ONLINE SERIAL 8: 430 VOICES
For the first time ever, in honor of the 40th anniversary of the original series, every member of the original crew of Kirk's Enterprise will be given a chance to shine. An original crew member will be featured in each of 365 stories, one a day for the entire anniversary year. To cover all 430 crew members, some will have to double up, but everyone will make an appearance by the end of the year. Faces familiar and new will take the stage, one after another, and all the stories will interconnect to form a thrilling and thought-provoking novel-length adventure. What better way to mark the 40th anniversary of the start of Kirk's first five-year mission?
*****
FAIL CHECK: 8 ONLINE SERIALS – FAIL or UNFAIL?
FAIL! The Startrek.com team seemed genuinely interested in running some of these fiction serials, but the stars just never aligned.
Startrek.com: 40 Days and 40 Nights
Though my proposed serials never quite came together, the producers at Startrek.com showed great interest in another project I pitched. This one, in honor of the 40th anniversary of Star Trek in 2006, was called 40 Days and 40 Nights. Like the serials, it would run in installments on the Startrek.com website.
Startrek.com: 40 Days and 40 Nights – FAIL or UNFAIL?
Living legend James T. Kirk has done it all. His adventures have spanned the spaceways, and his ship and crew are the finest in Starfleet. So what's with the mid-life crisis? The end of an era looms--the 5-year mission almost done, Uhura transferring to another ship, Pavel Chekov about to get married (to Zahara, a multi-gendered Prismari)--and Kirk hates endings. At least Chekov's wedding on the wish-fulfilling Shore Leave planet ought to be a happy occasion, right?
It would be if interstellar con man Harry Mudd didn't crash the party.
Welcome to the Church of the Divine Mudd! When the Enterprise crew returns to the "Shore Leave" planet, they find that Harry Mudd has turned it into the headquarters of a new religion...worshipping Harry Mudd, of course. But Mudd's not as in charge as he thinks...
One of Mudd's supposed followers, Shamballah, is a godlike being who designed the "Shore Leave" planet, Ark, for a lot more than granting pleasure-seekers' fantasies. Ark enables Shamballah to boil down an entire species into a single "god" like himself. He calls these "gods" Apocalytes and drives them to achieve his ultimate goal: "awakening" an ultimate "god" who will be his companion...and the means to his revenge against the omnipotent beings known as the Q, who out-evolved and abandoned him eons ago.
Twenty-four years later...
While Kirk and his crew confront Shamballah in 2270, Spock fights to free the same menace from an alien prison in 2294. Spock races off into the frontier with Shamballah aboard the Parnell, a mercenary ship piloted by his former crewmate, Kevin Riley. Spock knows that Kirk didn't die on the Enterprise-B during the events of Generations, and he won't rest until he rescues him from the Nexus that swept him away. Neither will Christine Chapel--who has finally found the love she's always longed for with Spock--or Deeva, Kirk's hyperaccelerated half-alien great-granddaughter.
There's just one problem: the Nexus has merged with the ultra-powerful Galactic Barrier. A colossal entity awakens, and the search for Jim Kirk becomes an all-out struggle against a god, with the fate of the universe itself in the balance.
Twenty-four years earlier, high stakes force the Enterprise crew into a war of their own with the gods. Propelling the planet Ark through space, Shamballah follows the course of the 5-year mission in reverse, "awakening" one planet after another that the Enterprise visited. The Roman world, the world of the Cloud Minders, the planet Organia, even Denobula (home of Dr. Phlox) all fall...and Kirk watches helplessly as Shamballah erases his accomplishments from the cosmos. As if the death and devastation aren't enough, the worst is yet to come.
Shamballah plans to "awaken" the entire Federation.
Starfleet mounts a valiant last stand at Vulcan, but even that might not be enough. Thousands die in the assault, including Fleet Admiral Robert April, Kirk and Pike's predecessor as captain of the Enterprise. The outcome looks grim...at least until Uhura and Mudd save the day. Uhura beams down and loads an unstoppable virus into the computers on Ark. Meanwhile, Mudd pulls the con of the century and ends up with the true godlike power that's he's been angling for all along. Now if he can just use it to bring Uhura back from the dead after Shamballah kills her.
The body count rises in 2294, too. James Kirk escapes the Nexus/Barrier entity long enough for a tearful reunion with his friends and a touching first meeting with Deeva...but the entity lashes out and claims the life of Kevin Riley. When a last-ditch multiple mind-meld with the entity fails, it seemingly disintegrates Deeva Kirk and claims the life of one other...
Christine Chapel.
Chapel is gone forever, but Uhura is luckier in 2270. Mudd performs the first selfless act of his life and resurrects her, though even with his newfound power, he can't hold Ark together when the "awakened" Organians reach critical mass. Ark implodes, leaving only the living energy core that powered it--the Nexus--which races off into space.
In 2294, that same Nexus, joined with the Galactic Barrier, prepares to destroy the entire universe...until Spock's sorrow over Chapel's death shatters his Vulcan restraint. Only Spock's tears can save the universe as Kirk uses the Vulcan's emotion to convince the Nexus entity that it has violated its original programming. The Nexus was designed as the core of Ark to fulfill desires and bring joy--not sadness--to those in search of it. Kirk reminds the entity of its original purpose...and promises to help it rediscover how to create happiness instead of pain.
Unfortunately, that means his reunion with Spock is short-lived. Kirk makes a heart-wrenching goodbye, and then he returns a favor that Spock did for him long ago. Backed by the power of the Nexus, Kirk forges a mind-meld of his own with Spock. "Forget," says Kirk, wiping the memory of his continued existence in the Nexus from Spock's memory, just as Spock once erased the memory of a lost love from Kirk's mind.
Then, the Nexus hurtles into deep space, and Kirk goes with it.
He won't reappear until Jean-Luc Picard captains the Enterprise, but his legacy resonates through tomorrow and yesterday. Kirk's great-granddaughter, Deeva, managed to escape the Nexus and befriends Spock on his long voyage home. Twenty-four years earlier, in the wake of Shamballah's defeat and Ark's destruction, Kirk, Spock, and Bones toast the future at Chekov's wedding. "May we never fade away," says Kirk, and he will get his wish. The first five-year mission was only the beginning.
FAIL CALL: Startrek.com: 40 Days and 40 Nights – FAIL or UNFAIL?
FAIL! Again, the Startrek.com team seemed like they were on board all the way. In fact, they commissioned me to start writing chapters, which I did. The writing went incredibly well as I whipped through chapters 1-4...
And then the word came down that 40 Days and 40 Nights was doomed. Was it because someone decided they didn't like the project? Not at all.
The real problem was, the entire production staff at Startrek.com was laid off at once, and the website's original content was put on hiatus. What a shame. I'm convinced that if the team had stayed in place, 40 Days and 40 Nights would have appeared on Startrek.com as planned.
Constellations
After all the Trekfails arising from my novel proposals, I decided to stick with short stories for a while when it came to Pocket Books. Several opportunities rolled around in 2006 and 2007, and I was quick to jump on the bandwagon for each one.
First, I was invited to pitch for an original Star Trek anthology titled Constellations. I offered the editors a selection of nine pitches.
Star Trek: Constellations: 9 pitches – FAIL or UNFAIL?
"The Red Half"
An alien species drains all emotion from the crew, making them easy pickings in a hostile takeover of the Enterprise. Before the ship can be used to ravage a colony, Spock must tap his human side and restore enough emotion to his shipmates via mind-melds to inspire an uprising agains
t their captors. In the process, Spock takes a fresh look at the human heritage that has caused him grief in the past. As Spock restores his shipmates' capacities to experience joy and sadness and anger and love, he unearths deep-seated animosities within himself that have prevented harmonious integration of his human and Vulcan halves. Eventually, working so intimately with so many powerful emotions overwhelms Spock and threatens his sanity…but in the end, he returns the crew to emotional life and takes a step toward reconciling the divisions within his own soul.
*****
"What Goes Around"
When Earth is threatened by an impending freak cataclysm, a technologically hyper-advanced alien species called the Aurans holds the key to salvation. The Aurans, however, refuse to intercede; they claim that just as humans follow the Prime Directive, the Aurans observe their own strict code of non-interference with less advanced species…like humans. Captain Kirk has a feeling that the Aurans are not what they seem, and he and the Enterprise crew discover the truth: the Aurans, until recently, were a primitive species called the Clora. Kirk himself denied the Clora aid on the basis of the Prime Directive. Somehow, the Clora have gained superior technology, altered their appearance, and come to Earth for payback. Not only that, but the Clora/Aurans themselves set in motion the cataclysm which is fast approaching. Somehow, Kirk, who tends to play fast and loose with the Prime Directive, must stop the impending disaster which was triggered by one of the infrequent occasions when he followed the Directive to the letter.
*****
"The Third Masquerader"
Responding to a distress call from a crashed vessel, the Enterprise travels to Rahaba, a planet once visited by Spock and Captain Pike. A rescue party discovers that the crash site is located in a region that is home to a pair of monstrous creatures. When one of the beasts attacks, it seems to recognize Spock; tricorder scans reveal that the beast is a mutated form of a member of the planet's native sentient species. McCoy reverses some of the mutation, and the beast is revealed as Sidara, a prince befriended by Spock during his previous visit to Rahaba. Still mostly beast, Sidara explains that the other creature is the mutated form of his love, Latari, whom Spock also knew. Sidara and Latari were transformed by a genetically-engineered "curse" (administered by Sidara's own family) when Sidara turned down the royal throne and an arranged marriage to be with Latari. Spock believes that he is partly responsible for what happened, because he gave Sidara advice that led to his downfall; Kirk thinks that this advice is what Spock is referring to when he mentions making a mistake during his first visit to Rahaba. In the last scene of the story, after Latari has been subdued, and she and Sidara have been restored and reunited, Spock flashes back to what he considers to have been his true mistake during that first visit: he wanted to tell Latari that he had feelings for her, and he wanted to advise Sidara to leave her…but he did neither. (Because he concealed his true intentions from Latari, Spock himself is the third masquerader from the title.)
*****
"I'm A Killer, Not A Doctor, and You're Dead, Jim"
Dr. McCoy is infected by a sentient, killer disease virus that is on a mission of vengeance: in retaliation for Bones' wiping out most of the viral strain on a colony years ago, the surviving virus plans to use him as a Typhoid McCoy, spreading it throughout the galaxy. The hard truth is that McCoy's original efforts to destroy the virus, while mostly successful, created the sentient, treatment-resistant strain which now threatens all life in the Milky Way. Whatever McCoy does to try to contain or eradicate the virus, it thwarts him; he conceives a plan to gain the upper hand, but his failure leads to a punishing viral rampage that mows down many of his shipmates…including Captain Kirk.
*****
"God's Bookies"
The Prisk, a species that lives to wager for high--as in celestial--stakes, asks the Enterprise crew for help in winning a bet with the inhabitants of the planet Quillid. If the Prisk can move Quillid further from its expanding red giant sun before the planet can be consumed, the Prisk will win the wager. They will also win half the population of Quillid to sell as slaves. Kirk isn't eager to help the Prisk walk away with that jackpot…but it's that or watch Quillid be destroyed, which is looking increasingly likely. Since the Enterprise can't save the planet alone, Kirk decides to work with the Prisk, all the while studying them and plotting to outmaneuver them. (Kirk has to prove that he still has the chops for trickery, since a recent bluff led to negative consequences during a mission.) For their part, the Quilla want only to save their world and deal with the consequences later. Ultimately, the Quilla get their wish; in a remarkable feat of planetary realignment, the ingenuity of Kirk's crew, combined with the Prisk's powerful ships, moves Quillid far enough from the red giant to prevent the planet's annihilation. Before anyone can celebrate, however, the Prisk reveal that another wager was in play: this particular Prisk clan bet another clan that they could get the virtuous James T. Kirk to help obtain two billion slaves for them. Fortunately, Kirk and his team have also been making secret wagers of their own that turn the tables on the Prisk and help the Quilla come out on top.
*****
"Hailing Myself"
In the midst of a crisis within a temporal anomaly known as the Sieve, Uhura realizes that the distress calls she is now sending from the bridge of the Enterprise are the same messages that she heard on a subspace radio set decades ago as a child. The messages played an important part in her life, inspiring her to become a communications specialist…but she remembers that the story they told had a tragic outcome. As the situation worsens, Uhura has no choice but to broadcast the messages that she is ordered to send, though she remembers that each one will lead her and the Enterprise closer to disaster. Things turn around, however, when a surprise signal from Uhura's younger self inspires a change of plan, as well as a change in the direction of Uhura's own life.
*****
"Every Subject's Duty, Every Subject's Soul"
The day before a great battle with the Kraken fleet is due to occur, Kirk wakes to find that instead of being captain of the Enterprise, he is now a lowly security officer...a redshirt. He soon discovers that not only does no one remember him ever having been captain, but the computer records support his new background. When he tries to tell people the real story, they think he's joking or nuts. Kirk is driven to set things right and get back to the captain's chair…especially when he realizes that "Captain" Spock's plan will likely lead to the destruction of the Enterprise in the coming battle. While trying to figure out what has happened and restore the status quo, Kirk upholds his new responsibilities; he gains fresh insights as he intercedes in a clash among teammates and prepares to serve on a boarding party. He never gives up on returning to the life he remembers, however, and he eventually learns the truth about the change in his circumstances. It turns out that his new identity was part of a ruse to protect him from a well-known Kraken assassination strategy. Unfortunately, when the Kraken pursue that strategy and attack Spock, Kirk ends up in the middle of things anyway. In the end, Spock survives, Kirk resumes the center seat, and the ship heads into battle. Kirk orders the ship to move forward with weapons armed and shields up to confront impossible odds…and the story ends before the first shot is fired.
*****
"Red Shift"
The USSR Enterprise orbits the Soviet planet Soyuz II (which is not located in a parallel universe). Pavel Chekov's fantasy--visiting a Soviet-style utopia--has become a nightmarish reality. The Soyuza Soviets, descendants of lost cosmonauts (the Russians beat the U.S. into deep space after all) at first welcome Chekov and his shipmates enthusiastically, elated by how communist-like the Federation seems to be. Before long, however, the Soyuza and their red-skinned alien servants have taken over the Enterprise, imprisoned most of her crew, and announced plans to conquer Earth. While Kirk and Spock make their usual big splash--escaping custody and leading a revolution--Pavel works to break the hold that the aliens (who actually control the Soyuza) have over the female
premier. Pavel's advantage is that the premier thinks that he is the ghost of a boy--also named Pavel Chekov--whom she killed years ago as part of her training. Pavel, in turn, is truly haunted…advised (and tormented) by an immaterial being named Yuri, who might or might not be the ghost of the first human in space. (Yuri Gagarin, a Russian who disappeared under mysterious circumstances in 1968.)
*****
"Sticks and Stones"
The crew of the Enterprise has twenty-four hours to prepare the newly-discovered planet Vox to face an approaching invasion fleet. This doesn't leave much time to deal with the murderous locals who attack when an untrustworthy liaison leads Uhura to misuse a forbidden slur. Drawn into a violent revolution, a "war of words" to decide language dominance, Uhura must rely on other resources when deprived of universal translator technology and even the power of speech. As revolution and invasion collide, it is up to Uhura to save the planet Vox by revealing the secret behind the slur that started it all, the dark secret linking Vox and invaders in an ancient cycle of slavery, suffering, lies, and death.
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