Search Worlds Without End

They are the self-appointed protectors of the Federation. Amoral, shrouded in secrecy, answerable to no one, Section 31 is the mysterious covert operations division of Starfleet, a rogue shadow group committed to safeguarding the Federation at any cost.

Six months before their ultimate battle against the Borg for the fate of Earth, Captain Jean-Luc Piccard and the crew of the USS Enterprise face a very different kind of crisis. A world in turmoil becomes the focal point of conspiracies and betrayal as an unexpected reunion brings with it startling revelations. Old friends become bitter enemies and one young officer reaches a crossroad when he's forced to choose between the greater good of the Federation and the ideals for which it stands.

NO LAW. NO CONSCIENCE. NO STOPPING THEM.

The hidden history of the Star Trek universe is revealed in this new series charting the seventy years between Captain Kirk's disappearance and the beginning of The Next Generation.

Nearly a decade after Captain Kirk vanished, his protege, Captain Hiraku Sulu of the USS Excelsior, leads a dangerous mission into uncharted political waters. Unprecedented peace talks with the violently xenophobic Tholian Assembly trigger a deadly confrontation aboard the Excelsior. Now Sulu and his crew - including Chekov, Rand, Chapel, Tuvok, and Akaar - are thrust into an unexpected conflict between the Tholians and a mysterious new enemy, the Neyel... whose origins, if revealed, could lead to war with Earth itself. As the Tholians weave a web of vengeance, the Excelsior is flung beyond the galaxy and the crew discovers the hidden truth about the alien Neyel, forcing Sulu to question where his responsibilities lie - with the fragile peace he must preserve, or with the victims of his own world's tragic past.

A four-book odyssey of space exploration, political intrigue, religious schism, deadly conspiracies and startling revelations, this is Deep Space Nine at its best.

Peace talks test the morality and resolve of two longtime enemies, the Bajorans and the Cardassians. But when politics and diplomacy fail, a strange alliance of alien religions offers unexpected hope for lasting peace. Meanwhile, a mysterious ancient artifact challenges the crew of the Defiant by 'restoring' crewmembers who have survived life-altering transformations, propelling them into personal journeys of self-discovery during a dangerous military confrontation.

PLUS this volume sees the shocking death of a recurring character from the TV series.

TRILL. Unjoined. The Trill are a combination of a symbiont and a host. The symbiont lives for hundreds of years in one host after another: each body is different, each personality is different, each life is different -- but all of them are one. The symbiont accumulates experiences, relationships, memories ...Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin have set their story on this most multi-layered and extraordinary of worlds. When Trill involvement in the assassination of an allied world leader comes to light, the reason lies in the terrifying and tragic origins of the Trill -- and the answers reveal unsuspected links to other regions of the Star Trek universe.

BAJOR. Fragments and Omens. Political intrigue and interpersonal conflict in the style of The West Wing dominate on Deep Space Nine's core world of Bajor. The future of Bajor and the new role of long-missing Captain Benjamin Sisko are linked as this tale lays the groundwork for a major new storyline in further Deep Space Nine novels.

Without warning or provocation an alien weapon appears above Earth and unleashes a blast that kills millions across two continents. A second such weapon could destroy the entire planet. In a desperate bid to save Earth and its people, Starfleet must change its mission from one of peaceful exploration to one of military service. Only the Starship Enterprise is fast enought to stop the production of a second Xindi weapon. But the crew cannot do it alone, and Captain Jonathan Archer accepts a contingent of Military Assault Command Operations personnel - battle-hardened soldiers known as MACOs - on board his ship. Starfleet and the MACOs are two very different services sharing a common goal, but divided in their views of how to attain it. It is a culture clash that echoes across centuries of military service. The men and women on board the Enterprise understand that somehow they must succeed in working together or the price will be paid in blood - failure is not an option.

Pax Galactica. Enemies become allies. Old secrets are at last revealed. Long-held beliefs and widely accepted truths are challenged. Man turns to leisurely pursuits.

In this golden age, two old friends are drawn together. They seek to understand, and wonder how what they have long believed, what they have been taught, was never so.

Over two hundred years ago, the life of one of Starfleet's earliest pioneers came to a tragic end, and Captain Jonathan Archer, the legendary commander of Earth's first warp-five starship, lost a close friend. Or so it seemed for many years. But with the passage of time, and the declassification of certain crucial files, the truth about that fateful day -- the day that Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker III didn't die -- could finally be revealed.

Why did Starfleet feel it was necessary to rewrite history? And why only now can the truth be told?

To protect the cargo ships essential to the continuing existence of the fledgling Coalition of Planets, the captains of the United Earth's Starfleet are ordered to interstellar picket duty, with little more to do than ask "Who goes there" into the darkness of space.

Captain Jonathan Archer of the Enterprise seethes with frustration, wondering if anyone else can see what he sees. A secret, closed, militaristic society, convinced that their survival hangs by a thread, who view their neighbors as a threat to their very existence - the Spartans of ancient Greece, the Russians of the old Soviet Union, the Koreans under Kim Il-sung - with only one goal: attain ultimate power, no matter the cost. The little-known, never-seen Romulans seem to live by these same principles. The captain realizes that the bond between the signers of the Coalition charter is fragile and likely to snap if pushed. But he knows that the Romulans are hostile, and he believes they are the force behind the cargo ship attacks. If asked, Archer can offer no proof without endangering his friend's life. To whom does he owe his loyalty: his friend, his world, the Coalition? And by choosing one, does he not risk losing all of them? What is the solution to a no-win scenario?

Having recovered from the catastrophic events of Wildfire, the Starfleet Corps of Engineers team on the U.S.S. da Vinci meets its new second officer: Mor glasch Tev, an arrogant Tellarite who's the best there is -- and he knows it.

Even as Captain Gold and Commander Gomez get used to their acerbic new officer, the S.C.E. team faces crises in its own solar system. A strange vessel appears in the middle of San Francisco that the S.C.E. must deal with -- aided by engineers extraordinaire Montgomery Scott and Miles O'Brien. Then they have to help the Venus terraforming team -- a mission that brings Bynar computer expert Soloman to a difficult crossroads.

That's only the beginning of the challenges for the Corps as it faces a Ferengi with a time machine, a prison colony in a black hole -- and a mission from the Dominion War that comes back to haunt the da Vinci crew in more ways than one....

Contents:

• vii - Introduction (Aftermath) - essay by Keith R. A. DeCandido
• 1 - Aftermath - [Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers - 29] - (2003) - novella by Christopher L. Bennett
• 105 - Ishtar Rising - [Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers - 30] - (2003) - novella by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels
• 237 - Buying Time - [Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers - 32] - (2003) - novella by Robert Greenberger
• 319 - Collective Hindsight - [Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers - 33] - (2003) - novella by Aaron Rosenberg
• 433 - The Demon - [Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers - 35] - (2004) - novel by Loren L. Coleman and Randall N. Bills
• 619 - About the Authors (Aftermath) - essay by uncredited

After almost a decade of strife against foes such as the Borg, the Cardassians, the Klingons, and the Dominion, the United Federation of Planets is at the dawn of a new era. Starfleet is renewing its mission of peaceful exploration, diplomacy, and the expansion of knowledge. Among the starships spearheading that endeavor is the U.S.S. Titan, commanded by Captain William T. Riker and manned by the most biologically varied and culturally diverse crew in Starfleet history.

But their mission does not begin according to plan.

In the wake of Star Trek Nemesis, Praetor Shinzon, slayer of the Romulan Senate, is dead. The power vacuum created by his demise has put theRomulan Star Empire, longtime adversary of the Federation, at the brink of civil war. Competing factions now vie for control of their fragmenting civilization, and if the empire should fall, that entire area of the galaxy may destabilize.

To restore order to the region, Titan 's long-anticipated mission of exploration is delayed as Starfleet assigns Riker to set up power-sharing talks among the Romulan factions. But even as the first tentative steps are takentoward building a new Romulus, the remnants of the Tal Shiar, the dreaded Romulan intelligence service, are regrouping behind the scenes for a power play of their own. With no other help available, Riker and the Titan crewbecome the last hope to prevent the quadrant from falling into chaos.

Investigating the disappearance of a secret Romulan fleet, the U.S.S. Titan, commanded by Captain William Riker, is unexpectedly propelled more than 200,000 light-years into the Small Magellanic Cloud. One of the Milky Way's satellite galaxies, the Cloud is also home to the Neyel, the long-sundered offshoots of Terran humanity, with whom the Federation has had no contact in over eighty years.

Nearby, Riker's uncertain ally, Commander Donatra of the Romulan Warbird Valdore, rescues a young Neyel, the survivor of a mysterious cosmic upheaval that seems at times to be both unraveling and reweaving the very fabric of space...the fulfillment of an apocalyptic vision that has already claimed millions of lives. Titan's science team soon finds evidence that the ravaging of Neyel space is the work of a vast and powerful intelligence: the stirrings of a dormant consciousness that is maintaining the existence of the Small Magellanic Cloud -- and all life within it -- from one moment to the next. And if it should awaken, the consequences are unimaginable.

As Riker considers his options, his new crew struggles with the scientific and philosophical implications of what they've discovered... while the young Neyel in their midst forges a bond with the captain, conjuring old ghosts Riker has yet to lay to rest.

A vicious pirate known as the Albino is cutting a deadly swath across space, creating turmoil in the Klingon Empire that threatens to spill into the Federation. But this criminal also has a secret that could shake the halls of Imperial power, and his genocidal plans against the race that bore him will have consequences even he cannot imagine, as several unlikely allies join swords to bring the Albino to justice: Hikaru Sulu of the U.S.S. Excelsior; Klingon captains Kor, Koloth, and Kang; and a hotheaded young Federation diplomat named Curzon Dax. Tempered in the flames of their shared adversity, a captaincy is forged, a Blood Oath is sworn...and a hunt begins that will stretch from one generation to the next.