The Missing

Star Trek - Deep Space Nine: Relaunch

by Una McCormack

An original novel set in the universe of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine a direct sequel to the New York Times bestselling story arc, The Fall!

Deep Space 9 is once again becoming an important way station in the Alpha Quadrant for many different people with many different agendas. Uniquely crewed by representatives of different species from both the Khitomer Powers and the Typhon Pact, the Federation science and exploration vessel Athene Donald stops at the station as its final port of call before heading into uncharted territories. The whole project is the brainchild of Dr. Katherine Pulaski, who hopes that science will do what diplomacy alone cannot, and help various powers put aside the tensions of recent years, returning to scientific research and the exploration of space. On DS9, base commander Ro Laren has her hands full with the sudden arrival of a ragtag flotilla of small ships crewed by a group calling themselves the People of the Open Sky. Ro is not keen on handling this first-contact duty, but becomes increasingly intrigued by the People, who are made up of several hitherto unknown species. Describing themselves as explorers, they are interested in everything about the station. Ro begins to enjoy her assignment, particularly as she takes counsel from the logs of Jean-Luc Picard. Blackmer, however, is more suspicious about these apparently friendly arrivals and monitors their movements around DS9…

™, ®, & © 2014 CBS Studios, Inc. STAR TREK and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Fiction, Female Authors, Science Fiction Fantasy, Novels

307 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Una McCormack is a British writer and the author of several Star Trek novels and stories.

Ms. McCormack is a New York Times bestselling author. She has written four Doctor Who novels: The King's Dragon and The Way through the Woods (featuring the Eleventh Doctor, Amy, and Rory); Royal Blood (featuring the Twelfth Doctor and Clara), and Molten Heart (featuring the Thirteenth Doctor, Yaz, Ryan and Graham). She is also the author of numerous audio dramas for Big Finish Productions.

Reviews

[Alejandro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid reading!


GOOD STARTING POINT TO NEW READERS

Not all journeys seek an end. Some are their own purpose.

This novel, The Missing, is set right after the events on the book miniseries named The Fall, however, you don't really know to have read that miniseries to engage into this book, in fact, if you ever wanted to read Deep Space Nine in its "Relaunch" era (the book expanded universe), this is a good point since it's like the starting point to a new "era" for the series.

In fact, this book works like "pilot" for a "new series" too that I supposed that it will be more books about.

And about Deep Space Nine is like the "anteroom" for the "next chapter" in its expanded universe.


THREE STORIES INTERSECT IN DEEP SPACE NINE

Science will do what diplomacy can't.

Dr. Katherine Pulaski (that you may remember from the Second Season of Star Trek: The Next Generation) proposed a big project to the Federation Council about a civilian science & exploration vessel to go into uncharted territories but inviting scientists from their allies but also from the powers part of the Typhon Pact. So, in that way, scientists from opposite political states will be able to interact, making new bonds and maybe offering a chance to get a peace in the Alpha and Beta Quadrants. The project is approved and Starfleet gave a brand new Olympic-class starship named USS Athene Donald (using the name of real scientist who is still alive nowadays).

So, the command of the ship is given to Dr. Maurita Tanj, a female Trill, and an old friend of Katherine Pulaski. In the ship will be representatives of several major powers of both space quadrants, including, The United Federation of Planets, the Ferengi Alliance, the Romulan Star Empire and even the Tzenkethi Coalition.

Before entering into uncharted territories, the Athene Donald will do a stop in Deep Space Nine for supplies and personnel.

If the day ever comes that it (Deep Space Nine) isn't safe for kids to run around this station we all need to pack up and go.

Deep Space Nine is receiving also the unexpected visit of a nomad civilian fleet named themselves as "The People of the Open Sky", and they asked for the permission to stay for a time there. They have some adults but the population of this group is made most by children, a lot of children, and they started to run around all the station.

For the moment, Dr. Beverly Crusher, from the USS Enterpise-E is serving a temporary Chief Medical Officer of Deep Space Nine.

Life changed you, and the people you thought you could not stand suddenly made sense to you.

Finally, a Cardassian mother is seeking for help due his son was captured during the Dominion War (more than ten years ago) by Romulans and sent to a concentration camp, along with several other Cardassian prisoners and they haven't been repatriated yet. First she gets the support of Odo who was been meditating in a Bajoran monastery, and soon, many people is involved in the situation like Captain Ro Laren, commanding officer of Deep Space Nine and Garak who is now the Castellan of the Cardassian Union.

Due a mysterious silence by Romulan authorities about the situation, what started as an isolated request, suddenly turned into a political fire with even violent manifestations in front of the Romulan Consulate aboard of Deep Space Nine.

EXTREMELY WELL WRITTEN BOOK

No true friendship takes account of credit and debt. It gives freely, without thought of compensation or reward.

This novel is extremely well written, that you will enjoy how Star Trek is getting again on the right track of exploration and the meeting of new alien forms and new cultures. Since during too much time, many stories have been about wars and espionage, and certainly they are engaging topics to read, but Star Trek at its core always has been a sci-fi series about social issues in the middle of the exploration of space.

The Prime Directive is a nice ideal, but have you noticed it never works in practice?

Always the power behind the stories of Star Trek has been how human moral values interact with alien different points of view, different societies and different values where they shouldn't being just wrong because they are different from our own moral values but trying to reach a position of understanding and respect.

Be brave. Be bold. Don't wait for change. Seize your own life and make it.

[Crystal Bensley · Rating 4 out of 5]

An excellent DS9 story with some TNG characters too :)

[Jonathan Koan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The Missing is a novel by Una McCormack following the events of “The Fall’ series. It was published by Pocket Books at Simon and Schuster and was released in January of 2015.

Una McCormack has been a really solid author for me. I’ve read three of her books previously. The Crimson Shadow from “The Fall” Series and The Last Best Hope from the Picard series are top tier Star Trek novels. Seriously, in my top 10 for sure! Unfortunately, Second Self was a bit of a let down, but her track record overall has been excellent. And I”m happy to report…this book is also excellent!

This is a Deep Space Nine book first and foremost, with some connections to The Next Generation. The connections come in the form of Doctor Pulaski and her ship the Athene Donald, as well as Beverly Crusher, who has temporarily taken the role as Chief Medical Officer on board Deep Space Nine. Otherwise, its pretty much a Deep Space Nine book.

This book features a couple of plotlines that weave together. A group of traveling people stops at Deep Space Nine to refuel and resupply, and questionable things start happening. The ship Athene Donald departs from DS9, but something goes awry in their departure. A Cardassian mother enlists the help of Odo on DS9 to help track down her long lost son, who has been a Romulan POW for the last 10 years. And 2 Tzenkethi are present between DS9 and the Athene Donald. And all of these plotlines have a “whodunit” element to them.

Despite having so many subplots, this book is actually pretty short at 308 pages in Mass Market Paperback. Una McCormack has an economy of words and style that helps the story move along briskly. There isn’t a page of this book that I believe is filler, and each and every page was entertaining and had me on the edge of my seat. I had a particular plotline that was my favorite, but I was interested in every single subplot and character in this book. I devoured it in a matter of hours!

Several characters go through great journeys in this book, a few in particular. Pulaski has to learn to be less abrupt and more trusting of others. Crusher learns to be more discerning and recognizes the value of family, particularly hers. Odo has an interesting journey that is multifaceted, that to discuss more might give away spoilers. Finally, Jeffrey Blackmer learns to live with the guilt he has over President Bacco’s death.

There were several character interactions that were delightfully fascinating. Ro Laren and Quark continue to be a hilarious pair, and while their semi-romance is incredibly weird, it is also delightfully entertaining. I also enjoyed seeing Laren paired with Odo, who has been absent for far too long in the literary universe. In usual form, Una McCormack makes sure to include Garak as a *small* inclusion in the book, and his interactions with the others was delightful. The new characters’ interactions with Pulaski and the DS9 crew were interesting. Probably the best written pairing is also the cornerstone of the book, and that is the pairing of Pulaski and Crusher, two characters who seemingly hate each other, but form an unlikely friendship here.

My favorite plotline in here was the POW storyline featuring the Cardassians, Romulans, Odo and Ro Laren. To explain fully would be to give spoilers. I absolutely figured out the general reasoning behind the mystery, but I kind of guessed at the specific reasoning and was partially correct. I think McCormack laid down everything she could for the mystery and unfolded it brilliantly.

The other plotline mysteries were excellent as well. And McCormack did a good job of unveiling a little information at a time that both answered questions and asked more. This book is very layered because of it, which is one of the reasons it worked so well for me.

Overall, I can’t sugar-coat this…I LOVED this book. It is simple, yet complex. Fun entertainment, yet thought provoking. A standalone and also continuing on the continuity and storyline of the Post-Nemesis universe. True to the spirit of Star Trek. Definitely the best Star Trek read of the year! 5 out of 5!

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Two hours...it took only two hours to read this exciting, fast-paced, funny, poignant, rich novel. Una McCormack truly is the new queen of the DS9 universe, and this novel encapsulates everything I love about this corner of the "Star Trek" universe. It's also a surprisingly intimate adventure; the core group of characters is small, the settings used almost qualify it as a TV bottle episode...but the effects, as in all good DS9, are felt light years away. A truly wonderful escape to the final frontier.

[John Yelverton · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a decent "Star Trek" novel, but it's hampered by a couple of things. The first is that it's supposedly a "Deep Space Nine" novel, but there are very few of the original "Deep Space Nine" characters in it. The second is a villain race, with technology greater than the Borg, which shows up out of no where and disappears just as quickly. The story has a lot of human interaction, but very little suspense or drive.

[Nis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Decent Star Trek story, fine parallel story lines, although I do find that they are all somewhat clunkily resolved.

[Erica · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book wasn't what I thought it was going to be, but from now on I'll stop to consider any book by author Una McCormack. I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I loved the strong female characters, the storytelling, and the way political intricacies were dealt with. Action was included without dependency, but added interest to the tale. The storyline was easy to follow even if one or two of the vowel-heavy alien names became confused in my mind a time or two. I'm only sorry the book wasn't longer.

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Top notch Star Trek writing as always from McCormack. Great character interaction and dialogue, intriguing mystery and interacting plot lines, good ideas and discussion of ethical dilemmas, satisfying continuation of the universe. Quick-moving and charming. I appreciated how effortlessly the book caught me up to speed with the state of things (as I hadn't read the preceding series) without being bogged down in exposition at any point. A couple of clunky bits (why they allowed Alden on the ship, the ethics of covert tissue sampling, plot resolution/contrivances), but overall a joy to read.

[Alvaro Zinos-Amaro · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review forthcoming

[Frank Davis · Rating 3 out of 5]

That's it. I made it to 420 books in 2021 with 38 minutes to spare. That'll never happen again. Alright. I am shocked and appalled at my own rating here. What is going on? Una is one of my top authors and this story has a fair game of detection about it, so it should have been an easy 5-star for me.... but I really just didn't feel this one. I found myself rereading parts to see if I'd missed something key.

As always, McCormack is the perfect marionette for our familiar characters BUT I recall (at least twice) feeling as though this were a giant love letter from the author to Dr. Pulaski. Now, I was one to initially despise the character, BUT only in the same way that we love to hate Kai Wynn or Captain Jellico AND I've grown to liking Dr. Pulaski in subsequent rewatches and through her adventures in literature.

However, I thought that Una went a little over the top (to my taste) with apologising for Dr. Pulaski. At least 3 times Dr. Crusher explicitly stated that her (and implied that our) only misgiving with Dr. Pulaski was her disregard for Data. (Once to herself, once to Captain Ro and once to Dr. Pulaski). This may be true for Una and perhaps for many others, but not in my case.

What I did love in this was Pulaski's utter ownership of her personality and I would say the same for every single character in the story. Good, bad, confident or confused... each character seemed to have an excellent perception of self.

The story isn't bad, it just didn't grab me like an Una McCormack story normally does.

At some point this year I intentionally began to be more generous with stars, deciding that I'd want to encourage authors to keep writing and publishers to keep publishing. So, in that spirit, I'll probably revisit this to bump it up to a 4-star.

[Eric Cone · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life on DS9 II goes on... Captain Ro Laren welcomes the People of the Open Sky, while playing-host to Dr. Katherine Pulaski, Cardassians, Romulans and Tzenkethi; plus plenty of other familiar faces. A burglary in Dr. Beverly Crusher's office, a murder amongst the People and a threat from a formidable new species, forces the two doctors and crews to put aside their egos to solve the mystery. If they don't, the Alpha Quadrant might find itself at-war...again. The more things change... I absolutely loved this book! Una's at the top of her game.

[S.B. (Beauty in Ruins) · Rating 2 out of 5]

While it was an okay science fiction novel of first contact (albeit one with some big plot holes and unanswered questions), The Missing was (I’m sad to say) a very poor Star Trek novel.

This is supposed to be a Deep Space Nine novel, but Una McCormack puts far too much emphasis on The Next Generation characters she’s shoehorned into the plot. Doctor Beverly Crusher seems to have been temporarily assigned to the station simply so that she can be a part of the story, and while the concept of Katherine Pulaski leading a multi-species team of women on a pure science and exploration mission is laudable, there’s no reason for it to take her to DS9.

I was willing to overlook all of that, however, because I loved the idea of such a strongly female-fronted Star Trek novel, especially one that deals so powerfully with themes of motherhood and female empowerment. But then she goes and sabotages all of that by prefacing each chapter with a Captain’s Log entry from Captain Picard. Really? In a book teeming with strong female characters, including a starship Captain and a space station Commander, there is absolutely no excuse for arbitrarily pulling in log entries from a male captain who isn’t even part of the DS9 universe, much less a character in the book.

While all of that makes for a weak Deep Space Nine novel, the fact that McCormack seems to have only a tenuous grasp of the characters is what makes for a poor Star Trek novel. Outside of a few scattered scenes, character voices were almost entirely unrecognizable. It was as if she took a science fiction story she’d already written, branded it Star Trek, and then renamed her characters. She does a passable job with Ro and Beverly, but awkwardly pushes Katherine’s abrasiveness into petulant tantrum territory, and she completely robs actual Deep Space Nine characters like Garak, Odo, and O’Brien of their personality.

As for the science fiction aspects, I liked what McCormack was trying to accomplish here with the contrast between first contact scenarios. First we have the casual, friendly introduction of the People of the Open Sky, a travelling people who are very reminiscent of Romani culture with Hippie influences, and then we have the darker, more sinister confrontation with the coldly authoritarian Chain. Both are interesting enough on their own, but the debate between Pulaski and Delka, first-contact specialist on the Athene Donald, really unlocks some true Star Trek philosophical musing. Sadly, though, nobody follows through on that debate, nobody takes any action, and the whole story becomes an exercise in waiting it out.

Finally, while I won’t belabor all the plot holes and unanswered questions, there is one aspect of the story that I cannot shake. Without getting into spoiler territory, the reveal of who broke into Doctor Crusher’s office makes absolutely no sense, has no justification, and we’re never offered an explanation as to why it happened. I almost wonder if McCormack changed her mind at the last minute as to who the culprit was and just never got around to editing the rest of the novel to support that – which would be fine if it was a minor plot point, but it’s an event that triggers the entire story, on which potential war with a new alien race hangs, and which drives much of the novel, right to that perplexing reveal!

From what I’ve read, McCormack has apparently written some stellar Star Trek fiction that is highly regarded by fans, but I cannot say The Missing is one of those stories. Disappointing.


https://femledfantasy.home.blog/2019/...

[Christian Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m surprised a bit by this book. Una McCormack’s Star Trek novels thus far have all been hits. Mostly focused on Cardassia, they’ve been so expertly written and crafted that they’ve really helped to develop my appreciation for one of Star Trek’s lesser-received species. So I was disappointed, to say the least, that this book didn’t meet my standards expected of its excellent author.

If I could describe this book in any way, honestly, my first thought that comes to mind is that it reminds me of the original DS9 numbered novels. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, but those books were really “monster-of-the-week” in style. They had a plot, things happened, and things reset. “A Stitch in Time” is a notable exception.

That’s what this book is. There’s a sort of meandering plot. Dr. Crusher takes a stint (i.e. this book) as CMO of DS9, and things reset at the end. The overarching DS9 Relaunch plot seems to move forward by inches instead of miles. The book was certainly readable, but not entirely enjoyable.

If anything, it did do one thing - it made me enjoy reading to a degree about MY most reviled character in Star Trek history - Dr. Katherine Pulaski, a subpar replacement on TNG for Dr. Crusher. There were some excellent references to her hate, and I can only imagine McCormack has her tongue planted firmly in cheek whilst writing. She got her voice perfectly, and I’ll admit, I didn’t hate her by the end.

If you have to skip any DS9 Relaunch book, however, this would be it.

[Tamara✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

So I was told this book would change how I feel about Dr Pulaski. It did. I like her more now. She is very cool and basically like a female Bones but if Bones was more Spaghetti Western Cowboy and less Grumpy Gruff Space Doctor.

Anyway, for a DS9 novel there are surprisingly few DS9 characters in it... Not a problem as I could tell this was a Pulaski focused novel from the start so it's not like I didn't know. I could see this being a bit of a filler episode on either TNG or DS9, which is not to say that it's boring or not worth reading!! It's just that it's very self contained and if you are looking for a slightly more expansive novel, this is not the one to go for. I did like the new aliens in this book though! Would love to see what Una thought they would look like!!

[reherrma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nach sehr langer Zeit kommt wieder mal ein DS9-Roman ans Licht der (deutschen) Öffentlichkeit. Die Geschichte spielt unmittelbar nach der Wahl der neuen Förderationspräsidentin auf Deep Space Nine und hat verschiedene Charaktere zum Mittelpunkt, die man aus den TV-Serien DS9 und TNG kennt. Auf der neuen DS9 ist Ro Laren inzwischen Captain, den Posten von Julian Bashir hat Beverly Crusher
übernommen, nachdem sie eine Pause von Jean-Luc Picard brauchte und Katherine Pulaski besuchte als Besatzungsmitglied eines neuen Forschungschiffes die Station, Odo kommt wieder an Bord um eine cardassianische Freundin zu unterstützen usw.usf.. Neben diesen bekannten Charakteren kommt kommt ein Angehöriger des Sternenflotten-Geheimdienstes an Bord mit einer tsenkethische Helferin, die offenbar als Spionin angeworben wurde. Zu allem Überfluss kommt es noch zu einem Erstkontakt zu einem unbekannten, humanoiden Volk, bis sich mehrere Zwischenfälle ereignen, die zu einer diplomatischen Krise zwischen DS9, Cardassia und den Romulanern führt...
Es ist schwierig zu schildern, was sich alles tut in diesem neuen DS9-Roman, der offenbar zu einem Auftakt einer neuen DS9-Serie führt. Una McCormack ist mir schon mehrmals als Verfasserin hervorragender ST-Romane aufgefallen, die Interaktionen der handelnden Figuren des Romans sind höchst vergnüglich, die Handlung spannend und sehr einfühlsam beschreibt sie die unterschiedlichen Spezies, hier eine Anghörige der Tsenkheties, die sich innerhalb der Förderation schwer tut, sich zurechtzufinden. Sehr humorvoll beschreibt sie den Umgang von Beverly und Katherine Pulaski, die sich in der TV-Serie nie begegnet sind. Auch die Interaktionen von Odo, Quark und Garak sind höchst vergnüglich. Es ist ein toller Roman, nicht nur für Star Trek-Fans....

[Tim Pieraccini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice to see Pulaski get a little of the limelight, and I always have time for Ro (although this Ro is understandably a little softer around the edges). I don't understand the criticism that The Chain just disappear at the end; surely that could have been said at the time about the Borg in Q Who (one of the highest rated TNG episodes of all)? There's always room for a sequel, should anyone care to write it... (maybe somebody has; I'm not really up on ST tie-in novels)
A side note: it would be interesting to see the Tzenkethi realised on screen.

[Scott Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m one of those rare creatures who really likes Dr. Pulaski so I quite enjoyed this book. It does re-tread some ground that Trek has covered previously but there’s a bit of a new spin on it.

I enjoyed the excerpts of Captain Picard’s writing and I hope we’ll get to see more of Dr. Pulaski’s new mission. McCormack has created some new aliens that I would be interested in learning more about too.

[Peter Rydén · Rating 4 out of 5]

En mycket spännande berättelse som utspelar sig på flera fronter. Bra karaktärsdriven berättelse som ger mersmak. Men de ständiga utdragen ur Jean-Luc Picards loggbok kändes malplacerade och de stoppade helt upp berättelse flera gånger. Kanske var de där för att storyn från början var tänkt att vara TNG-orienterad, men det blev helt fel i denna DS9-berättelse.



Men de nya arterna man lärde känna här kändes trovärdiga och intressanta, vilket alltid är en bra grund för en god berättelse.

[Steven Shinder · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an absolute blast. The tension between Crusher and Pulaski made for some fun conflict. They really do contrast and butt heads here. Also great seeing Odo on the station, and how Quark doesn’t even hide that he’s glad he’s back. We also get a little update on Garak, and there’s some very real feeling Cardassian suffering still going on years after the war. All the threads really made for a compelling read.

[M.R. Bowers · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun, light-hearted story of DS9, one that makes for a nice break from the solemn and paradigm-shifting tomes of David R. George III and David Mack. Una McCormack knows what makes her three main characters--Ro, Crusher, and Pulaski--tick, and imbues them all with the force of personality reminiscent of the excellent actors who portrayed them, and then some.

[Elliot Weeks · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful book! I really loved the mysteries and how both Dr. Crusher and Dr. Pulaski were featured. I actually really didn’t care for Pulaski on the show, but this book offered new insights and perspective. I’ve been rewatching season 2 of TNG as a result and have enjoyed her character far more than before.

[Debra Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

The new Deep Space Nine is open for business and Katherine Pulaski stops by with her ship before heading to explore. She meets a strange species called the Chain who have off shoots of people visiting Deep Space nine under strange circumstances. A cardassian woman asks for help finding her lost son. This is what this book talks about.

[Jimyanni · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of the better offerings in the DS9 ouvre. Good pacing, interesting plot, familiar characters handled well, enough new characters to keep things interesting, not so many as to overwhelm the familiar. New characters interesting and well-developed.

[Jeremy Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine but many of the characters spoke in a way that didn’t ring true to the characters on tv. I also didn’t feel the story was anything of consequence and could’ve easily been just a novella

[Paul Griggs · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picking up on plot points and characters from Una’s previous Star Trek novels, Brinkmanship and The Crimson Shadow she’s proving to be one of the most important world-builders in this era of Star Trek fiction.

[Colton Brydges · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyed it! Una McCormack is one of my favourite ST novelists, she has a good grasp of the material but isn't heavy handed with the exposition. This was a nice short read, nothing too high stakes, but some interesting themes related to culture, social hierarchies, etc.

[Krista D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best Star Trek books I've read.

Also, it's a great "jump in" book for anyone who wants to give the books a try.

[Judith Paterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Better than average Star trek novel set on the rebuilt DS9 with some of the old hands from the station and some from the Enterprise.
Fast paced with relevant social dilemas to consider.

[Maggie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun read! I loved the Meta comments about Dr. Pulaski and Dr. Crusher. A bit preachy in spots, but overall, an absorbing adventure, and one I would recommend to all Star Trek fans.

[Rick · Rating 3 out of 5]

New book

It was interesting but not great. Poor plot that never really came together. Too many stories going at the same time