ENDANGERED ROMULANS

 

Name: Web of the Romulans

Author: M.S. Murdock

Publication Date: 6/1983

Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #10)

Page Number: 220

Historian’s Note:  This book takes place shortly after the episode “Tomorrow is Yesterday”

Cast of Characters:  Captain James T. Kirk       Commander Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”       Lieutenant Commander Rex Colfax    Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura              Lieutenant Kyle           Lieutenant  Kevin Thomas Riley         Lieutenant Arviela                Lieutenant Onorax              Lieutenant Bryan              Dr. Joseph M'Benga        Dr. Laurence Kalvecchio          Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov       Ensign Garrovick                   Ensign Stewart         Yeoman First Class Janice Rand             Yeoman Second Class Briala       Yeoman Third Class Kyotamo             Admiral Jake Iota     Rear Admiral Arc Poppaelia       Rear Admiral Zoraxz             Rear Admiral Kaal            Commodore Yang Li           Captain Mikel Garson     Captain Charles        Captain Popov       Commander Yellowhorse                Lieutenant Murphy    Lieutenant Ben Greeen                 Ensign Heery          Yeoman Second Class Kouc          Specialist  Belisanna       Romm Joramm         Jaael            Praetor Jublius Mannius         Supreme Commander Tiercellus          Commander S'Talon                Commander S’Tor               Commander Pompe               Centurion S'Tarleya         Navigator Argelian          Weapons Master Hexce          Science Officer S'Tokkr       Lieutenant S'Teer           Lieutenant  Livius

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Exter NCC-1672, USS Excalibur NCC-1664, USS Hood NCC-1703, USS Potemkin NCC-1657, Starbase 8, ChR Eagle, ChR Raptor, and ChR Remus

Planets: Romulus and Canara

My Spoiler filled summary and review: This adventure starts in a different place than normal. Instead of beginning on the Enterprise, the audience is brought to the planet Romulus.  The Romulan Praetor has a special mission for the Romulan Commander S’Talon.  S’Talon is a well-respected commander, a fact the paranoid Praetor finds threatening, he is willing to overlook it as this mission is far too important to be left to just anyone.  Either way he assigns his nephew to the Commander’s ship the Raptor to spy on him. 

The Raptor

After receiving his assignment he goes to his loyal Centurion, a female Romulan named S’Tarleya, explains their mission to her and the two of them go to visit the Commander’s mentor.  This elderly Romulan is named Tiercellus, he is a retired Supreme Commander.  S’Talon makes it clear that he does not expect to return from this mission.  He doesn’t hesitate because the survival of the Empire is at stake.  However the reader is not given any information about the threat that they are facing.

The Commander has the Praetor's nephew  

The Enterprise’s main computer is still infected with the reprograming from the technicians on Cygnet XIV, this was the planet dominated by women who decided to give the ship a female personality.  It has evolved from a minor inconvenience into a huge problem as the ship seems to be falling in love with Captain Kirk complete with jealously and refusing of orders.   Kirk thinks the Enterprise needs to be taking out of commission until they can get this fixed, however heave Romulan activity makes that impossible.    

Kirk and Spock having trouble with the computer

The Raptor crosses the Neutral Zone and the Enterprise pursues.  What happens is a cat and mouse game with the Romulans relying heavily on its cloaking device while trying to avoid direct engagement.    While this is going on back on Romulus Supreme Commander Tiercellus has been reactivated and placed in command of a fleet with a very special mission.    

The Romulans on mission

The head of Starfleet intelligence, Admiral Iota, becomes concerned that the safety of the Federation is currently as stake and the Romulans are about to strike.  This feeling doubles when Spock found a spy device on the Enterprise’s bridge that Kirk orders deactivated.  Iota is now convinced the Enterprise was destroyed by the Romulans and tries to get Starfleet to respond.  

The computer growing jealous for Captain Kirk’s affections decides to “murder” the competition by deleting the files of every female member of the crew.  This has the effect of making it so the women onboard cannot access any computer system and the automatic doors won’t open for them.  This severally hampers the ship’s effectiveness while fighting the Romulans as half the crew has now been locked out.

Members of the Raptor crew grow impatient at the lack of engagement with the Enterprise and Commander S’Talon survives one direct challenge to his command.  Elsewhere at the meeting of the Starfleet defense committee, Admiral Iota finds he is the only hawk alive.  Others on the committee urge more caution, including Admiral Poppaelia, the committee’s chair.  It is decided to dispatch a fleet to the Romulan Neutral Zone with Admiral Iota in charge of the diplomatic and intelligence end, but with the Admiral not being a line officer, Captain Garson of the Potemkin is given command over the military side of the operation.     

Defense Council 

Things go from bad to worse as the computer decides to the delate the profiles of all the crew, save Captain Kirk.  She prevents them from accessing auxiliary control.  It is at this point that the Romulans begin to attack.  Kirk, as the Bane of all Artificial Intelligence, begins to work his magic Spock stops him, as he reminds the Captain that in the middle of the battle would be the wrong time to talk the computer into suicide.  Instead, Kirk goes easy and just convinces the computer to give him back control.  Once Kirk has control back he goes to work on the Romulans and being a master tactician he quickly defeats them.  S’Talon decides not to go the way of the Romulan Commander from “Balance of Terror”, and instead just surrenders his ship to Kirk.  Once on aboard after some tough “let’s get to know each other moments” that include a bluff of torture we finally arrive at the truth of what is going on with the Romulans.  A virus is spreading across the Empire threatening to wipe them out.  The only potential cure exists on the planet Canara, a Federation member.  The Raptor was going to provide a distraction so a fleet of Romulan ships can take the planet for themselves.  While discussing this, the Centurion collapse and dies of the very disease.   

Trying to save everyone!

The Romulan Fleet and the Starfleet task force nearly come to blows while the citizens of Canara threaten to destroy their crops then submit to Romulan domination.  Kirk is able to negotiate a peace deal allowing the Romulans to purchase for a fair price what they need.   However, Admiral Iota won’t accept and he hides in the auxiliary control room of the Potemkin and try to use it to attack the Romulans.  The other Starfleet ships move into stop him, but Kirk reactivates the intelligence device to show the Admiral the truth.  The Admiral back down and there is once again peace in this side of the galaxy. 

Additional thoughts: When “Balance of Terror” first introduced fans to the Romulans a good deal of the story was shown through their perspective.  In this book the story begins on Romulus and a great deal of the story is through the eyes of the Romulans.  You can almost say the Romulans are the protagonists in this story.  You see the diversity in Romulans thought where you have the honorable S’Talon and the devious Praetor. 

The “computer is in love with Kirk” storyline is one I could have done without.  It seemed like plot busywork to me.  Keep the crew of the Enterprise occupied until their story can be directly tied to the Romulans.  Once the Romulans and the Enterprise crew have engaged the computer story almost fades away.  The computer story also is the beginning of a messy time line.

 The computer plot comes from a minor part of the episode “Tomorrow is Yesterday.” In the book the crew is dealing with the aftermath of that episode and have gone to Starbase 8 to complain that the problem of the reprogrammed computer is becoming a larger problem by the day.  Yet, the book keeps referring to adventures in episodes that came after all the way to the third season.  For example the Romulans reference how Kirk has beaten them twice and a footnote in the text lets us know they are referring to “The Enterprise Incident.”  That was an episode from the third season of the show quite a while from the point in time they are supposed in.  And strangely enough that also means they are conveniently forgetting that encounter was actually the third time that Kirk defeated the Romulans.  The second occurred in “The Deadly Years.”  There is also a reference to the episode “The Gamesters of Triskelion” again an episode that took place long after where this book is supposed to be. 

Ensign Chekov is here

There are also characters that weren’t on the show at this point, primarily Ensigns Chekov and Garrovick.  Now Chekov has already been established in The Wrath of Khan to have been on the Enterprise, just probably in a different department, but this book has him in his season 2 job. Ensign Garrovick, however, he had clearly just joined the crew in “Obsession.”  There didn’t seem to be any reason for him to be in this story, it was as if the author just choose to drop his name in. 

In the end I conclude this story would work better if it were to be placed sometime between the end of the Animated Series and The Motion Picture, not only for the references but if the Federation had so saved the Romulans in season 1 as it would seem, the super hostile relationship in “The Enterprise Incident.”

Why is he here!

This book is a great statement on the values of the United Federation of Planets and those who fall short of them through paranoia.  The Romulans maybe the oldest enemy of the Federation but they aren’t going to sit on their hands and allow a disease to wipe them out when know they can save them.  The preservation of life, even Romulan life, is far too important.  Yet people like Admiral Iota can’t see it that way he cannot stop thinking about the Romulans in tactical terms.  People like him do have a place in our society, someone needs to be concerned with our safety, but the book shows that people like him shouldn’t be absolutely in charge. 

To be fair, Iota wasn’t absolutely in charge in one of the best examples of “don’t confuse your rank with my authority” the defense committee gives Captain Garson joint command and in charge of the military aspect of it.  Given his place as an officer of the line it is felt that Garson is a far better choice than Iota despite his much higher rank.  One of the unresolved issues of this story is Admiral Iota’s fate.  You would think that someone who tried to commit munity on a starship and almost started a war would face high penalties for his actions.

Should it be canon: Yes, but you would have to remove the computer story and replace the adventure as happening sometime after the third season of classic Star Trek.

Cover Art: The faces of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy sit at the bottom of the cover.  Kirk’s delta is the wrong side for some reason.  Above their heads flies the Romulan Bird of Prey Raptor.

Final Grade: Final Grade 4 of 5

 

The Alternative Factor-type book

 

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 2^nd 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

 

SPOCK BECOMES A PIRATE

 

Name: Black Fire

Author: Sonni Cooper

Publication Date: 1/1983

Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #8)

Page Number: 220

Historian’s Note:  Sometime between The Counter-Clock Incident and The Motion Picture.

Cast of Characters:  Captain James T. Kirk       Commander Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”       Lieutenant Commander Alexander Leonidas                     Lieutenant Commander Thorin Martin                    Lieutenant Commander Heath Douglas                     Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura              Lieutenant Kyle           Lieutenant Lowry                    Lieutenant Gordon            Dr. Joseph M'Benga        Dr. Jonah Levine                       Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov      Yeoman First Class Janice Rand            Yeoman Second Class Yolanda Helman                Commodore Pierce                   Commodore Kingston Clark              Commodore Bragg                          Fleet Captain Iko Tomako                Lieutenant Ellen Janest                     Commander Bryant           Dr. Lucas Freed               Tim Macklen AKA Bull          Cadet Cathy White                      Supreme Commander Desus       Commander Julina      Sub-Commander Placus      Weapons Officer Delus        Commander Klee         Lieutenant Commander Melnek       Lieutenant Kasus     The Romulan Fleet Commander                           Begum Isla       IIob        Captain Astro        Galicia        Linia     Commander Relos      Harry Needham     Impertor Melek         Clea

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Raven (registry unknown), Starbase 12, ChR Bird of Prey, ChR Moonhawk, ChR Space Hawk, ChR Sun Falcon, IKS Force, Talon, and Equus

Planets: Corsair, Minos, Paxas, Romulus, Rontelm, and Tomarii

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The story starts with a bang quite literally with an explosion on the bridge of the ship.  There were some redshirt casualties in addition to many of the senior staff of the Enterprise being severally injured.  They are all in intensive care, with Spock being the only one consciousness, aware, and giving McCoy hell for wanting to return to work.  Because of the massive damage the ship has to get everyone to the secondary hull and perform an emergency saucer separation.  The star drive section returns to Starbase 12 to recover and await the return of the main section.

Enterprise crew in bad shape

  

Once Spock is able to leave sickbay, he launches his own investigation into the matter.  With the assistance of Mr. Scott, the two of them return to the abandoned saucer section of the Enterprise to investigate. While they are going through their home wearing spacesuits, they gather some evidence that includes a star chart, and they even have a suspect: Yeoman Isabel Tomari.  This Yeoman prior to this mission didn’t exist.  The return to Starfleet expecting action.

Starfleet holds an inquiry into the disaster, they find Spock’s evidence to be insignificant.  They conclude that the explosion was accidentally in nature.  Spock doesn’t accept the outcome.  He is as outraged as a Vulcan can possibly be.  He decides to continue this investigation unofficially.  Scotty continues to assist him.  Spock for the second time in his life decides to steal a starship.  The two officers steal the small USS Raven that at the time was unattended as its tiny crew were all on leave.  Spock uses the star chart they uncovered to set his destination.  Arriving at an unexplored planet, Spock and Scotty explore a little bit and get captured by some Romulans.  The Romulans, led by Commander Julina, accuse the Federation of a terrorist attack on one of their vessels.  Their claims, however, sound remarkably like what happened to the Enterprise.  Shortly after Klingons, led by Commander Klee, show up leveling the same charges at the other two.  

Looking into the incident

The three parties decided to call a truce and share information.  While they discuss events and introduce themselves suddenly, they find themselves face to face with their actual enemy.  They are called the Tomarii.  They are humanoids with a lot of fur from a cold planet.  They no longer live there primarily.  Because they reproduce so fast and compete over resources, they are extremely warlike.  They care almost nothing for even their own individual lives, they just attack and compete for resources.  This has led them to having an odd state of technological development.  They have the speed and power to compete with other space powers, but they need rocket ships to get themselves off planet.  The Tomarii take all three groups as prisoners.  The Tomarii decide to use them in their wargames as further test of each of their abilities.  

During the wargames the Klingons do the best.  Their culture and the Tomarii are not so different.  One of the Romulans is killed in the games.  Scotty is doing well and gets along with his guard Ilob.  Scotty is hoping that a friendly relationship would perhaps lead to greater understanding between their peoples.  Of course, while Scotty’s guard likes him, Spock’s guard, the Begum Isla is actually in love with him.  She has competition for the second time in history a Romulan Commander is falling in love with Spock.  Julina finds out about her predecessor when doing a mind meld with Spock.  The mind meld was used to help Spock deal with massive pain.  He still has some shrapnel in his body that needed to removed surgery, but he didn’t wait for it.  Although the mind meld helped with the pain it will not stop the consequences as the shrapnel has moved into Spock’s spin disabling him. 

Spock in bad shape

Spock notices that his condition has prevented the others from adequately forming an escape plan, for they are trying to take into account how to save him too.  Spock decides the only logical thing to do was commit suicide.  He convinces Julina of his decision, and she agrees to help him.  However, Isla shows up in time to “rescue” Spock and kills the Romulan Commander.

Back at Starbase 12 Captain Kirk has now recovered from his injuries and is looking forward to getting back to his ship.  When he gets there, he finds that things are different.  Everyone is wearing the new uniforms and there is a new color scheme.  Kirk expected that he didn’t expect to have two of his key officers replaced.  It turns out Kirk was so badly injured that no one wanted to tell him while he recovered: that Spock and Scotty had stolen a ship and gone missing.  Three new officers are aboard to replace the two.  Lieutenant Commanders Leonidas (first officer), Martin (science officer), and Douglas (chief engineer) are the new people Kirk has to meet and work with. 

Everyone's dressing differently now!

Kirk then goes on a personal mission to find Mr. Spock and finds an encoded message from his former first officer.  Spock explains what he is doing and asks Kirk not to follow them.  Of course, Kirk does.  The Captain makes all sorts of excuses to put the Enterprise near to the location that Spock indicated on his star chart.  From there they follow a series of clues that leads to them locating the Tomarii homeworld.  They arrive just in the nick of time as Spock has another attempted suicide.  The Enterprise rescues Spock and Scotty logged the location of the planet and got the hell out of there.  Because of their fugitive status, Kirk has them confined to quarters with the first officer objecting saying he needed to go to the brig.  It turns out he was right because Spock, having been cured of his paralysis by Dr. McCoy, snuck into Auxiliary Control and contacted the Klingons and Romulans with updated information about the Tomarii.  Spock explains but Kirk has to place him in the brig now.

Spock and Scotty are put on trial for their alleged crimes.  Spock pleads guilty but says his guilt is technical and that he was acting on behalf of Starfleet and the Federation.  Spock also insists that Scotty, who had pleaded not guilty, was just obeying his orders. The defense tries to argue that what was learned is valuable for the security of this entire side of the galaxy.  The tribunal finds Scotty not guilty but liable for bad judgment.  He was suspended from starship duty for a year and demoted to lieutenant.  Spock, however, is found guilty, dishonorably discharged from Starfleet, and sentenced to five years in prison. 

Spock explaining himself at trial 

Spock tells Kirk not to contact his family and he politely goes to prison.  At this point the book gives us all the prison tropes.  From the natural unpleasant and demeaning searches, the horrible prison jobs, and the big mean prisoner, named Bull Macklen, who Spock is going to have to take out in order to win respect.  While fighting Macklen, Spock befriends a captured Romulan pirate named Desus.  Spock begins to think of him as a Romulan Kirk.  Spock decides he doesn’t like being in prison, so he decides it’s time to escape.

Prisoner Spock choosing to escape

Spock and his new substitute Kirk friend, Desus, escape prison and go to where Desus had dealings before.  They secure two vessels on the black market.  They transform them into pirate vessels intent on looting and plunder.  Each takes the name “Captain Black Fire” so they can double the reputation of the name.  Kind of like the Dreed Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride, ten years after the book and four years before the movie.  The difference being that these two operate at the same time.  The two are instantly successful as pirates, at one point earning the jealousy of another pirate.  The jealous pirate lost a showdown with Spock making Captain Black Fire even more legendary. This continues until Spock is almost captured by the Enterprise. The two pirates escape to Romulus.  Where Spock is arrested again. 

Spock's new life.

Desus is now revealed to be Supreme Commander Desus who had the whole time been spying on the pirates for the Romulan Star Empire.  Desus convinces his fellow Romulans to accept Spock now as one of their own.  Spock is now a Sub-Commander in the Romulan military.  Back on the Enterprise, Kirk requests a new chief engineer, as he has not warmed to Douglas.  To his surprise they send him Scotty restored to his prior rank as if nothing had happened at all.

Spock convinces his new friend and commanding officer that in order to defeat the Tomarii threat then they must form a temporary alliance with the Federation.  When they make contact Kirk is somewhat shocked to see Spock in that uniform but agrees to the alliance. They basically close both openings to the Tomarii’s secret planet.  The Federation wants to help them keep their population under control and learn to live peacefully in the universe.  If they don’t the Romulans will destroy them.  The agreement is made, and peace is achieved.  Spock later asks Kirk to place the Enterprise outside of the Neutral Zone at a later date.  Kirk does this and it turns out to be Spock’s escape attempt.  He shows up in a Romulan shuttle giving out a distress code. While loading the Tomarii to the Enterprise, Spock also put in information about Romulan ships.  He has Kirk take the Enterprise out of the Romulans’ set trap.

They get the Romulans one more time

Spock informs Kirk that he was on a special mission from Starfleet to act as a double agent in order to get the goods on the Tomarii, the pirates, and the Romulans. Kirk is glad this (for him) confusing adventure is over.

Additional thoughts: It is very interesting that after Spock’s death in the engine room of the Enterprise at the end of The Wrath of Khan the very first book published after—not counting the movie novelization—happens to be a book that focuses primarily on Spock.  It is almost as if the author is trying to say something about the loss of this particular character.

We object to his loss!

In the episode “The Apple” Kirk orders a possible saucer separation in order to escape the planet Gamma Trianguli VI.  There Kirk tells Scotty to leave the star drive and get out with the main section. In this book the main section has been damaged, and the crew has to escape in the star drive.  This sucks because it is not meant to house an entire crew. Later when Spock and Scotty return to the saucer section in space suits it has an eerie feeling about it.  Fortunately, they were able to recover and get the section reattached.

The very brief appearance with the Romulan Fleet Commander from “The Enterprise Incident” worked well.  She was still angry with Spock, because according to her she lost rank and status because of what had occurred.  This makes more sense than her appearance in the book The Price of the Phoenix, she is just way too friendly with them for my liking.  This is how she should react upon seeing Spock.  Of course, this would have to set this book and the former book into separate realties.  Unless what the Fleet Commander is angry about here is not the stolen cloaking device but rather blame, she assigns Spock for the loss of her Kirk-clone Romulan boytoy from The Fate of the Phoenix. 

She is not happy with him!

It is interesting how Spock keeps referring to Desus as being Kirk-like.  However, that only got that Romulan so far as Spock points out that his betrayal will most likely cause his friend to lose his life.  Cold Spock, cold. The book also tends to forget that Spock’s relationship with McCoy is just as important as his relationship with Kirk.

In the book we see the crew changed from their classic uniforms to the ones that we saw in The Motion Picture.  In addition to that, repairs to the Enterprise give the ship the feel of its movie refit.  I think both are mistakes.  The first is unnecessary and the other tries to give an explanation where none was really needed.  The ship’s overhaul in the first movie is explained well in the first movie.  They were already getting done with it at the start of the film. 

Although this is a good story, I have an issue with the time it needs to take place. I have this same objection to the short story, Mind Sifter, it’s a great story but it takes a huge chunk of time out of what is a five-year mission.  It seems to me the story takes place for a minimum of four months. It may have been a better idea put this adventure as part of the second five-year mission that took place in-between The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Kahn.  Those five years are mostly unexplored and could fit in a story like this.

The end twist was good.  Normally the way a judge a good twist is when you don’t see it coming but after it does when you go back and rewatch or reread something it is clear and obvious.  Now we know right from the beginning that Spock is not going to turn traitor, not simply because he is a star but know from the last film that he is supposed to become the Captain of the Enterprise and die in the engineering room.  However, the twist was how this was all going to come about.  I had suspected that the Tomarii had somehow infiltrated the highest points in Federation government and was now controlling Starfleet.  As we got to the end of the book it was clear that could not be the case because we were out of space.  When Spock reveals he was a double agent this whole time it is shocking but it fits.  The clues are there such as Starfleet’s reluctance to do anything about the Tomarii threat despite Spock’s returned with clear evidence of it.  Kirk himself is shown to be confused by Starfleet’s lack of initiative.   That Spock was able to escape from the Federation prison so easily was another clue, I assumed it was plot armor but they just let him go.  The biggest hint was Scotty’s punishment suddenly erased. 

Not the first time a Spock "betrayal" ends in a twist!

Boy, the Romulans thought they hated Spock from before.  So, they first truly encounter Spock in “The Enterprise Incident” he was there for “Balance of Terror” but he had no interaction with any Romulan directly.  In the follow up he gets the Romulan Fleet Commander to think he has killed Captain Kirk and that he maybe willing to join the Romulan Star Empire.  However, it all turns out to be a ploy to steal their cloaking device.  Now he has done it again!  They fell for it again!  Desus is so confident in his buddy Spock that it never occurs to him that he could betray him.  Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

They must feel like fools!

So, what came of Spock’s replacements Leonidas and Martin?  We know Spock gets his job back, but the book ends without the readers getting any insight into their fates.   

Should it be canon: Maybe.  Some details might have to be changed. As I said earlier, I would like to see the story moved to the post-TMP time period.

Cover Art: The cover art is nice but a little misleading.  To glance at it one would assume that the book to place in after The Motion Picture.  Kirk is in his admiral’s uniform from that film.  Kirk is on the viewer’s left-hand side at the bottom.  Behind Kirk is a planet, Spock is located on the right-side bottom.  On top is the refitted USS Enterprise trying to evade two Romulan D-7Rs that are firing upon her.   

Final Grade: Final Grade 4 of 5

 

THE WRATH OF KHAN, THE BOOK

 

Name: The Wrath of Khan  

Author: Vonda N. McIntyre

Publication Date: 7/1981

Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #7)

Page Number: 223

Historian’s Note:  NA

Cast of Characters:  Rear Admiral James T. Kirk       Captain Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”       Commander Hikaru Sulu              Commander Nyota Uhura              Commander Pavel Chekov         Commander Max Arrunja           Lieutenant Commander Kyle                Dr. Christine Chapel          Lieutenant Janice Rand                Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Saavik            Lieutenant (Junior Grade) Croy        Captain Clark Terrell                    Commander Ralston "Stoney" Beach                            Captain Mandala Flynn                  Khan Noonien Singh           Joachim            Dr. Carol Marcus                     Dr. David Marcus              Dr. Jedda Adzhin-Dall                    Dr. Vance Madison               Dr. Delwin March 

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Reliant NCC-1864, Space Station Regula I, unnamed shuttlecraft, SS Botany Bay 

Planets:  Earth, Ceti Alpha V, and Regulas I

My Spoiler filled summary and review: Since this is a review of the book version to the movie Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, there is no need to provide a summary of the story as I already did that in my last review.  So, I am just going to focus on the differences between the book and the movie.

1.       In the Kobayashi Maru test the other cadets have a larger role.  They are the ones manning the helm and stations with the regular crew overseeing them.  This takes away a bit of the misdirection of the opening.  There is also more detail to the debriefing.  Kirk challenges the cadets with other possible scenarios.  Saavik takes it all a little too seriously.  

2.       More information is given about the crew of the Reliant.   The book mentions that they all hate this assignment for the sheer boredom it creates.  There is a good explanation why finding an ideal planet is hard. “Lifeless planet in the goldilocks zone” is a lot harder than just lifeless planet.  Chekov and Terrell’s idea about removing the potential life makes more sense here than in the film.  In the book they argue that the life signs they find may be the end of an evolutionary line not the beginning of one. If this were true, they would be rescuing it anyway.  This is what gets Carol to agree.

3.       Dialogue throughout the book is different.  Not too different but enough that it sometimes annoys me.  Throughout the entire book the Ceti Alpha system and planets get referred to as “Alpha Ceti.”  My head, however, always goes for the former.  Some things are good additions like when Terrell proclaims that he doesn’t know Kirk it’s in response to Khan asking if he ever had a conversation with him. 

4.       According to the book Chekov was working the night shift during in “Space Seed.” We also find out he had a crush on Lt. McGivers and it adds to the reason he doesn’t like Khan. 

5.       Sulu has just been promoted to captain and has this rank for the entire book. Also, Sulu is never at the helm, instead Saavik is.  Where in the movie Saavik manned the navigator station.  

6.       Peter Preston is a much larger character in this book than he was in the movie.  He is Scotty’s nephew and lot of pages are devoted to him and his past before he is killed off.  He is said to be only fourteen years old.

7.       In the book, Carol Marcus’s Genesis presentation includes the possibility of using large amounts of matter that is not a planet to make a world and solar system that we actually see after the battle of the Mutara Nebula.  This closes my largest plot hole.

8.       Saavik is established as both Vulcan and Romulan.  She has no contact with either family and was raised and orphaned.  She tries her best to be Vulcan but fails at times.  She is not even a vegetarian.

9.        We see Khan invade Regula I where he tortures and kills the scientists there.  There were no real surprises or interesting things to learn as I didn’t care about any of these one-shot characters.

10.   There is still no indication of what regulation Kirk was ignoring.  I assume it was the process that later began such as raising the additional force fields around the bridge. 

11.   McCoy tries to shield Kirk and Saavik from seeing what has been done to the scientists of Regula 1.  It doesn’t make any sense considering everything Kirk has seen and Saavik is a professional Starfleet officer.

12.   McCoy apparently served with Captain Terrell and considers him a friend.  When he did this is not clear, but he is upset by his death.

13.   David is a much better fighter than he is in the movie.  Also, in the book Kirk doesn’t know that David is his son.  Both Kirk and David find out at the exact same moment.

14.   Both Dr. Christine Chapel and Lieutenant Janice Rand are in the book but not in the movie.                

15.   The Genesis cave is bigger in the book.  While in the cave David and Saavik make a connection that is not seen in the movie.   

16.   In that battle of the Mutara Nebula Sulu is seriously injured and it is David who performs CPR to save his life long enough for Dr. Chapel to put him back together.  Sulu is the person who Chekov replaces at the weapons station.

17.   Kirk and David get in disagreement on the bridge in the middle of the battle.  

18.   We get Spock’s thought process when making the decision to sacrifice himself on behalf of the ship. There is no “remember” moment with Dr. McCoy.  Also, the description is more vivid as Spock describes his hands bleeding as he repairs the ship.  In the movie Spock was burnt but he didn’t bleed at all.

 

Additional thoughts: Reading this book made me curious to how the whole thing was put together to begin with.  It is just that there are many contradictions between the book version and the film that naturally makes one wonder about the cause.  The book came out a month after the movie premiered, given I have rough idea of what it takes to get books published it is safe to say that the novelization was probably written around the same time the movie was being made.  So, was the author just handed the script?  Was there any active collaboration?  Is the book closer to the original script than the movie? The author takes time to update us on her original character Mandala Flynn from The Entropy Effect.  We can safely say that part is completely original.

So, let’s look at the changes to Sulu.  McIntyre, the author, clearly cares for Sulu as she was the one who gave him the name “Hikaru” that the rest of the franchise.  Now I know George Takei has stated that they filmed a scene that was at end of film where Sulu was promoted to captain, but they scratched it.  However, this scene doesn’t see Sulu promoted, he is in fact already a captain.  He is referred to as “Captain Sulu” throughout the story.  Sulu even remarks that the new rank insignia is strange because of the “extra braid.”  This indicates that Sulu is wearing a captain’s uniform, and the author is still under the belief that the costumes would still be the Starfleet uniforms from The Motion Picture that still had the braid rank.  In the movie, Sulu wears a commander’s uniform, and the Enterprise crew all dressed in the best monster maroons.  The author has Sulu state to his fellow officers that his command is slated to be the USS Excelsior.  At the time the only USS Excelsior in the franchise’s existence was the constitution-class NCC-1718 from the Technical Manual.  The later one would not be invented until the next film.  Sulu is never at the helm in this one, Saavik is.  Sulu operates the weapons station and has to leave the bridge part way through the battle. 

At no point is what the Reliant looks like explained to the viewer.  If you have never seen the movie, you would have no idea what it meant to be a Miranda-class starship.  Indeed, that term isn’t even used in the book.  Khan mentions that the ship is like the Enterprise.

Not described in book

Peter Preston is a far more important character in the book than he is in the film.  Where in the movie he is a two-scene character, the book gives large parts of early chapters to his point of view and even establishes that Saavik is tutoring him in math where he develops a schoolboy crush on her.  This is all to make his death more tragic.  Some things they establish about him are ridiculous, such as him being only fourteen years old.  This makes him the age of an older 8^th grader or high school freshmen, yet he is a first-class cadet, so he is supposed to be a senior in college.  The actor in the movie was twenty at the time.  He is Scotty’s nephew which is fine, but they also say he has an older sister who for some reason is so awesome that she is already a commander—the same rank as Scotty—and yet always one step away from being kicked out of Starfleet.

Peter Preston, not 14

Joachim is also given more attention but at least he was still important in the film.  The book draws out his dilemma between his loyalty to Khan yet clearly realizing that Khan is insane and will lead them to destruction.  He is a weak and failed character because he never overcomes this challenge, instead, he just follows Khan to oblivion.

Joachim

The author also tries to explain why they didn’t notice Ceti Alpha V was V and not VI.  As I explained in my last review this never bothered me.  In here the book explained that Ceti Alpha V had a large moon that turns out was unstable.  When Ceti Alpha VI exploded and altered their orbit, it caused the moon to break up altering the climate. 

The book also dives into Saavik’s past as a Vulcan/Romulan hybrid who is claimed by neither.  Saavik heavily implies that she is most likely the product of rape.  That Romulan on Vulcan sexual assaults are common.  Her Romulan family threw her away and her Vulcan family doesn’t know she exists. This is why her name doesn’t start with a “T” like most Vulcan women.  She also has problems with conforming to Vulcan culture as she is not a vegetarian.  She is enraged when David mistakes her for Spock’s daughter as she sees such a statement as insulting to Mr. Spock.

Saavik and Spock

The big David issue: his relationship to Admiral Kirk.  In the movie David is horrible at fighting and his paternal history has been hidden from him.  It is presented as a crime that both his parents have committed against him.  They agreed to separate, and that David would be better with Carol.  Kirk is disappointed that Carol never told David, but he never bothered to reach out himself.  In the book its very different not only is David a much better fighter but neither man knew of Kirk’s paternity.  The two of them were equally shocked to learn.  In other words, Carol decided by herself that she didn’t want dad around and decided to deny both father and son the right to know each other.  Again, I wonder if that was part of the original script because someone had to change something.  Did the author not like the of Kirk being a deadbeat dad and since Carol Marcus didn’t exist before the author didn’t care about pushing her character under the bus?  Or when making the movie did Nicholas Meyer say “no, they’ll hate her if that’s the backstory” and he changed it?  David was also told someone else, who is dead, was his father.  The book seems to imply that David and Saavik have an attraction to one another.

David

I did like knowing Spock’s thought process.  The time to Genesis detonation, time to engine room decontamination, his abilities as a Vulcan, his pride and Saavik, and his thoughts about how Jim Kirk was the only true captain of the Enterprise, and that he held that position only in trust.  We also are told by the book that Spock’s space funeral was his own request, and all the other bodies were being taken home to their families.  

Last moments

Should it be canon: I prefer to think of what we saw on screen as the canon version of events and the book is just a clever “what if?”.

Cover Art: The cover art has Admiral Kirk and Captain Spock standing side by side in their monster maroons with Spock on the viewers left and Kirk on the right.  Khan’s face is centered between them with streaks shooting out at the viewer as if Khan head was itself a ship that was leaving at warp speed.   

Final Grade: Final Grade 4 of 5