Captain’s Daughter

Peter David

Marten van Wier

The novel takes place some time after the events of Star Trek Generations and opens with the Enterprise-B crew responding to a distress signal that brings them to the abandoned world of Askalon V where a landing team consisting of captain John Harriman, Demora Sulu and several others find the source to be an alien distress beacon.

While searching for the people who placed the beacon in the first place, Demora Sulu is separated from the landing team for a few minutes, but when Captain Harriman and the other team members find her again, she is completely naked and acts like a feral animal that immediately tries to attack Captain Harriman. Having no other choice Captain Harriman is forced to fatally shoot her with his phaser.

It is with this mystery that Captain Sulu's investigation into what happened to his daughter before her superior was forced to shoot her in self-defense starts, and during this story we learn more about his past with his daughter but also his relationship with her mother Susan Ling.

The Captain's Daughter is an entertaining read that consists of a main plotline in which Captain Sulu tries to find peace with the death of his daughter, something that weights heavily on him especially after the loss of Captain Kirk, before he decides to investigate the mystery behind the events on Askalon V despite Starfleet Command orders that the planet has been put under quarantine.

This story occasionally switches with flashbacks and vignettes from Captain Sulu's own past but also especially Demora Sulu's early life after she was taken in by her father. Some memorable moments are Demora's reactions to when her father and the other Enterprise bridge crew steal the Enterprise during the events of Star Trek III, or witnessing first hand the destruction the alien probe caused on Earth during the events of Star Trek IV.

Of course The Captain's Daughter also includes a lot of Peter David's humor which is especially apparent during a flashback moment during which Hikaru Sulu and Chekov visit an tourist location made to resemble fictional version of Casablanca from the same named movie, a place of mystery and intrigue. Sulu becomes convinces that Chekov has set up some kind of thriller scenario for him when he runs into a mysterious woman who is followed by several thugs and their leader, determined to capture her for an item she possesses. This may go a little to far into the ridiculous at some point but it is never boring to read.

Eventually the story goes full circle back to Askalon V where Captain Sulu discovers Demora's true fate while the Excelsior crew faces a stand off against the Enterprise-B that has been sent after her when Captain Sulu decides to ignore his orders and violates the quarantine put on the planet.

While the main characters of the story are definitely Hikaru Sulu and Demora Sulu, Captain John Harriman and his father; Admiral 'Blackjack' Harriman also get some moments in the spotlight and we learn more about Captain Harriman's own reflection on the events of Star Trek Generations and his relationship with his father who has steered most of his career, including his assignment as captain to the Enterprise-B. And of course other members of Kirk's old crew will also make an appearance.

People who will expect a Star Trek story that involves a situation of galactic proportions or another type of crisis will not find that here, this is mostly a story about characters, their relationships with another, and Sulu's investigation into a personal mystery.

The framing story might not be that strongm but it is very entertainingly told, and the conclusion does not disappoint, even if it doesn't affect the Star Trek universe in general.

Recommended to readers who want a story about characters during a 'low key' event rather than some interstellar scale epic.

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