Date: 30 Mar 2012 20:47 Title: Chapter 12
Ouch, just the sort of thing Doc Burton feared.
Author's Response: Well one or the other was bound to get hurt at some point. It was so setup right from the start. Hopefully you liked the scene and the event did shock you a little.
Date: 30 Mar 2012 20:05 Title: Chapter 11
I was wondering what had happened to this story. Glad to see it finally resumed. I enjoyed the butting of heads between the Gorn and Geckonian. And the little poker between the Starfleet and Gorn captains sounded very Trek-like.
Author's Response: Thanks for the great feedback. Now I will be continuing the story the past few months is in behind me. I hope you enjoy the conclusion of the story, it should be a good ending.
Date: 30 Mar 2012 11:16 Title: Chapter 11
Glad to see your back! I'll read all the chapters before this one to rejog my memory of this story. Glad things are picking up for you!
Author's Response: Thanks for the kind words, hope you enjoy the story.
Date: 24 Apr 2011 21:34 Title: Chapter 9
Seemed hard enough having everyone in the same room with all the various conflicts already taking place. Who can blame Torlik for being a little hesitant to speak his mind given his background? And the disagreements between Wilcox and Hawke could potentially strain their friendship.
Author's Response: Thanks for the review. I like to think I've taken a step away from the early ST where everyone got along with everyone and conflict is so important to character development.
Date: 24 Apr 2011 09:23 Title: Chapter 9
Commander Hawke really got off on the wrong foot here. Undermining the captain, who’s also his friend, was a terrible way to support his commanding officer and the goals of their assigned mission. Here’s hoping Dan doesn’t let his relationship troubles influence the performance of his duties. The last thing Wilcox needs in the middle of this mission is an undependable XO.
It seems Nightingale is significantly outgunned by any Gorn warships they may encounter, which doesn’t bode well if the big lizards were responsible for Brave’s disappearance, or if they simply run across Wilcox’s ship while in a particularly bad mood.
Your descriptions of the senior staff and their dismal morale at the outset of the mission was nicely rendered.
Author's Response: Thanks I'm glad that the senior staff have come off well. We'll see the Gorn coming into play very soon.
Date: 20 Apr 2011 05:32 Title: Chapter 8
Captain Wilcox is faced with one of the most uncomfortable mission profiles a starship can be assigned... go figure out what made another starship disappear, without allowing the same thing to happen to them. Essentially, the 'go-stick-your-head-in-the-noose-and-see-what-happens' style of mission.
Add to that the fact that he's got an inexperienced crew, an new, untested, and understaffed ship, and that he's likely going to have to take Nightingale near Gorn space to investigate whether they were responsible for whatever fate has befallen Brave.
Now his Security/Tactical chief is getting whiny, and his mission advisor is not only difficult to read, but likely has issues with the Gorn from having fought them previously.
This... is going to be a challenge for Wilcox and his crew on multiple levels.
Author's Response: Thanks Gibraltar as always. This mission certainly does seem like a mission not to volunteer for, unlikely for Wilcox and co, they didn't.
Date: 17 Apr 2011 11:18 Title: Chapter 5
Torlik’s fortunate not only to have an opportunity for a fresh start on a new ship, but to have someone willing to listen to his problems. Granted, he didn’t take the opportunity to share with Paul, but the fact that a fellow crewmember cared enough to offer is something at least.
It certainly appears that the ‘official’ account of what happened aboard Victory has been buried by Starfleet Command. The cover story doesn’t do Torlik justice, and was doubtless put in place to paper over the captain’s cowardice and dereliction of duty. It’s a damn shame that he’s had to live with those nightmares and the stain the incident has left on his professional reputation.
The conversation between Dr. Burton and Commander Hawke finally sheds some light on Burton’s bad attitude. Her fragile emotional state is obviously impacting how she interacts with other personnel, and clearly not for the better.
Author's Response: What happened to Torlik and the events of the Victory will be dealt with in the next book, but his history, and his actions are still important to this story as you need some background to understand him. But for the events portrayed so far, it certainly was an injustice, and something that should never have happened. Dr Burton and Commander Hawke's romance play an important role in this story, it will be an emotional tear jerker for one of the characters. As with much of the crew (and starfleet at the moment) fragile emotional states are rife - the Dominion War took its toll on a lot of personnel. I'm glad you are enjoying the read.
Date: 17 Apr 2011 05:09 Title: Chapter 4 - Departing
Wilcox handled Torlik well, given the man’s attitude. Only time will tell if Torlik is willing to allow himself a fresh start aboard Nightingale. The fresh-faced young lieutenant will be a challenge, though in reality she already has more experience than Harry Kim did when he reported aboard Voyager as Chief of Operations.
The ship is understaffed with a largely inexperienced crew under a new captain… I can only imagine the challenges that lay ahead!
Author's Response: Thanks for the feedback as always...it certainly is a tough situation for the new Captain... but it wouldn't be a good story if there weren't some problems.
Date: 14 Apr 2011 11:43 Title: Chapter 3 - Preparing to go
V'ras is an interesting fellow, and quite unconventional, even by Vulcan standards. Dr. Burton, however, seems all too familiar… a physician with little concern for anything that doesn’t immediately affect her or her department. Fortunately, she’s got Nurse Williams there to help keep her grounded and balanced.
I appreciated the interaction between V’ras and the captain, and the patience the engineer showed with the captain mucking about in his business. Good stuff.
Author's Response: Thanks for your further feedback. V'ras is one of my favourite characters, very unique traits to him. Burton certainly has a chip on shoulder, but considering the design of the ship being based around medical, i think she can think its all about here at times. the conversation between vras and wilcox was fun to do, and is something not seen often in starfleet, the captain getting too involved.
Date: 04 Apr 2011 21:55 Title: Chapter 3 - Preparing to go
Nice intro to more of the crew. The doctor comes off as a bit of a diva and the nurse kind of brings to mind Kelly Stables from "Two and a Half Men", whose character resembled the usual perky blondes seen on TV.
Author's Response: thanks... I'm trying to create a crew that is so different from each other to allow conflict between the characters
Date: 27 Mar 2011 03:27 Title: Chapter 2 - Exploring the Possibilities
Quite an interesting tale already being told in the narrative. Perhaps this Geckonian mission adviser has his own separate agenda. And the Gorn could potentially cause trouble in the UFP's weakened state.
Author's Response: there certainly is a lot of possibilities which I could take the readers down. Of course I already know what is going to happen, I hope that people will be satisfied with the outcomes...
Date: 27 Mar 2011 01:43 Title: Chapter 1 - Orders
Nice opening that got my attention, though we haven't met most of the ensemble just yet. I can see Starfleet wanting to rush ships into service after the war to make up for losses. That premise is in one of my series with luxuries being a low priority. Some interesting new features to the bridge from an XO's office next to the bridge in addition to a captain's ready room to fleet communication center.
Author's Response: Thanks for the review, glad it grabbed your attention. The backdrop for the story and the series itself is one that is so rich there are so many stories to be told.
Date: 26 Mar 2011 09:19 Title: Chapter 2 - Exploring the Possibilities
It looks as though Captain ‘John’ (what is his last name, anyway?) is having some doubts as to the parameters of the mission, doubts clearly shared by his XO. I also wonder if having a close friend assigned as your first officer is the best idea, under the circumstances. Can your XO really be objective when he’s that close to you?
Sounds like there are lots of possibilities involved in the disappearance of the Brave. Here’s hoping this new and untested crew can solve the mystery.
Author's Response: JOhn's surname is Wilcox, its in the synopsis, but not in the story (yet) as he will mostly referred to as John when it's his viewpoint we are looking at. Being friends with the XO is a dodgy ground, but the premise of the story is all about this messed up launch. Then again, Spock and Kirk, Janeway and Tuvok, Sisko and Dax, sometimes the captain does have that friendship.
I'm looking forward to showing the story - the mystery of the Brave was never going to be easy, but that is what I like.
Date: 25 Mar 2011 11:29 Title: Chapter 1 - Orders
It appears as though this new captain has his work cut out for him. Get a new ship up and running smoothly, assemble a crew, and get thrust into action looking for a missing starship along a potentially hostile border.
I like the time period you’ve elected to explore here. The aftermath of the Dominion War is rife with story potential.
An interesting start, and I’m looking forward to more.
Author's Response: Thanks for the feedback. Yes I do like to be very cruel to my characters, especially my lead characters. The time period is one which I think could have been explored in so much detail, yet has been left out of ST since DS9 (VOY had no mention of it really and Nemisis made only a brief mention of the war itself). I'm certainly going to be delving into the rich backdrop and exploring some of the loose threads that were left - in this story and in others I have planned.
Date: 24 Mar 2011 22:48 Title: Chapter 1 - Orders
An interesting introduction to the crew and ship. We haven't met many of the crew but it seems that John is without the full complement and a long term ensign to boot. The ship too has an interesting design and one that could well serve the story too. Shall see how that pans out. Now as to the missing ship, it can't bode well that it was on the border with the Gorn. Could this be a sign that the Gorn have ambitions in the wake of the Dominion War?
Author's Response: Thanks for the feedback, I got the idea for the first chapter from the VOY episode "relativity" when Janeway is orginally shown voyage and they discuss the first mission there. The design of the ship is something that I've wanted to see in star trek for years and I have taken years to perfect the design on and off. You'll have to wait and see with what is happening on the Gorn, I like to make things a little more complicated for my characters (i do like to be evil to them).