Fanfic Recommendations: The Next Generation

[Mamorien]

The works of Nathan Goldwag, DBA EmperorNorton150, particularly the scholarly-toned works, like the specific piece that pororoca'd me over from TwiXter, Seven Days That Shook the Galaxy: The Tarkin Doctrine, the Dissolution of the Senate, and the Destruction of Alderaan.

Professor Nath Li-Le
Galactic University of Coruscant
Coruscant
New Republic
The Journal of the Galactic Civil War
68 ABY

"Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station." - Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin

"The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers." - Senator Leia Organa

A more rigorous examination of the events of 0 BBY will show that, while the year is just as pivotal to Galactic history as it usually assumed, the emphasis has often been misplaced. In truth, while the Death Star project did prove to be central to the Galactic Empire’s undoing, the fatal blow came not from DS-01’s destruction at the hands of Luke Skywalker, but from the political implications of the project writ large. It would be going too far to say that the Battle of Yavin was irrelevant, but it would be accurate to say that by the time the Battle Station arrived in the Yavin System, the balance in the Galactic Civil War had already irrevocably shifted, though in ways that would not become apparent for months and years to come.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/45500191

I also found myself surprisingly fond, for someone who stopped watching DS9 early in season 3, of the five-parts-and-counting series Winning the Peace: The Alpha Quadrant after the Dominion War.

"It's not enough to win a war. Anyone can do that. It's what comes next that's important." - Min Zefe, President of the United Federation of Planets, 2375

The Dominion War (2373-2375) was the single most destructive conflict in the known history of the Federation, and eventually entangled virtually every major power in the Alpha, Beta, and Gamma Quadrants of the Milky Way. Though the UFP and its allies were able to win a decisive victory on the battlefield, that was only the beginning of the long, weary struggle to build a new and better Galaxy.

It helped that I knew enough nuTrek before then, and have gotten a sufficient sense of subsequent developments, that I wasn't entirely at sea with (for instance) the most recent instalment, Transcript of Interrogation of Female Changeling in Regards to the Assassination of Senator Vreenak.

LZ: “I’m curious, Ms. Changeling. You’ve shown no shame or guilt about anything else you’ve admitted to in these sessions. Why so much reluctance to discuss the senator’s death?”

FC: “Shame is a solid emotion. Why would I feel shame for doing what was necessary to protect my people? I am not reluctant to discuss Senator Vreenak’s death, I simply don’t understand the point. I will tell you again: we did not kill him.”

LZ: “The Romulans believe you did.”

FC: “In my home quadrant, there is a planet called Qu An Seth, where the native inhabitants believe that if they do not perform the proper ritual dances each night, the sun will not rise the following morning. This is despite the fact that they have been under Dominion protection for over seven centuries, and that our scientists have demonstrated proof to the contrary to them time and time again. They will accept that other suns do not require it, but not their own.”

(Recording includes sixteen seconds of silence)

LZ: “Point taken. Let’s begin at the beginning them, shall we?”

https://archiveofourown.org/series/3921682

In notes to WtP, Goldwag acknowledges his debt to Tranquility Press's We Have Engaged the Borg: The Oral History of the Battle of Wolf 359.

On stardate 43975.2, Starbase 23 received a distress signal from the New Providence research colony on Jouret IV. The garbled transmission spoke of a large cube-like vessel that had entered the system and destroyed the small number of colony defense ships. The last transmission before all contact was lost showed a massive, black monolithic shape slowly descending over the colony.

Although not widely known outside the upper echelons of Starfleet Command, this was the Borg: a powerful race of cybernetic lifeforms, first encountered a year prior by the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701D, c. J-L Picard) over 7,000 light-years away.

What was to follow over the following days would rock the Federation to its very core: the destruction of 39 starships at Wolf 359, the loss of over 11,000 sapients, and Earth – the seat of the UFP Government and home of Starfleet – threatened with total assimilation.

I spent large wodges of Monday and Tuesday falling down that particular rabbit hole, and I consider none of that time wasted.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/49418989