Star Trek: Ring Around the Sky

Star Trek SCE (ebooks) Novellas #37

by Allyn Gibson

STARFLEET CORPS OF ENGINEERS
The Tellarite colony world of Kharzh'ulla is a planet of many wonders, but its greatest feature is the Ring, a massive orbital construction, serviced by a series of "space elevators." During the Dominion War, the elevators were damaged by a Jem'Hadar attack. Now, a year and a half later, the elevators have weakened to the point that the entire Ring may collapse, endangering the planet's population -- unless the crew of the U.S.S. da Vinci can save them.
But Kharzh'ulla also contains several deadly secrets from Lieutenant Commander Tev's youth. In order for the S.C.E. to save the planet, Tev must face more than one demon from his past...

Genres: Star Trek, Fiction, Technology, Space, Adventure, Science Fiction

93 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tev is our new cast member, so a Tev-centric episode was awaited and is appreciated. We learn a lot about him, his youth, his parents, and Tellarites in general, even if the people of Karzuh'ulla aren't strictly part of the Federation and look down on non-colonists like Tev. It makes for interesting character dynamics, and at its best, the book dives into the Tellarite psyche, equating their pride to Klingon honor or Vulcan logic. And for me, S.C.E. is always better when it has some anthropological puzzle to solve, as the engineering stuff can be a little too techy. The descriptions of the Ring are, indeed, quite heady, and its problems fall into the category of hard SF much more than your traditional Star Trek story. I'm sure the math is quite correct, but it goes over my head. But as the solution involves a bit of action, it's not too bad. Despite the focus on Tev, Gibson finds scenes for most of the lead crew (Soloman is perhaps the only one missing), which is actually pretty rare for this series of novellas.

[Daniel Johnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent character development.

[John Barclay · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit of a half-baked one this time. Some more of Tev's background, some interesting engineering ideas, too little of either and way too little for a political intrigue story.