by:  DAVID MACK

 

 

    A new line of Star Trek based books is now out.  This incarnation in the Trek Universe is this time with a location other then an Star Fleet vessel.  This time the events take place on Starbase 47, also known as Vanguard.

 

    Commanded by Commodore Diego Reyes, a thirty-year veteran of Star Fleet.  With the help of a Vulcan, Lt. Commander T'Prynn, Ambassador Jetanien, a Rigellian Chelon, first glimpsed in STAR TREK:  THE MOTION PICTURE, Lt. Ming Xiong, Dr. Ezekiel Fisher, Chief Medical Officer, Captain Rana Desai, Judge Advicate General's office, Tim Pennington, journalist, Cervantes Quinn, trader, Anna Sandesjo/Lurqal, a diplomatic attache and a Klingon spy, and Ganz, a merchant in illicit trade and smuggling.

    These are the core of VANGUARD.  Their lives will intermingle with each other, some for the good and some for the not-so-good.

    The series begins in 2263, shortly before the promotion of James T. Kirk to Captain of the Enterprise.

 

    At the start a discovery in the Taurus Reach leads the U.S.S. CONSTELLATION,  in the command of Commodore Matt Decker, to take the new discovery, a meta-genome, to STARBASE 47.  VANGUARD.  His crew has been unable to break the meta-genome down for analysis, so it's been determined by STAR FLEET HEADQUARTERS that the meta-genome shoud be placed on the STARBASE for furthe analysis.

 

    Two years later, Captain Kirk and the ENTERPRISE visit VANGUARD for the first, wondering why such a huge base is located so far from STAR FLEET space.  Seems a bit odd to him, especially once he learns that the huge base was constructed in record time.  He figures something might important is happening in the TAURUS REACH for such an event to happen.

    

    He's right.

    

    On an un-named planet in the TARUS REACH Cervantes Quinn is trying to steal an item for Ganz.  The planet is full of vegetation and appears to be uninhabited, but he soon comes across an outpost and realizes something is going on here that's been kept secret for some time.  While attempting to steal the item the local security is alerted, resulting in the damage of the stolen item.  Quinn immediately retreats to his hidden vessel and heads back to the base with his broken prize. Meanwhile the security team has been told to inform T'Prynn of an intruder on the planet, of unknown origin.

 

    The TAURUS REACH is bordered by the THOLIANS, the ORIONS and the KLINGON EMPIRE.  All three believe there is something amiss with STAR FLEET's sudden attention to the area and are determined to find out what that is. Another vessel is dispatched to the area once T'Prynn learns of the theft but once there the U.S.S. BOMBAY is attacked by the THOLIANS and destroyed, with the loss of all hands. Tim Pennington is determined to find the cause of the loss, as well as the loss of his lover, Captain Hallie Gannon who commanded the BOMBAY.  He uncovers what he thinks is a conspiracy, but later learns otherwise. The 'cloak and dagger' of the story continues throughout the book and well into the second of the series, SUMMON The THUNDER, which was released a little over a year later.

    

    To say this is a fast-moving thriller would be an understatement.  More lives are lost, a world is destroyed as well, and many lives are disrupted and marriages lost.  Relationships within the STARBASE are revealed and a traitor is also exposed, but to the reader and not the crew of VANGUARD, and an ancient lifeform is unleashed that might spell the end of not only the lives of the species in neighboring sectors around the TAURUS REACH, but could also possibly mean the end of the VANGUARD, as well.  I guess what really happens is that we're treated to a part of the TREK universe that wouldn't have been possible years ago.

    

    The TREK universe was set on a course that Roddenberry never thought would happen when the DOMINION WAR was unleashed on us.  This is the NEW TREK UNIVERSE!  Let's hope it's here to stay a long time.

 

    In the follow-up to HARBINGER, STAR TREK: VANGUARD, SUMMON THE THUNDER, the crew of the STARBASE and Cervantes Quinn learn more about the meta-genome, the life form that is trying to destroy the very TAURUS REACH itself, but they also learn that Pennington has been caught in a trap that's destroyed his credibility as a journalist.  Pennington joins with Quinn to learn more about the area and what's happening there. Commander Reyes and Desai are found to be lovers and this installment causes a rift between them when they have to go head-to-head at an inquest on the destruction of the BOMBAY. Anna Sandesjo (also Lurqal, a KLINGON SPY) has a lot more revealed about herself, as well as T'Prynn.  You'll be surprised at this one, too!

 

    VANGUARD is slated to return in 2007 and it's a book I'm eagerly waiting for, and I know you will be, too.

 

STAR TREK: VANGUARD, HARBINGER & SUMMON THE THUNDER are published by POCKET BOOKS, a division of SIMON AND SCHUSTER PUBLICATIONS.  Both are available in paperback format for $7.99.

 

I want to express my many thanks to POCKET BOOKS, SIMON AND SCHUSTER and LAUREN ROBINSON, my contact at POCKET BOOKS for graciously allowing me to get advance copies of the TREK line of books for reviewing purposes.

James Farmer, Book Reviewer for The Star Trek Galactic Newsletter (STGN), SyFy Galactic Newsletter (SFGN) & Book Reviewer for Noriega.biz.