The Fearful Summons by Denny Martin Flinn (Star Trek #74, June 1995).

Captain Sulu and the Excelsior are cruising the frontier when a distress call comes. It is from a ship of Beta Prometheans, a trading race that controls most of the dilithium in the quadrant. The aliens say their ship is disabled, but when Sulu transports aboard with a repair crew, they are taken hostage. Ransom is demanded, but StarFleet and the Federation do not negotiate for hostages. While relations are at a standstill, Captain Kirk emerges from retirement to gather the old Enterprise crew to set off after their former shipmate.

Writer Flinn is one of the screenwriters of the movie Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (co-credited as writer with director Nicholas Meyer). Meyer spent twenty years on Broadway as a dancer and choreographer, then retired from the stage and became a writer. He wrote a couple of contemporary Sherlock Holmes novels, using Holmes' grandson as the protagonist. After the movie, he took this shot at writing a sequel of sorts.

The story never gets going, just plods along. The first third of the book is Sulu on the Excelsior with his crew, which should be new and fascinating to us. Instead, Flinn fails to develop anyone's character, instead introducing a Vulcan science officer/first officer and trying to develop and beginning Kirk/Spock relationship between them. It is as if the Excelsior is to be a copy of the Enterprise. Then, Sulu makes a rookie mistake and blunders into captivity. It was a hard plot twist to accept, given Sulu's experience in deep space.

We then spend an interminable amount of time on how old the former Enterprise crew is, especially James T. Kirk, who is the focus. There is a chapter that could be titled "Kirk Gets Lucky" for his rendezvous with a young Lieutennant. This just-graduated cadet ends up going along with the old dogs, whom Kirk gathers from various places. The process is quite tedious, and so is the sallying forth to Starbase 499 to find Sulu and crew. Kirk also makes a rookie mistake to prolong the story.

Flinn learned a bit of Trek lore in writing the movie script, but it seems just a bit. Ship captains are referred to as "commanders," a serious faux pas. The skipper of a ship is always a captain. Other terminology, both Star Trek and general naval, is botched. A bit more research, or better editing, was in order.

Of course, all turns out right in the end. But getting there is supposed to be half the fun, and if you make it all the way to the end of this book, you will be simply glad it's over. Nothing to see here, move along. Perhaps the strangest thing is, I have no idea what the title is saying. What summons? What is fearful about it? Does this mean the original faked distress call that lured the Excelsior to the fateful rendezvous? What was fearful about that? It makes no sense. Much like the greatest part of the book.