"A Time to Be Born" is the first in a series of nine TNG novels to be published in 2004, set between the events of Star Trek: Insurrection and Star Trek: Nemesis. Tacitly, the book's blurb acknowledges what fans have known to be the case since Nemesis was released in cinemas: that the number of unanswered questions as to Picard's crew was both frustrating and altogether disrespectful. Why was Wesley Crusher back? What had made Riker and Troi decide to get married, beyond their renewed infatuation on the Ba'ku planet? Why was Worf once again in a Starfleet uniform? What had convinced Beverly to take up the post of Head of Starfleet Medical? Why was Data all of a sudden minus his emotion chip, seemingly negating all of the progress the character had made in the past decade? The "A Time to..." series promises to answer these questions, over the course of nine months, until "A Time for War, A Time for Peace" is published in October. In doing so, it will be providing a service to Trek fans - a courtesy which Nemesis' production crew seemed not to think they owed us.
The series opens on a dead world. A woman claws the lifeless earth of her home planet, which has been scourged by the evil of the Dominion War. In keeping with the end of DS9 and the picture we've come to expect of the late 24th century, the Alpha Quadrant is a troubled realm; people and races are traumatised, and whole societies are undergoing periods of introspection as they consider whether they have truly made any advances at all during their spacefaring lifetimes. Into this mix is delivered a face which we have not seen for many years: Wesley Crusher. Since his departure from the Trek universe in the seventh season Next Gen episode "Journey's End", Wesley has been training to become a Traveller. He has been forced to accept the precepts of that race: namely, that while they record and observe, they must never interfere, even if they could prevent a catastrophe or loss of life. Naturally, a human finds this difficult to accept, and one of the things that we come to realise about young Mr Crusher in this novel is that, despite all the years of instruction, he retains his essential idealism and loyalty to his family and friends. He goes through the pain of a (superbly realised) "birthing" ceremony to become a fully-fledged Traveller, but the final test of his skills - a look into a prophetic pool which depicts the destruction of the Enterprise - is too much for him. By the novel's end, he will stand ready to break the oaths he has recently sworn and rejoin humanity, perhaps without hope of redemption.
The Enterprise, meanwhile, has been assigned to the Rashanar Battle Site, a godforsaken region blighted by the wreckage of one of the most destructive battle of the Dominion conflict. Hundreds upon hundreds of ships were destroyed in the region, resulting in the warping of space-time and any number of inexplicable (and unpredictable) anomalies. A thin Starfleet task force, alongside local Federation members the Ontailians, is attempting to retrieve the dead, and Enterprise begins by trying to recover the crew of the Galaxy-class U.S.S. Asgard. Of itself, of course, this is a reminder of more destruction - that of the Enterprise-D at Veridian III - and Picard once again becomes melancholy as he surveys the extent of the damage. This is not a cheery, optimistic text. There are rumours that Rashanar is haunted, and there are several phenomena inside "the boneyard" - antimatter asteroids, vortices, arcs of energy - that defy scientific analysis. Then, of course, there are the wrecks of gallant and powerful ships, locked together ina silent dance. For some unknown reason, every single ship fought to the death rather than surrender.
The recovery of Asgard's crew is interrupted by Androssi scavengers (a neat crossover with the Starfleet Corps of Engineers series) who manage to steal the Captain's Yacht (those things are cursed). From there, events spiral out of control, despite all attempts to regain the initiative. The lead Starfleet ship in the area, Juno, is repeatedly damaged; Picard's competence is called into question both by the Juno's abrasive captain and by Admiral Ross at Starfleet Command; and when Geordi and Data are sent after the missing yacht, they are incapacitated - and both face death.
It is at this point that the novel comes into its own. Geordi and Data disover two identical Captain's Yachts, and as they move closer to investigate, their shuttle loses all power. Data shuts down too, and Geordi falls unconscious. Some time later, Data awakes to find himself outside the shuttlecraft, floating in space. Malfunctioning, he experiences several moments from his past as his memory tries to repair itself - before he is confronted by the thing which is menacing Rashanar. A vessel approaches and probes an Ontailian vessel, before assuming its form. The original Ontailian vessel then self-destructs. The next time Data comes to, he is spiralling into the vortex at the centre of the boneyard, before he is rescued by an Androssi vessel. When he returns to the Enterprise, he warns them of the "mimic ship" - which then approaches. Taking Data at his word, Picard orders the ship destroyed - which results in the Ontailians assaulting and destroying the Juno. Fleeing the site, Enterprise returns to Starfleet Headquarters, where Picard is relieved of command and a court-martial scheduled. Watching it all from another dimension, Wesley can soon take no more and returns to Earth, revealing his presence to his mother and promising "to save the Enterprise".
I was not a fan of John Vornholt's "Gemworld" Next Gen novels, but I am happy to say that I enjoyed "A Time to Be Born" immensely. Vornholt is completely at ease with the TNG crew, and manages effortlessly to bring Wesley back into the fold; indeed, this may be the most interesting that Mr Crusher has ever been, and I'm looking forward to seeing how he puts his Traveller powers to use on unsuspecting Starfleet bureaucrats. The Rashanar Battle Site indeed lives up to its ghoulish reputation, and the mournful atmosphere the author creates to describe it is evocative. Meanwhile, every senior staff member - and some guest stars from Insurrection, such as Trill lieutenant Perim - get ample 'screen time', with no-one neglected.
As with the Voyager relaunch novels, occasionally one does a metaphorical double-take as the Starfleet brass seem to forget exactly what life is like for those on the front line, out in the void. Admiral Ross in particular seems a little too ready to criticise Captain Picard - who, let's not forget, saved the whole of humanity just a few years ago by travelling back in time to stop the Borg's assimilation of the 21st century. Whether this can be ascribed to the fact that by now he's a wearied war leader is debatable. But this is nitpicking. "A Time to Be Born" is a solid start for what promises to be an entertaining series - and Pocket is to be congratulated for giving us some of the answers that we were so sorely denied by those running the televisual franchise. It seems that Nemesis was not "a generation's final journey" after all - and this reader is glad of the fact. |
