Seekers: Long Shot

Star Trek: Seekers # 3

by David Mack

The third novel in the acclaimed Original Series-era saga Seekers, by New York Times bestselling author David Mack!SCIENCE GONE MAD…Bizarre sensor readings lead the Starfleet scout ship Sagittarius to an alien world where efforts to harness a dangerous and unstable technology have thrown the laws of probability out of balance. Now, events that might have occurred only one time in a trillion are hap­pening constantly—to deadly and dazzling effect. A PLANET IN PERIL…As disasters and miracles multiply globally at an ever-increasing rate, it’s up to Captain Clark Terrell and his crew to shut down the experiment-gone-wrong before its storm of chaos causes the planet’s destruction. But the odds against their success—and their survival—might be too great to overcome. ™, ®, & © 2015 CBS Studios, Inc. STAR TREK and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Ebooks

337 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2015

About the author

David Mack is the New York Times bestselling author of 39 novels of science-fiction, fantasy, and adventure, including the Star Trek Destiny and Cold Equations trilogies.

Beyond novels, Mack's writing credits span several media, including television (for produced episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), games, and comic books.

Follow him on Twitter @davidalanmack or like his Facebook page.

Reviews

[Graff Fuller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Challenging, dark, emotional, funny, informative, inspiring, mysterious, reflective, sad, and tense.

Medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0 ⭐

This story is a departure from the Shedai framework, which actually really worked for me. 

It was good to see THIS crew interact on a First Contact type situation. We have to remember that the USS Sagittarius is a Science and Exploration vessell.

They are a small crew (of 14 crew members). They do NOT wear the "normal" red, blue and gold uniforms, but instead wear green jumpsuits...that do NOT show insignia of rank.

I really am becoming a fan of this ship and its crew. The are tough and work really well under pressure.

The Austarans of the planet Anura were interesting to learn about. Smart and inquisitive, but just got over their heads. They wanted to leap frog (pun intended) into the stars, WITHOUT actually doing "the work" to actually get there on their own.

The situation that the crew of Sagittarius was in, and the people on the planet was dire...and it could've gone either way. There was real tension and consequences.

How the situation was resolved wasn't perfect, but it got the job done with as minimal casualties as could've been hoped.

This is the type of Star Trek story that really works.

Will be finishing the quartet soon.

Another book accomplished on the #SpaceOperaSeptember2023 readathon.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like so many Star Trek novels, it is a love of the characters that really makes this story shine. David Mack has created a group dynamic that is a hell of a lot of fun to read. Combined with a fun, high-stakes adventure, Long Shot makes for a great read. I'm very interested to see where these characters go in the future, and where certain relationships will end up. Some great character development for the small crew of the Sagittarius gives me a lot of hope for the future of Seekers.

With an already-excellent year in Trek lit to this point, it is no small praise to say that Long Shot is my favorite novel of the year so far.

Full review: http://treklit.blogspot.com/2015/08/S...

[Christopher Backa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The continuing voyages of Scout Ship Sagittarius. I have really enjoyed David Mack's Star Trek books, especially the Vanguard and Seekers series. The story involves a science experiment gone wrong, and a request for help. The story is engaging and there is a lot of character development as we get to learn more about this crew. The book is fast paced and an enjoyable read.

[John Yelverton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this is a rip roaring science fiction adventure that jumps from one adrenaline pumping scene to the next. My only complaints are the lack of ideological discussions inherent with "Star Trek", and that there are several things which occur in the book simply to make the book longer without really adding anything to it (other than pages that is).

[Henry Lopez · Rating 1 out of 5]

David Mack is my favorite Star Trek author.

Having said that, "Long Shot" may be the worst Star Trek novel I've read and absolutely the worst by Mack.

The story has an interesting premise, with a test of a dark energy engine developed on a non-Federation planet going awry and creating improbability fields that gradually escalate in severity until it becomes a danger to the planet and beyond.

Interesting premise, but the execution failed to maintain my interest. I'm not sure if it was because Mack chose to interleave long scenes about the improbability effect on the planet's inhabitants, which one would think would be illustrative of both the alien race and the dark energy effects. Instead, the aliens, with the exception of their eye stalks, are not unique and so bland, that to call them 2-dimensional representations of any alien species from a 1950's pulp novel would be an understatement. The examples used to show the improbability engine's effects might not have been so bad if they were shorter, but Mack grants too much space to what should have been a couple of paragraphs at most.

Have I mentioned that David Mack is my favorite Star Trek author?

Next, the B plot, which I actually found more interesting, deals with the Sagittarius' first officer dealing with issues out in the space above and around the planet. These examples of the improbability effects were more compelling, but Mack's characterization of the characters makes them cardboard cut outs and not the beautifully developed personas we've seen him do with many of these same characters in the Star Trek: Vanguard series. With the exception of the first officer, former science officer Theriault during Vanguard, the rest of the officers were either given a subplot that really didn't go anywhere or were just names on a page.

I could go on and on, but the last two things that made me decide to fast read the book about half-way through was that the science behind the dark energy engine was pure technobabble with no real science to act as a basis to springboard off of. Yes, I know Star Trek tech is for the most part meaningless psuedo-science at best, but when the crux of the plot centers around this dark energy engine, then there should be some actual science or explanation to ground it before extrapolating out into inane technobabble. The explanations offered made no sense and you could have transposed the words used to the thing-a-ma-bob and the whatsiz inverted the energy field of the whatchmacallit, etc. It was sloppy and such a waste of the reader's time.

Lastly, and this is where I finally came to the realization that either Mack was bumping up against a hard deadline or he really didn't give a damn, was when he lifted the cliched Animal House pep speech by Bluto almost word for word and to what effect - none. I suppose it was meant to be humorous, but it broke that suspension of disbelief I easily slip into when I read a Trek novel and did nothing to advance the plot.

Overall, it was the most boring, nonsensical piece of Trek literature I've had the misfortune of reading. If you're a completest, just read a spoiler synopsis of the book and save the few hours it would take to read this otherwise.

Sadly, this is the first 1-star review I've ever given.

I cannot recommend this book.

And did I mention that David Mack is my favorite Star Trek author?

[Peter Rydén · Rating 2 out of 5]

David Mack är en bra författare - många av hans böcker (särskilt de om Vanguard) har varit riktigt bra. Det här är dock inte en av hans bästa.

Boken har en bra fart, med spännande koncept och presenterar karaktärerna med tillräckligt bra djup för att man skall förstå varför de agerar på sina speciella sätt - allt detta är grunden för att bygga upp en bra berättelse som fängslar mig som läsare. Och fängslad blev jag.

Men det är några saker som irriterar mig. Det är flera gånger som specifika fraser upprepar sig, exempel:
"You’re supposed to be state-of-the-art tech! Start! If the panel was listening to her silent plea, it gave her no reason to think so." (sid 166)
Bara två sidor senare står detta:
" 'Don’t you die on me!' If he heard her desperate plea, he gave her no reason to think so." (sid 168)
Sådana här missar görs säkert ofta av författare men det är en bra redaktör som upptäcker dem.

En annan miss är att det ibland märks att han skippat flera sidor. Han hoppar från en scen där några personer funderar på att söka upp en annan grupp, rakt in i nästa scen när de redan har spenderat säkert en timme hos den andra gruppen. Sådana här hopp gör att jag blir förvirrad och måste läsa om för att se vad jag missade - att inse där och då att man inte missat något känns som att jag blivit snuvad på en del av historien.

Det är en bok som man måste läsa för att lära känna kommendör Clark Terrell bättre - karaktären har ju annars bara synts i Star Trek: Khans vrede - men det räcker tyvärr inte för att höja mitt betyg på boken.

Slutbetyget på boken blir därför inte helt oväntat 3 av 10.

[Christian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just completed book 3 of the Seekers series. One of the highlights of the Vanguard series was the crew of the USS Sagittarius. The small 14 person crew on an Archer-class scout ship. Small but mighty is an accurate description of this ship. And author David Mack just LOVES to put this little ship and its crew through their paces! They cannot catch a break! The crises that have faced in the various Vanguard books, and also in Harm’s Way, as well as the first three Seekers books…I think the authors either love this crew or is taking sadistic pleasure in pushing them to the very brink! But I’ve enjoyed every the story telling every step of the way!

[Stephen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Sagittarius went from one messed up world (Arethusa) to another (Anura). What are the odds of that?

David Mack has a knack of building his story gradually to a fast-paced, action-packed conclusion. The plot lines is like a compilation of Murphy's law. There's a bit on casino operations but compared to the depiction in The Long Mirage, this is shorter yet more exciting to read.

The climax, when the landing party managed to reverse the damage done by the out of whack laws of probability against all odds, reads like a script that's made for the big screen.

[Blue · Rating 1 out of 5]

Phew! This book was terrible. But I also really really enjoyed it. Given that I picked it up for a quid I the charity shop, not a bad buy.

If you're the kind of star trek fan who enjoys the terrible episodes where you shout at the corny plot and laugh at the wobbly sets, then you'll probably get a kick out of this.

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

Too many Star Trek novels take themselves too seriously. They lose the fun. This one didn't, and I really appreciate that. Don't get me wrong - it's still not good, but it's the most fun I've had reading a Star Trek novel in a very long time.

[Judith Paterson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another Star Trek universe roller coaster ride. THis time set on Sagitarius, in Kirk's, original series, timespan. |Good fast paced read with new characters to follow. Will look forward to Seekers 4

[Jonne Steen Redeker · Rating 4 out of 5]

A coronal mass ejection, an asteroid and a world ending storm all hit on the same day, what are the odds? Turns out pretty good when odds are meaningless.

Another story featuring Captain Terrel and the USS Sagittarius, and in fact the last one ever published. A planet is facing disaster as a new form of energy generation screws with the laws of probability, and extremely unlikely events become the norm. The crew must race to save a planet and themselves from certain death.

It’s a good story, it’s good to have a non comedic treatment of this improbability drive concept. It of course stems from Douglas Adam’s hitchhiker’s guide, and has been done in trek before. Both on screen in DS9 and on paper in the SCE series. I enjoyed all these and this one too. A concept like this won’t soon be tapped to its full potential. For what are the odds that we get every permutation of it?

I’m sad that we likely won’t see these characters ever again. And this will be the last we see of Terrel until his fateful meeting with Kahn Noonien Singh...

[Danny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gotta love a very-us sounding species that mess around with Dark Matter Energy and start generating an improbabilty field around their system causing havoc and mayem. And I do.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying this series. Classic Trek but also it's own unique thing.

[Nicky2910 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Star Trek: Seekers: #3 Long Shot by David Mack Yes, I picked up book 3 even though I was more than a little underwhelmed by the first Sagittarius story.
 
The story itself dragged on a bit too long. It felt more like a SCE-story: alien culture experiments with technology they don't quite understand (either they come up with the theory themselves or get it from alien cultures or find it lying around), it goes boom and Starfleet miracle workers have to resuce everyone. There were funny little tidbits such as the fact that the sentient race on the planet of the week appeared to be frog-like, their civilization on a technical level like ours in the 21st century, perhaps a bit more advanced with funny allusions to budget cuts (leading to disaster, of course) etc. Loved the way they looked upon the Sagittarius-crew - apparently humans ressemble the primate species on their planet. And I liked the way the Prime Directive was rendered a moot point right at the beginning - although landing on the planet and then wondering why anyone got that landing on tape was a bit much. But again, all the side catastrophes, rescue operations of space stations etc aside... I've read that plot a bit too often already for it to come across as particularly engaging or novel. What bothered me a bit was the attitude of the main researcher - he screwed up royally and keeps criticizing every one of Ilucci's ideas to save his planet?
 
Whether quietly dropped or hint at future encounters: Dastin is tasked to look in the database whether the technology comes from a known species - the matter is never resolved in this book.
 
The characters still seem a bit too caricature-like - witty one-liners (although sometimes a bit outdated because is there something like a warranty or money back guarantee in the 23rd century?) are par for the course, but overall the protagonists come across as more sympathetic and real. There are some conflicts within the crew, like with Dastin (a gay Trill) or Taryl (an Orion female, but without the sexual pheromones), even though I don't quite see why Theriault who I still don't see as first officer material has so many issues with particularly Dastin. Of course, he has a cocky attitude, but is he really more insubordinate in his one-liners than eveyone else on board Sagittarius? Or is it because he apparently has the same taste in men as Theriault? Liked Torvin's innocence and his wearing his emotions on his sleeve - and I'm looking forward to seeing more of him and Taryl, the world-weary misanthrope.
 
I still think that this part of Seekers (as opposed to the Endeavour) needs quite a bit of work. There are technical questions surrounding the Sagittarius - like the fact that only 14 people man this ship which would render longer missions quite impossible. But as established in Vanguard, the Taurus Reach is a vast section of space - so how exactly does the deployment of the Sagittarius work? Do they have downtime since there are practically only 2 shifts on board? Or are they just constantly overworked and overly tired (i.e. does Mack hope no one notices things like that?) And what the hell: there's only room for 8 people in the evacuation buoy?
 
The same applies to the characters: I really enjoy Torvin, I like Dastin - maybe because of his clashes with Theriault who just rubs me wrong - and Razka, I'm leaning towards Terrell, Sorak and Taryl, and am indifferent towards everyone else. And I certainly don't care about that non-com, enlisted personnell or officer stuff. I never belonged to any kind of military hierarchy, and I certainly don't plan to in the future. And I don't understand why it's such an issue on this ship that it has to be mentionned on every other page whether someone is enlisted or not.
 
So, there's quite a bit of room for improvement, but at least I see some potential now that I haven't seen after book 1.

[Bjoern · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book took me a long time to grow warm with the story. For one thing Mack is really enamored to spicking the text with pop culture references and only slightly changed current idioms put into the mouth of people from the future or completely different cultures, which never really striked me as fitting another bit was that the plot device of the red herring causing an improbability field led to a steeply escalating curve of ever more ridiculous situations and constant throwbacks to the overworked crew of SAGITTARIUS.
But then the situation turned towards a solution for the problem and it could switch towards more character based writing and i got hooked again. Having only 14 members of crew helps a lot to get them all pretty good exposure during the different catastrophic failures and life threatening disasters and with the slight exception of the already mentioned overreliance on "present day like" slang the figures soon grow close to your heart. There's a thing going on between First Officer Vanessa Theriault and the Trill Dastin, but it gets only a few appearances so it can't grow into a real annoyance, future books about the ship hopefully won't expand on this whatever it is... rivalry? Hatred? A mating ritual gone awfully wrong? And if they do include it, please no more in times of peak stress levels like during the emergency landing of the SAGITTARIUS during the book's climax.
Other than that the crew under the infamous Clark Terell (the one sharing Chekov's fate with the Ceti eel eating into the brain during TWOK) can return as often as they like, the "TOS but not the same boring old crew" factor is still fresh and entertaining and the SAGITTARIUS combines the best of the "like a RPG campaign" atmosphere a lot of the more modern authors who grew up as fans often give to their own adventures of the Star Trek book series with a good nicely presented dose of nostalgia for the old days when Kirk was the only Captain known to us.

[Paul Lunger · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll admit to having been a bit skeptical going into the 3rd novel in the new "Star Trek: Seekers" series, but David Mack does a decent job of redeeming himself & this series w/ "Long Shot" as this series finally shows the potential that it has w/ it being a spinoff of Vanguard. In this installment the Sagittarius responds to a cry for help around the world Anura who is undergoing a massive change in luck due to a field test of a dark energy device that has caused the odds of probability to go haywire (a la DS9's "Rivals"). With the ship detected by the planet & assistance rendered, Mack takes through a story that shows the perils of this field getting worse almost to the point of the destruction of the planet itself due to these unusual laws of probability which cause everything from long winning streaks at gambling to earthquakes & fires as well as a possible CME which could destroy the planet completely. The book itself actually moves very quickly w/ an outcome for this planet never really certain until almost the end. All the crew members of the Sagittarius as well as the Austarans themselves are very real & full of emotion including a set of 8 that are rescued from an orbiting space station that gets destroyed in an asteroid bombardment. Overall from start to finish this is a a solid entry & so far the best in my opinion of the 3 "Seekers" novels so far. Here's hoping that trend continues w/ book #4 due out later this year.

[Joe Pranaitis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Star Trek: Seekers #3 Long Shot takes us on an adventure to a pre-warp civilization that for a test us trying to use Dark Matter to rush an FTL drive into being but backfires since the experiment then turns the technology into an improbability generator that threatens to destroy the planet Anura. Luckily the starship Sagittarius was able to pick up the subspace distortions from a near by star system and Captain Terrell and his crew came to their aid and stopped the improbability generator from destroying the local star. This was a great book and I'm looking forward to reading the next in the Seekers series.

[Henry · Rating 4 out of 5]

David Mack keeps up the good work

Good book love the continuity I think the native populations planet and technology had too many similarities to earth overall very good!

[Charles · Rating 4 out of 5]

Took a little to get up to speed and realize we had moved on to another adventure. Once that settles in the pace is great and enjoyed all the way through. Looking forward to the next in the series.

[gary simpson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

Good story . Interesting kept me guessing how it was going to turn out . Would have been nice to see the enterprise come to the rescue though .

[Jimyanni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyable and well-written, if a bit predictable in the way problems resisted solution until there had been close to 300 pages of story.

[David Hayes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Library book

[Aron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad at all, but for some reason I just didn't get into it as much as I usually do Mack's ST novels. I just don't like the crew that much.

[ArwendeLuhtiene · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5 (review will follow shortly)

[Javier Luiso · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another master-piece from David Mack.