Search Worlds Without End

Harlicch, an elf prince, saves college professor Barbara St. James from a gang of muggers, and together the two must battle the powerful magic of Harlicch's enemies on the streets of New York City.

THE ADVENTURES OF ELLEN RIPLEY CONTINUE!

Nearly three centuries ago, the Wyland-Yutani starship Nostromo investigated what appeared to be a distress call emanating from the barren planet Acheron.

What the crew of the Nostromo found was an alien life form-a hidious, slavering killer, quicker and more powerful than anything known before. Only Warrant Officer Ellen Ripley managed to escape with her life, destroying the Nostromo rather than giving the monster a chance to reach Earth.

But she hadn't seen the last of the breed. Now, centuries after the death of the original Ripley, her clone has taken up the fight. And she has found, with the help of an android named Call, a brutal hired gun named Johner, and a paraplegic mechanic named Vrless, that there is more to the alien horror than meets the eye...

Contents:

• 1 - Ancient Blood - [Star Trek: Day of Honor - 1] - (1997) - novel by Diane Carey
• 255 - Armageddon Sky - [Star Trek: Day of Honor - 2] - (1997) - novel by Julia Ecklar and Karen Rose Cercone [as by L. A. Graf ]
• 445 - Her Klingon Soul - [Star Trek: Day of Honor - 3] - (1997) - novel by Michael Jan Friedman
• 631 - Treaty's Law - [Star Trek: Day of Honor - 4] - (1997) - novel by Kristine Kathryn Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith
• 833 - Day of Honor: The Television Episode - [Star Trek: Voyager] - (1997) - novel by Michael Jan Friedman
• 1009 - Day of Honor: Honor Bound - [Star Trek Deep Space Nine Young Adult - 11] - (1997) - novel by Diana G. Gallagher

Even light-years from the Klingon Empire, the Day of Honor remains an occasion of great importance. And sometimes honor is found in the most unexpected places... B'Elanna Torres has never cared for the Day of Honor. Ashamed of her Klingon heritage, she regards the holiday as an unwanted reminder of all she has struggled to repress. Besides, something awful always seems to happen to her then. Her bad luck seems to be running true to form when she and Harry Kim are captured by alien slavers. Imprisoned by the enigmatic Risatti, force to mine for deadly radioactive ore, Torres will need all of her strength and cunning to survive -- and her honor as well.

B'Elanna Torres has no intention of celebrating the Day of Honor. A day of glory for others of Klingon heritage, the day for Torres has always been a dark one, for reasons that stretch back to childhood memories she has tried to forget. This Day of Honor is no better. Trouble with the warp engines has crippled the "U.S.S. Voyager" just as it confronts a deadly threat. Torres and Tom Paris must put their lives on the line to restore the engines. With time running out, Torres has one last chance to accept the great loss she once suffered and reveal the true feelings she has buried for years.

Contents:

• 1 - War Dragons - [The Captain's Table - 1] - (1998) - novel by Julia Ecklar and Karen Rose Cercone [as by L. A. Graf]
• 195 - Dujonian's Hoard - [The Captain's Table - 2] - (1998) - novel by Michael Jan Friedman
• 387 - The Mist - [The Captain's Table - 3] - (1998) - novel by Dean Wesley Smith and Kristine Kathryn Rusch
• 529 - Fire Ship - [The Captain's Table - 4] - (1998) - novel by Diane Carey
• 749 - Once Burned - [The Captain's Table - 5] - (1998) - novel by Peter David
• 915 - Where Sea Meets Sky - [The Captain's Table - 6] - (1998) - novel by Jerry Oltion
• 1111 - Biographies (The Captain's Table, Books 1-6) - (2000) - essay by uncredited

There's a bar called "The Captain's Table", where those who have commanded mighty vessels of every shape and era can meet, relax, and share a friendly drink or two with others of their calling. Sometimes a brawl may break out but it's all in the family, more or less. Just remember, the first round of drinks is always paid for with a story... even if you're Jean-Luc Picard.

For more than two hundred years archaeologists and treasure hunters have dreamed of Dujonian's Hoard, a fabled trove of priceless historical artifacts that may contain technology that will shift the galactic balance of power. A dream was all the hoard seemed-- until a former Starfleet officer goes in search of the treasure and turns up missing. Now everyone from Romulans to Cardassians to an enigmatic female starship captain is looking for Richard Brant, including Worf and Captain Picard, who have gone deep undercover on a secret Starfleet mission to rescue Brant, if he's even still alive...

When the Borg destroyed the U.S.S. Saratoga at Wolf 359, killing Captain Sisko's beloved wife, one chapter in his life came to a tragic end. Now painful memories are reawakened when the U.S.S. Defiant carries the survivors of the Saratoga to an important Starfleet ceremony. But Sisko's bittersweet reunion with his old crewmates is cut short when an unexpected malfunction threatens the Defiant as well as the lives of everyone aboard. Even worse, evidence suggests that the accident was caused by deliberate sabotage.

Has one of Sisko's oldest friends betrayed them all? Sisko and Dax must uncover the truth before death claims the survivors of the Saratoga.

When a fatal disease spreads over Bajor, threatening the entire planet with extinction, Captain Sisko must accept aid from an unexpected source: Ro Laren, Starfleet officer turned Maquis renegade.

Major Kira and Ro reluctantly join forces to track the alien plague to its source -- even as the disease claims new victims on Deep Space Nine itself. Dr. Bashir struggles to find a cure, but the secret of the virulent invader may hide deep in the shadows of Dax's past.

In the bestselling tradition of Federation, this new adventure brings Spock, McCoy, and Scotty together with Jean-Luc Picard and his crew. Deep in Romulan territory, Starfleet Ambassador Spock aids in a daring underground movement to reunite the Vulcan and Romulan empires. When a Romulan spy joins the ranks and betrays the group, Starfleet dispatches the Enterprise, commanded by Jean-Luc Picard, to effect a rescue.

Long before Captain Jean-Luc Picard took command of the Starship Enterprise, he fell deeply and hopelessly in love with Doctor Beverly Crusher. Picard never acted on his feelings, yet he found a measure of contentment as Beverly's close friend, colleague, and daily breakfast partner.

When Doctor Crusher leaves to become the chief medical officer of Starfleet, the brightest light in Picard's life is taken from him. He has barely resigned himself to his loss when he learns that Beverly has been declared missing in action -- and presumed dead.

Kevratas is a bleak, frozen world on the far side of the Romulan Neutral Zone where the Federation has become the plague-ravaged natives' only real hope. Starfleet has no recourse but to send in another team -- and Picard is the natural choice. Critical to the mission are two colleagues from his former command, the Starship Stargazer: Pug Joseph and Doctor Carter Greyhorse. Joseph is a man with a past to live down, and Greyhorse has served time for attempted murder. They are determined to succeed where the doctor failed.

On the Romulan homeworld, meanwhile, the political vacuum created by the demise of Praetor Shinzon has been filled by Senator Tal'aura. But there are those who oppose her, including Commander Donatra and the warbirds under her command.

So begins a desperate struggle -- not only for the freedom of the long-oppressed Kevrata but also for the soul of the Romulan Star Empire. Before it's over, destinies will be forged and shattered, the Empire will be shaken to its ancient foundations, and Jean-Luc Picard's life will be changed... forever.

For 1500 years, the Klingons have revered him as their first emperor, the legendary warrior who united their people and taught them the meaning of honor, but the truth of his incredible life has been shrouded in myth and fables... until now.

A clone of the original Kahless now reigns as emperor, but the discovery of an ancient scroll throws the legends into doubt and threatens to tear the Klingon empire apart. Surrounded by treachery and rumors of revolt, this new Kahless can trust no one - except Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Lieutenant Worf of the "U.S.S. Enterprise."

On the planet Xhaldia, ordinary men and women are mutating into bizarre creatures with extraordinary powers. But is this a momentous evolutionary leap or an unparalleled catastrophe? The very fabric of Xhaldian society is threatened as fear and prejudice divide the transformed from their own kin.

Dispatched to cope with the growing crisis, Captain Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise receive some unexpected visitors from another reality -- in the form of the group of mutant heroes known as the uncanny X-Men. Storm, leader of the X-Men, offers their help in resolving a situation that is agonizingly similar to the human/mutant conflicts of their own time and space.

But when hostile aliens appear in orbit around Xhaldia to try and abduct the transformed for use as a superpowered force in an attack on the Federation, even the combined forces of the crew of Starfleet and the X-Men may be unable to prevent an inferno of death and destruction.

Starfleet's finest crew and Earth's greatest mutant heroes will need all their powers and abilities to save the Xhaldian people and stop a deadly threat to the Federation.

Twenty years before the start of Star Trek: The Next Generation, a young Lieutenant called Jean-Luc Picard takes command of his first ship, the USS Stargazer...The USS Stargazer, a long-range exploration ship commanded by Captain Ruhalter, is assigned to pick up descendents of the survivors of the USS Valiant, a ship that was lost at the far edge of the galaxy in the very first Star Trek Original Series episode.

The evacuees claim that a deadly invasion force from outside the galaxy is nearing the United Federation of Planets. When they are ambushed by the invaders, Captain Ruhalter is killed, leaving a young Lieutenant, Jean-Luc Picard, in charge of the ship in the midst of a deadly confrontation. Picard must swiftly learn to be an effective Captain; while dealing both with a crew that has not yet come to trust his judgement and with hostile aliens more powerful than anything the Federation has encountered before.

The Enterprise discovers a lifeless Federation research vessel orbiting a planet hidden behind a mysterious energy shield. Despite the objections of his senior officers, Captain Picard and an away team beam over in search of the missing crew, and they vanish as well. Riker assumes command, and soon he discovers another problem besides the disappearance of his captain for a mysterious disease has struck the Enterprise crew. Riker races against time to unravel the secrets of the planet below in order to save his captain and the crew.

The planet Kirlos -- an artificial world built by a mysterious long-dead race called the Ariantu. Kirlos is now home to many races from both the Federation and the K'vin Hegemony, who have enjoyed years of peaceful co-existence and profitable trade. The planet also holds a wealth of undiscovered archaeological treasures, which the Enterprise and its crew are dispatched to help uncover.

Sent to the surface to assist an archaeological team, Geordi, Data, and Worf soon find themselves cut off from the Enterprise -- and the prime suspects in a series of terrorist attacks. The three Enterprise crewmen are imprisoned, relations between the K'vin and the Federation begin to crumble, and Kirlos' ancient underground machinery awakens from a centuries long dormancy, primed to release the most powerful destructive force ever known.

Dante Maxima Seven -- a world known to its inhabitants as Imprima. A world where Madragi -- huge social/economic entities wealthy beyond compare -- control the fate of millions.

Years ago, William Riker was part of the Starfleet delegation that opened Imprima to the Federation. Now the disappearance of an old friend -- Teller Conlon, who also served on that team -- draws Riker and the Enterprise across the galaxy, back to Imprima.

Because the jewel known as Fortune's Light -- one of Madraga Criathis's most priceless possessions -- has been stolen. And Teller Conlon stands accused of its theft. Now Riker must discover the truth behind the disappearance of both his friend and Fortune's Light, no easy task on a world where treachery and intrigue are commonplace... and where even an old friend's embrace may conceal the deadly bite of a dagger's blade.

Twenty-five years ago, Captain Jean-Luc Picard conducted breakthrough negotiations with an aggressive race called the Gorn. Now, on the anniversary of that achievement, Captain Picard and the U.S.S. Enterprise are headed for the Gorn Homeworld to continue that important work.

But when the ship stops to investigate a mysterious alien artifact, Captain Picard is suddenly hurled through time and space. Just as Commander Riker and the Starship Enterprise crew begin an impossible search for their captain, the Gorn summit goes terribly wrong.

As war looms over the galaxy and Picard is desperately needed on the Gorn Homeworld, the captain finds himself stranded in the past on a planet called Cestus III at a crucial turning point in Federation history. Now, caught in a deadly situation that challenges Picard's most cherished beliefs, he must weigh the fate of a world against the future of the entire Federation...

An insidious plot for revenge has spanned several years in the life of Jean-Luc Picard, but how did this merciless vendetta get started? Like a double helix curling back on itself, the final answer lies at the very beginning...

A series of terrorist attacks have heightened tensions between two alien races, bringing an entire sector to the brink of interplanetary war. While Picard, captain of the U.S.S. Stargazer, struggles to keep the peace, Lieutenant Commander Jack Crusher must team up with a Vulcan officer named Tuvok to uncover the hidden architect of the attacks, but the outcome of their quest would breed dire consequences for the future.

In the tradition of UNIFICATION, here is the story that fans of the original STAR TREK series and STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION have been clamoring for -- Montgomery Scott's return to the Star Trek universe and his encounter with the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701-D.

Missing in space for seventy-five years, Scotty manages to survive against incredible odds, only to be found by the crew of the Starship Enterprise. Though rescued, Scotty soon finds himself lost in a world that he barely recognizes, a world that has passed him by...

But the adventure is not over for Captain Scott who must do the impossible when the new U.S.S. Enterprise faces a very old danger in a remote sector of space. This time, Captain Picard and his crew will need more than all of their courage and all of their skills to save the great Starship from destruction. This time, they will need a miracle worker.

Seven years ago, Captain Jean-Luc Picard first faced the judgment of the Q Continuum - a race of beings with God-like powers over time and space who presumed to gauge humanity's fitness to exist in the galaxy. Seven years ago they suspended judgment, but now a decision has been reached: The human race will be eliminated, not only in the present, but throughout time. Humanity will never have existed at all.

The only chance to save mankind lies with Captain Picard. An old enemy has granted him the power to revisit his life as it was seven years before, and to experience his life twenty-five years in the future. With the help of friendships that span time and space, Picard struggles to defeat the plans of the Q Continuum. But even as he fights to save the human race from total extinction, he has been set up to be the unwitting agent of mankind's destruction. In an effort to save humanity, Picard must sacrifice himself and all those he commands - and if their sacrifice fails, all mankind is doomed.

Before he commanded the Starship Enterprise, Jean-Luc Picard was the captain of the deep space exploration vessel, the U.S.S. Stargazer, on an incredible twenty-two year voyage. Now Picard is reunited with his old crew for the first time in over a decade, on a mission to see his former first officer installed as ruler of the Daa'Vit Empire.

The reunion turns deadly when a ruthless assassin begins eliminating the U.S.S. Stargazer crew one by one. Picard's present and former shipmates must join forces to solve the mystery of the Captain's past, before the killer strikes again.

An android is found in the ruins of a colony on Omicron Theta. The crew of the "Tripoli" reactivate the android and discover his name is Data, a name that suits his incredible curiosity. With the encouragement of his new friends, Data applies to Starfleet AcademyTM and is accepted. Cadet Data begins his journey to Starfleet Academy aboard the science vessel, "Yosemite." Even as he looks forward to the Academy, he struggles to find his own identity and to fit in with the other cadets.

But Data's worries are cut short when the "Yosemite" is suddenly attacked by an unknown vessel and suffers severe damage. When power is restored, Data discovers that the adult crew has mysteriously disappeared, and only Data and the other Academy-bound cadets are left to face the wrath of a new alien race, who are demanding that Data and his cadet crew surrender their ship, or be destroyed.

Cadet Data is among a handful of first-year cadets selected to observe a super-Jovian planet ignition -- the collision of two huge gas-giant planets resulting in the formation of a new star. They will watch this occurrence from a safe distance aboard the "Republic."

But a distress call from an alien space station draws their starship off course to an asteroid belt near the colliding planets. The rescue team soon finds itself under siege by deadly attackers, and Data and his group are separated from the main team. With time running out, Data must defeat the invaders and rescue the aliens before the collision destroys the space station and the "Republic."

Contents:

• 1 - Gauntlet - [Star Trek: Stargazer - 1] - (2002) - novel by Michael Jan Friedman
• 199 - Progenitor - [Star Trek: Stargazer - 2] - (2002) - novel by Michael Jan Friedman

Captain Jean Luc Picard accepts a courageous mission which he soon finds could be a deadly trap. Jean-Luc Picard has been called to a meeting of starship captains to discuss how to deal with the raider known as White Wolf, who has been preying on Federation cargo ships. Someone has to go after this terrorist: someone with nerve, guile -- and experience. At the tender age of 28, Picard is the youngest man ever to sit in the command chair of a Starfleet vessel, and seems an unlikely choice for such a dangerous mission. The reason why his name has been put forward becomes all too clear, however: somehow he has acquired an enemy in high places. No sooner does he accept the mission than he discovers it is a trap set by no less a person than the leader of the Federation -- a man who appears to resent the rising star of the young Jean-Luc. Nevertheless, determined to prove himself, Picard perseveres and takes the motley crew assigned to him on what turns out to be a treacherous and spectacular adventure.

The climatic sequel to Stargazed Book One--Captain Jean-Luc Picard and other crewmembers risk their lives for an alien engineer. Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Stargazer accompany engineer Phigus Simenon, a member of the lizard-like Gnalish, to his home planet where he intends to participate in a survival competition. The test will allow the winners to contribute to the gene pool and carry on the species. But Simenon soon realizes that the chances of survival have been sabotaged. Someone is out to kill him, and suddenly it is up to Jean Luc and the Stargazer crew to save him. Meanwhile the Stargazer itself is also in mortal danger. In an effort to save a research vessel, the Stargazer has locked on the the smaller ship, which is being pulled further and further into a deadly phenomenon every minute. Lieutenant Commander Wu, sitting in the captain's seat for the first time in her career, is forced to make a series of life-or-death decisions...

A rift in the fabric of space threatens the lives of Jean-Luc Picard and the Stargazer's crew. Lean-Luc Picard and the Stargazer crew must seal an anomaly in the Mirror Universe, a rift that may ultimately destroy the Federation. However, the warlike Balduk refuse to grant the Stargazer passage to the vicinity of the tear. His small, ill-equipped ship could very well be lost in the struggle, but the young Captain Picard won't even consider that possibility.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the USS Stargazer accepts a dangerous mission only to learn that he has been lured into a deadly trap. A young Captain Picard is secretly dispatched to an orbital city in a disputed part of space. His mission: to recover an alien turncoat who could potentially upset the balance of power in an entire sector. When an explosion wrecks Picard's plan to beam the alien aboard the Stargazer, the captain finds himself pitted against both cold-blooded Cardassians and city authorities. Embroiled in a life-or-death struggle to find his alien ward, Picard's only ally is a mysterious woman named Guinan.

Without warning, a Starfleet ship is overwhelmed by a mysterious, alien aggressor -- one who appears to possess an intimate knowledge of the vessel's tactical technology. Then a second Starfleet ship is attacked. And a third.

Twenty-eight-year-old Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the U.S.S. Stargazer -- a Constellation-class starship -- is ordered to help form a desperate line of defense against the aggressor. But it seems nothing can stop the aliens' headlong plunge into the heart of the Federation.

Or rather, nothing in front of them can. Trailing one of the alien attack formations is a tiny Starfleet shuttle with a half dozen crewmembers aboard. One of them is Picard's first officer and best friend, Gilaad Ben Zoma.

Another is Arlen McAteer, the ambitious admiral who has made it his business to relieve Picard of his command.

Can Ben Zoma and McAteer work together to unlock the secret of the alien assault? Or will their differences sabotage their effort -- and deprive the Federation of its last hope for survival?

Intrepid Captain Jean-Luc Picard must stop a monstrous alien set to destroy his galaxy. An alien sends a freighter hurtling through a part of space inhabited by the Ubarrak, deadly enemies of the Federation. If he is to have a hope of saving his ship and the Federation, young Captain Picard must trust a woman who lied to him in the past. Will she justify his faith in her -- or twist it to serve her own shadowy ends?

On a routine exploratory mission, the Starship U.S.S. Hood picks up a distress signal from a research expedition thought lost long ago -- the expedition of Dr. Roger Korby, one of the centuries' greatest scientific minds. Korby himself is dead, it seems, but his colleagues have made a most incredible discover -- a discovery they insist the Hood's captain see for himself. Reluctantly, the captain agrees to beam down...

Meanwhile, the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise begins long-overdue shore leave on Tranquility Seven. James T. Kirk is looking forward to a few days of rest and relaxation.... until what seems like a bizarre case of mistaken identity plunges Kirk into a whirlpool of mayhem and murder.And puts an inhuman stranger with his memories and anilities in command of the Enterprise.

A routine survey of the planet Alpha Octavius Four turns disastrous as Spock is attacked and poisoned by a huge creature and Kirk's landing party is trapped underground by a violent earthquake. As Spock fights for his life in sickbay, Scotty organizes a search for Kirk and his men. However, rescue efforts must cease when the U.S.S. Enterprise is called away to the Beta Cabrini system where a mining colony is under heavy attack.

At Beta Cabrini, the U.S.S. Enterprise faces off against a Marauder named Dreen -- a man that Spock had watched his former captain Christopher Pike defeat years before. Fighting the effects of the poison, Spock struggles to his feet and takes command of the ship. Soon, Spock and Dreen are locked into a deadly game of cat and mouse -- a game driven by mad revenge that can have only one survivor!

En route to Alpha Malurian Six to settle a dispute between two religions, the U.S.S. Enterprise first stops to do a routine check on the progress of a terraforming colony on Beta Canzandia Three -- a colony whose inhabitants include Carol and David Marcus.

While Spock is left behind at the terraforming colony to continue his scientific studies, the rest of the crew heads to Alpha Malurian Six to find the dispute has turned to war.

As Kirk, McCoy, and Scotty search for a solution to end the conflict, a ship piloted by a Klingon faction arrives at the terraforming colony to take control of the facility. When colonists are imprisoned, Spock and David must defeat the Klingons or face certain death...

Gamma Xaridian -- a peaceful Federation research colony that becomes the third Federation world to suffer a brutal attack at the hands of a mysterious alien fleet. With Lt. Uhura gone on an important mission of her own, Captain Kirk and the U.S.S. Enterprise are dispatched to investigate the attacks, only to find the planets completely devastated.
When another nearby colony is attacked, the Enterprise is ready and encounters a fleet of quick, small and deadly ships. Though Kirk and his crew manage to turn the raiders away, the Enterprise is severly damaged and the aliens escape.

As Kirk and his crew prepare for their next encounter with the raiders, Mr. Spock makes a startling discovery about the purpose behind the alien attacks -- a purpose that, if realized, could have deadly consequences for the Federation and the U.S.S Enterprise...

As a young doctor with a beautiful family and a promising medical career, Dr. Leonard McCoy thought he had it all. But when the woman he loved betrayed him, McCoy fled to Starfleet, hoping to lose his pain in the depths of space. Now, more than forty years later, the Enterprise and her crew are ordered to transport a group of mediators to the planet Ssan, a world where assassination is a time-honored tradition, and McCoy is surprised to learn that his ex-wife, now remarried, is one of the mediators. And before he can come to terms with his conflicted feelings for his former love, she and Captain Kirk are trapped on Susan, and McCoy is caught in an explosive civil war, the only one with the power to save the woman who once nearly destroyed him.

Revealed at last, the full story of Jim Kirk's lost friend, the man who helped him become the captain we know....

Stardate 1312.4. -- A young Captain Kirk, early in his legendary career, faces the crisis of his life when he must kill his best friend in order to save the Enterprise. Later, alone in his quarters, be cannot help recalling how he first met Gary Mitchell:

At Starfleet Academy, Gary is reckless and fun-loving while Kirk is driven, ambitious, but awkward around other people -- especially women. Their friendship begins with a fistfight. Then their routine training mission on the U.S.S. Republic is diverted to a planet where centuries of bloody interplanetary conflict are about to end in a ceremony of reconciliation. Assigned to help with security on the planet's surface, Kirk and Gary quickly find themselves in the middle of a life-and-death struggle against terrorists determined to disrupt the ceremony.

With the future of two planets at stake, Kirk and Gary must find a way to work together before a mission of life and peace becomes one of death and despair.

Continuing the powerful story of Jim Kirk's lost friend, the man who helped shape a Starfleet captain....

Gary Mitchell is dead, killed by his best friend for the sake of his ship. As Captain Kirk returns home in sadness, he recalls the first time he held Gary's life in his hands: Seven years earlier, the two men have been assigned to the U.S.S. Constitution, Gary as chief navigator and Kirk as second officer, when the starship comes to the defense of an alien world menaced by ruthless invaders. An early attack leaves both the captain and the first officer in comas, and Jim Kirk must take command for the first time. He finds himself with only one chance to defeat the heavily armed enemy -- but the cost may be Gary Mitchell's life!

The gripping conclusion to the story of Jim Kirk's lost friend, the man who helped shape a Starfleet captain....

Captain Kirk has returned to Earth to attend the funeral of Gary Mitchell -- the man he was forced to kill. As he wonders what he can possibly say in eulogy, he thinks back to the first time he had to do without his friend, several months earlier....

Kirk has just taken command of the U.S.S. Enterprise and brought along Gary as navigator. Kirk has learned to depend on his friend's good sense and advice, but when Kirk confronts the Klingons for the first time in his career, Gary is taken captive and cut off from Kirk. Now the young captain has no choice but to rely on a man he barely knows, a Vulcan named Spock.

Tells the fan-requested story of the foundation of Starfleet! Earth Command defeated the Romulans with the help of other races across the galaxy, and the Neutral Zone was established. Out of that necessary and uneasy collaboration came the United Federation of Planets and its combined forces, Satrfleet. But the close quarters of a starship among so many races and personalities is discomforting to all the ranks. Control of what could grow to be the greatest power in the galaxy is at stake and no one is taking it lightly.

A powerful new class of starship, the Daedalus, the flagship of the new Federation fleet, is up for grabs among the six new Starfleet captains. Adm. Ed Walker is determined to keep this jewel, and all of Starfleet, under military command and away from the scientists. He chooses Capt. Aaron Stiles as his protege in the endeavour. Stiles, bent on avenging the death of his brother Jake, faces stiff resistance from Walker's rebellious space jock nephew Dane and scientist Capt. Bryce Shumar. But they face their biggest threat of all in an unknown alien race destroying the bases of the Oreias system. Can brains and brawn combine to win without killing each other in the process?