Following on directly from the events in the previous volume, After the Fall, we find the Thallonian Protectorate is beginning to tear itself apart. The relative peace of the recent time has been destroyed when Kalinda (the sister of Prime Minister Si Cwan) murdered the son of Fhermus, Si Cwan great rival in the Protectorate.

Add to this the fact that the Excalibur, its captain Mackenzie Calhoun and the entire crew have disappeared right in the midst of the unfolding events.

When Starfleet describes the Thallonian civil war as an internal matter, their former Excalibur shipmates, Admiral Shelby (wife of Calhoun), Lt. Cmdr. Robin Lefler (wife of Si Cwan) and Kat Mueller (now captain of the Trident) are ordered not to interfere in Thallonian affairs.

They decide that this is an order that they just cannot follow and they take the Trident and head off to investigate. Meanwhile Calhoun and the crew of the Excalibur are trying to establish exactly where they are, and how they might be able to get home.

Back when I first read Star Trek books all those years ago, Peter David was one of the best. Unfortunately, in some ways, I stopped reading Star Trek books around the time that the New Frontier range of books was launched and so I came to the series cold with the previous book in this series, After the Fall.

It's a good thing, then, that Peter David's writing allows an easy in. He portrays his characters so that they are instantly familiar, instantly real – and sets them in very Star Trek situations, ones that will feel so very right to anyone who is a fan of Next Generation TV show.

He also shows here that he is willing to allow his characters to make tough decisions - and then live with the consequences. Commander Soleta (newly of the Romulan Empire, and former science officer on the Excalibur) finds her position as Commander of the warbird Spectre is a tenuous one, her first officer and crew do not trust her. Things come to a head with the changes in the Empire - she finds herself cut off from the support of the Praetor (his death occurring in the film Star Trek: Nemesis) and faces some very difficult choices to ensure her own survival.

Years ago, reading Star Trek books could be a bit of a hit and miss – there were good ones, but there were also some by-the-numbers books – ones were it felt as though the author was thinking of the paycheque the whole time. These days, things have changed and Trek books are of a higher general standard, the novels are bigger than TV episodes (or at least beyond their budgets) and more involved.

Yet even despite the general raising of standards Peter David is proving here is still up there with the best media tie-in writers. The competition is getting stronger but he proves he still up to the challenge.

Synopsis
Following the dramatic conclusion of After The Fall, the crew of the USS Excalibur are lost in space, somehow thrown headlong into the mysteries and dangers of the distant Andromeda Galaxy - and no sooner do they arrive than they are caught up in the middle of a genocidal interstellar war. Now, Captain Mackenzie Calhoun - who himself grew up a freedom fighter battling the forces of an aggressive conqueror - must decide where his true loyalties lie. Should he save an oppressed race from certain destruction? Or ally himself with the violent alien warriors who offer the only hope of getting Excalibur home again...