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Takes place in: 2371, before the events of Star Trek Generations
Ambassador Spock had been on an unofficial mission to bring about the reunification of the Vulcan and the Romulan people. While Spock was teaching the ways of Surak to a group of unificationists on the Romulan world of Constanthus, he and his fellow followers were discovered by the local authorities and placed under arrest. However, the Romulan authorities remained unaware that they had the Federation Ambassador in their custody.
Scotty, onboard his shuttlecraft, also learns of Spock's capture through his monitoring of subspace messages. He comes up with an idea on how to rescue Spock. Scotty arrives at Starbase 178 and visits the Constitution-class USS Yorktown NCC-1717, which was docked there as a museum. Shortly thereafter, Scotty commandeers the Yorktown and heads for Romulan space. The Galaxy-class USS Intrepid intercepts the Yorktown, and its captain, Terrance Riley, orders Scotty to surrender the vessel. Scotty pleads with Captain Riley, arguing that his father, Kevin Riley, as well as many other people, owed their lives to Spock, and that he was now going to rescue Spock since the Federation itself could not mount a rescue mission. Riley is swayed by Scotty, and he allows Scotty to continue with his mission.
Scotty installs the Romulan cloaking device that Kirk had captured from the Romulans in 2268 and had been stored on the Yorktown. He activates the cloak when the Yorktown entered Romulan space, but a Romulan warbird soon detects the Yorktown anyway and intercepts the vessel. Scotty, seeing that the battle is lost, surrenders himself and the vessel to the warbird. The Yorktown is towed to a Romulan base, where Scotty insults the Romulan interrogators and refuses to answers to questions put to him
Captain Picard contacts Romulan Proconsul Eragian, and requests for the transfer of the captured unificationists into Federation custody, supposedly so as to prevent them from being seen as martyrs in the eyes of Romulan dissenters, which would stir up further discontent in the empire. Proconsul Eragian agrees to consider the offer, but later McCoy rebukes Picard for negotiating with the Romulans, who McCoy regard as untrustworthy.
The Enterprise-D detects a signal from the Yorktown which indicates that Scotty is in Romulan space. After Picard and McCoy learn of Scotty's commandeering of the USS Yorktown and his attempted mission to rescue Spock, Picard agrees to a mission to use a shuttlecraft to rescue Scotty from the Romulan base, with Riker, La Forge and Data volunteering for the mission. However, when Picard turns down an idea from McCoy on speeding up the negotiations for the release of the unificationists, McCoy relieves Picard of command and restricts him to his quarters. McCoy then assumes command of the Enterprise-D, and he contacts Governor Tharrus of Constanthus and urges him to release the unificationists, which would supposedly not only improve the Governor's position, but also allow McCoy leave behind a legacy for people to remember him by.
Scotty escapes from his cell, and the Romulan warbird destroys a transport shuttle which departed from the base without authorization. The Romulans assume that Scotty is killed while trying to escape, and they decide to investigate the prisoner's identity from their databanks. The rescue team from the Enterprise-D arrive at the Romulan base, but they were quickly subdued and taken prisoners by the Romulans. Scotty had actually been hiding in the base, waiting for the warbird to leave so that he could escape safely. But the appearance of the rescue team had made the warbird stay even longer. Scotty rescues the rescue team, and together they escape from the base onboard the Yorktown. Scotty had learnt that the Romulans were aware that Spock is among the captured unificationists on Constanthus, and Riker agrees to continue the Yorktown's mission to rescue Spock.
Meanwhile, Governor Tharrus has also discovered that he had captured Spock, since McCoy had once served with Spock onboard the USS Enterprise. Tharrus then tells McCoy that he has no intention to release Spock. McCoy realises that he had utterly failed to secure Spock's release, and abdicates the command of the ship. Shortly after Picard resumes command of the Enterprise-D, the ship receives a subspace message from Riker saying that they had rescued Scotty and are proceeding to rescue Spock on Constanthus. Picard then agrees to aid in rescuing Spock. He orders the separation of the Enterprise-D into the saucer and battle sections, and leaves the civilians behind in the saucer section under the command of Dr. Crusher, while the battle section proceed to Constanthus.
Tharrus is unable to identify Spock from among the captured unificationists, as the unificationists protected Spock by each naming himself to be the Spock that Tharrus was looking for. Tharrus puts the unificationists on trial, finds them guilty of treason to the Empire, and sentences all of them to death by hanging. Just before the execution, Proconsul Eragian arrives and halt the execution, and he claims custody of the unificationists for himself. Spock decides to use this distraction to attempt a mass escape. The prisoners attack the guards, leading to a firefight.
Yorktown arrives at Constanthus under cloak, and beams Spock and the rest of the unificationists aboard. Three Romulan warbirds attack the Yorktown as it tries to escape, when the Enterprise-D's battle section arrives and fends off the warbirds. Three more warbirds arrive, and Proconsul Eragian demand that the Federation starships surrender.
At this point, Admiral McCoy tells Eragian that Starfleet is aware that the majority of the Romulan fleet is currently engaged in a conflict with an alien race called the Stuggs, and that the Empire would be in a poor shape to defend itself against the Federation should any conflict arise right now, implying that this incident should not be allowed to escalate. Eragian reconsiders his options, and agrees to grant safe passage to the Neutral Zone for the Yorktown and the Enterprise-D.
Starfleet decides to let Scotty off for stealing the Yorktown, and Scotty is to return the Yorktown and refrain from such thefts in the future. Spock meets with McCoy and Scotty onboard the Yorktown. McCoy suggests that they visit Kirk's monument when they are on Earh, while Spock expresses his intention to return to Romulus to continue on his efforts towards reunification.
. The Constitution-class USS Yorktown NCC-1717 was built in 2247 at the San Francisco shipyard facility above Earth. By 2371, she is docked at Starbase 178, serving as a museum. The Yorktown contains artifacts collected from the voyages of other Constitution-class starships, including the Romulan cloaking device captured by the USS Enterprise in 2268. When the Yorktown was decomissioned its bridge was damaged, so the bridge module was replaced with that of the Enterprise, which was removed during the Enterprise's refit in 2270.
. USS Intrepid is a Galaxy-class starship. She is commanded by Captain Terrance Riley, who is the son of the Kevin Riley who served onboard the USS Enterprise NCC-1701.
. The shuttlecraft provided to Scotty by the Enterprise-D was named Goddard, but Scotty had renamed it Romaine, after a female officer he once had a relationship with.
. At one point Governor Tharrus instructs his officer to research the personal history of "Admiral Leonard James McCoy" from the Romulan databanks. The initial of McCoy's middle name is "H", with his full name being "Leonard H. McCoy". It is possible that the Romulan governor simply didn't know McCoy's full name.
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