The Red King - Michael A. Martin [0]
Star Trek Titan: Taking Wing
by Michael A. Martin and Andy Mangels
“Martin and Mangels wisely know how to balance the character introductions and byplay against a well-written story…[and] how to balance the action with the character moments…. Taking Wing is a great first novel in the Titan series…. It’s a solid tale rich with character exploration and action, and its follow-up installments should be just as exciting. Sit back and enjoy!”
—Bill Williams, trekweb.com
“Taking Wing is full of surprises. Thoroughly engaging from beginning to end, the story satisfies on every level…. It is always very rewarding when a book you’ve been anticipating lives up to expectations. It’s even better when the book exceeds them. Star Trek Titan: Taking Wing is a superb debut for an original new series.”
—Jackie Bundy, treknation.com
“Based on this first novel, I can’t wait for the follow-up.”
—Kilian Melloy, wigglefish.com
An Original Publication of POCKET BOOKS
POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2005 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.
STAR TREK is a Registered Trademark of Paramount Pictures.
This book is published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc., under exclusive license from Paramount Pictures.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
ISBN: 1-4165-2476-2
POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Cover art by Cliff Nielsen
Cover design by John Vairo, Jr.
Visit us on the World Wide Web:
http://www.SimonSays.com/st
http://www.startrek.com
While working on this book,
I had the opportunity to serve my local community
in fundraising and leadership arenas.
Many people gave me immense support,
and I dedicate this book to Marc Hoffman,
Steve Suss, Jerry Dahlke, and Rick Watkins & Les Lewis.
Gentlemen and friends,
may your ships always sail true.
—A.M.
This is for: my wife, Jenny,
whose patience during the writing of this volume
deserves special recognition here;
and the space visionaries at NASA,
the Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
and the European Space Agency
who this very year successfully landed
the Huygens probe on Saturn’s moon Titan,
thereby providing humanity’s first glimpse of the surface
of our eponymous starship’s mysterious namesake.
—M.A.M.
Acknowledgments
The authors owe an enormous debt of gratitude to: John Logan, Rick Berman, and Brent Spiner, whose collaborations on the story and screenplay for Star Trek Nemesis not only gave Will Riker his much-deserved fourth pip, as well as command of the good ship Titan, but also allowed us to pen the untold tale of the Riker-Troi honeymoon in Keith R. A. DeCandido’s recently released Tales from the Captain’s Table anthology; Jeff Mariotte, whose Deny Thy Father chronicled an important chapter in Riker family history; John Vornholt, Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore, Robert Greenberger, David Mack, and Keith R. A. DeCandido, the authors of the A Time To series of novels, whose collective work so adroitly teed up Titan’s maiden voyage; fellow Titan author Christopher L. Bennett for critical insight and sfnal inspiration; Diane Duane, whose novel The Wounded Sky introduced the concept of de Sitter space to the (literary) Star Trek universe more than two decades ago; Jeri Taylor, whose novels Mosaic and Pathways provided some valuable insights into Tuvok’s past; Chris Cooper, who wrote the Star Trek: Star Fleet Academy series (Marvel Comics, 1996–1998), which chronicled the early career of Lieutenant Pava Ek’Noor (sh’)Aqabaa; legendary TOS scenarist Dorothy Fontana, who midwifed a little bundle of joy named L.