Star Trek: New Frontier, Book Two: Into the Void

By Peter David

This is where things really get rolling in the New Frontier series, as the final crew members are introduced and the starship Excalibur begins its mission in Sector 221-G.  The most important event in Into the Void is the introduction of the ship's first officer, Commander Elizabeth Shelby, a character who appeared in the popular Star Trek: The Next Generation (TNG) episode, "The Best of Both Worlds."  In that episode, it was established that she was an expert on the hostile Borg species, and that she was a highly ambitious officer who was gunning for Commander Riker's position on the Enterprise.  Her strong personality and ambition are on full display in this novel, but it is her relationship to her captain, Mackenzie Calhoun, that makes the dynamic between the two one of the most unique and just plain fun in all of Star Trek.  Shelby and Calhoun had once been engaged, but the relationship ended (there is some debate as to just who broke up with whom), and now these two find themselves in a close working relationship as captain and first officer.  One gets the sense that a mutual attraction still exists between them, although it manifests itself primarily as arguing.  Any scene with dialogue between Shelby and Calhoun is a lot of fun to read.

In addition to those crew members introduced in House of Cards, we are introduced here to the rest of the crew, including Zak Kebron, a massive, rock-like alien called a Brikar who serves as Security Chief.  Robin Lefler, a young woman who, like Shelby and Selar, appeared in a single episode of TNG, is the operations officer.  Mark McHenry, another young human, is the ship's helmsman.  Perhaps the most unique character is Chief Engineer Burgoyne-172, a dual-gendered alien called a Hermat who is attracted to Selar, the ship's Vulcan doctor.  Si Cwan, the former Thallonian prince, boards the ship as a stowaway and convinces Calhoun to allow him to remain aboard as an Ambassador, although he is not a member of Starfleet.

One thing that makes the New Frontier novels work so well is writer Peter David's ability to switch from broad comedy to intense action sequences.  New Frontier is by design wackier than any of the other Star Trek series, but it is also more violent and more likely to go to some pretty dark places.  It is primarily David's skill writing comedy and character interaction that are on display here in book two.  He will show off his skills as an action/adventure writer in book three, The Two-Front War.