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Book : TOS #74 The Fearful Summons Takes place in: 2293, Stardates 9621.8 - 9625.1 (The book erroneously states that the year is 2294) USS Excelsior is on a scientific mission when she receives a distress call from a Beta Promethean starship. Excelsior arrives at the scene, and when Captain Hikaru Sulu and his boarding party beam over to the ship to offer assistance, they were immediately arrested for spying in Beta Promethean space. Excelsior sends a another boarding party to rescue the hostages, but the kidnappers get away with the hostages. Excelsior pursues the kidnappers into the Beta Promethean system but lose track of them in a radioactive asteroid zone.

The kidnappers were apparently pirates, and Sulu and his officers were taken to a trading base where they manage to send an emergency signal to the Excelsior. Two female Starfleet officers were sold away, but they were rescued by a landing party from the Excelsior. However, Sulu and his men were transported away in a Klingon Bird-of-Prey. Starfleet sends a transmission to the Excelsior, ordering it to report to Starbase 499 and not to enter the Beta Promethean system. The Beta Prometheans were not members of the Federation and did not allow Starfleet ships to enter into their space, and Starfleet has decided to solve the hostage crisis through diplomatic channels. Kirk, after hearing that his old friend is in trouble, tries to find out more information about the hostage crisis from an Admiral in a bar in San Francisco. Following that, Kirk joins in a conversation with some recent graduates from Starfleet Academy, and he meets Barbara O'Marla, who apparently has some kind of hero worship for Kirk. After Kirk hears that the negotiations to secure the return of Captain Sulu and the hostages were not progressing well, he decides to organise a rescue mission by himself. Kirk goes to Vulcan and recruits Spock. He then returns to Earth and recruits Scotty, McCoy, Chekov and Uhura. Barbara, having sensed that Kirk would attempt a rescue mission, volunteers herself for the mission, and she also provides the most recent map of the city where the hostages were being held, having obtained that from Starfleet's computers. Spock and Scotty acquire a small star yacht for the mission, the Plush Princess. After everyone comes onboard, the Plush Princess proceeds to Starbase 499, the nearest Federation base to Beta Prometheus. Arriving at the starbase, the crew tries to find out more information from the people in the base, while Spock goes onboard the Excelsior and learns that the Klingons had obtained the Starfleet hostages so as to embarass the Federation and convince the Beta Prometheans that the Federation had been exploiting them. Kirk and McCoy disguise themselves as Klingons and attend a rally where the Starfleet "spies" were being paraded by the Klingons. The Klingons execute one of the hostages. Kirk and McCoy get themselves arrested by the Klingons when they were unable to explain their presence, but they beam aboard the Plush Princess before their disguise were discovered. Returning to the starbase, a Beta Promethean trader approaches Kirk and offers to arrange for Kirk to purchase the hostages. Spock and Uhura inspect the hostages and negotiate with the kidnappers, who wants weapons in return. At the exchange on a moon of Beta Prometheus 3, the kidnappers receive the containers of weapons, while the hostages were released to Kirk. However, McCoy detects no lifesigns from the hostages, and Kirk realises that they were robots. Unfortunately, the kidnappers escape with their cargo. Meanwhile, Sulu is drugged and made to record a confession saying that he was carrying out a spying mission for the Federation in preparation for the invasion of Beta Prometheus. In the confession, Sulu denounces the Federation's actions in support of the Shrewdest Ones, a Beta Promethean religious order. The Shrewdest Ones then announce that Sulu would be executed within three hours. Kirk decides to launch a rescue mission immediately. Uhura was able to identify the building where the hostages were held. Kirk, McCoy and Chekov locate the building while disguised as Klingons, and they create a distraction by beaming down a group of robots dressed as Starfleet officers who attack the Klingon guards. Sulu was located and beamed onboard the Plush Princess. While searching for the other hostages, Kirk runs into the kidnapper leader and accuses him of doublecrossing him. The kidnappers attack Kirk with the weapons that they had received, but the weapons did not work, as Kirk had given them water guns, and the water had frozen into ice in the cold temperature. The kidnappers were all subdued, and before more Klingon reinforcements arrive, Kirk, his crew and the rest of the hostages were beamed aboard the Plush Princess. A Beta Promethean starship and a Klingon bird-of-prey pursue the Plush Princess, and Barbara contacts Starbase 499 and requests for reinforcements. Three Federation starships arrive and escort the Plush Princess, while the Beta Promethean starship and the bird-of-prey break off their pursuit. After it was clear that they were no longer being followed, the three starships return to Starbase 499, while the USS Excelsior arrives and rendezvous with the Plush Princess. McCoy cures Sulu of the effects of the drug, while the engineers from Excelsior helped Scotty in repairing the Plush Princess. After the repairs, the crew says their goodbyes to Sulu and the Plush Princess heads back for Earth, while the Excelsior proceeds on with its next assignment. Back on Earth, Barbara explains to Kirk that Starfleet could not get involved in a rescue mission for the hostages, but it was aware that Kirk was planning such an operation and had assigned Barbara to follow Kirk in his mission. The crew then attend a dinner at Starfleet Headquarters, held in honour of Kirk and his crew for their gallantry during this "non-event".

Analysis . After The Undiscovered Country, McCoy went to work as a doctor in New York. Chekov went to work for Trans-Universal Shipping, while Uhura became the Senior Vice President of Inter-Galactic Systems. Chekov and Uhura leaving Starfleet is consistent with The Ashes of Eden, which states that they had apparently left Starfleet but were actually on a secret mission. . The pirates who kidnapped Sulu and his men operated outside the authority of the Beta Promethean Ruling Family, which was why the negotiations between the Federation and the Beta Prometheans were not making any headway, since they had no control over the pirates in the first place. Sarek served as Federation's representative at the negotiations, which tended towards the Beta Prometheans making further trade demands and conditions on the Federation, instead of concentrating on the welfare of the hostages themselves. . The Shrewdest Ones refer to the clerics of the Beta Prometheans. The Shrewdest Ones do not believe that the Ruling Family have sufficient commitment to their religion known as the Only Way, and they want to overthrow the Ruling Family and isolate Beta Prometheus from the Federation. . Starfleet does not officially retires anyone, they are only placed on inactive status, allowed to pursue their own interests, and kept in reserve against the day their talents might be needed.

Notes . The Fearful Summons takes place in 2293, contrary to the author's stating of the current year as 2294, because both Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, and the start of Star Trek Generations (in which Kirk was declared lost), takes place in the same year 2293.   It is mentioned that Spock had not heard from Kirk "since their last voyage together over nine months ago", which suggests that nine months had passed between the events of The Undiscovered Country and The Fearful Summons. But as The Ashes of Eden (Stardate 9854.1) is stated to have occured about six months after The Undiscovered Country, The Fearful Summons (Stardate 9621.8) should occur sometime during the six months after The Undiscovered Country, and therefore the above reference should be discarded. . Starbase 499 is mentioned in Captain's Blood, although it is possible that they may not refer to the same starbase. . Kirk is said to have retired from starfleet, although The Ashes of Eden suggests that he is still able to visit Starfleet facilities and attend Starfleet functions. . The former science officer of the USS Excelsior is said to be Masoud Valtane, the same Mr. Valtane who appeared in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. However, VOY "Flashback" establishes that Mr. Valtane's first name is "Dimitri", and that the character in TUC is actually Dimitri Valtane. I propose that there were actually two Mr. Valtane onboard the Excelsior during TUC, and they were twins. Especially since Dimitri Valtane was said to have died during TUC in VOY "Flashback", and a person with a striking resemblance to Mr. Valtane appeared alive and well at the end of TUC. I therefore propose that the person who appeared at the end of TUC was Masoud Valtane, Dimitri's twin brother.

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