Date: 18 Sep 2011 01:32 Title: Chapter 2
And now--however much Troi admires Pike--she is working against him. I get the feeling this command staff is not going to coalesce into a happy relationship if things continue this way.
And now Pike's having issues with the ambassador--though at least it didn't turn into a flame-fest.
The notification of the Klingon and Romulan governments of the temporal incursion is a prudent move, I think, since something like this is far bigger than their petty hostilities. My universe has a similar doctrine in place regarding the Borg called the Hanson Doctrine (after the deceased admiral from "The Best of Both Worlds").
These Borg seem very different from the ones we know. I wonder why? They remind me more of the Krenim than the Borg. And this captain, though cybernetic, seems to have a personality of some sort.
Oh, and I'm curious--under normal conditions, why is a warp jump dangerous?
Date: 18 Sep 2011 01:23 Title: Chapter 1
One of the things that immediately got my attention about this AU is that you have a more racially-diverse crew reminiscent of TAS than what we saw onscreen. That's something I like seeing in TOS-era stories, personally.
Not only that--we have a chance to see Pike in his prime, as a leader. Out of curiosity, do you see the TOS Pike, or the Trek XI Pike? (I hope you'll forgive me for seeing the Trek XI one. ;-) ).
I like how, with the "only ship in range," trope, you specify that a specific class of ship is needed, presumably due to its ability to transport cargo and people on a large scale than other vessels of its time. That helps to make it seem more like a plot necessity than a plot device.
However...one thing I'm not so sure you really need to do...I think you would be better to remove the "Space: The Final Frontier" stuff. It works onscreen, but in writing it looks like an unnecessary intrusion and breaks up the flow of your story. (If you wanted to break up the flow in a bit more of a "constructive" manner, that would build up tension, I think a chapter break might have been in order.)
You do well with showing the contradiction of a character like Kodos: he thinks he's brave, but the truth is he's a coward.
I like the fact that Pike wants to eventually have a happy ship. That said, I think his pride may get in his way; refusing to notify Command of what's going on simply because his ship was on its maiden voyage is the kind of decision that could bite him in the butt if he's not careful. That pride may also have blinded him to thinking of the possibility of installing that new equipment, since he was so fixated on how to defend himself against command. While I think he made a great move commending Scotty, it seems like he's operating against his senior staff and the admiralty, and that mindset might not help him.
As for the temporal incursion...this reminds me of the kind of thing we saw from Annorax in VOY, and what we should have seen more of in ENT's Temporal Cold War. I'll be very interested to see what the cause is...