4.12 Acknowledgements: Volume 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS VOLUME 04: 2049-2065

AUTHOR’S COMMENTS:

This issue marks something of a watershed event in the TREK universe. For the first time, in any publication (official or fandom), an attempt is being made to describe the Four EarthKzin Wars that Sulu mentions in “The Slaver Weapon” within the constraints of the TREK fandom timeline. Others had looked at key parts of it before I came along, most notably Alan Dean Foster, Ally N. Gibson, James Dixon, Neal and Jana Hallford, and Jimmy Diggs. Dixon’s unified TREK fandom timeline was a constant and necessary companion in my research. Gibson’s essay in particular, on the chronological reconciliation of the Earth-Kzin Wars within TREK, proved to be the most helpful – although his dates and subsequent reasoning are marred by the use of the Okuda chronology (Prime Two). His dates have been adjusted per the Prime One timeline for use in this document. Russell Martin’s research into the Known Space timeline for the Man-Kzin Wars was also quite helpful. Aridas Sofia (Federation Reference Series) and the guys over at the FRS Forums were great sounding boards as I tried to resolve various issues and aspects of this period in the hi story of the TREK universe. Finally, it goes without saying tha t award-winning sci-fi author Larry Niven himself deserves cr edit for “lending” the TREK universe one of its most memorable aliens species of all time, despite their sole episodic appearance to date.

It soon became obvious to me that the TREK version of the ManKzin Wars could in no way be reconciled with the events as they take place in Known Space. The most obvious difference is the amount of time in which each takes place. Reconciling Gibson’s initial research with Dixon’s yields a Prime One window of 2058- 2065 for the Earth-Kzin Wars (from initial first contact to the signing of the Treaty of Sirius). The same rough order of events plays out over two centuries in the Known Space universe (2360-2584); plus that has two additional wars not referenced in the TREK universe. The same rough sequence of events, with appropriate adjustments for “known” TREK events, could be followed; however, the timeline was going to have to be seriously dilated. This meant that some form of faster-than-light technology, with both ships and communications, was in use during TREK’s Earth-Kzin Wars. The communications aspect was easy enough. Both the old SFC and Dixon mentioned the discovery of “geon holes,” though which FTL radio communications could be made (after a fashion) prior to the invention of subspace radio. The FTL starship issue, though, was another matter altogether.

It has long been established in every iteration of the TREK universe that Zefram Cochrane invented warp drive sometime around the beginning of the 21st century. The date is usually 2050 (Prime One), or 2063 (Prime Two), or some variation thereof. Both Gibson and Dixon’s research seems to imply that warp drive was not available for general use until sometime shortly before the Fourth Earth-Kzin War. This begs the question: how did Terra and Kzin fight four interstellar wars across half of the Local Group in under two decades? Surprisingly enough, I found the answer in the “space warp” concept from the anime TV series Star Blazers. This suggested an intermediate step between impulse drive (aka advanced fusion, ion impulse, whatever) and true warp drive. The term CDP generator was borrowed from the DS9 Technical Manual, along with some of its background, to describe what I have come to call the “jump drive.” This is a starship engine that is capable of a temporary FTL burst of speed and then has to wait until it can gather enough power for another “jump.” Something like FASA’s NTR drive from their old RPG. Remember, FTL technology has massive power requirements and simple fusion engines just weren’t up to providing enough power for sustained cruising at FTL speeds. “Jump drive” would have been a workable compromise given the technology at hand. To use an analogy similar to that I used in discussing the issue on the FRS ng car engine with a one gallon Forum, think of a high-tech raci nd powerful that engine is, it’s tank. No matter how snazzy a only going to go as far as that one gallon of fuel will last and then you’ve got to go buy some more. This deus ex machina also allows the Terrans, once they master the technology, to combine CDP generators with their spiked antimatter starship engines (Columbus class, UES Icarus) and come very close to true warp drive (Liberty class). All that would be left would be for Cochrane to work out the bugs with the matter-antimatter conversion, and presto! True warp drive. That’ s where Dixon’s exhaustive research leads me on this issue. So, in brief, you have two fleets of starships equipped with various forms of “jump drive” duking it out in the Local Group for about two decades instead of two fleets of sublight starships chasing each other for two centuries or more. Overall it works out fairly well.

Something else that deserves mention is the nature of the Earth-Kzin Wars. They aren’t really four separate wars at all. That’s just how they were recorded in the Terran history books at the time. Instead, in the TREK universe, there were three successive waves of Kzinti attack fleets against humanity. Operation Rock Drop (which I moved to the third war to better fit in the TREK universe) put an end to these Kzinti staggered wave tactics for a few years. However, once they had sufficiently recovered, they scraped together everything they could for what they intended to be the fourth and final wave. Unfortunately for them, that was just about the time that the new warp drive ships of the Combined Fleets (true warp drive, not “jump drive”) were entering service, which doomed the

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Kzinti to failure before their first assault. This interpretation reconciles reasonably well with Sulu’s statement from “The Slaver Weapon: “The Kzinti fought four wars against humankind and lost every one of them.”

me other quotes and points from “The Slaver Weapon” on So his issue of the FSC: which I’ve tried to key for t

“Are you forgetting that Kzinti females are dumb animals?” – My description of the kzinretti differs in only one point. It was modified to take into account the occasional genetic mutation that would result in one being intelligent. There are the occasional rare intelligent kzinretti in Known Space.

Chuft-Captain – Follows Niven’s rules for Kzinti names. I follwed the same lead in my character of ZrathGeneral, military governor of occupied Alpha Centauri.

“The last [war] was 200 years ago.” – The episode took place in 2264; the last battle of the Fourth Earth-Kzin War was fought in 2064. The Treaty of Sirius was signed the following year in 2065.

“My crew has yet to taste human flesh as our ancestors did. We would welcome the opportunity.” – Death of Lt. Radetski in the Sakharov Incident in FSC #3, the occupation of Alpha Centauri and their implied “culling” of its population (and that of the Tellarites) in this volume.

pment.” – “Always you have had superior equi Innovative use of mass drivers (First War), development of the particle cannon (Second War), the spiked antimatter CDP drive (Third War), the “Builder” artificial wormhole generator (Third War), and true warp drive (Fourth War).

Spock’s speech about his attack on Chuft-Captain – A more eloquently short description of male kzin pride has yet to be written. I’ve touched upon the same points in my much longer discussion.

“If the Kzinti had [the Slaver weapon] the whole galaxy would be their dinner table!” – As it once was before the Earth-Kzin Wars. Both the Kzinti and ZrathGeneral make smiliar “dinner table” references.

“The Klingons or some other species would have tried to possess [the weapon].” – It is from this quote that the folks behind Star Fleet Battles apparently derived the notion that the Kzinti and the Klingons knew each it that this is a very liberal other. I’ll freely adm interpretation; however, I see no reason not to go with it. Hence I have followed the lead of both SFB (as illustrated on both the Star Trek Maps and the Okudainfluenced Star Trek Star Charts) in having them be past enemies.

“That ancient war could have sparked a new war between man and Kzinti.” – There will eventually be a Fifth Earth-Kzin War, and that is Todd Guenther’s Kzinti Incursion of 2272. You can count on me giving it more than lip service when the time comes.

“At this rate, they’ll never get over those old superstitions.” – Such as praying to the GreatFanged-One (per the material from Jimmy Diggs).

There are obvious parallels between the Earth-Kzin Wars in the TREK universe and the Pacific Campaign between the United States and Japan during World War II. I freely admit to looking t o the latter for inspiration in trying to describe the former. This is from where the idea of “planet hopping” comes for the UESF offensive during the Third Earth-Kzin War. General Dietrich followed the example of MacArthur and Nimitz’s strategy against the Japanese, “island hopping” from one strategic point to another and bypassing heavily fortified areas in favor of less defended ones. The bigger bases would then either be ignored altogether or taken care of once they were completely surrounded in an American sea. The difference between the two, of course, is that Dietrich and UESF were doing this on an interstellar scale. The Third Battle of Alpha Centauri and Operation Rock Drop are the bookends to Dietrich’s “planet hopping” campaign.

Operation Rock Drop brings to culmination a subplot I started all the way back in Volume 01 about alien technology discovered on Mars. I foresaw the need for this back when I began this project, knowing that I would have to find a way to explain this event within the context of the TREK universe someway, somehow. I deliberately left out all but the barest of details in providing the frame for the subplot concerning Colonel Christopher’s “Builders” and the artificial wormhole generator left behind on Mars. I leave it to TREK fandom and the franchise writers to fill in the blanks as they see fit. So who were these “Builders?” The Preservers? The Ikonians? Some other culture? Why did they come to the Sol System? Why Sidona, ot to mention the wormhole generator? Are their others? n Where are the Builders now? Do they still exist? What happened to them at Iapetus? What did the UESF do with the rest of the Builder technology found at Sidonia (and probably other places, too)? It’s always nice to have a few unsolved mysteries kicking around. They keep us humble by reminding us that we are just one small piece in a vast cosmic puzzle whose pattern and purpose we may never fully understand.

I had to guess on everything regarding the Kzinti patrol cruiser. What I came up with is a mix of Known Space and Star Fleet Battles. The lasers are mounted in the forward “nose cluster.” The large “bumps” are part of the polarized graviton drive; they help generate the graviton field around the ship. The small “bumps” are doors for the missile racks (hence the insanely - 31 -

large number of missiles compared to a Terran ship). The “engine” in the back is the main cooling vent for the graviton drive, so one shot up its ass and a Kzinti patrol cruiser goes BOOM! The “legs” are landing struts that fold inward on keoff, giving the ship its jellyfish-like appearance. The overall ta dimensions are a best guess based on Paul Lloyd’s render from . “The Warriors” that I included back in Volume 03

Once sh again, credit goes to the FRS Forums for helping me fle out the reasons why Kzinti ships carry such of a large number dron inti es. Apparently this goes back to the days of the old Kz Empi om re, right after they stole their “jump drive” technology fr the a Tellarites. The power requirements for its use put such strai e time that they were n on the engines of their ships at th virtually helpless once they slowed from FTL speed to space norm gy al speed. They needed some form of weapons technolo inde this pendent of ship’s systems to defend themselves during criti ped cal time in case they were attacked. Warhead-equip drones were an obvious choice due to their self-contained natu tles re. Not surprisingly, a lot of veteran Star Fleet Bat play rs ers are voicing support for this premise. It apparently clea up t his issue in their iteration of the TREK universe as well.

The occupation and eventual liberation of Alpha Centauri (aka “Wu ce nderland”) is mentioned repeatedly in the Known Spa stor the ies. This I also translated into the TREK universe with appr ary opriate reduction in timeframe. The idea of Kzinti milit gove line rnor Zrath-General came from artist R. J. Bartop’s draw his ing of a Kzinti warrior named Zrath he had posted on webs of the few Kzinti images I’ve manage to find, ite. It’s one othe than the wonderful work of illustrator Court Jones, which r evok e es the TAS image of the Kzinti while at the same tim stayi s ng true to their Known Space origins. The Combined Force camp the aign to liberate Alpha Centauri is loosely based on Ame r II, rican conquest of Okinawa near the end of World Wa with to the already massive casualty figures upsized considerably reflect a fight on a planetary scale.

The sive “rogue planetoid” at which the Combined Forces offen again can st the Kzinti ground to a halt until Operation Rock Drop be f me ound on the Star Trek Maps, Chart B. It’s the sa plan Wrigley’s Pleasure etoid that would eventually become Plan . Well, on second thought it might not be the exact same et plan ked etoid, but it’s in the same area. It was also the only mar plac e. e on the maps halfway to the heart of the old Kzinti Empir

By t r treaty in he way, the Treaty of Sirius is based on a simila Known Space called the MacDonald-Rishshi Treaty. The former ende d the fourth and last of the Earth-Kzin Wars in the TREK univ wn erse, while the latter only ended the first war in Kno Spac e. The “annexation” of Kzinti space by humanity also comes from ink Known Space and makes perfect sense once you th abou the t it. This also plays right into the long-term designs of Vulc ans, who are in effect TREK’s “Puppeters” at this time.

I kno the w some of you may be scratching your heads involving subplot of Hardigan’s Ranger’s and the eventual duel between Majo es. r Hardigan and Zrath-General. Yes, Kzinti despise femal Hum hough, and Major Hardigan was a seasoned anity doesn’t, t combat officer. I imagine she told Zrath-General, “The only way you’ ct re getting off this planet is through me.” That was a dire swip ide e at Zrath-General’s Kzinti pride in several ways. Suic was out of the question. That same pride would not let him surr he ender nor let a female back-talk him like that. That’s why chos gan’s team, e “the lesser of two evils” and attacked Hardi saving her for last. What he didn’t count on was getting killed inste er ad – and by a female, no less. He probably had to answ to t that he Great-Fanged-One for that screw-up, and I’ll bet wasn ’t a pleasant encounter.

I’m using visuals of the Sulaco from the feature film Aliens as a s ubstitute for the Mahan. Their overall profiles are similar and the Sulaco was one of the Mahan’s design influences, with the other being the Omega class destroyer from Babylon 5. When researching this part of the FSC I couldn’t help but notice how Rick Sternbach’s original conception of the Companion reminded me of the Omega. The UESF needed some capital ships with which to fight the Kzinti and the only thing I had at the time was Matt Jeffries’ Leif Ericsson. Some of you might remember the INSS MacArthur from the Larry Niven & Jerry Pournelle novel The Mote in God’s Eye. That was an Ericsson per Mr. Pournelle, who actually had an assembled model in front of him when working on the book. Anyhow, back to the subject. My Mahan is essentially a cross between a scaled-down Omega and the Sulaco, with additional touches here and there from anime sci-fi in a fashion that would suggest a shows. I tried to draw it that had been heavily modified; hence the armor Companion plate on the engine section and the extra modifications to the middle and front of the ship. The finned ring rotates slowly while the ship is in flight (for engine cooling purposes) and “spins up” whenever the Mahan is charging its particle cannon (that’s the anime influence). Mahan didn’t get a jump drive until the technology had first been field-tested with the DY-X; hence the “backfit” note in the Schematics section.

Have you ever noticed that in “The Slaver Weapon” each of the Kzinti aboard the Traitor’s Claw have distinct facial features?

With the first revised edition to this volume I’ve included three new DY-X derivatives for your enjoyment. These replace the Black Mamba from the original version of this volume. The Pegasus is an Ericsson derived Jeffries scout ship design that he developed for an early (and quickly aborted) War of the Worlds television series. The MacArthur is Paul Lloyd’s take on what a second-generation Ericsson might look like. The John Paul Jones is an alternate take on the MacArthur that was built by ntly listing Crhistopher Doll for Starship Modeler. I’m curre em as unbuilt at this time; however, I have no objection to you th having them constructed and fighting in the Fourth Earth-Kzinti War or against the Vegans in your own efforts. Perhaps, if some of you develop them sufficiently within the FSC timeline, then I might be convinced to make them “official” in the future.

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SPECIAL THANKS TO:

ArcBuilder, Celestra, and StarGen Atolm Greg Jein Lawrence Miller Fred and Stan Goldstein Timo Saloniemi Aridas Sofia Rick Sternbach

KZINTI SOURCES:

Larry Niven (Kzinti and Known Space creator)

Atolm (Kzinti destroyer design) Bandai Entertainment (L-5 colony images from Gundam) Bastei-Lubbe GmBH (assorted Kzinti images) R. J. Bartop (Kzin warrior Zrath-General) Winchell Chung (Leif Ericsson schematics) Christopher Doll and Starship Modeler (John Paul Jones) D.T. Ericsson (STAR TREK themed Leif Ericsson images) Mateen Greenway (various space scenes) Walter M. Jeffries (Leif Ericsson concept) ITC Entertainment (SHADO Interceptor and Hawk images) Court Jones (The Lions of the Night project artwork) Paul Lloyd (Kzinti patrol cruiser design and DY-X meshes) Russell Martin (Known Space Man-Kzin Wars Chronology) Retrovideo (War of the Worlds TV pilot paintings) Aridas Sofia and Franz J. Schnaubelt (UESF logo)

OTHER VISUAL SOURCES:

Gabriel Cubos www.Empire of Man.com Maeteen Greenway Andrew J. Hodges Shane Johnson Geoffery Mandel Lawrence Miller Michael Newlyn New Eye Studio Rick Sternbach SpaceArt Archives Starship Modeler

CONTACT INFO:

Want to contribute to the Federation Spaceflight Chronology? You can find me on the FRS Online or Star Fleet Network forums. If you prefer direct contact then you can reach me at:

rtrodude@yahoo.com coming soon

also available

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