The Great Chronological Run-Through

[Deranged Nasat]

I haven't read any ENT novels since The Good That Men Do, but from your account of them, Nasat, I get the impression that there are a lot of extrasolar Earth colonies. Is that accurate?

There are quite a lot, yes, but it's made explicit that the vast majority are just small outposts with a few thousand inhabitants. Earth, Mars and the Alpha Centauri worlds (mostly III) are the only really major Human population centres. Vega, the Tau Ceti worlds (mostly IV) and Altair VI have reasonably well established colonies, Deneva was the forward trade hub colony (as suggested onscreen). Other than that, we're shown small Human outposts (usually research, resource extraction or military) at:

Achernar II (shared with many other races, Human settlement abandoned during the war)
Berengaria VII (established just recently for Starbase-building purposes, lost to Romulans and reclaimed)
Borka IV (AKA Capory, raided by Romulans)
Calder II (research outpost, seized by Romulans)
Delta Pavonis (military outpost)
Draken IV (small colony, taken by Romulans)
Galorndon Core (research outpost, destroyed by Romulans)
Tarod IX (taken by Romulans)
Zavijava V

 

[Markonian]

Zavijava is probably a mining colony, as per Tower of Babel.

 

[Stevil2001]

I haven't read any ENT novels since The Good That Men Do, but from your account of them, Nasat, I get the impression that there are a lot of extrasolar Earth colonies. Is that accurate?

There are quite a lot, yes, but it's made explicit that the vast majority are just small outposts with a few thousand inhabitants. Earth, Mars and the Alpha Centauri worlds (mostly III) are the only really major Human population centres. Vega, the Tau Ceti worlds (mostly IV) and Altair VI have reasonably well established colonies, Deneva was the forward trade hub colony (as suggested onscreen). Other than that, we're shown small Human outposts (usually research, resource extraction or military) at:

Achernar II (shared with many other races, Human settlement abandoned during the war)
Berengaria VII (established just recently for Starbase-building purposes, lost to Romulans and reclaimed)
Borka IV (AKA Capory, raided by Romulans)
Calder II (research outpost, seized by Romulans)
Delta Pavonis (military outpost)
Draken IV (small colony, taken by Romulans)
Galorndon Core (research outpost, destroyed by Romulans)
Tarod IX (taken by Romulans)
Zavijava V

Hm. That's rather more than I would have thought from watching ENT, given the crew's really limited knowledge of local space and its politics, and the limited number of other Earth ships encountered.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Hm. That's rather more than I would have thought from watching ENT, given the crew's really limited knowledge of local space and its politics, and the limited number of other Earth ships encountered.

I think it's all but stated that the majority of the more distant outposts on that list - Tarod, Calder, etc. - were established in the last year or two, after Vulcan stood down the High Command (and after better warp engines became more widely available?). They're very small - populations only a few thousand at most - and the Romulans do note that the Humans are now expanding swiftly. Although even before this there were places like Cold Station 12 (though I suspect we can assume that Denobula did most of the work establishing that one, or it was funded by the IME?) I do think Humans might have been presented as a little too widespread in the relaunch novels, but at least we're shown what the Romulans mean when they decry recent Human expansion.

Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures

This isn't the first novel 'verse "choose your own adventure" book, sadly. Instead, it's the first in what we can probably call the second wave of post-series Enterprise stories. This series details the early years of the United Federation of Planets, and it's notable that the titular ship, the Enterprise itself, is out of the picture now. It appears for a single scene, perhaps because you need to establish where the ship is these days, but it's not a player; it's well and truly retired. We're reminded that it's now a museum peace, and no longer spaceworthy.

So, this novel presents the Federation with its first full-scale dilemma, crystalizing some of its early identity issues and providing the irritant around which the pearl of its early sense of accomplishment will form. It also features an important subplot laying the seeds of a second dilemma, that will pay off in the long run (namely, the consequences of Federation involvement on its new junior trade partner, Sauria). The primary issue this time, though, is the return of some familiar faces:

This series has a very different tone to the relaunch novels that preceded it. Different author, and different situation; peace rather than war; building from strength rather than struggling from weakness. Humanity has come through the fire and is doing well for itself. After the grim and turbulent plot of the war arc, now we have an optimistic and upbeat period in our characters' lives.

Now that the Federation exists, its character needs to be established, including how it's going to play as part of the interstellar community. Its interactions with other local powers like Tandar Sector, or the loosely affiliated web of commercial players like Rigel, the Ithenites, the Axanar and the Xarantine, will help define it; everyone needs to know what they're dealing with. There's the matter of how the Federation will be interpreted by these neighbours, how its members wish the Federation to be interpreted, and the degree to which the new union sets an agenda for those neighbours as well as for its own worlds. This matter of identity and the correct application of the Federation's influence and power (and just because all of the potential paths are good-intentioned doesn't mean there isn't a serious dilemma here), is explored in many ways throughout the novel, from the question of whether it's the Coalition born in peace or the alliance forged in war that should set the tone for the new nation, to how the Federation, as the new power in local space, should relate to up-and-coming worlds like Sauria which are now in the position that Earth was previously in relative to Vulcan. I really appreciate that all these questions are weighed and grappled with without ever dragging the novel into anything sombre - the grim times are behind us now, the Federation is here and it's prospering; that just happens to mean that there's some natural growing pains. There's a sense of freshness and new life to the setting, which really helps sell the idea that the Federation has changed things for the better. So the book succeeds in establishing a logical new direction for the post-series Enterprise books that builds on what came previously but feels very different.

This is, indeed, a time of great possibility and potential.

There's a lot set up for the future in this one. The discussion of how contact with less advanced worlds should be handled, for instance, revolves around an issue that will be problematic for quite a while to come. Soval's proposal of Vulcan-inspired non-interference policies, and the Earth/Centaurian/Tellarite merchant forces who oppose this approach is a disagreement that won't be fully resolved for at least another century. Even after the Prime Directive is introduced and well-established, we'll still see those interstellar trader types traveling to and from all manner of planets, in an often almost roguish manner.

One of my favourite scenes is the second encounter between Devna and Noar. It takes two of the major races worthy of deeper exploration - Tellarites and Orions - and plays them against each other. A race of blustering paper tigers whose outward displays of overconfidence cover for their insecurities and a race who can be submissive in one instant and oozing confidence in the next, and who are far more in control than they appear yet simultaneously yoked always to the service of others. Two races who aren't really what they appear. Acting from behind masks, living a lie (a double lie, a contradictory lie in Devna's case, since she's both more and less in control than she seems, depending on how you look at it). Their interaction here is one of those wonderful juxtapositions that can be so rewarding when we really start to get a grip on who the cultures in the setting are, and how they illuminate each other. The Orion sees right through the Tellarite, since one such as she never assumes that the surface appearance is the truth. Projection of false confidence and control is as natural to her as concealment of power and submissive influence, and yet influence goes hand in hand for Devna with lack of freedom, as she's trapped in bondage to others even as she manipulates. The Tellarite's façade of confidence and strength hits perhaps too close to home, because Devna can't help but want to get away from it all, and is herself just putting up what barriers she can to try and hold on to what control she has. Two somewhat tragic characters who make the most of it as best they can, together yet completely apart.

First Appearances of Things That Are Important

Naturally, a number of new characters are introduced for this new series, including Valeria Williams and Samuel Kirk (Clearly the ancestors of James Kirk), Aranthanien ch'Revash (Thanien), who is largely our chan-on-the-street Andorian viewpoint on the new status quo, Rey Sangupta, Bodor chim Grev (A slightly different angle on the Tellarite character), Devna (our sympathetic POV in the villains' camp, and a look at the experience of lower-status Orion females in contrast to the Three Sisters) and Maltuvis (The Really Great Dictator).

Wormholes, when Pioneer falls into one, Motion Picture style.

As well as the Kirk family (and the revelation that the Williams family we already know of are going to join with it), the Paris family puts in its first appearance. Caroline Paris is indeed an ancestor of Tom, Owen, Iron Mike, et al.

Continuity

Mars has been admitted as the sixth Federation member world. Those being courted for membership include Denobula, Rigel, Arken, and Lorillia. Denobula and Rigel, of course, initially considered joining the Coalition and relations are therefore well established; the Denobulans are said here to be close allies of the Federation. The main barrier to their membership is their opposition to the genetic engineering restrictions the Humans pushed through. As for Rigel, we'll look at them in depth next time. Arken is a former Andorian holding now granted independence; Lorillia will be confirmed in the next book as another of the former Vulcan protectorates. In other words, the founding worlds are looking to admit their former patsies and proxies as equal partners.

The Federation is drawing on the member worlds' individual fleets for different branches of its united space service. This part makes great sense, because it fits perfectly with the flavour that each service already possessed. The Earth Starfleet handles the charting of new star systems, in keeping with the Human drive to exploration and expansion; the Andorian Guard (they've dropped the "Imperial" from anything foreign or federal, retaining it only for domestic use, it seems) handles defence, which was explicitly always their mandate; the Tellar Space Administration is support and resupply, in keeping with what we've seen of Tellarites; Alpha Centauri has very few ships but contributes to the upkeep, maintenance and funding of the fleet (in keeping with their contribution of personnel to the asteroid outposts along the Neutral Zone in To Brave the Storm). The various branches will be retained for at least a century even as they blur and merge, and are no longer split so clearly among species lines. The insignias used will be seen on screen in TOS. (Is Defiant's insignia, as yet unexplained, the Rigel one? )

We get some analysis of Human, Vulcan and Andorian ship designs, and how they relate to one another. The selection of a unified design lineage for the future Starfleet is tied to the Federation's general feeling around for an identity and a policy toward its place in the galaxy. (I must note the wonderful moment where Dax describes his appreciation for the flexibility of the Human designs with a comment on the ability to "change identity". Bringing another perspective into play, as we see that input doesn't stem from the biases and insights of the founding cultures alone).

Endeavour NX-06 is now the only active NX-class ship left in service, and has been upgraded to the "Columbia-class" refit variant (named in honour of the missing NX-02). T'Pol has been given command; Malcolm Reed is given the Intrepid-class Pioneer.

The transporter is put on ice for the time being, after cumulative use is proven to be hazardous for one's health. This is a blow to the Federation, which was starting to use them more frequently and was hoping to lure in new members with the technology. (It's confirmed that Andorians and Tellarites acquired the transporter from Humans, and that Vulcans rarely used it).

One of the Federation's first official acts was granting asylum to Suliban who left the Tandar Sector; something Archer pushed for.

Returning characters of importance include the Three Sisters D'Nesh, Navaar and Maras, along with Malurian criminal Dular Garos, who will be our primary villains going forward, and Tobin Dax, who joins the main cast as Reed's Chief Engineer.

Cutler (now Lieutenant Cutler) is back/still around.

Vulcan/Andorian contact is confirmed as occurring in the 19th Century. Fifty years after this, the Vulcans had their disastrous first contact and resulting war with the Klingons. This likely contributed to their increasingly defensive and exploration-averse stance.

Deneb (Kaitos) is confirmed as inhabited. The Federation has inherited a trading relationship established between the Denebian inhabitants and the Vulcans.

As well as the usual Orions and Nausicaans, we get our first mention of Nalori among the raiders.

The Andorian colony on Alrond is mentioned. (Its new governor wants to declare independence and leave the Federation).

The planet from "The Communicator" is still in the grips of a large-scale war.

Finally, of course, the Shroomies get their... I was going to say "day in the sun", but they like the dark, don't they? Well, they get it, is the point. They're known now as the Gamma Vertians. Since it was they who finally caused Archer to accept the need for weapons and military preparedness, back in Enterprise season one, it's nicely appropriate that meeting the threat they pose and resolving it peacefully is the first hurdle for the Federation. All that effort to reconcile the galaxy's hostility with his idealism, and now Archer's achieved it. The resolution-without-bloodshed of the Mute Crisis shows how far he and Humanity haver come since "Silent Enemy", without having lost the qualities that they brought with them from the start. No longer naïve or sheltered, but still meeting the galaxy in friendship.

Next Time: Tower of Babel. The Federation goes to the Big City.

 

[Stevil2001]

Hm. That's rather more than I would have thought from watching ENT, given the crew's really limited knowledge of local space and its politics, and the limited number of other Earth ships encountered.

I think it's all but stated that the majority of the more distant outposts on that list - Tarod, Calder, etc. - were established in the last year or two, after Vulcan stood down the High Command (and after better warp engines became more widely available?). They're very small - populations only a few thousand at most - and the Romulans do note that the Humans are now expanding swiftly. Although even before this there were places like Cold Station 12 (though I suspect we can assume that Denobula did most of the work establishing that one, or it was funded by the IME?) I do think Humans might have been presented as a little too widespread in the relaunch novels, but at least we're shown what the Romulans mean when they decry Human expansion.

Thanks for filling me in! I actually found Cold Station 12 jarring at the time (especially if we're meant to believe there's another 11 of them, but maybe that's an IME counting system, not an Earth one).

 

[Deranged Nasat]

I actually found Cold Station 12 jarring at the time (especially if we're meant to believe there's another 11 of them, but maybe that's an IME counting system, not an Earth one).

Yeah, I feel the same. I also like to assume it's an IME classification, not an Earth one.

 

[Christopher]

Neat analysis! I've been waiting for these, obviously...

This series details the early years of the United Federation of Planets, and it's notable that the titular ship, the Enterprise itself, is out of the picture now. It appears for a single scene, perhaps because you need to establish where the ship is these days, but it's not a player; it's well and truly retired.

It's actually in two scenes, one near the beginning and one near the end.

The insignias used will be seen on screen in TOS. (Is Defiant's insignia, as yet unexplained, the Rigel one? )

Defiant's insignia in "The Tholian Web" was the UESPA arrowhead. The insignia incorrectly used in "In a Mirror, Darkly" is based on the Starfleet Command insignia seen in TOS (on the wall behind admirals and on the "racing stripe" on the sides of the Enterprise, Galileo, etc.). Personally I take it as evidence that the Defiant from IaMD is from a fractionally different timeline (a la the early timelines in TNG: "Parallels"), explaining how another Defiant could be retrieved by the da Vinci crew in the 24th century.

Vulcan/Andorian contact is confirmed as occurring in the 19th Century.

Which may or may not have been inaccurate. Memory Alpha puts it in the 20th, but I checked the episode dialogue that was based on, and the reference is actually that it was more than two centuries before. Still, there's a line in Book 3 that finesses this a bit.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Neat analysis! I've been waiting for these, obviously...

I'm just disappointed that I won't get to read Uncertain Logic as part of this project. A book I'm very much looking forward to.

This series details the early years of the United Federation of Planets, and it's notable that the titular ship, the Enterprise itself, is out of the picture now. It appears for a single scene, perhaps because you need to establish where the ship is these days, but it's not a player; it's well and truly retired.

It's actually in two scenes, one near the beginning and one near the end.

D'oh! So it is. I guess my mind sort of skimmed over the setting for that last Trip/Archer meeting. Too busy focusing on them and not noting where they were

 

[Enterprise1701]

I'm liking the Rise of the Federation miniseries.

Christopher, you may or may not have seen this line earlier because I added it into my post in later editing, but is the Tellar Space Administration meant to be the agency to which the Miracht belonged?

 

[Christopher]

Christopher, you may or may not have seen this line earlier because I added it into my post in later editing, but is the Tellar Space Administration meant to be the agency to which the Miracht belonged?

Um, well, I wasn't specifically aware of that ship, but if it's an official Tellarite government space vessel, then that's probably the agency that oversaw it, I guess.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Tower of Babel

I can cheat a little on this one, since I can repurpose the notes from my lengthy original review . There’s not much more to say that I didn’t say there, so I’ll tweak some of the old observations that strike me as particularly appropriate to this reread.

The opening quote (from Thoris) is about the Tower of Babel myth, which of course gives its name to both the Conference Planetoid and the novel itself. Thematically, it speaks to the contradictory urges toward unity and fragmentation, the desire to reach out to others and build something together, wrestling with a fear that many don't want to face up to - the difficulty in trusting, the excuses and justifications people make for holding back.

This is the main theme, of course. The internal conflict between the Human Boomers and the Tellarite ships in the opening chapters is a teaser of sorts (the Federation is still working out the wrinkles itself), and of course the main plot at Rigel concerns a society built as much on distrust or paranoid insurance against betrayal as on true cooperation. Rigel is a great and fairly noble alliance, but it needs to flush the toxic buildup out of its system if it's to survive; something it comes to see the necessity of when the Federation saves it from disaster. Being more open with one another is the way forward. This, of course, leads to Rigel's agreement to join the Federation.

Here we have issues of centralized authority and universally established rules VS flexibility and freedom; the matter of the frontier giving way to a settled infrastructure; the good, the bad and the neutral regarding the firming of interstellar commerce and the political unity that have resulted from the Federation's founding. The "rise of the Federation" is a massive game-changer that has knock-on effects in every area of life; politically, socially, culturally, economically. The series is doing a good job of exploring these factors.

The young Federation is still negotiating its sense of identity; this time in particular we take a look at its internal structure; the various ways in which its singular, unified identity might trump, incorporate or stand uneasily alongside the smaller national and cultural identities of its member worlds. It's also easy to see why the Rigel admission debate is so relevant and provocative. With Rigel, we have an admissions process of a nature that we're not likely to see again. From here on, it'll be small states agreeing to become part of a Federation that dwarfs them, asking to incorporate themselves into an expansive political/national juggernaut. Because of the number of Rigelian worlds and settlements united under the Trade Commission, and the youth of the UFP, this time it’s really more akin to two almost equal alliances negotiating the possibility of their coming together.

The discussion regarding how centralized the Federation should be is a logical one, with many good points on all sides of the debate. Thoris, in his campaigning at Babel, is trying to balance what many would call "the necessities of politics" with his personal sense of what's right, what will be best for the Federation peoples and what will be most responsible of him personally. He's trying to navigate the system while remaining true to his convictions; Soval, though, seeks to question whether he truly understands the potential consequences or complications of what he's doing. As with the last book, this isn't in any way presented as grim or pessimistic, it's simply realistic.

We also have the escalation of the Sauria arc, with Maltuvis well on his way to conquering much of the planet and now greedily looking to the stars as well. We can see how the Saurian situation will blossom into a major dilemma for the UFP on multiple fronts - politically, militarily, philosophically, morally. It's therefore a good choice for the series' "backbone".

I like too how these novels have shown the established cast as being fully comfortable with one another now that they're all working together in the Federation. Archer, T'Pol, Soval, Shran - they're operating together smoothly. This isn't merely a continuation of Enterprise but a whole new era of the Trek timeline. There's a freshness to it all combined with a sense of history and hard-earned achievement. A matured but still youthful civilization.

First Appearances of Things That Are Important

We've already met the Jelna, and now we’re introduced to their Rigelian partners the Zami and the Chelon (plus the Kalar). Also, while we visited Rigel X in "Broken Bow" and The Good That Men Do, and orbited Rigel V in A Choice of Futures, we’re opened up to the whole Rigel System here, including II, III, IV and VI. All of these races and worlds will feature sporadically from here on.

This is technically Sarek's first chronological appearance, though I'm cheating a bit. T’Rama, his mother, is pregnant with him.

Continuity

The Rigelians and Saurians continue to be fleshed out.

In the prologue, we have an overview of recent developments filtered through the Klingon perspective; in this version of events, the crafty, duplicitous Humans have overthrown the Vulcan Empire and taken power themselves, incorporating the Andorians and Tellarites while being ever hungry for further prizes. This is useful in setting up the conflict that will define the 23rd Century - that of the Klingon/Federation cold war, which always seemed from the Klingon side at least to be a specifically Klingon/Human cold war. Here, the Klingons define the Federation in terms familiar to themselves. As Martok will one day say, Klingons don't embrace other cultures, they conquer them. Here we see the genesis of the discourse we'll later see threading its way through 23rd Century novels - that of the noble, war-like Klingon Empire facing its rival, the ever-expanding Human Empire, which in supposed contrast to the Klingons is two-faced, hypocritical and deceptive. Intolerable in the affront it represents, its foundations immoral and dishonourable. When the Klingons re-emerge to challenge the Federation at Donatu V, we'll be able to see how they got from there to here, to borrow from a certain theme tune.

Scenes with Trip, particularly his interactions with T’Pol, give us a veiled look (or a hint, anyway) at the process by which the questionable but often genuinely well-meaning Section 31 of Enterprise becomes something much more destructive, twisted and malignant over time.

The vanquished empires of Menthar and Promellia are mentioned for the first time, and they're integral to the history of Babel. While we haven’t met any of the races in question yet, it’s implicitly confirmed that the various reused Promellian makeups (Algolians, "Pardshay's race") are indeed Promellian descendants. Menthar and Promellia, with their epic, doomed struggle waging across the stars, are suitably mythic in concept to be the originators of Babel. And, really, for the name to work there had to be a colossal failure tied into its creation, a massive undertaking that just didn't succeed. But the two warring precursors left a legacy for the rest of the galaxy.

We meet a cheerily unpleasant fellow named Charlemagne Hua, who is clearly the prototype for the production run that will see such individuals as Harcourt Mudd, Cyrano Jones, and Cervantes Quinn - the somewhat laughable but wily human rogues who come to prominence in the 23rd Century, getting in Starfleet's hair and preserving some level of human character (er, "character") in the face of the oh-so-respectable Federation. Hua is the prototype in more ways than one, because he's clearly gotten the Venus drug or something like it in mind.

Coridanites built the mighty shipyard at Rigel VI, and made first extra-Raij contact with the Rigelian peoples. The more we learn of Coridan's pre-Federation history the sadder the whole affair becomes. Their story over the course of the established Trek timeline is one of steep decline and depopulation. By contrast, Rigel is doing well and will remain prosperous, being essentially the Federation's commercial hub.

Apparently, James Bond has survived into the 22nd Century - or his name and its associations have, at least. I'm genuinely curious as to whether he has endured, or if the name Bond has simply become convenient shorthand for "spy" to the point where you don't have to be familiar with the character or franchise to use it as a reference. Whether it's that, whether the series is considered classic entertainment, whether it's just a favourite of this one Earther, or whether we're on Bond Movie Gazillion by now is an interesting question.

Next Time: It would be Uncertain Logic, but it's not out yet. So, we'll have to pretend we spent some time on Vulcan and faced down The Repair Station (*scare chord*), which I'm sure will be as good as the first two books, and we'll move on to the 22nd Century portions of Gods of Night. Whatever happened to Hernandez and Columbia, anyway?

 

[Sci]

That was the longest post I've ever seen.

I've done longer.

As for Section 31, I imagine they originated with the earlier tensions between Earth and other Sol nations. A section in article 14 that allows the non-military Starfleet to become involved, or involve itself with, operations outside its usual purview if the "needs of Earth" call for it?

I mean, I would take Article 14, Section 31 as being there to give leeway to Starfleet commanders who break regulations in the midst of major disasters. I would assume that the initial conspiracy of officers who named themselves after that section may well have their origins in the tensions with Sol colonies, yeah.

But! If there were intra-Solar system conflicts before 2151, that might be part of why Archer is suspicious of/uncomfortable with the MACOs coming aboard. Maybe the decision to use force against rebellious Sol system colonies was controversial, or maybe the MACOs at the time were accused of excessive force or brutality?

I suppose it would depend on when the MACOs were established. If they existed during the Martian War of Independence, then I imagine they would have been involved in the Terran response and might carry an awkward reputation as a result.

My hypothesis is that the Martian War of Independence actually took place before the founding of United Earth. (I like to think they rebelled against some sort of tyrannical corporation that was controlling the colonies, but this is probably me being influenced by having just finished Kim Stanley Robinson's Red Mars. )

(From an out-universe perspective, if I were designing the ST Universe from the ground up rather than it being gradually assembled over 50 years, I think I'd want the U.E. emblem to look like the U.N. emblem, and then have the Federation seal be something different that encompasses design elements from the logos for Earth, Vulcan, etc. But since that's obviously not an option for the ENT graphics department in 2004, I just wish they had (been allowed?) to pick a design that didn't so resemble the UFP/U.N. design for U.E.)

I've also wondered: why is the Federation logo blue? For each of the races involved the tone would suggest something different, surely? For Humans it's a soothing colour and suggestive of their planet from space, for Andorians it's the colour of skin and blood; who knows what it signifies to Vulcans and Tellarites?

Well, I think the most probable thing blue would symbolize to Vulcans might be life: We know from the establishing shots of Vulcan in ENT that their few large oceans are blue. So I imagine for Vulcans living on a planet with less water than Earth, blue would represent life and prosperity, both sustenance and abundance.

For Andorians, I imagine blue would be like red for Humans. In particular, maybe for them it represents sacrifice -- blood shed to secure liberty.

We know comparatively little about Tellarite culture -- but we do know they like to take mudbaths. Presumably, they'd be using water to clean up afterwards -- maybe for Tellarites, blue signifies water, and therefore signifies cleanliness and renewal, a new beginning after washing away the mud?

Maybe the Federation Seal's blue color is supposed to stand for all of these things, at once: Peace, prosperity, liberty, sacrifice, and renewal.

(I've occasionally conjectured that maybe there's some significance to one culture in the circle, to another culture in the three stars, and to another culture in the laurels... Maybe another in the use of white in contrast with the blue? I'm trying to multiculturally justify what is obviously a Human-inspired design.)

The combination of the destruction and their government's choice of isolation worked to leave Coridan a second-rate nation.

Fair point... though given that "Journey to Babel" established that Tellarites were among those pirating Coridan's dilithium, I wonder if maybe Coridanite isolation wasn't a rational response? After all, most of Coridan's diplomatic history has been one of exploitation -- by the Vulcans and Andorians, with both Coridanite factions used as proxies in their cold war -- and then later by Tellarites and Orions. Maybe they simply, and correctly, feared that a less isolationist Coridan would be reduced to even less than second-rate power?

To make a comparison to the real world: In "Shadows of P'Jem" and "Demons," Coridan was Saudi Arabia, but in "Journey to Babel," Coridan was the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Well said

Thank you!

You're doing my job, Sci. It's too big for one person, though, isn't it? I didn't make note of any of these.

Just catchin' a few things and adding in my patented tendency to take note of political minutiae.

The full formal name of the Coridanite state is the People's Republic of Coridan; the head of government is a Chancellor. This is interesting, as Coridan was established to be a Vulcan client state in "Shadows of P'Jem;" should we take Coridan's name, and the references to capitalism's abolition on Earth, to mean that Vulcan usually encourages the establishment of left-wing/socialist governments in its client worlds?

If Vulcan encourages its protectorate worlds to adopt forms of government considered logical to Vulcans, I could see how distribution of resources along socialist lines would be part of the package. Vulcan developed from a war-torn world where fighting over limited resources was foundational to their culture, to a balanced world where its population is supported without apparent want. I could easily see how acquisition of wealth for private purposes might be considered dangerous and likely to promote hostility and conflict, and Vulcan was definitely paternalistic enough to apply its model of stable government to others. I could definitely buy a Vulcan hand in the abolition of capitalism as a driving force.

Interesting insight! Vulcan culture may well be predisposed to view a level of domestic egalitarianism as a moral and practical necessity, given the scarcity of resources and hostile climate.

On Starfleet Intelligence, could it have been founded to keep a discreet eye on the Vulcans? After all, the Vulcans' efforts to hold back humans' warp program made them rivals to Starfleet. Maybe the founding goal of SI was to try to steal Vulcan technological secrets, or at least to stymie their efforts to inhibit Earth's progress.

I like this idea...

On Coridan, it strikes me as rather simplistic to assume that they'd be socialist just because their government's name translates roughly as "People's Republic." Alien political and economic systems would probably be just that, alien, rather than exact duplications of Earthly systems.

Well, I'm being a little bit facetious. On the other hand, I am playing with the notion that maybe the Coridanite name doesn't literally translate as "People's Republic," but that that phrase was used to try to convey an analogous concept.

And when I use phrases like "socialist" or "capitalist" in these kinds of settings, I'm speaking very broadly -- "socialist" essentially in terms of, "generally favoring communal ownership of the means of production," and "capitalist" essentially in terms of "generally favoring individual ownership of the means of production." There are of course many different varieties of both socialism and capitalism (some libertarian, some tyrannical; some state-based, some community-based; etc.).

Kobayashi Maru
Draylaxians, by the way, are all but confirmed to be the race from which the slightly feline woman in The Final Frontier hailed - this was always suspected, given the shared characteristic of three breasts, but the description of Draylaxians here as "leonine" clinches it.

Nice catch! I never picked up on that one.

Cheron, both as a ruined planet wiped out in a long-ago war and as a Romulan military beachhead.

I have to admit, I was always disappointed they picked Bele and Loki's Cheron. I always liked to imagine it was a reference to Pluto's moon.

The Confederacy of Vulcan is the name for the new, civilian government; in the High Command days it was something else.

I don't have my copy with me -- are we sure that the name "Confederacy of Vulcan" is new? Governments can change yet retain the same state name -- it was still "the Republic of Chile" (la República de Chile) when Pinochet overthrew Allende, and stayed the Republic of Chile after Pinochet lost power.

Take Me To Your Leader: Kobyashi Maru establishes that T'Pau's office as leader of Vulcan is known as the First Minister of the Confederacy of Vulcan. This dovetails with ENT's "Home," in which it was established that the First Minister was dismissed after Archer exposed the spy station at P'Jem and the High Command took over -- implying that Vulcan in ENT Season One was still led by a civilian government, but that V'Las, as Administrator of the High Command, overthrew the civilians after the embarrassment caused by exposing P'Jem, turning Vulcan into a military dictatorship under his rule. T'Pau as First Minister implies a return to civilian rule.

The Romulan War: Beneath the Raptor's Wing

I have to confess: I don't much like Michael A. Martin's characterization or prose without Andy Mangels, so I'm afraid I only skimmed both Romulan War books. As a result, I may have missed some important stuff.

Regarding Humans, I enjoy too the continued exploration of Human colonists. We're given a view of the Centaurians and the people of Mars, how their cultural traits and outlooks typically compare with Terrans. It also continues the thread from Kobayashi Maru of showing how Humans adapt to the practical environmental challenges of new worlds, particularly in the detailed depiction of Mars

I did enjoy Martin's depiction of life on Mars.

Vega, we're told, remains neutral. Although it isn't noted in the text, they are more distant from Romulan space than most Human worlds (Their response is much like that of Denobula, then?)

Interesting. I got the impression from Tower of Babel that Vega Colony only gained its independence from United Earth upon being admitted to the Federation as a separate Member State; maybe they declared independence much earlier.

Outlying Human worlds (most of them lost to the Romulans) include Draken IV, Tarod IX, Zavijava V, and Delta Pavonis (confirming, I guess, that Benzar is pre-warp in this timeframe, since no mention is made of Benzites). More populated, core-proximate Human colonies are those we've already seen - Tau Ceti IV, Altair VI, Deneva. Deneva's primary settlement is the Lacon Township in the Summer Islands, a site that will one day be Lacon City, the capital of Deneva.

Somehow I always missed that Lacon City was Deneva's capital.

Just curious -- has anyone checked to see if the history of Deneva outlined in the ENT novels dovetails with the history outlined in TNG: Losing the Peace?

What's In A Name?: T'Pau is now being referred to the Administrator of the Confederacy of Vulcan--similar to V'Las's old title. I suppose we can interpret this as an indication of there still being some constitutional issues being worked out on Vulcan. Personally, I would have preferred retaining the "First Minister" title.

And Zoidberg!: We get some nice info on Mars. The full formal state name is the Confederated Martian Colonies. They won their independence in the early 22nd century--seemingly before the founding of United Earth in 2130. Their capital is Ares City; they live in a combination of domed cities and communities built into rockface. They've become a home for many ethnic and political minorities, including some Native North American nations.

What's In A Name?: The legislature of the Confederated Martian Colonies is referred to inconsistently as both the Governing Council and as the Assembly of the Martian Colonies. No idea if both names are legit or if Martin just couldn't make up his mind.

Take Me To Your Leader: We have as yet no information on the Martian head(s) of state and/or government.

Why is it that in Beneath the Raptor's Wings, U.S.S. Yeager (NCC-76) and U.S.S. Yorktown (NCC-108) get "U.S.S." prefixes? What's so special about these Daedalus class starships to warrant "U.S.S."?

That bit really irked me. I don't at all like the idea that Earth used the "U.S.S." prefix before the UFP -- it just adds to the "Federation as Earth's imperium" feel. I also didn't care for Martin's decision to have the U.E. Prime Minister have an office at the Place de la Concorde.

(Of course, I always liked to imagine that the capital of United Earth would be somewhere in what is now the Third World, to emphasize the idea that this is an Earth of real equality and unity. In my head, I always liked the idea that the capital city of United Earth was Mogadishu -- I liked the idea of taking a city now seen as part of a failed state, and having it be the capital of a pseudo-utopian future.)

To Brave the Storm

It's a glorious day in the Great Chronological Run-Through. We've arrived at the founding of the Federation!

Though it's a very short segment that introduces this. I would have loved to see a novel that focuses in significant part on what motivated the decision to formally united into a single Federation--it's a huge, huge policy change that isn't given much attention.

Indistinguishable From Magic, Prologue and Chapter 9.
It's good to see how the civilians on Earth are doing - something largely lacking from To Brave the Storm, after Beneath the Raptor's Wing did such a good job with it (We had some Brooks and Picard on Mars, but nothing much about Earth even when Madrid and Tunis were nuked). That many Humans don't fully trust the new treaty and are cynically waiting for the Romulans to strike again even as they get on with their lives is a welcome and logical touch.

I've always been very curious about how the founding of the Federation would look from the POV of the general public on the founding worlds. I liked this bit.

Rise of the Federation: A Choice of Futures
There's a sense of freshness and new life to the setting, which really helps sell the idea that the Federation has changed things for the better. So the book succeeds in establishing a logical new direction for the post-series Enterprise books that builds on what came previously but feels very different.

This!

There's a lot set up for the future in this one. The discussion of how contact with less advanced worlds should be handled, for instance, revolves around an issue that will be problematic for quite a while to come. Soval's proposal of Vulcan-inspired non-interference policies, and the Earth/Centaurian/Tellarite merchant forces who oppose this approach is a disagreement that won't be fully resolved for at least another century. Even after the Prime Directive is introduced and well-established, we'll still see those interstellar trader types traveling to and from all manner of planets, in an often almost roguish manner.

It's kind of sad to see that by the TNG era, the Federation has embraced a reactionary, Vulcan-inspired interpretation of noninterference -- to the point of letting endangered civilizations die out in the name of "not interfering with their natural development." This coincidentally serves the cause of Federation power, since it allows the UFP to technologically dominate recent first contacts -- a bad tendency towards neoimperialism inherited from the Vulcans, I think.

What's In A Name?: A Choice of Futures explicitly establishes the full formal names (or at least their English translations) for the founding Federation states: United Earth, the Confederacy of Vulcan, the Andorian Empire, the United Planets of Tellar, and the Alpha Centauri Concoridum. UPT comes from a FAFSA manuel, IIRC, while the ACC was inspired by Franz Josef's Star Fleet Technical Manual.

Take Me To Your Leader: The constitutional set-up of the early Federation is interesting, confusing, seemingly dysfunctional, totally impractical, and therefore must have been inspired by the European Union.

We get the Council of the United Federation of Planets. This is the legislature with which we are most familiar in later years. In the TNG era novels, the Council is composed of one Councillor from each Member State, chosen by whatever method that Member State wants. We get no data on the Council's make-up here until Tower of Babel.

There's the Commission of the United Federation of Planets, comprised of commissioners elected (elected? IIRC?) for a specific portfolio. This would seem to be the forerunner to the Federation President's cabinet in later centuries.

There are the Ministers' Conferences, convened by the UFP on certain occasions and consisting of the relevant ministers from each Member State, trying to reach consensus. This would seem to be a variation on the Babel Conferences.

And finally, we learn that for the first six months, there was no Federation President; rather, the Council was expected to take charge and reach consensus. This proved impractical, so a President of the Council was appointed -- Thomas Vanderbilt, former U.E. Defense Secretary. The President is expected to act for the Council when it is out of session, but he is not popularly elected and is not the formal head of the state. However, he's been made commander-in-chief of the Federation Starfleet, and he's already begun assuming de facto presidential powers.

Castle in the Sky: The Federation Council President is operating out of something called the Federation Executive Building, located in Paris. This may be the same building near the Place de la Concorde that housed an office of the United Earth Prime Minister, appropriated for UFP usage. The early U.S. Congress often met in state houses originally built for the state/colonial legislatures; this may be similar.

The novel Articles of the Federation, however, establishes that the Federation's own dedicated capitol will be built and debates held within its chambers by the time Haroun al-Rashid and Avaranthi sh'Rothress have their famous historical debates on Federation Membership criteria.

Tower of Babel
The discussion regarding how centralized the Federation should be is a logical one, with many good points on all sides of the debate. Thoris, in his campaigning at Babel, is trying to balance what many would call "the necessities of politics" with his personal sense of what's right, what will be best for the Federation peoples and what will be most responsible of him personally. He's trying to navigate the system while remaining true to his convictions; Soval, though, seeks to question whether he truly understands the potential consequences or complications of what he's doing. As with the last book, this isn't in any way presented as grim or pessimistic, it's simply realistic.

Indeed, it makes sense that the division of power between local and the UFP governments would be a major source of contention in the early UFP.

First Appearances of Things That Are Important[/quote]

This is the first appearance in the UFP of semi-organized political parties. I'm the sort of person who thinks that organized political parties are actually very important to the ability of a democracy to function properly, so this pleased me a lot. I know the authors often have a more cynical take on political parties, but I honestly think there's a legit role for them in an ideal democracy. The Planetarists and the Federalists make for a fascinating couple.

I've always thought that if the UFP had political parties, it would probably be unions of planetary parties like Europarties -- and the Planetarists seem to be one example of this, since amongst their members is the Vulcan Anti-Reformation Party.

Take Me To Your Leader: The familiar office of President of the United Federation of Planets is established, and Haroun al-Rashid, former U.E. Interior Minister, is elected President. This is technically a separate office from the President of the Council, but it's evolved out of that one. The President will have four-year terms.

This novel is the first to establish the full composition of the Federation Council -- it is, indeed, still one Councillor for each Member State. In this novel, they are all popularly elected; TNG-era novels depicted different worlds as choosing their Councillors in different ways. (Bajor's First Minister appoints their with the advise and consent of the Chamber of Ministers; Betazed's is popularly elected; Andor's will become part of the Cabinet, appointed by the Presider of the Parliament Andoria after his party wins a majority of seats.)

Coridanites built the mighty shipyard at Rigel VI, and made first extra-Raij contact with the Rigelian peoples. The more we learn of Coridan's pre-Federation history the sadder the whole affair becomes. Their story over the course of the established Trek timeline is one of steep decline and depopulation. By contrast, Rigel is doing well and will remain prosperous, being essentially the Federation's commercial hub.

I always liked the idea of Rigel as the Federation's version of New York or London.

* * *

I'll post a complete list of the Federation Council and its full partisan make-up after the 2164 Federation General Election when I have some extra time.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Well, I think the most probable thing blue would symbolize to Vulcans might be life: We know from the establishing shots of Vulcan in ENT that their few large oceans are blue. So I imagine for Vulcans living on a planet with less water than Earth, blue would represent life and prosperity, both sustenance and abundance.

A few sources suggest that it carried associations of honour or nobility, in part due to the scarcity of the colour; certain blue birds are noted as being symbols of such qualities, if I recall. Lara, they're called, presumably making the name T'Lara "Of the Lara". I don't know if the novel 'verse yet supports this, but it hasn't contradicted it.

There's a fan site I've found - Kir'Shara, I think it's called - that has basically given a thoughtful analysis and breakdown of pretty much every Vulcan name in canon and the novel 'verse, and a fantastic extrapolation of Vulcan culture.

For Andorians, I imagine blue would be like red for Humans. In particular, maybe for them it represents sacrifice -- blood shed to secure liberty.

Agreed. I note that the General rank uniform in the Imperial Guard (glimpsed in "Proving Ground") has dark blue sleeves. Privately I've dubbed them "the Bloodsleeves". One must show great sacrifice and military honour to earn the Bloodsleeves. I've also wondered if the seal of the Andorian Empire is blue to honour all of those who shed their blood in its defence (that, or it represents blood in the kinship sense, with all those interlocking circles and ovals representing intermarried clans and bond-groups?)

Perhaps, given that a line of circles and ovals is laid across (encompassed by?) a larger oval, the logo signifies the historical line of defenders united by their shared duty to Andor? Again, blue would indeed be associated with blood, and from that with possibly both kinship and sacrifice?

We know comparatively little about Tellarite culture -- but we do know they like to take mudbaths. Presumably, they'd be using water to clean up afterwards -- maybe for Tellarites, blue signifies water, and therefore signifies cleanliness and renewal, a new beginning after washing away the mud?

Maybe the Federation Seal's blue color is supposed to stand for all of these things, at once: Peace, prosperity, liberty, sacrifice, and renewal.

Now that, I like.

[Fair point... though given that "Journey to Babel" established that Tellarites were among those pirating Coridan's dilithium, I wonder if maybe Coridanite isolation wasn't a rational response? After all, most of Coridan's diplomatic history has been one of exploitation -- by the Vulcans and Andorians, with both Coridanite factions used as proxies in their cold war -- and then later by Tellarites and Orions. Maybe they simply, and correctly, feared that a less isolationist Coridan would be reduced to even less than second-rate power?

Good point. Consolidating and closing themselves off when at their most vulnerable (and succumbing to civil war on top of it) would make sense if they assume (as they logically would) that any partnership with others in their weakened state would simply devolve into Coridan being pushed and pulled around while its dilithium is drained for the other's benefit. Coridan, like Earth, deferred to Vulcan until very recently, so protecting a new sense of independence would make extra sense.

As always: poor, troubled Coridan...

I don't have my copy with me -- are we sure that the name "Confederacy of Vulcan" is new? Governments can change yet retain the same state name -- it was still "the Republic of Chile" (la República de Chile) when Pinochet overthrew Allende, and stayed the Republic of Chile after Pinochet lost power.

Well, we're sure that V'Las' government wasn't called that and T'Pau's is, but whether her people are restoring an old name or creating an entirely new one... I guess you could interpret it how you want.

It's kind of sad to see that by the TNG era, the Federation has embraced a reactionary, Vulcan-inspired interpretation of noninterference -- to the point of letting endangered civilizations die out in the name of "not interfering with their natural development." This coincidentally serves the cause of Federation power, since it allows the UFP to technologically dominate recent first contacts -- a bad tendency towards neoimperialism inherited from the Vulcans, I think.

We'll need to keep all of this in mind when we get to the TNG Prime Directive episodes.

It might be an organic result of the Federation settling into a comparative decadence in the 24th Century. After Tomed and prior to the advent of the Borg, the UFP was essentially unchallenged. All conflicts were local, limited to certain border regions. Q's criticism of Picard in "Q, Who" serves to reintroduce the sense of wonder and danger, of vast open frontiers and rival powers, of Kirk's era. The Federation was in danger of become complacent and arrogant. Too much Vorlon; they needed some Shadow. And from 2370-2385 is basically the Federation charging through the flames to emerge, hopefully strengthened, on the other side.

I assume, like many civilizations, the Federation was entering a period of ossification and stagnation; as Vulcan did in the century or so prior to Enterprise. Is not someone like Norah Satie basically an emergent V'Las?

[Take Me To Your Leader: The constitutional set-up of the early Federation is interesting, confusing, seemingly dysfunctional, totally impractical, and therefore must have been inspired by the European Union.

In this novel, they are all popularly elected; TNG-era novels depicted different worlds as choosing their Councillors in different ways. (Bajor's First Minister appoints their with the advise and consent of the Chamber of Ministers; Betazed's is popularly elected; Andor's will become part of the Cabinet, appointed by the Presider of the Parliament Andoria after his party wins a majority of seats.)

The others that we know of: Gnala's is popularly elected, and Triex's is appointed by the Triexian Curia.

As for the Vulcans pushing through a more socialist and less capitalistic system, having it that way also dampens any potentially thorny disagreements over competing economic and social policies in the real world. Explaining it in terms of something Earth was guided to by the Vulcans as part of the general reconstruction of Earth places it somewhat out of Human hands. For better or worse, it happened. The Enterprise Vulcans always exhibited an uneasy tension between promoting non-interference (and, really, segregation from "dangerous" cultural contaminants, in both directions but more importantly from the aliens to their own people) and imposition of their own desires. Why is Earth increasingly money-free? Because Vulcan directed them down that path almost on reflex. Good enough for me.

 

[Idran]

I have to admit, I was always disappointed they picked Bele and Loki's Cheron. I always liked to imagine it was a reference to Pluto's moon.

That'd be neat, but unfortunately Pluto's moon is Charon, and everywhere it was written in something related to a Paramount production (In a Mirror Darkly's production art, the Picard photo album, the script for the Defector), it was definitely spelled Cheron. Though I guess since those weren't on screen, it still could have potentially been ignored and reinterpreted as the Battle of Charon.

For the writers here, just out of curiosity, what's Paramount's policy on tie-in literature and keeping consistent with canon when it comes to the way things are spelled in scripts, if it was never actually shown on camera? Since it's not strictly on-screen material, would that have potentially been allowed?

 

[Christopher]

I have to admit, I was always disappointed they picked Bele and Loki's Cheron. I always liked to imagine it was a reference to Pluto's moon.

That'd be neat, but unfortunately Pluto's moon is Charon, and everywhere it was written in something related to a Paramount production (In a Mirror Darkly's production art, the Picard photo album, the script for the Defector), it was definitely spelled Cheron. Though I guess since those weren't on screen, it still could have potentially been ignored and reinterpreted as the Battle of Charon.

Actually it couldn't, because the name of Pluto's moon (like that of the mythical underworld boatman it's named for) is pronounced with an initial K sound, like "Karen," not with the CH sound used for "Cheron."

For the writers here, just out of curiosity, what's Paramount's policy on tie-in literature and keeping consistent with canon when it comes to the way things are spelled in scripts, if it was never actually shown on camera? Since it's not strictly on-screen material, would that have potentially been allowed?

Alan Dean Foster changed a lot of the spellings of alien names and words in his Star Trek Logs, but I think they were corrected in the later reprints. Otherwise, I've never really seen it spelled out, but I'd guess that we're expected to use the correct spellings, because it's all CBS's intellectual property and I figure they'd want it rendered correctly. After all, they keep insisting we write "starship Enterprise" (for instance) as "Starship Enterprise", which makes no damn sense but is apparently necessary for trademark reasons or something. (I've gotten into the habit of avoiding the phrase altogether because of that.) So yeah, they probably do care about spelling.

 

[Idran]

I have to admit, I was always disappointed they picked Bele and Loki's Cheron. I always liked to imagine it was a reference to Pluto's moon.

That'd be neat, but unfortunately Pluto's moon is Charon, and everywhere it was written in something related to a Paramount production (In a Mirror Darkly's production art, the Picard photo album, the script for the Defector), it was definitely spelled Cheron. Though I guess since those weren't on screen, it still could have potentially been ignored and reinterpreted as the Battle of Charon.

Actually it couldn't, because the name of Pluto's moon (like that of the mythical underworld boatman it's named for) is pronounced with an initial K sound, like "Karen," not with the CH sound used for "Cheron."

Oh, that's right, I always forget that about Greek words with "ch". (I still mispronounce "chimera" and "chitin" annoyingly often; the curse of seeing a word long before you hear it.)

For the writers here, just out of curiosity, what's Paramount's policy on tie-in literature and keeping consistent with canon when it comes to the way things are spelled in scripts, if it was never actually shown on camera? Since it's not strictly on-screen material, would that have potentially been allowed?

Alan Dean Foster changed a lot of the spellings of alien names and words in his Star Trek Logs, but I think they were corrected in the later reprints. Otherwise, I've never really seen it spelled out, but I'd guess that we're expected to use the correct spellings, because it's all CBS's intellectual property and I figure they'd want it rendered correctly. After all, they keep insisting we write "starship Enterprise" (for instance) as "Starship Enterprise", which makes no damn sense but is apparently necessary for trademark reasons or something. (I've gotten into the habit of avoiding the phrase altogether because of that.) So yeah, they probably do care about spelling.

That's about what I figured, yeah; thanks for the insight!

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Gods of Night, chapters 2, 6, 10, 13, 17, 20

I won't be reading the full story of Erika Hernandez for some time, but for now we'll take a look at what happened to Columbia, and how its crew of castaways are faring while the rest of Humanity fights the Romulan War and builds the Federation. It's a compelling story in its own right.

We learn that Columbia escaped a Romulan telecapture attempt (unfortunately, after the Romulans used it to destroy the convoy they were escorting) and then limped at high impulse to a nearby planet. Twelve years passed during their journey of several months.

Assuming we discount the Organians, this is our first look at an "elder" race; at a people whose technological achievements far exceed those of Earth. Indeed, one Caeliar notes that a single machine in their possession is currently channelling more power than Humans have harnessed over the course of their entire history. The Caeliar are situated relatively close to Earth and the other worlds with which we're familiar, and are monitoring everything that's happened; they simply don't care about it. They no longer hold interest in any civilization less advanced than their own, and privacy is of the utmost importance to them. The Caeliar are so comfortable in their utopian cities that almost nothing fazes them or warrants their attention. They view their Human guests as a slight bother (in some cases a mild threat whose presence they resent), and little more. They're distant and emotionally stunted, implicitly not because they're engaged in Vulcan-style emotional suppression but simply because by this point they've seen it all. They've met and overcome all potential challenges and now have little left to engage them. Were it not for their Great Work, attempting to locate a civilization more advanced than their own, they might well have stagnated entirely.

Events spiral out of control when the overbearing Caeliar clash with frustrated Humans. Alien patronization more extreme than anything the Vulcans offered meets with Human impulsiveness and leads to disaster, causing the destruction of most of the Caeliar and the majority of the Humans along with them. This is also foreshadowing, as we see how certain attributes of Caeliar and Humans can work with and against each other to create something dangerous.

So, we end the era of the NX-class with Columbia hurtling off to an unknown fate, everybody on board dead (well, almost everybody...), and Hernandez and the remaining members of her party thrown back in time, now completely cut off from their prior lives.

Obviously, the full emotional impact of this won't be apparent until I reread it as part of the full story in 2381, but for now this is an engaging and ambitious depiction of Humans coming up against the full depth and breadth of the universe, the potential wonders and dangers of its inhabitants. More than anything we've seen so far, this piece makes the galaxy seem awe-inspiring.

First Appearances of Things That Are Important

The Caeliar.

Captain Proton is mentioned. Since an entire episode will focus on the serial, I count it as "important".

Next Time: A very short piece that I went back and forth on whether to include but finally chose to, since it gives a glimpse into how the Klingons are faring in an age of internal stress and relative isolation. It's Forged in Fire: Prologue wa'.

 

[Sci]

Couple of notes I forgot above:

What's In A Name?: It's a little bit unclear if the Rigel system was de jure a sovereign state in its own right before joining the Federation, or if it was a de jure trade alliance that had become a de facto sovereign state, so it's unclear what their common name was. But upon joining the Federation, they are known as the United Rigel Worlds and Colonies.

The full formal name of the Vega IX polity goes unestablished in Tower of Babel, but IIRC, Christopher has said their full formal name is simply Vega Colony. I'll use that.

Also, Tower of Babel establishes the formula for the full title of a member of the Federation Council: "Federation Councillor for [Federation Member State name]."

Take Me To Your Leader: The 2164 Federation Presidential and Council Elections were held on Saturday, October 27, 2164. Federation Councillor Haroun al-Rashid (F-United Earth) defeated Federation Councillor Anlenthoris ch'Vhendreni (P-Andorian Empire) for the newly-established Federation Presidency. Three Councillors were re-elected: T'Maran of Vulcan, Gral of Tellar, and Qaletaqu of Mars. The rest were Council newcomers. The terms of office for everyone were set to begin at the start of 2165.

So, the Second Federation Council consists of:

Gora bim Gral (F-United Planets of Tellar)
Percival Kimbridge (F-United Earth)
Zhi Nu Palmer (P-Vega Colony)
Qaletaqu (P-Confederated Martian Colonies)
Kishkik Sajithen (F-United Rigel Worlds and Colonies)
Avaranthi sh'Rothress (F-Andorian Empire)
Nasrin Sloane (P-Alpha Centauri Concordium)
T'Maran (F-Confederacy of Vulcan)

Moreover, since we know what Members made up the Federation before this election, and who was replaced and who was re-elected, we can therefore infer that the First Federation Council (2161-2164) consisted of:

Haroun al-Rashid (F-United Earth)
Anlenthoris ch'Vhendreni (P-Andorian Empire)
Gora bim Gral (F-United Planets of Tellar)
Qaletaqu (P-Confederated Martian Colonies)*
T'Maran (F-Confederacy of Vulcan)
[Unknown] (Alpha Centauri Concordium)

* Mars joined shortly after the founding in 2161.

Interesting to note that while Earth has two Councillors in a row who are Federalists, in addition to Council President Thomas Vanderbilt, all three of its former colonies -- Mars, Alpha Centauri, and Vega -- elect Planetarists to the Council.

 

[Christopher]

What's In A Name?: A Choice of Futures explicitly establishes the full formal names (or at least their English translations) for the founding Federation states: United Earth, the Confederacy of Vulcan, the Andorian Empire, the United Planets of Tellar, and the Alpha Centauri Concoridum. UPT comes from a FAFSA manuel, IIRC, while the ACC was inspired by Franz Josef's Star Fleet Technical Manual.

Alpha Centauri was the only one of those governments whose names had not been established in earlier novels. I believe it was the earlier Mangels-Martin or solo-Martin ENT novels that established the CoV and the UPT. But yes, I did base the Concordium on the SFTM's name for it. After all, the others were similarly derived from the SFTM titles: Confederacy of Vulcan/Planetary Confederation of 40 Eridani, Andorian Empire/Star Empire of Epsilon Indi, United Planets of Tellar/United Planets of 61 Cygni.

Take Me To Your Leader: The constitutional set-up of the early Federation is interesting, confusing, seemingly dysfunctional, totally impractical, and therefore must have been inspired by the European Union.

It was based the EU, yes, though I have no comment on your editorializing.

There are the Ministers' Conferences, convened by the UFP on certain occasions and consisting of the relevant ministers from each Member State, trying to reach consensus. This would seem to be a variation on the Babel Conferences.

Rather, I'm retconning Babel conferences to be a subcategory of ministerial conferences. They're the ones attended by the diplomatic ministers/ambassadors/commissioners, whereas the conference in ACoF was attended by defense ministers, and there could similarly be conferences for interior ministers, education ministers, etc.

Castle in the Sky: The Federation Council President is operating out of something called the Federation Executive Building, located in Paris. This may be the same building near the Place de la Concorde that housed an office of the United Earth Prime Minister, appropriated for UFP usage. The early U.S. Congress often met in state houses originally built for the state/colonial legislatures; this may be similar.

The novel Articles of the Federation, however, establishes that the Federation's own dedicated capitol will be built and debates held within its chambers by the time Haroun al-Rashid and Avaranthi sh'Rothress have their famous historical debates on Federation Membership criteria.

I originally used the Palais de la Concorde in those scenes, until I checked AotF and found that it had been built in the al-Rashid administration. So a tweak in copyediting (or maybe even proofreading) created the Executive Building.

This is the first appearance in the UFP of semi-organized political parties. I'm the sort of person who thinks that organized political parties are actually very important to the ability of a democracy to function properly, so this pleased me a lot. I know the authors often have a more cynical take on political parties, but I honestly think there's a legit role for them in an ideal democracy. The Planetarists and the Federalists make for a fascinating couple.

They're not organized parties, just factions. "Planetarist" is a collective name for various different movements/parties on various planets, which by their very nature are not unified into a single entity. Federalists are basically just everyone who sees things differently. They're based on the Federalist and Anti-federalist blocs in the early United States.

Indeed, I don't see a two-party system being possible in the Federation, since there are just too many planets/species/societies with their own concerns and priorities and internal conflicts of belief. Different factions might occasionally align into two opposing camps on a polarizing issue, but then they'd presumably branch off in their own directions, maybe converging into other temporary alliances on other issues.

Take Me To Your Leader: The familiar office of President of the United Federation of Planets is established, and Haroun al-Rashid, former U.E. Interior Minister, is elected President. This is technically a separate office from the President of the Council, but it's evolved out of that one.

I'm not convinced that they're separate, at least not in the 2160s. I intended al-Rashid to be the successor to Vanderbilt in the same post. I think the UFP President at this point is the president of the Council, although the role might evolve into something distinct later on.

What's In A Name?: It's a little bit unclear if the Rigel system was de jure a sovereign state in its own right before joining the Federation, or if it was a de jure trade alliance that had become a de facto sovereign state, so it's unclear what their common name was. But upon joining the Federation, they are known as the United Rigel Worlds and Colonies.

The Trade Commission had been the de facto government of the system for 400 years by this point, so I'd say it was pretty official.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Forged In Fire, prologue wa'

It's 2173, and we take a look at how the Klingons are doing. Last we heard, they were entering one of their insular periods, dealing with the internal issues of the age; most notably the societal restructuring necessitated by the Augment virus, but we can assume that the incorporation of the Thelasian worlds and the replacement of M'Rek complicated things further.

Poor Antaak. He's clearly not in a good way here, veering between an uncharacteristically irritable manner, wracked with anger and guilt, and an almost delusional excitement, spinning fantasies to himself about great victories of science seeing him enshrined in the Hall of Heroes alongside the warriors. As in his two episodes, we see that he has embraced or internalized his society's notions of honour and shame even as he remains committed to a non-warrior path as the route to glory. It all comes crashing down when his "cure" for the QuchHa' condition - rushed through due to his increasingly poor judgement mingled with political pressures - causes another destructive plague on Qu'Vat. If Mempa is the Klingons' Rigel, then Qu'Vat is the Klingons' Coridan.

Continuity

Antaak now has five grandchildren, several grown daughters and a grown son. He would also have had another son, Krit, put to death for the killing of M'Rek (according to The Klingon Art of War).