The Return (Star Trek)

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The Return

Author	William Shatner
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Science Fiction
Publisher	Pocket Books (U.S.)
Publication date	April 1996 (U.S.)
Media type	Paperback, hardback, audio cassette
Pages	371 p. (US paperback edition)
ISBN	ISBN ISBN 0-671-52610-3 (US hardback edition) & ISBN 0-671-52609-X (US paperback edition)
Preceded by	The Ashes of Eden
Followed by	Avenger

The Return is a novel by William Shatner that was co-authored by Garfield Reeves-Stevens and Judith Reeves-Stevens. It is based on the Star Trek universe, but as part of the "Shatnerverse" does not follow the timeline established by other Star Trek novels. The sequel to this book is Avenger (1998). The Return was touted as the official sequel to Generations, in that it directly succeeds the events of Generations and takes place, apparently, before the events of Star Trek: First Contact.^{[citation needed]}

The working title for the book was The Fires of Olympus.^[1]

1 Plot summary
2 Film sequel
3 References
4 See also

[edit] Plot summary

The novel begins on the planet Veridian III and takes place shortly after the events seen in the motion picture Star Trek Generations .The body of James T. Kirk is stolen by the Romulans after his burial by fellow Star Fleet Captain Jean Luc Picard . He is subsequently resurrected by the Borg using alien technologies which reanimate the dead tissue of his body. The Borg have formed an alliance with the Romulan Star Empire in order to destroy the Federation. Using the alien technology the body of Kirk is brought back to life and his katra is restored but deliberately implanting false memories to turn him against the Federation. The goal of this secret alliance is to destroy Jean-Luc Picard, and therefore Starfleet's only defense against the Borg, but, despite his conditioning, Kirk is able to resist commands to kill Worf, Data and Geordi La Forge, all of whom are attacked by him during his search for Picard. Simultaneously, Picard and Doctor Crusher are participating as part of a strike team in a Federation expedition to an assimilated colony, where they are captured on board a Borg vessel. They are able to escape and as they move freely around the vessel, they learn of the Borg/Romulan Alliance. Spock also learns of this alliance when he is captured dealing with Romulans, but the Borg do not assimilate him as, for some reason, they believe Spock is already a Borg.

Eventually, Kirk is captured on Deep Space Nine attempting to kill Commander Riker, the implant that was responsible for his false memories being removed by the joint efforts of Doctor Julian Bashir and Admiral Leonard McCoy. McCoy acts as an advisor during the surgery while Bashir's younger, fitter hands perform the operation. Although Kirk retains the drives implanted in him by the device, leading him to a confrontation with Picard in a holodeck-recreated USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Spock is able to remove the commands thanks to a mind meld. In the process, they learn that V'ger, the former Voyager 6, was actually upgraded by a division of the Borg collective, which explains why the Borg did not assimilate Spock; they assumed the trace of V'ger in his mind from their meld was an actual link to the Collective. This also gives Starfleet another advantage; thanks to the meld, Spock knows the location of the Borg homeworld.

Taking a Defiant-class starship (Renamed Enterprise for the mission), the Enterprise-D senior staff, accompanied by Kirk, Spock and McCoy, travel directly to the Borg homeworld thanks to a stolen transwarp drive. Once there, the Enterprise neutralizes the Borg/Romulan fleet around the planet with a wave, dampening the Borg's communication making them unable to maintain their link to the collective, effectively neutralizing them. Taking this as a distraction, Kirk and Picard beam down to the planet in search of the Borg central node. Using Picard's memories as Locutus, they track down the Borg central node, which, when deactivated, will sever the Borg Collective; every Borg ship will be separate from every other ship, and what can defeat one will always work a second time. However, the result will cause a cataclysmic explosion that will kill whoever operates the node.

Picard and Kirk debate on who will go, each attempting to be the hero and sacrifice themselves. Kirk appears to give in and let Picard pull the lever, but he takes the sudden calm to knock Picard out and beam his unconscious body back up to the Enterprise. Kirk then pulls the lever, and as he hits the node, he triggers a cataclysmic explosion. However, even as the crews watch, Spock — who has always been able to sense Kirk ever since they first mind-melded — still does not believe that his friend is dead.

And, somewhere, somehow, Kirk lives, awaiting the moment when he will be united with his old friends...

[edit] Film sequel

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Shortly after the release of Star Trek Generations, William Shatner pitched the story of Kirk being brought back to life by The Borg for the next Star Trek film. While Paramount was interested in using The Borg for the next movie, they also felt the torch had been passed and the next movie should feature just the Next Generation cast.^{[citation needed]}