Star Trek: Privateer

[infinix]

How would people react to a ST series where the main characters are non-Starfleet? Instead of sailing around in the mighty Federation star ship, they would be flying around in an old, beat-up ship that's always about to fall apart. They would take whatever jobs that come their way, legal or not.

They could have run-ins with the Starfleet vessels and characters we have come to know and love, but the privateers would never fit in the Academy.

 

[Mage]

You mean Firefly??

 

[Tarek71]

Well it does sound alot like Firefly, but thats not a bad thing. The ship doesnt have to be run down or flying apart though. Obviously many private ships in the real world are highly advanced, and very capable craft. And there were privateers in the days of old. Whether the Federation issued Letters of Marque, during the Dominion war for instance, might be an interesting way to go about it. Perhaps some private craft and private interests were allowed during the deepest stresses of the War, to act as privateers. Possibly in exchange for some latinum, etc. Its a thought.

 

[Jonny]

Hmm.. Not sure but I'd watch the first few episodes at least just to give it a chance.

 

[infinix]

You mean Firefly??

Haha. I sure do. But I feel like having a Firefly style Star Trek show where a Malcolm Reynolds character trying to cope with an inherently benevolent Federation (as opposed to a secretive and oppressive Alliance) would be quite interesting.

The captain can come from a non-militant, non-violent, and non-terrorist sec of the Maquis.

 

[Temis the Vorta]

Could work.

 

[JD]

I would certainly be up for this. I really think doing something like this would be a great way to make Trek fresh again, and it would give us a very interesting new look at the Trekverse.

 

[KDoug]

I'm not sure if I like that particular idea, but I do agree that there need to be more non-Starfleet protagonists in Star Trek.

 

[infinix]

I'm not sure if I like that particular idea, but I do agree that there need to be more non-Starfleet protagonists in Star Trek.

I'll still count that as a vote FOR the idea. So how many votes do I need before I can book an appointment with the Paramount Studio execs?

 

[CaptainStoner]

Sounds like a cool idea for a DS9-based computer game.

 

[MANT!]

Was already done in the Starfleet Command Series...

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Uhib6IU5kM[/yt]


I always thought the "Harry Mudd, Intergalactic Rogue" proposed spin off of TOS would have done well...

 

[Indy]

First officer needs to be a Mog.

 

[author_trek]

I could see this as a possibility in a Dominion-dominated alternate timeline in which the Romulans never entered the war on the side of the Federation. It's 2375 and the Merchant Marines are almost the only real contact the Federation's member-worlds have with one another as Starfleet itself falls-back and builds to a resistance strike.

The Vorta & Founders are reluctant to wholesale destroy the Merchant Marines as they're in a "war on terror" battle to win the Alpha Quadrant peoples' hearts and minds while fighting the Borg on one side and The A.Q. Alliance on the other.

The Merchant Marine vessel, XXXXXX, finds itself in Dominion territory and aiding/abetting Starfleet on-the-downlow, but otherwise finding itself in situations not unlike the Enterprise-D in the meantime.

Mostly civilians in charge with one or two formerly Starfleet officers, either disgraced or disabled or considered too old to be effective on "the line".

There's a Founder on the bridge as one of the 99 launched like Odo into space, learning about the different perspectives on the conflicts it witnesses. It was enclosed in a bundle of goods brought aboard by refugees. Believed to be an ancient relic, it was born, escaped and slithered around the hold scared shitless of everything around it.

There would be the obligatory Karemma, Yrridian, or Jem Hadar character involved at the ship's main or secondary ports of call.

 

[the_wildcard]

At this point, I am down for anything to get Star Trek back on TV....

 

[exalted one]

But I feel like having a Firefly style Star Trek show where a Malcolm Reynolds character trying to cope with an inherently benevolent Federation (as opposed to a secretive and oppressive Alliance) would be quite interesting.

Wouldn't say Federation is "inherently benevolent". In the end of the day, its leaders are just bureaucrats and politicians, and neither of those can afford any benevolency. Good ones need to stay neutral, and bad ones are inherently malevolent.

Anyway: it isn't exactly "privateer", but Black Fire is a Trek novel with a rather over-the-top pirate plotline, complete with Romulan renegades, stolen Starfleet ships and a pirate captain named Astro (har har).

 

[Otherworld]

I could see this as an exciting fic, but not so sure it would fly in live-action. Set post-Dominion War. Assigned to refugee transport after Denebulan and other homeworlds are razed almost entirely to the ground by the Borg right before the Caeliar arrive to dissect the and absorb the collective in the semi-canon TNG novel series.

Stand-alone stories, character-development stories describing the crews' lives leading upto their jobs on the hero-vessel. Conflicts on various homeworlds, stories about citizens' feelings about the cardassian and dominion conflicts. whether or not they believe the federation council has earned the right to keep the federation together or keep starfleet exploring and perhaps enticing problems to earth's doorstep, or earned the right to keep their jobs.