Star Trek 954: Invincible Part I

954. Invincible Part I

PUBLICATION: Starfleet Corps of Engineers #7, Pocket eBooks, August 2001 (collected into print with S.C.E. ebooks #5-8 as Miracle Workers in February 2002)

CREATORS: Keith R.A. DeCandido and David Mack

STARDATE: 53270.2 (simultaneous with Cold Fusion)

PLOT: Sonya Gomez is sent on special assignment to Sarindar, a crystal planet where the Nalori have unsuccessfully been trying to mine sensor-reflecting ore. In short order, though they don't like the Federation OR women, she gets everyone's good will be "lifting the curse" of the planet. She fixes equipment that wouldn't cooperate and even kills a crystalline "shii monster". Just as the project starts to yield results, however, a second, bigger shii monster attacks and kills more workers...

CONTINUITY: The Nalori would return in the Vanguard novels (Scotty actually mentions knowing of them in Invincible). The doctor on Sarindar is a Gallamite, you know, the ones with the transparent skulls (many DS9 episodes).

DIVERGENCES: None.

SCREENSHOT OF THE WEEK - Location scouting for Sarindar
REVIEW: Invincible uses logs and letters as its sole narrative device, which could be tiresome at longer lengths, but suits the shorter eBook format. It even surprised me with a change of POV at one point (a worker's letter), which was later used to good effect to make us care about that character. While not much happens in the book, plot-wise, it's still a strong character piece for Sonya Gomez that shows her resourcefulness, leadership style and brings us into her more intimate thoughts. Still manages to give us a couple of bits about the other characters as well, so that's nice. Does it feel like something that should go to two parts? I'm not sure, we'll see. But it's not boring, and the guest characters are distinct enough to keep one's interest - the lazy Gallamite, the Nalori's distinct culture, the preachy Bolian - I'll be glad to read more about them next week.

Next for the SBG Book Club: Invincible Part II (SCE), Planet of Judgment (TOS), Power Hungry (TNG), Warchild (DS9), The Riddled Post (SCE).