Chains of Command by Bill McCay & Eloise Flood is a dark tale about slavery and misunderstanding between two very different races of people, in which the Enterprise crew find themselves getting unwittingly involved. While the Enterprise is on a routine mission exploring a group of devastated M Class planets, they make a starteling discovery. One of the planets is actually occupied by humans, who are slaves and in the middle of a revolt against their taskmasters, who happen to be other human overseers. The leader of the revolt is a man named Koban who is determined to be free, no matter what the cost. And when an away team from the Enterprise beams down, Koban demands they help him, free them all from race known as the Tseek, a birdlike race of aliens who enslave humans to do their work for them. When he encounters an actual Tseek alien named Drraagh, and a human overseer called Vosst, Captain Picard realizes that it would be better to attempt a diplomatic solution to the problem. He has a hard time convincing Koban, who believes force is the only way. In the end, he kidnaps Troi and Picard to try and force the takeover of the Enterprise when the Tseek come to investgate the revolt. This produces a standoff when Riker has to try and find, and then rescue Picard and Troi while trying to convince the Tseek and Koban that killing each other is not the answer. Then, an unexpected discovery by Picard and Troi on the alien planet seems the be the answer to the problem. But I won't give away the details - that you will have to find out when you read the book yourself. I give this book 3 pips.
Title: Chains of Command |
2-16-05
