My short story “The Offer” appears in the digital supplement accompanying issue #1 of Star Trek Explorer Magazine.
Titan Publishing announce the Official Star Trek Magazine is now STAR TREK EXPLORER – THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE. EXPLORER is the no. #1 destination for everything Star Trek – filled with in-depth interviews and features taking you behind-the-scenes of all your favorite shows and movies.
The new-look EXPLORER magazine also includes two brand-new exclusive Star Trek short stories, and a bonus 16-page themed supplement bound inside each issue. The hotly anticipated premier issue features a definitive guide to Captain Kirk!
AUTHOR’S NOTES
This story was published in November 2021, and follows the character of Jonathan Archer from Star Trek: Enterprise as he faces a challenge unlike any he has ever encountered…
“The Offer” appears in the anthology Star Trek Explorer Presents: Star Trek “Q An False” and Other Stories.
Spoiler Warning! The notes and annotations below give away key story points from “The Offer”.
This story takes place in 2150, several months before the events of “Broken Bow”, the first episode of Star Trek: Enterprise.
Lieutenant Quebec, the pilot of Jonathan Archer’s shuttlepod is none other than a certain omnipotent super-being, and his cover name comes from the NATO phonetic code for the letter ‘Q’.
The story mentions Vulcan Suurok-class starships, which first appeared in the 1st season Enterprise episode “Breaking the Ice“.
Archer’s involvement in the NX test program is seen in the 2nd season Enterprise episode “First Flight“.
Admiral Forrest and the Vulcan ambassador Soval first appear in “Broken Bow“.
Soval’s intention to pressure Starfleet to give command of the NX-01 Enterprise to Captain Gardner rather than Archer was first mentioned in the 1st season Enterprise episode “Shadows of P’Jem“.
Archer briefly considers taking command of a Freedom-class starship; the first appearance of this type of vessel is the USS Franklin in the movie Star Trek Beyond.
Archer had once been a guest aboard a Vulcan Maymora-class cruiser; this was mentioned in the episode “Breaking the Ice“.
“Oh…boy.” Archer’s line in this story at seeing an altered version of his own reflection is a nod to the same trope from the TV show Quantum Leap, which also started actor Scott Bakula.
Archer’s line “I’d rather see humanity on a long road to get where we’re going…” references the lyrics from “Faith of the Heart“, the song that serves as Enterprise‘s opening title theme.
“Jean-Luc” of course refers to Jean-Luc Picard, whom Q has been tormenting since “Encounter at Farpoint” in Star Trek: The Next Generation‘s 1st season.
COVER GALLERY
