"The Wounded Sky" Chronology Notes

[RookieBatman]

I just finished reading The Wounded Sky by Diane Duane. Timelining the Trek books is a long-time hobby of mine, and I had heard about the author's casualness about chronological references, so as I went through the book, I took down notes on anything that might seem to give some clues about where the book was meant to be placed. I want to make it clear that my pointing the possible inconsistencies of these details isn't meant as a criticism; just a curiosity. I absolutely loved the book, no matter where it might go on the timeline.

I've separated the points into two sections; one for references which might indicate the show era, and one for post-TMP. However, since she may well have intended this to be in the supposed pre-TMP second five-year mission, not all of the points will fall cleaning on either side. But then, the purpose of this isn't for some kind of objective conclusion; again, it's really just for the sake of curiosity.

Show

• Uniforms are gold, blue, etc. (pgs. 14, 17, 35)
• “Wondering how long this generation of uniforms might last” may indicate an intended placement just before the movie, perhaps in the fabled pre-TMP second five-year mission. (pg. 14)
• Saying “United Systems Starship Enterprise” sounds more like something from the early years of the show (but that might just be me). (pg. 15)
• Chekov is at navigation. (pgs. 17, 60)
• Uhura is a lieutenant. (pg. 34)
• A “Mr. Matlock” is given as Security Chief. (pg. 139)

Movie

• “No matter how many times they rebuild this ship” is probably a reference to the TMP refit, but it could just indicate less significant refits before TMP. (pg. 13)
• It mentions “holos of previous Enterprises on the wall,” but since these are in the Captain’s office, that means they aren’t exactly the same ones that were seen in TMP, which aren’t holos, anyway. (pg. 13)
• Stardate is from the movie era. (pg. 16)
• The description of Engineering indicates the movie era. (pgs. 17, 57)
• “Ninety-two kinds of humanity” sounds like the more diversified crew of TMP. (pg. 17)
• It’s mentioned that there are 22 “heavy cruisers” in the fleet. If we assume these are all Connies, that would seem to fit the movie era better. (pg. 18)
• “A brief stint at a desk job” for Scotty may be intended to have been during the gap between the show and TMP, although that would go against the assumption that he was overseeing the refit. On the other hand, it may have been before the refitting started, since it was only brief. (pg. 23)
• The description of the rec deck sounds a lot more like that of the refit. (pg. 41)
• “Chapel getting her doctorate” may indicate that she’s pursuing her degree, or that she already has it. (pg. 53)
• A direct battle with Klingons would seem to indicate a long passage of time since the Organian Peace Treaty came into effect (pgs. 61-72)
• a Saying that “nearly everyone has a cloaking device now” sounds more like the movie era (pg. 67.)
• A speed of warp nine indicates the refit. (pg. 72)
• Another legacy wall on the rec deck also doesn’t exactly match the one in the movie, but since none of any kind were ever on the show, it still seems more like the movie era. (pg. 135)
• “Once when he was younger” and “he wasn’t that person anymore,” when discussing Edith Keeler, would imply a long time has passed since CotEoF. (pg. 169)
• Scotty is described as having gray hair and wrinkles (pg. 174)
• Janice Rand is mentioned, but with no indication of rank or position. (pg. 175)
• “Life sciences white” uniforms are mentioned. (pg. 189)

 

[Christopher]

It is interesting to look back on a time when ST continuity was less locked down and authors were freer to interpret it flexibly. There were some intriguingly individualized interpretations put forth by various writers like Duane, McIntyre, Ford, Carey, even Marshak & Culbreath in their way.

 

[KeepOnTrekking]

Strangely enough, I just got done reading both "The Wounded Sky" and "Spock's World" this week and it was my personal opinion that they both fell after STTMP in another 5-year mission of some sort. Many of the reasons you've already given for post-STTMP in "Wounded Sky." On pg. 153, "'RED ALERT! RED ALERT!' the ship was shouting--" this sounds like that awful computer voice from the original STTMP to me (not to be found in the Director's Version tho).

 

[F. King Daniel]

^I loved the original TMP red alerts - everyone damn well knew something bad was going on! In the director's cut, it sounds like someone's pager is going off

When I re-read Diane Duane's books (and any Trek novel, for that matter), I envision things as the author wanted - which in this case was TOS uniforms on a TMP ship (or pre-TMP Phase II, like James Cawley's fan films nearly upgraded to. I'd post a pic if I weren't on my phone. The way Interpid is discribed in My Enemy, My Ally suggests the Enterprise isn't quite at TMP stage yet), during a pre-TMP second 5-year mission. Things got freaky during my Rihannsu reading, going from pre-TMP second 5YM to TOS then to post-TMP It didn't bother me one bit, nor did it during Black Fire or Pawns and Symbols, which both take place in incompatible hazy post-TOS, pre-TMP era(s).

If I were attempting to reconcile Duane's works with the modern Trek timeline, I'd bump them post-TMP like VoI and The Bloodwing Chronicles did.

 

[Timo]

Regarding those "gold/blue/red uniform shirt" references, the ST:TMP pallette of uniform shirts was more or less the same as the TOS one. The colors were merely visible on a smaller area of the uniform than before. So Scotty could still well be argued to be wearing a red shirt, or Sulu a gold shirt.

It's just that Kirk would be in white in the TMP era, Spock in orange, and McCoy in green. Although apparently the science orange would revert "back" to bluish-grey by ST2, and possibly very soon after TMP.

And as long as we're discussing technicalities...

A speed of warp nine indicates the refit. (pg. 72)

Funnily enough, only the TOS ship ever did warp nine. The highest speed the refitted ship ever officially achieved was warp seven. The movie heroes didn't brag on the high speed of their upgraded vessel, either. The reference to the "old speed records" of the Enterprise in ST3 might go back to the TOS days...

Perhaps the new engines actually provided less speed than the old ones (but were otherwise superior)?

Timo Saloniemi