There’s a bar called “The Captain’s Table,” where those who have commanded mighty vessels of every shape and era can meet, relax, and share a friendly drink or two with others of their calling. Sometimes a brawl may break out but it’s all in the family, more or less. Just remember, the first round of drinks is always paid for with a story…even in Thallonian space. Six years ago, long before he … before he took command of the Starship Excalibur, a young Starfleet officer named Mackenzie Calhoun served as first officer aboard the U.S.S. Grissom. Then disaster struck, and Calhoun took the blame. A court-martial led to his own angry resignation from Starfleet…or so it appeared. At long last Captain Calhoun reveals the true story behind the greatest tragedy of his life.
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ONCE BURNED is the best Star Trek novel I have ever read. It’s interesting because I never picked this up despite STAR TREK: NEW FRONTIER being my all-time favorite book series alongside the Dresden Files and Mercy Thompson. I think it’s because it was not part of the main series that I never really felt the need to read outside of it. I now am kicking myself because it is a story that is dark, brooding, fascinating, and really integral to understanding the character of Captain Mackenzie Calhoun.
This is a genuine tragedy and that’s something that Starfleet rarely deals with. The vast majority of occassions result in our heroes rising to the occassion or pulling off a miracle. The few occassions that they don’t do so are rare but potent. They are also some of the most memorable in the series. Stories where the protagonists don’t necessarily accomplish anything of note like “City on the Edge of Forever”, “A Private Little War”, “The Defector”, “Half a Life”, and the underrated “Hippocratic Oath.”
The premise is Mackenzie Calhoun as the first officer of the U.S.S Grissom where his commanding officer is hosting his brother and daughter on a peace negotiation. Things go disastrously, terribly wrong and it is strung out over a very long period. I think Peter David’s best writing here is that Captain Kenyon makes reasonable points for 90% of his actions and I actually agree with most of them.
There’s a vicious, “evil”, group of hostile aliens called the Dufaux who have murdered peace envoys. They’re dangerous and hostile to a neighboring power, the Carvanga, that wants to join the Federation. Arming the latter for a defensive war and also perhaps even suggesting a mutual defense treaty (or expediting their admission to the Federation) seems reasonable.
This isn’t a Prime Directive issue because it’s not internal politics. It’s a matter of a hostile power invading another that needs help. Plenty of people would argue it’s not the Federation’s fight but my formative years were with the first Iraq War that ended up liberating Kuwait. Inaction is also its own choice after all. Of course, it’s never that simple after all and even defensive actions are likely to have dramatic repercussions. It also seems more “reasonable” than the Federation is known to be in these situations.
Like a avalanche gaining steam, we get to see how things gradually explode and end tragically. No one acts out of character and I found all of the actions extremely believable. I also salute Peter David for the fact that he doesn’t attempt to make Kradius, the Dufaux dictator, sympathetic. No, he’s a monstrous narcissist right to the very end. I also appreciated the relationship between Kat Mueller and Mac that was refreshingly un-romantic and, ironically, far more mature as well as believable because of it.
This is one of those stories that I say is not just a good Star Trek novel but a good novel period. It doesn’t require anything egregious techno-babble wise or weird cosmic events but just people acting out to believable human emotions. It could only take place in the Trekverse because no one else would think the captain was rationale after having such a personal loss and good to go or trust the Federation is acting unusually pragmatic (maybe in the Vanguard novels). But it is excellent military science fiction because of its applicability. Up there with my favorite of the Trek movies: The Undiscovered Country.
If I do have any complaints about this novel, it’s the fact that I don’t think the Captain’s Table conceit is really necessary. While I don’t think a equivalent of Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon is a particularly weird concept by Trek standards to insert in the universe, this could have easily been part of the main series and arguably should have been. Certainly, it makes a lot of Mac’s history make more sense even if I think Jellico is grossly overreacting.
Ooo, the gut punches of this one.