Description[]
- When Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise receive news of a Human planet hidden in the center of an immense stellar cloud, they immediately investigate.
- Penetrating the cloud, the starship crew is shocked to discover a world of knights and serfs lifted right out of Earth's Middle Ages. Ruthlessly exploiting the planet is a ring of interstellar trophy hunters preying on the immense, native dragon-lizards, twenty-feet tall and armored like tanks.
- Beaming down, an away team soon becomes embroiled in a web of intrigue and murder. Taken prisoner, Picard, Riker, Data, and Ro must somehow escape and stop the hunters or face destruction from the hunters' ancient weapon, based on an advanced technology capable of utterly annihilating the starship Enterprise…
Summary[]
The Enterprise is cataloguing a nebula when a civilian ship emerges from it, fires on them ineffectually and then self-destructs. The only survivor is Castor Nayfack, who left the ship in an escape pod and tells the crew he is an agent of Federation security tracking a gang of hunters preying on a species similar to dragons who live on a planet inside the nebula. To further enlist their help, he reveals the planet is inhabited by humans whose ancestors were removed from Germany in the 13th century by the Preservers: The gang behind the hunts have a map of Preservers worlds.
Picard takes an away team to the surface where Nayfack gives them the slip, confirming Picard's suspicion that he is a member of the criminal gang. However, Nayfack tricks them into contacting a slave trader, Graebel, who drugs them and sells Picard and Lieutenant Miles as miners and Ro as a plaything to the local duke. Picard and Miles are rescued by Data, along with a philosopher, Michael Kirsch.
Meanwhile, Riker and Troi follow Nayfack to his superior, Hagan, who kills him for leading the Enterprise to them. A fight with assassins leads to the group being arrested by guard captain Volker, but the criminal gang's leader, Randolph is an adviser to the duke and bribes him to free Hagan and imprison the others. Randolph also sends a group of Preserver gravity mines to destroy the Enterprise.
Riker, Troi and Ro manage to barricade themselves in the dungeons and discover a secret entrance to the Preserver control room. Volker kills the corrupt duke as Picard arrives to take charge and place Randolph and Hagan under arrest. With no way to recall the gravity mines, Picard convinces Volker and Kirsch of the need to evacuate the castle by having Worf, posing as a magical being, beam down with a bomb, with everyone returning to the ship. Emergency repairs by an injured Barclay keep the Enterprise intact long enough for the bomb to destroy the Preserver control room. The Enterprise narrowly makes it through the safe tunnel out of the nebula before it collapses, leaving the planet's inhabitants to decide their own future.
References[]
Characters[]
- Reginald Barclay • Beverly Crusher • Data • Graebel • Hagan • Hinner • Michael Kirsch • Geordi La Forge • Jenny Mancini • Martina • Miles • Castor Nayfack • Keiko O'Brien • Miles O'Brien • Jean-Luc Picard • Randolph • William Riker • Ro Laren • Alexander Rozhenko • Sigfrid • Smolinske • Deanna Troi • Van Popering • Volker • Worf
- Referenced only
- Binder • Irwin Allen • Roger Corman • William Shakespeare
Starships and vehicles[]
- Damascus-class (Earth pleasure cruiser) • USS Enterprise-D (Galaxy-class explorer)
Locations[]
Races and cultures[]
- Referenced only
- Cardassian • Ferengi • Preserver • Romulan
States and organizations[]
- Referenced only
- Preserver Union
Science and classification[]
- airlock • beta tachyon • Black Death • bubonic plague • duraluminum • minute • nebula • star • subspace • tachyon emission field • time
Ranks and titles[]
- agent • archaeologist • captain • chief engineer • counselor • duke • knight • officer • poacher • second officer • security guard • security officer • serf
Other references[]
- Aldebaran sand eel • Andorian glitterlings • angel • belfry • Bible • bloodbat • day • dragon • empathy • German • gorilla • Indiana Jones • King Arthur • Macbeth • map • Middle Ages • money • motion picture • nightclaw • planet • Preserver language • Prime Directive • science • tagaak milk • technology • uniform • war • year
Appendices[]
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous novel: Guises of the Mind |
TNG numbered novels | Next novel: Sins of Commission |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous Adventure: Schisms |
Next Adventure: Future Shock 2nd and 3rd entries | |
Translations[]
- 1996
- German : Drachenjäger, translated by Horst Pukallus. (Heyne)
External link[]
- Here There Be Dragons article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.