment in a movie where everything slows and you can feel the tension there. I loved that moment.

I will stand up and cheer if a certain character returns in The Eternal Tide.
 
The Borgs's transformation at the end of Destiny, and the destruction of Jinoteour in Reap the Whirlwind. I'm a very visual reader, I tend to have a very clear mental "movie" going in my head when I read, and these two sequences were absolutely amazing while "playing" in my imagination.
 
when the Trident comes screaming in to rescue the Excalibur-A from the Beings in NF in an awesome Big Damn Heroes/Gunship Rescue moment.

the Bombay taking out one final Tholian warship in Harbinger
 
Yeah, the destruction of the Bombay in Vanguard would probably be another favorite of mine. Honestly, I think I should just consider all of Vanguard one of my favorite moments, the whole series is just filled with great scenes both in terms of action and character stuff.
 
I really liked McCpy's speech in Spock's World. As he said it was essentially every argument he ever had with Spock rolled into one.

Dr Tagore explaining why the assassin didn't kill him. He was hiding under his bed.
 
At the top of my list would be Garak's basement scene in A Stitch In Time, in which he chooses to show himself out of the meeting he's supposed to be playing double-agent at, having lost his taste for the manipulative self-delusions and power plays of Cardassian society. It was a very powerful scene for me, Garak turning his back on the behaviours and belief sytems he was raised in but in a way that wasn't truly adverserial or aggressive. He wasn't concerned with any sort of posturing, nor was he being driven by pain or anger. He was simply withdrawing, politely and calmly, with a new understanding of himself and his current situation. Insight and revelation, and not overblown or wrapped up in passion, instead arrived at peacefully. The scene's resolution gives a sense of simple but deeply affecting "rightness", of positive change and lifted burdens, rather than triumph or apathy or heady freedom or any of the other emotional states you might be expecting from a "turning your back on your prior life" scene. It isn't even truly "satisfying"; it's deeper than that.

I love the scene because - How can I put this? You know Bilbo's line in The Lord of the Rings about how stepping out your door is risky business because who knows where you'll be swept off to? Well, while his point was nothing like mine, that's a useful line to have in mind. Without change, there's no life. But to someone who's wary of the currents and chaos of the path outside, any sort of development seems too dangerous. To have a character making positive change, identifying problems while moving himself away from them (and more importantly away from participating in them or reproducing them in himself) without having to throw himself into those currents...it's like finding a third dimension when you only knew two.

Another "greatest moment" would be the scene in Destiny: Mere Mortals that leads into Hernandez' attempted suicide. The sense of dislocation and emotional distance from the Caeliar around her came through very effectively. That entire book was masterful in its emotional power (Hernandez' story is one of Trek lit's most memorable), but this was one of the most striking scenes. If Garak's scene felt simply "right", Hernandez' perspective here just felt "wrong". As it was supposed to, of course.

Finally, from the Prophecy and Change story by Una McCormack, the last line, in which Kira joins in the cry of "For Cardassia!", "and meant it". It's one of the greatest and most emotionally satisfying character moments in fiction (to me anyway) and I'm surprised more fans don't mention it. Kira Nerys is high on my list of favourite characters, and if there's a moment that demonstrates both the content and the development of that character in a more straightforwardly effective manner, I haven't found it yet.

Hmmm, looking over that, you can tell I have a thing for profound, perspective-shifting character moments delivered in simple or understated ways - either those that show us the shift or which draw attention to shifts that have taken place, however quickly or slowly.
 
I can think of a few:

The end of the Borg as we know it. (Destiny)
Kirk, Spock, McCoy reunited after 78 years. (The Return)
The entirety of Serpents Among the Ruins.

"Will you marry me?"
"Yes."
"When?"
"Every day."

:)
 
Oh man, I forgot Serpents. The end, when all the layers of everything that DRG has been setting up under your nose all become clear... that shit was crazy awesome.
 
Yeah, there was lots of great stuff in Serpents. It's one of my favorite books I have ever read, of any type, tie-in and non tie-in.
 
McCoy's speech in Spock's World, seconded. No, thirded, I see.

T'Lera and Sorahl's ship crashing into the atmosphere in Strangers from the Sky; also the final tense moments of that book.

Sarek and Amanda's relationship in Sarek.
 
Unity, as one of my most eagerly anticipated books ever, was full of great moments. But one I always particularly loved was the scene between Yevir and Opaka where she (in her own special former spiritual leader of Bajor way) rips him a new one for his treatment of Kira and her Attainment.
 
Yeah, Unity had a lot of great moment, but my top pick would be Bajor's admittance into the Federation, it really felt like the culmination 10 years worth of storytelling. Honestly, I still think we should have gotten it in What Lays Beyond, but what we got in Unity was pretty much perfect.
 
I can't let mention of Unity be made without bring up Sisko telling the parasite queen that she "picked the wrong planet."
 
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