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Takes place in: 2271 Stardates 7438.7 - 7447.5, two weeks after the events of Star Trek: The Takes place in Motion Picture
Following the events of TOS "For the World Is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky", the asteroid Yonada has arrived at its destination Daran IV, and the Fabrini people have colonised the planet, renaming it Lorina. The former High Priestess Natira has abolished the Oracle and its dogmatic teachings, and she aspires to lead her people to set up their world and rebuild their civilization, with assistance provided by the Federation. However, dissidents are unhappy that Natira and her government had betrayed their religion, and have created acts of terrorism to cause chaos in a bid to overthrow the government. After an assassination attempt nearly kills Natira, Natira decides to request for Federation help in qwelling the unrest.
Kirk and his landing party arrive on Lorina and meet Governess Natira. They tour the colony and discuss on how to solve the problem of the dissidents who refuse to conform to the new order and continue to worship the Orcale, the operating computer of Yonada. Natira considers the dissidents as terrorists and refuses to negotiate with them, while Kirk suggests making contact with the opposition in the hope of converting them to their cause. Natira also meets with McCoy, who was her husband for a brief period before the Oracle computer was terminated and McCoy returned to his career. Natira is upset that McCoy is unwilling to continue their relationship.
Kirk meets with the moderate dissident leader High Priestess Rishala, who agrees to talk with the rest of the dissidents and try to convince them to stop the violence and enter into talks with the govenment. Meanwhile, Spock investigates into the origins of the Fabrini belief system and hopefully find some common ground to bring the different factions together. He arrives at Yonada and uncovers evidence that the mechanisms for obedience control were not installed at the start of Yonada's journey but at a later date.
After another horrific terror bombing kills many innocent civilians, Kirk decides to provide Starfleet assistance in tracking down the terrorists. The local authorities use brutal force to stop the rising unrest among the population, which only cause more opposition to the government. McCoy convinces Natira to talk with Rishala and the dissidents, and a conference is arranged on the asteroid Yonada. Natira offers several compromises to the dissidents provided that the terrorism stops, while the dissidents demand that Natira step down as Governor. The conference suddenly comes under attack by terrorists, who had smuggled themselves onto Yonada, and several delegates, including RIshala, were taken hostage.
The terrorists also take Spock and the archaeological team hostage. The terrorist leader, Dovraku, announces his intention to reactivate the Oracle. Dovraku regards the Oracle as a god, and he is angry at Kirk for not only having deactivated the Oracle, but also deactivating other cybernatic gods such as Landru, Vaal, and others. However, V'Ger had apparently risen and prevailed over Kirk. Because Spock had mind-melded with V'Ger, Dovraku offers Spock a chance to redeem himself. Dovraku reactivates the Oracle and uses it to kill one of the hostages, and he was about to use the Oracle to kill Rishala when Spock decides to stall for time by apparently redeem himself and explaining his experience with V'Ger.
Dovraku intends to ascend Oracle into a higher plane by destroying both Yonada and Lorina with Yonada's nuclear missiles. After Yonada launches its missiles, the Shesshran suddenly arrive and accuse Yonada of breaching its agreement with the Shesshran and proceeds to attack Yonada. The Enterprise successfully holds off the Shesshran from attacking Yonada.
Kirk and his team locates the hostages, but Spock surprisingly prevents Kirk from destroying the Oracle, which leads to the terrorists capturing Kirk and his team as well. Spock volunteers to mind-meld with the Oracle. Dovraku uses the Oracle to lower the Enterprise's shields and overload its transporter, but Spock manages to override him and restore control to the Enterprise. Spock convinces Dovraku that it was his struggles with his traumatic past which has blinded him and had led him on this path of destruction. This leads Dovraku to lose control of the Oracle. Dovraku is thrown into a catatonic state, and the terrorists were then taken into custody
Through his mind-meld with the Oracle, Spock was able to determine the location of a lost data archive on Yonada. Accessing the archive's data, it was discovered that the Oracle's original programming was to teach the Fabrini the necessary skills in preparation for their arrival on Daran IV. However, opposition to the authorities and revolution had led to a reprogramming of the Oracle's purpose to a more dogmatic form, and the implementation of instruments of obedience to the population. After learning that the Oracle was never meant to oppress or deceive the Fabrini people, both Natira and Rishala agree that the Oracle could serve as a commond ground for all Fabrini. They both then agree to work together to build a viable Fabrini civilization.
Kirk and McCoy both come away from this incident feeling more confident about their decisions to return to active duty on the Enterprise. Kirk then offers to Sulu the position of Second Officer of the Enterprise, since he had done an excellent work in defending Yonada from the Shesshran.
. The Fabrini sun went supernova about 10,000 years ago. Before the sun went supernova, the ancient Shesshran invited the Fabrini to colonise the fourth planet of their star system, the star Daran. The Fabrini build the generation ship Yonada, which was built into an asteroid. When the Fabrini sun exploded, the radiation front hit Daran V, ravaging the Shesshran electronic infrastructure and causing severe ecological damage. The Shesshran civilization was reduced to a primitive, subsistence-level, and had recovered to their pre-supernova levels only recently.
Yonada travelled to the Daran system and was about to collide with Daran V, when Kirk and the USS Enterprise was able to divert the asteroid to its original course. The Shesshran objected to the Fabrini settling on Daran IV, until the Fabrini claimed that the planet had been promised to them by the ancient Shesshran. After the ancient Shesshran ruins were excavated (with Federation assistance) and evidence of the ancient Shesshran were found and proved to have really invited the Fabrini, the present-day Shesshran reluctantly agreed to honor the ancient contract and allow the Fabrini to settle on Daran IV.
. The Oracle computer was installed at the start of the Yonada's journey. Its original purpose was to teach the colonist to maintain Yonada's biosphere, and to prepare them for the arrival at their new homeworld. However, over the millennia into Yonada's journey, complacency set in, with the political structure becoming more interested in maintaining its power rather that maintaining the builders' original priorities. The Oracle became marginalized, and the biosphere was disrupted, leading to drought, famine, and economic collapse.
Revolution occurred at about 6,000 years ago. Following the revolution, the new regime rejected the Oracle and set up a secular state. However, the new regime was unable to come up with any solutions to the environmental crisis, nor was it able to manage it resources efficiently. Another revolution happened at about 5,600 years ago, with the result being a return to the old belief systems and the reactivation of the Oracle to manage the biosphere. Dogmatic, oppressive measures were implemented into the society, and instruments of obedience were introduced to prevent opposition.
. Towards the end of Kirk's first five year mission on the USS Enterprise, the Enterprise discovered the planet Pelos, whose population were under threat as a dense interstellar dust cloud had blocked their sun and created a plague that would have destroyed the population within two years. However, the Pelos Empress declined any medical assistance for Pelos, believing that only the gods determined Pelos' fate. Kirk, determined to save Pelos' population, provided assistance to the rebels on Pelos to overthrow the Empress. A serum was developed to combat the plague, while a way was found to dissipate the dust cloud. All these actions were done without revealing the existence of other worlds to Pelos, but they appeared to violate the Prime Directive since Kirk was interfering with the natural development of another world.
Kirk had requested to extend Enterprise's five year mission, but his questionable decisions during the Pelos affair led him to be charged for violating the Prime Directive. However, Kirk was by now a celebrity and Starfleet was unable to decide whether to court-martial Kirk. A solution was found, with Fleet Admiral Nogura promoting Kirk to Admiral and giving Kirk a desk job.
. McCoy objected to Nogura's promotion of Kirk to Admiral, arguing that people like Kirk needs to be in action in order to be at their most efficient. McCoy threatened to resign if Nogura did not reverse the decision. Nogura didn't, and McCoy resigned from Starfleet.
. Apart from shutting down cybernatic gods Landru, Vaal, and the Oracle, Kirk was mentioned to have also deactivated another the cybernatic god known as Worldlink.
. On the night before Kirk reassumed command of the USS Enterprise, Captain Willard Decker had discovered that the Enterprise's computers had been infected by a Trojan-horse code, possibly placed there by Romulan spies during the refit. The virus has since been removed.
. The Federation ship which assisted in the excavation of ancient Shesshran ruins, the Yang Liwei, is named after the first Chinese national astronaut.
. Chief Sternbach, a member of the Enterprise's engineering team, could be a reference to Star Trek illustrator Rick Sternbach.
. The distance between the former Fabrini star and the Daran star is 32 light years.
. At one point, Chekov discusses with another officer the feasibility of having a telepathic security force. Walter Koenig, the actor who protrays Chekov, also acts in "Babylon 5" where he is the Psi Corps telepath Alfred Bester, and member of a telepathic security force.
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