Vixen does A Time to Heal or: A veritable tidal wave of activity

[Dancing Doctor]

***POSSIBLE SPOILERS***

I may not have mentioned this before, but I'm the type of person who has at least five different books in various states of being read at any given time. I recently finished Day of the Vipers, but in the midst of reading that I was also working on A Time to Heal, which I have to say is easily one of my top favorite Trek Lit books ever. And I reread it every chance I get, with today being the most recent. (Same goes for Articles of the Federation, definitely, as well as Catalyst of Sorrows and The Battle of Betazed, to name a few.)

One thing that struck me about Heal was the way that it made both the reader and the participants think. It was a frank, brutally honest look at the machinations of power and the extent that good people will go to deal with things. I'm not sure if David Mack meant for this to happen, but as the book went on I kept drawing parallels to Iraq and the current U.S. Presidential Administration. (If only things could be resolved as quickly, although perhaps not as devastatingly). For me, the events in the book were summed up the best by Admiral Ross, during the conference call with Picard, Ambassador Lagan, and the other Starfleet admirals. Nechayev expresses her intense displeasure with the course of action decided, and Ross says "This isn't about moral purity, Alynna. This is about the survival of the Federation." Most of the actions in the book, from Bilok's decision to hit the com centers to Zife and Azernal's decision to blame the Tholians, are at best morally ambiguous and at worst criminal and completely immoral. Yet they are resigned to the fact that, if what they do helps Tezwa (Bilok) or the Federation (Zife and Azernal), then damn morality. It was certainly a darker look at Federation politics.

And what an adrenaline rush! Every time I read it I get this chill down my spine when Picard says "Fire for effect, Mr. Peart....It's time to end this." during the space battle with the kamikaze shuttles. Or when Vale leads that charge outside the Ilanatava and takes down the building. I'm not sure what it is exactly, but the way it was written made me feel the urgency of the situation. I could hear the Ilanatava rumbling as it came under fire. I could almost feel the rush of the dust cloud resulting from the collapse of the enemy building. My stomach flipped and made me feel like I was tumbling from the top of the Deelatava with Ambassador Lagan and Geordi. And I cried when I read about McEwan's sacrifice, or at the beginning with the Tezwan singing the sorrow song and then plummeted off the top of the building. Or when Tenila helped save Riker. The book was a masterful tapestry of sorrow and hope, life and death, truth and lies, and damnation and redemption. It was a multi-faceted work, one of the best, definitely.

I do have one question, though. How does Azernal know about Section 31's existence?

Other than that, megasuperkudoes to David Mack.

 

[David Mack]

Vixen, thanks for your comments on A Time to Heal. It's deeply gratifying to hear when someone "gets" what I was going for when I wrote the book.

To answer one of your questions, the parallels between the Tezwa debacle and the current U.S. involvement in Iraq was deliberate. However, there are no direct analogues; for instance, it would be incorrect to say that Character A = Real Person A, etc. In some cases, disparate persons have been amalgamated; in other cases, different aspects of our real-world political morass have been split up and applied to different sides of the struggle, to imply a duality between the warring sides; i.e., the battle between the Federation and Tezwa could be seen as a metaphor for the internal political schisms of American society.

The other thing I tried to do in A Time to Heal was treat each character's rationale as one arrived at with either good intentions or at least pragmatic judgment. No one in this story thinks of himself or herself as a villain; everyone believes that what he or she is doing is right and necessary, and neither side is wholly right or wrong.

As for how Koll Azernal was aware of the existence of Section 31 ... that's a question that might deserve to be explored in a future story. For now, let it suffice to say that Azernal was vicious political actor who no doubt had connections to many unsavory elements, both inside and outside the Federation.

My thanks for your well-considered comments and your praise. I hope you'll enjoy more of my work to at least an equal degree.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

Vixen, thanks for your comments on A Time to Heal. It's deeply gratifying to hear when someone "gets" what I was going for when I wrote the book.

This is one of the things I like the most about TrekBBS: the ability to directly communicate with the various authors.

To answer one of your questions, the parallels between the Tezwa debacle and the current U.S. involvement in Iraq was deliberate. However, there are no direct analogues; for instance, it would be incorrect to say that Character A = Real Person A, etc.

That makes sense. I didn't think that there were direct connections (Zife isn't as clueless or intellectually challenged as our current President. Although Azernal *does* somewhat fit the streotypes of Dick Cheney...)

However, you have dashed my hopes of the "Dasana is supposed to represent Hillary Clinton" line of thinking.

In some cases, disparate persons have been amalgamated; in other cases, different aspects of our real-world political morass have been split up and applied to different sides of the struggle, to imply a duality between the warring sides; i.e., the battle between the Federation and Tezwa could be seen as a metaphor for the internal political schisms of American society.

I never really thought of it in that way. Hearing that makes me see Heal in a newer (though no less enjoyable and thought provoking) way. And ultimately both the battle between the Federation and Tezwa and America's internal political schisms are similar in that there really is no true victor.

The other thing I tried to do in A Time to Heal was treat each character's rationale as one arrived at with either good intentions or at least pragmatic judgment. No one in this story thinks of himself or herself as a villain; everyone believes that what he or she is doing is right and necessary, and neither side is wholly right or wrong.

That was one of the aspects of the book I appreciated the most. It made everything more realistic, without much (if any) of the naive sort of thinking about how the Federation acts. It's probably the most honest and decent political entity in the Alpha Quadrant, but you can't always take the high road or refrain from engaging in morally ambiguous activities. And to the credit of the writer, all the characters realize that. "It's a travesty," he said. "To think that they should be permitted the grace of anonymity after the hideous slaughters they caused-with their indifference, their incompetence, their self-serving deceptions..." He shook his head, his mien darkly despondent. "But what choice do we have, Serra? The alternative is interstellar war."

As for how Koll Azernal was aware of the existence of Section 31 ... that's a question that might deserve to be explored in a future story. For now, let it suffice to say that Azernal was vicious political actor who no doubt had connections to many unsavory elements, both inside and outside the Federation.

Oooh...

My thanks for your well-considered comments and your praise. I hope you'll enjoy more of my work to at least an equal degree.

Guaranteed. Warpath, A Time to Kill, Wildfire...

Although I have to admit, I would be a little surprised if you decided to write a comedy, or something with tribbles.

 

[David Mack]

Although I have to admit, I would be a little surprised if you decided to write a comedy

Pick up the Star Trek: New Frontier anthology No Limits and read my short story, "Waiting for G'Doh, or, How I Learned to Stop Moving and Hate People."

I like writing comedy, I just don't get many opportunities to sell it. The original concept of an episode that John Ordover and I pitched to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (and which later developed into "It's Only a Paper Moon") would have been a semi-comedic day of multiple weird stories intersecting in Quark's Bar, which is the only place on the station that's open, because of multiple overlapping holidays.

The moment I wish could have made it to screen would have been a Star Trek homage to Monty Python's Flying Circus. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

Pick up the Star Trek: New Frontier anthology No Limits and read my short story, "Waiting for G'Doh, or, How I Learned to Stop Moving and Hate People."

I had forgotten that you wrote "Waiting for G'Doh". I remember that it was very funny.

I like writing comedy, I just don't get many opportunities to sell it. The original concept of an episode that John Ordover and I pitched to Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (and which later developed into "It's Only a Paper Moon") would have been a semi-comedic day of multiple weird stories intersecting in Quark's Bar, which is the only place on the station that's open, because of multiple overlapping holidays.

That would have been an amusing episode, sort of like a really good Ferengi episode without the focus on the Ferengi.

The moment I wish could have made it to screen would have been a Star Trek homage to Monty Python's Flying Circus. I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Oh my.

 

[JoeZhang]

The only thing I don't like about this wider "arc" is how the president is

 

[JoeZhang]

The only thing I don't like about this wider "arc" is how the president is

Spoiler: about his fate

killed by section 31 and everyone keeps saying "so he's on holiday", where is he?" - or words to that effect - cannot remember which book this actually occurs in. It's just too fantastical for me, he'd be one of the most famous people in the federation - to be bumped off and nobody knows? - I just don't buy it...

 

[Dancing Doctor]

^That would be in Articles of the Federation. However, it isn't known that he's killed (by the characters in the book) until late 2380.

And in Heal, Zife, Azernal, and Quafina were all promised anonymity and shielding from the public eye. Let's not forget how large the Federation is. I don't care what that reporter from Bolarus and You says, the Federation is large enough (and Starfleet Intelligence and Section 31 have resources enough) to ensure that a person can lay low for a while. Zife is almost milquetoast. Azernal and Quafina are smart enough to keep shut about things.

 

[JoeZhang]

^That would be in Articles of the Federation. However, it isn't known that he's killed (by the characters in the book) until late 2380.

And in Heal, Zife, Azernal, and Quafina were all promised anonymity and shielding from the public eye. Let's not forget how large the Federation is. I don't care what that reporter from Bolarus and You says, the Federation is large enough (and Starfleet Intelligence and Section 31 have resources enough) to ensure that a person can lay low for a while. Zife is almost milquetoast.

No I just don't buy it - look at communication technologies today - I just don't buy you can knock off the ex-president of one of the major powers and it's just not noticed, It just doesn't ring true - the fact that reporters couldn't find him would set a number of alarms off...

Azernal and Quafina are smart enough to keep shut about things.

Well being murdered would have helped with that!

 

[Dancing Doctor]

Zife wasn't exactly very close with the reporters. And there were kinda a lot of crises that needed dealing with during the first year of the Bacco Administration. Former Presidents don't really rank too much. How often did people ask about Nixon, or Ford? Because it's the type of President involved as well. Zife wasn't exactly an outgoing person.

And apart from them being murdered, Azernal and Quafina were fairly savvy people.

 

[JoeZhang]

Zife wasn't exactly very close with the reporters. And there were kinda a lot of crises that needed dealing with during the first year of the Bacco Administration. Former Presidents don't really rank too much. How often did people ask about Nixon, or Ford? Because it's the type of President involved as well. Zife wasn't exactly an outgoing person.

I'm sorry this is just silliness - regardless of reporters, there are historians, academics and various other people who would want to speak to such a person. Bush steps down tomorrow and is never seen again and nobody notices - pleeze.....

You are mixing up "the man in the street" with "everyone"..

it's just daft and you are not going to convince me otherwise.

 

[William Leisner]

It just doesn't ring true - the fact that reporters couldn't find him would set a number of alarms off...

You're assuming that the typical reporter is going to make the leap from "I can't find Zife" to "Zife was secretly murdered by a shadowy cabal of governmental assassins!" rather than "Zife is actively trying to avoid the press," which would be rather consistant with his surprise, inadequately-explained decision to resign a year before the end of his term.

Or else they would leap to the conclusion, "I as a journalist just am not very good at finding ex-presidents".

 

[JoeZhang]

I'm not assuming anything - I'm saying that it's badly written and doesn't ring true to ME. If people don't like that, they can get fucked.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

And you have to figure that all the events in that first year with Bacco in charge would be of more importance to the Federation and to the press.

One of the things about the Federation (briefly discussed in the Janeway in Before Dishonor thread) is that there is a truly unprecedented level of access of information and people granted. Academics and historians can generally get all the information they want. And if something is currently classified, there's probably a 30 year grace period (or 100, like with Starfleet logs as shown in the Reeves-Stevenses Federation) until it can be accessed. An apathy exists in really trying to root out information. If the media spent half as much as it does on Clinton/Obama actually looking into what the Bush Administration has done, there'd be a lot more outcry. I think it can be safe to say the same in the Federation.

Zife never really seemed to want the job as President. Or, at least, he wasn't really *too* interested in it. And that lack of interest was probably reflected in the dealings with the press. Another thing that comes to mind is the fact that Section 31 is behind the "disappearance" (Euphemisms are such fun). If they want someone to stay gone, the person stays gone. And there are numerous ways that they can squelch interest or investigation.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

I'm not assuming anything - I'm saying that it's badly written and doesn't ring true to ME. If people don't like that, they can get fucked.

A little assertive and offensive much?

 

[JoeZhang]

I'm not assuming anything - I'm saying that it's badly written and doesn't ring true to ME. If people don't like that, they can get fucked.

A little assertive and offensive much?

Bit of both.

 

[William Leisner]

I'm not assuming anything - I'm saying that it's badly written and doesn't ring true to ME. If people don't like that, they can get fucked.

 

[Dancing Doctor]

*quietly sends JoeZhang's info off to Section 31*

 

[Sci]

I agree that it's unrealistic to expect that the disappearance of a former President of the United Federation of Planets will not eventually be detected and brought to the attention of the general public.

But there's nothing in Heal or Articles to prevent Section 31 from just periodically trotting out an impersonator of some sort to reassure the populace should another reporter start to wonder why no one can find the former President.

Zife isn't as clueless or intellectually challenged as our current President.

I don't think that's accurate. George W. Bush is not clueless or intellectually challenged. The man graduated from Yale and Harvard; I don't care how rich you are, you can't pull that off if you're not relatively clever. The thing of it is not that President Bush is unintelligent -- it's that he's inflexible and simplistic, a very different thing. It's not that he's incapable of logical thinking, it's that he sees the world in very two-dimensional, black-and-white, ideologically-driven terms. To him, everything can be morally classified as being either good or evil, democratic or undemocratic, pro-freedom or anti-freedom, etc. To him, there are only ever two doors. And because of that, he's generally incapable of engaging in the sort of nuanced reasoning, incapable of compromising, incapable of recognizing and acting upon moral ambiguity. It's not his logical reasoning capacities, it's not his intelligence that's the problem -- it's his a priori assumptions about the world he lives in.

Take Iraq, for instance. He's completely right in noting that, according to the democratic peace theory, liberal democracies generally don't go to war with one-another. He's also completely right in noting Saddam Hussein was an evil tyrant. He's also completely right in noting that if Iraq were to become a successful liberal democracy, this would go a long way in reducing the threat posed by terrorist organizations like al Qaeda. Where he fails? -- in his apparent inability to recognize that just because Saddam Hussein was bad, this does not mean that Iraqis would generally want the US to overthrow him; in his apparent inability to recognize that just because the United States is generally good, this does not mean that it is incapable of doing evil; in his apparent inability to recognize that just because terrorist organizations like Hezbollah are evil, this does not mean they are incapable of doing good things (such as delivering medical care); in his apparent inability to recognize that just because terrorists are evil does not mean that we have the right to torture them; etc.

It's the rigid, inflexible moral absolutism of a True Believer, a fundamentalist ideologue, that has led to his poor decisions, not a lack of intelligence.

Although Azernal *does* somewhat fit the streotypes of Dick Cheney...

You ever seen the Frontline documentary Cheney's Law? Koll Azernal is Dick Cheney. And Karl Rove and Karen Hughes and Donald Rumsfeld all in one.

 

[Rosalind]

I agree that it's unrealistic to expect that the disappearance of a former President of the United Federation of Planets will not eventually be detected and brought to the attention of the general public.

well, one of Australia's Prime Minister did disappear off in the sea while he when swimming, and he wasn't even an ex-PM then.