Fic Update Thread 57: Varieties of Fandom Experience

[Mamorien]

Some conversation I saw on the Tranquility Press discord the other way comes into sharp relief as I discover that In the Raptor's Claws: Earth, Romulus, and the War that Birthed the Federation (ST backstory) has begun its third and final volume, Wings Swept Back (2158-2160), with Chapter 18, Asteroid Hopping: The Solomon Belt and Colonel Edison.

Intel found some Romulan news reports about us. They say the Devil Fish can only have been recruited from jails or insane asylums for their bloodlust! I’d say they got that one right! – Colonel Balthazar Edison


In the 22nd Century, the Solomon Belt lay on the edge of explored space. While it now forms one of the western tributaries to the vital Bolarus-to-Barolia trade corridor that forms the backbone of the Federation economy, at the time it was a relatively calm area of subspace that supported Tellarite traders plying their wares to the Andorian Empire.(fn1) In between lay several warp-capable civilizations that had not yet expanded beyond their home systems. Some of these worlds – like Tarkalea and Benzar – had remained largely neutral to this point.(fn2) The Tarkaleans lacked for little at this point, having developed an early version of matter replication technology in the early 2150s. The Benzites had little use for off-world trade. Very few goods or foodstuffs could survive the heavily chlorinated atmosphere of Benzar. Moreover, it would be the better part of a century before they developed the diffusion rebreather technology that would allow them to survive in the standard nitrogen-oxygen atmosphere of most Minshara-class worlds. Before that, few Benzites left their world; those that did could only do so wearing sealed suits.

(...)

Balthazar Edison, a cut so deep you might need stitches.

Of all the MACO commanders to make a name for themselves during the war, few were as famous – or infamous – as Colonel Balthazar Edison, leader of the 31st MACO Expeditionary Unit, the first unit chosen to head into the Bear tunnels.(fn25) Born in Murrysville, Pennsylvania to parents who immigrated from the United Kingdom, Edison joined the MACO Corps in 2137 after graduating from a joint program at Starfleet Academy and Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. The late 2130s were a period of great optimism about Earth’s expanding reach into the stars, as the Warp 5 program was just beginning to bear fruit. Edison knew as well as anyone that that expanded reach would require men and women to defend the Earth and her interests against the cold, hostile vacuum of space and the aliens out there that might do Earth harm. His unit was one of the first called upon to provide disaster relief when the Xindi probe attacked in 2153.

Edison was on the short list of MACO officers provided to then-Captain Archer to lead the platoon that would accompany him on the punitive expedition into the Delphic Expanse.(fn26) Though Archer ultimately decided to take Major (Jeremiah) Hayes, Edison was made the executive officer of the 22nd MACO Expeditionary Unit under Colonel Terrence Ginwald.(fn27) The unit was forward deployed to the Sirius colony in case of a Xindi assault. While the Xindi never attacked the colony, it suffered several attacks from Nausicaan pirates. Edison gained a reputation as a soldier’s soldier, winning three separate engagements against superior numbers of Nausicaan pirates. His men said he was a stern but fair disciplinarian, and never asked them to carry any burden he was unwilling to carry himself.

A little over four years later, Colonel Edison found himself on the sharp end of the spear, now in command of the 31st MACO Expeditionary Unit.(fn28) If the Tellarite’s job was to seal the spaceports and prevent the Romulans from escaping, his role would be to push the Romulans deeper into the tunnels where they could not escape. He would destroy the fuel, ammunition and food that was collected at this base to be given to the Romulan ships heading to Denobula and grab any information that could be used by Starfleet Intelligence that could bring the war to an end more swiftly. He did not think such a task could be done easily, but he would see it done.

https://intheraptorsclaws.wordpress.com/...el-edison/

Footnotes.

1. Rogal nar Torg, Trade in the Tellarite Republics (Telemachus Press, February 2273).
2. Kryn sh’Voltan, Nonaligned Species of the Pre-Federation Era (University of Lor’vela Press, November 2284).
(...)
25. Elliot Lewis, The One the Romulans Feared: The Life of Balthazar Edison, Pennsylvania State University Press, October 2190.
26. Special Operations Division, Military Assault Command Operations, MACO Staff Recommendations for Punitive Expedition into Delphic Expanse, (Jacksonville, NC; May 2, 2153).
27. Starfleet Bureau of Personnel, Service Record – Edison, Balthazar M., (Oakland, CA; May 2164. Accessed May 2192).
28. Lewis.