Review/Summary by Tom Sharp
ST: DS9 Mission: Gamma – Twilight is the first relaunch novel since last year’s ST: DS9 Gateways – Demons of Air and Darkness. Twilight is a huge paperback, with about two hundred thousand words over five hundred and four pages in really small type. That’s very cool, in my opinion. What makes it even cooler is that Twilight is written by David R. George III – Armin Shimerman’s co-author for ST: DS9 # 23 – The 34th Rule. The third part of the coolness factor is the cover art for the book, which has Trier the Dabo Girl (introduced in Demons...), Elias Vaughn (introduced in ST: DS9 Avatar), and series regular Quark.
The story itself starts out with a bang, picking up three days after the events of ST: DS9 Gateways – Demons of Air and Darkness and its concluding short story Horn and Ivory, which was published in ST: Gateways – What Lay Beyond. The Defiant is under attack from the Jarada and can’t fight back. The ship takes some heavy damage, and pilot Prynn Tenmei is very nearly killed during the attack when the helm explodes. Thanks to some desperation on the crew’s part, and the cloaking device that the ship still has, they are able to escape the Jarada and make sure the convey of Europani refugees isn't attacked.
Back on the station, the Colonel Kira Nerys is surprised by the early arrival of the USS Mjolnir, named for Thor’s hammer. Starfleet Admiral Leonard James Akaar, a character born in the original series episode ‘Friday’s Child.’ Seems that baby that Kirk, Spock, and McCoy risked their lives to protect became a highly placed admiral. The reason for Akaar’s arrival at Deep Space Nine is unclear, but he has a barrage of questions for Kira about the relief efforts for the Cardassians since the Dominion War and the effects of the Europani evacuation.
Elsewhere on the station, Quark and Ro are spending time together in his almost empty bar. As a sign of how bad his business is going, Morn isn’t even sitting on his stool!
As the Defiant undergoes repairs, Akaar and Federation Council member Charivretha zh’Thane head for Bajor, and conduct meetings with First Minister Shakaar. Several weeks go by as repairs are made, orders are issued and wounds are healed.
On the eve of the three-month mission into the Gamma Quadrant, Commander Vaughn and Ensign Thirishar ch’Thane both receive visitors. Vaughn’s old friend Akaar arrives at his quarters (after a very humorous search for them) to replace the Defiant’s pilot with the alpha shift pilot from the Gryphon, but Vaughn convinces him not to do it. When Shar goes to zh’Thane’s quarters, he is met by his three bond mates from Andor – Anichent, Dizhei, and Thriss. Zh’Thane brought them to the station in an attempt to keep Shar from going into the Gamma Quadrant.
After a slight delay, the mission into the Gamma Quadrant begins, and the crew of the Defiant being their three month exploration of non-Dominion territory. Their first encounter is with the Vahni Vahltupali, a race that communicate through flashes of color over their skin. Thanks to contact with other speaking races, the Vahni had equipment the crew could wear to translate for them. After spending a few days with the Vahni, an energy pulse brushes past the Defiant in orbit, hits the moon, and causes a major quake on the surface of the planet. Before the Vahni can mourn their losses, the crew of the Defiant have to save them from the pieces of their own moon. After loosing one of their crew, Commander Vaughn decides to trace the pulse to its source before it destroys the Vahni.
Back on the station, ambassadors from several Federation worlds arrive to attend a summit that will determine Bajor’s future.
On the planet, Kasidy Yates learns that the Ohalu text Kira released to the public is still causing arguments among the members of the Vedek Assembly.
And changes abound at Quark’s on the Promenade – a new employee is hired by Trier and Ro’s visits become more infrequent.
Back in the Gamma Quadrant, the source of the pulse is found – a lifeless planet surrounded by clouds of energy. As the Defiant crew try to find a solution to the Vahni crisis, Vaughn takes a small team down in a shuttle to track the pulses to their source...
...and Shakaar announces some shocking news in the Alpha Quadrant!
So, this is the first of the four Mission: Gamma novels. Since it is part of a series, the Defiant does not get back to the station and the summit on the station continues. With Twilight, David R. George III shows that he doesn’t need to share credit with a television star to write an incredible book. The characterizations are spot-on for all of the crew, especially the folks we know from the television series. A minor nit I had included a scene where Quark jumped up to click his heels. That was a definitely a “what the hell?” moment. There were a couple of others, scattered throughout the book. The story also has some very funny moments, and they too are scattered through the story. Fans of Taran'atar and Vaughn get even more information about both - a new aspect to Taran'atar's training holo-programs and more about Vaughn's eighty year history in Starfleet. Another plus of the story, in my opinion, was that each chapter tended to focus on just one character, instead of just gaps between setting changes. That makes it a lot easier to find a place to put your bookmark, if you can put the book down – which I had to do quite a bit, since I was reading at work.
Now, for the major nit I had, and it goes along with Mr. George’s previous writing credit - The 34th Rule. So far, the books of the DS9 Relaunch have stuck with canon established by the television series, except for the events of ST: DS9 #27 – A Stitch in Time - the letter Garak wrote to Julian Bashir was being read by the doctor in ST: DS9 Avatar, Book One. The stories from TNG Dominion Wars Books One & Three (Picard and Ro are reunited during the Dominion War) and ST: DS9 #20 – The Wrath of the Prophets (the Maqui rebel Ro Laren arrives at the station to help Kira with a crisis) were both ignored. But with Twilight, I counted three references to the events of The 34th Rule, which is the story of Bajor going to the brink of war with the Ferengi to get an orb that Grand Nagus Zek had in his possession, with Quark and Rom getting caught in the middle. Anyone who hasn’t read that book may get lost whenever those references pop up during the novel. Even though for me, that is a major nitpick, it is overshadowed by the great parts of the book.
Some really good news for fans of Mr. George’s writing – he will be the author of one of the six Star Trek: The Lost Era novels, which will be released one a month, beginning in August 2003. The really good news for fans of the DS9 Relaunch is that Mission: Gamma This Gray Spirit by Heather Jarman became available at the same time as Twilight, and Cathedral, the third novel in the series, is coming in October.
Deep Space Nine Mission: Gamma Novels
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