Enigma Ship

Star Trek SCE (ebooks) Novellas #20

by J. Steven York, Christina F. York

Sent to investigate the mysterious disappearances of several Federation starships, the U.S.S. da Vinci discovers a true technological a holographic vessel. Commander Sonya Gomez and her S.C.E. team try to navigate the different holographic scenarios playing inside the "holoship," and are surprised to find the crews of the missing ships -- who think they've been rescued! Gomez and her team must convince the crews that they are trapped in an endless holographic program, or risk losing them forever!

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

103 pages, Kindle Edition

First published September 15, 2002

About the author

Originally hailing from the piney woods along the Alabama/Florida border, J. Steven York has wandered between many genres (science fiction, fantasy, mystery) and points on the map.

Though he now lives on the Pacific shore in Oregon, his current mystery series "Panorama Beach," is set in the sunny Florida panhandle during the 1960s, and its fictional environs are inspired by his real-life ancestral roots there, and his happy visits to the gulf coast when he was a child.

Reviews

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

A usual with the S.C.E. novels, Enigma Ship provides a near engineering/anthropological mystery that is solved not by technobabble (exactly), but fun, logical extensions of the tech we saw on the show. Though the three Away Team members get the most love, the voyage TO the anomaly allows the rest of the cast to get scenes and keep them alive in the series. I do find the idea of Captain Gold rushing to the hanger bay to look out the door, as if not trusting the viewscreen, even in the middle of an emergency, quite a ridiculous bunch of moments. Once we get to the Enigma, things get more fun and exciting, especially Sonya's gambit to get the Lincoln's captain to trust her, the flirtation with the Orion, etc. I was a little stunned that the book seemed to veer into a terrible failure, but then it stopped just short of it. Not sure I like the deus ex machina, but then wouldn't have wanted the series to go so dark either. Or it might have laid in some trauma for future chapters, I don't know.

[Craig Andrews]

There have been many attempts at original series set in the Star Trek Next Generation universe over the years, some of the have worked and some of them have not. These days the output of Simon & Shuster is pretty good, their all new original novels set in the world of The Next generation/Deep Space Nine/Voyager era are going from strength to strength. One of the older ones (although not the oldest, that being The New Frontier series) is the Starfleet Corps of Engineers. A series detailing the adventures of the USS Da Vinci and it’s crew. The crew is made up of a variety of technical types we’ve seen in part roles over the years all lumped together on one ship and being sent to places to sort out problems of a specifically engineering nature. The series is quite good and has recently had a relaunch so I thought I’d go back to where I left off and try and catch up. They are smaller than normal books coming in at 150 to 200 pages but they are quite fast paced so feel almost episodic in their delivery. The tale I read today saw the crew encountering a mysterious space bubble J It was quite well written and tied into the overall events of the universe (the Pathfinder project from Voyager) really well. It won’t be so long until I pick up one of these again.

Where I got the book: Although the are doing collected editions of these smaller tales I have most of them in the original eBook format for my PDA. At only 3 dollars each they are easy to pick up whenever you’ve got a spare couple of quid.

[Brian Jeffreys · Rating 4 out of 5]

The 20th book in the Star Trek Starfleet Corps of Engineers series, the U.S.S Da Vinci is called in to tackle another engineering feat.
The book didn't progress the character stories that much, but the engineering challenges are always a fun read. I love how they tied in to an old ST Classic cast episode for their "can opener" solution. The ebook is a quick read for a low price, so it was definitely worth the time to read.

[De · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story that seemed a bit rushed toward the end. I know this story was from the POV of our heroes, but it would have been neat to break things up with more of the alien POV. It was nice to see some non-Starfleet action.

[Lexxi Kitty · Rating 3 out of 5]

dang it. I had written a review but I got disconnected from the internet. And lost the review. mmphs. *whimpers*

Basically I said something like: interesting story. A little thin, but stil interesting.

[John Barclay · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting idea as usual with this series. A few plot holes and as always a simple wrap-up, but still worth the read.

[Crystal Bensley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting concept.

[Nicky2910 · Rating 2 out of 5]

Star Trek: S. C. E.: #20 Enigma Ship by J. Steven York, Christina F. York This time, the da Vinci encounters an alien ship marauding in space, swallowing up any ship that crosses its path - at the latest a Starfleet ship. Is the ship even intact and its crew alive still? And if so, how are they going to be rescued?
 
What follows is an interesting tale about reality, dreams and how to differentiate between those two. Definitely one of the better entries so far, at least story-wise. At some points the characterization is lacking (not only in the overall sense as was the case with most of the other previous parts), but also that at some points I had the impression that this story should be set much earlier in the season, as some of the issues coming up (Soloman etc) were dealt with much earlier already. So, that's kind of redundant.
 
I'll keep reading until Wildfire which is said to be turning point, right now - but if, by then, the series hasn't managed to entirely captivate me, I'll likely give up on it. The characters are still too bland, the stories too superficial to satisfy me.