Star Trek: The Next Generation: Crossover by Michael Jan Friedman

[Newman]

Chapter 21

Summary: Picard met in the observation lounge with Worf, Beverly Crusher, Troi, and Leonard McCoy. He informed them that he had received word from Riker that the three of them were okay and that they located and rescued Scotty. Picard also received word that the four of them were now heading to Constanthus to retrieve Spock. After some debate, Captain Picard gave orders to separate the saucer section from the rest of the ship because they were heading into Romulan space to rescue everyone.

Governor Tharrus arrived at the courtyard where the prisoners were being held. It was the day of their execution. The governor decided on hanging as the method of death because it offered the most impact. He was still deeply interested in discovering who Spock was, after all, Spock was his ticket to a higher and more powerful political office. He was confident that one of the prisoners would reveal the identity of Spock, but none of them did. Even in the face of death.

Just as the first execution was to take place, Eragian beamed into the courtyard, followed by his entourage. He and Tharrus argued over who should take Spock into custody and ultimately Tharrus detained Erganian and his men. No one could figure out who had more authority under the circumstances, not that anyone cared. Both men wanted the credit for the capture.

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Opinion: This is classic Romulan behavior, which isn't much different that human behavior. My question is, if Tharrus is so bent on learning who Spock is, why not give it some more time? It's not like it would be terrible to simply imprison the captives until more intelligence becomes available. Eventually Spock's identity will be revealed. The Romulan Empire obviously has intelligence on the Federation.

Also, I wonder why the future technology of Star Trek doesn't include body cams. If it did, the proconsul's ship could see that the proconsul was in trouble and beam them back aboard. 20th century earth has body cam technology. Strange how 24th century space exploration technology doesn't.

 

[Newman]

Chapter 22

Summary: With all the confusion in the courtyard between Eragian and Tharrus, Spock thought it was time for an escape attempt. He punch one of the Romulan guards in the face, knocking him out. Spock stole the guard's disruptor and fired at Eragian's feet in an attempt to create more confusion and a firefight between his and Tharrus' guards. His trick worked and the two groups of men began firing at one another. In the midst of the melee, Spock ran for it towards the exit of the courtyard. Skrasis followed him and blocked a shot at Spock, taking on the injury himself. Eventually, the firing stopped and all of the prisoners were taken captive once again.

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Opinion: This was a short chapter and I'm not sure it's a consequential one. It was good to see Spock throw his passivity to the wind and go for an escape. Even if they didn't make it, it's better to die from a disruptor shot to the back than the gallows. Ultimately, the prisoners succeeded at neither, ending up where they began.

 

[Newman]

Chapter 23

Summary: As Spock was lying on the ground, caring for Skrasis, he was provoked by a Romulan guard. The guard insisted that Spock get to his feet. As Spock refused in defiance, he realized that he had been transported to the Yorktown where he was surprised to see Captain Scott at the transporter controls. Scotty also transported the remaining prisoners aboard the Yorktown as well.

Eragian was the only of his entourage to make it off Constanthus alive. All of his guards were killed in the firefight between him and Tharrus. He was now safe on the Romulan warbird called the Vengeance. Moments after he gave the command to transport Tharrus and all of his men as prisoners into a cargo bay on the ship, one of his crew members discovered Scotty's transporter beam and began searching for the Yorktown. It was cloaked, but Eragian and his crew were doing their best to locate it. As it was, they didn't know from whom the transporter originated.

Once all of the prisoners were on board the Yorktown, Riker gave Georgi the command to go to warp eight to remove themselves from harm's way. Since Scotty had done some modifications to the ship, he suggested warp 8.5, which they successfully took advantage of. It didn't take long for the warbirds to locate the Yorktown though and the crew of the Yorktown realized they'd have to fight to survive and escape. While the warbirds were pursuing the Yorktown, Spock gave the order to drop from warp. The ship dropped and the warbirds flung past at their warp speeds. Then the Yorktown when back to warp and launched two photon torpedoes, striking two warbirds and incapacitating their weapons banks.

As the crew of the Yorktown continued their attempted escape from Romulan territory, they realized that the ship was losing speed, apparently because of the stressful maneuvers they subjected their ship to. They were forced to cut non-essential systems to save power. Still, the dropped from warp eight to seven to six and so on. Eventually, the Romulans caught up to them and began launching photon torpedoes at them. They were sitting ducks.

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Opinion: Things are beginning to get exciting. It's some bad luck that the Yorktown began losing power because if it hadn't, they may have been able to make a clean escape at warp 8.5. It would have taken too long for the warbirds to catch them and the Yorktown would have made it to Federation space before they did. But now, they may very well be destroyed because of the ship's malfunction.

The rescue has essentially been completed, as Spock and Scotty are on board the Yorktown, but if you think about it, now many more people have been nearly captured. It all depends on what the Romulans intend to do with them. Will they kill them and blow the Yorktown out of space or will they board the ship or transport the Federation officers over to the warbirds? Perhaps the Romulans won't take as kindly this time as they had previously.

 

[Newman]

Chapter 24

Summary: The Enterprise made it to the Yorktown and saw that the Yorktown was barely holding on. It had sustained heavy damage from the warbird's photon torpedoes. To protect the Yorktown, the Enterprise positioned itself between the warbirds and it. This bought some time. And since two of the three warbirds had already sustained damage to their weapons banks, the Enterprise focused on the third. They accomplished their goal of inflicting damage on the final warbird, but in doing so, they sustained heavy damage themselves. And just as the second volley of phasers and torpedoes was complete, three additional warbirds arrived. Fresh and ready for a firefight. Captain Picard knew the Enterprise couldn't fight any longer. The fighting was over.

Proconsul Eragian was on the center screen talking to Picard. Eragian instructed Picard to lower the Enterprise's shields to allow the Romulans to board. Directly after that instruction, McCoy asked Picard if he could attempted something with Eragian, which Picard allowed. Shortly thereafter, McCoy suggested that the Romulans allow the Enterprise to leave and head back to Federation space. The Romulan rejected that idea. Then, McCoy informed Eragian that if the Romulans destroyed the Enterprise, it would likely result in a war between the Federation and the Romulan empire. With the Stugg knocking at the Romulan's door from another direction, McCoy suggested that it wasn't in Eragian's best interest to begin a new war with the Federation. Eragian saw the wisdom of the idea and agreed to escort both the Enterprise and the Yorktown back to the Neutral Zone.

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Opinion: Well, it appeared that the Enterprise and the Yorktown were finished, but McCoy came to the rescue. I'm glad he did too because that's a huge victory for him. After the beating he had given himself for screwing things up the first time, he was able to redeem himself. At 150 years old, that's important.

It appears that the mission has been accomplished. Everyone has been rescued. The only loser in all this would be Tharrus. He lost his prisoners and now he'll eventually have to deal with Proconsul Eragian. This may cause more internal strife within the empire. That'll have to be the topic for another book though.

 

[Newman]

Chapter 25

Summary: Spock, Scotty, and McCoy reunited on the Enterprise bridge of the Yorktown. It was in tatters. The three discussed the capture of Spock and Scotty and talked about how McCoy's creativity allowed for their escape. They also discussed how Scotty had managed to survive being locked inside a transporter beam for 75 years.

On the Enterprise D, Picard expressed admiration of the three elder gentlemen who were in the midst of their reunion aboard the Yorktown. He admired their camaraderie. After that, he and Riker enjoyed a drink with Guinan. The three of them discussed Scotty's theft of the Yorktown and Picard informed them that because he pulled a few strings at Starfleet, Scotty won't face any charges.

Back on the Yorktown again, Spock informed his two friends that he intended to return to Romulus to continue with his effort to reunify both the Vulcans and the Romulans. Scotty and McCoy were surprised by this news, but Spock explained that he wanted his legacy to include his work with the unificationists and that he wanted to leave the galaxy a better place than when he found it.

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Opinion: Overall, I think this was a good story. I must say that I was surprised by Spock's revelation that he would be returning to Romulus. For one, I can't believe that Romulus doesn't have any facial recognition technology, so I wonder how he'll get away with being on the planet and not getting caught. Two, I wonder why he cares so much about reuniting two peoples who have no desire to be reunited. It's almost as if he's attempting to make a noble cause out of nothing. Spock, no one cares about being reunited. Drop it. Go find a beach somewhere and live out your days. That's my opinion anyway. Good book though. One of the better Star Trek books I've read.