The Captain's Table (Book 5 of 6): Once Burned. Star Trek the New Frontier edition by Peter David, October 1998.
The Captain's Table is a bar that is frequented only by those who are, by rank, captains. Only they are allowed entrance. This is usually interpreted as ship captains, although sometimes the admittance is more broad than that. The place is not somewhere you set out to go: it actually seems to find you.
It is actually a sort of interdimensional cross-time meeting place, much like Munden's Bar as seen in the 1980s comic book Grimjack. Anyone from any time and any place can enter...if they are a captain. And the first drink is paid for with a story. That is the device used to tell a set of Star Trek stories, in a six-book series. Captains Kirk, Picard, Sisko, Janeway, Calhoun, and Pike each got a volume to tell a story in the first person. In this one, Peter David writes another volume in the life of his character, Mackenzie Calhoun, this time in a first-person style.
Calhoun first encounters the bar as he has just killed the first man, the first of many in his war to free his home planet of Xenex while still a teenager. Emotionally spent from the experience, he stumbles onto the bar, and is greeted by the barman, "Cap," and is provided free drinks. He is told that, in the future, he will have to pay...with a story.
Some years later, in a holodeck program, Calhoun again comes upon the bar, and enters. Reminded of the establishment's requirement, he tells his tale to another man, and gives the story of his original departure from StarFleet, when he was first officer of the Grissom.
Calhoun had just gotten promoted to first officer on a new ship, and was settling in, when the crew had the assignment of taking a diplomatic team to a system with a pacifist society that was being attacked by a militaristic one. The diplomatic team turned out to be the captain's brother and daughter. The aggressive society killed the two relatives, and the captain slowly started coming unhinged, requiring Calhoun to do something about it. Something drastic.
The story goes a long way toward exploring Calhoun's background in the service, and provides a good story as well. Once again, Peter David fans will like it, and those who don't like his books won't like this one either. There is action leavened with humor, sexual situations, and bloody fights. It's not for the weak of heart.
Reviews and discussions of Star Trek novels and related publications.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Star Trek #6: New Frontier; Fire On High by Peter David (April 1998).
The crew of the Excalibur is finishing up operations on Zontar. Science officer Soleta is examining the cave where she and other members of the crew were disabled by some still unknown force. She unearths a disk with a strange emblem. Immediately afterward, the ground beneath her gives way and she finds herself in an underground cavern.
Janos, the Mugato security guard (named for Janos Prohaska, who was in the costume when Captain Kirk first encountered a mugato) hears the commotion and goes to Soleta's aid. The ground has reformed, so Janos uses his phaser to blast it open again, and takes Soleta to safety, just as the entire mountain blows up. Soleta does, however, manage to hold onto the disk.
With nothing left to investigate, the Excalibur proceeds to the planet Momid, where a Federation citizen has been held for five years after being apprehended on the planet's surface. As it turns out, this is Lt. Robin Lefler's mother, whom she has thought dead for ten years.
Captain Calhoun must find out what Lefler's mother, Morgan, wants, and also solve the problem of the energy creature inhabiting the warp engines. It won't be easy, as Morgan is secretive, and the energy creature resists all efforts to get it to leave...and they may not want it to, if it does. Then there's the problem of Morgan's friend Tarella is on the planet Ahmista, the previous inhabitants of the planet are dead, and Tarella holds a weapon that can destroy a starship.
It's another Peter David adventure, with fun, thrills, blood, and deadly peril. Something for everyone. Once again, if you like other Peter David books, you'll like this one, and if not, well then.
The crew of the Excalibur is finishing up operations on Zontar. Science officer Soleta is examining the cave where she and other members of the crew were disabled by some still unknown force. She unearths a disk with a strange emblem. Immediately afterward, the ground beneath her gives way and she finds herself in an underground cavern.
Janos, the Mugato security guard (named for Janos Prohaska, who was in the costume when Captain Kirk first encountered a mugato) hears the commotion and goes to Soleta's aid. The ground has reformed, so Janos uses his phaser to blast it open again, and takes Soleta to safety, just as the entire mountain blows up. Soleta does, however, manage to hold onto the disk.
With nothing left to investigate, the Excalibur proceeds to the planet Momid, where a Federation citizen has been held for five years after being apprehended on the planet's surface. As it turns out, this is Lt. Robin Lefler's mother, whom she has thought dead for ten years.
Captain Calhoun must find out what Lefler's mother, Morgan, wants, and also solve the problem of the energy creature inhabiting the warp engines. It won't be easy, as Morgan is secretive, and the energy creature resists all efforts to get it to leave...and they may not want it to, if it does. Then there's the problem of Morgan's friend Tarella is on the planet Ahmista, the previous inhabitants of the planet are dead, and Tarella holds a weapon that can destroy a starship.
It's another Peter David adventure, with fun, thrills, blood, and deadly peril. Something for everyone. Once again, if you like other Peter David books, you'll like this one, and if not, well then.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Star Trek: New Frontier #5; Martyr by Peter David (March 1998)
500 years ago on the planet Zondar, the prophet Ontear left behind a scroll saying that the civil war on the planet would only end when the savior appeared. Ontear said, "Look to the stars, from there will come the messiah! The bird of flame will signal his coming! He will bear and scar, and he will be a great leader! He will come from air and return to air! And he will be slain by the appointed one!" Although that last sentence was not widely publicized. Given that description, it certainly sounds like a description of Captain Mackenzie Calhoun of the starship Excalibur.
Calhoun and his ship are still on patrol in sector 221-G (not 221-B, because that would be where Sherlock Holmes lives) and are receiving requests for visits and help, most funneled through Si Cwan, formerly of the royal family of the now-dead planet Thellonia. All of the characters return: Captain Calhoun, visibly scarrred warlord of the planet Xenex; Commander Elizabeth Shelby, tactical expert and first officer; Lt. Soleta, Vulcan science officer and archaeologist; Dr. Selar, Vulcan chief medical officer with an oncoming pon farr; Burgoyne 172, the Hermat (hermaphrodite) chief engineer; Lt. Robin Lefler, optimistic ops officer with a crush on Si Cwan; Lt. Mark McHenry, oddball navigator and playmate of Burgoyne; and Zak Kebron, rock-solid Brikar security chief.
A call for help arrives from the usually insular Zondarians. Si Cwan recommends pushing this request to the top of the pile, if for nothing than its sheer unusual nature. The Zondarians send a ship to intercept and receive the Excalibur, to escort their prophesied savior to Zondar. This is a double-edged sword; being called the savior might make Calhoun's job easier, but failing to live up to expectations might make the situation fall apart and prolong the 500-year civil war. Calhoun must walk a fine line.
Meantime, Dr. Selar prevails on the Captain to help her with her mating drive. She will soon have to heed it, and she has settled on Calhoun as the logical alternative. That Calhoun has served the same role before as a tribal leader on his home planet leads to the logical request. After consideration, Calhoun accedes.
However, Calhoun turns up missing on Zondar. With the Zondarian diplomats being unhelpful, the starship crew must find him themselves. When the rescue team ends up injured or dead, it is up to Burgoyne 172 to find the captain.
It's another Peter David romp in his own section of the Star Trek universe. David has either created these characters or gotten permission to use them (Shelby, Lefler, and Selar) and he has a lot of fun putting them through their paces in a quickly-moving plot. As usual in a David book, there is lots of action, there are amusing moments, and there is blood and gore. The story clips along very fast, and the pages will keep turning.
If you like Peter David Star Trek novels, you'll like this one. If you don't like David's stuff, you probably won't like this either. That's the best way to tell you what is going on here. It's fun, it's fast-paced, it has character moments. And anything, anything can happen. I recommend this book.
500 years ago on the planet Zondar, the prophet Ontear left behind a scroll saying that the civil war on the planet would only end when the savior appeared. Ontear said, "Look to the stars, from there will come the messiah! The bird of flame will signal his coming! He will bear and scar, and he will be a great leader! He will come from air and return to air! And he will be slain by the appointed one!" Although that last sentence was not widely publicized. Given that description, it certainly sounds like a description of Captain Mackenzie Calhoun of the starship Excalibur.
Calhoun and his ship are still on patrol in sector 221-G (not 221-B, because that would be where Sherlock Holmes lives) and are receiving requests for visits and help, most funneled through Si Cwan, formerly of the royal family of the now-dead planet Thellonia. All of the characters return: Captain Calhoun, visibly scarrred warlord of the planet Xenex; Commander Elizabeth Shelby, tactical expert and first officer; Lt. Soleta, Vulcan science officer and archaeologist; Dr. Selar, Vulcan chief medical officer with an oncoming pon farr; Burgoyne 172, the Hermat (hermaphrodite) chief engineer; Lt. Robin Lefler, optimistic ops officer with a crush on Si Cwan; Lt. Mark McHenry, oddball navigator and playmate of Burgoyne; and Zak Kebron, rock-solid Brikar security chief.
A call for help arrives from the usually insular Zondarians. Si Cwan recommends pushing this request to the top of the pile, if for nothing than its sheer unusual nature. The Zondarians send a ship to intercept and receive the Excalibur, to escort their prophesied savior to Zondar. This is a double-edged sword; being called the savior might make Calhoun's job easier, but failing to live up to expectations might make the situation fall apart and prolong the 500-year civil war. Calhoun must walk a fine line.
Meantime, Dr. Selar prevails on the Captain to help her with her mating drive. She will soon have to heed it, and she has settled on Calhoun as the logical alternative. That Calhoun has served the same role before as a tribal leader on his home planet leads to the logical request. After consideration, Calhoun accedes.
However, Calhoun turns up missing on Zondar. With the Zondarian diplomats being unhelpful, the starship crew must find him themselves. When the rescue team ends up injured or dead, it is up to Burgoyne 172 to find the captain.
It's another Peter David romp in his own section of the Star Trek universe. David has either created these characters or gotten permission to use them (Shelby, Lefler, and Selar) and he has a lot of fun putting them through their paces in a quickly-moving plot. As usual in a David book, there is lots of action, there are amusing moments, and there is blood and gore. The story clips along very fast, and the pages will keep turning.
If you like Peter David Star Trek novels, you'll like this one. If you don't like David's stuff, you probably won't like this either. That's the best way to tell you what is going on here. It's fun, it's fast-paced, it has character moments. And anything, anything can happen. I recommend this book.
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