Star Trek: Phoenix-X

Star Trek: Phoenix-X is a fan fiction series based in the late 24th and early 25th century, centering around the crew of the Section 31 semi-controlled Federation Starship Phoenix-X. The main format of the series is chatfic, reminiscent of chat room archives. Of this style, stories are mainly written episodically (Episodes) with occasional variants in the same vein (Chapters, Specials, Flashbacks). The fiction also branches out into other formats such as prose (Literary) and comics.

Overview
The series started as role playing fiction through instant messaging chats between its initial two writers within the first few Episodes. It then grew into a role play through email, with larger sections of story alternated by each writer, per episode. Finally, by late Season 1, it grew into being written as full episodes themselves.

Star Trek: Phoenix-X takes place in the Prime universe and plays along side, and with the history of, all canon series and movies involved:, , , , and the films  to. It also includes prime universe events in. In alternative licensed material, the series follows the timeline, which include several pieces like, , ,  and.

Occasionally, in a soft-break of the fourth wall, characters will make passing references to alternative timelines they unexplainably, or absentmindedly, have awareness of; mostly the in Season 4. In "Displacement Syndrome", the crew actually visits some of these alternate timelines, most notably the Shatnerverse timeline.

Variants
Star Trek: Phoenix-X is primarily presented in episodic format with each story classified as "Episode". This is mostly true with the exception of several variant classifications that emerge and eventually increase in frequency as the series goes on.


 * Episode: the base style of story, written in chatfic, with, usually, the core characters being involved. Episodes are in the spirit of and given style of Star Trek episodes.


 * Chapter: a variant Episode which can be described as a long form story. It is written in chatfic, with the core characters and is in the spirit and vein of the Star Trek films.


 * Spin-off: an experimental first Episode of a series based on a ship, species or aspect from Star Trek: Phoenix-X. The stories are usually posted in parts, to comprise one Episode, some in chatfic, prose, varying from comedy to drama.


 * Short: a separate fiction based on a ship, species or aspect from Star Trek: Phoenix-X. The stories are usually a one-off and written in prose.


 * Special: a variant Episode which can be described as a short story. It is written in chatfic, with core or select characters. The Specials were initially "holiday"-themed, until Season 4.


 * Comics: sequential panels of art and story with select characters for each. Each series was classified as "Comics" with several comics numbered as "Comic" released within it. The comics varied in type and style from full page to comic strip; outlined to color.


 * Flashback: a variant Episode that takes place in the past and is either a full "re-write" of a past episode, or contains parts of past episodes to tell a story. They are written in chatfic and original dialogue is not necessarily altered, but, instead, given additions as to keep series canon.


 * Literary: a variant Episode that is written in prose format. These are mostly Star Trek Online: Literary Challenge entries and are short stories. They jump the timeline ahead to the early 25th century, and are written in the vein of and in the setting of the  MMORPG. The core cast differs slightly but maintains series canon.

Parallel fiction
Some variant episodes and comics posted in the series timeline above continue in parts, and are, in a sense, running parallel to the series.

Cut scenes
The cut scenes were a feature in Star Trek: Phoenix-X, derived from blocks of text that didn't make it into an episode's final draft. When episodes were being written, sections of text were always being removed, re-inserted, or re-written during the whole writing process. Since these sections of writing were usually saved, they allowed a saved-list of "scenes" that could have, or already have in some form, made it into the episode. The closest analogy would be something like the "deleted scenes" in a movie DVD.


 * See: Star Trek: Phoenix-X cut scenes

Short story
The Recruited served as a prequel story to Star Trek: Phoenix-X; but was written in prose and with a serious tone.

Unfinished Spin-offs
For a short time in 2003/2004, a slew of unfinished spin-offs were written based in the same fictional universe as Star Trek: Phoenix-X.
 * Star Trek: B'Chnah (chatfic)
 * Star Trek: Hijinx (chatfic)
 * Star Trek: Tsunami (chatfic)
 * Star Trek: Crucial
 * Star Trek: Crucial was written differently as blog posts, coming from several character's points of views.


 * Star Trek: Resurrections
 * Star Trek: Resurrections was written in prose format, and had a serious tone. It took place during Star Trek: Phoenix-X`s Season 3, surrounding Project Genesis and Data; but, as an uncompleted spin-off, the story was never fully developed or resolved.


 * Star Trek: Vitality (chatfic)
 * Star Trek: Vitality was written in the same format as Phoenix-X stories were, but was written in a serious tone and included the clones of Star Trek canon series characters: Jean-Luc Picard (see: Jean-Luc Picard (clone)), Tuvok, Hoshi Sato, Miles O'Brien, and Leonard McCoy. As a Phoenix-X spin-off, the Season 3 character, Amp, was also included.

Memorable quotes
"I don't need to be lectured by you. I was out saving the galaxy when your grandfather was in diapers!" "My grandfather is in diapers."

- Wallace and Seifer, "Forbidden Crossing, Part II"

Background information

 * The X in the series and ship name is a parody of its use elsewhere (i.e. "", "X-Files", "xXx (Triple X)").
 * Some early episodes, like "Jello Cubes" or "Find Voyager?", were written over AOL chat for fun between the two writers. Episodes after that began in length through emails, with one writer writing one section of an episode and the other writing the next part. This continued until Episode 21 when one writer (Hawku) continued the series onward alone. Only two episodes in the second season involved the other writer (DL), "Afterdeath"; and "Omega", which was written solely by the other writer (DL).
 * Some noticeable external influences on the series' elements and names came from other series: ', ' and .
 * A few episodes have been direct crossovers.
 * "Fight, Parts I, II & III" crossed over with .
 * "Alien Interference" was a more subtle crossover with .
 * The crew of the Phoenix-X are still in their same ranks (except for Seifer being promoted to Captain) and assumed ages by 2410. How this is possible has not yet been explained.