In case you haven't heard, the complete
Star Trek: Yorktown series is available for download
here. As promised, it contains the prologue and first chapter of the first story of ST:CT. Now that it's available, here are some details on four of the main characters that appear in the preview, listed by order of appearance. I encourage you to read the preview before reading the following information. More character sketches will be posted as the launch date for ST:CT approaches.
*
Captain Antonio Vasquez - Although a young helmsman on his first deep space assignment throughout the bulk of the series, Tony (to his friends), will ascend to the command of the USS
Republic, a top of the line starship in the early 25th Century fitted with an experimental main drive capable of rapidly propelling her to the distant Delta Quadrant at speeds never before dreamed of. It's a far cry from the twenty-four year old man who came aboard the
Venture after serving on the Jovian Run for two years. He almost squandered that opportunity by making a lousy first impression on his captain. Like most pilots, he tends to have a cavalier attitude, particularly when it comes to the opposite sex.
Author's Notes - Vasquez's last name comes from the Vasquez Rocks location used frequently for location shooting over the course of the Star Trek
franchise, from the TOS episode "Arena" to JJ Abrams' forthcoming feature film. The idea for the frame story set in the 25th Century was added in fairly late during development of "Dangerous Days," the premiere for ST:CT. Inspired by the recently-introduced concept of "flash-forwarding" on the ABC TV series Lost
, it shows the consequences of what happened over the course of the main storyline, how the characters have moved on, and how they have dealt with what they went through over the past thirty years. Vasquez will be the central character in the frame story as he unravels what happened to Sara's father and how it ties into what happened aboard the Venture
; essentially, he narrates the entire story. The actor that immediately sprang to mind while writing the character of Captain Vasquez was Edward James Olmos, mainly for his portrayal of William Adama on the current Battlestar Galactica
series. Likewise, Ensign Vasquez was altered slightly with the performance of actor Nico Cortez in mind, who played a younger version of Adama in flashbacks from the TV movie Battlestar Galactica: Razor
.*
Commander Alidar Nelveth - Although a commander in the Imperial Fleet, the actions Nelveth will take over the course of ST:CT will lead him to become a renegade in the eyes of the current Romulan government, not that he minds, however. To him, Praetor Tal'Aura has allowed the once mighty Romulan Star Empire to disintegrate. The Remans are now no longer slaves, Klingons frequently incur into Romulan territory, and world after world have started to declare independence from Romulus, such as the worlds ruled by the self-proclaimed Empress Donatra of the Imperial Romulan State. His father, Jarron, a former Romulan senator forced out of office for his role in the dissolution of the alliance with the Klingon Empire a century ago, has vowed to use the secrets of the alien race that once inhabited Kathos III to rebuild the empire and make the Romulan people strong again, even if he and Nelveth have to enter a shaky alliance with the Tal Shiar to do so.
Author's Notes - Nelveth's first name is an obvious homage to the character Alidar Jarok from the TNG episode "The Defector." His last name is derived from a similar character from the authors previous works based in the Starfleet Command
realm. His flagship, the Teramnus
, was also named for a Romulan warship featured in a previous SFC story. Nelveth initially wasn't Romulan; when ST:CT was first conceived, it took place during the Dominion War and his character was a Cardassian gul named Pirok. His Tal Shiar associates were back then Vorta agents of the Dominion. When the author decided to move the setting to 2381, the change to a Romulan renegade out to overthrow Tal'Aura seemed natural and the name Pirok was given to a Cardassian serving aboard the Venture
. Veteran Trek
actor Vaughn Armstrong, particularly his portrayal of the Romulan scientist Telek R'Mor in the VOY episode "Eye of the Needle," served as the principle inspiration for Nelveth's characterization.*
Captain Warren Henderson - A veteran Starfleet captain, he was promoted to his first command, the starship
Ticonderoga after serving as the first officer of the
Magellan during its stint with the highly classified Operation Trinity, some of the events of which still haunt him to this day. Eventually, he took command of the Galaxy-class USS
Venture and served in the various conflicts of the past ten years with distinction. Last year, the
Venture escorted a ship from the newly-discovered Trinni/ek to a summit on Earth and later transported Federation President Nanietta Bacco to the Koa homeworld to welcome them into the UFP as its latest members. Now he'll be asked to lead the
Venture on a mission of exploration to the Beta Quadrant, following in the trails of the Luna-class USS
Ganymede. However, a specter of the past will draw him and his crew into the gravest of dangers. Although he appears stern to his crew, when off duty he's as sociable as anyone else. He has a wife, two daughters, and a grandson; all of whom live elsewhere in spite of the fact that the
Venture was cleared to carry civilians and families again within the past two years.
Author's Notes - For the most part, the character of Captain Henderson remained consistent in every iteration of ST:CT up through the final edit of "Dangerous Days." The only major change that can be disclosed at this time was his name; when the author settled on using the Venture
as the principal ship in ST:CT, his last name was changed to Henderson to reflect the captain of the ship mentioned in Keith R.A. DeCandido's novel Articles of the Federation
, during which the events described above occured. While Memory Beta lists several commanders preceding Henderson on the Venture
, the author has chosen to disregard them, since most of them come from sources that ambiguously (and in the case of Star Trek: Bridge Commander
, quite impossibly) fit into the current novel continuity. No specific number for his length of tenure on the Venture
has been given in what's been written so far, however it is implied that it is at least ten years. His portrayal is inspired by actors Clint Eastwood and Scott Glenn. Interestingly enough, in spite of how Vasquez's initial encounter with Henderson went, the man the young ensign will grow up to be will share many traits with his old CO.*
Comamnder Mark Dryden - One of the rising stars in Starfleet, the young commander serves as the
Venture's first officer. Following an act of heroism that saved the lives of the crew of the ship he served on during the Dominion War, Dryden's career began to skyrocket, culminating in his just being offered command of the USS
Essex, remarkable for someone who's only thirty-one years of age. As a child, he survived the Setlik III Massacre, however his entire family was killed before a rescue party from the starship
Rutledge could arrive. Although Dryden carries bitter memories of that tragedy, he hasn't let it affect his performance in Starfleet. At an early age, he was inspired by the exploits of Captains Archer, Kirk, and Picard and believes himself to be an explorer first and a soldier a very distant second. While the
Essex is not primarily a vessel of exploration, he hopes to one day to command such as ship like the
Venture. Currently, he lives aboard the
Venture with his girlfriend, Therese Poole, who is a civilian member of the ship's science department.
Author's Notes - Dryden's last name comes from Hugh L. Dryden, the aeronautical engineer for whom the Dryden Flight Research Center is named. His first name comes from the author's vain need to have a main character share one of his initials. Like Henderson, his character changed little over the course of drafting the series. Although in roughly the same situation as William Riker was at the beginning of TNG, he's very much more like a young Jean-Luc Picard in demeanor; reserved, slow to anger, though circumstances will provoke his temper. Although the Star Trek Encyclopedia
placed the Setlik III Massacre in the late 2340s based on circumstantial evidence, the author has chosen to use the later conclusion that set the attack in 2362 based on information from the DS9 episode "Tribunal," making Dryden twelve when it happened. Coincidentally, Dryden is roughly one year younger than Wesley Crusher. Dryden's appearance and demeanor is alternately based off of actor Matthew Fox from Lost
and the generic male version of Commander Shepard, the lead character in Bioware Corp's Mass Effect
, voiced by Mark Meer.
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