Just as Infection, Vectors, and Red Sector respectively featured characters from TNG, DS9, and The Original Series, Quarantine features some of the cast of Star Trek: Voyager. Specifically, it is a story of Captain Chakotay's Maquis cell (including B'Elanna Torres, Tuvok, and Seska) before they were taken to the Delta Quadrant and merged with Voyager's crew. When Chakotay and his crew discover that Helena, a planet in the demilitarized zone, has become infected with a strain of the plague virus seen in the previous three novels, they reluctantly request Starfleet's help in treating the populace and hopefully finding a cure. Help comes in the form of Lieutenant Thomas Riker, Commander William Riker's double, who has just transferred to the medical branch of Starfleet and now works as a medical courier. The novel also shows how Thomas Riker was seduced by the Maquis philosophy, and leads directly into that character's appearance on an episode of DS9.
Like most of the books in the "Double Helix" miniseries, this novel does not advance the plot of the overall story very much, but, like Diane Carey's Red Sector, writer John Vornholt uses the opportunity to tell an entertaining story. It was, of course, a lot of fun to read about Chakotay's pre-Voyager adventures with the Maquis, and to see him interact with Tuvok and Seska, who we know would both eventually betray him. There is a good scene in this book where Tuvok, who is an undercover Starfleet officer, begins to have sympathy for the Maquis cause.
The planet Helena is also an intriguing creation. Most of the citizens are of mixed heritage, and genetic crossbreeding (both natural and artificially engineered) is regarded highly. The dark side of this seemingly enlightened philosophy is the fact that those of pureblood ancestry are a segregated minority, making Helena a kind of inverse of the planet Archaria III in Infection, where hybrid "mixers" are persecuted by the bigoted human populace. While I didn't quite understand why human/Klingon hybrids should be so rare or admired by the Helenites (we have seen at least a couple of them on the various Star Trek series), it is fun to see B'Ellana have to deal with being practically worshiped by much of the populace, a role with which she is understandably uncomfortable.
Thomas Riker makes a good protagonist here, a kind of rougher, less confident version of the William Riker with whom we are more familiar. His shift in loyalties is handled well and convincingly over the course of the story. I also like Ensign Shelzane, a female Benzite who serves as Riker's pilot and partner on the mission.
With so much else going on, the story of the plague almost seems to fade into the background at times. Interestingly, this is the only "Double Helix" book thus far that does not end with a cure for the virus being found, nor does it feature a prominent character who is a doctor. Still, this is a good Star Trek novel, particularly for fans interested in Thomas Riker and the Maquis.
No comments:
Post a Comment