by David Mack
Wistfully, Beverly asked, “What will you do in a universe without the Borg, Jean-Luc?”
He didn’t answer right away. It was not a glib question.
Squeezing her hand in his firm but gentle grip, he met her reflected gaze in the window and said, “I’ll hope that our son is born healthy.… I’ll hope that we can be good parents.… I’ll hope that he can grow up in a galaxy of peace.”
He regarded his own reflection with a smile.
“I’ll hope.”
Terminat hora diem, terminat auctor opus.
APPENDIX I
2156
Featured Crew Members
Columbia NX-02
Captain Erika Hernandez
(human female) commanding officer
Commander Veronica Fletcher
(human female) executive officer
Lieutenant Commander Kalil el-Rashad
(human male), second officer/science officer
Lieutenant Karl Graylock
(human male) chief engineer
Lieutenant Johanna Metzger
(human female) chief medical officer
Lieutenant Kiona Thayer
(human female) senior weapons officer
Ensign Sidra Valerian
(human female) communications officer
Major Stephen Foyle
(human male) MACO commander
Lieutenant Vincenzo Yacavino
(human male) MACO second-in-command
Sergeant Gage Pembleton
(human male) MACO first sergeant
APPENDIX II
STARDATE 58100
(early February 2381)
Featured Crew Members
U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-E
Captain Jean-Luc Picard
(human male) commanding officer
Commander Worf
(Klingon male) executive officer
Commander Miranda Kadohata
(human female) second officer/operations officer
Commander Geordi La Forge
(human male) chief engineer
Commander Beverly Crusher
(human female) chief medical officer
Lieutenant Hegol Den
(Bajoran male) senior counselor
Lieutenant Jasminder Choudhury
(human female) chief of security
Lieutenant Dina Elfiki
(human female) senior science officer
Lieutenant T’Ryssa Chen
(Vulcan-human female) contact specialist
U.S.S. Titan NCC-80102
Captain William T. Riker
(human male) commanding officer
Commander Christine Vale
(human female) executive officer
Commander Tuvok
(Vulcan male) second officer/tactical officer
Commander Deanna Troi
(Betazoid-human female) diplomatic officer/senior counselor
Commander Xin Ra-Havreii
(Efrosian male) chief engineer
Lieutenant Commander Shenti Yisec Eres Ree
(Pahkwa-thanh male) chief medical officer
Lieutenant Commander Ranul Keru
(Trill male) chief of security
Lieutenant Commander Melora Pazlar
(Elaysian female) senior science officer
Lieutenant Pral glasch Haaj
(Tellarite male) counselor
Lieutenant Huilan Sen’kara
(Sti’ach male) counselor
Ensign Torvig Bu-kar-nguv
(Choblik male) engineer
U.S.S. Aventine NCC-82602
Captain Ezri Dax
(Trill female) commanding officer
Commander Samaritan Bowers
(human male) executive officer
Lieutenant Commander Gruhn Helkara
(Zakdorn male) second officer/senior science officer
Lieutenant Lonnoc Kedair
(Takaran female) chief of security
Lieutenant Simon Tarses
(human-Romulan male) chief medical officer
Lieutenant Mikaela Leishman
(human female) chief engineer
Lieutenant Oliana Mirren
(human female) senior operations officer
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A trilogy is a large and complex undertaking, one that I knew from the outset would be greater in its scope and more demanding in its execution than any of my previous projects. I am, therefore, grateful for the support and encouragement of Kara, my lovely and patient wife, who was so good to me, and so understanding, as I spent most of my nights for more than fifteen months secluded behind closed doors writing this trilogy. Kara, my love, it would have been unbearable without you.
As for where all this started, I guess we can thank (or blame) artist Pierre Drolet, whose painting of the crashed Columbia NX-02 in the book Ships of the Line planted the seed of this idea in the minds of my esteemed editors, Marco Palmieri and Margaret Clark.
Margaret and Marco, I thank you for tolerating my bouts of uncertainty, my moments of dudgeon while I received your eminently reasonable story notes, and my adolescent practical jokes as we neared the finish line. (“All work and no play makes Mack a dull boy.”) I couldn’t have done this without you both.
Geddy Lee, thank you for taking an hour of your time to talk with a stranger, and for sharing your lovely anecdote about French vineyards, and the way that vines are like people, in that adversity adds depth and complexity to their characters. I hope you will forgive me for making use of it in this tale, and that you will approve of the manner in which it was applied.
Keith R.A. DeCandido, Kirsten Beyer, and Christopher L. Bennett, thank you one and all for going above and beyond the call of duty to help me vet all three books of this trilogy. My thanks also go out to Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels, who graciously tweaked their Star Trek Enterprise novel Kobayashi Maru to track with situations I had established, and for suggesting that Doctor Ree ought to bite Counselor Troi. Nice idea, gents!
Heartfelt thanks also are due to authors Geoffrey Thorne and Kirsten Beyer, for their moments of sage advice. And, if I’m being honest, I really ought to thank google.com, dictionary.com, thesaurus.com, Memory Alpha and Memory Beta (the Star Trek wiki reference sites), and WikiPedia. How did people write novels without the Internet?
To revive an old tradition of mine, I wish to thank the composers who helped create the numerous original film and TV scores that serve as my link to my muse while I write. Many of my favorite moments throughout the trilogy were coaxed from my imagination by the music of Bear McCreary (Battlestar Galactica), Tyler Bates (300), Alan Silvestri (Beowulf), Javier Navarette (Pan’s Labyrinth), Thomas Newman (The Shawshank Redemption), Hans Zimmer (the Pirates of the Caribbean scores), and Dario Marianelli (V for Vendetta).
Penultimately, I need to thank author Robert Metzger for having made me aware of the concept of catoms, in an article he wrote for the SFWA Bulletin. Astute readers might have wondered if the character of Doctor Johanna Metzger in Gods of Night and Mere Mortals was named in his honor; she was.
Lastly, I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to those few, special people in Lynchburg, Tennessee, who do what they do so well, so that I can do what I do at all.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
DAVID MACK is the national bestselling author of more than twenty novels and novellas, including Wildfire, Harbinger, Reap the Whirlwind, Precipice, Road of Bones, Promises Broken, and the Star Trek Destiny trilogy: Gods of Night, Mere Mortals, and Lost Souls. He developed the Star Trek Vanguard series concept with editor Marco Palmieri. His first work of original fiction is the critically acclaimed supernatural thriller The Calling.
In addition to novels, Mack’s writing credits span several media, including television (for episodes of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine), film, short fiction, magazines, newspapers, comic books, computer games, radio, and the Internet.
His upcoming works include the new Vanguard novel Storming Heaven, and a Star Trek trilogy scheduled
for late 2012. He resides in New York City with his wife, Kara.
Visit his website, www.davidmack.pro/, and follow him on Twitter @DavidAlanMack and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/david.alan.mack.
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Gods of Night copyright © 2008 by Paramount Pictures Corporation. Mere Mortals copyright © 2008 by Paramount Pictures Corporation. Lost Souls copyright © 2008 by Paramount Pictures Corporation.
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ISBN 978-1-4516-5724-1
ISBN-13: 978-1-4767-3333-3 (eBook)
Cover design by Alan Dingman
Cover art by Stephan Martiniere