"2024: Almost forty years ago, marine biologist Gillian Taylor stormed away from her dream job at Sausalito’s Cetacean Institute—and was never seen or heard from again. Now a new true crime podcast has reopened that cold case, but investigator Melinda Silver has no idea that her search for the truth about Gillian’s disappearance will ultimately stretch across time and space—and attract the attention of a ruthless obsessive with his own secret agenda.
"2268: The U.S.S. Enterprise’s five-year mission is interrupted when Captain James T. Kirk and his crew set out to recover an abducted Federation scientist whose classified secrets are being sought by the Klingons as well. The trail leads to a barbaric world off limits to both Starfleet and the Klingon Empire—and an ageless mastermind on a quest for eternity.
"2292: The Osori, an ancient alien species, has finally agreed to establish relations with its much younger neighbors: the Federation, the Klingons, and the Romulans. A joint mission involving ships from all three powers, including the Enterprise-A, turns explosive when one of the Osori envoys is apparently killed. Each side blames the others, but the truth lies buried deep, nearly three hundred years in the past."
While I liked the tale, it
does have problems –mostly the 2268 time period. The 2024 setting is the best,
if only because Star Trek fans knows what happened to Gillian Taylor. So using
the format of the a true crimes pod-cast was an inspired choice to see how
Melinda and Dennis piece all the parts together. With this being a loose sequel
to Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, this section gave fans and readers a chance
to revisit (almost) some characters from that era that are still around in
2024.
It took me a while to figure
out who the mysterious man in the 21st Century was who was trying to
hinder Melinda and Dennis’ investigation, but eventually I guessed (rightly)
there was a connection with Project Chrysalis, which was part of the backstory
of Cox’s Eugenics War books. So the villain is human and tied to the Augments.
Meanwhile,
in 2268 we get the trope filled story of a "scientist captured: must
rescue without breaking prime directive” blah, blah, blah. While probably the most
classic aspect of Star Trek, and was somewhat entertaining, the only thing
really going for it was knowledge it was set in and around season three of TOS.
And putting Kirk and crew in danger was anti-climatic at best.
We skip
to 2292, set after Star Trek V: The Final Frontier but before Star Trek VI: The
Undiscovered Country and is the other good part of the novel. Here we get more traditional
Star Trek plot territories, along with understanding whom was behind all of it.
It’s the second best of the tree time periods, as Cox ties a lot of continuity
together –which has what these Extended Universe Star Trek books are really
about.
I mean
the 2268 time period was just filled with continuity references –sometimes to
the point of annoying. Like the 1990’s Doctor Who novels, the writers tended to
go overboard trying to connect so much unintended continuity, that the books
lost something. Hard-core fans enjoyed, I guess, but here –like Cox’s Eugenics
War series- tries too hard to make it line up perfectly. But it sometimes hurts
the flow of the narrative. In the end, I felt the 2268 TV era part was unnecessary.
We do
get a resolution to what happened to Gillian Taylor, who pops up (in, I guess,
a cameo) in the final chapter. We learn what she is working on, which will
eventually become part of the animated Star Trek series Lower Decks, but I
would admit as well, it was disappointing she showed up so late in the book.
It’s a fine book, but it’s a reminder why I eventually gave up reading a lot of these Star Trek novels. Long gone in one of these franchise books is a creditable villain.
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