Star Trek: Legacies: Best Defense (Book 2) By David Mack - Another Outstanding Adventure From David Mack!

Star Trek: Legacies: Best Defense (Book 2) by David Mack

Best Defense is the second of a trilogy of novels set in the original series universe in celebration of the 50th anniversary of Star Trek. The first book in the series, Captain to Captain was penned by Greg Cox and was reviewed on this blog, you can read that review here. Before I talk about Best Defense, I will briefly recap the events of the previous installment of the series. There be spoilers here, so read on at your own peril.

The USS Enterprise under the command of Robert April visits a planet known as Usildar to the inhabitants. Una, known more commonly to Trekkies as Number One, is charged with learning more about the planet when things go terribly wrong and several members of Una’s landing party are disappeared by an invading force called the Jatohr. Actually, those that have been disappeared have been sent to an alternate universe.

Now, flash forward to Kirk’s Enterprise where Una arrives to pay the ship’s crew a visit, or so it seems. Actually, Una has made it her sole ambition to save the members of the April Enterprise crew and bring them back from the alternate universe. In order to accomplish her task, she first has to obtain an object known as the Transfer Key which has been passed from Enterprise captain to captain over the years, and is kept hidden in the captain’s quarters from all but the ship’s commander and the first officer.

After a chase, Kirk is convinced that Una’s cause is just and allows her to go to the alternate universe to find her lost crewmates, but when Kirk takes the Transfer Key back to the Enterprise, his yeoman, Lisa Bates leaves with the Key and is taken aboard a Romulan vessel, the Velibor.

Picking up where Captain to Captain leaves off, David Mack opens his part of the story by revealing that Lisa Bates is actually Sadira, a human working for the Romulans as an agent for the Tal-Shiar, somewhat like the KGB of the Romulan Empire. She now has the Key and is ready to use it against anyone to complete her mission, which is to make sure the Federation and the Klingons go to war, which would be in violation of the mandates of the Organians (TOS season one, episode 27, “Errand of Mercy”) who tell the two governments that they are to negotiate a peace or be destroyed. It is the wish of the Romulan Empire that they force a fight between the two enemies that will take the Federation and Klingons out of the way, making them the dominant power in the quadrant.

On Centaurus, Ambassador Sarek faces a delegation of Klingons led by Councilor Gorkon (Later to become Chancellor of the High Council) where negotiations are not going anywhere. A little later, Gorkon disappears causing even more uneasiness within the Klingon ranks as they believe that the Federation is responsible for a presumed murder. Both sides call on reinforcements and a Klingon ship along with the Enterprise arrive on the scene and tensions escalate even further.

Meanwhile in the alternate universe, Una finds her crewmates and takes measures to rescue them and make the rendezvous that will take her and them home, but she is unaware of what awaits her as she struggles with the Jatohr to make it on time.

All the while, Kirk not only has to keep the Klingons at bay, but he also has to retrieve the stolen Transfer Key and stop the Romulans from forcing the Orgainians to make good on their promise at mutual annihilation. Then he still has to make it to the rendezvous on Usilde in time to Rescue Una and her band.

Best Defense is a very tangled web that author David Mack unravels with his usual clever writing style that is easy on the mind while keeping the action moving nonstop. From the moment I opened this book, I hated putting it down to get back to reality and found myself picking it up at every possible opportunity to catch as much as I could at every sitting.  At no time did I find myself not engaged in the story that had plenty of banter between characters, mostly on the serious side due to the urgency of the story. After all, the stakes are very high when one remembers that, at the end of the day, the Organians are taking an interest in the outcomes of the negotiations between the two Alpha Quadrant superpowers.

Everyone in the story behaved as expected as far as the familiar characters from the Trek universe are concerned, but there were a few characters included here that I was not previously familiar with. One such example is Joanna McCoy, daughter of Dr. Leonard McCoy, who is, in this story, a real chip off the old block. She is every bit as stubborn and compassionate as her father, and maybe even a little more so. Another character that Mack introduced was Elara, a spy for the Orion Syndicate (who is also very interested in the elimination of the Federation and Klingons). Elara poses as a waitress for the catering service during the peace talks and has bugged every possible area she can to gather information for her handler who is only known as the Red Man.

While I enjoyed every bit of this story, I particularly found myself fascinated with the activity aboard the Romulan ship. I would never have imagined that a human Tal-Shiar officer would be allowed to usurp power outside of the command structure the way that Sadira was able to for much of the story. The tension that Mack wrote into those segments of the story were truly palpable and I found myself wanting more. I found it ironic that I was hoping that the Romulans would put Sadira in her place despite the power that she could wield as a political officer. She had absolutely no respect for the command structure of the ship, which was manned by very capable officers. Further, Sadira had no compassion or concern for the lives of the people onboard the Velibor, as she was willing to sacrifice anything to complete her mission. She is a truly deplorable character and made the rest of the Romulan crew looks like they were from Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.  Well written and so well told, that alone was worth the price of the book.

Not all was seriousness though. At one point in the story, Joanna was being held hostage by Elara as she went to make her escape after being found out. While she believed she had the upper hand, Elara asked for some items, including food, water, and a portable toilet. When Engineer Scott delivered the toilet, he told Kirk that it was rigged to deliver a stunning shock to Elara when she sat on it. A booby trapped biffy! My only disappointment was that she never had the opportunity to use it and I was deprived of the opportunity to read the author’s description of that scene; I’m sure it would have been incredible.

I enjoyed this installment of the Legacies series and am looking forward to seeing how the seeds planted in Best Defense are grown in the third and final book in the series. I highly recommend this novel for its nonstop forward movement and smooth transitions between scenes, as well as a magnificently written story.

Well, there it is…

Qaplah!

Edited by Benjamin Arrowood

ST: TOS: Elusive Salvation By Dayton Ward - The Follow On To From History's Shadow Proves That Lightning Does Strike Twice! - Great Book

Star Trek: The Original Series: Elusive Salvation by Dayton Ward

A while back, I read and reviewed Dayton Ward’s From History’s Shadow, an original series novel in that covered and expanded on threads found in original series Star Trek (TOS: Season 2, Episode 26 “Assignment Earth”), Deep Space Nine (DS9 Season 4, Episode 8 “Little Green Men), as well as Enterprise (ENT: Season 2, Episode 2 “Carbon Creek). That one was a unique view not only bringing together three of my favorite episodes of Trek, but adding a lot more, including real-world history that resulted in a stand alone, fun, and entertaining bit of writing. It was sincerely my hope that the author would see fit to write a sequel.

Well, I am happy to say that Dayton did follow up with a new story entitled Elusive Salvation.

While History’s Shadow was set about a week after the events of Assignment Earth, Elusive Salvation takes place about two years before the events of Wrath of Kahn, but also spans three different time periods.

In 1945, around the around the time the UFO phenomenon was just in its infancy, an alien ship crash lands in the Arctic with members of a race of beings that are fleeing from oppression.  The aliens are able to survive thanks to their wits and their technology while waiting for rescue from their own people. In 2283, Admiral James T. Kirk is assigned to Starfleet Command performing some rather mundane duties including lecturing Starfleet Academy cadets as they prepare for their own careers. On board the Enterprise, Captain Spock takes trainees on cruises and Dr. McCoy conducts research on Jupiter Station. All is well until an unidentified ship enters the solar system and takes up orbit near Neptune, Kirk is reassigned to Enterprise and he and Spock go to investigate the new arrival. In 1970, Gary Seven’s now trained and very competent assistant Roberta Lincoln minds the office while Seven is away on assignment. She is surprised to receive a communication from the future asking for her aid in a situation involving the aliens that crash-land in 1945 as well as the new arrivals at Neptune.

Everything comes together as Kirk, Spock, and Roberta try to resolve a sticky situation all the while trying to avoid polluting the timeline and being pursued by U.S. Government authorities who are charged with investigating UFO phenomena.

As I mentioned earlier, I was hoping for another story in this vein and was not in the least disappointed in what Dayton has given us. As usual, in Dayton’s stories, there is plenty of Trek action and the exchanges between the characters are well within what I have come to know and feel comfortable with. As usual, Spock is the brains while Kirk is the brawn and McCoy contributes by finding out the answers to the big question of a medical issue placed upon one alien race by another. The story is very fast paced and easy to read and follow, especially during the switches in time lines, which were seamless.

For me, the star of the show in this story was Roberta Lincoln. She has grown up a lot from the young, idealistic woman in the TOS episode that introduced her. At that time, she was a little scramble-brained, but had a good command of her convictions as well as a great sense of humor. The only thing that has changed about her is that she does not appear a naive as she was in the episode Assignment Earth, but has become very intelligent and is able to handle difficult situations while her mentor serves on assignment elsewhere and out of touch.

While the entire story was entertaining and fun, I found the last two chapters of the book the most intriguing. The first of the two Dayton calls “One Last Thing,” in which Roberta witnesses an event that starts another whale of a tale from Trek lore that we who are Trekkies will understand immediately. The last chapter entitled “One More Thing After That” points to an the origins of a very notorious organization that will impact stories and lives in the Trek universe for decades, to come. It is my hope that perhaps the author might consider continuing with the seeds he planted in these final two chapters.

I recommend Elusive Salvation as a great follow-on to From History’s Shadow, but keep in mind that both of the books in this “series” are stand-alone tales that need not be read in order.

Well, there it is…

Qaplah!