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Following the adventures of the USS Enterprise-E after Star Trek Nemesis.

Summary

From the Pocket Books catalog
Captain Jean-Luc Picard, his ship repaired, must now reassemble his crew. With the death of Data and the departure of William T. Riker and the ship's counselor, Deanna Troi, the captain must replace his most trusted advisers. He chooses a Vulcan, and for his new first officer, Worf. But the Klingon refuses the promotion and the counselor appears to actively dislike Worf. A simple shake-down mission should settle everything, except the captain hears the familiar song of the Borg Collective. Admiral Janeway is convinced that the Borg have been crushed, but Picard is convinced that she is wrong. But if the Enterprise doesn't act, the entire Federation will be under the domination of its most oppressive enemy.

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

While on course to Repok, Jean-Luc Picard, captain of the Enterprise, encounters several hallucinations - dreaming and hearing the voice of the Borg. While he first tries to wipe them away, as he is busy in assembling his new senior staff after the departure of William T. Riker and Deanna Troi and the death of Data. (Star Trek Nemesis; Taking Wing) He asks Worf to become his first officer, but the Klingon refuses, thinking that after once deciding based on his feelings and not based on orders when saving his late wife Jadzia Dax once, (DS9: "Change of Heart") he doesn't deserve the honor of this position. The new counselor T'Lana, a Vulcan, apparently also thinks so - as she witnessed the death of her captain, which was a direct effect of Worf's decision.

When Picard collapses and again hears the Borg's voice, he understands that they are in the Alpha Quadrant - regrouping, breeding a new Borg Queen and seeking revenge. While he first struggles to understand that the Borg act based on a "feeling", he intuitively knows where they are and that they have to be stopped. However, Admiral Janeway orders him not to do anything until Seven of Nine arrives on the Enterprise; knowing that it will be too late by then, Picard decides to disobey his direct orders. With the exception of T'Lana, who thinks that Picard is relying only on some feelings and formally objects, all of his senior staff follow him.

However, Picard's initial idea fatally fails - an away team under the lead of the new security chief Lionardo Battaglia (who had to kill his friend when he was assimilated by the Borg) is killed, with the exception of Battaglia - the Borg now "kill on sight". Picard, feeling guilty, decides that he has to become Locutus of Borg again, in order to beam to the Borg cube and kill the Queen. Beverly Crusher injects the Borg nanites, but also a neutralizer chip which prevents Picard from being assimilated permanently.

Picard beams to the Borg cube, leaving Worf in command of the Enterprise. The Queen immediately recognizes Locutus and tries to persuade him to stay with her. His attempt to kill her fails, and the Borg extract the neutralizer chip, assimilating Picard anew.

Worf comes up with a bold plan - he separates the saucer section, leaving T'Lana in command, and uses the engine section, equipped with a cloaking device to reapproach the Borg cube and to rescue Picard and finish the mission (after the recent struggles within the Romulan Star Empire, Janeway agreed that the cloaking device indeed can be used).

Together with Dr. Crusher, who has developed some theory on how the Borg breed their Queen and has prepared a neutralizer, conn officer (and newly-appointed chief of security) Sara Nave, who had a relationship with Battaglia and wants to rescue him, and some security officers, Worf beams aboard the Borg cube. After a heavy fight, in which both Nave and the Battaglia-drone are killed, Crusher manages to inject the neutralizer to the Queen, leaving the Borg again without orientation and saving Picard.

Picard is then informed by Janeway that he has to face consequences of his behavior; Worf, feeling that he made the right decisions this time, finally accepts the position of first officer, and he and T'Lana set aside their differences.

Memorable Quotes

INSERT MEMORABLE QUOTES HERE

Background Information

  • Picard still is connected somehow to the Borg and can hear "their voice"
  • The Borg can breed any drone to become a Queen - they use some kind of a "Royal Jelly" for this
  • Worf is now first officer aboard the Enterprise; the new counselor is the Vulcan T'Lana
  • B-4 has been deactivated and sent to the Daystrom Institute
  • Spot, Data's cat, now lives with Worf
  • An excerpt from this novel can be found in the back of the hardcover edition of Death in Winter.
  • This book takes place during Articles of the Federation
  • This Book also takes place after Star Trek Titan: Orion's Hounds

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 Pocket TNG characters.

Regular and recurring characters

Jean-Luc Picard
Captain of the USS Enterprise-E
Worf
First officer of the Enterprise
Beverly Crusher
Chief medical officer aboard the Enterprise
Geordi La Forge
Chief engineer aboard the Enterprise
T'Lana
Counselor on the Enterprise
Sara Nave
Late conn and Security chief on the Enterprise
Leonardo Battaglia
Late security chief on the Enterprise
Borg Queen
Re-bred and again killed (or rather turned back to a regular drone)
Kathryn Janeway
Starfleet admiral
Seven of Nine (mentioned)
Former Borg drone

References

USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-E)
Template:ShipClass
Borg
Human
Klingon
Vulcan
Borg Collective
United Federation of Planets
Federation Starfleet

External link

  • Template:NCwiki


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