Tales Of The Dominion War Edited By Keith DeCandido - A Must Read for Deep Space Nine Fans!

Tales Of The Dominion War - Edited by Keith DeCandido

Of all of the Star Trek television series, my favorite is Deep Space Nine because of its reflection of how humanity might behave were we actually to travel to the stars. Other Star Trek series were all aboard ships that had strict command structures that depicted life in the military that was governed by a set of rules and regulations. Once in awhile, someone might step outside of the command structure, but they were usually brought back into line by the end of an episode. However, on DS9 it was a whole different idea. Set on a space station, Starfleet is invited to govern, rather than set up a normal command structure. There were all sorts of races visiting the station at any given time and events didn’t fit into Starfleet’s ideal military situation. So this left a lot of room for characters of the series to have to improvise and adapt to various situations that fell outside of the normal Star Trek trope.

During the last two seasons of Deep Space Nine, there was a struggle for control of the Alpha Quadrant of our galaxy between the Federation, the Klingons, and later, the Romulans against the Dominion from the Gamma Quadrant, the Cardassians, and the Breen.  It was an all out battle that saw the fall of many worlds and many lost their lives. Some of the best episodes of the series happened during those two seasons.

Tales of the Dominion War is a collection of stories that took place away from the main action depicted on the television show but were referred to or talked about on the main show. Keith brought together a group of authors that took those snippets of stories and fleshed them out into some of the finest Trek stories I have ever read. The titles in the book include…

• What Dreams May Come by Michael Jan Friedman
• A vorta feels secure on a world where the Jem’Hadar are setting up a supply depot, but all is not what it seems.
• Night of the Vulture by Greg Cox
• An entity that TOS fans are familiar with returns.
• The Ceremony of Innocence is Drowned by Keith DeCandido
• A debate in the Romulan Senate takes a turn when news is received.
• Mirror Eyes by Heather Jarmin and Jeffrey Lang
• A Romulan agent posing as a Vulcan on DS9 is exposed.
• Twilight’s Wrath by David Mack
• Some awesome backstory on Shinzon’s rise to power.
• Eleven Hours Out by Dave Galanter
• Picard and Deanna Troi attend graduation at Starfleet Academy when things go very wrong.
• Safe Harbours by Howard Weinstein
• McCoy and Scotty find safety in an unlikely place.
• Field Expediency by Dayton Ward and Kevin Dilmore
• Sensitive information is at stake and a group of Starfleet engineers work to protect it.
• A Song Well Sung by Robert Greenberger
• Klag’s story fighting the Jem’Hadar.
• Stone Cold Truths by Peter David
• A Hero from Peter David’s New Frontier series tells his son a tale from his adventures during the Dominion War.
• Requital by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangles
• A survivor from ARR-558 cannot let go.

This is not a new collection of stories with the book being released in 2004, but don’t let the fact that I am twelve years late deter you from reading a collection of some of the best Trek writing I have ever read. Every story is preceded by where in the timeline it is set and an overview of the author’s work up to the time this volume was released. And, as a bonus, Keith includes a complete timeline of events of the Dominion War that in itself is worth the price of the book.

All of the stories in this volume are of the highest quality, as is usual with the pantheon of authors Keith gathered together.  Anyone who knows the saga of Deep Space Nine will recognize and appreciate the contents of this book and I consider it must reading for DS9 fans.

Well, there it is…

Qaplah’!

Edited by Benjamin Arrowood

Star Trek: Legacies Book 1: Captain to Captain - A Number One Book About Number One!

Star Trek: Legacies: Captain to Captain by Greg Cox

Is there a Star Trek fan that doesn’t know that it is the fiftieth anniversary year for the first airing of this, one of the most beloved and influential television, movie, and literary phenomenons to every exist. Well, perhaps there might be one or two. Star Trek hit the airwaves on September 8, 1966 with the first episode called The Man Trap on the NBC television network. What followed was the stuff of legends; I am sure that there is not a single person in the civilized world that doesn’t know what Star Trek is in some form.

On the literary side, we were promised a trilogy of novels, the first of those, Captain to Captain by Greg Cox, is the subject of this review.

In 2267, Captain Una (better known as Number One from the Menagerie, and played by Majel Barrett) comes aboard the Enterprise in her small, but powerful starship Yorktown. The reason she gives for her arrival is to pay a visit to her former crew mate, Spock, but she has another agenda in mind as well. While Kirk and crew go about their business of running the Enterprise, Una breaks into Kirk’s quarters and steals an item known as a Transfer Key, to simply The Key. This device is apparently so dangerous that it has been passed from Enterprise captain to captain to keep secure in his/her quarters and even Starfleet Command knows nothing about it. After a chase, which Una has apparently planned very well, it is up to Kirk to retrieve the device, but he must keep it a secret from everyone except for Spock, who also knows about the Key.

Flashback to 2249. Under the command of Captain Robert April, the Enterprise achieves orbit around Libros III where they discover a pre-industrial civilization that is being displaced by an alien race called the Jatohr. The alien race is not only exploiting the Usildar, the indigenous race on Usilde (as the Libros III is called by the natives), but they are reforming the face of the planet. When the then Lieutenant Una leads her first landing party to see what is taking place, they find themselves captured and all but Una are sent away from the planet to no one knows where, or whether they are alive or dead. With the help of a sympathetic Jatohr scientist, Una secures the key and the Enterprise escapes.

Forward again to 2267, Una has made it her mission to find and rescue her lost crew mates from 2249. She has the key and manages to find the help she needs to complete her task. Finally, the Key is back in safe hands, but there is a twist. But then, isn’t there always?

Captain to Captain was a fun look at events that involved two eras of Star Trek, one of which I know very little of. I enjoyed reading the exploits of Una, who appeared in TOS known only as Number One. She apparently was given that name because she was the best at everything that she did. While appearing in the TOS two-part Menagerie episodes, we saw an emotionless and logical character, much like Spock became in the series. This story shows that she does indeed try to control her emotions, but isn’t always successful as some very disturbing circumstances arise for her. Finally, her loyalty for her lost friends drives her to act in ways that one wouldn’t expect.

Creg Cox's story is well written and is a fun read. It centers mostly on Una, but does also include many members of Enterprise crews from both 2267 and 2249. All of the characters behave as one would expect in the Star Trek universe and there are some fun exchanges between characters. I recommend Captain to Captain as a fine opening to the three part Legacies series honoring the 50th Anniversary of Star Trek. It is going to be fun to see where the rest of the series takes us.

Well, there it is…

Qaplah!

Kirk Meets Seven Of Nine In No Time Like The Past - A Crossover Novel By Greg Cox

Star Trek: No Time Like The Past by Greg Cox

If you enjoy Star Trek crossover stories that involve lots lots of fast moving action and time travel, then you are going to love Greg Cox's No Time Like The Past.  Greg imagines what might happen if Seven of Nine from Voyager were to be unwillingly be sent back to the 23rd century to meet Captain Kirk and the crew of the USS Enterprise in a story that careens through time and space at breakneck speed.

The events of No Time Like The Past mostly take place about two years after the events of the third season episode, "All Our Yesterdays," in which Kirk Spock and McCoy are sent back into the history of the planet Sarpeidon.

The Crew of the USS Voyager, still in the Delta Quadrant, encounter a Starfleet distress signal from a small planet.  When an away team beams down to investigate, they discover a giant likeness of James T. Kirk carved into a cliff.  There is an opening and when the away team enters, three of them, Janeway, Tuvok, and Neelix are injured and Seven finds herself in the middle of a battle between Kirk and a group of Orions that are disrupting a diplomatic mission on the planet Yusub.

Seven left three injured Voyager crew members behind when she jumped through time and needs to return to her own time to rescue them, not to mention that she also needs to be near her alcove to regenerate.  Her time is limited and she has to find a way to return to her own time soon.  Kirk and the crew agree to help, but there are others who see an opportunity to exploit Seven's knowledge of the future including, the Orions and a Federation ambassador who has an axe to grind with them.

The only clue for how to return Seven to her own time is imprinted on a fragment of some device that Seven brought with her into her past.  On this fragment, Seven finds a stardate that refers to a past mission of the Enterprise that starts her, Kirk, and the crew on a quest that spans space and time to find three remaining fragments that when joined together will allow Seven to presumably allow Seven to return to her own time.

While this should have been a simple mission, there are many turns that keep getting in the way of the quest; a spy on the Enterprise and the Orions keep getting in the way until Kirk has enough of their interference and is forced to deal with them in a most clever way.

For me, one of the most compelling aspects of No Time Like The Past was the way that the author weaved old stories into this new one.  Along with the All Our Yesterdays episode of TOS, he also included references

to "The Apple" from the second season and "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield."  One of the best parts of the story is when Greg speculates on the history of the events that lead to the annihilation of the people of Cheron, the planet of Lokai and Bele; he take us right into the thick of what finally purged the population of the planet while the two characters from the episode were on their chase through the galaxy.  There is also a reference to another books series that I have not read yet, The Yesterday Saga novels which chronicle the aftermath of the events resulting from the relationship between Spock and Zarabeth in "All Our Yesterdays."

Any TOS fan will enjoy this story because it has everything we love in a Kirk-era story should have.  The pace is quick, the characters are larger than life, but yet remain human, there are space battles and phaser fights, and Scotty remains a miracle worker.  There is a great deal of the "final frontier" flavor that us TOS fans have come to expect in our stories.

In short, this is a good one!

Well, there it is...

Q'aplaH'!