A Matter of Trust (Star Trek: TOS story by Harden, Landers, and Morgan)
| Star Trek TOS Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | A Matter of Trust |
| Author(s): | Thomas Harden, Kevin Morgan, Randall Landers |
| Date(s): | 1981 |
| Length: | |
| Genre: | gen |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: The Original Series |
| External Links: | A Matter of Trust |
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A Matter of Trust is a gen Star Trek: TOS story by Thomas Harden, Kevin Morgan, Randall Landers.
It was printed in Stardate #9.
Summary
Summary: "While investigating the loss of a science expedition, the landing party is marooned on the surface of a planet with a contingent of Romulans nearby."
Reactions and Reviews
"A Matter of Trust." The idea of an electrical energy being who is so sensitive to our own mild impulses that we kill them was a good one. I didn't think of the Organians until you mentioned them. I think because these beings never actually appear in human form (except in the corpses). Also, having to deal with the Romulans on a one-to-one, sticks and stones level presents excellent opportunities. And here's where I have a big problem. These two groups are stranded, right. No modern equipment, right? They gotta work together to fight these risen corpses who are attacking both sides, right? Where is the conflict? True, Rosenberg got a spear through the chest, but that's to be expected. Where was the mistrust, the verbal sparring, the desperation that each leader should have shown when finally forced to make a truce with the enemy? And for God's sake, Randy, where is the reaction when Kirk thinks he sees the Enterprise blow up in the sky above him??? [I'm afraid I chose to leave the reactions up to each reader as we all perceive the characters differently. - Ed,] It's like someone had broken his shuttlecraft, or something equally inane. And then, on pg. 56, and I quote: "He knew he shouldn't think about it, but he felt he had to," Come one. That's Like telling someone who came home from a movie one night to find their house in smouldering rains, and their whole family inside those ruins, that they really shouldn't think about it. Kirk would be knocked flat, [I disagree. - Ed,] True, he might pour himself into the problem at hand to try and forget, but he would not be as rational and calm as you portrayed him. In fact, he might make his fatal mistake here because he could not think straight due to grief, I saw no grief at all. And the scene between McMahan and Kirk, just after they escaped the Romulans - I seethed, "Why not try to be more of a woman than a man?" Indeed!!! And just before that — "He chose to make his point." Just what point was he trying to make? I never figured it out. Then after that endearing little conversation, Kirk hopes that little McMahan will be a better officer for it. Good grief, they're stranded on the planet. They have no way of contacting Starfleet. The best they can hope for is that the Enterprise will be missed, and a search team will be sent out. But with the unstable situation of the planet;, they probably won't be alive to be found. That whole section seemed unrealistic to me. [I felt that Kirk would continue his command, with or without the Enterprise, no matter what, I also wanted the point made that McMahan had a hang-uo about her sex, and that she could never possibly achieve command with that hang—up. Besides, the story was written over three years ago... - Ed.]
I guess I’ve come down a little hard this time but "A Matter of Trust" just wasn't up to your usual literary standards. I know that you are action—adventure oriented, but there's no rule that says you have to sacrifice believable character relationships for shoot—em-ups with the Romulans. I won't comment on my own story, of course, except to say that I don't think I like it as well now as I did when I first wrote it. Oh well, never satisfied. I continue to enjoy Don's articles. Sometimes it's a bit disconcerting to have something you really believed in knocked out from under you, but I guess it makes you stronger in the end. Really looking forward to future issues. [1]
Harden, Landers and Morgan's "A Matter of Trust" -- I think I've read a similar story somewhere. Good idea! I found myself wishing it were longer. It would have been nice to have both groups thrown together for a longer period of time to see how they would interact....[2]
"A Matter of Trust" by Tom Harden, Randy Landers and Kevin Morgan -- a good science fiction Star Trek story. I liked the character, Chief Security Officer McMahan. The dialogue between Kirk and McMahan regarding her competency was good. I don't totally agree with her resentful attitude or her need to overcompensate, but I understand it. Kirk handled the situation well, of course.[2]
Thomas Harden, Randy Landers and Kevin Morgan's "A Matter of Trust" -- Very bizarre with Spock as deus ex machina at the end. The alien glowbugs that were dying due to interaction with the Humans and Romulans was a neat idea. It was good to see a story about the two races acting together towards a common goal. I've always liked Romulans. I was hoping at the end that this was an alternate universe Star Trek story and that the Enterprise had really been destroyed but such was not the case.[2]