A Great Escape
NYT Bestselling author Dayton Ward talks Pliable Truths
Welcome to Star Trekking — random intersections in the final frontier.
Here’s the set up.
The year is 2369. When the Cardassian government orders an end to its fifty-year occupation of the planet Bajor, Starfleet Command orders Captain Jean-Luc Picard to oversee negotiations on Terok Nor, the massive Cardassian space station orbiting Bajor. But Picard is still dealing with his own recent trauma as a prisoner held and tortured by a Cardassian interrogator. We’ll agree to disagree on the number of lights the interrogator used.
Anyway, as these peace talks get underway, Ensign Ro Laren receives a call for help from a friend thought long dead, and soon the crew of the Enterprise must act to prevent an interstellar incident from shattering any hope of justice for the Bajoran people.
Will there be high stakes and tension and crackling dialogue and maybe even a few easter eggs thrown in?
Pliable Truths is the new novel from NYT Bestselling author and internet raconteur Dayton Ward. It arrives in our timeline TODAY.
I asked Dayton to tell us about the genesis
of his new novel.
Unlike your previous TNG novels, Pliable Truths takes place within the timeline of the TV series, in between episodes as it were. How did the idea for this story come about?
DAYTON WARD: My editor at Simon & Schuster asked me for a Next Generation novel set during the series, but also to make it something of a crossover with Deep Space Nine. It’s actually the first time I’d ever been asked to write a TNG novel set in that timeframe. Except for one short story I wrote with Kevin Dilmore way back when, everything else I’ve written or co-written for Picard and his crew is set either before or after the last TNG film, Star Trek Nemesis. It was a fun change of pace, approaching the Enterprise-D characters in a manner similar to what I’ve done for the original series novels I’ve written.
The first order of business was taking a look at TNG and DS9 and reminding myself of the degree of overlap between the two series. Some interesting logistical problems began to make themselves known pretty quickly. Chief among them? Worf hasn’t met most if not all of the DS9 main characters until he transfers over to that show and helps kick off its fourth season. So, already we’re treading weird ground. With that in mind, I started rolling backward toward DS9’s beginning. That helped with the Worf issue a bit, but it also started me thinking about that the period just before the Starfleet contingent arrives could be interesting.
That period of time feels particularly rich for Picard the character as well as for the show itself, with a lot of potential for emotion as the captain recovers from the events of “Chain of Command.” Did you find yourself exploring more emotional territory for the character than you have in the past?
Chronologically speaking, there’s not much time at all between the events of “Chain of Command” from TNG and “Emissary,” the DS9 series premiere. The idea of Picard still reeling from his treatment at the hands of Gul Madred was definitely something I wanted to explore. Couple that with the immediate fallout of Jellico’s outsmarting the Cardassian fleet and ending their occupation of Bajor were also juicy ingredients for the story.
Pliable Truths also gives us a further glimpse into the origin story, as it were, of Deep Space Nine itself. Tell us about exploring Terek Nor.
Once I had the main idea of a still-traumatized Picard having to mediate tense negotiations between the Bajorans and the Cardassians, the idea that the Enterprise crew might assist the Bajoran militia with station repairs and other needed tasks came pretty quickly. This included letting me play with Miles O’Brien a bit. He seemed pretty happy on the Enterprise, so what would make him decide—in-universe, of course—to transfer to what would be remote, newly-established Starfleet outpost at the edge of Federation space?
As a former military guy myself, I get the stress that can come from a change of duty station, and the disruption it can cause for your spouse or partner or family, especially if they’re not onboard with the idea. What would Keiko think? How did they consider their daughter into the equation, and so on.
Obviously the novel doesn't just take place on Terek Nor. Can you give us some hints about the adventure that Ro Laren draws Picard and co. into?
As I hinted at earlier, I needed to find something interesting for other characters, to do, the idea of the prison planet and “forgotten Bajorans” began to take shape. I’m a big fan of movies like Stalag 17 and The Great Escape, so the idea there might be this long-established prison camp on an alien planet where the prisoners have for years done their best to avoid their various illicit activities from being discovered by their Cardassian guards sounded fun. There are a couple of subtle nods to those films in those sections of the novel.
I also needed something a bit darker and more sinister to drive the idea that these Bajorans might never be returned home, setting off a bit of a ticking clock for Riker and the rest of the Enterprise crew while Picard is tied up with the negotiations on Terok Nor. Ro being on the ship at that point in time was the perfect trigger for that, owing to a prior relationship I established for her and a character I created for the story.
Knowing, now, the ultimate fates of Picard and Ro, thanks to Picard season 3, did you feel a pull toward doing any subtle foreshadowing, or letting those later events color the way you approached the characters?
There were times I was tempted to do that, but everything I came up with felt forced and just for the sake of including the wink toward future events, so I waved off that idea. Instead, I had some fun introducing things like alternate versions of characters we used to such great extent in the “Litverse” novels set after Nemesis.
Doctor Tropp is a main example. We developed him years ago as an assistant chief medical officer on the Enterprise-E in the post-movie novel continuity we had going for so many years. With that continuity now retired, I decided to make him the CMO of the Oceanside, a California-class ship sent to Terok Nor to assist the Enterprise. This in turn allowed me to wink in the general direction of Star Trek: Lower Decks, which established the Cali-class with the Cerritos. There are other cameos sprinkled here and there, as well, but I don’t want to spoil too much.
One final question. How much fun is it to keep playing in the Star Trek sandbox?
Are you kidding? It’s the coolest job ever! I’m so very privileged to have been able to do it for as long as I have, and I’ll keep doing it so long as they’ll let me.
Thanks, Dayton!
Find Dayton online at The Fog of Ward and treat yourself to one or more of his books. Pliable Truths is an excellent place to start. And along with his numerous excellent novels, he’s written everything from travel guides to self-defense manuals. Next up on my personal reading list is Agents of Influence.
Guess I should also admit that one day I had to pay him $2 for making Spock say the word “booger.”
MEANWHILE…
I feel I would be remiss not to mention that today is, for me, the real Star Wars day. It’s the only movie release date that is emblazoned, nay, branded directly onto my brain stem. After all, threepio himself repeated it to me every time I called 1-800-521-1980.
May the 21st, nineteen hundred and eighty. The day the empire struck back.
Until next time, LLAP.
Neil
Dayton Ward is one of the best authors in Star Trek novel history. I love the work that he does in the Star Trek universe.
5-21-80. Damn skippy!