Product Description

Jean-Luc Picard. His name has gone down in legend as the captain of the U.S.S. Stargazer and two starships Enterprise. But the nine years of his life leading up to the inaugural mission of the U.S.S. EnterpriseTM to Farpoint Station have remained a mystery -- until now, as Picard's lost era is finally unearthed.

Following the loss of the Stargazer and the brutal court-martial that resulted, Picard no longer sees a future for himself in Starfleet. Turning to his other love, archaeology, he embarks on a quest to rediscover a buried age of ancient galactic history...and awakens a living survivor of that era: a striking, mysterious woman frozen in time since before the rise of Earth's dinosaurs. But this powerful immortal has a secret of cataclysmic proportions, and her plans will take Picard -- aided along the way by a brilliant but naive android, an insightful Betazoid, and an enigmatic El-Aurian -- to the heights of passion, the depths of betrayal, and the farthest reaches of explored space.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #221369 in Books
• Published on: 2007-06-26
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 448 pages

About the Author
Christopher L. Bennett lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he attended University for a B.S. in Physics and a B.A. with high honours in History. Prior to his X-Men endeavours, Bennett focused his love for science fiction into Star Trek novelizations for Simon & Schuster, including Star Trek: Ex Machina and Star Trek S.C.E Aftermath.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Stardate 32217

DaiMon Flax had hit the jackpot.

Each new mineralogy report bore it out further. The planets and moons of this system were richly endowed with dilithium, latinum, verterium, topaline, and other rare and precious minerals in abundant quantities. All just sitting there waiting for the Ferengi to claim it, since this system had no pesky inhabitants to argue ownership or resist strip-mining operations.

This was the kind of haul that Ferengi dreams were made of, and Flax had come across it on his very first voyage as DaiMon. It boggled the mind. His father, Bok, had spared no expense in ensuring that his beloved son could follow in his footsteps -- not only paving his path to DaiMonship with lucrative bribes in all the right palms, but hiring the most expensive tutors and driving Flax hard to ensure his skills were worthy of the position thus purchased. And that position was a prestigious one: commander of the Raider-class starship Seventy-Fifth Rule, a compact but high-powered scout designed to be at the vanguard of commercial expansion, racing far beyond known space to seek out new wealth and new opportunities and to claim them for his own -- and for the greater glory of the Ferengi Alliance, by means of the sizable percentages which the Grand Nagus and the GuiMon in Chief demanded from every DaiMon's claims.

But even Bok had never expected that his son would make such a valuable strike so early in his career. This is leverage, he told himself. This kind of luck suggested that the Great River was flowing in his favor, and if he played his hand deftly, he could impress the Nagus and GuiMon enough to stand up to them and negotiate a larger share of the system's wealth.

Careful, he told himself, recalling the Forty-third Rule of Acquisition: "Feed your greed, but not enough to choke it." He could negotiate for more, yes, but if he demanded too much, the Nagus would see him as ungrateful and disrespectful, and that would hurt his chances for profit in the long run. Besides, this system was a big enough prize that even a fledgling DaiMon's share would make him rich.

Yes, the River is generous, Flax reflected, taking a moment to consider the larger picture. Even Ferenginar's best-paid scientists were still hard-pressed to explain how exotic compounds like dilithium and duranium could form naturally, and yet such valuable substances could nonetheless be found in the mineral strata of many worlds. Flax took it as proof that the River was flowing beneath the surface of things, creating wealth and depositing it where Ferengi could make the best use of it. In this case, where Flax could make the best use of it. Maybe it was arrogant to think of the River choosing to provide for him personally. But other Ferengi had been endowed with legendary luck over the ages, and if this find didn't prove that Flax was one of those blessed ones, it was at least evidence that he could be.

A proximity alert sounded, jarring Flax out of his reverie. "DaiMon!" reported tactical officer Gorp. "Our remote probes are detecting an unidentified vessel approaching the system at warp!"

"On viewer!" Flax cursed himself for his complacency, even while commending himself for the decision to send out the sensor drones (well, actually it had been on science officer Mench's initiative, but since Mench was on Flax's payroll, that made it his idea by the Twenty-fifth Rule). Right now the ship was conducting a mineralogical assay of a deep impact crater on a moon of the system's giant fifth planet, and the kelbonite and other minerals that permeated the crust were interfering with sensors. The drones had been launched to speed the survey of the system's planets, but they also served as sensor and communication relays, compensating for the ship's current blindness.

Indeed, Flax realized that they gave him an advantage over this potential claim-jumper: he could see them, but if his luck held, they hadn't seen him yet. And hopefully not the drones either. "Shut down all thrusters on the drones. Communication on tight-beam only. Gorp, can you identify the intruder?"

"I don't recognize the warp signature, DaiMon." Gorp paused. "However, I could run it through the database for a match..."

Flax grinned at his subordinate's initiative. In an imminent crisis, military crews had no time for negotiation and had to follow their DaiMon's orders without question. But at the moment, the crisis was just imminent enough to give Gorp leverage while not yet so imminent that his delay posed a danger. "Five slips if you do."

"Ten."

"Seven." Don't push it, his tone said.

"Done." As Gorp worked his console's interface hemisphere to run the search, Flax did the same with the smaller globe on his command chair's arm, appending the seven-slip bonus to Gorp's pay for the week. "Here it is," Gorp said, then sucked in a gasp. "DaiMon...it reads as Federation."

Flax spun to face the tactical officer. "Starfleet?"

"I think so."

"Two more slips."

"Yes, definitely Starfleet." Gorp didn't look happy about his extra profit. "DaiMon...what do we do?"

Flax shared his crewmate's anxiety. In recent years, the Ferengi had been hearing increasingly about this United Federation of Planets from various trading partners. They had sought to learn more, but carefully, clandestinely, as per Rule 194: "It's always good business to know about new customers before they walk in your door." Besides, these people claimed to be explorers, seeking only peaceful contact and discovery, with no interest in profit. They even claimed to have a society without property or money. That meant one of two things: they were lying, or they were insane.

So Grand Nagus Zek had chosen to pursue a cautious strategy, ensuring that when the time finally came, the Ferengi could face these bizarre beings from a position of strength. The Alliance had begun negotiating with new races from a distance, through intermediaries or over audio channels, in order to create an air of mystery about themselves. Zek had offered their earlier trading partners incentives to stay quiet about the Ferengi's true nature -- particularly their small stature relative to most humanoids -- and even to spread rumors painting them as a vicious, dangerous race, a people who blew up planets that got in their way and served up females and children as afternoon snacks. Zek had also been investing more funds into a military buildup, both to bolster the Ferengi's new, meaner image and to improve their ability to defend themselves for real if the Federation proved as dangerous as Zek suspected.

But it was too soon. Zek's master plan was still being put in place; it would be years before the Ferengi were ready to face the Federation. If this Starfleet vessel discovered the Seventy-fifth Rule, scanned it, and learned its technical capabilities and the life signs of its crew, all hopes for a safe and profitable first contact could be scuttled. That could not be allowed to happen.

Moreover, the ship might be coming to jump Flax's claim on this system. That could really not be allowed to happen.

"Any sign they've detected us?" he asked Gorp.

"No, DaiMon. They still approach at a low but steady warp factor. The crater shields us well."

Flax studied their course plot on the viewer: it would bring them near the giant planet that this moon orbited. They seemed to be heading for a warp gravity-assist maneuver, banking around the planet's subspace gravity well to put them on course for the fourth planet without using thrusters. A smart, economical maneuver -- further evidence that these Federation types weren't as unconcerned with profit as they claimed. But it would be their downfall, for it would bring them well within the Seventy-fifth Rule's weapons range while never bringing them into line of sight with it, leaving them unaware of its presence until they were directly in its gunsights. Flax smiled. Maybe the River was still bringing him luck after all.

Captain's Log, Stardate 32217.3

U.S.S. Stargazer on routine survey mission into the Maxia Zeta star system. Initial scans indicate twelve planets, none habitable. The third and fourth are in Maxia Zeta's habitable zone, and may therefore be candidates for terraforming. Our science teams are preparing for a full survey and surface scan.

"So...where do you want to go for your birthday?"

Jean-Luc Picard looked askance at his first officer, who leaned nonchalantly against the starboard bridge railing. "This isn't a pleasure yacht, Gilaad. I go where the mission takes me. No telling where we might be on that date."

Gilaad Ben Zoma threw his captain a skeptical look. "Come on, Jean-Luc. This is the big one! A couple more months, and you'll have made it a whole half-century!" His eyes went up a bit. "And with fully half your hair."

Picard smirked and stroked his ever-increasing expanse of bare scalp, his hand coming to rest against what remained of his graying brown hair. "Don't knock it, Gilaad. It makes me sleeker. Cuts down on wind resistance and excess weight."

"Planning on running more marathons?"

"Well, it never hurts to be prepared for the long run."

Ben Zoma winced. "We could always make a run back toward Federation space if you wanted. Give the crew leave, take some personal time...if there's anyone special you'd like to spend your birthday with." He sidled closer, lowered his voice. "What was the name of that JAG officer back on Starbase 32 last year? Phillipa...?"

Picard glared. "The bridge is no place for gossip, Number One," he said, a bit of sternness entering his voice. Ben Zoma looked mildly taken aback. Normally Picard would not have been so bothered by a discussion of one of his liaisons; he was close to his crew, and they knew he was as romantic at heart as any Frenchman. This bridge had hosted banter about his love life before, most notably nine years ago when he had been ribbed mercilessly for his brief fling with Miranda Vigo, a human who coincidentally bore the same surname as his hulking, blue...

Customer Reviews

A Good Bridge.
Just finished reading this book and I think it's a good bridge between the end of the "Stargazer" series and the beginning of "Next Generation". Be warned, this review is chock full of spoilers.

There are good scenes with several Star Trek characters early in their Starfleet careers. Picard meets Data years before his Enterprise assignment, encouraging him to assert himself and advance his career. Within this timeframe, Picard also meets up with Troi. Upon their first meeting, she disobeys an order from an admiral so as not to betray Picard. I liked this, as she seems to have a lot more backbone than is initially portrayed in "Next Generation". There is also an interesting cameo by a young Kathryn Janeway and the revelation that Picard attempted to recruit her for his crew on Enterprise.

Some interesting facets about Picard emerge as well. One passage explains how Picard's approach of asking for opinions came from a short stint of teaching archaeology in the years following the loss of the Stargazer. Another passage shows a much-darker Picard heading up a tactical division of Starfleet. In fact, Picard's story takes him down many avenues I didn't expect and shows just close he was at times to NOT taking his place on the Enterprise.

I also recommend reading "The Valiant" and "Oblivion" from the "Stargazer" series. While "Buried Age" stands well on its own, these two other books will give you some good backstory.

A rare glimpse into one of Star Trek's lost chapters....
This is an excellent addition to the Star Trek series, illustrating the origins and motivations of one of the seris most celebrated figures, Captain Jean Luc Picard. Bennett does a fine job portraying Picard's struggles with doubt and his shaken confidence, interweaving both episodes of the hit Star Trek: TNG TV series and the expanded universe of the novel line. A dark but uplifting tale of Picard's voyage of self discovery in becoming the man who will one day captain the Enterprise, and thereby explore so much more. An entertaining and informative read, well worth purchasing, that rounds out an already full and rich personality. Bennett has a masterful grasp of the characters and characterizations involved, and has written a fine addition to the trek universe.

Completely changes everything.
I don't usually post reviews but feel I should after reading this book. It's by far the best Star Trek fiction I've ever read. The author's grasp of scientific concepts and understanding of Picard's psyche and the entire Star Trek universe comes together so perfectly, it actually made me want to rewatch all of the Next Generation from the very beginning, with a brand new understanding of the motivations behind everything. It could have worked as 3 or 4 separate novels (that's how in depth it is), but this "condensed" version of Picard's missing years is a great read.