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Prime Directive

by Judith & Garfield Reeves-Stevens

- Book Review (1991)

This is a marvellous book! Set in the final year of the five-year mission, the book opens with the Enterprise destroyed, the crew retired from Starfleet in disgrace and scattered through the Federation, and Kirk a hated outcast, forced to move from world to world, disguised, his name reviled by every member-race as that of a 'world-killer'. The facts are incontrovertible: Kirk has broken Starfleet's highest command - the Prime Directive - by interfering in the natural development of a non-Federation world, a world consequently destroyed by a terrible nuclear firestorm. He has betrayed the ideals of Starfleet and proven himself unworthy to hold a Captain's chair. How did this happen?

Civilians now, the disgraced crew must make their own respective ways back to the devastated Talin IV - now insultingly renamed 'Kirk's World' by the general consent - to discover the truth of what really happened and to clear their names and that of their Captain.

The writers use the regular characters as well as I've ever seen them used and their free-wheeling, complex plot places them in some truly original and captivating situations - Chekov and Sulu serving aboard an Orion pirate-vessel? Spock in a student commune dedicated to the abolition of the Prime Directive? And wait until McCoy and Uhura make their second act entrance! Various non-regular characters are also beautifully used including the obnoxious Lieutenant (Captain) Styles (from "Search For Spock"). The various alien races inside and outside the Federation are handled expertly (Krulmadden, the Orion pirate, being a particular stand-out), as are the humans involved, especially Dr. Richter, the Federation scientist most responsible for the Prime Directive and now desperate to abolish it, and the seductive Starfleet officer turned smuggler, Ann Gauvreau. The words that the Reeves-Stevens put into every character's mouth ring absolutely true, and there are times when you can almost hear the various actors' voices speaking the sparkling dialogue.

Like these authors' first Star Trek novel "Memory Prime" the book shows a thorough knowledge (and more important - understanding) of established Star Trek history. The prologue, an extract from "A Historical Analysis of the Five Year Mission", is superbly tantalising with its overview of the history of the Constitution-Class vessels and its shocking characterisation of Kirk as one of the "flawed" Captains ...for every Robert April or Christopher Pike the Academy produced, there would be a Ron Tracey or a James T. Kirk (Ron Tracey being the Captain who was found to have armed one side in a primitive war in "The Omega Glory"). It is also notable for the introduction of the wonderful concept of le rêve d'étoiles - the dream of stars, which, for me at any rate, is the best encapsulation of the "sense of wonder" that underlies Star Trek yet.

Again, as in "Memory Prime", the authors show us parts of the Federation we have never seen belore - Krulmadden's Orion pirates with their raiding ship made up of pirated technology from all over the Federation, a Tellarite terraforming colony (marvelously realised!), a Lunar resort (with the lower stage of the Eagle module still perfectly preserved as a tourist attraction), the workings of the Federation news service, a classic bar-room brawl on Rigel VIII (the bar only has one Klingon ear nailed to the wall above the cash-box, so it's not such a tough place!). This is detailed, inventive work by two people who obviously love their subject matter, and it shows.

The plot is complex and always surprising, never less than totally believable, bringing in startling new developments even at the end, and the ending itself is deeply moving as well as enormously satisfying. The book is laced throughout with humour, deep emotion and irresistible excitement. I found it impossible to put down once I'd started it, and it has to be up there with the very best of the Star Trek novels. If you only buy one Star Trek book, then this is the one to get.