A lot of people didn’t want the saga of Star Trek: The Next Generation ever to end; me amongst them. As such I was delighted when I discovered Simon & Schuster’s absorbing series of post-Nemesis novels, and the various sister series and spin-offs that run parallel to them, including the brand new Star Trek: Titan.Like the contemporaneous Next Generation novel Death in Winter, the first Titan adventure takes place shortly after the movie Star Trek: Nemesis and wallows in the political quagmires of the former Romulan Star Empire. The newly-promoted Captain William T Riker, the Enterprise’s erstwhile first officer, has been given command of a new Luna class starship manned by one of the most diverse crews in the history of Starfleet, and charged with a mission of peaceable deep space exploration worthy of Jim Kirk’s original Enterprise. Unfortunately for Riker though, the power vacuum left by Shinzon’s coup and his swift subsequent demise threatens to tear the battle-scarred Alpha Quadrant apart once more, and so before Titan can embark upon its bold new endeavour, its crew must mediate between four inscrutable Romulan factions.
At first I was a little confounded by Michael A Martin and Andy Mangels’ decision to ground their ‘pilot’ adventure not only in the Alpha Quadrant, but in the cumbersome continuity of Nemesis too. To my surprise though, the book’s setting is actually very effective as we are introduced to Titan’s wide-ranging crew safe within our comfort zone - and with Ambassador Spock to hold our hands too. Titan’s crew is so very diverse and so very alien that, had the authors propelled them straight into deep space and thrown fresh alien antagonists at us too, it would probably have been completely overwhelming. Indeed, I fear that even as it is, some readers will struggle to keep up with the litany of fantastic life forms and their unique life support, mobility and / or dietary requirements.
Of the crew, readers will automatically recognise and invest in the ship’s captain and his wife, Deanna Troi, who on Titan has supplemented her customary counselling with recognised diplomatic duties too. The authors do a magnificent job of probing Riker’s uncharacteristic doubts about his first command, many of which centre around his wife; his command decisions concerning her; and how these are perceived by his crew, and particularly his hand-picked but terribly insecure first officer, Christine Vale (one of the Enterprise-E’s many Worf stand-ins). The Enterprise contingent is completed by former Beverly Crusher protégé Alyssa Ogawa, who is fleshed out very well in Taking Wing, the authors painting a picture of a steely war widow and single mother – a far cry from the wide-eyed junior officer that we first met on television.
Tuvok of Voyager fame also features heavily in the book, which sees fit to impart yet even more pain suffering on the grizzled Delta Quadrant survivor. Given what he endures here, I suspect that the series is really going to challenge the Vulcan’s already slender dispassionate veneer. Followers of Deep Space Nine, meanwhile, are appeased by the inclusion of Lieutenant Melora Pazlar, one of Dr Bashir’s more exotic romantic interests – but one of the ship’s most maddening characters.
However, most of the Titan crew is comprised of brand new characters, and there’s not a human being in sight: we have Commander Ranul Keru, an unjoined, homosexual Trill whose partner was killed by Worf following his assimilation by the Borg; Bajoran Lieutenant Commander Jaza Najem, who seems to be an unrequited love interest for Vale; and a lascivious Efrosian engineer by the name of Xin Ra-Havreii. By far the standout new character is the Pahkwa-thanh chief medical officer, Dr Shenti Yisec Eres Ree. The ‘man’ is literally a seven foot sentient tyrannosaur, and he has no qualms about amusing himself by using his imposing appearance and ferocious culinary habits to intimidate his shipmates – and, I dare say, wryly challenge their prejudices into the bargain. Indeed, at its best Taking Wing is a sobering reminder that, for all its holier-than-thou doctrines, after nigh-on a decade of invasions and brutal conflicts many Federation citizens and even Starfleet officers are simply not as broad-minded as they should be. But then, nor was Leonard McCoy, and look how that turned out…
Heavy on politics and character but light on action, Taking Wing is one of the more interesting Star Trek pilots of recent years. Let down only by some occasionally awkward turns of phrase and its television-style curt rundown of its many characters, the Titan’s maiden voyage is one that promises much.
