Captain's Glory

by William Shatner

Overview

During James T. Kirk's five-year mission as captain of the Starship Enterprise,™ a mysterious alien threat called "The Totality" commenced its invasion, intending to conquer the Milky Way galaxy as it had conquered the Andromeda. A war unlike any other is about to begin — one that threatens to destroy the Federation.

Captain Kirk has encountered the Totality before. It took the beguiling form of Norinda, an irresistible alien who becomes the woman each person most desperately desires. In his first encounter, Kirk almost lost the Enterprise. In his second encounter, he almost lost his child, and watched in horror as the Totality absorbed Spock in its monstrous dimensional tendrils. But now, Kirk faces an even more devastating personal challenge. The battle lines have been drawn, and he and his friend Captain Jean-Luc Picard are on opposite sides.

With Captain William Riker of the Starship Titan caught in the cross fire of the conflict between Kirk and Picard, and with Kirk's own child poised on the brink of a startling destiny millions of years in the making, Kirk must prepare for his final encounter with the Totality. But how can Kirk fight an enemy whose greatest weapon is love? And how can he triumph, when the price of victory is the life of his only child?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781439165256
Publisher:	Pocket Books/Star Trek
Publication date:	03/12/2009
Series:	Star Trek Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	368
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

William Shatner is the author of nine Star Trek ® novels, including the New York Times bestsellers The Ashes of Eden and The Return. He is also the author of several nonfiction books, including Get a Life! and I’m Working on That. In addition to his role as Captain James T. Kirk, he stars as Denny Crane in the hit television series from David E. Kelley, Boston Legal—a role for which he has won two Emmy Awards and a Golden Globe. Find more information at WilliamShatner.com.

Read an Excerpt

1

COCHRANE INSTITUTE, NEW MONTANA

STARDATE 58552.2

The citizens of Alpha Centauri B II, who had not thought of themselves as "colonists" for generations, were unprepared for the violence of the first attack. Nor had anyone anticipated the target of that violence.

Only the grove of fig trees planted by the great man himself more than two centuries earlier survived. The rest of the Cochrane Institute lay in ruins.

But the day that ended with the gathering storm of war had begun as any other on a world complacent and too used to peace.

It was late winter in the Northern Hemisphere of New Montana; the stars Centauri A and Centauri B rose together in the dawn. Only during summer is sunlight present for a full twenty-six hours each day. That's the season when the orbit of Centauri B's second planet places it between the two larger stars of the ternary Alpha Centauri system.

On the island continent of Atlantis, the early morning then was crisp, the forests of Earth maple and birch bare of leaves, their empty branches little more than quick dark brush strokes against the pure blue canvas of a sky that had not been "alien" to humans for centuries.

Outside the main urban centers of the east coast, smoke trailed from the chimneys of housing clusters. The crackle and scent of burning wood added the sensory texture missing from the island's efficient geothermal power plants that provided energy to its scattered communities. It was only at the Cochrane Institute that planet-based antimatter generators were used, a requirement of its cutting-edge work in warp propulsion.

More than thirty major buildings formed the main campus, their dusky red forms sweeping up a gentle rise of green foothills. The structures that commanded the hilltops looked out to Lily's Ocean to the east and the rugged Rockier Mountains to the west. As the first human to journey to Centauri B II, Zefram Cochrane had thoroughly enjoyed exercising his right to name both the planet and its major geological features.

One of the uppermost buildings was a Starfleet installation. The research performed there was restricted, ensuring that Starfleet's capabilities would always remain significantly more advanced than those of civilian ships, privateers, and any potential "peer competitors" -- Starfleet's current bland term for the restive Klingon Empire.

Officially known as Facility 18, the building was older than the others, constructed almost ninety standard years earlier. Its historic façade of intricately sculpted, red Centauran sandstone was set off by bold horizontal timbers of the pale, native Lincoln trees praised -- and named -- by Cochrane for producing logs of exceptional uniformity.

Facility 18's stark and sleek interior, however, revealed signs of regular rebuilding and upgrading. The most recent changes dated from the frantic months toward the end of the Dominion War, eight years earlier. Though the realization was never discussed in public, the leadership of Starfleet was uncomfortably aware that the war's heavy price for survival had also spurred one of the most productive periods of scientific advancement Starfleet had experienced for generations.

On this date, Middleday, Twelfthmonth 27 on New Montana, Stardate 58552.2 for the Federation at large, Facility 18 was preparing to run a static test on a prototype warp core. Little different in principle from those in service on most Starfleet vessels, the experimental device was notable for its size -- almost one-third smaller than the standard design for its payload capacity. The anticipation was that, within a decade at the present rate of development, Starfleet would be able to...

Editorial Reviews

An old threat in a new form, the Totality threatens to eradicate all life in the universe. Starships throughout the Federation are succumbing to malfunctioning warp drives, and shadow creatures are kidnapping key people throughout the Federation. In their own ways, Jean-Luc Picard, William Riker, James Kirk and Kathryn Janeway must figure out how to combat a nearly indestructible and endless enemy. Like any good franchise, Star Trek seeks to grab the attention of the widest spectrum of fans as possible. In that vein, the authors populate the story with characters from Star Trek, The Next Generation and Voyager. Shatner's voice captures the tension and energy of the scenes, which are also capitulated by the musical score and occasional sound effects. Shatner ably embodies the voice of Kirk, but his characterizations of Picard, Riker, Worf and several others are mediocre and pale in comparison to the actors who created them. Even fans of the show may become significantly lost in this abridgment without sufficient reading of previous Star Trek books. Simultaneous release with the Pocket Books hardcover. (Sept.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly