| To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh | |
|---|---|
| Author(s) | Greg Cox |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Star Trek: The Eugenics Wars |
| Genre(s) | Science Fiction |
| Publisher | Pocket Books |
| Publication date | May 23, 2006 |
| Pages | 384 pages |
| Preceded by | The Eugenics Wars: The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh |
To Reign In Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh, is the final book in a trilogy of novels written by Greg Cox chronicling the life of the fictional Star Trek character Khan Noonien Singh. This final book deals with the life of Khan after he was marooned on Ceti Alpha V by Captain James T. Kirk.
The book takes place between the original series episode "Space Seed" and the motion picture Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, and contains numerous retcon references that seek to resolve discrepancies between the episode and the film.
Contents |
The book begins with Khan, Lt. Marla McGivers, and most of the other supermen and women that had been with him on the SS Botany Bay arriving on the planet Ceti Alpha V. Khan is given supplies and a phaser and begins to build a colony on the planet. Khan is challenged several times by his fellow supermen, but remains in control for the most part.
Some time after arriving, the next planet in the Ceti Alpha system, Ceti Alpha VI, explodes and disrupts the orbit of Ceti Alpha V. This causes major climate changes and loss of plant and animal life. Khan and the supermen take refuge underground and Khan waits for Kirk to arrive and rescue him and his followers from the hell that has become of the planet.
After more time passes, several supermen do not wish to follow Khan any longer and try to assassinate Khan by placing a Ceti Eel in Marla McGivers' ear. This bizarre creature causes her to do whatever is commanded of her, and the men order her to kill Khan. Marla's love for Khan allows her to resist enough to instead kill herself. The eel emerges from her ear after her death and Khan sees the reason why she died.
After the failed assassination, the rebels leave the underground and form a new faction on the planet, taking control of the vital hot springs that provide the only water on the planet. Khan then battles them, losing many men and women, but winning in the end.
At the end of the novel a few years later, Khan sees two men in space suits materialize on the planet's surface.
Throughout the novel, Khan blames his hardships on James Kirk for stranding him on the planet and never checking on him again.
The untold chapter in the history of Star Trek's most notorious villain, KHAN. Searing and powerful, To Reign in Hell masterfully bridges the time period between Khan Noonien Singh's twenty-third-century revival in the Original Series classic episode ×10Space Seed and his unforgettable return in the acclaimed feature film 2.
What truly transpired during Khan's long years of exile on the forbidding world of Ceti Alpha V, before the tyrant escaped to embark on a murderous campaign of vengeance against Admiral James T. Kirk? What horrific trials spawned Khan's insane lust for revenge?
Haunted by the memory of Khan's bitter accusations, Kirk now revisits Ceti Alpha V to discover for himself what ultimately drove Khan to madness. There, buried beneath the desolate surface of a dying planet, Kirk and his allies find the untold story of their greatest foe – and of the woman who loved him: Lieutenant Marla McGivers of Starfleet.
Along with Khan's genetically-engineered followers from the twentieth century, Khan and Marla are left on Ceti Alpha V with the hopes of building a new life together. Although the planet is savage and untamed, full of deadly predators and unexpected hazards, Khan dreams of carving out an empire even greater than the one he once ruled on Earth.
But when catastrophe strikes, laying waste to the entire world, Khan and the others find themselves trapped in a desperate struggle for survival. Now Khan must use every ounce of his superhuman strength and intellect to wage a fearsome battle against the planet, his people... and the growing darkness in his own soul.
The book also has a secondary plot with James T. Kirk, Sulu, Spock, and Leonard McCoy going to Ceti Alpha V after the events of the second, third, and fourth Star Trek movies had already taken place. Kirk is filled with guilt and wishes to find out more about Khan's life on the planet. He goes to the bunker that is shown in the second movie and finds Khan's diary. This is when the book moves into Khan's story.What truly transpired during Khan's long years of exile on the forbidding world of Ceti Alpha V, before the tyrant escaped to embark on a murderous campaign of vengeance against Admiral James T. Kirk? What horrific trials spawned Khan's insane lust for revenge?
Haunted by the memory of Khan's bitter accusations, Kirk now revisits Ceti Alpha V to discover for himself what ultimately drove Khan to madness. There, buried beneath the desolate surface of a dying planet, Kirk and his allies find the untold story of their greatest foe -- and of the woman who loved him: Lieutenant Marla Mcgivers of Starfleet....
To Reign in Hell describes the time period of Khan Nooien Singh and his genetically enhanced followers were exiled to the planet of Ceti Alpha V. Six months after their exile to Ceti Alpha V, Khan and Marla McGivers, along with many of the other colonists, were married. When Ceti Alpha VI exploded, the planet was devastated, and the colony on Ceti Alpha V barely survived the upheaval. McGivers was later killed by Harulf Ericsson, a jealous fellow superman, who placed a Ceti Eel in her ear and directed her to kill Khan. She went back to the quarters that she and Khan shared and she pulled out a knife, about to kill Khan, but resisted at the last moment and stabbed herself in the chest, giving herself a mortal wound. When Khan asked why she did what she did, she barely managed to utter that Ericsson had planted an eel in her ear and that she had no regrets going with Khan. She then died and although Khan would ultimately gain revenge against Ericsson, her death was still one of the reasons that Khan sought vengeance on James T. Kirk for not checking on their progress.
At certain points along the way and after Khan's story is complete, the book continues with Kirk's story. He and the rest of the party go into the underground tunnels that are beneath the bunker to learn even more about Khan's life but are captured by the children of the second faction on the planet who have taken over the bunker in Khan's absence. Kirk, "the Abandoner," is going to be killed because of what he did, but instead Kirk offers to take all of the supermen and women to Sycorax, a planet populated by genetically altered humans that is mentioned in the sidestory of the first two novels in this series. The supermen agree to go with Kirk and say that Kirk may not be "the Abandoner" after all. After Khan's death, Captain Kirk, Captain Spock, Doctor McCoy, and Commander Hikaru Sulu returned to Ceti Alpha V in attempt to learn more about Khan's exile. In their search, they accidentally stumbled upon a sarcophagus for Marla that was built by Khan with Marla's mummified remains within. In another sarcophagus, likely meant for Khan, Spock found data tapes and records and Khan's personal journal. Before they left, the landing party were accosted by Ericsson's daughter and a few other surviving supermen and women who were exiled from the colony and demanded to know Khan's whereabouts, not knowing that he had left the planet and subsequently died. The young Ericsson also destroyed Marla's remains with a phaser she took from the landing party. Kirk managed to convince the young Ericsson that Khan was indeed dead and their fight was over. Then Kirk instructed Sulu to go back to the Mutara Sector, and he then beamed her ashes into the debris field created when the Genesis Planet exploded, so that that she and Khan could at least be together. Kirk also hoped that as husband and wife were reunited that somewhere, somehow, Marla McGivers and Khan Singh have both finally found peace
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