Should mentions of the Soyuz Class in Pocket Books fiction be used for reference?
No. Those are one ‘branch’ of Trek, we’re another. It’s OK if something they do with their Soyuz Class ship gives you an idea and doesn’t seriously contradict what we’re already doing, but we do not feel at all obligated to follow their lead. That said, the portrayal of USS Bozeman in Diane Carey’s Ship of the Line makes, at the very least, an interesting contrast. Ms. Carey seems to have reached some of the same conclusions about what a Soyuz Class ship should be like, but taken then in a different direction. In her version, the Soyuzi are “border cutters”, like those used by the US Coast Guard to stop smuggling, defend the shoreline, and rescue ships in distress.
