The Dominion War, Book One: Behind Enemy Lines

Story: According to this book, whose events occur in the gap between the events in the fifth season finale and sixth season premiere of Deep Space Nine, the new Enterprise has been involved in the same desperate defensive battle as the rest of Starfleet. Then an unexpected reunion takes place – the Enterprise rescues a Bajoran freighter near the Badlands from Dominion attackers. But this Bajoran ship is under the control of the Maquis, and its captain is Ro Laren, formerly the Enterprise’s Bajoran navigator who later abandoned Starfleet to join the renegades and defend her people.

While Picard and Riker are initially wary of Ro, and she herself fully expects to be thrown in the brig for showing her face again, the rebel does come with a disturbing piece of news: since the Bajoran wormhole at Deep Space Nine has been made inaccessible by the Starfleet minefield, the Cardassians are attempting to create their own artificial wormhole in the Badlands, allowing Dominion reinforcements to take over the Alpha Quadrant. Picard and Geordi, in disguise, join Ro’s crew and embark on a dangerous mission to derail the Cardassians’ construction timetable on the artificial wormhole.

Review: The first Star Trek fiction I’ve gone out of my way to buy since the initial four-book New Frontier set, this first entry in the Dominion War series of books helps to answer a question that many fans have been asking: where has the Enterprise-E and her intrepid crew been during the Federation’s war with the Dominion?

Not a typical story for the Next Generation< crew, this straight-ahead, action packed tale of espionage is made much more interesting with the inclusion of Ro, though her relations with the Enterprise crew aren't as spiky as one might expect. It's very interesting, and very true to character, that Picard still respects Ro, despite her desertion in Next Generation's penultimate episode. While Ro's presence is welcome, I did question the presence of Lt. Sam Lavelle and Vulcan Ensign Taurik, two of the junior crewmembers from the seventh season episode Lower Decks. This seemed just a little too much like a fannish mix ‘n’ match dream team maneuver in the story. It’s entirely possible that other characters, fresh ones, could have played those parts in the story. In fact, this could have provided more tension – in numerous places Vornholt tries to imply that Sam might betray his Starfleet oath, sell out to the Cardassians, and escape slave labor while leaving his fellow prisoners (including Taurik) behind. Had this been a new character, not one we already knew (albeit from a TV bit part), the reader might’ve had more doubt about which way this character might jump.