The Forgotten War

Picard confronts a deadly secret from the past!

Description

 * 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 USS 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!

Summary
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, they 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.

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 • Jarah

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 • Nagaru • Napoleon • Christopher Pike • Pready • Qiva • Ripley (USS Verdun) • Akiko Torunaga

Starships and vehicles

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) • USS Verdun • USS Constitution (22nd century) • USS Tsushima (24th century) • Rashasa • Tarn starships • Betelgeuse (Sleeper Ship)

• USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) • USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-C)

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

Planetary locations and institutions

 * America • France • Starfleet Academy • Trafalgar • Europe • Indiana • Maine • North Atlantic Ocean • Russia • Rome • San Francisco • Federation Battle Station Torgu-Va

Stations and outposts

 * Tarett IV orbital base • Watch Station Zebra

Planets and planetoids

 * Torgu-Va

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

Stars and systems

 * Torgu-Va system

Tarett • Terga

Stellar regions

 * Tarn Neutral Zone • Magellanic Clouds

Races and cultures

 * android • Betazoid • Human • Klingon • Tarn • Vulcan

Romulan

States and organizations

 * Starfleet • United Federation of Planets • Kala • Karuuki • Katula • First Circle • Council of Circles • 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 Bamberg • Battle Group Carnelli • command division • sciences division • operations division • Starfleet 4th Torgu-Va Assault Battalion

Technology and weapons

 * sleeper ship • android • command chair • computer • Gotherin Eight • Gotherin Eight-B • 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 • Environmental suit

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 of France • midshipman • navigator • officer • professor • security chief • second officer • sergeant • enlisted • general

Other references

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

Chronology

 * 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.

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 , 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. In real life, Murat is a direct ancestor of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine star Rene Auberjonois through his mother.