Trek Novels - Star Trek: The Captain's Table Book 4 - Fire Ship

“Today’s post is the start at a look at an anthology series that was released throughout 1998 called 'The Captain’s Table.' The basic premise is that there is a special bar called The Captain’s Table and captains of all sorts come and relax for a bit. Six books looked at the different captains at that time… I’m going to try to look each book during the next few months…” 

So... I really got behind on this one. I think I started reading it sometime last year, but other stuff got in the way. Next, I lost track of the dang thing. When I finally got around to finishing it, let's just say that  it took longer than I thought it would take. So, Game of Thrones has come to an end. While I’ve only seen one episode and bits and pieces, I’ve enjoyed all the furor that’s been said about the last season. It’s even making me want to revisit something that’s related to the book I’m talking about today. I’ll probably talk about that later this week, though. I’m still not that interested in seeing more  GOT especially since I have a lot of other things I want to see.

I haven’t read too many Voyager novels. While I do have a couple, I haven’t gotten to them yet. Today’s pick is Fire Ship from The Captain’s Table collection. As you can tell by the cover, it’s all about Captain Kathryn Janeway, someone who’s not exactly one of my favorite characters. I think I know why it took so long to get to this one. The book is written by Diane Carey, who I almost got mistaken for Diane Duane, another Trek novelist. Carey’s done quite a few Trek novels, and some were even novelizations of episodes. It’s not stated when it takes place, but I looked online and it says that it takes place right before the episodes, “Year of Hell.”

Star Trek: The Captain’s Table – Fire Ship

Writer: Diane Carey

BRIEF BLURB: Janeway visits The Captain’s Table and recounts a story of where she got separated from the Voyager. She ends up on a salvage ship has to deal with learning two new cultures and stopping a war.

SYNOPSIS

Captain Janeway and Tom Paris are visiting a planet in the Delta Quadrant. Somehow, Janeway is able to find the Captain’s Table out here of all places. She goes in and loses track of Tom. Like the rest of captains, she gets pulled into a conversation and ends up recounting a somewhat recent tale.

Janeway and the Voyager were on shore leave visiting a species called the Iscoy when they and the colony is suddenly attacked. They call themselves the Menace, and they pretty much destroy everything. Janeway is able to flee via escape pod and thinks she sees Voyager get destroyed as well. After some time, she is found by the Zingara, a salvage ship ran by a race called the Omian. She tries to tell them what happened, but they brush her off and think she’s delirious since she suffered injuries in the attack.

As Janeway gets caught up more on her new living arrangements, she learns more about the Omian people through Quen, the captain. It turns out that there was a war that broke out in their system and the salvagers were pretty much the losers. In order to make ends meet, they have to salvage remains from their war. She also finds out that the Omians don’t have women in space. She learns first-hand how tough the salvage business is when the Zingara gets into a tussle with a rival ship. They do get helped out by Oran, Quen’s brother, in another ship. She still tries to tell the crew about the threat of The Menace, but she gets rebuffed and told to clean tiles since she’s new here.

The Zingara has another run-in with a rival ship and the crew all gets incapacitated except for Janeway. The weapon being used didn’t stun her since she’s human, so she takes a small cargo ship over to the rival vessel. When she makes it there, not only does she see that their ship has it better than the Zingara, she also finds one of the Menace as a prisoner. Janeway get captured, but she’s is able to escape along with the Menace prisoner.

When Janeway makes it back to the ship, she informs the crew about the other ships’ living conditions.  The crew start to trust her more. Janeway also finds out more about the Menace who are a race called the Lumalit. We even get out the female’s name: Totobet. Her people basically go around in this part of space pillaging planets essentially because they have no way to control their population numbers. Janeway is pretty angry about this, but she does come to understand and sympathize with Totobet. She finds out that Totobet and other Lumalit females have had to give up their children when the population gets too high.

Realizing that the Omian people are next on the Lumalit’s list, she rigs the ship to go a part of space where the Lumalit reside. When the crew find out about this, they lock her up. Nine days pass and the Zingara make it to Lumalit space. When they see that Janeway was right, they high-tale it back to their system. They devise a plan to let the Omian people know that an alien force is coming to conquer them. They put the plan into action and it does get the warring factions to concentrate on fighting the Lumalit. Janeway is made captain of the Zingara since Quen was injured. They do all they can against the Lumalit until, suddenly, the Voyager shows up and takes down what’s left. In the end, Janeway and Voyager are able to help both species out with their issues. The story ends with Janeway leaving the bar, finding Tom, and wondering if Chakotay (who was a captain) could enter the bar.

OPINION

I thought that this was a fine read. Even though it only focuses on Janeway, we got a decent story out of her. I thought it was interesting that we didn’t get any breaks between Janeway’s story and the bar. I actually liked that this time because that’s one area where some of the other books struggled with. I know the DS9 one annoyed me with that aspect. Janeway’s not my favorite captain, but Carey did her best to make her cool here.

It was nice to see Janeway try to interact with the two species and learn their cultures. She had to use what she knew from her experience to try to get the Omians to trust her. She actually stays on the ship for a considerable amount of time.  I also thought her interactions with Totobet were interesting. It was also interesting seeing Janeway cope with the fact that she may just be the only Starfleet person left in the Delta Quadrant. Remember that she supposedly saw the ship explode, and she has to process all of that. I also liked that she’s the one who noticed how weird The Captain’s Table was.

Of course, there are things that weren’t too good about the book. It takes a long time for things to really get going. I think that’s one reason it took me so long to get back to this one. It’s not until she heals up where the book starts to get interesting. I also thought the ending was okay. I know the Voyager had to show up, but that felt a little cliché.  There were also a couple of times where Janeway did something that I think she wouldn’t do. Then again, the stakes were high. Other than those things and small nitpicks, I liked this one.

In the end, Janeway’s trip to The Captain’s Table wasn’t half-bad. If you’re a Janeway fan, unlike me, you’ll probably like this one. Well, I got two more books left to do. Since they involve captains who aren’t as popular, maybe I’ll get to them sooner than later. Anyway, I gotta go to bed. Peace, God Bless, and don’t commit mutiny. You don’t want to tick the old man off.