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Starfleet Corps of Engineers #10
Creative Couplings
These are the voyages of the U.S.S. da Vinci. Their mission: to solve the problems of the galaxy, one disaster at a time. Starfleet veteran Captain David Gold, along with his crack Starfleet Corps of Engineers team led by former Starship Enterprise™ engineer Commander Sonya Gomez, travel throughout the Federation and beyond to fix the unfixable, repair the irreparable, and solve the unsolvable.
The S.C.E.'s missions don't always go as planned -- repairing the weather grid on the resort planet Risa turns into a deadly first contact, constructing an industrial complex on a nonaligned world leads to some startling revelations about the financier behind it, diverting a runaway ship could spell death for the crew the da Vinci didn't even know was there, and a planet in a box proves a more valuable prize than anyone could have imagined -- but their greatest challenge comes much closer to home...
Captain Gold's granddaughter Esther is marrying Khor, son of Lantar, a Klingon politician. Now Gold faces what may be the greatest challenge of his career: officiating the first-ever Klingon-Jewish wedding!
544 pages, Paperback
First published December 11, 2007
8 people are currently reading
150 people want to read
About the author
David Mack
123 books666 followersDavid 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.
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.
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Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
February 27, 2023
Paradise Interrupted - (1/5) Kid energy being goes walkabout and causes mayhem. Mom and dad come to fetch him. Some Starfleet people are also present.
Where Time Stands Still - (1/5) How to get out of a minefield using your brain. Not to think with it, but use it for superior mental capacity stuff thingy... oh, just call it magic already!
The Art of the Deal - (1/5) With lovable terrorists and an evil, Evil, EVIL billionaire!
Spin - (2/5) An intriguing mystery, solved entirely off-screen. Aliens with godlike powers of learning and forgiveness. How convenient.
Creative Couplings - (1/5) A Jewish-Klingon wedding. Because we read science fiction for the feels, of course. The B story was a little bit better. A holodeck mishap that could have mattered to me if I was invested in these characters at all.
Small World - (2/5) Meh. Kinda just ends when it starts to get interesting. Will the Federation help the desperate rebels, even if it could mean starting another war? Guess we'll never know!
Where Time Stands Still - (1/5) How to get out of a minefield using your brain. Not to think with it, but use it for superior mental capacity stuff thingy... oh, just call it magic already!
The Art of the Deal - (1/5) With lovable terrorists and an evil, Evil, EVIL billionaire!
Spin - (2/5) An intriguing mystery, solved entirely off-screen. Aliens with godlike powers of learning and forgiveness. How convenient.
Creative Couplings - (1/5) A Jewish-Klingon wedding. Because we read science fiction for the feels, of course. The B story was a little bit better. A holodeck mishap that could have mattered to me if I was invested in these characters at all.
Small World - (2/5) Meh. Kinda just ends when it starts to get interesting. Will the Federation help the desperate rebels, even if it could mean starting another war? Guess we'll never know!
February 28, 2024
Another excellent collection of SCE adventures
Paradise Interrupted
Risa, the tropical paradise is once again threatened, and our friends at the SCE are send in to set it right. An excellent story about trouble in paradise, with at its heart an unlikely friendship with a boy and his spark. On a side note we get some payoff in this story as we finally see Wong's luxury yacht, which hosts one of the loveliest crew camaraderie scenes in Trek history, showing that they are starting to get back into it after the disastrous wildfire mission.
Where Time Stands Still
Another flashback to the original SCE crew and their encounter with a Gorn fleet. It was handled excellently, this time it was not ta the cost of a modern day story, as the modern day story was not much to begin with. It’s interesting to see them continue the framing devices but learn how to use it better over time.
The Art of the Deal
A smarmy business man is buying up planets and leaving them when he is done draining their resources. It is not a bad story, it really is not but I just can;t accept it as part of the trek universe. It makes very little sense. Also the title... I hope the current dictator of the USA did not get any money from these sales...
Spin
Lovely Story, generally good excecution, yet the characters do not feel like themselves. It is like the authors only read the smallest bios of them and took them in all the wrong directions. That being said the aliens of the week are fascinating. And it is an excellent exploration of High G life forms.
Creative Couplings
Tev and Fabian pair off to supervise a class of academy cadets, when Gold is recalled to earth to hold a wedding between his granddaughter and a prominent Klingon that might put the Kithomer Accords at risk! Both are a clash of cultures and personalities. As Gold has to organise a ceremony that is acceptable to his Jewish heritage, and Klingon culture alike. Is Gagh Kosher? You will find out if you read this great story.
Small World
A story of a desperate being trying to save the world he is literally carrying around. Just a great story, there is not much else to tell beyond that other than it is another story where the less technical SCE members get a chance to shine.
Another great collection, with only one real miss. I think Creative Couplings is my favourite.
Paradise Interrupted
Risa, the tropical paradise is once again threatened, and our friends at the SCE are send in to set it right. An excellent story about trouble in paradise, with at its heart an unlikely friendship with a boy and his spark. On a side note we get some payoff in this story as we finally see Wong's luxury yacht, which hosts one of the loveliest crew camaraderie scenes in Trek history, showing that they are starting to get back into it after the disastrous wildfire mission.
Where Time Stands Still
Another flashback to the original SCE crew and their encounter with a Gorn fleet. It was handled excellently, this time it was not ta the cost of a modern day story, as the modern day story was not much to begin with. It’s interesting to see them continue the framing devices but learn how to use it better over time.
The Art of the Deal
A smarmy business man is buying up planets and leaving them when he is done draining their resources. It is not a bad story, it really is not but I just can;t accept it as part of the trek universe. It makes very little sense. Also the title... I hope the current dictator of the USA did not get any money from these sales...
Spin
Lovely Story, generally good excecution, yet the characters do not feel like themselves. It is like the authors only read the smallest bios of them and took them in all the wrong directions. That being said the aliens of the week are fascinating. And it is an excellent exploration of High G life forms.
Creative Couplings
Tev and Fabian pair off to supervise a class of academy cadets, when Gold is recalled to earth to hold a wedding between his granddaughter and a prominent Klingon that might put the Kithomer Accords at risk! Both are a clash of cultures and personalities. As Gold has to organise a ceremony that is acceptable to his Jewish heritage, and Klingon culture alike. Is Gagh Kosher? You will find out if you read this great story.
Small World
A story of a desperate being trying to save the world he is literally carrying around. Just a great story, there is not much else to tell beyond that other than it is another story where the less technical SCE members get a chance to shine.
Another great collection, with only one real miss. I think Creative Couplings is my favourite.
December 22, 2007
Volume 11 of the tales of the U.S.S. Da Vinci is a nother solid volume in this great series f stories. The first story, "Paradise Interrupted" is a pretty standard story, with the Da Vinci's crew being dispatched to Risa to fix a major energy drain by a being that's wandered away from it's parents. *yawn* The next story is easily the strongest and deals with a flashback to the first ever S.C.E. crew and is a sequel to an episode of the animated series! The highlight though has to be the Klingon-Jewish wedding in "Creative Couplings". Overally, not quite as strong as the last volume, but still consistently good.
April 30, 2014
Overall, pretty good. I would have been happier without the subplot of the Klingon/Jewish wedding, and none of the other stories was good enough to make up for that and keep the book's rating at better than passable. But the rest of the stories, without that part-of-a-story, would have rated 4 stars.
May 7, 2008
Fantastic! One of the best in the series!
I especially enjoyed the planning and execution of the Klingon/Jewish wedding! LOL!!!
This series juts keeps getting better and better. I am very much looking forward to the next book.
I especially enjoyed the planning and execution of the Klingon/Jewish wedding! LOL!!!
This series juts keeps getting better and better. I am very much looking forward to the next book.
November 25, 2016
Another great set of stories where engineer inginuity is put against the dangers of the universe and its inhabitants. 500+ pages of tension, conflicts and technical solutions to technical and non-technical problems.
September 3, 2014
couldn't really get into the story that much so i stopped reading it. hopefully after i read the beginning of the series i can come back to this book and enjoy it better.
July 30, 2015
another solid outing!
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews