Would a series of Star Trek soldier/pilot novels work?

[Anthony Sabre]

I don't know. I guess it would depend on the setting and circumstances. This type of series could easily be done if it was set during the Dominion War. You could even have it taking place during the border disputes between the Fed and Cardassia, like O'Brien participated in. These could be stories about front line soldiers, ala The Siege of AR-558.

I'm not so sure about elite commando stories. Just doesn't seem true to how the Fed operates. You think about the fact that the Fed had disastrous first contact with the Dominion, but it was Romulus and Cardassia that put together a clandestine op to take out the Founders. Now I could see a series about Starfleet Intelligence (non Section 31) and the ops that they undertake working.

 

[LightningStorm]

MACOs... and world domination...

I smell a proposal in the works... Here's hoping you all actually propose it and then get approved to do it!

 

[HIj'Qa]

Battlestations! or Dreadnought! has small craft launching from the Enterprise to do battle. Traitor Winds has Sulu test-piloting a small fighter.

As much as I love Star Wars' X-Wing series, I don't think the Federation or any power in the Star Trek Universe is built on small craft. I'm reading the Terok Nor series right now, and the Bajoran Insurrgency is using small craft against the Cardassians.

I have wondered if 'boots on the ground' is still the best way to ensure a conquest in the 24th century. If there is a big weapon in orbit do future people just give up? Not very likely. Klingons reputedly turned conquered planets into slave labor. KRAD had them fairly rattled by a small insurgency in Diplomatic Implausibilty. Small numbers, big weapons, threats of mass retaliation kept the planet in line? Worked for Kor. When I think about the huge numbers of soldiers cooped up on the Gorkon for long periods of time between ground engagements I just wonder how they kept from killing each other! The Final Reflection's solution of freezing volitile warriors between battles makes a lot of sense!


Terok Nor hasn't given me a feel for the numbers Cardassians needed on Bajor. I don't recall Battle of Betazed referencing large land or atmospheric battles? If Romulans were never seen in the Romulan War, that doesn't bode too well for MACOs engaging in any hand-to-hand in an ENT book.

I'd be interested in what might be the dynamics of a soldier's life in the Federation, but I'll leave the fancy flying to Wedge and the gang.

 

[fleetcaptain]

I honestly think what happened w/ the MACOs was they eventually turned into the Marines. Once the Federation was formed and the MACOs were no longer a Earth based organization just like Starfleet. I know there have been examples before, like Colonel West for instance. A few sites, I think like Memory Alpha have refered that maybe West was a MACO.

 

[Newspaper Taxi]

I think it's possible for this story to work. The Federation has to protect it's planets and members and if some race invades another planet for whatever reason they might need to call in the Star Trek Action Pack to come in and help them. Or say a humongous group of people try to topple the government of their planet and they actually destabilize it. That might work. They could even be multi-books so that it doesn't feel too episodic.

Then they could throw in all sorts of Star Trek political and cultural intrigue as well. The Klingons are suffering from the Berserk Flu and the Empire needs help containing it's berserk citizens -- but guess what? They're Klingons. They don't want help. But they sort of do. Conflict and intrigue.

I'm not certain if it's something I'd be super interested in, but I could see it working out.

 

[Baerbel Haddrell]

Stories about conflicts (not only war) can be excellent and we certainly had quite a few examples in Star Trek books. But a series just focusing on pilots and soldiers, I think that is too limiting.

It starts with it that I find most descriptions of battles, especially space battles, tedious to read. I like the character aspect but what kind of ships, what kind of weapons, what moves were made and the typical barking of orders and instructions – it is not my cup of tea.

 

[MarianLH]

You might look into Star Fleet Battles, a game series set in an alternate Trek universe where things went very differently after TOS. Fighters evolved from armed shuttlecraft became a major factor in the later years of the setting. Marines and other ground forces are also a part of the setting. Here is the Federation carrier.

I haven't read any SFB fiction or fanfiction, just played the game. But I'm sure there must be some.


Marian

 

[Dayton Ward]

Stories about conflicts (not only war) can be excellent and we certainly had quite a few examples in Star Trek books. But a series just focusing on pilots and soldiers, I think that is too limiting.

It starts with it that I find most descriptions of battles, especially space battles, tedious to read. I like the character aspect but what kind of ships, what kind of weapons, what moves were made and the typical barking of orders and instructions – it is not my cup of tea.

Soldiers are people, too, with all the various strengths and failings that make for good storytelling. Simply having them be nothing but cannon fodder in some battle would indeed be boring, but that's certainly not all there is

That said, it's never gone any further than a "Gee, what if..." line of thought, with me, anyway. Other than what Margaret Clark might be planning with the ENT relaunch and (what would seem to be) the impending Romulan War arc, I know of no other plans to explore the MACOs, ground troops during the Dominion War, etc. I know there was a book planned dealing dealing with the affects of the DW on individuals, to be written by one of the former DS9 writers (Walking Wounded was a working title at one point), but I think that's either on the backburner or in the "never gonna happen" category.

 

[James Swallow]

I also think that if there was a series of books about the federation`s career fighter pilots then they should have them using the fighter craft from star trek invasion (the psone game). Just as a nice reference to an interesting game.
What do you think? Good or bad idea for a series of books?

I think it's a cool idea; in fact, I thought that so much, that when I was writing the script for the Star Trek Invasion game, I pitched the idea of a tie-in novel based on the title's characters and situations (I think I still have the outline lying around somewhere)...
Sadly, the scheduling of the game's release and the time it would have taken to get a book approved, written and published meant that it couldn't really happen.

 

[EmperorKalan]

I don't want to see the Federation with a standing army and warships and fighter craft.

Same here. I like a focus on exploration.

Wouldn't the MACOs being front and centre in "Last Full Measure" (ENT) satisfy the yearning for a soldier book?

In The Final Reflection Earth had Earth Ground Forces, separate from Starfleet.

Consider the possiblity that the Federation's overtly military forces are maintained by member worlds themselves, and only nationalized under Starfleet under specific war-fighting circumstances (i.e., the Cardassian conflict, the Dominion War).

 

[JAG]

I would like to see a series of Maco type stories. There is a lot of potential there.

 

[JoeZhang]

set in a space version of GITMO.


"this is what we thinks of your goddam prophets! WHACK now crawl back into this box!"

 

[JD]

If any of you guys on here are PC gamers you might want to check out the Elite Force PC games. For anyone unfamiliar with them they follow a special elite security force which is set up by Tuvok while Voyager was in the DQ, and then in the second they move onto a post-NEM Enterprise-E. IMO both do a pretty good job of giving us Star Trek stories that are focused more on a group combat group based group. Plus they're both pretty good First Person Shooters too. I really think something like this could actually work pretty well in the novels.

 

[captcalhoun]

well, Soldier, Soldier, The Unit, Over There and ... oh, crap, blanking on the name... well, anyway, those three shows at least manage to tell stories following troops week-in-week-out and not just with action stories. Okay, granted, Over There was largely combat-oriented since it was following a squad in Iraq, but certainly The Unit does a lot of 'domestic' storylines as well. it's not all bad-ass USSF commando butt-kicking all the time...

 

[Dayton Ward]

^ There's even a show on Lifetime called Army Wives, which shows the military lifestyle from the viewpoint of the non-military spouse (including the husband whose wife is an officer). Sort of like the B-stories on The Unit, but more "Lifetime-ey"

 

[captcalhoun]

oh, yeah. i heard about that one, i was actually thinking of Red Cap on the Beeb, about Army MPs...

 

[fleetcaptain]

Since Elite Force was bought up, I have been working or am starting to work on a series for that. I am plannin to do some stories and will post them on the fan fiction section. I also am doing some artwork as well. The series would start after the game/comic and follow up to Elite Force 2 and well follow them on the Enterprise as well. I actually worked on an outline for how many stories I might do for the last 2 seasons of Voyager going to 2380.

Plus I have an idea for a Starfleet Marine character that is modeled after a character I originally thought of for a series I wanted to do but never got to finish the first storyline.

 

[James Swallow]

If any of you guys on here are PC gamers you might want to check out the Elite Force PC games.
<snip>
I really think something like this could actually work pretty well in the novels.

There was an Elite Force tie-in, written by m'colleague Dan Abnett, but it was a comicbook, not a novel, and it abridged/adapted the game storyline.

And while we're talking about Trek games featuring a 'soldier' squad, there was also the PC title Away Team, which centred on a unit of Starfleet officers undertaking spec ops missions during the Dominion War.

 

[Geoff Thorne]

If any of you guys on here are PC gamers you might want to check out the Elite Force PC games.
<snip>
I really think something like this could actually work pretty well in the novels.

There was an Elite Force tie-in, written by m'colleague Dan Abnett, but it was a comicbook, not a novel, and it abridged/adapted the game storyline.

And while we're talking about Trek games featuring a 'soldier' squad, there was also the PC title Away Team, which centred on a unit of Starfleet officers undertaking spec ops missions during the Dominion War.

Abnett and Lanning are gods to me.


Mmmm. Let's see.

STAR TREK: MACOS: IMMINENT DOMAIN

STAR TREK: MACOS: DMZ

STAR TREK: MACOS: SHOOTING WAR

STAR TREK: MACOS: THE PACIFIST DECEPTION

Hey. Making up titles for non-existent books is fun!!

 

[Rabid Trekkie]

If you do it for one of the different alien species I'd be okay with it. The Gorkon/Klingon Empire books are some of my favorite and they are full of space battles and warriors sending warriors to Sto'vo'kor on the Bat'leth express. A series with the Romulans set after Taking Wing (or Vulcan's Soul trilogy, not sure which is set later down the line) would be cool or with the Cardassians back in the TNG or pre-TNG era or The Gorn or something.

Just don't think it fits with the Federation.