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  COLLECT ALL THE STAR TREK FICTION IN 1999!

  JANUARY

  □ STAR TREK #87 Brother’s Keeper #3: Enterprise—Michael Jan Friedman

  □ STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE #23 The 34th Rule—Armin Shimerman and David R. George III

  FEBRUARY

  □ STAR TREK: (hardcover) Mission to Horatius—Mack Reynolds

  □ STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE #24 Rebels Book 1—Dafydd ab Hugh

  □ STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE #25 Rebels Book 2—Dafydd ab Hugh

  MARCH

  □ STAR TREK Day of Honor Omnibus

  □ STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE Rebels Book 3—Dafydd ab Hugh

  □ STAR TREK: VOYAGER #17 Death of a Neutron Star—Eric Kotani

  APRIL

  □ STAR TREK: (hardcover) Dark Victory—William Shatner

  □ STAR TREK Spectre—William Shatner

  □ STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION #50 Dyson Sphere—Zebrowski/Pellegrino

  MAY

  □ STAR TREK Strange New Worlds II—Dean Wesley Smith, Ed.

  □ STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION Ship of the Line—Diane Carey

  □ STAR TREK: VOYAGER #18 Battle Lines—Brodeur/Galanter

  JUNE

  □ STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE Deep Space Nine: Final Episode—Diane Carey

  □ STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION #51 Double Helix Book 1: Infection—John Betancourt

  □ STAR TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION #52 Double Helix Book 2: Vectors—Smith/Rusch

  VISIT US ON THE WORLD WIDE WEB

  http://www.SimonSays.com/st

  http://www.startrek.com

  Into Our Viewscreen Rose a Dazzling Ship … Lights Glowed Red, Blue, Yellow, White … Star Empire!

  “What is the purpose of your mission?” Kirk demanded.

  “That will be revealed only to your boarding party.”

  “We will not comply with terrorists,” our captain said.

  The young face on the viewscreen, a face whose nuances I thought I knew, paused for response. “We must speak in person, Enterprise. Please comply.”

  Captain Kirk gazed into that face as though the young man had just walked up and tweaked his nose. “Mr. Spock?” he invited.

  Spock tilted his head. “Security. Place Lieutenant Piper under arrest. Charge: conspiracy with terrorists.”

  “Sir—no!”

  Security yanked me away….

  Look for STAR TREK Fiction from Pocket Books

  Star Trek®: The Original Series

  Star Trek: the Motion Picture • Gene Roddenberry

  Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan • Vonda N. Mclntyre

  Star Trek III: The Search for Spock • Vonda N. Mclntyre

  Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home • Vonda N. Mclntyre

  StarTrek V: The Final Frontier • J. M. Dillard

  Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country • J. M. Dillard

  Star Trek VII: Generations • J. M. Dillard

  Star Trek VIll: First Contact • J. M. Dillard

  Star Trek IX: Insurrection • J. M. Dillard

  Enterprise: The First Adventure • Vonda N. McIntyre

  Final Frontier • Diane Carey

  Strangers from the Sky • Margaret Wander Bonanno

  Spock’s World • Diane Duane

  The Last Years • J. M. Dillard

  Probe • Margaret Wander Bonanno

  Prime Directive • Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

  Best Destiny • Diane Carey

  Shadows on the Sun • Michael Jan Friedman

  Sarek • A. C Crispin

  Federation • Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

  The Ashes of Eden • William Shatner & Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

  The Return • William Shatner & Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

  Star Tret Starfleet Academy • Diane Carey

  Vulcan’s Forge • Josepha Sherman & Susan Shwartz

  Avenger • William Shatner & Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

  Star Trek: Odyssey • William Shatner & Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

  Spectre • William Shatner

  #1 Star Trek: The Motion Picture • Gene Roddenberry

  #2 The Entropy Effect • Vonda N. McIntyre

  #3 The Klingon Gambit • Robert E.Vsideman

  #4 The Covenant of the Crown • Howard Weinstein

  #5 The Prometheus Design • Sondra Marshak & Myma Culbreath

  #6 The Abode of Life • Lee Coney

  #7 Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan • Vonda N. McIntyre

  #8 Black Fire • Sonni Cooper

  #9 Triangle • Sondra Marshak & Myrna Culbreath

  #10 Web of the Romulans • M.S.Muidock

  #11 Yesterday’s Son • A. C. Crispin

  #12 Mutiny on the Enterprise • Robert E. Vardeman

  #13 The Wounded Sky • Diane Duane

  #14 The Trellisane Confrontation • David Dvorkin

  #15 Corona• Greg Bear

  #16 The Final Reflection • John M.Ford

  #17 Star Trek III: The Search for Spock • Vonda N. McIntyre

  #18 My Enemy, My Ally • Diane Duane

  #19 The Tears of the Singers • Melinda Snodgrass

  #20 The Vulcan Academy Murders • Jean Lorrah

  #21 Uhura’s Song • Janet Kagan

  #22 Shadow Lord • Laurence Yep

  #23 Ishmael • Barbara Hambry

  #24 Killing Time • Della Van Hise

  #25 Dwellers in the Crucible • Margaret Wander Bonanno

  #26 Pawns and Symbols • Majiliss Larson

  #27 Mindshadow • J. M. Dillard

  #28 Crisis on Centaurus • Brad Ferguson

  #29 Dreadnought! • Diane Carey

  #30 Demons • J. M. Dillard

  #31 Battlestations! • Diane Carey

  #32 Chain of Attack • Gene DeWeese

  #33 Deep Domain • Howard Weinstein

  #34 Dreams of the Raven • Carmen Carter

  #35 The Romulan Way • Diane Duane & Peter Morwood

  #36 How Muck for Just the Planet? • John M. Ford

  #37 Bloodthirst • J. M. Dillard

  #38 The IDIC Epidemic • Jean Lorrah

  #39 Tune for Yesterday • A. C. Crispin

  #40 Timetrap • David Dvorkin

  #41 The Three-Minute Universe • Barbara Paul

  #42 Memory Prime • Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens

  #43 The Final Nexus • GeneDeWeese

  #44 Vulcan’s Glory • DC. Fontana.

  #45 Double, Double • Michael Jan Friedman

  #46 The Cry of the Onlies • Judy Klass

  #47 The Kobayashi Maru • Julia Ecklar

  #48 Rules of Engagement • Peter Morwood

  #49 The Pandora Principle • Carolyn Clowes

  #50 Doctor’s Orders • Diane Duane

  #51 Enemy Unseen • V.E. Mitchell

  #52 Home Is the Hunter • Dana Kramer Rolls

  #53 Ghost-Walker • Barbara Hambly

  #54 A Flag Full of Stars • Brad Ferguson

  #55 Renegade • Gene DeWeese

  #56 Legacy • Michael Jan Friedman

  #57 The Rift • Peter David

  #58 Face of Fire • Michael Jan Friedman

  #59 The Disinherited • Peter David

  #60 Ice Trap • L. A. Graf

  #61 Sanctuary • John Vornhok

  #62 Death Count • L. A. Graf

  #63 Shell Game • Melissa Crandall

  #64 The Starship Trap • Mel Gilden

  #65 Window on a Last World • V. E. Mitchell

  #66 From the Depths • Victor Milan

  #67 The Great Starship Race • Diane Carey

  #68 Firestorm • L. A. Graf

  #69 The Patrian Transgression • Simon Hawke

 
#70 Traitor Winds • L. A. Graf

  #71 Crossroad • Barbara Hambly

  #72 The Better Man • Howard Weinstein

  #73 Recovery • J. M. Dillard

  #74 The Fearful Summons • Denny Martin Flynn

  #75 First Frontier • Diane Carey & Dr. James I. Kirkland

  #76 The Captain’s Daughter • Peter David

  #77 Twilight’s End • Jerry Oltion

  #78 The Rings of Tautee • Dean W. Smith & Kristine K. Rusch

  #79 Invasion #1: First Strike • Diane Carey

  #80 The Joy Machine • James Gunn

  #81 Mudd in Your Eye • Jerry Oltion

  #82 Mind Meld • John Vornholt

  #83 Heart of the Sun • Pamela Sargent & George Zebrowski

  #84 Assignment: Eternity • Greg Cox

  For orders other than by individual consumers, Pocket Books grants a discount on the purchase of 10 or more copies of single titles for special markets or premium use. For further details, please write to the Vice President of Special Markets, Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10020-1586.

  For information on how individual consumers can place orders, please write to Mail Order Department, Simon & Schuster Inc., 200 Old Tappan Road, Old Tappan, NJ 07675.

  The sale of this book without its cover is unauthorized. If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that it was reported to the publisher as “unsold and destroyed.” Neither the author nor the publisher as received payment for the sale of this “stripped book.”

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the authors’ imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons living or dead is entirely coincidental.

  POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.

  1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  www.SimonandSchuster.com

  Copyright © 1986 by Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.

  STAR TREK is a Registered Trademark of Paramount Pictures.

  This book is published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc., under exclusive license from Paramount Pictures.

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever.

  For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

  ISBN: 0-671-03852-4

  eISBN: 978-0-743-41980-2

  First Pocket Books paperback printing May 1986

  10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster Inc.

  Printed in the U.S.A.

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  With thousands of words comprising various novels (published and not) under my belt, I finally had to admit I was destined to write a Star Trek® Novel. As a first-generation Trekker, I am one of the lucky ones who discovered Trek early on and have enjoyed it the longest. As with many primary disciples and new inductees alike, I’m reveling in its resurrection. It’s like getting the last word, or the biggest we-told-youso in recent history.

  I thank my closest friends—Deb, Robin, Barb, Val, Mary Ann, Nicole, Brian, Mike, David—for support through many nonpublished years and for help on this particularly thrilling project. They’ve lent new meaning to the old phrase “I couldn’t have done it without you.” The Tycho fighter and Arco attack sled were designed by Brian Thomas, and other hardware are a recognizable amalgam of past Trek details which I enjoyed restructuring to my own purposes. The biggest thank-you of all, as usual, must go to my husband, Gregory Brodeur, who works with me on plotting, characterization, and anything else in the book-writing process, who edits everything before it ever gets out of the house, and who helps me form idea-seeds into beautiful, full-bodied books.

  Don’t look for me in church; I’m off studying Kolinahr. In case you hadn’t noticed, Star Trek® is making us in its own image.

  Come with me now to Star Fleet Academy and let’s go through it all again, together. May I say, before we begin, that anything appearing familiar is purely intentional.

  Diane Carey

  Chapter One

  “ENEMY CRUISERS DEAD ahead!”

  “How many, Lieutenant Broxon?”

  “Four, Captain. Four.”

  “Communications, advise them of our situation.”

  “Aye. Captain Piper, they refuse to receive. Subspace hailing frequencies on reverse scramb—”

  “Two more ships, ma’am, bearing point-zero-zero-five and point-zero-fifty. Entering spherical envelope … Captain, they’re firing!”

  “Raise shields!”

  I already knew it was too late. The critical tactical error resulted in my being hurled backward into my command chair—not a place I felt worthy of. Only my better-than-average height kept me from sprawling onto the deck. Staggering up, I barked out the first order I could think of: “Fire at will! Helm, evasive action!”

  Illya Galina turned to look at me, his faced limned with panic beneath a cap of sweat-caked blond hair. “Helm doesn’t respond. Direct … direct hit in—”

  Our main viewscreen glittered with a new blast. A thought later, impact came, taking out the entire port side of the bridge and six bridge personnel with it. My hands shook as I dived forward to the mangled helm, running my fingers over deadened switches, desperate to find even one that would tell me my ship was still with me. The screen dimmed again as the blast dissipated, leaving only the crackling vista of Romulan starships maneuvering for the kill. “Dispatch mayday! Divert helm to auxiliary control.”

  “Aye—ma’am, auxiliary cont—” Communications Officer Page choked, and it was the first time I realized there was smoke billowing from the upper space sensor platform. He recovered and gasped, “Auxiliary cannot connect. Can’t override damage to main circuitry.”

  “Engineering! Damage report.” I managed to brush my hair out of my face and vowed it would be the last time I went without a haircut before a voyage. Something within me didn’t allow the thought to penetrate that this might be my last voyage. It very well might be, but they were not taking my ship.

  The intercom crackled with the comfortingly deep voice of Chief Engineer Silayna. “Impulse drive down. One warp drive nacelle severely damaged, but marginally operable. Shields fading. Forward shields gone entirely. Took two direct hits to main engine room and we’re trying to—”

  “Do I have phasers?”

  “—disengage primary pow—” The transmission snapped and died.

  “Silayna! Brian, I need phasers!” I grasped at controls that were hot and sparking, vaulting over the fallen bodies of my bridge crew, and with a stab of horror came the realization that I was alone, alone on the bridge of a starship. My crew was dead or dying. My ship was much the same. I hurdled the forms of people I needed badly now, begging and cajoling the instruments to resurrect themselves enough to save the ship. None would. Even if the main computer was still working, most of the connections had been severed, rendering useless any order I might think of. I shoved Illya’s body away, hammering at the subspace frequency override. “Mayday! Mayday! This is Captain Piper, Federation Starship Liberty. We are surrounded by Romulan vessels. Engaging self-destruct mode; repeat, engaging self-destruct—”

  My voice jammed in my throat. As I had bumped the empty chair at the navigational console, I felt the bulge of a communicator at my hip. Evidently I had forgotten to turn it over to the clerk after the last landing party excursion. Funny … that wasn’t like me. I didn’t like anything that marred my freedom of movement. Pausing only a moment, feeling the smoke sting my eyes when I failed to blink, I caught at the communicator until it fell into my hands and desperately tuned it to computer override, thanking providence that I had bothered to study the nuances of direct tie-in. It was a radical, almost terroristic procedure, frowned upon to a point where hardly anyone knew about it. My own awareness came only from a latent addiction to the
short stories of Nal Eiili of Proxima II, which were a series of computer crime mysteries for teenagers. Certainly I had no idea whether such a fictional marriage between auxiliary computer and hand communicator would actually work, and certainly I was going to die trying it.

  “Computer! Override tie-in, command authorization code T-Rescue. Emergency!” I waited. There was a muted percussion of clicks beneath the demolished library console. “Implement override. Emergency.” My voice cracked.

  Another blast took out the defense subsystems monitor. Beyond the mangled station I could see the wing of a Romulan bird of prey gliding past our starboard. I was thrown to my side on the upper walkway, but I managed to keep hold of the communicator and some of my wits. Smoke blinded me now and I was choking. There was no response from the computer. My ploy was failing. Still, possibly to stave off the inevitability of mental collapse, I continued to gasp the override directive. “Code T-Rescue, command authorization, emer—”

  “Working. Specify.”

  Damn! At least something was going to happen. “Computer, link auxiliary warp drive controls. Critical adversity catalog number eight-eight-one, tape deck C-one-A. Evasive action. Implement!”

  “Working. Sensors indicate enemy vessels at all vector points.”

  “Acknowledged. Do we have phasers?”

  “Affirmative. One-half potency on secondary batteries.”

  “Bleed off impulse power batteries and divert to phasers. Pinpoint nearest enemy vessel’s engineering section, aim, and fire!” Ridiculous. Yelling at the computer wasn’t going to help. “Implement evasive action one-four-zero degrees declination plane.” I felt the commands shudder through the crippled equipment, jumping damaged connections, inventing frequencies, shortcutting schematics that were popping on and off the last three viewing screens still providing information. Shredded circuitry was knitting wherever it could find power, threading together and tapping other computers to draw power back to Liberty.

  Other computers … a distant signal flickered in my mind. Other …

  I shook off the temptation to think, feeling in my veins the pulsing blood of my remaining crew belowdecks, separated from me, their life force joining with mine in a surge of survival instinct. They were not taking my ship.

  “You’re not taking this ship!” I shouted at the fizzing shape of another Romulan vessel as it veered in and fired. The blast shook the bridge. I could feel the entire primary hull of Liberty shifting away from the engineering hull, feel the nacelles cutting loose, the shields finally falling as the last of the power was tapped by my loyal computer as it struggled to implement my last order.