Return to main page Return to main index

Book : TOS The Last Roundup Takes place in: 2293, before the start of Star Trek: Generations After the events of Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Captain Kirk has taken up a teaching position at Starfleet Academy, and he meets Cadet Skalli, the first Huanni to be accepted at the academy. Skalli is enthusiastic and eager to learn from the great Captain Kirk. Klingon Chancellor Azetbur contacts Kirk and says that because Kirk had saved both her life as well as the Klingon Empire, she now owes Kirk an honour debt. Kirk tells that Azetbur that it is not necessary, but Azetbur insists. Meanwhile, Uhura participates in a Klingon opera as part of a cultural exchange, while McCoy engages in an exchange of medical knowledge with the Klingons.

Kirk's nephews, Alex and Julius, pay him a visit, and they invite Kirk to join them in the building of a colony on a planet they had named Sanctuary. The planet had been freely donated to the Federation by the Falorians, who were negotiating for admittance into the Federation. Although Kirk initially declines the invitation, he suddenly changes his mind when he realised that he could get away from the pesky Cadet Skalli. Kirk manages to recruit Chekov and Scotty for the colonization team, and he was surprised to learn that Skalli had dropped out of the Academy to join the colonization team, just so that he could continue to learn from Kirk. The colonization team's ship, Mayflower II, departs for Sanctuary, unaware that she is being followed by a cloaked Klingon bird-of-prey. Arriving at Sanctuary, a group of Falorians greet the team and welcome them to the planet. The team of 108 colonists proceeds with the scientific survey of the planet, and soon enough, Kirk finds himself left out of the process. Julius declines Kirk's assistance in the negotiations with the Falorians, and later Kirk accidentally ruins a scientific experiment. Then one day, the colony's communications broke down during a violent sandstorm on the planet, and placed the lives of Scotty, Alex and Skalli at risk. The Falorian representative Lissan explains that the shields of a Falorian resupply base on the planet had unintentionally jammed the colony's communications, and Lissan apologised for any inconvenience caused. Kirk remained unconvinced, and with the help of Scotty, Kirk and Chekov sneak into the Falorian facility. They discover a sophisticated research facility and downloaded the computers' data into their tricorders. Chekov trips the security systems and injures his hands. The alarm is raised, and Kirk and Chekov were able to escape before being discovered. They return to the colony, and found out that the colony had been attacked by unknown vessel and the Mayflower II had been destroyed. Video evidence suggests that the Orion Syndicate could be involved in the attack. Lissan arrives and says that their facility had also been broken into and suffered damages as well. After Lissan leaves, Kirk confronts Julius, since it was he who had been negotiating with the Falorians all this time. Julius admits that he had conspired with the Orion Syndicate and the Falorians in order to get this planet for their colony. In return, Julius had provided Federation weapons and technology to the Falorians. Julius is unaware of the facility's purpose, and he agrees to help Kirk find out the Falorians' intentions. A cloaked Klingon bird-of-prey had been monitoring the colony since it was established, and it had detected the Falorian facility and the Falorians' involvement with the Orion Syndicate. Chancellor Azetbur visits Spock and presents this information to him, hoping that the Federation would launch an investigation since Sanctuary is a Federation colony. However, Starfleet deems that there is insufficient evidence to warrant an investigation. Therefore, Azetbur assigns a Klingon battle cruiser to Spock to help him investigate the matter. On Sanctuary, Skalli decrypts the downloaded data, and the scientific team discover from the data that the facility produced a nanoprobe virus that renders dilithium crystals inert, the Falorians had distributed the virus everywhere, and that the virus has not yet been activated. Kirk speculates that the Falorians may want to monopolise the dilithium market, and he believes that the Falorians, working with the Orions, may plan to attack and invade a target that is rich in dilithium. Skalli realises that the Falorians plan to attack the Huanni. He then admits that the Huanni had enslaved the Falorians in the past, and the Falorians are now out for revenge. Scotty runs further computer simulations on the virus, and he discovers that the virus would cause impure dilithium crystals to explode, resulting in a warp core breach. Kirk realises that billions of innocent lives are at stake since many starships use impure dilithium crystals. As the colony's communications have been destroyed, Kirk decides to warn the Federation by entering the Falorian facility and using the facility's own communications. The colonists go into hiding, but were later captured by the Falorians. Lissan informs the Federation that the Falorians are about to attack the Huanni (a Federation member), and warns the Federation not to interfere, or else he would activate the virus that will render dilithium crystals inert and cause interstellar travel to be impossible. Lissan also threatens to kill the colonists he has captured. Kirk listens to Lissan's speech and believes that Lissan is unaware of the true consequences of the virus since the Falorians had only tested the virus on very pure dilithium crystals and not impure dilithium crystals. The Klingon battle cruiser under Spock's command arrives at Sanctuary, and Lissan orders Spock to back down. Instead, the Klingon vessel attacks and destroy eight Falorian ships. Kirk, Scotty, Chekov, Julius, and Skalli, break into the facility and locate the communication device. Lissan contacts Kirk, and Kirk tells Lissan of the virus' true deadliness. Lissan does not believe Kirk and claims Huanni injustice over the Falorians gave them the right to Huan's dilithium. Skalli tries to persuade Lissan by apologising for his people's crimes, but Lissan is not convinced. Lissan cuts communications, and Kirk decides that he has to destroy the facility so as to prevent it from activating the virus, The Klingon battle cruiser breaks through the facility's shields, and beams Kirk, his team, the hostages, and the Falorians aboard. Federation scientists had also determined that the nanoprobe virus could cause warp core breach in starships, and Kirk realises that he must destroy all the virus by sending out a self-destruct signal, and it can only be done from within the facility. The Falorians had begun attacking the Huanni, and the nearest starship at the scene is the USS Excelsior. Captain Sulu contacts an Orion Syndicate agent and informs him that the Falorians might have deceived the Orions on the virus' true leathality, and he recommends that the Orions withdraw any support to the Falorians. Soon enough, the Orion ships within the Falorian fleet identify themselves, and together with the Excelsior they attack the Falorian ships, forcing the Falorians to surrender. The Orions then withdrew from the area. Skalli eventually persuades Lissan to release the command code for the facility, and Kirk sends out the self-destruct code, destroying all of the nanoprobe virus. Alex and Julius reconcile their differences with each other. Kirk meets up with Spock and McCoy, and learns that Chekov is considering a position as the USS Excelsior's First Officer. Some time later, Kirk learns that Lissan has been found dead in his cell, killed by unknown assilants. Kirk then goes to the christening ceremony of the USS Enterprise NCC-1701-B, with him looking forward to see Scotty and Chekov again.

Analysis . Kirk's brother, George Samuel Kirk, had three sons, Peter, Alexander, and Julius. Alex and Julius were visiting the Pearson family when their parents were killed, and they continued to stay with the Pearsons. The Pearsons treated Alex and Julius poorly, and Julius believed that Kirk had more or less abandoned them. Peter Kirk currently works in Starfleet Diplomatic Corps. . The Huanni and the Falorians were of the same species. The Huanni had enslaved the Falorians for centuries, using them for labour work. When the Huanni had sufficient technology such that they no longer needed the Falorians, the Falorians were banished to another planet. The Huanni kept their past enslavement of the Falorians a secret, even from the Federation, explaining that the Falorians had wanted to leave Huan. . A human colony once existed on Polluxara IV. It was a dilithium mining colony, and it was destroyed by the Romulans. 148 colonists were killed in the attack. . Sanctuary is located in the Besar system.

Notes . According to The Last Roundup, Scotty's boat is named Highland Lassie. Scotty mentioned that he had just bought a boat in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. . Chekov was mentioned as being considered by a Captain Sheridan for the position of First Officer on his starship. Walter Koenig, the actor who protrays Chekov, also acts in "Babylon 5" where he is the Psi Corps telepath Alfred Bester and the occasional enemy of Babylon 5's commander, Captain John Sheridan.

Quick links : The Ashes of Eden The Return Avenger Spectre Dark Victory Preserver Captain's Peril Captain's Blood Captain's Glory

Ex Machina The Fearful Summons The Last Roundup War Dragons The Captain's Daughter The Sundered Dark Mirror Crossover Ship of the Line

Dark Passions, Book 1 Dark Passions, Book 2 Vulcan's Soul, Book 1 - Exodus