Star Trek #12: Mutiny on the Enterprise by Robert Vardeman

[Damian]

I just completed my re-read of "Mutiny on the Enterprise" which was Robert Vardeman's 2nd and final Star Trek novel. I read it after re-reading his first novel "The Klingon Gambit" and this takes place immediately after that novel and briefly references their mission from that novel. So, like TKG, it's listed in Memory Alpha as taking place in 2268, which sounds plausible. He also reuses characters he created in TKG like Scotty's and Spock's assistants. The cover itself, like many of the era, is a bit confusing as it has Kirk and Spock in TMP uniforms (Kirk is in his Admiral's uniform) yet the bridge layout is that from the TV series. I found that an interesting choice for the cover artist. But despite that, the story is clearly a 5YM story.

In this novel the Enterprise is on its way to Starbase 1 for a much needed refit and shore leave (while not specified in the novel that I recall, I don't get the impression Starbase 1 is Earth, as would be noted later in canon--TNG I believe). The ship is basically on its last legs and the crew is badly in need of some R&R after a long mission and presumably after the events of TKG. However, much to their disappointment they find they have to ferry an Ambassador to a peace conference between 2 warring planets the Federation is worried might fall into Romulan hands. The ambassador is a Tellarite and true to form he's not very easy to get along with. On the way to the system they have to travel at low warp speed to avoid irreparably damaging the warp engines, thereby stranding them. So why is the Enterprise being sent on such an urgent mission in such poor shape? Well, it's the old trope, it's the only ship in range, the other ships are in various stages of repair and unable to leave spacedock. So anyway, on the way they encounter a damaged ship with one person left alive. She is from a previously unknown planet, Hyla and her name is Lorelei. An extreme pacifist, she has empathic skills and unusual pheromones that cause the crew to share her pacifist ways, and true to the title of the book they start to mutiny in the name of peace. She feels the mission is doomed to start a war. Eventually the engines give out, and along with some sabotage they are unable to call for help. Eventually they find a 'living' planet and Lorelei eventually gains total control of the ship and intends on stranding Captain Kirk there. However, Kirk, as one would suspect, gets back on board and eventually finds a way to gain control of the ship. However, Lorelei is still instrumental in preventing war.

So that's the basic outline. One major complaint I had about this story is, much like his other novel, the crew is influenced by outside forces and act in a way that is contrary to how they usually act. It's almost like a redux of TKG in that respect. The crew yet again falls under some alien spell. I did find the 'living' planet interesting. Everything on the planet is part of the greater whole. And the planet is even self repairing. I almost wish they could have spent more time there and learned more about it. I also wish we could have learned a bit more about Hyla, the planet Lorelei comes from.

Now to the bad....I can't believe Starfleet would ever send a ship out on such an urgent mission in the condition the Enterprise was in. Even before the 'mutiny' they can't even go past warp 3. And the ambassador is totally oblivious, insistent Kirk throw any caution to the wind and exceed safe warp speed. And the ambassador hardly seems like the type that can bring warring factions together. And Vardeman has you wondering how he will achieve this feat because we are told he has a good success record, but he is eliminated before we get to see that.

Overall, comparing it to other novels of the era I actually have to go with fair. I'd rate TKG a bit higher, average, only because at least their he's introducing new elements. I had to 'deduct' a few points for Vardeman here because he redoes the 'crew acting strangely' plot device. And I also found the "Lorelei" character a bit of a nuisance. She's not your traditional bad guy, but she refuses any attempt to see Kirk's side. She even acknowledges she believes he wants peace. But then she fails to realize if the Federation does nothing war is guaranteed. The Prime Directive is not mentioned by name here, though it is mentioned indirectly in that he can't chose sides if war does break out.

 

[Christopher]

The cover itself, like many of the era, is a bit confusing as it has Kirk and Spock in TMP uniforms (Kirk is in his Admiral's uniform) yet the bridge layout is that from the TV series. I found that an interesting choice for the cover artist. But despite that, the story is clearly a 5YM story.

Covers are more about making a sale than accurately reflecting interior content. It made sense that the covers in the movie era played up the connection to the movie uniforms and designs for recognition purposes, whatever the story content. And cover artists might not be familiar with the franchise and would just use what photo reference they could find, without necessarily knowing or caring about the anachronisms. For that matter, many readers wouldn't care much about the minutiae of when a story fell in the timeline or what uniforms the characters should be wearing, just whether they found the story entertaining.

In this novel the Enterprise is on its way to Starbase 1 for a much needed refit and shore leave (while not specified in the novel that I recall, I don't get the impression Starbase 1 is Earth, as would be noted later in canon--TNG I believe).

There was no canonical Starbase 1 until Discovery, which depicted it confusingly -- it portrayed it as a space station 100 AUs from Earth, about twice the outer radius of the Kuiper Belt to which Pluto belongs, a realm only populated by a scattering of icy cometary bodies and dwarf planets, yet the FX artists bizarrely depicted it in orbit of a brightly sunlit, Earthlike planet.

Fan sources have occasionally referred to the movies' Earth Spacedock as Starbase 1, but that's never been official, and DSC pretty much rules it out.

Overall, comparing it to other novels of the era I actually have to go with fair. I'd rate TKG a bit higher, average, only because at least their he's introducing new elements. I had to 'deduct' a few points for Vardeman here because he redoes the 'crew acting strangely' plot device.

I found it very weak. Even before the mind control, the characters were caricatures of themselves. In TKG, when McCoy's technophobia was escalated to a fanatical level, I thought it was the result of the alien influence in that novel. But here, he's acting exactly the same extreme way even when he's not under alien influence, so I realized it was just out-of-character writing. So it was not only weak in itself, but it exposed TKG's flaws as worse than they initially seemed.

 

[Damian]

Covers are more about making a sale than accurately reflecting interior content. It made sense that the covers in the movie era played up the connection to the movie uniforms and designs for recognition purposes, whatever the story content. And cover artists might not be familiar with the franchise and would just use what photo reference they could find, without necessarily knowing or caring about the anachronisms.

I noticed even the bridge design on the cover is a bit different from the actual bridge set. But yeah, a lot of the covers of the era don't reflect the actual timeline in the story. Even my beloved "Chain of Attack" depicts the reverse, Kirk and Scotty in original series uniforms (which is consistent with the story) yet the Enterprise is from the movie era. So it was common even in some books from the later 80s. No points deducted for covers in any event....the author's not responsible for that

For that matter, many readers wouldn't care much about the minutiae of when a story fell in the timeline or what uniforms the characters should be wearing, just whether they found the story entertaining.

We are talking about Trekkies here. Of course we care about stuff like that

There was no canonical Starbase 1 until Discovery, which depicted it confusingly

Hmm. I thought it was referenced in TNG as Earth. "The Best of Both Worlds" I thought maybe, or "Conspiracy", but I could have sworn someone referred to Earth as Starbase 1.

I found it very weak. Even before the mind control, the characters were caricatures of themselves. In TKG, when McCoy's technophobia was escalated to a fanatical level, I thought it was the result of the alien influence in that novel. But here, he's acting exactly the same extreme way even when he's not under alien influence, so I realized it was just out-of-character writing. So it was not only weak in itself, but it exposed TKG's flaws as worse than they initially seemed.

Well, I did find the repetition of the crew goes batty because of some alien force a flaw. One book, ok, but to go to that well again in the 2nd book was a bit much. I even recall some of the scenes being repeated, the crew aloof to their duties, talking to one another. It was the same as TKG. And yeah, I see your point about McCoy. Granted, McCoy prefers a more down home style of medicine, but he was fine with using the tools at hand. It was more that he supplemented it with a good old fashioned tongue depressor (as in "The Man Trap"), not replaced it. I think Vardeman misinterpreted McCoy's view of technology.

I rated it as fair partly because it wasn't as bad as say The Phoenix Books, which I found downright poor. It managed to keep me engaged enough I wanted to see how it turned out. And I found the 'living planet' idea interesting. I would have liked to have seen more development on that front in fact. I thought Vardeman may have been on to something with that and it's a shame it was ultimately left hanging. Lorelei in particular had found some way to communicate with them (or more correctly it, since the planet was found to be a single organism). But it's never developed beyond that.

Perhaps someone someday can take us back to that planet and find out more about it (ok, not likely I'll admit, esp. since this book is not exactly well regarded, and, well, it's been almost 40 years since it was released).

 

[Christopher]

Hmm. I thought it was referenced in TNG as Earth. "The Best of Both Worlds" I thought maybe, or "Conspiracy", but I could have sworn someone referred to Earth as Starbase 1.

You must be thinking of "Sector 001," which BOBW established as the sector containing the Sol system.

 

[Damian]

You must be thinking of "Sector 001," which BOBW established as the sector containing the Sol system.

Ok. That might be what I was thinking of. I did see in the Kelvin Verse Starbase 1 is the orbiting drydock orbiting Earth. But since that's a different time line that doesn't necessarily mean that's where it is in the prime universe (and in fact we never see a Starbase that style orbiting Earth in the prime timeline).

I checked Memory Alpha and you're right, the first mention in the Prime Timeline was in Discovery. Memory Beta, not unexpectedly, lists a number of places as Starbase 1 so there's nothing really consistent there. I saw one of the "Invasion" novels listed Starbase 1 as the orbiting space station we see in TSFS through TUC.

Frankly, I would think it would be Earth myself, since that's where Starfleet began. It would be logical to think Starbase 1 would be the first Starbase and would be either on Earth or orbiting Earth.

 

[Christopher]

I saw one of the "Invasion" novels listed Starbase 1 as the orbiting space station we see in TSFS through TUC.

Their entry is misleading in that it tries to conflate different portrayals in one sentence. Invasion: Time's Enemy established Starbase One as a space station located in Sol system's Oort cloud. That's similar to the 100-AU station depicted in Discovery, although the Oort cloud is much further out than that.

Frankly, I would think it would be Earth myself, since that's where Starfleet began. It would be logical to think Starbase 1 would be the first Starbase and would be either on Earth or orbiting Earth.

But what is a "starbase," though? Theoretically it would be the equivalent of a Naval base, and there are dozens of US Navy bases within the US alone. But generally I think the purpose of a starbase would be as a frontier facility, a support base for starships operating beyond Federation borders, in areas where there are no Federation planets to provide support, repairs, recreation facilities, etc. So I've never quite bought the idea that starbases would be in Federation core systems.

I mean, we've never heard of a starbase at Vulcan or a starbase at Tellar or a starbase at Betazed. Starbases are always just starbases. They define themselves. So implicitly they're standalone facilities, outposts in areas that aren't centers of Federation civilization. Why, then, would there be a starbase at Earth? It seems redundant. You don't need a starbase when you already have Starfleet HQ and a whole dang interplanetary civilization sitting right there.

 

[Damian]

They define themselves. So implicitly they're standalone facilities, outposts in areas that aren't centers of Federation civilization. Why, then, would there be a starbase at Earth? It seems redundant. You don't need a starbase when you already have Starfleet HQ and a whole dang interplanetary civilization sitting right there.

Well, when you put it that way

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

I found it very weak. Even before the mind control, the characters were caricatures of themselves. In TKG, when McCoy's technophobia was escalated to a fanatical level, I thought it was the result of the alien influence in that novel. But here, he's acting exactly the same extreme way even when he's not under alien influence, so I realized it was just out-of-character writing. So it was not only weak in itself, but it exposed TKG's flaws as worse than they initially seemed.

I suspect this may be a major reason why (even before Richard Arnold's reign of terror began) Vardeman was never invited to write any further ST novels. Just as Marshak & Culbreath became unwelcome even before Arnold went on the payroll.

I just now read the synopsis on Memory Beta. And I'd completely forgotten the book. The plot might have produced a better book, if it had been written by a better writer, or at least one who knew ST better.

 

[Christopher]

I suspect this may be a major reason why (even before Richard Arnold's reign of terror began) Vardeman was never invited to write any further ST novels. Just as Marshak & Culbreath became unwelcome even before Arnold went on the payroll.

Never would've occurred to me to bring Arnold into this. It's normal enough that a new novel line would try out a range of authors and find some more worth bringing back than others.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Only occurred to me because he was the center of another thead, and to emphasize that his not being invited back was not some arbitrary decision made by a yutz.

 

[Stevil2001]

The only thing I remember about this book is that Lorelei's eyes are said to be "chocolate" colored. (Right? I read it when I was a kid.)

Frankly, I would think it would be Earth myself, since that's where Starfleet began. It would be logical to think Starbase 1 would be the first Starbase and would be either on Earth or orbiting Earth.

In Enterprise, they scout Berengaria VII as a possible location for Starbase 1.

Thanks to Strangers from the Sky, I always think of the ST III-VI station as "TerraMain Spacedock."