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Book Cover |
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Excerpt |
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"Q
to Picard.
"I hope
you're listening, Jean-Luc, because this mess you've gotten us into is
getting worse by the minute."
This mess
I got us into? That was a singularly Q-like take on their
situation, Picard thought, but now was no time to debate who was really
to blame for 0's past and present abuses of power. "Where are you,
Q?" he asked crisply.
"In one
of your cramped and uncomfortable Jefferies tubes, if you must
know," Q said. "Who designed these things? A Horta?" A
weary sigh escaped the comm badge. "Never mind that. The important
thing is that I'm keeping 0 occupied so you can devise one of your
typically heroic solutions to the problem at hand. But you have to
hurry." Q's voice was hushed, as if he was trying hard not to be
heard. "I'm not sure how much longer I can keep away from him--I
mean, keep him distracted."
Picard had
to wonder just how willingly Q had consented to play decoy. Was he
voluntarily luring 0 away from the bridge, or was he merely putting a
self-serving face on circumstances he was helpless to prevent?
"What do you mean?" Picard asked. "What do you need us to
do?"
"How
should I know?" Q said impatiently. "You're the ones who
specialize in triumphing against overwhelming odds. Have Data whip up
some technobabble. Tell Commander Troi to get in touch with her
feelings. Let Riker punch someone." Exasperation gave way to
desperation in his voice. "Do something, Jean-Luc. Don't you
understand? He's going to kill me. Probably more than once."
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Synopsis |
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On stardate 500146.3, the USS
Enterprise is still being hunted by the
Calamarain (see Q-Space and Q-Zone)
and has hidden inside the galactic barrier. Lem Faal and his son, both
full Betazoid, are found unconscious and brought to sickbay. When Lem
Fall awakens, he finds that he has part of the barrier inside of him,
which was created by the Q, and therefore, has great powers.
But what he
doesn't know is that he also contains a small piece of 0. Meanwhile, Q
concludes the history lesson of himself and 0, and transports Picard back
to the Enterprise. Picard soon orders the ship out of the
barrier. Lem Faal escapes sickbay, travels to engineering and creates a
vortex which enables 0 to reenter the galaxy.
Lem Faal is also
captivated by q, the infant son of Q and his wife, Q, and decides that
it is time to run some tests to be performed on the infant. Meanwhile,
0, who is now quite insane, pursues Q all over the ship with the
intention of killing him and Q can't seem to do anything about it.
And
to make matters worse, the Calamarain return and start attacking the ship again with the intention
of destroying all onboard.
Q-Strike is a
science fiction book in the Star Trek: The Next Generation world and was
written by Greg Cox. It is Star Trek: The Next Generation number 49.
This story is book 3 of 3 in the Q Continuum trilogy.
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Review |
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Q-Strike resides on a new Enterprise-E, and takes
place a couple of months after the movie, First Contact, since that is when the new
ship is introduced. The story focuses on multiple storylines: 1) Q
showing Picard bits and pieces of Q's own past with 0, 2) Lem Faal and
his new powers, 3) 0's pursuit of Q, and 4) Picard and the
Calamarains.
The third and final book in this
trilogy moves along quite quickly and I found it a pleasure to read. In
fact, I found it quite hard to put down. Finally, the great galactic
barrier is explained and the purpose of Q's history lesson is also
revealed. Now the disjointed puzzle pieces fit together and it all made sense
to me. I was quite relieved.
I really enjoyed Q-Strike and found
it to be a perfect ending for "The Q Continuum" trilogy. Greg
Cox created a perfectly evil character in 0 (pronounced
"Nil"). He is quite the match for Q. And I really enjoyed the
fact that Q is married and has a two-year old son, q. Overall, even
though the trilogy started slow, it ended with a bang.
A lot of
mysteries about the Q and the Star Trek universe are answered in the
trilogy, and especially this book. That alone makes Q-Strike
worth reading for any Star Trek fan.
I rated this book an 8½ out of 10. |
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