Name: Triangle
Authors: Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath
Publication Date: 3/1983
Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #9)
Page Number: 188
Historian’s Note: Sometime between The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan
Cast of Characters: Rear Admiral/ Acting Captain James T. Kirk Commander
Spock Dr. Leonard H. McCoy
AKA “Bones” Commander
Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”
Lieutenant Commander Hikaru
Sulu Lieutenant Commander
Nyota Uhura Lieutenant Pavel Chekov Lieutenant Dobius Dr. Joseph M'Benga Dr. Christine Chapel The unnamed Starfleet Chief of
Staff Sola Thane Ambassador Gailbraith Soljenov Viana Argunov
Z'Ehlah Soljenov
Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701
Planets: Cephalus IV
My Spoiler filled summary and review: A collective
consciousness called the Totality is assimilating entire worlds into
itself. This thing originated on the
planet Zaran, where the native population has been subjugated. The Totality is descended from a group of
Humans who fled Earth during the atomic wars and now form a collective
unconscious. Ironically the Federation has the New Human Movement on Earth that
is sort of doing the same thing on a much smaller scale. That group’s “leader,” Ambassador Gailbraith,
wants a chance to reason with this new adversary. He argues since his Oneness is comprises of
more highly evolved beings, they stand a better chance at facing it. At his request the USS Enterprise,
with her famous captain, is assigned the task of bringing him there. 
Prime target for the New Humans!
Gailbraith’s
motive in requesting the Enterprise is that he feels if he can
assimilate Kirk into the Oneness that would be a great moral victory that would
aid in the Oneness’s ultimate triumph.
Kirk isn’t too keen on the idea, and bumps heads with the
Ambassador. Gailbraith didn’t come alone
but he brought many of his Oneness to assist.
To Kirk’s horror they began to go around assimilating members of his
crew. With Gailbraith insisting his people are just exercising their right to
proselytize, Kirk confines them to one section of the ship. This had limited effectiveness although
Gailbraith’s disobedience allows him to save Kirk from drowning in the ship’s pool.
The Enterprise is redirected to pick up half-Zaran Federation Free Agent Sola Thane. Thane was a Starfleet officer who was slated to command a starship when she resigned her commission to try and free her people from the Totality. The fact that she gave up her opportunity to command a starship is absolutely puzzling to Kirk who himself regards starship command as his life’s work. His instructions are to put his ship and crew at her disposal, which actually puts her in command of the mission, although this amounts to any plot point or relevance in the story. When they pick Agent Thane up, she and Kirk are immediately drawn to each other. She also is drawn to someone else. It is here we learn the episode “Amok Time” was exactly seven years ago. This means Spock is getting into the mating cycle again and finds Thane an alluring match.
 |
| Spock maybe going through pon farr again |
We now randomly meet Soljenov the
“leader” of the Totality. It becomes clear that the whole mission has been set
in motion by Gailbraith and Soljenov. Each is hoping that Thane will bond with someone,
and this will allow them to use her advanced psionic powers to lock that person
in their collectives and continue to universal domination. Thane’s people do a “mate-hunt” where the
female tracts down the male and bonds with them.
Kirk and Spock are both abducted to the surface of a nearby planet, forcing Thane to follow them in a "mate-hunt" as described above. Here we learn that Spock is willing to yield Thane to Kirk because he feels guilty for forcing Kirk to give up on Edith Keeler in “The City on the Edge of Forever.” (So much for the power of pon farr.) Back on the ship McCoy tries to form an alliance with Gailbraith that story wise leads to nothing. The three of them put the mating conversation to the side and break into Totality's citadel. Thane is able to use her knowledge of her culture to convince one of the Zarans to trigger the self-destruct.
 |
| Kirk, Spock, and a lady! |
Gailbraith and Soljenov both
compete for the trio to join their group, with Thane encouraged to bond with
either Kirk or Spock to help them escape the destruction. However, Zaran will
not be destroyed. Instead, the Totality
and the Oneness both agree not to go on a universal conquest and to only accept
new members voluntarily. All Enterprise
crew members taken by either group are released. Thane leaves with Soljenov to try and
re-direct the Totality. The Enterprise
heads home.
Additional thoughts: I really like that this story
takes place during that unseen 2nd five-year mission between the
first two films. It is such a space of
time that is rich with possibilities. I thought the previous book I read, Black Fire, would have worked much better as a story if it was placed during this
time.
The collective consciousness reminded
me of the Body of Landru from “The Return of the Archons.” “Are you not of the
body? Blessed is the body and all of its parts.” I have to give the authors some credit. When I read about the new human movement in
the novel adaptation of The Motion Picture, I thought it was just one Gene
Roddenberry’s silly ideas that never would amount to anything: like Starfleet officers having data chips in
their head that lets Kirk see the opening sequence of V’ger destroying the
Klingon ships. However, the authors
deserve credit for taking this small thought bubble of Kirk’s and making a
story out of it. A big fish vs. little fish fight with the New Human Movement’s
Oneness against the Totality. If only
the story were better. Unfortunately,
this story has a lot of issues.
Kirk falls a little too hard for Thane, this is a repeat flaw also seen in the episode “Requiem for Methuselah.” There are also a number of story points that are brought up but never acted upon, such as Thane getting overall control of the Enterprise and Spock potentially going through pon farr again. The worst part is this book is often difficult to follow and understand. Major story moments come out of nowhere like Soljenov showing up. The episode reminds me so much of “The Alternative Factor.” A lot of neat story ideas and great concepts that just fail in the overall presentation and execution.
 |
| We have been here before! |
Should it be canon: I am indifferent to the idea of
this book being made canon. I guess that
means no.
Cover Art: The Enterprise is flying in front
of a nebula. Kirk and Spock’s faces are
at the bottom of the page with Kirk on the viewer’s right and Spock on the
viewer’s left. The cover is bit of a lie
as the Enterprise shown is clearly pre-movie refit, and the story occurs
in between the first two films.
Final Grade: Final Grade 2 of 5
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