Gotcha. Thanks for that.
The Great Chronological Run-Through
- Thread starter Deranged Nasat
- Start date
Gotcha. Thanks for that.
Those are comics, right?
I'm afraid I don't have access to them. So even if they're compatible, I'm going to have to miss them.
As for Burning Dreams, as Christopher says it's so stream-of-consciousness that trying to extract particular parts of it to read individually is pretty pointless, and wouldn't work very well. I'll simply read it in full when I get to 2320, the latest point featured in the story (though I'll discard the brief Sulu scene that conflicts with the Lost Era books).
Gosh, that would be fun.
Fair enough, though I'm surprised you chose to include The Children of Kings, the Pike book that is (IMO) the least compatible with the current novelverse, rather than some older titles like Vulcan's Glory or The Rift that could easily fit into that continuity.
It might have something to do with the fact that I had The Children of Kings to hand, and don't own the others
. I know The Rift gets a nod from Burning Dreams, along with many other Pike stories (some, like Where Sea Meets Sky, are on my list). Isn't The Rift rather incompatible, though? I glanced through it once and I seem to recall the Tellarites, for one, being presented very differently from what became canon...
I've said it already, but I think I'll post some of my list next, so that anyone following has time to make suggestions or point me to anything interesting I may have missed. I appreciate all the pointers and input.
A shame you didn't make a few posts at the start of the thread to later update with the name of the story and a link to each post.
That's a good idea, but surely Nasat can edit the post to still do this, rather than it being a lost opportunity?
Nasat cannot (there's an edit window), but a mod could do it for him, I think.
If he wanted to, he could make a Google Doc or something that had links to each individual post, and ask a mod to edit a link to that into his first post instead, I imagine, rather than needing a mod to constantly update his first post. (I don't think having it edited with each individual update would be feasible in the long run even with a mod willing to do so, anyway, what with post character limits.) If he's even interested in that, of course. :P
"The Cage"
That fairy dust noise you hear signals the arrival of “The Cage”.
I have to say I really like this one. I considered it a positive surprise upon first viewing it (which was later than most of the rest of Trek). I actually would have liked to see what a series with Pike, Number One, Boyce and Spock Mark One would have been like; I thought these characters were promising and quite three-dimensional.
“The Cage” has a very engaging theme and it takes it seriously, and what’s satisfying about it is that it doesn’t reduce the key issue to anything simplistic. The Talosians’ behaviour, probing primal emotional states and establishing situations that encourage those primal responses in Humans, becomes fascinating when you realize that for all their assumed air of superiority, they're really studying the strength they have lost, not the weakness they have overcome. The episode turns the idea of what constitutes superiority quietly on its head.
There are a great number of layers here and it’s quite delightful peeling away at them. I particularly like the many angles we're given on the Pike-Vina relationship, and the conflicting but interlocking roles Vina plays in this scenario. There are so many facets: Vina as a fellow captive, encouraging Pike’s sympathy with her, which is both a natural reaction to the unjust circumstances they find themselves in and yet plays into the Talosian plan (both resisting the Talosian imposition on their Human dignity and simultaneously abetting it, as the Keeper smugly notes); Vina as a fellow victim yet also a conspirator; Vina as an obfuscation yet also the voice of truth and exposition; Vina as a fantasy (indeed as a whole string of them) but also as the one sure point of reality in the whole affair, grounding Pike in the moment and the reality of his situation... even as the whole point is to embed him in the fantasy through embracing her. Excellently done.
The episode provokes some often rather subtle exploration about the urge, or the need, to break through illusion and fantasy, about the trap of an apathetic unwillingness to face life's realities and the extremes of the psyche. It explores how the achievement of dreams through differing means can invalidate as well as affirm the original act of dreaming. How building and succeeding can in fact take you away from the struggles that instinctively define a being, and render your subsequent life hollow, so that you're not truly building or succeeding anymore.
(Aside: It occurs to me that this essential theme is explored even more provocatively in the Destiny trilogy, reinforcing the sense that Destiny is, for me, the ultimate Star Trek story. It's an extrapolation of the philosophical underpinnings of this, the first Star Trek story).
The episode offers some frank and really quite piercing philosophical discussions (condensed for the medium of course) that are wrapped in illusionary visuals, and at times we cut bluntly through that illusion to watch the Talosians observing, offering their commentary. We're never allowed to get lost in it, because this isn't about the illusions but about the balance of struggle VS dream. It's not about twisting Pike's psyche but about demonstrating something about life in general.
(Of course, the whole set-up is also simply to illustrate in ultra-literal fashion the truth of Boyce’s observation that you either meet life warts and all or you turn your back on it and wither away, but it works nonetheless).
Pike really does seem like he's approaching the situation as a dynamic participant, rather than being strung along for the sake of the script. That’s absolutely essential, of course, because if we didn’t have that sense of restrained energy and drive in him, them the whole situation fundamentally wouldn’t work. He asks some very pointed and intelligent questions and cuts to the key observation at every step (itself illustrative of his drive and will to struggle that prevents him buying into the illusion, showing his unsuitability for the Talosian plan and also showing us that he already understands and embodies what Boyce was trying to tell him at the beginning). The Keeper and Vina really seem to work to catch up to him, to respond to the shifts in circumstance that are driven by his intellectual probing and his desire to make sense of what’s happening. It's all just very engaging. I also like the interesting dilemma that this natural tendency on Pike's part to think and analyse and solve problems - this civilized demeanour - is actually working against him, because it's the primal emotional states that cause the Talosian control to falter. Just as the Talosians have lost the will to engage with reality because their fantasy is more comfortable - not more engaging, just easier - they've lost their grip on their own primal natures and can’t handle the very traits that they probe, exaggerate and place emphasis on in their analysis of Humans. For all their smug description of how Pike is responding to his initial captivity – “now it will make a posturing display of mock-violence”, etc. – they can only reach alien minds when they’re not cast in the aspect of raw instinctual emotion. It’s all particularly fascinating when you consider that the Talosians view Pike (and presumably Vina) in the same way that Pike would view the Kalar – as an instinct-driven, animalistic being. Vina's complaint that they, the Humans, can't keep such primitive emotional shields up for long enough is a fascinating dilemma for people in the situation of being viewed as inherently non-intellectual "lower life-forms”. How can the Humans convince the Talosians to show them respect? They’re too civilized to do so!
Pike rejects the Talosian threat against Enterprise, accusing them of being "too intelligent to kill for no reason at all", a summary of Talosian weakness and success in one package. Also, the Keeper’s seemingly genuine reason for rejecting Pike’s eventual offer of mutual cooperation (in spite of his anger over their lack of apology or sensitivity over what they've done) is that if Humans mastered Talosian illusion they would destroy themselves too, which the Keeper evidently doesn’t want. There are a lot of angles here on what constitutes advancement and positive change, what the trade-off on "progress" is. Above all, what a people need to take with them out of the wilderness if they’re going to thrive, if they're not going to drive themselves back there, living in the ruins and dreaming, having achieved “progress” and “betterment” by ridding themselves of the very traits that set them on that journey. A hollow success that is no success at all.
Given where Roddenberry Trek will later go with its implied philosophy, in early TNG, for example, this is rather eye-opening, no?
Having a peaceful resolution that depended on an understanding arrived at through a willingness to hate and rage and threaten is a wonderfully twisted but provocative idea.
The characters are all likeable. I like Boyce in this one, far more than the take on him in The Children of Kings. I think I might prefer Pike to Kirk, for what's it worth. I also think Number One worked very well as First Officer.
The Talosians truly begin a Star Trek tradition of enigmatic aliens testing Humans (our renegade Organian friends from "Observer Effect" being the only real example thus far in this run-through), but they're not just testing out of curiosity or to "understand", they're protagonists in their own right, really, and our angle on what they're doing changes in surprising ways as we come to know them. As I said earlier, they're evaluating "primitive" Human traits with a half-acknowledged awareness that this is a strength they've lost, not an undesirable trait to "evolve out of". Their somewhat smug control over their psyches is no control at all, but a withdrawal from the very things that made them a once-potent force, a withdrawal from life, and they’re clearly aware of that even if they can't admit it. They feel the need to recapture what they’ve lost in order to reclaim their world, even if they can only do so by cultivating the trait in other, "lower" species. Loathing and fearing what they know they need, assuming that they can't or mustn't embody "distasteful" traits that they exaggerate in the image they choose to hold of others.
Talosians...are fascinating. Good show.
They should find better turbolift music though. Although I suppose the Keeper is like one’s Fairy Godmother, if the Fairy Godmother arranged her own balls and tried to force you to go along and become a princess against your own desires.
Continuity
Rigel VII continues to cause problems, apparently. It seems the United Federation of Planets simply inherited the problems facing the Rigelian Trade Commission (see Tower of Babel). Bringing VII up to the level of its neighbours isn't proceeding too swiftly, from what we see.
The laser weapon used by the Enterprise crew greatly resembles the mining lasers used on Luna a century prior ("Demons").
I guess we have to shrug and ignore references to hyperdrive and time warp factor.
I also guess Spock hasn’t adapted to the thicker non-Vulcan atmosphere yet. Your voice carries just fine, Spock.
Next Time: "Conflicting Natures" from Enterprise Logs. More emotional tomfoolery.
That fairy dust noise you hear signals the arrival of “The Cage”.
I have to say I really like this one. I considered it a positive surprise upon first viewing it (which was later than most of the rest of Trek). I actually would have liked to see what a series with Pike, Number One, Boyce and Spock Mark One would have been like; I thought these characters were promising and quite three-dimensional.
“The Cage” has a very engaging theme and it takes it seriously, and what’s satisfying about it is that it doesn’t reduce the key issue to anything simplistic. The Talosians’ behaviour, probing primal emotional states and establishing situations that encourage those primal responses in Humans, becomes fascinating when you realize that for all their assumed air of superiority, they're really studying the strength they have lost, not the weakness they have overcome. The episode turns the idea of what constitutes superiority quietly on its head.
There are a great number of layers here and it’s quite delightful peeling away at them. I particularly like the many angles we're given on the Pike-Vina relationship, and the conflicting but interlocking roles Vina plays in this scenario. There are so many facets: Vina as a fellow captive, encouraging Pike’s sympathy with her, which is both a natural reaction to the unjust circumstances they find themselves in and yet plays into the Talosian plan (both resisting the Talosian imposition on their Human dignity and simultaneously abetting it, as the Keeper smugly notes); Vina as a fellow victim yet also a conspirator; Vina as an obfuscation yet also the voice of truth and exposition; Vina as a fantasy (indeed as a whole string of them) but also as the one sure point of reality in the whole affair, grounding Pike in the moment and the reality of his situation... even as the whole point is to embed him in the fantasy through embracing her. Excellently done.
The episode provokes some often rather subtle exploration about the urge, or the need, to break through illusion and fantasy, about the trap of an apathetic unwillingness to face life's realities and the extremes of the psyche. It explores how the achievement of dreams through differing means can invalidate as well as affirm the original act of dreaming. How building and succeeding can in fact take you away from the struggles that instinctively define a being, and render your subsequent life hollow, so that you're not truly building or succeeding anymore.
(Aside: It occurs to me that this essential theme is explored even more provocatively in the Destiny trilogy, reinforcing the sense that Destiny is, for me, the ultimate Star Trek story. It's an extrapolation of the philosophical underpinnings of this, the first Star Trek story).
The episode offers some frank and really quite piercing philosophical discussions (condensed for the medium of course) that are wrapped in illusionary visuals, and at times we cut bluntly through that illusion to watch the Talosians observing, offering their commentary. We're never allowed to get lost in it, because this isn't about the illusions but about the balance of struggle VS dream. It's not about twisting Pike's psyche but about demonstrating something about life in general.
(Of course, the whole set-up is also simply to illustrate in ultra-literal fashion the truth of Boyce’s observation that you either meet life warts and all or you turn your back on it and wither away, but it works nonetheless).
Pike really does seem like he's approaching the situation as a dynamic participant, rather than being strung along for the sake of the script. That’s absolutely essential, of course, because if we didn’t have that sense of restrained energy and drive in him, them the whole situation fundamentally wouldn’t work. He asks some very pointed and intelligent questions and cuts to the key observation at every step (itself illustrative of his drive and will to struggle that prevents him buying into the illusion, showing his unsuitability for the Talosian plan and also showing us that he already understands and embodies what Boyce was trying to tell him at the beginning). The Keeper and Vina really seem to work to catch up to him, to respond to the shifts in circumstance that are driven by his intellectual probing and his desire to make sense of what’s happening. It's all just very engaging. I also like the interesting dilemma that this natural tendency on Pike's part to think and analyse and solve problems - this civilized demeanour - is actually working against him, because it's the primal emotional states that cause the Talosian control to falter. Just as the Talosians have lost the will to engage with reality because their fantasy is more comfortable - not more engaging, just easier - they've lost their grip on their own primal natures and can’t handle the very traits that they probe, exaggerate and place emphasis on in their analysis of Humans. For all their smug description of how Pike is responding to his initial captivity – “now it will make a posturing display of mock-violence”, etc. – they can only reach alien minds when they’re not cast in the aspect of raw instinctual emotion. It’s all particularly fascinating when you consider that the Talosians view Pike (and presumably Vina) in the same way that Pike would view the Kalar – as an instinct-driven, animalistic being. Vina's complaint that they, the Humans, can't keep such primitive emotional shields up for long enough is a fascinating dilemma for people in the situation of being viewed as inherently non-intellectual "lower life-forms”. How can the Humans convince the Talosians to show them respect? They’re too civilized to do so!
Pike rejects the Talosian threat against Enterprise, accusing them of being "too intelligent to kill for no reason at all", a summary of Talosian weakness and success in one package. Also, the Keeper’s seemingly genuine reason for rejecting Pike’s eventual offer of mutual cooperation (in spite of his anger over their lack of apology or sensitivity over what they've done) is that if Humans mastered Talosian illusion they would destroy themselves too, which the Keeper evidently doesn’t want. There are a lot of angles here on what constitutes advancement and positive change, what the trade-off on "progress" is. Above all, what a people need to take with them out of the wilderness if they’re going to thrive, if they're not going to drive themselves back there, living in the ruins and dreaming, having achieved “progress” and “betterment” by ridding themselves of the very traits that set them on that journey. A hollow success that is no success at all.
Given where Roddenberry Trek will later go with its implied philosophy, in early TNG, for example, this is rather eye-opening, no?
Having a peaceful resolution that depended on an understanding arrived at through a willingness to hate and rage and threaten is a wonderfully twisted but provocative idea.
The characters are all likeable. I like Boyce in this one, far more than the take on him in The Children of Kings. I think I might prefer Pike to Kirk, for what's it worth. I also think Number One worked very well as First Officer.
The Talosians truly begin a Star Trek tradition of enigmatic aliens testing Humans (our renegade Organian friends from "Observer Effect" being the only real example thus far in this run-through), but they're not just testing out of curiosity or to "understand", they're protagonists in their own right, really, and our angle on what they're doing changes in surprising ways as we come to know them. As I said earlier, they're evaluating "primitive" Human traits with a half-acknowledged awareness that this is a strength they've lost, not an undesirable trait to "evolve out of". Their somewhat smug control over their psyches is no control at all, but a withdrawal from the very things that made them a once-potent force, a withdrawal from life, and they’re clearly aware of that even if they can't admit it. They feel the need to recapture what they’ve lost in order to reclaim their world, even if they can only do so by cultivating the trait in other, "lower" species. Loathing and fearing what they know they need, assuming that they can't or mustn't embody "distasteful" traits that they exaggerate in the image they choose to hold of others.
Talosians...are fascinating. Good show.
They should find better turbolift music though. Although I suppose the Keeper is like one’s Fairy Godmother, if the Fairy Godmother arranged her own balls and tried to force you to go along and become a princess against your own desires.
Continuity
Rigel VII continues to cause problems, apparently. It seems the United Federation of Planets simply inherited the problems facing the Rigelian Trade Commission (see Tower of Babel). Bringing VII up to the level of its neighbours isn't proceeding too swiftly, from what we see.
The laser weapon used by the Enterprise crew greatly resembles the mining lasers used on Luna a century prior ("Demons").
I guess we have to shrug and ignore references to hyperdrive and time warp factor.
I also guess Spock hasn’t adapted to the thicker non-Vulcan atmosphere yet. Your voice carries just fine, Spock.
Next Time: "Conflicting Natures" from Enterprise Logs. More emotional tomfoolery.
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I think "The Cage" is probably the best piece of solo writing Gene Roddenberry ever did, at least in science fiction (I'm not that familiar with his early work).
I figure "hyperdrive" is a term that gets used briefly, but falls out of common usage. Like, there's the time barrier (warp 7?), which gets broken somewhere between 2236 and 2254. The technological breakthrough that does this is dubbed the "hyperdrive" and its use is measured in "time warp factors." But as time goes on and the breakthrough is seen as less significant, the terms fall away in favor of the usual "warp drive" and "warp factors."
Also "The Cage" is great. You can see why it didn't go to series, but you can see why they ordered another pilot, too. I used to have a Pike webpage out there on the interweb, I wonder where it is now.
Also "The Cage" is great. You can see why it didn't go to series, but you can see why they ordered another pilot, too. I used to have a Pike webpage out there on the interweb, I wonder where it is now.
Agreed.
Perhaps someone could start a separate thread, or make this one of the read-throughs on their blog...Don't worry, it's still around.
Oh gosh, so it is! Man, 0catch, way to hang on there in this post-Geocities world. That timeline is not as bad as I suspected, actually.
Enterprise Logs: Conflicting Natures
Essentially, I feel like the author - Jerry Oltion - is taking the themes and constituent elements of The Cage – the basic crew dynamics, the focus on Human emotional vibrancy, telepathic aliens probing at primal emotions and instincts while learning about how these aggressive instincts remain important - and reinterpreting the mix as recipe for a light, humorous piece rather than a serious, “cerebral” work (since I forgot to use the all-important word last time). Which is an interesting thing to do, I suppose. I can't say I really see the point, but it works well enough for what it is. It is here. I have read it. It's a diverting enough ten-minute read.
We have the Eremoids, a people who are unable to participate in interstellar commerce and diplomacy, despite the rich resources they potentially stand to trade, because their natural social dynamics are inherently unable to support long-term relationships. They even breed infrequently - and very cautiously. How a species like this managed to establish an advanced civilization to begin with I don't know (they inherited it from another, more social race?), but the idea of an inherently solitary species that can't function in groups is a worthy enough premise. Also, I appreciate the idea of great sensitivity to others’ emotions driving people apart rather than bringing them together. The feedback and intensity of shared emotion is crippling to them - a nice reminder that maintaining distance and detachment is as essential to forming healthy relationships as a sense of unity. The idea of the crew being affected telepathically through emotional projection is of course one we'll see again, more than once, thanks to such telepathic illnesses as Bendii Syndrome and Zanthi Fever, which both affect elder members of the susceptible species. I hope these Eremoids aren’t an inherently unhealthy people, if their natural state is something that other telepathic races experience as they start their biological decline.
So, it's a light-hearted and comical piece, the humour ranging from forgettable to genuinely rather funny. It's nothing special, but it's fun enough. Despite the humour, we also open with a random Klingon attack on the Enterprise, and there’s another Klingon raid later on, because I suppose that's the sort of thing that happens during the time period after Donatu but before Organia.
Communications Officer Dabisch introduces us to the Gallamite race, whose most prominent characteristic - indeed, so far their only characteristic, more or less - is their transparent cranium.
The Enterprise reception is serving Guinness along with the Saurian Brandy. The story earns points for this.
Next Time: Reyes VS Gorkon!
Essentially, I feel like the author - Jerry Oltion - is taking the themes and constituent elements of The Cage – the basic crew dynamics, the focus on Human emotional vibrancy, telepathic aliens probing at primal emotions and instincts while learning about how these aggressive instincts remain important - and reinterpreting the mix as recipe for a light, humorous piece rather than a serious, “cerebral” work (since I forgot to use the all-important word last time). Which is an interesting thing to do, I suppose. I can't say I really see the point, but it works well enough for what it is. It is here. I have read it. It's a diverting enough ten-minute read.
We have the Eremoids, a people who are unable to participate in interstellar commerce and diplomacy, despite the rich resources they potentially stand to trade, because their natural social dynamics are inherently unable to support long-term relationships. They even breed infrequently - and very cautiously. How a species like this managed to establish an advanced civilization to begin with I don't know (they inherited it from another, more social race?), but the idea of an inherently solitary species that can't function in groups is a worthy enough premise. Also, I appreciate the idea of great sensitivity to others’ emotions driving people apart rather than bringing them together. The feedback and intensity of shared emotion is crippling to them - a nice reminder that maintaining distance and detachment is as essential to forming healthy relationships as a sense of unity. The idea of the crew being affected telepathically through emotional projection is of course one we'll see again, more than once, thanks to such telepathic illnesses as Bendii Syndrome and Zanthi Fever, which both affect elder members of the susceptible species. I hope these Eremoids aren’t an inherently unhealthy people, if their natural state is something that other telepathic races experience as they start their biological decline.
So, it's a light-hearted and comical piece, the humour ranging from forgettable to genuinely rather funny. It's nothing special, but it's fun enough. Despite the humour, we also open with a random Klingon attack on the Enterprise, and there’s another Klingon raid later on, because I suppose that's the sort of thing that happens during the time period after Donatu but before Organia.
Communications Officer Dabisch introduces us to the Gallamite race, whose most prominent characteristic - indeed, so far their only characteristic, more or less - is their transparent cranium.
The Enterprise reception is serving Guinness along with the Saurian Brandy. The story earns points for this.
Next Time: Reyes VS Gorkon!
The search functionality on vBulletin is very good and will let you search an individual thread. If anyone needs to find anything in here, I'm sure they'll manage
Vanguard: Declassified: "The Ruins of Noble Men", chapters 2, 4, 6, 8
The year is 2259, almost a century since the Federation was founded.
This piece was originally backstory threaded through a later Vanguard adventure, one half of the full novella, but it works entirely fine as an independent piece. We’ll lose some of the thematic impact, of course, but this is more than meaty enough to stand alone.
The story is about Klingon honour and the frustration it can cause; about the roadblocks to successful Federation-Klingon détente. All the effort to save the life of Gorkon's son, and it’s not the man’s life that matters, but his honour. The Federation doesn’t understand this; or more truthfully is aggressively reluctant to understand it, because it conflicts too obviously with their own ideals. In this we see the deeper obstacle to reconciliation with the Klingons; not the inability to understand, but the sense that one is being untrue to oneself if they accept something so far removed from their own conceptual and perceptive markers. The translator is traitor, after all.
When we meet a Klingon like Gorkon - cunning, brutal and ruthless, yet possessed of a genuine nobility - we can get a sense of why, leaving their usual hypocrisy aside, some Klingons truly find the Federation morally repugnant. The UFP trades in high-minded ideals, but values such trivialities as life over the abstract framework of moral honour in which life and death unfold.
Reyes knows that what Commander Gannon is telling him about the need to approach Klingons objectively as Klingons is wise, but he doesn’t want to understand or sympathise, because he finds their ways too repugnant, too at odds with his own sense of the world (as Gorkon is kind enough to note in several pointed remarks).
As well as the Klingon/Human dynamic we have another wrinkle added this time with the inclusion of Arkenites. (It's always nice to see some of the Federation’s member species being fleshed out). The Arkenites possess an honour code every bit as culturally entrenched and all-encompassing as that of the Klingons, only theirs appears truly inviolable. The Arkenites display none of the underhanded hypocrisy so common to Klingons, and their honour doesn't seem to conflict noticeably with other goals, as it so frequently does in our imperial friends. It’s also telling that the action taken by the Klingons (in service of a higher and more satisfactorily "honourable" goal than first appears, albeit) is to use this honour code against them; or, more accurately, against the Federation. The Klingons see opportunity, and the expectation that others will play their part with honour is something to take advantage of. (While the following example owes as much to the Klingons not being fully established yet as anything, we'll see more of this sort of thing during our visit to Capella IV, where a real honourable warrior race are made temporary patsies).
However, when Reyes points out how the Klingons have abused the situation, the Arkenite leader, Duvadi, blandly notes that the Klingons were being true to themselves and their natures, just as the Arkenites were. From her perspective, the agreement was actually essentially made in good faith; the exchange is binding on some deeper level of truth regardless of the Klingons’ intentions. How they behaved here is what she apparently expects from Klingons, having, perhaps, a more truthful angle on their character than the Klingons themselves - and a far more accepting one than the Humans. The Klingons are true to themselves when they're manipulating and trying to weasel around honour. The Arkenites, perhaps, understand that the Klingons embrace their honour codes as a means of binding their inherently unstable and fragmentary civilization together; it's a cage to them. Arkenites, being more inherently social, coming together in their sia lenthar rather than flying apart in competing bloodlines and Houses, have a more comfortable and honest relationship with their communal honour.
Gorkon’s true motives are in one way less underhanded than they first appear. In another way, though, they're actually arguably more so, in that he's a truly honourable Klingon who is deliberately pushing the boundaries of honour for personal gain. He's thereby being less true to himself from our perspective, given the sense we have of Gorkon as a "worthy" adversary, while ironically being more true to the idea the Arkenites would probably have of him. He finds careful solutions that satisfy the letter of Klingon cultural honour codes while making no apology for the fact that he’s selfishly seeking almost to circumvent them. It makes him a more self-aware Klingon than most but perhaps equally problematic. Gorkon notes that Reyes “would use (his) own honour as a weapon against (him)”, which at once seems an entirely hypocritical complaint and yet nonetheless demonstrates that Gorkon is probably more "upright" than many Klingons we've met, in that using honour against him can actually work.
First Appearances of Things That Are Important:
Diego Reyes, along with other members of the Vanguard cast, like Ezekiel Fisher and Hallie Gannon.
Gorkon. Here his House is currently known as the House of Makok, which might suggest his father is still alive. His wife and three sons are dead (four sons dead by the conclusion of this one), leaving his six-year-old daughter.
On a lesser note, we’re introduced to theragen, everyone’s favourite Klingon nerve toxin.
Continuity:
Arkenites have previously been mentioned as a potential Federation member being courted in the 2160s, a former Andorian subject population given independence upon the founding of the UFP. Given what we learn about them here, we might speculate that the Arkenites’ allegiance to Andor was something akin to the Azha outpost’s agreement with the Klingons; a binding honour debt that they then adhered to until Andor released them from it. Arkenites are of semi-aquatic origins, from Arken II (Arken), a largely aquatic world. We’ll learn more about their culture in Seekers, which will introduce an Arkenite Starfleet character.
A Denobulan admiral, one Telles Vindeilin, appears: I believe she's the first command-level officer not from one of the founding species to appear in this chronology.
Sturka is the Klingon Chancellor; he was previously mentioned as a member of the High Council in the 2218 chapter of Forged In Fire.
Emanuel Tagore is inserted into the continuity in a nod to The Final Reflection. He lived on Qo’noS for four years as an ambassador (possibly recently? After Donatu V?)
An engagement at Xarant is mentioned. Presumably Xarant is a location in the Xarantine System, perhaps likely to be the Xarantine homeworld?
Next Time: A short piece before the next novel: Immortal Coil, chapter 19.
The year is 2259, almost a century since the Federation was founded.
This piece was originally backstory threaded through a later Vanguard adventure, one half of the full novella, but it works entirely fine as an independent piece. We’ll lose some of the thematic impact, of course, but this is more than meaty enough to stand alone.
The story is about Klingon honour and the frustration it can cause; about the roadblocks to successful Federation-Klingon détente. All the effort to save the life of Gorkon's son, and it’s not the man’s life that matters, but his honour. The Federation doesn’t understand this; or more truthfully is aggressively reluctant to understand it, because it conflicts too obviously with their own ideals. In this we see the deeper obstacle to reconciliation with the Klingons; not the inability to understand, but the sense that one is being untrue to oneself if they accept something so far removed from their own conceptual and perceptive markers. The translator is traitor, after all.
When we meet a Klingon like Gorkon - cunning, brutal and ruthless, yet possessed of a genuine nobility - we can get a sense of why, leaving their usual hypocrisy aside, some Klingons truly find the Federation morally repugnant. The UFP trades in high-minded ideals, but values such trivialities as life over the abstract framework of moral honour in which life and death unfold.
Reyes knows that what Commander Gannon is telling him about the need to approach Klingons objectively as Klingons is wise, but he doesn’t want to understand or sympathise, because he finds their ways too repugnant, too at odds with his own sense of the world (as Gorkon is kind enough to note in several pointed remarks).
As well as the Klingon/Human dynamic we have another wrinkle added this time with the inclusion of Arkenites. (It's always nice to see some of the Federation’s member species being fleshed out). The Arkenites possess an honour code every bit as culturally entrenched and all-encompassing as that of the Klingons, only theirs appears truly inviolable. The Arkenites display none of the underhanded hypocrisy so common to Klingons, and their honour doesn't seem to conflict noticeably with other goals, as it so frequently does in our imperial friends. It’s also telling that the action taken by the Klingons (in service of a higher and more satisfactorily "honourable" goal than first appears, albeit) is to use this honour code against them; or, more accurately, against the Federation. The Klingons see opportunity, and the expectation that others will play their part with honour is something to take advantage of. (While the following example owes as much to the Klingons not being fully established yet as anything, we'll see more of this sort of thing during our visit to Capella IV, where a real honourable warrior race are made temporary patsies).
However, when Reyes points out how the Klingons have abused the situation, the Arkenite leader, Duvadi, blandly notes that the Klingons were being true to themselves and their natures, just as the Arkenites were. From her perspective, the agreement was actually essentially made in good faith; the exchange is binding on some deeper level of truth regardless of the Klingons’ intentions. How they behaved here is what she apparently expects from Klingons, having, perhaps, a more truthful angle on their character than the Klingons themselves - and a far more accepting one than the Humans. The Klingons are true to themselves when they're manipulating and trying to weasel around honour. The Arkenites, perhaps, understand that the Klingons embrace their honour codes as a means of binding their inherently unstable and fragmentary civilization together; it's a cage to them. Arkenites, being more inherently social, coming together in their sia lenthar rather than flying apart in competing bloodlines and Houses, have a more comfortable and honest relationship with their communal honour.
Gorkon’s true motives are in one way less underhanded than they first appear. In another way, though, they're actually arguably more so, in that he's a truly honourable Klingon who is deliberately pushing the boundaries of honour for personal gain. He's thereby being less true to himself from our perspective, given the sense we have of Gorkon as a "worthy" adversary, while ironically being more true to the idea the Arkenites would probably have of him. He finds careful solutions that satisfy the letter of Klingon cultural honour codes while making no apology for the fact that he’s selfishly seeking almost to circumvent them. It makes him a more self-aware Klingon than most but perhaps equally problematic. Gorkon notes that Reyes “would use (his) own honour as a weapon against (him)”, which at once seems an entirely hypocritical complaint and yet nonetheless demonstrates that Gorkon is probably more "upright" than many Klingons we've met, in that using honour against him can actually work.
First Appearances of Things That Are Important:
Diego Reyes, along with other members of the Vanguard cast, like Ezekiel Fisher and Hallie Gannon.
Gorkon. Here his House is currently known as the House of Makok, which might suggest his father is still alive. His wife and three sons are dead (four sons dead by the conclusion of this one), leaving his six-year-old daughter.
On a lesser note, we’re introduced to theragen, everyone’s favourite Klingon nerve toxin.
Continuity:
Arkenites have previously been mentioned as a potential Federation member being courted in the 2160s, a former Andorian subject population given independence upon the founding of the UFP. Given what we learn about them here, we might speculate that the Arkenites’ allegiance to Andor was something akin to the Azha outpost’s agreement with the Klingons; a binding honour debt that they then adhered to until Andor released them from it. Arkenites are of semi-aquatic origins, from Arken II (Arken), a largely aquatic world. We’ll learn more about their culture in Seekers, which will introduce an Arkenite Starfleet character.
A Denobulan admiral, one Telles Vindeilin, appears: I believe she's the first command-level officer not from one of the founding species to appear in this chronology.
Sturka is the Klingon Chancellor; he was previously mentioned as a member of the High Council in the 2218 chapter of Forged In Fire.
Emanuel Tagore is inserted into the continuity in a nod to The Final Reflection. He lived on Qo’noS for four years as an ambassador (possibly recently? After Donatu V?)
An engagement at Xarant is mentioned. Presumably Xarant is a location in the Xarantine System, perhaps likely to be the Xarantine homeworld?
Next Time: A short piece before the next novel: Immortal Coil, chapter 19.
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"Theragen" is an interesting word. It's not a Klingon word; Okrand's dictionary says the Klingon name for it is Qab. If we take it as Greek, it would seem to mean "beast/animal creator." Which sounds similar to the word teratogen (literally "monster creator"), a term used for substances that cause birth defects. But since that word already exists, it's hard to see theragen meaning the same thing. Particularly since it's a nerve gas rather than a mutagen. So why would it be called that?
As it happens, Theragen is also a brand name for a capsaicin-based topical analgesic cream. Probably best not to confuse the two.
As it happens, Theragen is also a brand name for a capsaicin-based topical analgesic cream. Probably best not to confuse the two.
Ruins of Noble Men was one of my favorite pieces of Vanguard, and that's really saying something. Marco killed it. Gannon being so awesome makes the earlier-written events of Harbinger even stronger, and I think that story alone makes Reyes and Gorkon both much more subtle and fascinating. Your analysis of Gorkon's characterization is spot on; what a fascinating piece of writing.
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