The Xindi in 24th Century Trek Lit

[unimatrix7]

I'm not an Enterprise fan at all, but something about The Xindi resonated with me, and I'm curious to see them in Trek beyond that one arc.

Do they appear in any of the 24th century relaunch/continuation novels? I primarily ask because I'm about to make a heavy time investment in Star Trek novels.

Up until now, the only ones I've read are TNG's "Rogue Saucer" and a TNG one about a planet sending its garbage to a parallel universe (which I forget the name of ). Both of these were a long time ago.

Anyway, thanks to anyone who can help answer my admittedly pedantic query

 

[Deranged Nasat]

They're name-dropped, albeit usually in terms of the historic 22nd Century conflict and with nothing to say about their status in the "modern" galaxy. Thus far there hasn't been any focus on them in 24th Century Trek lit, unfortunately.

The most notable Xindi appearance comes in the short story "Meet With Triumph and Disaster" from The Sky's The Limit (one of the stories in that anthology which is compatible with the mainstream novel 'verse continuity, because not all of them are). In that story, a Xindi-Reptilian, explicitly a native of New Xindus, is serving as the Federation Secretary for Science and Space Exploration. This seems to imply that by 2363 the Xindi are members of the Federation. There's also mention of Xindi among a mixed-race group of pilgrims in a SCE story, mention of nomadic Xindi communities in Losing the Peace, an appearance by a Xindi-Arboreal doctor in the far future in "The Collectors", etc. So the Xindi are there, we just haven't had anything done with them yet.

(I'm a big fan of the Xindi, and I'm hoping that they'll have their day in the novel 'verse sun soon enough).

 

[unimatrix7]

Interesting. It's good to see they haven't been forgotten about, anyway - I think there's rich storytelling possibility with them and I hope they do get a bit of exposure.

Thanks for the info though!

 

[ryan123450]

"Meet With Triumph and Disaster" from The Sky's The Limit (one of the stories in that anthology which is compatible with the mainstream novel 'verse continuity, because not all of them are).

What specifically are you referring to here, Deranged Nasat?

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

It's good to know they weren't completely shelved or anything. I liked them a lot, myself.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

There was such a fascinating dynamic to the Xindi; five races each with a distinct character, and the joint civilization they insisted upon even in the face of their constant interspecies hostilities. There's an incredible amount to work with there, in terms of drama and world-building both. It's five civilizations in one to play with (or five civilizations within a sixth, which encompasses them) and each race is provocative enough to deserve further attention, to say nothing of how they interact and arrive at their sense of communal identity.

I still insist that the story of the Xindi, from the conclusion of the Expanse arc through to the late 24th Century, would make for a very gripping arc in Trek lit, enough to more than justify a central focus. There would be plenty of ambiguity, interesting alien cultures, lots of potential for political intrigue, drama, and action - it could work to check a lot of the boxes in appealing to a variety of readers.

And it is still one of the great unanswered questions for those who enjoyed the Xindi arc and wish to know where the Xindi fit into later Trek.

 

[Quinton O'Connor]

Indeed, yeah. Well said.

I'd volunteer to pen some Xindi lit myself if I weren't the world's worst Trek fan re: keeping up with the technical side of the equation. I've always been guilty of tuning out a bit too much of the tech side of things for my own good; what I know about ENT's level of progress, for example, is that Trip is giddy about Warp 5 and Malcolm Reed is the "Tesla the Unsung Hero" of Federation advancements.

But hey, the ENT relaunch novels seem to be enjoying a degree of success. I would even go so far as to say they're currently enjoying a degree of success they would not have been granted a few years ago, prior to the great Netflix Spiritual Awakening, in which, as Doug Drexler rather famously put it, "there's a whole generation of people now watching the show who have no idea they're supposed to hate it." Paraphrasing, but yes. Point being, maybe it'll eventually be offered some prime treatment.

I could see, at the very least, a Xindi-centered duology charting their course throughout multiple centuries being a thing that could potentially get the OK from the publisher. We live in a world where ENT is seeing something of a noteworthy resurgence, and Trek lit in general is unafraid to take risks and still sells enough copies to keep the higher-ups fronting more, so I'm hopeful this will one day be addressed in full.

 

[Markonian]

^ Going with that, I'd love to see a revival of Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. There are several Federation worlds that have been woefully under-explored, aside from the occasional RPG. I'm thinking of New Xindus, Cait and Bolarus, among others.

 

[ZappaDanMan]

I'd love to see more Xindi as well. Would like to hear more about their origin story. Wouldn't mind if it was a non reboot series either, just something to be enjoyed on it's own.

 

[Sto-Vo-Kory]

^ Going with that, I'd love to see a revival of Worlds of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. There are several Federation worlds that have been woefully under-explored, aside from the occasional RPG. I'm thinking of New Xindus, Cait and Bolarus, among others.

I love that format (two short novels per volume) and the whole concept of the series (develop an existing Trek culture through exploration of its world).

A return of that series would be most welcome.

 

[JD]

I think it would probably be a good idea to rename it Worlds of the Federation, or even just Worlds of Star Trek. If you left as Worlds Of Deep Space Nine, then people would probably expect it to be just worlds from DS9.
I really miss the days when we used to get one or two anthologies a year. Something like this would be a great addition to the Myriad and Mirror Universe series.