“Three years after the disastrous final Borg Invasion, a bitter cold war against the Typhon Pact has pushed Starfleet’s resources to the breaking point. Now the rise of a dangerous new technology threatens to destroy the Federation from within.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the Enterprise crew answer a distress call from an old friend, only to become targets in a deadly game of deception. To protect a vital diplomatic mission, they must find a way to identify the spies hiding in their midst, before it’s too late.

But Worf soon realizes the crew’s every move has been predicted: Someone is using them as pawns. And the closer they get to exposing their enemy, the deeper they spiral into its trap…”

The first book of the “Cold Equations” trilogy was unusual in that it focused a great deal of time on one character’s narrative.  While the story of Noonien Soong was interesting, and ultimately factored heavily into Data’s fate and the background of the entire trilogy, it wasn’t conventional material for a Star Trek novel.

This volume is much closer to what one has come to expect, and actually strikes me as the closest thing to a pure Next Generation novel than we’ve had in a very long time.  It focuses heavily on the crew of the Enterprise-E and how they become embroiled in a very touchy diplomatic situation when a distress call from Data leads them to a world in the Orion Syndicate.  It just happens to be where a secret summit between the Federation and the Gorn is being held, and Data is being charged with murder.

One of the key strengths of the Typhon Pact saga in the post-“Destiny” period is the use of Cold War history as a touchstone for the readers.  This novel has the flavor of a far more complicated version of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, with attempted assassinations, various feints and hidden motivations, and more than a few twists and turns to keep the true intentions of all involved up in the air.  When the very intent of the summit itself is thrown into question, all bets are off.

As the novels have continued to evolve the Typhon Pact concept, it’s been interesting to see how they are very different from an “anti-Federation”.  They may be working together to some degree, but the powers within the Pact are also still vying and jockeying for future opportunity and control.  It makes the allies within the Khitomer Accord seem like blood brothers by comparison.

Not surprisingly, the acquisition of the Soong-inspired androids by the Breen at the end of the first book is important to their scheming in this novel.  I was a bit surprised by how they were used, and didn’t quite catch one of the clues early in the story that the apparent plan wasn’t the actual plan.  To some degree, internal strife within the Breen leadership inspires those in power to take a gamble, using a known weapon of mass destruction as a feint to acquire an even more potent advantage.  It might seem like a plot convenience if this wasn’t the sort of thing that has happened in actual history.

The characterization is solid for the major players, and in keeping with the tone and severity of the situation, there is a relatively high body count.  The Trek novel universe is not entirely intact when all is said and done.  The glaring exception, for me, was Dr. Crusher’s reaction to a decision made by Captain Picard.  While I understand what the author was doing with that material, given where Picard is going psychologically over the course of the novel, I felt that the intensity of Crusher’s reaction was a bit extreme.  These characters have known each other for decades; I don’t see personal assessments shifting so drastically based on one split-second decision.

That confusing character beat doesn’t take too much away from what is otherwise a solid Next Generation adventure, and a great example of how to deliver the middle chapter of a trilogy (always a tricky business).  The end of the novel points to the major lingering plot thread and a likely resolution, so I’m looking forward to seeing how the Soong legacy storyline comes to a close.

Released: November 2012
Price: $0.99 (Kindle version)
Acquisition method: Amazon.com