Task Force Vanguard

Full Speed Ahead warps to take its place within the huge United Trek crossover event: Task Force Vanguard!

As a member of the United Trek Star Trek Fanfiction Universe, sometimes the authors get together to do a big event.  Right now, there are two such events transpiring: “Task Force Vanguard” and the “Refugee Crisis.”  Not too long ago, Sam Redfeather wrote his entry for Task Force Vanguard; Star Trek: Gibraltar’s “At the Gates.”  If you haven’t read it, yet, I highly recommend that you do.  It takes place after the events of our crossover novel, “The Chains of Error,” and it’s a really good read. Especially, if you’re a huge fan of Sam’s work with Gibraltar.  There are a lot of twists and turns with the characters as they perform their roles within the task force, and the end of that novel will leave you waiting for more.  Thankfully, he’s continuing on with “Scorched Earths.”

Sam’s TFV stories inspired me to try and come to grips with the aftermath of Ariel’s death within “Chains.”  Even though writing about Leone’s heartbreak was a big emotional drain, I decided I wanted to dive back in with a more uplifting story as well as make a substantive contribution to the writing project.  Unfortunately, I didn’t have much in the way of an idea on how to proceed with such a project due to the fact that I didn’t know exactly how to operate within the constraints of the Task Force while Gibraltar’s Europa was wandering around.

Fortunately, there was a particular plot point that Sam mentioned I could try, and that had to do with something mentioned in “At the Gates.  I won’t give the specifics away as it will kill the ending of Full Speed Ahead’s contribution, but suffice to say that if you paid close attention to Sam’s stories, it’ll be easy to tie in the FSA plot, especially in the very end of the book.

The summary of the novel centers around the crew of USS Gallant, under the command of Lieutenant Commander Carolyn Kircheis.  Most of the characters from that ship (Kircheis, Executive Officer Merrit Kelley, Lieutenant Hiroko Yamamoto) were introduced in “Chains,” but we are also taking the time to dive a little further into the character sketches that I wrote for each one.  I’m also introducing some yet-to-be seen characters from later on in FSA’s main timeline, specifically from the planned fourth season, so you’re getting kind of a sneak preview on what is to come for the crew of USS Farragut.  Also, we’re introducing some new additions to the crew, including a recent transfer from one of the special ops teams that Pava runs.  And also, be on the lookout for a cameo from everyone’s favorite El Aurian.

At this point, the story has been completely written and is in the editing phase of production.  I couldn’t have done it without my co-author, A. J. Gertner.  A. J. and I have collaborated on a number of other projects, but this is the first that we’ve finished.  I’ve been really happy with our progress and we play off of each other fairly well as our styles have completely fused together for this story so it will be very difficult to tell who wrote what, just as it was with “Chains.”  Going forward, A. J. will also be contributing to the main FSA plots (Season 1) beginning with “Fever Five” so be on the lookout for the second name as we continue to write and bring more of those stories to the readers.

Before I end this post, I wanted to present the cover to the novel, so please enjoy and anticipate the story!