Star Trek Hunter - Episode 1 (and the Universe of Star Trek Hunter)

[Robert Bruce Scott]

A doctoral dissertation by an obscure professor of Philosophy at Harvard University exposes a flaw at the heart of the Federation - and rocks the mighty UFP to its core.

These are the stories of the U.S.S. Hunter - a Star Fleet patrol vessel - and its small crew of brilliant misfits who are charged with cleaning up this awful mess…


I haven't decided whether to post the massive Star Trek Hunter series to this BBS, but I plan to lodge Episode 1 here, which has only one chapter (or as I refer to them, "scenes".)

Currently, STH is hosted on several sites, including Ad Astra. Link follows:
http://www.adastrafanfic.com/viewstory.php?sid=2507

I have a very long list of readers and critics to thank for helping me edit and craft this series - too long to list here, but among these, CeJay is active on this platform and has been influential not only as a critic, but also as a writer - I made lots of modifications to the tone of STH after reading the Star Eagle Adventures series.

I started writing STH in March of 2019 and had written most of the trilogy before the Star Trek Picard series trailers started running. STH and STP start in the same place but go totally different directions... I have deliberately avoided watching STP for that reason - to date I've only seen the first episode and the trailers. I wrote the final scene in February 2021 - shortly before the season 2 STP trailers started running.


STH takes place after the Hobus tragedy destroys Romulus, and almost destroys the Romulan Star Empire. The empire was saved by Sela, who clawed her way to the top of the Romulan Star Navy, fought off an abortive attempt by the klingons to annex romulan colonies along the border and at the same time managed the rescue of nearly 2 billion romulans from the destruction of their homeworld. As Supreme Commander of the navy, Sela has become the uncontested (and wildly popular) military dictator of the empire.

With the borg unable to function without their queen and rapidly becoming extinct, restored peace with the Klingon Empire under the leadership of Chancellor Martok, the Romulan Star Empire reeling from the loss of their homeworld, the Dominion facing widespread rebellion in the Gamma Quadrant and the Cardassian Union embroiled in civil war, the sprawling United Federation of Planets is left as the dominant power in the Alpha Quadrant, despite the devastation to Star Fleet from repeated wars.

But in a doctoral dissertation that went viral and rocketed him from obscurity to fame (or infamy), a Harvard philosophy professor pointed out a flaw in federation culture that threatens to tear the UFP apart from within................That philosopher came to be known as The Man Who Broke the Federation

..

“Utopia is not possible without the rule of law. There can be no paradise without lawyers.”

Dr. Kenny Dolphin, Fundamentals of Federation Ethics.

Spinoff short story: Star Trek Hunter: Rock of Ages

All of Star Trek Hunter on Trek BBS:

Episode 1: Flash Forward.
Episode 2: The Colony of New Hope.
Episode 3: Breakfast Serial.
Episode 4: Run to Earth.
Episode 5: The Fires of Pon Farr.
Episode 6: Breakfast Killer #2.
Episode 7: The Great Mushroom.
Episode 8: The Bolian Web.
Episode 9: The Library.
Episode 10: The Philosopher.
Episode 11: Intersections and Reunions.
Episode 12: Prisoner in the Ice Castle.
Episode 13: The 15,000 Cities of Cun Ling.
Episode 14: When Death Comes.
Episode 15: A Stitch in Spacetime.
Episode 16: Slavers.
Episode 17: Terms of Surrender.
Episode 18: World on Fire.
Episode 19: The Ivonovic Commission.
Episode 20: Survival.
Episode 21: The Enemy of My Enemy.
Episode 22: Sacrifice.
Episode 23: JAG Wars.
Episode 24: A Trillian Problem.
Episode 25: I Dream of Shiva.
Episode 26: Rain Over Rising Sun.
Episode 27: Sword of Destiny.
Episode 28: The Covenant

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

Star Trek Hunter
Episode 1: Flash Forward

“Utopia is not possible without the rule of law. There can be no paradise without lawyers.”
Dr. Kenny Dolphin, Fundamentals of Federation Ethics.

​

​

Flash Forward​

- a glimpse of Year 3 of Star Trek Hunter -​

*note - this scene is an excerpt from Episode 20: Survival​

Justice Minerva Irons gasped slightly as she got to her feet. And let out a sigh as she lifted the robe of her civilian office from its stand and draped it over her shoulders, shrugging slightly so the twin emblems of the United Federation of Planets, embroidered in brilliant color on the two front panels of the black silk robe, fell evenly above her breast. Like the robe, her clothing, while not a uniform, was black silk - suit and blouse. She winced as she straightened her neck. She could suppress these betrayals of pain in front of her crew, but it was taking more and more effort. The justice had disguised the signs and suppressed the pains of aging for an exceptionally long time.

Over the past year her hair had finally gone from mostly black to predominantly gray and no longer straight - it was always a little unruly these days. It spilled long down her right side and was shaved off on the left side almost to the top of her head, revealing the leopard-like spots from her trill ancestry - once so subtle they could barely be seen but now darkening green. She was primarily human and this dominated her appearance, although a slight tipping at her ears and eyebrows suggested a recent vulcan ancestor. Even in old age she was a stunningly beautiful woman - tall, slender, elegant, aristocratic - the matriarch of a large Chinese family that traced their roots back to 18th Century Hong Kong. The lines on her face were the lines of a woman accustomed to power.


Irons walked unsteadily toward the door of her office, stumbling momentarily and steadying herself against a chair as the near explosion of a torpedo briefly overwhelmed the U.S.S. Hunter’s inertial dampeners.

She stepped out onto the cramped bridge at the exact moment her first officer uttered the words that would summon her there - “Staff Tactical.”

Her first officer was planning a desperate gambit. Irons was not fully telepathic like her betazoid great grandfather, but when she focused on someone she knew well, she could sense strong emotions. She had derived her first officer’s strategy from his order to transfer additional atmosphere to the tactical unit. He had only served with her for three years, but he had quickly earned her trust and she had promoted him twice.


“Commander Dolphin,” she said, her voice ringing over the din of the mismatched firefight. Her first officer, tall, lean, blonde, middle aged, turned briefly as his handpicked operations officer, a tiny and extremely pale young ferengi, disappeared into the hatch that led up to the tactical unit. Like most of the ship’s complement, Commander Kenneth Dolphin was wearing the black Star Fleet JAG uniform - thin red piping at the neck and sleeve-lines the only reference to the operational color code for Star Fleet uniforms. The bridge shook again from a near explosion outside.

“Yes, your honor?”

“I want her back. Alive if possible, but I want her back.”

“Aye Captain,” Commander Dolphin responded, then turned and followed the young lieutenant commander through the hatch, closing it behind him.


Justice Irons eased herself into the captain’s chair, which she usually preferred to leave to her first officer. She strapped herself in and started issuing commands - something she rarely did. There were at least two new crew members on board who had never heard her give an order. Boats this size rarely had captains. They were usually skippered by a commander or even a lieutenant commander. The crew complement for the U.S.S. Hunter, Star Fleet’s newest patrol class vessel, totaled 35 (most of them, like their captain, hybrids) supplemented with three holographic warrant officers. All of them tended to refer to Captain Irons based on her civilian office as an at-large circuit court justice for the Federation Tribunal. She was the only appellate justice concurrently serving in Star Fleet.

“Shipwide…” Irons hesitated only a second for her voice to be transmitted to all the crew, “Brace for QuickQuiet. Midshipman Brazil..”

“Yes your honor?” came the reply over the communications system from the Midshipman’s duty station, a transporter room one deck below.

“We’re about to spill our guts. Wait for my order, but I’m going to want every molecule of gas back where it belongs. Drive plasma first, then atmosphere.”

“Aye Captain?”

Irons did not have time to explain this order - the midshipman would figure it out soon enough. She turned to address an elderly looking man - dressed in civilian clothing topped with a white lab coat. He appeared as an older human male, with a gray beard and a bit of a gut, but in actuality he was only about 15 years old. “Hunter, when the tactical unit launches, simulate a hull breach - atmosphere, plasma. Make it a good show.”

“Aye Captain,” the boat’s holographic avatar responded.

“Lieutenant Tolon - give them a photon torpedo.”

During this entire fire fight Tolon Reeves had been intercepting romulan torpedoes with the boat’s phaser cannons while the romulan disruptors had been steadily degrading the Hunter’s shield emitters.

The lieutenant responded silently to the order, his bajoran family earring jingled lightly as he turned to the torpedo targeting screen, aiming for the war bird’s primary shield emitter. The torpedo barely left the tube before it was destroyed by romulan intercepting fire, creating a brilliant flash between the warring vessels.

“Launch Tactical. Simulate Breach. QuickQuiet!” The captain followed the last order with a grunt of pain as she was thrown hard against her restraints - along with the rest of her crew - with the exception of the holographic old man standing to her right. A projection from the bridge emitters, he was as much a part of the boat as those emitters. The boat was rocked by expulsion of a significant part of its atmosphere and plasma into space at the same time as inertial dampeners were reduced to minimal power.


The lights on the bridge flickered, went out, flickered briefly and went out again, along with all the control panels as power cut out across all the boat’s systems. Hunter’s pudgy, elderly looking holographic avatar vanished. It took a moment for the crew’s eyes to adjust to the dim blue glow emanating from luminescent panels, providing minimal emergency lighting.


The close-up view of the romulan warbird on the main viewer was replaced by that ship’s actual image through what was now only a large window. It was a much smaller image - watching battle from the bridge of a space vessel gave the illusion of close combat, but the big ships rarely got close - their captains preferred to rely on more powerful long range weapons to minimize the chances of being out maneuvered at close range by a weaker, but more nimble vessel.

As Commander Dolphin had surmised, the romulans were in a big hurry. With their foe apparently destroyed, they wasted no time turning and pursuing their initial goal at high warp, not even bothering to cloak so they could coax more speed from the captive singularity that served as the warbird’s warp core.

Justice Irons waited, sensing her first officer’s roiling emotions even though separated by a growing chasm of space as the tactical unit drifted away from the platform (as the larger portion of the now divided patrol boat was designated). Commander Dolphin waited only a few heartbeats to make sure the romulans had actually left before activating the tactical unit and tearing off after them at high warp - probably setting a new speed record in the process.


“Secure from QuickQuiet. Midshipman Brazil - your team may begin gas retrieval now.” Irons grimaced in pain and touched her side gingerly as the lights and other ship’s systems came back on. She rose carefully from the captain’s chair. The restraints might have only bruised her ribs, but she wasn’t certain. “Lieutenant Gamor, you have the con. I will be in Medical.”

Lt. Gaia Gamor, unlike her captain, was big, young, energetic, muscular and entirely human - she and Commander Dolphin were the only two undiluted humans currently assigned to the Hunter. The piping on her black SF JAG uniform was yellow for operations - in her case, flight operations. Her skin was nearly as black as her uniform and there was a roundness to her face that gave her a gentle look despite her athletic build. She stood up quickly from the pilot console and watched her captain with some concern while calling for another pilot to man her station at the helm. “Chief Flight Specialist Guth to the bridge. You’re driving…”

As Justice Irons left the bridge, she could hear Gamor complimenting 2nd Lt. Tolon: “Nice shooting, Reeves.”

​

​

1 - Flash Forward​

Star Trek Hunter: Rock of Ages

 

[CeJay]

It's been a little while since I've read the opening of Hunter but it rings immediately familiar, especially since I can now much more easily place the scene.

It remains a terrific introduction to this series, which certainly isn't your daddy's Trek and heavily influenced by other sources and genres.

It is also, without doubt, one hell of a ride.

 

[Gibraltar]

A fascinating intro! Things in this Trekverse have certainly gone in new and unexpected directions. How is it that Starfleet JAG fields its own starships? Inquiring minds want to know!

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

... it rings immediately familiar, especially since I can now much more easily place the scene..

I have tinkered with it a little. I didn't anticipate when I wrote Ep. 1 that Tolon would be a 2nd Lt. by the time this scene shows up in Ep. 20. I had originally written him in as Ensign Tolon in Ep. 1.. Thanks for the promote!

How is it that Starfleet JAG fields its own starships? Inquiring minds want to know!

I didn't think to address that question until the intro for Episode 23 - here's an excerpt:

"Unique among Earth military structures, Star Fleet does not have a military police force. As that function became increasingly necessary, it was inevitably assigned to the Office of Judge Advocate General as the only native law enforcement arm within Star Fleet."

“Eventually, in a desperate attempt to prevent Star Fleet from becoming a police force in and of itself, an increasing number of law enforcement functions, such as suppression of piracy, have been assigned to JAG. As a result, JAG has been assigned resources – at first only two Escort class ships. But the Prowler class was developed exclusively for JAG functions. In response to internal needs, this class of small, fast and versatile ships is now poised to swell into a dedicated, potent military and general police force. Just what the founders of Star Fleet never wanted.”

At-Large Appellate Justice Minerva Irons - The Evolution of a Police function within Star Fleet and the Development of the Prowler Class Starship for Law Enforcement; Star Fleet Internal Informational Memorandum #56910.2, Vol. 28, Item 42.

Glad you're intrigued!! Thanks! rbs

 

[Robert Bruce Scott]

There are some non-canon aspects to the universe of Star Trek Hunter:

The Warp 10 Barrier: Not absolute. It is impossible to go faster than Warp 10 using a standard warp engine (at risk of passing through every point in the universe simultaneously.) But a Daystrom Institute research team headed by child prodigy Sarekson Carrera, his mentor, Professor Jose Crumar and the mysterious time traveler and engineering whiz, Wesley Crusher, invent a new form of travel known as Recursive Warp (or as Wesley dubbed it, zip drive) that not only skirts the Warp 10 barrier, but as an added bonus, repairs the damage standard warp engines have done to the fabric of spacetime (literally zipping damaged spacetime back together using bubbles of reverse entropy on the aft end of the recursive warp shell that also cause the ship to rock backward in the local time it is traveling through while traveling at technobabble...) Like any revolutionary technology, the zip drive comes with seriously dangerous side effects...

Replicators: Not magic. They don't turn lead into gold. In order to make food, they need protein sequences to resequence (usually bean curd and resequenced waste products.) Starships need to stop for fresh food on occasion. There is only so many times that the replicators can resequence your poop and put it back on your plate...

Politics: Star Fleet is not an arm of the United Federation of Planets. The UFP is a coalition of hundreds of species, anchored by a three-party military alliance: Star Fleet, which is an arm of United Earth Governments (including most Earth colonies), the Vulcan High Command, and the Andorian Imperial Guard. Other homeworld fleets generally stay close to their home planets to provide primary protection while the three principle expeditionary services (Star Fleet being by far the largest of these) provide protection and exploration within the area claimed by the Federation. Star Fleet, exclusively among these services, provides extraterritorial exploration. The finer points of this system are lost on the majority of people and most people conflate Star Fleet with the Federation - a confusion most officers and politicians never bother to try to clear up.

Demographics: In response to modern economics and medical science, human fertility world-wide has dropped from an average of 6 children per family (in the 1800s) to about 2.6 children per family today - and that's true even for places like Bangladesh. Earth is on a glide path for a stable world population of 10-12 billion by 2100. In the STH universe, the vulcans and denobulans (as well as several humans) labored to create economic incentives for rapid human population growth, creating a population explosion that leads to a human population of nearly 50 billion (with 20 billion living in our solar system.) Large human colonial populations serve to anchor strategic star systems, serving as a bulwark against potential klingon, romulan and cardassian expansion. An unanticipated 2nd population explosion of human hybrids resulted as extra-species marriages leant the gift of human fecundity to other species. These pairings require genetic engineering, which is a driving plot device in STH.

Spelling: You might have noticed that when referring to other species (vulcans, klingons, etc.) that I don't capitalize them. That's because saying that a human, a Ferengi and a Vulcan walk into a bar... just looks weird. Other writers suggested using the word Terran to refer to humans, but in STH, nearly 2 billion of Earth's population of 14 billion are not human (or not entirely human.) There are nearly a billion terrestrial vulcans - suppressing their emotions like the vulcans that they are, but speaking English with a Texas drawl - because they really like the climate of Texas and Death Valley ("Logic tells me that you ain't from 'round here... 'ere you, partner?") Not surprisingly, terrestrial ferengi are partial to Florida... Star Fleet Commandant Barrett th'Zoarhi, an andorian, was born in Toronto, Canada and considers herself an Earthling.

Trippy Stuff: Some of the chapters (or "scenes") in STH get rather psychedelic. There's always a scientific or Trek-tech based explanation. I just don't always explain it right away...

Thanks!! rbs


The story continues in Episode 2: The Colony of New Hope

 

[CeJay]

Dozens of stories into Hunter and I too had never realized the distinction between your Star Fleet and the Federation. Now that I've read your explanation, it makes a lot of sense.