STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION - LOSING THE PEACE

POCKET BOOKS

Written by William Leisner

Copyright 2009 by Paramount Pictures Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.

TM, Registered and copyright 2009 by CBS Studios Inc. STAR TREK and related marks are trademarks of CBS Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved.



In Losing the Peace, Captain Picard and the Enterprise are on disaster relief duties after the Borg War.

After the events of the Destiny trilogy, Picard is reluctantly put on disaster relief duties close to home space by the President of the Federation after the Borg war has devastated most of the Federation - as well as devastating the Klingon and Romulan Empires. Chief of Security Jasminder Choudhury has survivor's guilt from surviving the Borg war and wonders about the fate of her family after her home world of Deneva has been devastated by the Borg. Meanwhile, Dr. Crusher goes on a mission for refugees to the planet Pacifica.

Because the Federation has not known want, the government of Pacifica can not deal with the pressure of the semi-permanent refugee population from throughout the Federation being sent to Pacifica. The government of Pacifica then threatens basically to build a concentration camp for the refugees, instead of a real refugee camp - while an outbreak of contaminated water breaks out amongst the refugees. A pregnant Dr. Beverly Crusher arrives on Pacifica on a runabout and gets the outbreak under control with help from the resident doctors and a refugee who is on Pacifica. Meanwhile, Alpha Centauri considers withdrawing from the Federation because of Alpha Centauri's selfishness - until Picard kidnaps the Alpha Centaurus president and forces the president to confront the beleaguered planet of Pacifica.

It is interesting that half-Vulcan T'Ryssa Chen is contacted by her long-estrained Vulcan father when learning about her human mother's death during the Borg invasion. After meeting T'Ryssa's apparently uncaring father, I can understand now why half-Vulcan T'Ryssa embraces her human side instead of her non-emotional Vulcan side. Since she felt her mother was safe, I felt for T'Ryssa when she learns of the unexpected loss of her mother.

This book leads into Federation President Bacco announcing that the Federation enemies are forming the Typhon Pact.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR TREK - THE NEXT GENERATION - FOREIGN FOES

POCKET BOOKS

Written by Dave Galanter and Greg Brodeur

Copyright 1994 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.



In Foreign Foes, written by Dave Galanter and Greg Brodeur, Captain Jean-Luc Picard is mediating a peace treaty between two hostile races - the Klingons and the Hidran race. Things get deadly when the Hidran ambassador dies and kills a Klingon delegate in revenge as he does so.

It was sad for me to see Worf being charged with the murder of the Hidran ambassador. Although under accusation for murder, Worf acted very dignified under the circumstances which I appreciated. Having the civilian doctor in charge of the colony that the negotiations are being held, holding sway over the crew of the Enterprise is frustrating.  I was also very upset that Data was acting differently. I felt, while reading this, that the writers were taking umbrage with his character initially. Even though Data's actions was eventually explained, it was very frustrating to read about what Data was doing in his paranoia of the Klingons - thus jeopardizing the Federation/Klingon alliance as Data takes the U.S.S. Enterprise into Klingon space. While the Klingons were traditionally arrogant against everybody, they were true allies with the Federation when the Klingons finally team up with Picard.

I am not crazy about the cover being white. The white cover makes me think the story is much brighter than the story really is. I was getting schizophrenic about the tone of the story while I was reading it. If the cover was dark, I would have been in the proper mood for the story.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.

STAR TREK - A Time to Be Born

POCKET BOOKS

Written by John Vornholt

Copyright © 2004 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

In A Time to Be Born, a part of the A Time to... series, Traveler Wesley Crusher returns in disguise and observes the crew of the Enterprise as they patrol an interstellar graveyard. As tragic events occur in the space graveyard under his watch, Captain Picard is sent home to Earth to undergo court-martial proceedings.

You can see the frustration mount in the book the longer you see everyone spending time in the graveyard. The various anomalies and the patrolling for alien scavengers take their toll on the crew of the Enterprise and of her Starfleet allies. The counselor in charge of Picard's evaluation seems to be determined to prove that he is incompetent.

Pancho
All people smile in the same language.