The story arc of this series, Gateways, touches each to the various parts of Star Trek booklore. The first book is set in the TOS setting with Captain Kirt and the Enterprise. The second is 20 years later with Capt. Captain Keller and Challenger. The third continues with Captain Picard and Enterprise 5 and the fourth is based near Deep Space 9 and uses the personnel of that station to cope. Book 5 uses the Voyager crew struggling to unite a fleet of diverse races and avoid a space war in the Delta Quadrant. Captain Calhoun and the crew of the U.S.S. Excalibur in the New Frontier fight to keep the peace in Book 6. As more titles become available this explanation will grow.
Title: One Small Step, book one of "Gateways"
Written by Susan Wright, published August, 2001
Scattered throughout the galaxy are Gateways capable of transporting matter and energy across unfathomable distances. Left behind by a long-vanishe civilization, these mysterious portals offer a means of exploration - or conquest - many times faster than warp travel. The technology responsible for the Gateways has been lost for at leat ten millennia, but that doesn't mean it can't be found again....
Having defeated the hostile computer program guarding an abandoned Kalandan outpost, Kirk and his crew are exploring the artificialplanetoid in hopes of discovering the secret of an ancient apparatus that has hurled the Starship Enterprise over nearly a thousand lightyears. Unfortunately, the reactivate Gateway has attracted the attention and avarice of various alien explorers, including a mysterious race who claim to be none other than the enigmatic Kalandans themselves.
Title: Chain Mail, Book 2 of "Gateways".
Written by Diane Carey, published August, 2001
Dangerous remnants of an extinct interstellar civilization, the Gateways connect the Alpha Quadrant with the farthest reaches of the galaxy. Hidden away in various corners of the universe, the ancient portals could be the future of space travel, but the may also provide an open doorway for an invasion from beyond.
Twenty years ago, in the space near Belle Terre, a caravan of alien vessels disappeared into a gigantic Gateway. Now the descendants of those aliens have returned, armed with incredible new weapons and abilities. Commander Nick Keller of the U.S.S. Challenger, alread struggling to maintain peace in the trouble sector, must now cope with a fleet of hostile aliens driven by their own fanatical agenda!
Title: Door into Chaos, Book 3 of "Gateways".
Written by Robert Greenberger, Published September 2001
More than 200,000 years ago, the ancient Iconians created a network of interdimensional "Gateways" providing instantaneous transportation across unimaginable distances. Once known as the "Demons of Air and Darkness", the Iconians mysteriously vanished many millennia ago, never to return o so it was believed.
Summoned to an emergency briefing at Starfleet HQ, Captain Jean-Luc Picard is stunned to discover that the legendary Iconians have returned at last, and are offering to sell the secrets of their advanced technology to the Federation. To prove their sincerity, they have reactivated their long-abandoned "Gateways", but the results have been strife and chaos throughout the entire Alpha Quadrant. Now Picard and the crew must contend with feuding Klingons and Romulans as the cpatain seeks to discover the sinister truth behind the Iconians' unexpected rebirth!
Title: Demons of Air and Darkness, Book 4 of "Gateways".
Written by Keith R. A. DeCandido, published September 2001
ROnce they moved from world to world in a single step, through innumerable doors that spanned the galaxy. They were master of space, and to those who feared them, the were demons of air and darkness. But long ago they left their empire and their miraculous technology behind. Now someone has found the key to it, and all those doors have been flung open!
A world near Deep Space 9, threatened with destruction from the distant Delta Quadrant, becomes the focus of a massive rescue effort as Colonel Kira Nerys, her crew, and some unexpected allies fight to avert disaster on a planetary scale. Meanwhile, as Lt. Nog and Ens Thirishar ch'Thane search for a way to shut down the spatial portals forever, Quark becomes involved in a dangerous game that could determine, once and for all, who will control the Gateways.
Title: No Man's Land, Book 5 of "Gateways"
Written by Christie Golden, published October, 2001
Throughout the galaxy, an ancient network of interstellar portals has been reactivated, instantly linking distant planets and civilizations. back home in the Alpha Quadrant, Starfleet can devote all its considerable resources to coping with the Gateways' crisis, but in the Delta Quadrant, there is only the starship Voyager.
Just as Voyager enters an unusually hazardous region of space, the ship and its crew are confronted with a flood of lost and disoriented starships from all over the galaxy. Accidentally transported incredible distances by the unpredictable Gateways, the diverse alien castaways regard each other and Voyager with hostility and suspicion. Captain Janeway suddenly finds herself struggling to hold together an extremely fractious fleet of dislocated alien vessels even as the newly awakened Gateways hold open the prospect of finally bringing her own ship home!
Title: Cold Wars, book 6 of "Gateways"
Written by Peter David, published October, 2001
Missing for 200 millenia, the legendary Iconians have returned, bringing with them the secret of interdimensional teleportation across vast interstellar distances. Awakened once more, their ancient Gateways are rewriting the map of the galaxy, and nowhere more than in the New Frontier.
A century ago, the imperial Thallonians separated two feuding alien races, depositing each of them on a new world safely distant from that of their ancestral enemies. Now, however, the gateways have made it possible for the long dormant blood feud to begin anew. Captain Mackenzie Calhoun of the U.S.S. Excalibur and his partner, Captain Elizabeth Shelby of the U.S.S. Trident, Find themselves fighting a losing battle to keep the horrific violence from escalating, even as they gradually realize the catastrophic danger posed by the Gateways themselves!
Title: What Lay Beyond, book 7 of "Gateways"
Writer(s): Diane Carey, Peter David, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Christie Golden, Robert Breenberger, and Susan Wright. Gateways concept by John J. Ordover and Robert Greenberger, published October, 2002
Created by the ancient Iconians, the Gateways offer instantaneous transport across unimaginable distances. Throughout the known galaxy, the sudden reactivation of the Gateways has destabilized instellar relations - and forced several of Starfleet's finest commanders to leap through separate Gateways into the unknown. This is a compendium of short stories on the theme with several different authors contributing.
Captain James T. Kirk of Star Trek ®, the original series, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of Star Trek: The Next Generation ® Colonel Kira Nerys of Star Trek, Deep Space 9 ®, Captain Kathyrn Janeway of Star Trek: Voyager ®, Captains Calhoun and Shelby of Star Trek: New FrontierTM, and Captain Nick Keller of Star Trek: New EarthTM.
All of these heroes have taken the ultimate gamble: hurling themselves through a Gateway without any forewarning of what lay beyond. Now each must face his or her own unique challenge, while struggling to find a way back to the ships and homes left behind.
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