Massive computer malfunctions are plaguing the Enterprise™ when Kirk suddenly receives a shocking message from Star Fleet Command: Centaurus has been bombed and annihilated; thousands are dead. Give whatever help you can. Centaurus is a beautiful, peaceful planet, home to many humans -- including McCoy's daughter Joanna. The crew risks beaming down to investigate. But Kirk is thrown into a deadly struggle between violent enemy terrorists and vengeful Centaurians. Now Lt. Uhura, left alone in command, must jeopardize the cripple Enterprise™ to save Centaurus, Kirk -- and Joanna McCoy!
Through four decades, five television series comprising over seven hundred episodes, ten feature films, and an animated series, fandom's thirst for more Star Trek stories has been unquenchable. From the earliest short-story adaptations by James Blish in the 1960s, followed by the first original Star Trek novels during the seventies, and on throughout the eighties, nineties, and into the twenty-first century, fiction has offered an unparalleled expansion of the rich Star Trek tapestry. But what is it that makes these books such a powerfully attractive creative outlet to some and a compelling way to experience the Star Trek mythos anew to others? Voyages of Imagination takes a look back on the first forty years of professionally published Star Trek fiction, revealing the personalities and sensibilities of many of the novels' imaginative contributors and offering an unprecedented glimpse into the creative processes, the growing pains, the risks, the innovations, the missteps, and the great strides taken in the books. Author Jeff Ayers has immersed himself in nearly six hundred books and interviewed more than three hundred authors and editors in order to compile this definitive guide to the history and evolution of an incomparable publishing phenomenon. Fully illustrated with the covers of every book included herein, Voyages of Imagination is indexed by title and author, features a comprehensive timeline, and is a must-have for every fan.
Captain Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise™ match wits with fanatics within the Federation itself as they attempt to stop the commander of a new super-weapon, a dreadnought, from provoking a war with the Klingons. Star Empire is the Federation's most powerful new weapon—a dreadnought, first in a class of super-starships— capable of outgunning a dozen Klingon cruisers, or subduing a galaxy. On the eve of her maiden voyage, Star Empire is stolen by terrorists who demand a rendezvous with the Starship Enterprise™—and with Lieutenant Piper, stationed aboard Kirk's ship on her first training cruise. Now Piper must discover why her friends from Starfleet are among the terrorists...and why they insist the ship was stolen not to attack the Federation—but to save it!
No one on the Enterprise can believe that Mr. Spock is gone... As the crew grieves for Mr. Spock, the awesome Genesis Device, now controlled by the Federation, has transformed an inert nebula into a new planet teeming with life. But Genesis can also destroy existing worlds. The creators of the Device want it given freely to the Galaxy. But Starfleet Command fears that it will become a force for evil. And the enemies of the Federation will not rest until they seize it -- as their most powerful weapon in the battle to conquer the Galaxy!
Exploring a deserted alien spaceship, Lt. Commander Data and Lt. Geordi LaForge suddenly find themselves transported light-years away -- into the prison cell, into the middle of a deadly conflict! While Captain Picard and the crew of the U.S.S. EnterpriseTM search feverishly for the missing crewmen, Data and LaForge discover they are in a station almost identical to the one they were exploring, high in orbit around an Earth-type world. Years before, the occupants of that planet accidentally stumbled onto the ship and its advanced technology -- and since then have used its weapons to keep the nations on the planet below disarmed, and at peace. Now their own arrival has precipitated a crisis on the station. Somehow, Data and LaForge must find a way to restore trust between the planet below and the station's guardians up above -- before a final, destructive war breaks out!
The world Capulon IV is finally ready to join the Federation aften years of waiting. All that remains is the ruler's coronation and a routine signing of the final treaty. When the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise™ and their passengers -- a group of women from a religious order dedicated to helping the downtrodden -- arrive for the event they expect to find a world willing and happy to receicve them. Instead, they encounter deceit and treachery. The crown prince, once excited and eager to join the Federation, now refuses even to speak with Captain Picard. Beaming to the surface in an attempt to work out the problem, Picard, Troi, and Mother Veronica, the abbess of the nuns, are drugged and captured. Now they must somehow excape and stop the crowning. If they cannot prevent it, the King will be omnipotent, with the power to destroy the Starship Enterprise and all of Capulon IV as well...
Captain Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise must ensure the success of a high-stakes royal wedding that has the power to end a civil war, but not everything goes as planned... Isolated for centuries, the exotic Dragon Empires finally ready to join the United Federation of Planets. But first the emperor's eldest son must marry the only daughter of his oldest enemy, bringing to an end decades of civil war. Without the wedding, there can be no peace—and no treaty with the Federation. As honored guests of the Dragon Empire, Captain Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise must ensure that the royal wedding occurs on schedule, despite the Empire's complicated and difficult codes of honor. And Dr. Beverly Crusher finds her loyalties torn when she wins the confidence of the unusually reluctant bride-to-be. More than just a treaty is at stake, for a vicious race of alien conquerors will stop at nothing, from assassination to invasion, to keep the Empire out of the Federation. Picard must now use all his skills to save the Empire...and preserve the Dragon's Honor.
