Review/Summary by Tom Sharp
Star Trek: Gateways – What Lay Beyond is the final book of a seven book series. And it’s a hardcover novel, while the other six were paperbacks, which may keep quite a few folks from buying it until next year, which I think is truly a shame. Though I think that only two of the stories within the book are fitting finales, the entire book is a good, solid read. And it’s quick, too, only taking me a couple of days to get it finished.
There are six authors credited the novel - Diane Carey, Peter David, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Christi Golden, Robert Greenberger and Susan Wright. Each of them wrote the finales for the stories they started in the paperbacks.
Star Trek ‘One Giant Leap’
Written by Susan Wright, this novel picks up with Captain James Kirk going through a gateway with the Petraw Commander Tasm and Luz. From a Kalandan outpost to the Petraw homeworld deep in the Beta Quadrant in just a few seconds, Kirk is quickly taken into custody as a violent intruder. Tasm is rewarded for bringing the new technology to the Petraw, and is given the honor of joining the birthing chamber while Luz is set to be executed for being defective. Turns out that Tasm took the credit for bringing the device to the Petraw.
It doesn’t take Kirk long to figure out how to escape, and he is even able to pose as a Petraw for a few days. He tracks Luz down and rescues her before she is thrown off a cliff. Together they evade capture and track down the gateway technology. Both travel from the Petraw’s world to Starfleet Headquarters on Earth, thinking that the device was destroyed by Kirk’s overloaded phaser.
But, before Kirk rejoins the Enterprise, Luz warns him that they haven’t heard the last from her people.
It should be pointed out that each of the stories is only about forty pages long, except for the Star Trek: The Next Generation segment, which is about a hundred pages. I have only read a couple of Susan Wright’s novels, but she doesn’t seem impressive to me in either installment to the Gateways series. One Small Step didn’t get the ‘voice’ of the characters, and ‘One Giant Leap’ is too short to truly appreciate, but it does set up the Petraw return a hundred years later.
Star Trek: Challenger ‘Exodus’
Written by Diane Carey, it continues the story told in Chainmail, focussing on Commander Nick Keller of the Challenger. He took a small alien ship into a gateway from the Occult star system and wound up in an alternate dimension, where a joint colony of former enemies had set up a life on an all-metal planet, with no real life on it at all.
To mess things up, the gateway in the occult system is being held open by the energy from semi-animated corpses, and there is a time distortion. Keller spent a year on in the alternate dimension, but only thirty hours passed for his crew. Freaky, huh?
Well, the Living (the folks around Keller) think that their Elders died, since they were gone so long. So, new Elders were ‘chosen’ by random chance. Keller crashed on the planet and was nursed back to health by one of them, and fell in love with her, sort of. He has convinced most of them that it’s time to leave their black and white existence and travel to the stars through the gateway. While they are preparing for the final hunt that will give them the energy to go, Elder Luntee returned from the Occult system. He ordered Keller to return and leave them alone, because he was overwhelmed and frightened by the ‘real’ universe. This caused a rift between the Elders, and a unique and frightening showdown was put into effect. Keller’s girlfriend, Keller and Luntee would have to stand out so that the energy creatures they hunted could feed on them. The one chosen would not be the voice heard. Of course, Keller rigged a way to save his girl, but Luntee used that against him. When Luntee was chosen to be the creature’s dinner, Keller saved him and took control of the Living, and led them through the gateway back to the Occult system in the final hour.
Ah, but what about Zane Bonifay, the crewman who disobeyed an order and was to be put to death? Well, Keller makes a rather surprising decision about that one, but really, it was the only decision he could make.
I’ll be honest - I like the Challenger stuff. It offers a new perspective on a familiar timeframe, since it is set around the same time as Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I look forward to the next novel Diane Carey adds to this part of the Star Trek universe, and really hope it isn’t as confusing as ‘Chainmail’ was.
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine ‘Horn and Ivory’
Written by Keith R.A. DeCandido, this is the latest installment to the Deep Space Nine Relaunch. And it is a Colonel Kira story, dealing with how she comes to grips with her new responsibilities of command and the losses she has gone through since the end of the Dominion War.
When Kira stepped through the gateway in the Delta Quadrant, she didn’t choose to return to Deep Space Nine, which was one of her two options. Instead she chose the blinding white light she thought belonged to the Prophets. And with that, she was transported back in time thirty thousand years, to a Bajor that is still suffering from wars and not yet aware of the Prophets.
Kira serves in an army under the command of General Torrna. They are a group of rebels against the oppressive Lerrit Army, fighting for their independence. After the battle is won, the newly formed Perrikian Republic makes an alliance with the Endtree, so that their port can be protected by the strong navy against the Lerrit. Torrna is assigned as a liason between the navy and the republic, and he takes Kira with him. Torrna is against the alliance at first, but the Endtree admiral gains his respect in battle and tactics. And over time, Torrna and Kira are captured by the Lerrit, who have made an alliance with the Bajora, a unifying force on the planet. The two escape with the help of a Perrikian spy, and when they return to their people, Torrna learns that his family was killed, and cannot handle the responsibility of leadership. Kira forces him to live up to his place now that he is the only leader left, despite the losses he has suffered.
Then, she finds a gateway. She realized that the Prophets sent her to that time to come to grips with her own place in the universe. When Kira stepped through the gateway, she found an Iconian, who told her that the Iconian had much respect for the race that looked out over her worlds. The Iconian custodian helped deal with the radiation around Europa Nova, and returned the Runabout Euphrates to the Alpha Quadrant, since Kira left it blocking the antimatter waste in the Delta Quadrant.
The Iconian then returns Kira to Deep Space Nine, where the crew thought she was dead and gone, based on Taran’atar’s condition after his fight with an Alpha Hirogen. And for the first time since Benjamin Sisko ascended to the Celestial Temple, Colonel Kira Nerys truly takes command of the station he left behind.
I really loved this story. I read it first out of all of them, since it was the one I was looking forward to the most. Keith R.A. DeCandido did a fantastic job with Demons of Air and Darkness, and he does not disappoint with ‘Horn and Ivory’. While it does not answer the some of the questions raised in the paperback, it does bring Kira back into the limelight, which is always a good thing, since she was one of the ‘big three’ of the series. The character had been dealt with blow after blow of pain and loss, and the Prophets looked out and saved her from her own misery, much as they did for Sisko on the series. And maybe I’m looking too much into it, but I liked the baseball solution, as well. Read it, remember your history, and you’ll know that Kira will succeed as the commander of Deep Space Nine.
Star Trek: Voyager ‘In the Queue’
Written by Christie Golden, this picks up with Captain Kathryn Janeway taking Fluffy/Barkley back into a black gateway to an unknown fate. Turns out, it took her to the bridge of the Enterprise-E, but not really. She was taken back in time to her life as a Starfleet cader, but not really. She was an aged admiral speaking to cadets years after Voyager made it back home, giving a lecture on the Borg, but not really. The black doorway led from the Delta Quadrant to the Q Continuum. Yes, really.
Turns out that Q’s son, q, created the small gateway that Paris and Torres found in the first place, and Fluffy/Barkley was the kid’s mortal pet. Q thanked ‘Auntie’ Kathy for returning his son’s beloved mutt. He also explained how the Iconians got the gateway technology to begin with – it was all the Q’s fault, but told in a more than interesting way that helps to put some of the Q’s power into perspective.
Q also told Janeway that her leading the convoy of lost ships was not random chance, he sent them to her on purpose, due to her experience of leading the lost back home. To repay Janeway for bring the mutt back, he agrees to get the other ships back home. Before he can make the offer to Janeway, she refuses, because she doesn’t want to be indebted to the Q.
So, most of the ships choose to return to their home. But, the Todanians and their former slaves, the V’enah decide to stay on the planet that once had the gateway. And The Ones Who Shall Not Be Named remained with them rather than return home. After the ships had all gone their separate ways, Seven reported to Janeway that No Man’s Land no longer had the obstacles it once did and that they would be able to make a straight shot through the region of space, thanks to Q, taking a few more months off their own return home.
And the Hirogen didn’t leave empty handed, either.
I bought No Man’s Land because I think that Christie Golden is the best writer to capture the voice of the Voyager crew. I still think that, but the full novel was a disappointment and ‘In the Queue’ was as well, giving a standard VOY-esque explanation – blame Q! I just hope that this is just the exception that proves the rule about Ms. Golden, and I am almost looking forward to the first novel of the Voyager Relaunch, Homecoming, due out in 2003.
Star Trek: New Frontier ‘Death After Life’
Written by Peter David, we pick up with Captain Mackenzie Calhoun, who carried his wife, Captain Elizabeth Paula Shelby into a gateway, going from a frozen wasteland to the dry heat of a desert planet. Calhoun takes a bit to come to, in pain and having trouble breathing. He hears his dead father’s voice and gets up, only to fall back to ground, cracking his head on a rock and dying.
Calhoun wakes up in pain and having trouble breathing. He thinks about his father for some reason, and is able to get up, slowly. Shelby comes to, as well and Calhoun realizes that they are on Xenex, his home planet. He sees a stone fortress called a Keep in the distance and the two head for it. On the way there, a battle breaks out with the two Starfleet captains caught between sides. The enemies behind them launch some flaming slag towards the Keep, and it gets Calhoun and Shelby where they stand, killing them.
Calhoun and Shelby are heading across the desert plain for the Keep when a battle breaks out. They get caught in the path of some flaming slag, but they manage to outrun it this time. Xenexian warriors from the Keep charge the couple, and Calhoun tries to fight them off as best he can, but he is mortally wounded. And then Shelby is run through. As they die, Calhoun’s father welcomes them to Kaz’hera just as the sun set on them.
Turns out that Kaz’hera is the Xenex version of the afterlife. If you live long enough to see a sunset, then you get an eternity of sunrises. Calhoun’s father thinks his son has gone soft after his years with Starfleet, and he isn’t too impressed with his daughter-in-law, either. And since it is the afterlife, Calhoun expected to find his son, Xyon, and begins to think that maybe the young man isn’t really dead after all. Both Shelby and Calhoun die several more times before deciding to try to get back to the gateway and return to reality.
It takes them several times to try, but they kept getting rundown by warriors on horseback. But, after a few attempts, they make it through and return to the ice planet, only to be rescued by one of the Excalibur’s shuttles, with Lieutenant Mark McHenry at the helm and Doctor Selar onboard.
As always, Peter David delivers a good story, if a bit repetitive. The repetition serves a purpose, of course. But, it didn’t make sense to me that a gateway would take them to an afterlife, but what the hell, why not? After all, it took Keller to another dimension. And, it fits in with the other larger-than-life aspects of Mister David’s New Frontier series. And for those curious, I think this is the honeymoon on Xenex mentioned in Star Trek: New Frontier #12 Being Human.
Star Trek: The Next Generation ‘The Other Side’
Written by Robert Greenberger, this picks up with Captain Picard and his stepping through a gateway on a Petraw ship to meet the descendants of the legendary Iconians, leaving Commander Riker on the Enterprise-E to deal with the joint fleet and the Petraw prisoners. Picard meets the Sentries, who have been monitoring Starfleet activity since the first gateway was reactivated during Captain Kirk’s first five-year mission. Picard wants to know how to shut them down, and so the Sentries send him to the last planet the Iconians settled on before leaving the Alpha Quadrant, to find the Master Resonator.
Meanwhile, Riker has to deal with Captain Brisbayne of the damaged Mercury and the hostilities among the alliance. And worry about Picard. And talk to Troi, who was in command of the Marco Polo. And deal with the destruction of a Deltan ship.
Picard arrives on the Iconian’s last home planet, and finds a backward civilization that has no clue about the advanced technology they carry around as weapons and use as decorations over their huts’ doors. And they consider Picard to be a Young God. Well, the simple folks tell Picard of a city, and Picard decides to go there to find the resonator. On his way there, he finds a man trapped under a cart of hay, surrounded by his helpless family. Picard helps them, and they give him supplies and more directions to the city. Picard also gains a follower, a young man named Chanik.
The two travel on, and find a farmer. Picard and the farmer exchanged ideas about farming technique and how to make better wine. They eat with the farmer, and head on for the city. On the way, they encounter two thieves. Picard tries to reason with them, but they refuse, and so he has to fight them. After he leaps a branch and kicks butt, he tells the two thieves about the farmer, and how he may exchange food and shelter in return for some work from the two.
As they approach the city, Picard finds a young woman being beaten by her husband while a naked child lay crying. The husband believed the woman to be unfaithful, and was punishing her for it. Picard kicked butt again, and explained how laws should work to protect the innocent, not punish those believed guilty.
When Picard and Chanick get to the city, it is an abandoned, sky-scraping wonder overgrown with weeds. They began the search for the resonator, but no energy readings are picked up by the tricorder Picard has with him. During the night, Picard has a breakthrough and devises a map based on designs from other Iconian-esque cultures. The next day, they find fourteen resonators in the basement of one building, along with one gateway. Picard leaves his supplies of food and water with Chanick and asks him to be ready with one of the resonators, and he travels through the gateway to the bridge of the Enterprise.
The resonators are passed out among several ships, including the Defiant, the Excalibur-A, the Hood, the Trident, the T’Kumbra, and the IKS Gorkon. Each resonator is placed on a gateway control, with Picard putting his on the controls last. A face appears to him, and he is told that he has the power to deactivate the gateway network, and he has the power to reactivate the gateways if he chooses to do so.
This was the final story in the book, as well as the longest. Like the paperback Doors Into Chaos, it has cameos from several DS9-related characters, like Admiral Ross, Captain Solok, Commander Vaughn, Ambassador Worf, Lieutenant Nog and Ensign ch’Thane. And it was nice for the mention of Captain Klag and the Gorkon, a ship and crew put together by writer Keith R.A. DeCandido. This was my second favorite of the book, even though Picard’s walk to the city reminded me of stories from the bible, especially the stoning of the adulterous woman. But, maybe that was just me.
Overall, I would say that Star Trek: Gateways – What Lay Beyond is a pretty good book, not the best hardcover out there, but certainly not the worst. And while I had hoped that the crews would have more interaction, I found it understandable that they didn’t, since the first two books were independent of each other, and Voyager is so far removed from everyone else.
Another nice thing about the hardcover, it has a timeline of every Star Trek story from Pocket Books put together by the Timeline Gang - David Bowling, Johan Ciamaglia, Ryan J. Cornelius, James R. McCain, Alex Rosenzweig, Paul T. Semones, and Corey W. Tacker, with David Henderson of the Psi Phi site and Lee Jamilkowski. I looked it over, and this looks like it took quite a bit of time to put together, and it includes every book, ebook, short story, and comic Pocket Books has published. That’s impressive.
Star Trek: Gateways
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