Also, I have to admit, Nasat, I'm very curious how you're going to handle the...muddled chronology of Errand of Fury, having recently tried to get it to fit together myself. It really seems torn between setting itself a month or two after Errand of Vengeance and nearly a year later. I mean, it even outright mentions Court Martial happening months ago even though Ben Finney showed up in EoV.
I ended up just throwing my hands up and ignoring the chronology around Leslie's pregnancy entirely, since the connection with Errand of Mercy is too strong to do otherwise, and the gaps between books are too explicitly short to spread the books out across the intermediary period. (It didn't help that you can't even fudge the gestation, as Klingon/Human pregnancy happens to be the one hybrid pregnancy we
have a canon mentioned-on-screen gestation period for, and it's just too short to work with.
)
The exact issue of where
Errand of Fury fits in is something I'll probably discuss when I get to the books in question; I think you've pretty much summarized the major issues. Perhaps we can cast certain scenes into the category of "unannounced flashback", as was suggested for Hoshi meeting the MACOs for the first time, which otherwise takes place a full seven weeks into the Delphic Expanse mission...
There are also some larger continuity muddles involving the state of certain Klingon families, notably the Houses of Gorkon and Duras, exactly who is where doing what and who is related to or leading who. However, since the events of these books are referenced elsewhere (including in
Vanguard once or twice), and they do such an extensive and unparalleled job of depicting the Klingon-Federation conflict that is so defining of the era, they really need to be a part of this, and any discrepancies I find a way to fudge. That, or I just handwave it as a case of "something very much like this happened - see, it's being referenced - but some of the details are off". Next time we see Gorkon in
Vanguard, we can discuss how he fits in with Karel and Kell here, and exactly what the relationship is. (We might speculate that Karel is actually originally intended to
be Gorkon).
So, on that note, book three of
Errand of Vengeance:
River of Blood
Referring, of course, both to violent conflict in general, since this is the first major Federation-Klingon martial clash, that had it gone better for the Empire would have started the war, and to Klingon mythology, as one crosses the River of Blood on one's way to
Sto-vo-kor if they have lived and died with honour.
This one’s largely an action climax to the trilogy, with an engagement that is a prelude to the planned war and on which the war itself might rest. While, naturally, concluding Kell's journey back into honour (partially, since he dies believing he won't make it to
Sto-vo-kor, though he's at peace enough with that) and away from the corrupt Klingon leadership.
A few things that struck me as worth mentioning:
We’ve only had a bare few Prime Directive stories thus far (I used the first
Mere Anarchy tale as my introduction to that omnipresent concern of later Trek stories), and here we have an interesting example of how zealous the Directive can be, how it is – as Soval seemed to advise in
A Choice of Futures – a continuation of the Vulcan policy of policing the general territory. It’s seriously discussed – although dismissed quickly and without much concern by the leads – that under the letter of the law it would be problematic to leave Gorath’s Klingons with possession of their recovered Orion technologies. That is, even though it was the Orions who introduced to the natives both the technology and the wider galaxy in general, and although the natives have already come to terms with those realities and taken steps to adapt, some people back in Federation Policy Headquarters would have the
Enterprise hoover all the technology up and slap a plaster over the situation, even though it would leave Gorath's people in a more unstable and less optimal position.
Since the Federation is facing war, we once again have the military side of Starfleet contrasting with the Federation's reluctance to appear a military power; indeed, its tendency to at times deny that it has a military arm at all. Throughout this trilogy there have been references to the recent-historic Battle of Axanar, which is credited with helping preserve the Federation, on a possibly existential level. Those who participated are held in highest regard within Starfleet. However, on the surface there appears to be a contradiction here that suggests a pretty fascinating gap in our knowledge of the setting. Many times it’s mentioned - indeed it's an integral plot point - that Starfleet and the Federation are unprepared for war, having faced no serious military threat in a long time and operating the service as only a few steps removed from the civilian. However, West frequently defines the situation around Axanar 15 years ago in military terms, drawing a distinction between the military angle on Starfleet that to his mind (and others') describes the fleet’s purpose on that historical occasion and his own commitment to enabling understanding and exchange between cultures so as to avoid armed conflict, which he presents as a differing, even opposing, angle on Starfleet's purpose. The exact nature of what occurred at Axanar sounds like it must be fascinating. Navigating this paradox regarding Starfleet's history, and the various perspectives we're given, I wonder if it was the very fact that military force was brought to bear that led to the incident becoming so serious and definitive for the Federation and its unity. Was this a dilemma along (to borrow political labels from an earlier period) Planetarist VS Federalist lines, in which the Federation came down harder on its members than it might have previously when they perhaps began to fracture? Might this also be the genesis of the Anti-Federation League and the other UFP-averse groups that appear in these books, who hold that the Federation is overbearing and dangerous to its members' cultural and political diversity, and who continuously define the UFP in terms of military projection and force of arms? This in turn might contribute to a Starfleet reluctant to appear too military even as most of its command-level personnel celebrate the actions of its soldier-commanders. There’s also the fact that the climatic engagement, the big act of military force that defines the incident and is celebrated in the present, occurs at Axanar (this report filed by Captain Obvious).
Inception seemed to strongly imply that as of 2260 Axanar was recently a member of the UFP (there was concern in that one about Axanar deforestation to ease population concerns as part of a Federation effort to give every family their own home. Given the Axanars’ unique physiology and very long lives, I could see population pressures being an issue for them).
What happened around Axanar that it required or provoked controversial military action that is now celebrated by Starfleet, honoured by a UFP that nonetheless refused to commit to a militant platform and remains unprepared for war, is implicitly disliked by the most anti-centralist factions in UFP territory, and may have led to Axanar becoming a Federation member world? This is a story that I would like to see told.
This arc isn't really about war, or about the various and often conflicting perspectives on Starfleet as a military, though: it's about understanding the Klingons, and how both the Federation and individual Klingons themselves are reluctant to do so. The Klingon Empire as it exists now is incomprehensible to both the UFP and to strict followers of Kahless, but an overwhelming threat to both nonetheless, and they slowly come to understand this, to not a little sorrow. The former find it hard to truly embrace the idea that here is a culture who are
more likely to fight a war with you as you come to understand them, who won't neatly slot into place if you just project your best face to them, that here is a people who suggest that the policy of peaceful open-handed expansion was in fact detrimental to the Federation's long-term survival. The latter, the Klingons loyal to their traditional religion of Kahless, find it hard to accept just how far removed imperial policy is from the guidelines it ostensibly runs on. There's a particularly telling, if casual, observation from the disguised Kell, who notes that in his opinion wars between races and nations occur because the players know each other all too well rather than because they don’t understand each other well enough, as the Federation's more gung-ho citizens seem to believe (his roommate earned a "Galactic Citizenship" Merit Badge in some Scouts-style organization by learning Klingon). This, of course, likely serves to foreshadow the eventual outcome of West’s arc, given that his entire character is defined here by the necessity of war preparations stemming from his committed efforts to avoid conflict. Through understanding Klingons he hopes to prevent war – and eventually, as we’ll find out later in the chronology (because as always I’m entirely inconsistent as to whether I know about that yet
), it will ossify into the understanding that war in inevitable and that the Klingons can’t change, even when their very existence is on the line. We see an interesting glimpse of that here, when in the immediate aftermath of the battle he steels himself with the apparent revelation that he was wrong and seems almost, and not entirely convincingly, to have transformed into the West we'll come to know a few decades hence. After a little time has passed, though, and the immediacy fades a bit, he comes back to himself and settles into a more characteristic and less jarring position - that they can still make peace through understanding, but in the form of inflicting one decisive defeat on the Klingons. His goals and personal values haven't changed so readily after all. Which was a relief; it would have been a bit much to have him yanked all the way into his final characterization so suddenly. As it turns out, we saw a glimpse of the future. It's sobering to wonder just how many other hardening battles or after-action reports there were to make that militant West the default, to make the change permanent.
Continuity
Starfleet’s databanks have information on the Klingons going back to the original Vulcan database.
Starbase 42 – that is, the facility now carrying that name, because we know the numbers can switch – is an older, dilapidated station that can handle repairs and refit for
Daedalus-class ships but nothing much 23rd Century, at least not to any degree of quality. Interestingly, its design, involving large circular rings connected to the hub by spokes, seems to suggest something not unlike the new Deep Space Nine. Well, if the
Olympic-class can recapture the old
Daedalus aesthetic for a new era, I suppose space stations can do the same, after a little inspirational side-tour through the Cardassian. The station was also built before transporters were in general use for personnel, which fits with the shelving of the technology for non-emergencies in
Rise of the Federation (and this book series’ own suggestion that regular transporter use is a novelty for new recruits).
So, Sam Fuller and Kell die, as does Admiral Justman, but Karel and Leslie Parrish live on to carry the arc forward in terms of Kell's legacy, in the sequel trilogy
Errand of Fury. Which will also carry the war preparations right into the outbreak and rapid cease-fire we see on screen.
Next Time: "Dagger of the Mind".
). I suppose what with telepaths and transporters and the like it might be judged prudent to return to geographical (to misuse the term) distance as a precautionary measure, in cases of severe disturbance. The question remains, though; why is this place here? If Adams is so well-regarded, why is he not running some sprawling complex on Earth, Vulcan, or Rigel V? Has his influence been exaggerated? It doesn't seem so, he's touted repeatedly as a famous and well-regarded man. I suppose he wanted to pursue his own private research... and the Federation let him take some prisoners and set up his own facility with minimal oversight?? Between this and what we'll see with Daystrom, the Federation has a real problem with trusting its charismatic and tortured heroes. No questions asked, do what you like, oops, now you've gone mad. I'm beginning to understand why the Obstructive Bureaucrats are so hard on Kirk and his ilk; some factions within the Federation must be close to an aneurysm over the "unrestrained progress" lot who just let genius fly and do what it likes. I'm beginning to wonder if this is less a tussle between the conservative core and the liberal frontier and more a conflict within the Federation membership between controlled government oversight and a more libertarian approach. Both "sides" - to reduce it to a binary, which I don't like doing but it's the easiest approach here - have a lot of ammunition given the insanity (often quite literal!) on display in this era. 
I did try and look it up on Memory Alpha, but I couldn't find the answer and gave up.
