Read About Admiral Tuvok’s Mystery Mission In Exclusive Excerpt From ‘Star Trek: The Short Story Collection’

Next week Titan is releasing Star Trek: The Short Story Collection which brings together exclusive short stories from Star Trek Magazine tied to the Star Trek Online game, which is set in the early 25th century. First launched in 2001, Star Trek Online has been constantly expanded with new updates bringing in a wide variety of elements from all of the Star Trek spin-offs.

These short stories feature characters and situations from the game in exclusive mini-adventures, including a number of familiar faces from the various TV series to characters created for Star Trek Online. The collection of 19 stories illustrated with high-resolution imagery from the game features action-packed tales including the adventures of the Enterprise-F under the command of Andorian Captain Va’Kel Shon along with more stories starring iconic characters such as Data, Seven of Nine, Harry Kim, and Scotty going up against Klingons, Jem’Hadar, Romulans, the Mirror Universe, and more classic foes.

TrekMovie has an exclusive excerpt from the collection featuring Admiral Tuvok commanding the USS. Voyager as he uncovers a mystery.

Extract from: “Locks Without Keys”

Written by: Christine Thompson (Courtesy of Cryptic Studios)

Delta Rising opened the Delta Quadrant to Starfleet, Klingon Defense Force, and Romulan Republic ships, but their vessels soon found themselves in conflict with the Vaadwaur, an ancient race awakened by the crew of Voyager during their journey home. Although their leader, Gaul, was defeated, the Vaadwaur remain a hostile force to be reckoned with.

U.S.S. Voyager, under the command of Admiral Tuvok, has been assigned to investigate the biggest mystery of the war: Why did the Vaadwaur begin their plan to conquer the Delta Quadrant by destroying the Krenim Imperium?

            First Officer’s Log, Stardate 87077.81 We’re on course for a little backwater in the Delta Quadrant once known as the Krenim Imperium. What passes for historical records in the quadrant show that the Imperium once held more than 5,000 parsecs and a couple of hundred star systems, but by the time Voyager passed through their space, the Krenim’s hold on the region was slipping.

            Other than a single contact between Voyager and an Imperium ship, we don’t know much about the once-mighty Krenim. So the common logic would be that they’re simply a minor footnote in Voyager’s journey.

            But common logic has changed. The Vaadwaur were a minor footnote too… until they allied with the Iconians and tried to seize control of the quadrant. Interestingly, one of the first places Gaul and the Vaadwaur attacked during the war was the Krenim Imperium, and they weren’t trying to conquer it. This was a “sweep and clear” mission. As far as we know now, the Krenim are functionally extinct.

            That alone has piqued Admiral Tuvok’s curiosity. Mine too.

Illustration from Star Trek: The Short Story Collection

Lieutenant Commander Kyla VanZyl regarded the stout Talaxian sitting across the table, and tried to figure out just how much of the admiral’s time she could let him waste. It would probably be best if she wrapped up the interview quickly, but the admiral’s friend Neelix had asked them to listen to the trader’s story, and Tuvok had agreed.

“Mister… Twilix? Is that correct?” the Trill officer asked him.

“Oh yes, just Twilix, that’s me!” the Talaxian chuckled. “Neelix said you’d want to hear my story.”

“Thank you, Mister Twilix,” she responded. “Now if you could just tell us about these Krenim. Where did you last see them?”

“Well, I didn’t exactly see the Krenim,” Twilix said. “But, I did hear about them. I was doing a little trading in the Pelia sector, just a shipment of Leola root and some odds and ends. Not much money in Leola root, but people need to eat, so you always have customers! And if you cook it right, Leola root can be quite tasty. Why there’s a friend of mine back at the base who roasts it with some tripepper and some amber spice, and you’d never believe how…”

“I am sure it is quite flavorsome,” the dark-skinned Vulcan sitting beside VanZyl interrupted. She was always impressed at his ability to curtail Talaxian rambling without appearing rude. “However, you were telling us about the Krenim.”

“Oh yes, the Krenim.” Twilix replied. “Well, I met up with a traveler from the Alpha Quadrant. One of those big-eared fellows. What are they called again? The Furenni? Ferengi? Anyway, this trader had a device he said he found in Krenim space. It looked legitimate enough, and my scanner was picking up some unusual energy signatures from it. I’m sure I could have found a buyer, but not at the price Quen wanted for it.”

“Did Quen tell you where he found the device?” VanZyl asked.

“Oh yes. It was the… oh, let me think. It was the Kyana system.”

Illustration from Star Trek: The Short Story Collection

VanZyl stood in Voyager’s lounge and watched Twilix’s ship depart. His visit had felt like the longest three hours of her life.

Diplomacy was not her forte. The time she’d helped steal a Bird-of-Prey and fight a giant alien ship? Now that had been something. The best and worst thing that had come out of that escapade had been her promotion. She’d been bumped from Starfleet Intelligence to first officer on Voyager, and there were definitely days she wished she were back in her old job.

Admiral Tuvok was still standing silently behind her. He was the best commanding officer she’d ever had, but there were times she wished he wasn’t so… Vulcan.

“Do you believe all that stuff?” she asked, “Those stories Twilix had about the Krenim?”

“I believe Twilix believes them,” the admiral replied, evenly, “And temporal travel is possible. I would say it is distressingly common.”

“But technology that could push an entire planet out of the time-space continuum? If the Krenim have that, why aren’t they ruling the galaxy?”

“Perhaps successfully altering time is not as easy as creating the means to do so,” Tuvok answered. “But if there is an element of truth to the stories, that could be a reason why the Vaadwaur attacked the Krenim.”

“Get rid of the biggest threat first,” VanZyl considered. “But why destroy the Krenim instead of trying to capture the device? Gaul wanted his empire back. What better way to recapture the past than to literally go back in time? Gaul could have prevented the attack on his homeworld 900 years ago.”

“Temporal mechanics is never that simple, and people who try to alter the past often find themselves in a present day they do not want,” Tuvok said. “However, you do have a point. The Vaadwaur destruction of the Krenim was out of character when compared to their other actions in the war.”

VanZyl turned her thoughts to the device Twilix had talked about. “I’ve seen reports on the Ferengi he mentioned. Quen’s been involved in numerous black market deals in this region, but he won’t sell a box full of rocks and call it replicator. I guess you could say he’s an honest crook, so we can assume that the Krenim device Quen has is legitimate. Either the Vaadwaur were so scared of the Krenim’s temporal tech they wanted to destroy it before it could be used against them, or they had another reason. We know that the Vaadwaur got the technology for their new ships from the Iconians. Maybe the Iconians told them to attack the Krenim first?”

“An intriguing idea, Commander,” Tuvok replied. “One we will have to consider carefully on our way to Krenim space.”

Illustration from Star Trek: The Short Story Collection

Collection available on Tuesday

Star Trek: The Short Story Collection goes on sale on Tuesday, November 8th. The hardcover color-illustrated collection is priced at $19.99 and can be pre-ordered now at Amazon.

Here is an overview of what’s included…

“Unexpected Honor” by Christine Thompson

Data offers some advice to Va’Kel Shon the new captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

“Shakedown” by Christine Thompson

The crew of the Enterprise-F encounter operational difficulties.

“The Gale Part 1” by Jesse Heinig with Christine Thompson

Captain Shon intervenes in a dispute between Federation and Reman miners.

“The Gale Part 2” by Jesse Heinig with Christine Thompson

The crew must escape from an icy, underground cavern.

“Mirror Image Part 1” by Christine Thompson

Refugees from the Mirror Universe hold vital information when a planet experiences subspatial rifts.

“Mirror Image Part 2” by Christine Thompson

Shon must help his double return to the Mirror Universe.

“Chief Part 1” by Katherine Bankson

Lt. Kirayoshi O’Brien joins the Enterprise crew.

“Chief Part 2” by Katherine Bankson

The Enterprise races to stop a Jem’Hadar attack!

“Of Chaos and Kal-Toh Part 1” by Jaddua Ross

An encounter with a vast artificial world spells danger for the crew.

“Of Chaos and Kal-Tho Part 2” by Jaddua Ross

The Enterprise faces destruction after a systems malfunction.

“Dove” by Christine Thompson

Captain Shon tries to avoid re-igniting a war.

“Backchannel Negotiations” by Christine Thompson

There’s treachery aboard the Klingon warship I.K.S. Bortasqu

“Locks Without Keys Part 1” by Christine Thompson         

Admiral Tuvok, commanding the U.S.S. Voyager, uncovers a mystery.

“Locks Without Keys Part 2” by Christine Thompson         

The crew of the U.S.S. Voyager embark on a secret mission.

“There’s No Place Like…” by Sean McCann

An unexpected request forces Captain Harry Kim to reassess the past he’d rather forget.

“Time of the Scotsman” by Paul Reed

Displaced in time, Scotty is quizzed by the department of Temporal Investigation.

Cover


 

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Does anyone here play STO? I’ve often thought about checking it out, but I have a strong dislike for the free-to-play game model. However, with so much in nuTrek being inspired by things in STO, I’m more inclined to bite the bullet and just take the plunge – but figured I’d see what people on here thought first.

It’s free at its core so you lose nothing by checking it out. You’ll dive into tons and tons of accurate Trek canon and beta canon as well get to fly ships so professionally designed they are now becoming canon as you know. Many Trek actors have done voice over, mostly reprising their old roles but set in STO’s present 2409-2410.

It’s gameplay however, you’ll probably find it mediocre if you’re a gamer. The game engine is now 12 years old and showing it’s age but some maps, most missions as well as some of the most popular ships have been/are being remastered. The ship gameplay is obviously the best part. All the cool ships/stuff will cost you money but there are frequent sales as well as an opportunity to earn free premium ship tokens if you participate in events throughout the year but you will have missed out this year. There are also ways to grind and convert game currency for these premium items and not spend any money at all but it’ll will take a whole lot of time.

It’s a casual game for the most part and most of us who play it just want to live some star trek and if it wasn’t for the IP, this game would have died a long time ago lol.

Good Luck! I’m certain you’ll be amazed and get a kick out of flying your shiny new Miranda-class starter ship just like we all did :D

Awesome! Thanks for the insight. I’ll definitely check it out.

Am I the only one who thinks this reads like bad fanfic? I can remember when the Star Trek books were very well written.

That was the mid 80s…

That was in the mid-2000’s with Vanguard and the Post-TNG novels.

I’ve always gotten the impression that most of STO is essentially fanfic (this is based purely on what I’ve read about STO, as I never actually played it), so I guess that makes sense for that style of writing to expand to some short stories.