Star Trek: Picard: The Dark Veil
James Swallow
Publication Date: January 2021
Timeline: 2386
This media tie-in is a superlative accomplishment.
Regardless of your level of enthusiasm for Star Trek: Picard, if you have any interest at all in the future of the Trek universe in the wake of Star Trek: Nemesis—specifically, the fates of William Riker, Deanna Troi, and yes, albeit tangentially, Jean-Luc Picard himself—you must read this book.
The Long Mirage
David R. George III
Publication Date: February 2017
Timeline: January 2386, following The Fall: Revelation and Dust, Sacraments of Fire, and Ascendance
Progress: In a brief prologue, the Bashir 62 holosuite program provides the environment for a waitress in a Las Vegas diner to witness a conversation between two characters we will later figure out are Morn and Vic Fontaine.
Rules of Accusation
Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann
Publication Date: July 2016
Timeline: 2371, December 2385 (after The Missing, before Sacraments of Fire)
Progress: In a Prelude set in 2371, a Kalpazan forger and art collector by the name of Bartleby creates a duplicate of what we will soon figure out is the original Sacred Scroll containing the legendary Ferengi Rules of Acquisition, created by Gint ten thousand years ago. The identity of Bartleby’s client is not revealed.
Ascendance
Jeffrey Lang
Publication Date: June 2016
Timeline: early January 2386; numerous flashbacks, going back almost four decades
Progress: With the 2381 Borg attack underway, Benjamin Maxwell, last referenced in this reread series in Gateways #4: Demons of Air and Darkness, is serving time at the Starfleet Penal Colony on Waiheke Island, New Zealand, Earth. He applies to serve in the effort to repel the Borg, but his application is turned down (a major concern is that the Cardassians fighting on the Federation side would react poorly to his presence).
Ascendance
David R. George III
Publication Date: December 2015
Timeline: December 2377-February 2378, December 2385-January 2386; a direct continuation of both of the timelines in Sacraments of Fire
Progress: After Odo’s attempt to link with the potential Changeling being held at Newton Outpost, the creature first breaches its containment area and then the station itself, escaping into space and using gravity to propel itself out of the Larrisint system. Two casualties and six injured scientists result from its flight to freedom, and Odo himself remains in his gelatinous state after the aborted link. Security Chef Selten receives a distinct telepathic impression from the creature that it is driven by a need or purpose, seeking something specific in outer space.
Sacraments of Fire
David R. George III
Publication Date: July 2015
Timeline: September-December 2385, immediately after The Fall: Revelation and Dust; and also 2377, on the heels of The Soul Key
Progress: Following the events of Warpath, Fearful Symmetry, and The Soul Key, Iliana Ghemor joins the Ascendants, taking on the role of The Fire for this group of confrontation-eager religious zealots. Still obsessed with Kira, Iliana has her sights on Bajor. After leading the Ascendants in an attack on an Eav’oq colony, Iliana ends up commandeering the Ascendant’s main weapon and heading toward Bajor.
The Missing
Una McCormack
Publication Date: December 2014
Timeline: November 2385; after the Fall miniseries
Progress: Dr. Katherine Pulaski, passionate in her pursuit of a multi-cultural scientific enterprise that will not only yield valuable insights but also achieve what diplomacy by itself cannot, is allocated the Olympic-class starship Athene Donald. Its delightfully multi-species crew sets out on an explicit mission of exploration. Joined Trill Maurita Tanj is the ship’s commanding officer, and other crew members include Klingons, Cardassians, Romulans, a Ferengi, and even a representative of the Tzenkethi Coalition named Metiger Ter Yai-A.
Lust’s Latinum Lost (and Found)
Paula M. Block and Terry J. Erdmann
Publication Date: September 2014
Timeline: November 2385; following The Fall: A Ceremony of Losses
Progress: In the aftermath of the events of The Fall miniseries, Quark finds that business is down. An old Boslic freighter captain friend of Quark’s by the name of Rionoj (who appeared in “The Homecoming”, “The Abandoned”, and “Broken Link”) claims to have an advance copy of a new holonovel sure to be a sensation: the fourth interactive installment of the infamous Vulcan Love Slave series, titled Lust’s Latinum Lost.
The Fall: A Ceremony of Losses
David Mack
Publication Date: November 2013
Timeline: August-September 2385
Progress: “One failed pregnancy at a time…the Andorian people were dying.”
The Andorian reproductive crisis has been with us for some time. There were hints of it in the Avatar duology, our very first relaunch books in this review series, and when we reached Chapter 11 of Gateways #4: Demons of Air and Darkness it was made explicit. The discovery of the Yrythny Turn Key in Mission Gamma, Book Two: This Gray Spirit raised the possibility of a solution, and indeed that path still seemed viable, if admittedly risky and extreme, as recently as Andor: Paradigm.
The Fall: Revelation and Dust
David R. George III
Publication Date: August 2013
Timeline: August-September 2385
Progress: This novel opens up a new five-volume miniseries within the broader relaunch series. It acts as both a natural extension of the preceding Typhon Pact miniseries, and as its own significant crossover chapter in the grander saga, connecting various DS9, TNG, and Titan storylines. Collectively these books advance the timeline by approximately two months. In this review and the next, we’ll be focusing on the first and third volumes, the Ds9-centric ones.
A prologue recaps the events that happened inside the wormhole in Typhon Pact: Raise the Dawn from Kira’s perspective—and we see that once inside the Celestial Temple, she appears to meet Sisko.
Typhon Pact: Raise the Dawn
David R. George III
Publication Date: June 2012
Timeline: August-September 2383, September 2384, following Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night
Progress: Ka-boom. DS9’s fiery explosion at the end of Plagues of Night was no simulation, no scheme-within-a-scheme to deceive the Typhon Pact, no alternate timeline offshoot, no event readily undone by canny temporal agents. It was real, and definitive, and as we soon learn in this story, leads to a death toll of slightly over one thousand beings. (Or, to put modern times in grim perspective, a casualty figure right on par with that reported for the U.S. as a result of COVID-19 for the single day of August 1st, 2020). Fortunately, Captain Ro and company had time to evacuate about eighty-four percent of the station’s population—significantly, ninety percent of its civilians—before the collapse. Parts of the wreckage, including a number of jettisoned and floating bulkheads, were sealed off by force fields before the explosion, further saving lives. Aboard one such fragment are Kira and Kasidy, who are ejected by the blast into the wormhole, and eventually rescued inside the wormhole by the Enterprise.
Typhon Pact: Plagues of Night
David R. George III
Publication Date: May 2012
Timeline: April 2382 – August 2383
Progress: First, we revisit the attack on Utopia Planitia and the extraction of the Breen spy, Kazren, that kicked off Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game, this time from the perspective of the Romulans, and learn that Subcommander Orventa T’Jul led the mission. Kasidy, on Bajor, sees the UP attack on the news. She thinks about Ben. Jasmine Tey is the Malaysian woman who helps look after Rebecca, ever since Rebecca’s kidnapping, and acts as a “one-woman security force.” Kasidy replays the message Sisko sent her towards the end of Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire. She decides that even if Sisko keeps his distance from her, the Prophet’s words may not apply to his relationship with Rebecca, and she contacts Vedek Kira Nerys.
Typhon Pact: Rough Beasts of Empire
David R. George III
Publication Date: January 2011
Timeline: 2362; February 2381 – February 2382
Progress: Though this is the third in the Typhon Pact novel miniseries, and the second volume we’re covering as part of our DS9 relaunch re-read, it takes place before the last book we looked at. Chapters alternate between three main storylines…
Typhon Pact: Zero Sum Game
David Mack
Publication Date: November 2010
Timeline: April 2382; August 2382
Progress: Welcome to the Typhon Pact eight-book miniseries, which is set a year after David Mack’s Star Trek: Destiny trilogy and three years after the events of Star Trek: Nemesis. Because our focus is on the relaunch adventures of the DS9 cast, we won’t be covering all eight of these books, but instead limiting ourselves to the current title, along with Rough Beasts of Empire, Plagues of Night, and Raise the Dawn. Anyone worried that skipping over some related books, as we’re doing, may make it difficult to jump into this volume, fret not. The following two paragraphs from Chapter 3 of Zero Sum Game basically give us all the key info we need to know to dive in:
The Never-Ending Sacrifice
Una McCormack
Publication Date: September 2009
Timeline: 2370 through 2378, following the events of Cardassia: The Lotus Flower & Unity
Progress: This is a novel primarily of character rather than plot, so I’m going to keep this summary succinct. Also, the book includes a cross-listing of all the referenced episodes and other stories at the end for your convenience, so I won’t barrage you with links here.
