Summon the Thunder Author’s Annotations
Annotations by Dayton Ward
A guide to various references, points of interest, in-jokes, and such to be found within the pages of the book. Not meant to be an exhaustive list, but let me know if you find something I’ve not listed here. It’s entirely possible it’s something I’ve forgotten about!
It should go without saying that the following contains MASSIVE SPOILERS for portions of the book. If you’ve not yet read the book and want to avoid any spoilerish info, proceed no further!
(Consider yourself warned.)
Quick Navigation
Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5
Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10
Chapter 11 | Chapter 12 | Chapter 13 | Chapter 14 | Chapter 15
Chapter 16 | Chapter 17 | Chapter 18 | Chapter 19 | Chapter 20
Chapter 21 | Chapter 22 | Chapter 23 | Chapter 24 | Chapter 25
Chapter 26 | Chapter 27 | Chapter 28 | Chapter 29 | Chapter 30
Chapter 31 | Chapter 32 | Chapter 33 | Chapter 34 | Chapter 35
Chapter 36 | Chapter 37 | Chapter 38 | Chapter 39 | Chapter 40
Chapter 41 | Chapter 42 | Chapter 43 | Chapter 44 | Chapter 45
Chapter 46 | Chapter 47 | Chapter 48 | Chapter 49 | Chapter 50
Chapter 1
Other than recalling certain events from the first Vanguard book, Harbinger, written by David Mack — as told from the Tholian ship commander’s point of view — this chapter doesn’t contain any references, Easter eggs, and so on.
Chapter 2
Page 13: Subcommander Ineti — is named for fellow Trek writer Jim Johnson; specifically, his online moniker, “Ineti.”
Page 17: The war between the Romulans and Earth — an oft-referenced event in Trek’s history, chronicled for the first time in Mike Martin’s Star Trek Enterprise novel The Romulan War, published in October 2009.
Chapter 3
Page 20: Cervantes Quinn’s predilection for Tom Walker’s place was established in Harbinger.
Page 22: Likewise, the destruction of the U.S.S. Bombay and the torpedoing of Tim Pennington’s career.
Chapter 4
Page 25: Katarian eggs were first mentioned in Star Trek Generations as a favorite food of Captain James Kirk’s then-significant other, Antonia. (Note: The name for the eggs is misspelled in the book; the proper spelling is “Ktarian.” Bad authors. Bad. Very bad.)
Page 27: Contact being lost with planet Ingraham B — refers to events mentioned in the original Star Trek episode “Operation–Annihilate!” According to the report Commodore Reyes is reading, there’s been no contact with the planet for three days. This is pretty much the most concrete clue as to when the events of the book take place.
Page 32: Fisher’s preference for the older uniform collars — a reference to the “recent” change in uniform style for Starfleet officers, which occurred on screen at a point between the original Star Trek episodes “Where No Man Has Gone Before” and “The Corbomite Maneuver,” and depicted — to a degree, at least — in Harbinger.
Chapter 5
No annotations.
Chapter 6
Page 43: “Do I present the appearance of someone who follows politics, Mr. Quinn?” — Given that author Dave Mack “cast” Ving Rhames in the role of Ganz, at least so far as he used the actor’s photo as an “actor template” in the series bible for Star Trek Vanguard, I couldn’t resist using this opportunity to riff on one of Mr. Rhames’ funnier lines in his role as Shad the bouncer in the film version of Striptease: “Do I look like I follow politics?”
Page 45: The Great Bird of the Galaxy — featured in story and song. In addition to being a nickname for the late Gene Roddenberry, the Great Bird is a “mythical figure,” first referenced by Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu in the original Star Trek episode “The Man Trap.” It also featured prominently in the fourth Star Trek: New Frontier novel, End Game, written by Peter David.
Chapter 7
Page 48: Aldebaran whiskey — a green alcoholic beverage, first referenced by Captain Picard in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Relics”.
Page 50: Ezekiel Fisher’s predilection for observing sports — any sports — rather than participating is described at greater length in Harbinger.
Chapter 8
Page 55: T’Prynn’s inner struggle with Sten is introduced in Harbinger.
Page 55: The Plak tow and Kal-if-fee: the feverish condition that overcomes Vulcans while in the grips of pon farr, and the Vulcan term for “challenge.” Both of these concepts were first revealed in the original Star Trek episode “Amok Time.”
Page 55: The katra: The Vulcan equivalent to a “soul.” This concept was introduced in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
Page 56: Kolinahr: A rigorous Vulcan ritual whereby the one undergoing the test is able to purge emotions in order to further the pursuit of total logic. This concept was introduced in Star Trek: The Motion Picture.
Page 59: The “series of rampant, unexplained malfunctions aboard the station” and their being caused by a “carrier wave” emanating from the Jinoteur system are events covered in greater detail in the Star Trek: S.C.E. novella “Distant Early Warning”, also written by Kevin and myself.
Chapter 9
No annotations.
Chapter 10
Page 68: Ensign Stephen Klisiewicz. Introduced as an ensign in Harbinger, Klisiewicz is actually a character first referenced in John Vorhnolt’s book The Genesis Wave, Book One, where he is listed as a commander and a “Starfleet Intelligence technology specialist.”
Page 73: Bohanon the Denobulan. Denobulans were introduced in the Star Trek Enterprise pilot episode, “Broken Bow.”
Chapter 11
Page 79: The various Tholians and their individual hues/thought processes were established by Dave Mack in Harbinger.
Chapter 12
Page 82: Klisiewicz’s “Feinberger receiver.” The small cylindrical device that Uhura (and Spock, on occasion) could be seen wearing in her ear throughout the run of the original Star Trek series and subsequent movies. It’s named for Irving Feinberg, property master on the original series. During the production of the show, most props handled by the actors (McCoy’s various medical devices, Scotty’s tools, etc.) but which were not referred to in dialogue with specific names often carried the nickname “Feinbergers” by members of the production crew.
Page 91: Transporter Chief “Schuster.” Named for Michael Schuster, who with Steve Mollmann made his Trek fiction debut by penning the Star Trek: S.C.E. novella “The Future Begins”.
Chapter 13
Page 97: The Shedai Wanderer: introduced in the epilogue to Harbinger. It’s on now!
Page 97: Telinaarul: A term we devised and used by the Shedai, essentially to describe anyone they consider a criminal or enemy.
Chapter 14
Page 101: Pennington’s affair with Lieutenant Oriana D’Amato and his actions following her death are significant plot points in Harbinger. You should probably read that book — you know … if you haven’t already.
Page 104: The “asteroid-based outposts and their crews” standing vigil along the Federation-Romulan Neutral Zone is a reference to situations depicted in the original Star Trek episode “Balance of Terror.”
Page 106: The “unexpected arrival of the U.S.S. Enterprise at Vanguard” took place in Harbinger, with the Enterprise returning to Federation space following the events of “Where No Man Has Gone Before.”
Chapter 15
Page 112: The “Kobayashi-whatever-the-hell-it-is test.” Of course, this is a reference to the Kobayashi Maru training scenario at Starfleet Academy, first mentioned in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
Page 118: Dr. Leone talking about his colleague and how that person told him “something about knowing when to be a physician and when to be a bartender” is an oblique reference to Dr. Phillip Boyce, chief medical officer of the U.S.S. Enterprise under the command of Captain Christopher Pike (“The Cage”). Naturally, the story is relayed with Leone’s singular sardonic delivery.
Page 119: Leone’s suggestion that a full-time psychiatrist would be beneficial is of course a nod to the eventual assignment of counselors to starships, as introduced in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Encounter at Farpoint.”
Chapter 16
No annotations.
Chapter 17
No annotations.
Chapter 18
Page 136: T’Prynn’s actions to mitigate the aftermath of the Bombay‘s destruction are described at length in Harbinger.
Chapter 19
Page 147: A “mat’drih” is a Romulan unit of distance measurement, somewhat akin to a kilometer or mile, though we did not specify any sort of comparison or conversion scheme.
Chapter 20
Page 151: The Klingon military rank “bekk” was first heard in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode “Sons and Daughters.”
Page 151: QuchHa’, the term we opted to use for Klingons descended from those who had fallen victim to the genetic mutation which affected the cranial bone structure of many Klingons more than a century earlier (as depicted in the Star Trek Enterprise episodes “Affliction” and “Divergence”). We received assistance with the terminology from Dr. Lawrence Schoen, he of the Klingon Language Institute. From the notes sent to us by the good doctor:
“Currently, the main term for ‘forehead’ in Klingon is the nounQuch. This word also occurs a homophonous verb: Quch, meaning ‘be happy.’
Since you’re looking for a derisive term, and since the Klingon language tends to use verbs to express most things (where we use nouns), I’d suggest going with the verb QuchHa’, meaning ‘be unhappy.’
This could denote the unfortunate status of the ridgeless Klingons, while at the same time being a bit of wordplay that your more discerning fans might appreciate.”
Pretty sweet, eh?
Page 152: The description of the Palgrenai, the race indigenous to Palgrenax, is actually a nod to the “Grendlers,” the race of nomadic scavengers native to planet G889 as seen on the short-lived series Earth 2.
Page 154: jeghpu’wI’ is a Klingon term, meaning “conquered people.” To the Klingons, the native Palgrenai are indeed jeghpu’wI’. The term was created by fellow Trek writer Keith R.A. DeCandido, with an assist from the Klingon Language Institute, for his TNG novel Diplomatic Implausibility.
Chapter 21
Page 165: Say hello to Sakud Armnoj: Zakdorn, accountant, and general pain in the ass. Zakdorns were introduced in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Peak Performance” as fussy, snobby S.O.B.s. As for Sakud, well, the name “Sakud Armnoj” spelled backward is (almost) “Jon Mardukas,” a shortened version of “Jonathan ‘The Duke’ Mardukas,” the character played by Charles Grodin in Midnight Run. That’s probably a good thing, as the plot of that film — generally speaking — was one inspiration for the Quinn/Pennington shenanigans taking place in the book. Go figure!
Chapter 22
The notion of “the Vault” is something we came up with for this book. Our thinking was that, given the security surrounding Vanguard’s true mission, there would have to be a place within the station — off-limits and in fact unknown to the vast majority of Starbase 47’s crew — where Xiong and others briefed into the project could work. The Vault’s also intended to be a repository of artifacts and other pertinent items and information discovered in the Taurus Reach and with a link to the “mystery.” Consider this Vanguard’s equivalent to APO (Authorized Personnel Only) from the Alias television series.
And if Dr. Gek reminds you of a Tellarite version of Marshall Flinkman … well, go with that feeling.
Chapter 23
Page 179: Ambassador Jetanien’s specialized chair (called a glenget) and his penchant for drinking the most foul-smelling (and sounding) beverages known to civilized societies everywhere were both established in Harbinger.
Chapter 24
Page 188: Dr. Jabilo M’Benga was introduced in the original Star Trekepisode “A Private Little War,” and was also established in Harbinger as Ezekiel Fisher’s supposed replacement aboard Vanguard station. That plan went out the window, of course, when M’Benga made clear his desire to be reassigned to starship duty. Wonder what ship they’ll send him to?
Chapter 25
Page 197: The U.S.S. Lovell, the Daedalus-class vessel assigned to Starfleet’s Corps of Engineers, was introduced in Star Trek: S.C.E. #17 – “Foundations, Book One”. It has since been seen in four other installments of the S.C.E. series, including #64, “Distant Early Warning”, which also serves as a prequel to the entire Vanguard storyline.
Page 199: Lieutenant Isaiah Farber was introduced in Harbinger, but Kevin and I retro-fitted him with a backstory detailing his previous assignment to the Lovell. His transfer to Vanguard was chronicled in the aforementioned “Distant Early Warning”.
Page 201: Captain Daniel Okagawa has been depicted as the captain of the Lovell in all of the S.C.E. stories featuring the 23rd-century S.C.E. team.
Chapter 26
Page 208: The Klingon unit of measurement, qelI’qams, was first established in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock.
Page 214: The Klingon notion of an afterlife in Sto-Vo-Kor, as well as the use of the Heghtay cry upon a warrior’s death, are concepts introduced in episodes of Star Trek: The Next Generation. Specifically, the former was first referenced in “Rightful Heir,” with the latter initially being heard in “Heart of Glory.”
Page 216: Ha’DIbaH is a Klingon insult, translating as “animal.” It was first heard in Star Trek III: The Search for Spock. Don’t get on Kruge’s bad side, let me tell you.
Page 217: Fek’lhr and Gre’thor, the Klingon versions of the Devil and Hell, were first mentioned in the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode “Devil’s Due.”
Chapter 27
No annotations.
Chapter 28
No annotations.
Chapter 29
Page 240: This variation of the “green wrap-around” tunic, with the gold braid shown on the shoulders rather than the sleeves, was first seen on Captain Kirk in the original Star Trek episode “The Enemy Within.” We figure that at some point, uniform designers — in a fit of boredom — opted to tweak the tunic and move the braid to the sleeves, in time for Kirk to wear it during many second-season Star Trek episodes.
C’mon. You know it looked swank.
Chapter 30
Page 255: Klingon D-5 cruisers were first referenced in the Star Trek Enterprise episode “Marauders.”
Page 256: The U.S.S. Sagittarius, a small vessel assigned to Starbase 47, is referred to as an Archer-class scout ship, presumably named for Captain Jonathan Archer from Star Trek Enterprise.
Page 258: “Security encryption algorithm Sierra-Delta-Six” is a veiled reference to SD-6, the super-secret organization headed up by wily bad-ass Arvin Sloane during the first two seasons of Alias.
Chapter 31
Page 264: “This furshlugginer veeblefetzer’s gone all potrzebie.” All the words you can’t pronounce are from Mad Magazine. Special thanks to Steve Roby for challenging us to have someone in the book speak this phrase.
Page 268: “That’s usually more of a guideline than an actual rule.” Given Quinn and Pennington’s discussion about their apparent capture by spacefaring pirates, this seemed like an appropriate place to riff on one of the more memorable lines from Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl.
Page 270: Broon’s issues with Quinn are well-chronicled in Harbinger. You really should read that book, you know.
Page 272: Armnoj’s requirement to enter a security code to his portable computer every 108 minutes sounds kinda familiar, doesn’t it?
Chapter 32
Page 280: Lieutenant Beyer is named for fellow Trek novelist Kirsten Beyer, author of, among other things, Fusion, the second book in the Star Trek: Voyager – String Theory trilogy.
Chapter 33
Page 284: Lieutenant Mahmud al-Khaled was introduced in Star Trek: S.C.E.#17 – “Foundations, Book One”. His previous visit to Vanguard Station, along with the rest of the Lovell‘s crew, was chronicled in S.C.E. #64, “Distant Early Warning”.
Chapter 34
No annotations.
Chapter 35
No annotations.
Chapter 36
Page 304: The incident on Kessik IV and T’Prynn’s thwarting of Broon’s attempt to kill Quinn are chronicled in — say it with me — Harbinger.
Chapter 37
Page 318: Commander Araev zh’Rhun, the Andorian first officer of the U.S.S. Lovell, was introduced in Star Trek: S.C.E. #44 – “Where Time Stands Still”.
Page 320: Ensigns Ghrex and O’Halloran, members of the Lovell’s engineering team, were both introduced in S.C.E. #17 – “Foundations, Book One”.
Page 321: Lieutenant Jessica Diamond, the Lovell‘s weapons officer, was introduced in S.C.E. #44 – “Where Time Stands Still”.
Chapter 38
Page 326: The imagery of the Sentinel plunging into the force field barrier surrounding the encampment is a deliberate homage to the memorable scene from the classic science-fiction film Forbidden Planet, when the monster attempts to push through the force field surrounding the C57D. If you’ve never seen this movie, you need to go and check it out. Right now. Go on. I’ll wait.
Chapter 39
No annotations.
Chapter 40
No annotations.
Chapter 41
No annotations.
Chapter 42
No annotations.
Chapter 43
Page 355: Come on. What’s a Star Trek doctor without at least one variation on the tried-n-true “I’m a doctor, not a…” gag?
Chapter 44
Page 371: Fontana Meadow was named by Dave Mack in honor of D.C. Fontana, writer and script editor on the original Star Trek series.
Of course, one could argue that it’s named for Astronaut Fontana, one of the three-person crew of the first Earth-Saturn probe, at least according to a mission patch seen on one wall of the 602 Club in the Star Trek Enterprise episode “First Flight.”
Chapter 45
Page 376: “One last duty to perform,” is a tip of the hat to the Romulan Commander and his line of dialogue before he destroys his crippled ship in the original Star Trek episode “Balance of Terror.”
Chapter 46
No annotations.
Chapter 47
No annotations.
Chapter 48
No annotations.
Chapter 49
No annotations.
Chapter 50
Page 407: Praetor Vrax. This is the same Vrax first seen as a Romulan senator in the Star Trek Enterprise episodes “United” and “The Aenar.” Glad to see he’s had a successful political career, eh?
Page 412: The Romulans’ “first recorded contact with a ship from Earth” is a reference to events chronicled in the Enterprise episode “Minefield.”
Page 415: The discussion about gauging the defensive capabilities of the Federation outposts along the Neutral Zone is meant to foreshadow events that will be chronicled in the original Star Trek episode “Balance of Terror.”
And that seemed like a pretty good place to end our little story…
