Jeremy A Perron's multiple year mission to complete an interesting and witty review for every Star Trek series, every movie, and maybe branch out into my novel collection. Spoilers! Spoilers! Spoilers beware!
Cast of Characters: Captain James T. KirkCommander SpockDr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA
“Bones”Lieutenant Commander
Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”Lieutenant
Commander Barry Giotto Lieutenant Hikaru SuluLieutenant Nyota UhuraLieutenant John Kyle Lieutenant Kevin RileyLieutenant Daniel AldenLieutenant Jerry FreemanLieutenant William “Bill” Hadley
Lieutenant Ross JohnsonNurse Christine ChapelEnsign Pavel Chekov Yeoman First Class Keiko TamuraCrewman SandersCrewman BanerjeeCrewman Juliette Lieutenant Jean CzernyCommander KangDr. Aernath Aethelnor AhmadEknaar EkthornMaevlyninTiraxWillinck Lieutenant Reena Tertullian
Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701,
Starbase 10, IKS Devisor, IKS Kahless, IKS Klolode II, two unnamed Klingon battlecruisers,
one unnamed Romulan ship
Planets: Sherman’s Planet
My Spoiler filled summary and review: The story
begins with right after a Federation outpost on Sherman's planet is devastated
by an earthquake. Jean Czerny, a Starfleet officer and researcher, is trying to
do math in her head to see if she will still be alive by the time the Enterprise
is scheduled to arrive. She is rescued but not by the people she was
expecting.She has been saved by a
Klingon ship commanded by Commander Kang. Kang is friendly at first but soon he learns
that she was on the team that developed a new strain of quadrotriticale.He wants her to share this with him, but she
refuses.The Enterprise arrives
demanding her return. Kang invokes an obscure Klingon tradition whereby, having
saved her life, she and her property belong to him and refuses to hand her over.With other Klingon ships on their way Kirk
orders a retreat for now.
Kang
Czerny refuses to co-operate and Kang
orders her not to be fed.Dr. Aernath, a
Klingon she has befriended, gives her food. For this Kang orders him to die, but Czerny
says she will now cooperate. They arrive in the Klingon homeworld and there
Czerny learns that the Klingons are beset by famine. Czerny expresses to Kang
that he should have started with that and is now more than willingly to help to
counter it.
Later Kang seems to try to rape Czerny,
but Aernath informs her that is trying to take her as one of his consorts to
give her protection in the Empire. Kang we learn is the heir apparent to the
imperial throne that is his right as the Emperor’s sister’s son.He is allowed to have as many as he wants but
we also learn Mara left him on returning from the Enterprise with
pro-Federation sympathies.
While this is all going on the Enterprise
finds an abandoned Romulan ship.They trace
the escape pod to a local planet where they Reena Tertullian, the only Romulan survivor.Thinking they are who attacked her, she panics
and fires a missile that attaches to the ship with a timer that will destroy the
ship the moment she tries to leave.Reena comes to like and respect humans and even forms a relationship with
Chekov and decides to defuse the weapon.She decides to return to her own people but asks the crew to make it
look as though she was tortured so she won’t be executed.
Romulan ship dead in the water
Aernath tricks Kang's crew and forcibly
takes Czerny to Mara. They are attempting
to arrange a peace between the Federation and the Klingons. She has secretly born Kang's son, Aethelnor, who
is due to inherit a powerful position from her brother, putting Kang in a very
strong political position.She wants Czerny
and Aernath to take him into Federation space so Kang will have to follow and
negotiate with Kirk.
Kang and Mara
They meet with a Romulan who turns out
to be Mr. Spock.Spock with help from
Cyrano Jones, who needs to work off his debt for the tribble incident, gets
Aernath and Aethelnor off the planet.During the transfer Czerny is captured and left behind.Spock using a mental link makes it so she can’t
be interrogated or tortured. On the ship Aernath gets in trouble for entering
the dilitheium chamber bit he is exonerated when it turns out Klingons can’t
see the color red.
They agree to meet
Czerny is returned to Kang, and she gets him to agree to meet Kirk, with Mara and herself at his side. At the meeting a number of
settlements are reached to prevent a war. It is agreed that the Federation and
the Klingons will both establish presences on Sherman's planet, with Czerny and
Aernath remaining there to work on the quadrotriticale strain.Czerny is granted a sort of divorce from Kang
where she is no longer his consort but is still part of his family.Kang has also established a relationship with
his son.
Additional thoughts: This story had a lot of ups and
downs.It started strong, then fell off
in the middle but ended well.The author
almost falls into the trap of being so focused on her own characters that she
forgets it’s supposed to be a Star Trek story.I did like that the Klingons had a problem that they could completely solve
if they just were less mistrusting of the Federation. I did find the whole Romulan
rescue sub-plot to be interesting but also pointless to the overall story.
I didn’t care for the idea of Kang
being the heir to the Empire, it seems to me he would have more than one ship
and not sent to the frontiers of space if that were the case.The patriarchal but matrilineal succession to
be interesting but would later be contradicted by later stories about Klingons.I also feel the same way about the colorblind
issue or not really color blind more like color difference since they can see
ultra-violet.
Should it be canon: There are some parts that can’t
be: Klingon succession laws and eyesight limitations are later contradicted by
other stories. Some elements of it could be made canon, such as the famine and Czerny’s
intervention.
Cover Art: A person who I assume is Czerny is walking
along a checkered floor.There is some
wheat growing in one of the squares.The
Enterprise is flouting above the floor.Kirk and Kangs heads are up in the sky with Kang facing directly at Kirk
and away from the viewer.
Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Galileo
III NCC-1701/3, Starbase 11, USS Horizon (registry unknown), IKS Flyer's Pride,
ChR Gauntlet, IKS Irik, and IKS Kalash
Planets: Earth and Vulcan
My Spoiler filled summary and review: The story opens
with a kidnapping.The kidnaped are a
human named Cleante al-Faisal, a Vulcan named T'Shael, an Andorian and some
Deltans.These individuals are the Warrantors
of the Peace an idea the Vulcans came up with in the time of Surak.The Warrantors are voluntary hostages of
sorts.They are family members of
government officials of various Federation member worlds.They would first to die if their worlds
attacked one of its neighbors.Realizing
that kidnapping them could be used to destabilize the Federation the Romulans
and the Klingons plan to do just that. The
Romulans do the kidnapping while the Klingons hold them.
Klingons and Romulans looking to kidnap
The bulk of the story is told
between the two main warrantors Cleante and T’Shael.The book often flows back and forth between
the present and the past.The audience sees
Cleante and T’Shael’s backstory.They
met at the Warrantors headquarters on Vulcan and formed an unlikely friendship.
T’Shael leads a lonely life with a distant mother and a father who is caring
but dying.Her father is a famous
musician known as the gifted one.Her
mother leaves them to serve on the Intrepid and she dies when it is
destroyed by that large single-celled organism from “The Immunity Syndrome.”Her dying father has to break the news to her
that she will soon have no parents at all.Having no family leads her to volunteer for warrantor status.
The story shifts to our normal set
of heroes, who have the entire situation explained to them while being told not
to do anything about it.This becomes a
recurring thing whenever the audience comes back to the Enterprise.
Two Klingons in charge of the
prisoners.They are Lord Krazz and Commander
Kalor.Trusted with such important
prisoners who may be able to allow the Klingons and Romulans to bring the
Federation to its knees, the two Klingons decide their physical passions are
more important and try to rape the prisoners.They are stopped however because of the mental powers of the Deltans
overwhelm the Klingons, so they abandon the rape attempt.
Klingons being evil
Despite the Deltan save, the
Andorian warrantor dies.This causes
protest from Andor and the Romulans themselves are upset.On the Enterprise the crew is briefed
and does nothing.Shortly after, the
Deltans all die by suicide leaving only two hostages left, the main stars of
the book.
Subcommander Tal shows up for an inspection
and is appalled by the conditions the prisoners are kept in. He reports this to
his Commander—the same Romulan Fleet Commander from “The Enterprise
Incident”—she agrees to check on the prisoners herself.
Tal
An unexpected earthquake leads to
the death of Lord Krazz, leading Kalor in charge.The Romulan Commander ordered Kalor to treat
the prisoners better under threat of death and Kalor agrees to her demands.While this is going on it turns out T’Shael
is going through the pon farr. She instructs Cleante to bind her, so she
won’t hurt her friend.This reminds me
of a werewolf.Spock was bad but he
didn’t have to be tied up.Tal suggests
they get a younger Romulan male to sleep with T’Shael, but the Commander just
helps her mentally get over it.
Fleet Commander
After the Romulans leave Kalor
decides to start torturing the prisoners again. He forces T’Shael to spend the night outside
in the freezing temperatures to test the Vulcans resistance to the cold.As T’Shael is suffering Cleante decides to
seduce Kalor.He resists at first and
then agrees to take her offer.Cleante
at this point starts to exhibit major Stockholm Syndrome as she finds herself
starting to fall for Kalor.
This doesn’t last however because
the Romulan Commander arrives and shoots Kalor with a disruptor after catching
the two in bed.Kirk and Spock show up
and find the two remaining warrantors exactly where the Commander wanted them
to be found.It appears her strategy was
to kill them with kindness.She wanted
Kirk and Spock to see how nice she was to the warrantors so they would feel bad
about stealing her cloaking device.In
the end Cleante doesn’t have to be a warrantor anymore, she is just happy it
turns out Kalor didn’t leave her pregnant.She decides to go to Vulcan and hangout with T’Shael who has warrantor
for life status.
Additional thoughts: I had a hard time taking this
story seriously as I found the premise to be absurd.The very idea that United Federation of
Planets is held together by an exchanging of hostages amongst the member worlds
is beyond weird.Apparently, the author
was inspired by the exchanging of hostages in the medieval world and some Cold
War theory.It doesn’t even work in
story; the warrantors themselves are supposed to be the relatives of the
high-ranking officials on the various planets.If the leader of Earth decided to invade Andora that leader would have
to face the reality that their loved one would be the first to die.However, in story the warrantors are allowed
to have substitutes take their place similar to a US Civil War draftee.This defeats the entire purpose because now
it’s no longer the leader’s loved one on the firing line but a stranger. It’s
explained that T’Shael is a substitute for Spock himself, who would normally
have to serve because of the position of his father.Again, this doesn’t make sense as Spock’s
father is not a leader of Vulcan government but rather a diplomatic
representative.Sarek represents Vulcan
but he doesn’t decide what actions it takes. Also, all the warrantors live on
Vulcan even the Vulcan ones, so how is this stopping Vulcan from doing
anything?
Does the Federation need to exchange hostages?
Maybe
The time period was also hard to
place.I had originally thought it would
take place between the second five-year mission between The Motion Picture and
The Wrath of Khan.However, it seemed
might have been during the second film. Saavik is here and McCoy mentions that
they have a crew of all cadets.The crew
is wearing “the monster maroons.”Kirk
is referred to as “Admiral” rather than the temporary commission of “Captain”
he received in The Motion Picture.Yet,
he is in command of the Enterprise and the only time he held that
command and called “Admiral” was during TWOK.That makes the story more improbable to me that on the ship’s way to
Regula 1 they stopped by and picked up the warrantors.
The story also is one in which you
are introduced to a situation or character and then the reader is treated to a
long flashback explaining who they are, what they are about, and what their
relationships with each other are.This
is not an illegitimate form of storytelling, but it does make moving the plot
forward difficult.Without the filler
the story might be only a quarter as long.
We see the Romulan Fleet Commander
from “The Enterprise Incident.”She was
in the last book I read too.Star Trek
novelists seem to find her fascinating.I tend to judge her appearance based on how they explain the aftermath
of her capture and loss of cloaking device.In the last book it was explained that she was able to escape
consequence because the Praetor was her father.In this version she did have claw her back to prominence, but it was
aided by her being the Praetor's mistress. This is clear contradiction, I hope.
She has also seemed to have learned
from her boss, the Praetor, as we see her happily bed her own subordinates that
she finds attractive This includes
Subcommander Tal, who it is said in the book has refused promotions so he can
stay with her.I didn’t like that as I
felt the relationship between her and Tal was based on professionalism and
respect. I don’t have any issue with her bedding other subordinates though it’s
clearly an improvement on her from the last book where she was dealing in love
slaves.This book at least has the
Commander moving in the right direction.
Speaking of love slaves, that was
some serious Stockholm Syndrome we saw from Cleante.When she started to have feelings for Kalor
and even started to sympathize with him.She is also very insistent to McCoy and everyone else that what went on
between them was consensual despite the fact that they both his prisoners and
he was torturing her friend.
Although I highlight in each of my
reviews the most important character and second most important character from
the crew during the story this one is a bit off.In this book the two most important members
of the crew are Kirk and Spock, but they do nothing in the story.The regular cast of characters are completely
useless.They could have been written
out of the story, and nothing would have changed except the name of the ship
that Cleante and T’Shael leave in.
On the last note I found it funny
that the author tried to present the Klingons as opposite of the Vulcans in
that they age faster than humans. Neat idea that Star Trek didn’t stick
with.
Should it be canon: I am going to say no.There is just too much weird stuff in this
book to try and have it be canonical.
Cover Art:. The cover has two young women on the
bottom of the image is Cleante on the viewer’s right and T’Shael on the viewers
left.Above T’Shael is the face of Kirk
and above Cleante is the face of Spock.
Cast of Characters: Captain/Ensign James T. KirkCommander/Captain SpockDr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA
“Bones”Lieutenant Commander
Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”Lieutenant Hikaru SuluLieutenant Nyota UhuraLieutenant
Kevin Riley Lieutenant/Ensign
Jeremy RichardsonLieutenant AndersonNurse Christine Chapel Ensign/Commander Pavel Chekov Ensign Dane ChristensenEnsign Carl ReichertEnsign Paul DonnerYeoman Third Class S'ParvaCrewman Devoran Crewman
Dave DonnellyAdmiral S't'kalCaptain Christopher PikeDr. PalmerThe Romulan Fleet Commander/Preator General TavorCommander Tazol Subcommander SarelaSubcommander SekorLieutenant RolashCenturion SelonCenturion Tasme
Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701/VSS
ShiKahr, VSS S'Tasmeen, VSS T'Ruda, IRV Ravon and IRV T'Favaron
Planets: Canus IV, Earth, Romulus, and Remus
My Spoiler filled summary and review: The adventure
begins with Captain Kirk telling Spock of a strange dream he had.He was on the Enterprise but it wasn’t
the Enterprise. In addition to that he wasn’t the captain, Spock
was.Kirk in his dream never made it
past ensign, and the whole time he wants to tell Spock that he is supposed to
be the captain.Strangely enough Spock
had a similar dream.McCoy dismisses
these events as typical psychology.
We have a new crew member, Yeoman
S’Parva, who is from a species that looks like anthropomorphic dogs.We also meet Lt. Jeremy Richarson, a human
officer who seems to find the dog person attractive. (Thanks author!)
As Kirk goes to sleep reality
changes.He is no longer Captain Kirk of
the Enterprise but he is Ensign Kirk of the ShiKahr.Kirk’s life took a hard turn when he was
falsely accused of murder of his instructor.The Vulcans found him guilty and subjected him to something called the
Talos device that messed him up mentally and is now dependent on drugs.In this reality Spock is the captain of the
ship.He takes pity on Ensign Kirk, for
he studied the Talos device and recommended its decommissioning.Spock is also haunted by strange dreams.The former Ensign Chekov is now a commander
and first officer in this new reality.
Kirk is no longer himself
All of Captain Spock’s attempts to
reach out to Ensign Kirk almost end in failure.Kirk wants off the ship, but he wants prison less and that is his only
alternative.Spock decides to separate
Kirk from his abusive roommate.Kirk
might not be a murderer, but he is still a huge pain in this time.Spock still feels he deserves a fair chance.
Things start to get strange from
low to high.Ensign Reichert almost
destroys the ship with sabotage and Spock gets an insane order from fleet
command to start a war with the Romulans.McCoy finds two sets of brainwaves in the deranged Ensign.This may be a galaxy wide event.
It turns out the Romulans were
behind everything, the author doesn’t try to make this a surprise.The Romulans decided that they needed to
prevent the Federation from forming so they went on a mission do that.Commander Tazol is excited about this plan
because he feels the Federation has been strangling the Romulan Star Empire by
denying its chance of expansion.His
first officer and wife, Subcommander Sarela, does not share his enthusiasm, as
she pointed out other times their time travel plans did not give them the
desired results. The two of them are not a good couple.
Commander Tazol is not a happy camper.
It seems the Romulans plans have
all turned sour.As the Federation no
longer exists but it has been replaced by a Federation-like Alliance of Planets
that is centered on Vulcan and not on Earth.The Empire is only moderately bigger.It seems as if the whole thing wasn’t worth the trip.
Back on the ShiKahr Dr.
McCoy makes a startling discovery.Remembering the time they went to the mirror universe, McCoy thinks that
might have something to do with what they are now facing. He concludes that
there are two universes, and one was created by a time alteration.The big news is their universe that they have
lived their whole lives in is the wrong one.McCoy concludes that these shared dreams are of the other and real
universe.McCoy hypothesis that the
people who are acting out are the ones who are the most affected by the
change.McCoy points out that he is probably
a doctor and chief medical officer in both realities, so he is unchanged. People whose lives have been turned upside
down are having a rough time. Ensign Kirk is also a good example. He might have
been something very different in another life.
Spock trying to help Kirk
Their mission brings them to Canus IV,
where they investigate possible Romulan activity by sending down a landing
party. This causes Spock to question his
decisions, and Kirk is re-traumatized.Spock is also dealing with the fact that his pon farr, is kicking
in.In this reality T’Pring had more
courage to just outright dump him, instead of cowardly trying to get him to
murder his own friend.
Subcommander Sarela is summoned to
meet with the Praetor and shocked to discover that the Praetor is actually a
woman.Her name is Thea, and she is the
same Romulan Fleet Commander that Kirk and Spock stole a clocking device from
in the unaltered reality.She explains
her father was Praetor until his recent death and since he was sonless, she
took over. There is going to be a power struggle in the Empire and Sarela’s
husband is on the other side.The
Praetor realizes her father’s plan hasn’t worked she now wants to abduct Kirk
to force Spock to impersonate the Praetor (as most people don’t know what the
Praetor looks like) and present the Vulcan Tenets of Discipline to the Romulan
people. After she wants Spock to use his extraordinary power as a starship
commander to negotiate a peace treaty.
Big plans for Spock
The ShiKahr rendezvous with T'Ruda,
a ship commanded by Spock’s former first officer, Captain Christopher Pike, the
first human to command his own starship.Captains Spock and Pike agree that the orders coming from the fleet a
clearly insane.Spock learns that Kirk
has not been seen since returning from Canus IV. He finds Kirk in the ship's green
and forcibly initiates a mind-meld, during which the two of them become more
fully aware of who they were in the unaltered timeline. During the meld Kirk drops his Academy ring in
the loose sand of the garden. Richardson and S'Parva also discover their true
selves using the same method.
Suddenly a small Romulan scout ship
appears claiming to have drifted of course.They are intercepted and the crew brought aboard.Thea and Sarela come aboard and are confined
to quarters. Later, two Romulan agents disguised as Vulcan security guards, kidnap
Kirk and Richardson from their cabin and transport them to the scout ship and
escape to Romulan space. Thea announces
her plans to Spock, and he agrees but only to turn the tables on her.
Spock lets Thea know that the timeline
is now unstable and when the get to Romulus rebellions all throughout the
Empire convince her that this is true. Kirk and Richardson are brought in after
an escape attempt and are recruited on the mission.Thea reveals that the assassins who went back
to alter the past and were androids that her father had purchased.Little does Thea know that Jim Kirk is the
Bane of all Artificial Intelligence, and these androids don’t stand a chance.The Romulan ship loops around the sun in
order to go back to the past.
Now in the late 21st
century they locate the figures they need to save.When the androids arrive, they attack.In the battle Richardson is killed and Spock
is fatally injured.Before he passes, he
gives Kirk a Romulan disruptor because, as the one who lost the most due to the
time change, he should be the one to restore it.As Spock lies dying the three of them
disappear.
Kirk doesn't feat andriods or any other type of AI
Back in the restored universe Kirk
awakens to find he is once again Captain of the Enterprise. Still
haunted by the dreams, he agrees to a mind meld with Spock.They are now aware of their other selves, and
it explains a ring Kirk found in the garden that belonged to his counterpart.The ring was located exactly where he dropped
it.Later Kirk puts it back and allows
it to disappear.
Additional thoughts: Well, this now makes two books
in row where the enemies of the Federation tried to wipe out using time
travel.In “Ishmael” the Klingons try to
use time travel to prevent the existence of the Federation and this time it’s
the Romulans.The Klingons never
succeed, in fact, their attempt to change things is itself what caused them to
fail.The Romulans manage to pull it off
only to realize that they did not get what they asked for and end up teaming up
with our heroes to get everything back.
I am really tired of people with my
name being weirdos or creeps.We got the
silly Ghostbusters guy, the not so nice individual in the new Beetlejuice film.
This one isn’t so bad. It’s just that he is sexually attracted to a big
dog-like alien.
I enjoyed how Sarela explains to
her foolish husband of the other failed time travel plots. They have tried to
use time travel in the past to make life easier for themselves and at one time
it led to them wiping out a planetary population.Yet the Romulans still continue to do
it.You would think they would run into
some heavy butterfly effects by now.
Should leave the time travel tricks to the Federation
There must be more to the Romulans
changing the timeline than just the simple sling shot effect. Everywhere else
in the franchise whenever the timeline has changed, hardly anyone is aware that
it occurred.When the Romulans start to
change it, multiple people start having bad dreams as a preview for the new
reality. When reality finally does
change people continue to have strange dreams about their old lives driving
some of them insane.Romulans should
leave the time travel adventures to the Federation.
I thought it was interesting that
both the Second History crew and the First History crew went on similar
missions.The Second History also had a
“Mirror, Mirror” adventure.Which made
me really interested in what the Mirror Universe looked like in this reality. Clearly its different or else Spock would have
identified Kirk as the Mirror Universe captain.
What's their Mirror Universe like?
So, the Romulan Star Empire has a
system of slavery with other Romulans as slaves.And sometimes sex slaves are given away as
gifts? Yes, these slaves are still trusted as with weapons and are sent on
secret missions to enemy territory.This
isn’t the only version of this we saw something similar of this in the book,
“The Fate of the Phoenix.”
Why was this Spock going through
the pon farr now?Wouldn’t it have
kicked in around the same time as the Prime Universe Spock?Are there more treatments in this reality
that can delay it?That might make sense
in a Vulcan-centered Alliance.
It is quite a shock to realize that
your very reality that you lived in your entire life, is not real. In most time
travel stories time gets mixed up and those characters who have not been
changed try to restore the true reality. Understanding that your world or
universe is wrong and you aren’t the “real you” requires a whole new level of
thought. Of course, it’s easier when your universe is trying to destroy itself.
A typical time travel adventure
It appears we have Romulan
terminators? At this point in history The Terminator had only been out
for about a year.Fortunately, the time
device that our heroes use doesn’t require that they travel naked, and the
Romulan disruptor serves well at ending the threat and restoring reality.
Lastly, the Praetor.As the old Hitchcock quote goes, “You can get
people to believe in the impossible but the improbable.”I am all right with human-looking space
aliens starships and time travel.I
can’t believe that someone can screw up as badly as the Romulan Fleet Commander
did in “The Enterprise Incident” can not only keep her job but be promoted. I don’t
care who her father is.The book “The Price of the Phoenix” also featured her in a continued leadership role.I prefer the “My Enemy, My Ally” view of it
where she lost everything and correctly blames Kirk and Spock.Now this could be saved.We never saw her act as Praetor in the main
universe.Yes, she was supposedly immune
to the change.However, no one knows
what the Praetor looks like maybe he didn’t board the ship because he didn’t
want to be stuck with the “wrong memories.” What if Thea was just a bureaucratic assistant
who was there to record the change and report back and she returned she was now
the Praetor.She might see it as an
extension of a career she should have naturally had.
This book was also infamous because
of the Kirk/Spock slash fiction that was contained in the original edition that
was recalled by Paramount Pictures.As
my copy is not original and doesn’t contain the delated passages, I can’t
really make a comment on it.
Should it be canon: Considering the whole adventure
is one that the main story never actually happened except in the minds of Kirk
and Spock, I don’t have an objection to it being cannon. Although I don't care for the part of the Romulan Fleet Commander being the Praetor's daughter/successor.
Cover Art: Spock is on the front of the cover wearing
his Vulcan Fleet uniform.Behind him is
Subcommander Sarela and the Romulan Fleet Commander turned Praetor. Behind them
is a city on Romulus and a Bird of Prey flies through the sky.
Cast of Characters: Captain James T. KirkLieutenant Commander SpockDr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA
“Bones”Lieutenant Commander
Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”Lieutenant Hikaru SuluLieutenant Nyota UhuraLieutenant
Kevin Riley Lieutenant
GildenDr. Aurelia SteinerEnsign Pavel Chekov Commander Maria KelloggTraeKhin KhlaruColonel Nch'rth Jason BoltJeremy Bolt Joshua Bolt Captain Roland Francis Clancey Biddy Cloom Dr. Sarah GayLottie HatfieldElizabeth Darrow Donnelly Katy HoytRobin ManderlySheila MeyersJoshua Norton Mrs. O'Shaughnessy Candy PruittAaron Stemple Dulcie Wainright Elizabeth Stempleunnamed Klingons
Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701,
Starbase 12, IKS Rapache, and IKS Schin'char
Planets: Alpha Eridani III and Earth
My Spoiler filled summary and review: The adventure
begins with the Enterprise being summoned to Starbase 12, to study the
nearby Tau Eridani Cloud.However, the
Klingons are also there, and they don’t seem to be there to observe a white
dwarf star.The pair of Klingon ships
are a transport and a cruiser and the transport gives off a lot of power.Spock, with Kirk’s approval, sneaks aboard disguised
as a worker from the Starbase there to unload equipment.When it comes time to rendezvous later, he
never arrives, and it appears he is still on the transport.
Klingons making trouble
Any attempt to rescue him is shot
when the transport suddenly accelerates to a high warp speed and vanishes into
the cloud. All is not lost however because Spock was able to send a cryptic
message.That message is “White dwarf.
Khlaru. Tillman's Factor. Guardian" and along with the numbers eighteen,
sixty, and seven.
Aaron Stemple
The story moves to 19th century
Seattle, Washington.Long before it was
major American city instead it was just a logging town.Aaron Stemple, a local businessman, finds
Spock unconscious and appears to have been tortured.Stemple is taken back that the land around
the injured man is itself undisturbed, as if the stranger appeared out of
nowhere.Upon looking at Spock’s green
blood and pointed ears, he realizes an alien from outer space. (Which, I’ll
take more about in my Additional thoughts section.) Stemple realizing the intolerance of his
world—US Civil War being only a few years ago—decides not to return Spock to a
local doctor.He takes it upon himself
to save the stranger so, he brings back Spock to his isolated cabin at Eagle
Head Point.
Lottie Hatfield, owner of a local saloon
bar, becomes Stemple’s confidant about Spock’s existence. Stemple shares his concerns about what Spock’s
existence means for their planet and humanity itself.Later Lottie sees two Klingons. She wants to
go back and warn Stemple, but the weather kills that plan.
Gets help
Spock wakes up with no memory of
who he is, but he knows he is an alien.He is also very depressed to the point of almost suicide.Stemple tries to cheer him up and offers him
a job as an accountant.
Back in the 23rd century
Kirk is still trying to figure out what happened to his friend and first
officer.He teams up with Commander
Maria Kellogg, who is the commanding officer of Starbase 12. Kellogg points to
that there is a Klingon historian named Khlaru, currently on this very
Starbase. Tillmann's Factor is a mathematical constant to do with acceleration
past light-speed, and the Enterprise this year accidentally created at
time warp and was sent back to Earth during the 1960s. Maybe the Klingons have
used the white dwarf star to create their own time warp. To Kirk, the number
18-6-7 sounds like a date.
Kirk and crew trying to find Spock
Kellogg has a Vulcan historian Trae
on staff. Trae explains that the
Klingons were conquered by the Karsid Empire centuries ago. Karsid strategy was
to locate preindustrial societies and offer them economic and other help. This
would lead to increasing interference on their part in those societies until
they took over completely. The Klingons overthrew the Karsid Empire before
founding their own and this is the reason the Karsids were never able to try
this on Earth.
Spock is given the name Ishmael Marx and is
introduced into town as Stemple’s nephew.They visit Lottie’s place where Spock learns about the town’s big
situation.Jason Bolt, who runs a lumber
mill with his two brothers, Jeremy and Joshua, had to overcome a shutdown of
his operation as his lumberjacks are upset that there is no female population
to speak of in Seattle.In order to save
his business, he promises to find at least a hundred single young women willing
to come to the frontier town and stay for a full year. Problem is he doesn’t have the money to afford
it.So, to meet that second desperate
situation he makes a literal gamble.Stemple puts up much of the money not as a loan but as a bet the Bolt
brothers will not succeed.If the Bolt
fails to marry off all the women Stemple wins Bridal Veil Mountain, with their
logging company at a fraction of the costs. (This is the overall plot of the Here
Come the Brides TV show.)
Spock is more than successful as
Stemple’s accountant, and his skills amaze the town.It appears the memory plagued Vulcan is
fitting in very well on 19th century Earth.Spock challenges his benefactor to the
morality of this bet of his.He
convinces Stemple to offer the Bolt brothers a way out of the bet by just
buying him off. The Bolt brothers don’t have the money, so they head to San
Francisco to gamble, and Spock comes up with a method for them to gradually win
money.In a few days they were going to
be able to get the $50,000 to pay off Stemple. While this is going on they are attacked in
the street, but they manage to fight them off.They run into a woman named Sarah Gay.Gay is a doctor but because of prejudice at the time she was not allowed
to be one.Joshua takes a liking to
her.
Spock tries to help the Bolts out
Spock’s system was working but they
got greedy and Jason risks everything on poker but loses.This means they have to leave San Francisco
empty handed and the bet between the Bolts and Stemple is still on.
The ladies of the bet!
Kirk, McCoy, Maria Kellogg, and
Trae investigate what the Klingons are trying to achieve. They found that the
Klingons tried to destroy the relevant records, but was stopped by Khin Khlaru,
who wanted to preserve the integrity of the historical record. The records
reveal that the Karsids began their attempt to subvert and take over Earth in
1868, but their efforts were stopped by government of the United States. Before
they could overcome that resistance, the Klingon rebellions began that brought
about the downfall of the Karsid Empire.The person most responsible for the US Government being able to resist
the Karsid Empire, was no other than the United States representative from
Washington Territory – Aaron Stemple.The Klingons are hoping to stop Stemple thus allowing them to conquer
the Earth and prevent the Federation from forming.The Klingon Empire will still come into
existence with no Federation to stand in the way of their territorial ambitions.
During the celebration of Jeremy
Bolt and Candy Pruitt’s marriage, Jason proposes to Biddy hoping to finally win
the bet.She turns him down, although
she was very flattered by the proposal, but she thinks they would not be a good
match.Sarah Gay arrives unexpectedly,
having changed her mind about marrying Joshua.
Spock doing his best to fit in.
Stemple then asks Biddy to marry
him, and she accepts.This means Stemple
gets the love of this life but loses the bet, this means that everyone is happy
with all they have. At this point in the plot this is the perfect time for
Klingon assassins from the future to show up. Seeing Klingons restores Spock’s
memory and he sees them go after Stemple.He gives chase but Spock is not in time to prevent the Klingons shooting
temple who is badly wounded but not killed. Spock stops the Klingons finishing
Aaron off and they leave, convinced that they fatally injured him.
Stemple gets his girl!
Spock tries to nurse him back to
health with blood transfusions enthusiastically donated by the community.It doesn’t save him only delays the
inevitable, Spock is convinced that he failed in his primary objective.Just when he is about to come to terms with
his failure Captain Kirk and Dr. McCoy arrive.They took the Enterprise back to the past via firing the warp
drive around a star and here they are.Stemple is brought back to the ship, and his life is saved.Spock, restored to his previous self, thanks
Stemple for all he had done for him. Stemple
is sent back to his own destiny.
Kirk and McCoy show up to rescue Spock!
In his final evaluation Spock
conceded that he believes they have always been living in the altered
time-line.The Klingons, in their
attempt to change what had happened, ended up bringing the exact events about.
Spock also concludes that his mother and therefore himself are the descendants
of Biddy and Aaron Stemple.Stemple is
Amanda Grayson’s middle name.
Spock restored!
Additional thoughts: This was a fun story.In a way it reminded me of the earlier story
“Mind Sifter” that involved Captain Kirk after Klingon torture being sent to
Earth’s past with no idea of who was.This
was better.Spock might not have had his
memory, but he was clearly himself.It
also did not take place of an impossible timetable.
This is not just a Star Trek
book; it is crossover with another TV show from the 1960s called Here Comes
the Brides.All the characters that
Spock interacts with in the 19th century are from this series. Now I
never even heard of the series before this book, so I did some reading up on
it.Like Star Trek, Brides often
would deal with real world issues such as racial discrimination and the
importance of tolerance.The show lasted
for two seasons and had over fifty episodes.I suspect that the show never had a resolution for its characters
because the shows main premise: women being brought in for marriage prospects
and a bet between Stemple and Jason Bolt is still on going at the start of this
story and finally resolved by the end of the book. All the Brides
characters are in a good place at the end, with this probably being their last
appearance—as unlike Star Trek they didn’t give birth to a franchise—their fans
can rest easy knowing how it was all resolved.
Hopefully fans got their resolution
When I was a kid, my sisters, my
cousins, and I use to play a game we called “Mix up.” We would all play
characters from various franchises and come up with stories on how they could
interact together. So, Luke Skywalker could team up with Captain Kirk, the
Ghostbusters, and a superhero. This book kind of reminded me of that.
The scene when they were talking
about the old Earth Gregorian calendar dating system and since they didn’t use it,
they were unaware that BC and AD weren’t used in everyday speech. I like how Kirk and McCoy used their
experience with Edith Keeler to explain that to the base commander.Although later in the series would make this
scene not make sense as the calendar is still used by humans.
I learned something about math that
I didn’t know prior to reading this book.X²-1=(X-1) *(X+1) I thought that was very cool.Thank you, Mr. Spock.
We learned a bit of Klingon
history. The Karsid Empire is the Mongol Empire to the Klingons’ Russia.The Klingons were once the victims of space
conquerors until they overthrew them and used their empire to start the
foundation of their own interplanetary empire.Seems this is history that they probably shouldn’t be messing with.
I thought it was funny that the
United States Library of Congress is still around despite the unification of
Earth Government.
Although Spock says he thinks they
were always in the alternate timeline I have a different opinion.This reminds me a lot of the first Terminator
movie where it was a closed time loop. The attempt to change the past is what
caused the very events that you didn’t want to happen to actually happen.Hence, while the Klingons stop focusing on
time travel.
So, Aaron Stemple, who was played
by Star Trek Legend Mark Lenard, turns out to be one of Spock’s human
ancestors.Amazing that Spock, he always
has relatives coming out of nowhere.It
was bit of stretch that Stemple was so quick to deduce that Spock was not of
this world.I mean what would even
inspire him to believe in life on other planets?There is nothing about that in the culture of
Earth at the time at least that I am aware of.They do point out that such a world did produce H.G. Wells and his stories
so I suppose it could make sense but still seemed that Stemple had formed these
beliefs because of plot smarts.Unless, does
anyone who watched this TV show know if Stemple was always going on about aliens
trying to invade the Earth?
Should it be canon: I have no issues with this, I
think it would be a great addition to Star Trek canon.
Cover Art: The cover has Spock in 19th
century dress playing chess with a man from that time period.A beautiful woman looks on standing slightly
behind the middle of them.The cover has
a slight deception as in the story Spock grew his hair longer to cover his ears
while he was in 1867.
