LAST FULL MEASURE: PROLOGUE & EPILOGUE
Just as I expected from any Mangels & Martin book, this one starts out promising with a prologue filled with revelations and continuity. The prologue, along with the epilogue, are set on August 12, 2238 (what would be my 264th birthday), and point out that it's been 77 years since the Federation Charter was signed in 2161. That bit of continuity is supported by nearly a half dozen assorted Trek episodes from Enterprise, Next Generation & Voyager, so that's reassuring. These sections also nail down the date of the Xindi attack on Earth as March 22, 2153, which is consistent with the episode "The Expanse" which depicted the attack. At first I thought that this wasn't likely as the 3rd season episode "The Forgotten" reveals through dialogue that it's been 9 months since Trip's sister died (in the Xindi attack), but the Forgotten is set in late January 2154:
But my perception later changed to mean that Trip is referring to the 9 months since he saw the overwhelming proof that his sister had died, and that until that moment (in late April 2153, just after Enterprise finally returned to Earth) he had held out some kind of hope that his sister was alive, which I think is a pretty valid interpretation, that allows for this new piece of continuity.
Also in these sections of the book, we're introduced to the Kirk family; yes, those Kirks. We meet James Tiberius Kirk, his parents, Winona & George Samuel Kirk Sr., and his older brother, George Samuel Kirk, Jr. ;-0)
In the closing moments of the epilogue it is revealed that Trip Tucker from Enterprise is somehow alive and well, after the events depicted in the loathsome series finale "These Are The Voyages...", which itself was a horribly handled misfire. Trip's age is nailed down in these sections as 121 years old, with a probable birth year of 2117. As far as I know, the series never revealed his exact age, and the only reference I've seen before now was in the Enterprise pilot episode's novelization, and I don't trust novelizations as a rule. When there's an episode and a book, I go with the episode every time. My feeling with the novelizations, is that no matter how good the extra bits are, if they didn't make it into the episode, then they don't count. I'm sure all other interpretations are valid, but for me, this minor age contradiction isn't a problem.
The revelation that Trip is alive is explained in the next Enterprise novel, which begins a series of novels set just after "Demons"/"Terra Prime", the penultimate episodes of the series:
