Deep Space 9 was my favourite flavour of Star Trek, I only recently re-watched some of the episodes of the show - and thoroughly enjoyed them once again. I felt it was in the last two years of this series, that everything Star Trek was came together. I know this is not going to be the most popular comment to make, most people I would imagine would dispute this and select either the classic series, or The Next Generation. But for me, the latter part of DS9 is Trek's finest moment.

And so onto the books. Well I did read several of the DS9 books during the time the series was on screen, but haven't really read any since then. Well the story has moved on a deal in the books sine then. Sisko is no longer in charge of DS9, the command having passed to Kira. O'Brien has moved on, with the position of Chief Engineer having passed to Ensign Nog, and Odo has left to oversee the Dominion in the Gamma Quandrant following their defeat by the Federation and her allies, the Romulans and Klingons.

But not everyone has left. Quark is still running his bar, but also now serving as Fegengi ambassador to DS9. Julian Bashir and Ezri Dax are also still resident. And old friend from Next Generation days, Ro Laren has been assigned to DS9 to boost the station's compliment.

Okay, the catch-up done, onto this story.

And it's one of those stories where you find yourself instantly in amongst the action. There is no gradual build up here. At the start of the book, the Jem'Hadar elder Taran'atar (assigned to the station by Odo to learn about the Federation, so he can pass on his knowledge to Dominion) has attacked and grievously injured both Ro and Kira. The attack does not take place in the book, we join the action shortly after, and follow both the Jem'Hadar's attempts to escape the station and the medical team's efforts to repair the damage he caused and save the lives of the two Bajoran women.

So Commander Elias Vaughn, Kira's second in command on DS9 sets off in the Defiant to track and capture Taran'atar whilst the investigation into how the Jem'Hadar has managed to disobey a direct order from Odo, a Founder whom he has been genetically engineered to obey.

Okay, so add in some interaction with the Prophets and the dark Kira from the Alternate Universe and this is a complex little tale.

Having read this I know regret not having read more DS9 books over the years. This show is on my list of all-time favourite telefantasy series. That means that this book had to be really good. It is, fortunately. This is a novel that will keep you gripped, keep you wanting to read just one more chapter even when you have read half an hour longer into the night than inended. In recent months Star Trek books have been getting better an better – they are on a totally different level to the Trek books I read some years back. This is not a single mission styled books s were the titles released in the 1990s, when the Enterprise would arrive on a new world, get entangled in a difficult situation and extricate themselves with no damage done by the end of the episode.

The books being released now fit into arcs telling a section of an ongoing saga. Not to say that it is not possible to start reading now with this title, just that there is an progression happening here.

So if you think that TV tie-in novels are just lightweight fluff, designed to cash in on the appeal of the show, but that have no particular strengths of their own, you really should read this book.

Synopsis
Once an enemy, always an enemy...Continued from the shocking cliffhanger in the critically-acclaimed "Worlds Of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Volume 3", Captain Kira lies critically wounded, the victim of a savage attack by the DS9 crew's uncertain ally, the conflicted Jem'Hadar soldier Taran'atar, who has fled the station in turmoil. While Kira fights for life, her first officer Commander Vaughn leads a special ops team to go after the rogue Jem'Hadar - a dangerous hunt that will lead them to a foe they least expect, and a threat that will leave readers reeling.