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A new ship, a new crew, a new mission!

House of Cards is a Star Trek: New Frontier novella – the first book in the series – written by Peter David. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in July 1997.

Summary[]

From the book jacket
Sector 221-G: For the whole of Federation history, this large area of space has been controlled by the Thallonians, a cruel, militaristic race of which little is known – except that they rule the other races in their sector with a vicious iron hand.
Now the Thallonian Empire has collapsed and the systems it once ruled are in chaos. Old hatreds are surfacing. Petty tyrants control deadly weapons. World after world is descending into disorder and self-destruction. The Federation must send a starship to help where it can and report what it finds.
That ship is the USS Excalibur, a newly refit Ambassador-class starship commanded by Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and manned by Starfleet's best and brightest, including some old friends from Star Trek: The Next Generation and some of the most dynamic new characters ever to crew a Federation starship.
Join Captain Calhoun and the crew of the USS Excalibur as they explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no one has gone before!

Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.

Background information[]

  • The novella's title does not appear on its cover, where it is identified merely as Book One. House of Cards appears only on the inside title page, and identifies the book in Pocket's backlist.
  • The novella was later collected in the Star Trek: New Frontier Omnibus.
  • Combined with the other three novellas in this serialized release, House of Cards reached number nine on the New York Times Best Seller List for 3 August 1997, the serial novel's third week on the list. [1] The serial remained on the list for four weeks.

Characters[]

Canon characters listed below are linked to the main article about them. Non-canon characters are not linked, but those that recurred, appearing or being mentioned in more than one story, are defined further in New Frontier characters.

Main cast and recurring characters[]

Mackenzie Calhoun
Starfleet captain of USS Excalibur
Elizabeth Shelby, 2367

Elizabeth Shelby

Elizabeth Shelby
Starfleet commander, Excalibur executive officer.
Si Cwan
Thallonian royal family member, a refugee of the Thallonian Empire collapse.
Selar

Selar

Selar
Starfleet medical officer, CMO of Excalibur.
Soleta
Starfleet science officer. Soleta previously appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation - Starfleet Academy series.
Spock
Half-Vulcan ambassador.
Jean-Luc Picard
Starfleet captain of the Enterprise-E. Picard is the one who recruited Mackenzie Calhoun into Starfleet.
Edward Jellico, 2369

Jellico

Edward Jellico
Starfleet admiral.
D'ndai
Xenexian.
Falkar
Danterian.
Kally
Nickname of Kallinda, Si Cwan's sister.
Morgan Korsmo
Former captain of Excalibur.
Ryjaan
Yoz

Other characters[]

Kristian Ayre
Enterprise-E conn lieutenant.
Barsamis
Trader.
Bragonier
Danteri.
Jack R

Crusher

Jack R. Crusher
Stargazer officer.
Delina
Danteri.
Giniv
Vulcan.
Seth Goddard
Starfleet commander.
Voltak
Selar's late husband.
Krassus
Orion.
Paige
Enterprise-E tactical officer, a lieutenant
Zina

References[]

Calhoun
Xenexian village.
Battle of Condacin
One of a number of military conflicts where M'k'n'zy cemented his role as leader, and liberator, of Xenex.
Danteri
Humanoid species.
Danterian Empire
Government.
Deep Space 5
Federation starbase.
USS Enterprise-E
Federation Sovereign-class starship.
USS Excalibur (NCC-26517)
Ambassador-class starship.
IDIC
katra
USS Grissom
Federation starship.
Mojov Station
Space station.
The Pit
Plains of Seanwin
pon farr
Search for Allways
Sector 221-G
Sector 221-H
Starfleet Academy
USS Stargazer
Thal
Thallon
Thallonian Empire
Government.
Thallonian steed
Thallonian Summit
Vulcan
warhoon
Xenex
Planet.
Xenexian
Humanoid species.

Timeline[]

2353
2363
2373

External link[]


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