Antimatter

Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #8

by John Vornholt

Commander Sisko plans a desperate recovery mission to recover the necessary materials to help stabilize Bajor’s economy in this thrilling Star Deep Space Nine novel.The Bajoran shipyard is assigned to build an engine for a new starship, a project which could be instrumental in revitalizing the planet’s war-ravished economy. As Commander Sisko awaits the arrival of a tanker containing the antimatter that will power the starship, a band of hijackers captures the extremely valuable cargo and escapes through the wormhole. When the hijacking spurs a political debate, Major Kira struggles to mediate the dispute between the opposing factions. Meanwhile, Sisko makes a desperate move to retrieve the antimatter. With the stability of the Bajoran economy at stake, Sisko, Dax, and Odo infiltrate the hijackers, a move that could have deadly consequences for them and the planet Bajor.

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Star Trek Deep Space Nine, Fiction, Space, Space Opera, Ebooks

252 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 1994

About the author

John Vornholt also writes as Caroline Goode.

Reviews

[Anissa · Rating 2 out of 5]

To have Jadzia Dax and Benjamin Sisko so prominent in a story and make it bland and weird is just a remarkable choice. The only saving grace was Nog being a good friend to Jake.

Definitely, one I could have skipped and been perfectly happy.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to admit I'm pleasantly surprised that the book in some fashion portrays Bajor as this planet of people that had once been very advanced, particularly in terms of space-faring, that was damn near wiped out by 50 years of Cardassian occupation (per this book, although I know in other books the Occupation is referenced as lasting 75 years, and I seem to recall an early episode of the show in which the Occupation is referenced as having lasted a century).* And here we are, somewhere after the second-season multi-episode opener, watching Bajoran workers put the finishing touches on an outdated Starfleet vessel they built from scratch in ship-building facilities that are, per the book, really, really old. The scenario is like Honda or Toyota reopening a GM or Form factory in Detroit that's been shut down for ages to build a basic Civic or Corolla; while a quality end product is important, having that facility open again and operating that's more promising.

But then we get a tired rehash of the rather trite "Bajor for Bajorans" stuff that the author attempts to make multidimensional by adding in renegade Klingons and Ferengi and Cardassians (ahh, the rule of three). Then we move the action to a heretofore unknown planet in the Gamma Quadrant that, given what we'd seen of people and culture from the Gamma Quadrant by this time in the show, is itself pretty advanced, although making the population of the world in some ways the Gamma Quadrant version of the Ferengi just seemed unnecessary.

I won't revisit my musings on how unreal the characters feel in these early books, but this one in particular highlights how the characters did evolve--for the better--as the show went along. In some ways, I think, Dax in this book is hardly recognizable. There are a few fleeting glimpses of the character she will become, but who she is in this book is most definitely anchored in the "rough draft" character she was at the outset of the show.

Ultimately, there's nothing terribly unique about the story that demands it be set in the DS9 realm. The characters could very easily have been replaced with characters from TNG or TOS and the locales replaced with Alpha or Beta Quadrant worlds. Bajor wasn't the only planet "coming up to speed," as we occasionally saw on TNG, so this ship-building exercise could easily have taken place on some other world. That said, I understand that business demands for marketing the new Trek show were such that Pocketbooks needed to churn out yet another book--and relatively quickly too--so why not take an unpublished idea off the shelf, rejigger a few things and voila! Out ships a paperback for not terribly discerning Trek readers to buy. And that's not a knock at Trek readers: Hell, I bought the book when it came out just because I was hungry for more DS9 and was willing to put up with a lack of quality just to have more.


*That said, when you stop and think about it, the advanced state of the Bajoran space-faring program does beg a number of questions, but that's a whole other issue.

[Daniel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I want to like this one, probably more than I should. While it isn't terrible it's not anything to write home about. To be honest the main portion of the plot, involving the antimatter, was the part of the book I skimmed. The negotiations on planet Eco and interactions back on DS9 were what I paid attention to. The little insect aliens who ruled Eco were interesting and I hope we see them again but I'm sure we wont.

I can't really say that this book stood out, maybe I enjoyed the book before it too much? Maybe because we're away from Bajor and Bajoran politics for most of it? I feel really bad for Amkot Groell, I feel he could have been written better. He just seemed too nervous to me. I also don't know if I buy the fact that people just walk and stand on the arches, you know the tractor beam things to lift spaceships up out of the Okana Shipyards.

Quotes and comments:
" 'I'll be right there,' muttered O'Brien. 'Out.' He turned to Odo and muttered, 'Bloody Cardassians never replace a seal in their lives. I'd better go check this, Odo. That's the cargo bay where we're storing the antimatter pods.' " Wasn't the whole spark for the plot of one of the books previous, Betrayed, because of Cardassian seals? Berat basically broke his has because Subofficer Halek ordered him to ignore regulations which would have gotten Berat in trouble. Creating a catch 22 where Berat either checked the seals, ignoring the orders of a senior officer, or he didn't check the seals and violated standard protocol. So O'Brian, Cardassians replace seals. Quite frequently in fact.

"She fastened her tunic, noticing her nicely formed breasts, which were impossible to hide in a Starfleet uniform. Dax did her best to look plain and unassuming, but it was a losing battle. Men's heads turned in her direction wherever she went on the station, and some did more than look." This was creepy, it mostly sounded like the author had a hard on for Terry Farrell. Dax is a beautiful woman and she knows it. There is no way to dress down a Starfleet uniform, none. It already is slightly unattractive. She's also been a woman three times before, breasts aren't anything new to her. The final like makes it sound like some men just whip their penis' out and masturbate on the promenade. I'm sure Sisko has given Dax strict orders to never go on the promenade during school hours.

"Unfortunately, she found men's advances to be more amusing than seductive, and she attributed that to the fact that several of her host lifetimes, including the most recent, she had been a man." She could try dating women, I'm sure there are miles of Kira/Dax femslash out there. I think it would have been real progressive if Dax had been a lesbian or Bi. Maybe Jadzia wasn't very interested in men or interacted with very few of them romantically before joining, that would explain some of her distance. There is also the fact that you've lived eight lifetimes, everyone else is a baby to you. Obviously you find their advances amusing rather than seductive. They aren't your intellectual equal.

"Dax smiled pleasantly. 'I'll have some water and a grilled cheese sandwich.' Quark blinked in amazement. 'A grilled cheese sandwich" Isn't that some sort of terribly mundane terran food?' 'Yes, it is,' said Dax. 'I've never had one but I remember that I used to like them.' " Is terran food so very mundane for the citizens of DS9? Kira is a Bajoran, Jadzia is a Trill, and Quark is a Ferengi, do you really expect me to believe that all three of them are intimately familiar with a decidedly terran dish? Also, Jadzia I've been there. Many times have I asked for something I've never had but I remember liking them before I'd tried them.

" (In the bazaar on Eco) Another shelf came into view, displaying unfathomable objects that could be anything for engine parts to alien sex toys." Do Sisko and Dax have fast quantities of alien sex toy knowledge? Dax is that what you do on your Sunday nights while you're off duty?

"Bashir looked up from his patient, who was mercifully falling asleep, to see a handsome young man in a cranberry-coloured uniform. At first, he had been glad to meet Captain Jon Rachman, thinking their similar ages would make them compatible, but now he was finding the Regal's young skipper to be rather tiresome." Aww poor Bashir. He find a man that he thinks is handsome and young and compatible and he doesn't have the energy to keep up with a Captain of a warship. He just wants a man he can settle down with and raise them babies. Poor boy, I'm sure Garak would be willing.

" 'I'd like to spend some time on Deep Space Nine,' said Rachman. 'Maybe I'll request a transfer. I like being on the frontier.' O'Brien wrinkled his face. 'Do it while you're single. I'm not so sure that this is the place to raise a family.' " What is this? Is Bashir and Rachman a thing?

"Rachman scratched at his dimpled chin. 'Speaking of which, does Major Kira have a steady, err, arrangement?' O'Brien laughed out loud. 'Now you are getting ambition. Why don't you stick to something easy, like making admiral before you're thirty.' 'A challenge never discouraged me,' said the young captain. 'Computer, what are my chances with Major Kira?' 'I do not understand the question,' said the computer bluntly.' And the Bashir-Rachman ship has sank. Dammit. Don't worry Bashir, you don't want a man who asks his computer if he's going to score.

"Kira shifted in her chair and finally met his stair head-on. 'You would love to seduce me.' Rachman looked thoughtful. 'Actually I would prefer that you seduce me.' "Kira, honey, you could do so much better than a hot shot terran warship captain, especially if he won't shoot Cardassians whenever you want him to. And what is love if you don't hate the same people?

[Infosifter · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Tina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wasn't a huge fan of this book. The characterization felt a bit weak, though this was written very early on during the series, so there wasn't too much to work with yet. The writing style felt awkward to me, with modifiers being over-used (i.e. "said the attractive Bajoran," meaning Major Kira). I have too many thoughts to write a coherent review, so here are some pros and cons, instead:

Pros:
-The Ecocids were an interesting race. I'd have loved to see Quark interact with them.
-A knock-down-drag-out fight between two female characters. Not something you usually see! And this fight really didn't pull any punches at all. Both characters walked away looking much worse for the wear.
-Nog and Jake's friendship is shown well, with Nog helping distract Jake from his troubles. Not a big part of the book, but a thoughtful one, and I'm glad it was included.
-A pretty epic space battle, with clever and surprising tactics. Usually we get to see inside the captain's head and see the plotting of a battle, but this one we're spectators of. It was a nice way to create suspense and keep readers guessing without using cheap tricks.

Cons:
-Motives aren't obvious. The antagonists don't seem to have a clear end goal, other than cause trouble. Granted, that may have been part of the point.
-The story doesn't have much emotional punch. There are several characters with tragic backstories, but there just isn't enough depth to them to make me sympathize with them.
-At one point during the book, Sisko explains to Dax how to "wiggle" to distract male characters, with the explanation that Dax isn't used to being female again yet. However, Jadzia's been female her whole life, so I'm not sure why she'd need the refresher...also, just a kind of creepy and weird scene.
-Several allusions to or attempted rape/ sexual assault. I don't feel any were dealt with well here. One was, it seemed, almost used for comedic effect (or if that wasn't the intent, it segued immediately into a humorous scene.)
-The motives of the Starfleet officers doesn't make much sense. They seem to take some huge risks, when reconnaissance would have been a smarter strategy.
-The Klingons' presence is never explained.

Overall, I didn't really like this book, though it did have some good moments. The plot definitely picks up towards the end of the book, after a bit of a tedious start. Not something I'd want to re-read, or recommend.

[Ibis3 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Much better than the last trip to DS9, though the whole Bajor political thing never did grab me. At least this one took place mostly away from both Bajor and DS9 on an alien planet in the Gamma Quadrant. And non-humanoid aliens no less (though one can't think too much about how their society could have evolved without having a capacity for technological development--insect bodies can only take you so far, even if your inner hive acts as a computer interface). There were suspenseful moments and it was decently written. Except. Always an except. Except, the whole antimatter plot foundation makes absolutely no sense. I'm no Starfleet engineer, but as far as I've gathered in my years watching the various incarnations of the show, the antimatter is created aboard the ship in a process enabled by dilithium crystals. Once you have them babies in your warp core, you're good to go. I've never seen a single episode of ST (with the caveat that I didn't watch the last season or two of Enterprise and missed a number of later season DS9s) in which antimatter must be created elsewhere and transported as fuel. Nor have I ever heard of a ship at risk of running out of antimatter (which is mentioned in passing in this novel). Dilithium, yes. Antimatter, no. And antimatter? It either is, or it isn't. The idea that there could be antimatter that is "more pure" than other antimatter makes no sense at all. And that a technologically advanced civilisation wouldn't have the capability to create it also seems implausible (I mean if we can do it using stone knives and bearskins, why can't the Bajorans who are capable of building a warp drive?)

[Dianah · Rating 1 out of 5]

With a weak story, amateurish characterizations, and adolescent imagery, this is by far the worst of the the first 8 Deep Space Nine books. I only remembered it from the mid-90s as the last DS9 book I bought solely for being a DS9 book. Re-reading it, I now see why. There are bugs, Dax trying to be alluring, Sisko escaping sexual assault, renegade Klingon cruisers...need I go on? It's awful. Just awful.

[Patrick Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

I hadn't read this book since 1994 and I'm rereading all of my Star Trek novels. This was a highly enjoyable read and just missed a perfect score because of one too many climaxes. I would still recommend this book to any fan of Trek and especially Deep Space Nine.

Bajor is building its first starship since the Cardassians have left. Granted, it's being built on the surface of the world for the Federation, but the money it will generate will help the pillaged world and get them on track to build ships for themselves. A supply of antimatter arrives at DS9 and is quickly met by two rogue Klingon ships which take down the supply ship's envoys. An unknown voice coming from the ship proclaims "For Bajor!" and the ship then turns to enter the wormhole. Sisko, Dax, and Odo are in a runabout and follow the ship into the wormhole to the Gamma Quadrant. Once there the three protagonists have to deal with the factions that schemed to steal the antimatter and the denizens of a world not often in seen in any form of Trek.

This was a fun read. Dax does some things that would later been seen out of character, but they are fun nonetheless. Sisko is his usual self. Odo gets to change into several interesting forms while doing some recon. O'Brien is busy fixing things. Kira has (too few) moments with a Federation captain who's interested in her, giving her moments that her character wouldn't have until Odo made a move. Jake has some excellent scenes. And Quark is accused of much and has his fingers seemingly in everything.

Just a great read. There were so many climaxes, to the point of becoming ridiculous, but not enough to ruin my overall read.

[Sean Randall · Rating 3 out of 5]

Perhaps a slightly incoherent yet oddly gripping DS9 adventure. Apart from a wonderful sentence - "Would they think he was enemy or foe?" Which is just fantastic to read aloud and then go WHAT?!" There were no serious crimes against English. I particularly like how people's future careers are totally misjudged, it being quite an early novel, and I found it clever the way they took the players away from the station to give us a bit more planetary action, even though the station itself is a great place and works well in many other books, the plot handled that being apart quite nicely here. Not an especially memorable story but, like a typical episode of the series, fun to get through.

[Andrew Beet · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was a good book to read nothing special about the story the political debate side of the story didn't really grab me the b story with sisko,Dax and odo going after the tanker with the antimatter was good overall a good read it was one of those books that it's good but not brilliant

[Patricia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not at all a fan of Jadzia’s characterization, but Sisko, Kira, and Odo were okay. If it wasn’t a ds9 book, I’d give it a 2/5

[Christian Hamilton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this book. There were some truly exhilarating moments: The scenes on Eco were phenomenal, and the way this alien civilization was described turned out to be a fully formed Star Trek species. There were even hints of something sinister underneath their capitalistic culture.

However, more than any of the other books I've read thus far, the characters in this one seemed to be out of character. Dax and, surprisingly, Kira were both very flirtatious. While I could see Dax being somewhat of a flirt, the level this book took it to was not within character. Kira even directly told a badly written Federation captain that he wanted to seduce her. There were also two very strange scenes that referenced attempted rape: One was in a (and I can't believe I'm writing this) Ferengi harem, and the other was on the planet, Eco. Commander Sisko ends the book by holding a toast, which seems to go against his somber persona throughout most of the series, though I do fondly recall him singing with Vic near the end of the DS9 television series.

Much of the book was well-written, and I truly enjoyed Vornholt's work in his Genesis Wave series, which I read as a child. However, there were parts that I just did not enjoy. I will say that the book did draw me in - I was truly glad, along with the rest of the characters, to see the Hannibal rise from its construction pit at the end of the novel.

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

John Vortnolt's sixth original Star Trek novel, and his only take on DS9, is a pretty good one. While TOS and TNG novels tend to feel like disposable one-offs, DS9 books are much better at building on the world that's already there. There's still a new species to explore, the Ecocids, a role that could easily have been played by your run-of-the-mill humanoid, but Vornholt plays with a totally alien idea to good and original effect. He also has a lot of fun with his action scenes and such moments as Sisko being assailed by a Ferengi harem (which narrowly avoids tawdriness). This is definitely a good book for Sisko and Dax, but everyone gets a little something to do, especially Kira. The characters sound reasonably like themselves, and the story fits the larger tale of Bajor's entry into the galactic community. So what if the premise is basically the same as Past Prologue's?

[Rayven Cawkwell · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't enjoy this book as much as I thought I would. It started off brilliantly but then the author was very over-sexual with the Dax character and everything for a few chapters where only about how sexy and the sex appeal of Dax in a dress even from Sisko which was nothing like the actual characters. Sisko came off like a perv. I found myself skimming those chapters until the last 4 chapters which redeemed the story somewhat. But the whole writing Dax as a sexual object is the reason why I gave it 3 out of 5 as those chapters where just pervy and creepy.

[Peter Rydén · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oerhört spännande bok där vi får ta del av den kritiska period för bajoranerna när de skall kasta av sig kampmanteln som de påtvingats under den förutvarande ockupationen. Som vanligt när det gäller böcker så får vi dessutom stöta på nya bekantskaper i form av utomjordingar såsom vi aldrig har sett dem förut.

Det är en bok som ofta uppnår en nervpirrande fas, där man inte kan släppa den utan bara måste fortsätta läsa. John Vornholts böcker är ofta mycket givande och denna är definitivt inget undantag.

[Vorik · Rating 1 out of 5]

Die Grundidee der Handlung, die übertriebene Angst der Besatzung vor Antimaterie und das einfallslose agieren in Kampfsituationen lässt einem glatt die Haare zu Berge stehen. Was hat sich denn John Vornholt dabei gedacht? Hinzukommt noch eine simple Charakterisierung der Figuren in manchmal zu deftigen Worten. Das ist der Eindruck nach gerade einmal 44 Seiten. Bei so einem Beginn habe ich das Buch gleich wieder weggelegt.

[Craig · Rating 3 out of 5]

The chase was fun though it felt kind of weird the way he wrote Dax as she almost seemed in love with herself in this book. Obviously written before The Search changed the dynamics of the Gamma Quadrant so if you do read the books in order make sure you read this one first as the Dominion plays no role in this whatsoever.

[Joe Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

A generally okay read. Questionable in a couple ideas. Bajoran shipyard? The book crossed a boundary there as that would definitely be a recurring subject in the series if it existed.
The big aliens were an interesting concept but their use fell a bit flat.
Despite those things, this is one of the better early DS9 novels.

[Samantha L'Esperance · Rating 1 out of 5]

Major Kira said "You're not in Kansas anymore" and I stopped reading.

The hypersexualization of the women was gross. Characters not acting like themselves was annoying. I was trying to see if i could get back to plot which was actually being interesting and TRIED to ignore things. But O'Brian "trying to conceal his Irish temper" was a put the book down moment.

Not a good one.

[Alexander Milwaukee-Thien IV · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ay yo! Skip it. If I gotta read about Dax "being sure to jiggle everything she had to jiggle" I ain't interested. I know this came out in the early 90s or whatever and it was early on in the show, but that's weak son. The only jiggling I want in my Star Trek books are from protoplasmic life forms ya feel me?

[nx74defiant · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sisko uses the fake name of Marcus Garvey.

When Odo asks why Sisko tells him "You need to study more Terran history."

Marcus Garvey was a real historical figure.

In just ten years following his emigration to the United States as a laborer in 1917, Marcus Garvey rose to lead the largest black organization in history, was taken to prison in handcuffs, and was eventually deported

[Desiree Trott · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm slowly, very very slowly, rereading my way through all the DS9 novels. This early novel really bugged me because of things said and ways characters acted that didn't match up with the characters we came to love.
One really GREAT comparison of the wormhole to an Orgasm.

[Ken Giles · Rating 3 out of 5]

In the end it was ok. I very nearly put this book down several times as the setting and characters were just a bit off. It was not helped by printing errors.
Im glad i pushed though but really this book could of been shorter.
Word or warning. If you don’t like bugs don’t read this!

[Fredrick_254 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

[Emily Maynard · Rating 3 out of 5]

little draggy, would have come off better as an actual episode

[Caiden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun, but sus in some places

[Alexander Kozdra · Rating 5 out of 5]

best of the DS9 in-season books so far. adventure, new technology, new aliens, espionage, heart

[David Sarkies · Rating 1 out of 5]

One whopping great big bomb
13 April 2012

I'm probably getting to the point where I can't remember the Deep Space 9 novels that I have read, and I am not actually sure whether I read this and Proud Helios, but I will include it in the list of books that I have read (actually, no, I definitely did read them because I do remember the titles very clearly). I have read more DS9 books than any of the other Star Trek books out there, probably because I liked the premises behind the television series. It gets even better when they introduced the Dominion story arc, though once again it reeks a little too much of Babylon 5. Obviously there was always the intention to explore Odo's background, and the way that they stretched it out was quite good, however it once again reeks a little too much of Babylon 5. Obviously I thought that Babylon 5 was a much better series.

I did briefly look through the blurb of this book and the reviews but there was nothing much that jumped out at me. Apparently most of the story is set in the Gamma Quandrant, where a ship yard is being built and some antimatter is stolen, so they have to go and find it. Okay, no murder or murderer let lose on DS9 and Odo having to track it down, but that would have probably put a lot of people off (other than the die hard Star Trek fans who read anything and everything to do with Star Trek). However, the reviews of these books don't seem to be coming back all that good. In a way I wonder why people would keep on reading a series that is producing bad books, but then again I have, and I guess one of the main reasons behind these books is the Star Trek franchise.

Antimatter is not a science fiction concept, it is a fact, and I believe that some has even been produced, however it is generally found in the vacuum of space. That is a good thing, a very, very, good thing, because antimatter, as you would suspect, is the opposite of matter. However, for those non-scientific people out there, if antimatter and matter collide (I learnt this from Doctor Who, so I could be wrong) then both cancel each other out. However, there is an even nastier catch. The laws of physics state that things simply cannot be destroyed and cancelled out, so if matter and antimatter collide, and cancel each other out, there must be a release of energy to correspond with the cancelling out. The next catch: back in Year 12 physics (I loved physics) we learnt the calculations of how to work out the amount of energy that is released in a nuclear explosion. Now, I have those calculations somewhere in my collection of school notes, but it has been a very long time since I played around with them, so I would not be able to reproduce them for you for the purpose of this commentary.

The calculations for the nuclear reaction involves splitting apart atoms, but when that happens, the sum of the two separate atoms would be less than that of the original atom. That means that there was a loss of mass, and since mass does not, and cannot, simply disappear, it must turn into something. This is where the theory of quarks comes in. However the other theory is that the mass loss is turned into energy, and this is the energy that powers nuclear plants and causes whopping nuclear explosions. However, when you apply the same calculation to a matter-antimatter reaction, we don't have a minor loss of mass, we have a massive loss, and this massive loss results in a humongous bang. It would make modern nuclear weapons (apparently 100 times more powerful than Hiroshima) look tiny in comparison.

Hey, what I have written above could be completely wrong. I have not studied physics since 1995, and that was over 15 years ago. A lot has changed since then, and a lot of new ideas and theories have come in an superseded the old ones. However, one thing about scientists is that they do not like new ideas. They like expanding on old ones rather that throwing away the book and starting from scratch (and that is probably because it would involve too much work). However, it has happened in the past, with Planc and with Einstein. However, I think I will finish off here because I could probably write heaps more about physics, and in the end, it has a lot less to do with this book than is necessary. I simply wanted to say that an antimatter bomb would be one whopping great big bomb.

[Mikael Kuoppala · Rating 4 out of 5]

John Vornholt delivers a pleasant, well constructed and adventurous story about an undercover mission to reclaim a stolen shipment of antimatter, the extremely dangerous annihilatory substance that in the Trek universe serves as the power source for interstellar travel.

What's best in this novel is its way of utilizing the DS9's premise and possibilities during the early seasons. The story takes place during season two, and it captures the atmosphere of that setting perfectly. Here the frontier seems like a frontier, with very few safety nets and predictabilities. The Gamma Quadrant really seems like an uncharted territory where all bets are off. And most importantly Vornholt dives into the internal politics of planet Bajor, an important theme at the beginning of the series largely forgotten after the plot got so much bigger and more epic. Here we are shown an unstable world trying to rise to its feet after decades of occupation, the effort made difficult by political extremists, xenophobia and corruption coupled with religious fanaticism and terrorism.

The characterization is perfect, and even when the story gets very action packed the storytelling still remembers to keep us connected to the inner monologue of the players. As a whole the story is a rather standard heist plot with deception and power games, but a novel that could have become a brainless piece of cheap action entertainment is instead a melancholic, contemplative examination of terrorism and macro-scale politics in a very truly multifaceted Star Trek way.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

It tries far too hard to be a hard-hitting season one-style story (ironic, considering it's supposedly set in early season two). However, when it's being an action-adventure-mystery story, complete with epic imagery and witty dialogue...it's a winner. Not exactly a classic, but definitely worthy of your time. I would have loved to have seen the Okana shipyards visualed in a TV episode -- it's one of those iconic mental pictures that the "Star Trek" novels can produce from time to time that really hit home.