The Forgotten War

Memory Beta, the wiki for licensed Star Trek content.

NOVEL
The Forgotten War
Attribution
Series:	The Next Generation, No. 57
Author(s):	William R. Forstchen
Publication information
Published:	paperback - 1999
ISBN:	ISBN 0671011596
Chronology
Date:	2367

Picard confronts a deadly secret from the past!

Contents 1 Summary 2 References 2.1 Characters 2.2 Starships and vehicles 2.3 Locations 2.3.1 Shipboard and stationbound locales 2.3.2 Planetary locations & institutions 2.3.3 Stations and outposts 2.3.4 Planets and planetoids 2.3.5 Stars and systems 2.3.6 Stellar regions 2.4 Races and cultures 2.5 States and organizations 2.6 Technology and weapons 2.7 Ranks and titles 2.8 Other references 3 Timeline 4 Appendices 4.1 Background 4.2 Connections 4.3 External link

[edit] Summary

From the back cover 

The legendary Starfleet Captain Lucien Murat, a contemporary of Christopher Pike, disappeared during a battle with the alien Tarn. Now, generations later, Captain Picard is conducting delicate diplomatic negotiations with the Tarn when the starship Enterprise discovers the descendants of Murat and his crew stranded on a desolate planet, still fighting a war that ended decades ago.

The Human castaways face destruction, but more than these precious lives are at stake. Unless Picard can find a solution, a lost hero's legacy may ignite a new era of interstellar war!

Descendants of survivors from Murat's vessel have no functional subspace radio -- and are completely unaware that the war is over. They have developed their own crude industrial base in order to defend themselves from the equally militant descendants of a crashed Tarn vessel's crew. They have copies of Mustang warplanes, copies of M-1 Garand rifles, and copies of full body armor and uniforms bearing Starfleet markings. They retain the information necessary to fabricate these things because they make use of the intact databases from their ship. Standing forces who consider themselves to be loyal members of the Federation, fighting for their lives, employ methods such as child soldiers and mass incineration booby traps. They also have and use lethal chemical and biological weapons at a tactical level. The Tarn on the planet, for their part, have recently relearned the fabrication and use of crude low-yield tactical nuclear weapons. They not only do not know that the war between the Tarn and Federation is over, but they also do not know that the Federation-Klingon war is over.

Both combatant groups have suffered extreme psychological anguish, and are extremely bloodthirsty and intransigent. Verdun crew descendants, for example, feel contempt for Riker and the other Enterprise personnel when they learn that these strangers have not earned their ranks through promotion for killing many Klingons in battle -- furthermore, thy find that these others do not derive pleasure from extreme violence. Soon, armed vessels from both sides arrive, standing ready to re-ignite the larger war between the Tarn and the Federation in order to "save" their respective citizens fighting on the planet below. The situation is finally resolved when Jean-Luc Picard and Harna Karish agree to each simultaneously give strategic mass destruction weapons to the opposing side in the fighting below. This creates a situation in which it finally becomes possible to get each side to cease hostilities and agree to be evacuated.

[edit] References

[edit] Characters

Jean-Luc Picard • William T. Riker • Beverly Crusher • Data • Geordi La Forge • Worf, Son of Mogh • Deanna Troi • Lucian Murat • Harna Karish • Janice Eardman • Garu Jord • Eddies • Garrett • Lysander Murat • Julia Murat • Alissia Murat • Forsyth • Guinan • Miller (Torgu-Va) • Fenderson (Torgu-Va) • Kochanski (Torgu-Va) • Karlson (Torgu-Va) • Ripley (Torgu-Va) • Chang (Torgu-Va) • Ashobi Karuna • Akiko Karuna • Gadin

Referenced only 

Bamberg (Torgu-Va) • Bamberg (USS Verdun) • Carnelli (Torgu-Va) • Carnelli (USS Verdun) • Chang (USS Verdun) • Fenderson (USS Verdun) • Karlson (USS Verdun) • Kadish • Karuna • Kochanski (USS Verdun) • La Forge (Ensign) • Christopher Marlowe • John Masefield • Miller (USS Verdun) • Joachim Murat • Tillean Murat • Christopher Pike • Pready • Qiva • Ripley (USS Verdun) • Akiko Torunaga

[edit] Starships and vehicles

USS Enterprise-D (Galaxy-class) • USS Verdun • USS Constitution • USS Tsushima • Rashasa • Tarn starships

Referenced only 

IKS Pagh • USS Enterprise (Constitution-class)

[edit] Locations

[edit] Shipboard and stationbound locales

USS Enterprise-D 

corridor • transporter room • bridge • ready room • observation lounge • ten forward • holodeck • quarters (Picard's, Eardman's, Karish's)

USS Verdun 

bridge

[edit] Planetary locations & institutions

America • France • Starfleet Academy • Trafalgar • Europe • Indiana • Russia • Rome • San Francisco

[edit] Stations and outposts

Tarett IV orbital base • Watch Station Zebra

[edit] Planets and planetoids

Torgu-Va

Referenced only 

Earth • Henson's World • Garamora • Tarett IV • Terga VII

[edit] Stars and systems

Torgu-Va system

Referenced only 

Betelgeuse • Tarett • Terga

[edit] Stellar regions

Tarn Neutral Zone • Magellanic Cloud

[edit] Races and cultures

android • Betazoid • Human • Klingon • Tarn • Vulcan

Referenced only 

Romulan

[edit] States and organizations

Starfleet • United Federation of Planets • Kala • Karuuki • Katula • First Circle • La Forge family • United States of America • Confederate States of America • US 28th Colored Troops • Klingon Empire • Klingon Defense Force • Starfleet Ground Attack Marines • Tarn Imperial Fleet • Tarn Empire • Battle Group Carnelli • command division • sciences division • operations division • Starfleet 4th Torgu-Va Assault Battalion

[edit] Technology and weapons

sleeper ship • android • command chair • computer • Gotherin 8B • PADD • photon torpedo • sensor • shuttlecraft • sonic shower • space station • starship • targeting scanner • transporter • turbolift • replicator • mine • atomic weapon • stasis field • phaser • chain gun • multiple burst laser • projectile weapon • fragmentation grenade • knife • ramjet interceptor • Falcon interceptor • Mustang • Garand

[edit] Ranks and titles

admiral • cadet • captain • chief engineer • commander • commanding officer • commodore • corporal • counselor • doctor • emperor • engineer • ensign • first officer • gunnery sergeant • historian • lieutenant • lieutenant commander • marshal • midshipman • navigator • officer • professor • security chief • second officer • sergeant • enlisted • general

[edit] Other references

Tarn language • Christmas • Federation Code of Conduct • Legion of Merit • wormhole • garthin cactus • Prime Directive • diagnostic software • distress call • bat • nitrate • technology • acid • water • iron • limestone • kiloton • hammasi • tiger • Napoleon brandy • psychology • diplomacy • Federation Standard • uniform • dress uniform • Battle of the Crater • rank • title • insignia • rank insignia • blood • reptile • government • chess • Federation-Tarn Wars • archaeology • history • colony • orbital • strawberry • chocolate • Venduvian sauce • yaktu • treaty • star • star system • planet • parsec • kilometer • hull • log entry • universe • Celsius • French language • Battle of Trafalgar • lifeform • food • beverage • Starfleet Historical Review • Tamburlaine the Great

[edit] Timeline

July 30, 1864 

La Forge's ancestor loses arm at Battle of the Crater.

mid-21st century 

Betelgeuse sleeper ship departs Earth.

2160s 

Tarn Wars begin. Ensign La Forge killed in attack on USS Constitution.

mid-22nd century 

Magellanic Cloud sleeper ship departs Federation.

2163 

Verdun lost.

2165 

Tarn Wars end.

2239 

Betelgeuse sleeper ship survivors found.

2358 

Riker and Eardman part ways.

2367 

Enterprise-D explores the former no-fly zone and discovers Verdun.

[edit] Appendices

[edit] Background

The author acknowledged the novel's uncredited co-writer, Elizabeth Kitsteiner Salzer, in Voyages of Imagination by Jeff Ayers.

Many notes from the book seem to depict a belief that the Tarn Wars were an occurrence of the era of Star Trek: The Original Series|The Original Series, such as the uniform colors, the uniform pictured on the cover and descriptions of miniskirt uniforms and rank insignia as well as the mentions of Captain Pike and the original Constitution class Enterprise. This is in contradiction to the dating information, which places events in the mid 22nd century, two hundred years prior to the TNG era the book is set in, and one hundred years prior to TOS. It is possible that the authors were unfamiliar with the Star Trek timeline, or that the book had been heavily re-edited to remove information that could be seen as contradictory to TOS continuity.

A very vague reference creates a possibility that Picard was considered to have been a relative or descendant of Captain Murat, in that Picard tells Midshipman Forsyth that he had an ancestor who played chess with the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte. Marshal Joachim Murat is noted to have been one of Napoleon's chess opponents.

[edit] Connections

published order
Previous novel: The First Virtue	TNG numbered novels	Next novel: Gemworld
chronological order
Previous Adventure: Qpid	Pocket	Next Adventure: The Drumhead

[edit] External link

• The Forgotten War article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.