The Human Adventure continues as I dive into the next Star Trek novel released by Pocket Books. This one falls into the sub collection known as The Lost Years, filling in the time between The Original Series and The Motion Picture. The first book was simply known as The Lost Years, written by J.M Dillard, who apparently did a final rewrite on A Flag Full of Stars before it was published.

Set in the days leading up to Apollo Day, a celebration of humanity’s landing on the moon, the story opens with the new saucer section of the refit U.S.S. Enterprise being delivered to orbit, all of it overseen by the chief of operations, Admiral James T. Kirk.

Kirk, however, is having some problems with his own. There’s trouble in his marriage as he and Lori find themselves both disappointed by their current careers in Starfleet, and it’s taking a toll on them both.

Meanwhile, a Klingon scientist, G’dath, who has come to Earth on science exchange program, has been given the run around, and instead of working for any number of prestigious institutions, is, instead, teaching an advanced class in high school. That isn’t keeping him from his true life’s work, however.

But G’dath is under observation by those in the Klingon consulate, and when he creates a new device, one that could bring unbalanced power to either the Klingon Empire or the Federation, G’dath has to decide what to do.

Kirk, along with his aide Kevin Riley (whose past with Kirk and Kodos as referenced in the episode The Conscience of the King is filled out a little more here, to great benefit of the character and story) get pulled into events, and have to find a way to stop the Klingon plan to kidnap G’dath back.

With more than one Enterprise making an appearance in this story, this one races along, and you almost don’t miss any of the other main characters, though Decker, Uhura, Scotty and Sulu all make welcome appearances. This is a Kirk story, but that doesn’t mean it’s all action. As mentioned in a previous post, he’s older now, and the stories need to reflect that, and The Lost Years saga definitely get that.

There are still a few action beats, and overall the tale feels like a Trek story, and played out quite well in the theatre of my mind, I could see it all, and it looked great. So compliments to Dillard and Ferguson. I’m definitely enjoying this collection of novels and seeing the timeline filled in a little more.

And there are so many more adventures to come. I can’t wait to see where these voyages take me next.

Boldly go…