Changes: Renegade (novel)

Revision as of 19:25, 5 February 2014

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For Tryla Scott's starship, see USS Renegade.

With Spock and McCoy missing, Kirk must stop a plot that threatens the entire Federation.

Summary

From the book jacket: For nearly a hundred years, the planet Chyrellkan IV has enjoyed a peaceful relationship with the colony on the third planet of its star system. However, relations between the two worlds take a deadly turn as rebel colonists take over Chrellkan III and turn against their mother world.

To prevent the conflict from escalating into full-scale war, Starfleet orders Captain Kirk and the Enterprise to moderate the dispute. On arrival, Kirk sends Spock and McCoy to investigate the rebel's claims. But seconds after beaming down, the two officers are taken hostage and then – according to sensors – killed. Devastated by his loss, Kirk must try to learn the truth behind the mysterious rebellion that has claimed the lives of his two closest friends.

Kirk's investigation leads him to uncover a dangerous plot against the Federation – a plot driven by revenge that may make the Federation's highest law, the Prime Directive, an instrument of violence and destruction.

Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.

Background Information

According to author Gene DeWeese's foreword, the novel takes place during the final year of the Enterprise's original five-year mission.

Captain's Log Entries

Captain's Log, Supplemental: We are en route to the planet Chyrellka to do--as Dr. McCoy might put it--a little fire-fighting.
We first made contact with the Chyrellkans ten years ago. They declined membership in the Federation, but at the time of that initial encounter, Captain Brittany Mendez of the Exeter noted that the Chyrellkans and their colony on Vancadia provided a textbook example of how to peacefully establish and administer a colony.
Unlike most emerging technological civilizations, the Chyrellkans had established a working world government before leaving their own atmosphere. And once their probes showed them that Vancadia's biosphere was almost identical to their own–except for the absence of any lifeforms higher than tree-dwelling primates–they went about establishing a colony with Vulcan-like logic and determination.
Without impulse drive technology, all early trips to Vancadia were one-way. Shuttles lifted them into orbit around Chyrellka, where they transferred to orbital-built interplanetary ships. At Vancadia then, they descended from orbit in one-way landers. It was nearly forty years before the colonials reached the stage at which they could manufacture the boosters that allowed them to return to orbit.
From the beginning, the Chyrellkans had planned for the Vancadian colonists to be given their independence once they'd achieved total self-sufficiency. A decade ago, Captain Mendez noted that with Vancadia's population close to eight million, the goal of self-sufficiency seemed only a few years away. And yet now the Federation has received an urgent request for help in mediating what the Chyrellkan message describes as "an increasingly vicious dispute between Chyrellka and her rebelling colony."

Memorable Quotes

"Do you believe that fraud?"
"If you mean, Doctor, did I believe Premier Kaulidren's statements to be completely truthful, no I did not."

- McCoy and Spock

"Ah, the Federation assassination squad, and one of their traitorous collaborators. Do come in quickly, before some loyal citizen sees you."

- Professor Roghan to Spock and McCoy, making clear that he doesn't believe the government's propaganda

"But you want to know what's really scary, Jim? That bunch had a good chance of pulling their little stunt off. They probably would have if they'd just trusted each other instead of stabbing each other in the back every chance they got."
"That is most unlikely, Doctor."
"Oh, and what crystal ball tells you that, Spock?"
...
"It is merely that if people are inclined to trust other people, they generally have neither the desire nor the reason to develop such schemes in the first place."

- McCoy and Spock

Characters

The Enterprise

James T. Kirk
Spock
Dr. Leonard McCoy
Lt. Nyota Uhura
Lt. Hikaru Sulu
Montgomery Scott
Lt. Pritchard: Spock's temporary replacement as science officer

Chyrellka

Premier Kaulidren

Vancadia

President Delkondros
Councilman Tylmaurek
Professor Roghan

Other

Kelgar
Ben Finney/"Hargemon"

References

"Court Martial"

Ben Finney reappears after his appearance in that episode, still nursing a grudge against Kirk and having been recruited by the Klingons after demonstrating his expertise at manipulating the Enterprise computers;

"A Private Little War"

Repeated references are made to the Enterprise visit to Neural:

Spock refers to Neural as soon as he and McCoy beam down to Vancadia, trying to warn McCoy that his tricorder has unmasked several humans in the room as disguised Klingons;
While Councilman Tylmaurek is puzzling over the Klingons' likely motive for interfering with the Chrellkan conflict, McCoy remarks that the Klingons on Neural seemed to have no better motive for fomenting war between the tribes there than because they found it amusing;
Kirk recalls having to "descend to the same level" as the Klingons on Neural and provide Tyree's Hill People with weapons to combat their enemies, grimly resolving to do nothing of the kind with Chyrellka, which would mean providing its people with phasers, photon torpedoes, shield technology and impulse drives.

"The Trouble with Tribbles": McCoy realizes that several of their human captors are disguised Klingons by noting the drastic differences in their heart rates and body temperatures from humans, similar to how he unmasked Arne Darvin in this episode.

External link

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@@ Line 16: / Line 16: @@
 ==Summary==
 ;From the book jacket
-:''For nearly a hundred years, the planet Chrellkan IV has enjoyed a peaceful relationship with the [[colony]] on the third [[planet]] of its [[star system]]. However, relations between the two worlds take a deadly turn as rebel colonists take over Chrellkam III and turn against their mother world.''
+:''For nearly a hundred years, the planet Chyrellkan IV has enjoyed a peaceful relationship with the [[colony]] on the third [[planet]] of its [[star system]]. However, relations between the two worlds take a deadly turn as rebel colonists take over Chrellkan III and turn against their mother world.''
 :''To prevent the conflict from escalating into full-scale war, [[Starfleet]] orders [[Captain]] [[James T. Kirk|Kirk]] and the ''[[USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)|Enterprise]]'' to moderate the dispute. On arrival, Kirk sends [[Spock]] and [[Leonard McCoy|McCoy]] to investigate the rebel's claims. But seconds after beaming down, the two officers are taken hostage and then &ndash; according to sensors &ndash; killed. Devastated by his loss, Kirk must try to learn the truth behind the mysterious rebellion that has claimed the lives of his two closest friends.''
@@ Line 24: / Line 24: @@
 <!--
 ''Summary Needed''
+==Synopsis==
+===Part One===
+The ''Enterprise'' enters the Chyrellka system, where her crew has been sent to mediate an increasingly violent dispute between Chyrellka IV and its [[colony]] world, Vancadia.  The Chyrellkan leader, [[Premier]] '''Kaulidren''', insists on coming aboard in a [[shuttlecraft]] rather than use the ship's [[transporter]].  Once he is aboard, he relates to [[James T. Kirk]] how the Vancadians began agitating for their independence several years ago, and met the Chyrellkans' moderate refusals with acts of [[terrorism]].  From Kaulidren's agitated discourse, Kirk discerns that the Premier is less interested in mediation than he is is getting the [[Federation]]'s aid in strong-arming the rebels into submission.  Kirk insists on opening a dialogue with the rebel leadership, and orders the ''Enterprise'' to Vancadia.
+Kirk is outraged when an unmanned ship rises from Vancadia's atmosphere to relay a message from the rebels, but is shot down by a cordon of automated "sentry ships", which Kaulidren says was placed there for the Chyrellkans' protection.  Recently, he says, the Vancadians have developed a new drive system that is far more advanced than Chyrellka's technology, that would enable the rebel ships to attack Chyrellka, if the sentry ships were not there.
-==Background Information==
-* ''Background Info needed''
+At Kirk's order, a channel is opened to the rebel leadership, led by "President" '''Delkondros''', who is belligerent at first, but appears willing to talk.  Delkondros insists that [[Spock]] and [[McCoy]] form the [[away team]], claiming to find a [[Vulcan]] and a medical doctor more trustworthy.  But within moments of Spock and McCoy beaming down, their [[communicator]] signals are lost, and an energy [[shield]] is erected over the rebel headquarters (a technological development at least fifty years in either planet's future).  Delkondros regretfully admits that he will hold Spock and McCoy hostage until the rebels' demands are met.  Before Kirk can argue, there are the sounds of a struggle on the planet, and the science officer reports weapons fire, and the sudden disappearance of Spock and McCoy's life signs.  Kirk is devastated.
+=== Part Two ===
+=== Part Three ===
+McCoy cuts through Finney's technical explanation and demands to know what the point of all this scheming was supposed to be.
+Finney is temporarily silenced by a sudden vision of his daughter, [[Jamie Finney|Jamie]], among the refugees, which brings reality crashing down on his head: he has been a willing, eager accomplice in the plot to murder these innocent people, strung along by his blind hatred of Kirk and (as he now sees them) Carmody's painfully transparent lies.
+Swallowing hard, Finney explains that the plan (as it was originally explained to him) was to give the Klingons an "edge" - that Kirk's purported actions in the Chyrellkan system would make [[Starfleet]] so fearful of violating the [[Prime Directive]] in the future as to make it that much easier for the Klingons to annex contested territories, and possibly even cause a crucial delay in the Federation's response to a full-scale invasion.  But now, he realizes, Kelgar and Carmody have altered the program so that it will infect the computers of the starship sent to the Chyrellkan system to examine the wreck of the ''Enterprise'', and the next computer after that, and so on.  In a few years, every computer in Starfleet will be infected... at which point, Spock finishes grimly, the Klingons may invade at will, slipping undetected past Federation ships or destroying them with the touch of a button.
+===Epilogue ===
+Spock and McCoy's return to the ''Enterprise'' is delayed for a few more hours, while the ship's computer is scoured to make sure there is no trace of Finney's program left.  For the first time, Kirk is able to confer with the real Admiral Brady, and reports that, not only has the conflict between Chyrellka and Vancadia simmered down, but both planets are now eager to apply for Federation membership.
+When Brady asks how likely it is that the Klingons retained a copy of Finney's program, Kirk responds that it is almost certain, but he doubts they will try to use it again; their scheme has been exposed, and Starfleet will now be ready for them, especially since Finney will be cooperating fully to develop countermeasures for it.
+After Brady signs off, Kirk welcomes Spock and McCoy back.  McCoy remarks that the scariest part of the whole affair is that the Klingons' plan was a damn good one, and probably would have succeeded if its principals had just trusted each other in carrying it out.  To which Spock replies that the doctor's logic is (as usual) flawed: people who trust each other do not develop such schemes in the first place.  As the two commence yet another argument, Kirk smiles and welcomes the return to normalcy aboard his ship.
 -->
+==Background Information==
+*According to author [[Gene DeWeese]]'s foreword, the novel takes place during the final year of the Enterprise's original [[five-year mission]].
+== Captain's Log Entries ==
+* ''Captain's Log, Supplemental: We are en route to the planet Chyrellka to do--as Dr. McCoy might put it--a little fire-fighting.''
+* ''We first made contact with the Chyrellkans ten years ago.  They declined membership in the Federation, but at the time of that initial encounter, Captain Brittany Mendez of the ''Exeter'' noted that the Chyrellkans and their colony on Vancadia provided a textbook example of how to peacefully establish and administer a colony.''
+* ''Unlike most emerging technological civilizations, the Chyrellkans had established a working world government before leaving their own atmosphere.  And once their probes showed them that Vancadia's biosphere was almost identical to their own&ndash;except for the absence of any lifeforms higher than tree-dwelling primates&ndash;they went about establishing a colony with Vulcan-like logic and determination.''
+* ''Without impulse drive technology, all early trips to Vancadia were one-way.  Shuttles lifted them into orbit around Chyrellka, where they transferred to orbital-built interplanetary ships.  At Vancadia then, they descended from orbit in one-way landers.  It was nearly forty years before the colonials reached the stage at which they could manufacture the boosters that allowed them to return to orbit.''
+* ''From the beginning, the Chyrellkans had planned for the Vancadian colonists to be given their independence once they'd achieved total self-sufficiency.  A decade ago, Captain Mendez noted that with Vancadia's population close to eight million, the goal of self-sufficiency seemed only a few years away.  And yet now the Federation has received an urgent request for help in mediating what the Chyrellkan message describes as "an increasingly vicious dispute between Chyrellka and her rebelling colony."''
 ==Memorable Quotes==
+"''Do you believe that fraud?''"<br />
-''But you want to know what's ''really'' scary, Jim?  That bunch had a good chance of pulling their little stunt off.  They probably ''would'' have if they'd just ''trusted'' each other instead of stabbing each other in the back every chance they got."''<br>
+"''If you mean, Doctor, did I believe Premier Kaulidren's statements to be completely truthful, no I did not.''"
-''"That is most unlikely, Doctor."''<br>
+: - '''McCoy''' and '''Spock'''
-''"Oh, and what crystal ball tells you that, Spock?"''<br>
-...<br>
-''"It is merely that if people are inclined to trust other people, they generally have neither the desire nor the reason to develop such schemes in the first place."''
+"''Ah, the Federation assassination squad, and one of their traitorous collaborators.  Do come in quickly, before some loyal citizen sees you.''"
-:---'''McCoy''' and '''Spock'''
+: - '''Professor Roghan''' to '''Spock''' and '''McCoy''', making clear that he doesn't believe the government's propaganda
+"''But you want to know what's ''really'' scary, Jim?  That bunch had a good chance of pulling their little stunt off.  They probably ''would'' have if they'd just ''trusted'' each other instead of stabbing each other in the back every chance they got.''"<br />
+"''That is most unlikely, Doctor.''"<br />
+"''Oh, and what crystal ball tells you that, Spock?''"<br />
+...<br />
+"''It is merely that if people are inclined to trust other people, they generally have neither the desire nor the reason to develop such schemes in the first place.''"
+: - '''McCoy''' and '''Spock'''
 ==Characters==
+===The ''Enterprise''===
 ; [[James T. Kirk]]
 ; [[Spock]]
-; [[Leonard McCoy]]
+; Dr. [[Leonard McCoy]]
-; [[Ben Finney]]
+; Lt. [[Nyota Uhura]]
+; Lt. [[Hikaru Sulu]]
+; [[Montgomery Scott]]
+; Lt. Pritchard: Spock's temporary replacement as science officer
+===Chyrellka===
+; [[Premier]] Kaulidren
+===Vancadia===
+;President Delkondros
+;Councilman Tylmaurek
+;Professor Roghan
+===Other===
+;Kelgar
+;[[Ben Finney]]/"Hargemon"
 ==References==
 ;{{e|Court Martial}}
 :[[Ben Finney]] reappears after his appearance in that episode, still nursing a grudge against Kirk and having been recruited by the Klingons after demonstrating his expertise at manipulating the ''Enterprise'' computers;
+;{{e|A Private Little War}}
-;[[Neural]]
-:Repeated references are made to the ''Enterprise'' visit to Neural (during {{e|A Private Little War}})
+:Repeated references are made to the ''Enterprise'' visit to [[Neural]]:
-:*Spock refers to Neural as soon as he and McCoy beam down to Chrelkan III, trying to warn McCoy that his tricorder has unmasked several humans in the room as disguised Klingons;
+:* Spock refers to Neural as soon as he and McCoy beam down to Vancadia, trying to warn McCoy that his [[tricorder]] has unmasked several humans in the room as disguised Klingons;
-:*While Spock is puzzling over the Klingons' likely motive for interfering with the Chrelkan conflict, McCoy remarks that the Klingons on Neural seemed to have no better motive for fomenting war between the tribes there than because they found it amusing;
+:* While Councilman Tylmaurek is puzzling over the Klingons' likely motive for interfering with the Chrellkan conflict, McCoy remarks that the Klingons on Neural seemed to have no better motive for fomenting war between the tribes there than because they found it amusing;
-:*Kirk recalls having to "stoop to the Klingons' level" on Neural and provide {{dis|Tyree|humanoid}}'s {{dis|Hill People|Neural}} with weapons to combat their enemies, grimly resolving to do nothing of the kind with Chrelkan, which would mean providing its people with [[phaser]]s and [[photon torpedo]]es.
+:* Kirk recalls having to "descend to the same level" as the Klingons on Neural and provide {{dis|Tyree|humanoid}}'s {{dis|Hill People|Neural}} with weapons to combat their enemies, grimly resolving to do nothing of the kind with Chyrellka, which would mean providing its people with [[phaser]]s, [[photon torpedo]]es, [[shield]] technology and [[impulse drive]]s.
 ;{{e|The Trouble with Tribbles}}
 :McCoy realizes that several of their human captors are disguised Klingons by noting the drastic differences in their heart rates and body temperatures from humans, similar to how he unmasked [[Arne Darvin]] in this episode.