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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 BarclayBeverly CrusherDataGraebelHaganHinnerMichael KirschGeordi La ForgeJenny ManciniMartinaMilesCastor NayfackKeiko O'BrienMiles O'BrienJean-Luc PicardRandolphWilliam RikerRo LarenAlexander RozhenkoSigfridSmolinskeDeanna TroiVan PoperingVolkerWorf
Referenced only
BinderIrwin AllenRoger CormanWilliam Shakespeare

Starships and vehicles[]

Damascus-class (Earth pleasure cruiser) • USS Enterprise-D (Galaxy-class explorer)

Locations[]

Diesenthe galaxy
Referenced only
AldebaranEarthGermanyGomorrohIsraelSodom

Races and cultures[]

androidBajoranBetazoidHumanKlingon
Referenced only
CardassianFerengiPreserverRomulan

States and organizations[]

Bureau of ConservationStarfleetUnited Federation of Planets
Referenced only
Preserver Union

Science and classification[]

airlockbeta tachyonBlack Deathbubonic plagueduraluminumminutenebulastarsubspacetachyon emission fieldtime

Ranks and titles[]

agentarchaeologistcaptainchief engineercounselordukeknightofficerpoachersecond officersecurity guardsecurity officerserf

Other references[]

Aldebaran sand eelAndorian glitterlingsangelbelfryBiblebloodbatdaydragonempathyGermangorillaIndiana JonesKing ArthurMacbethmapMiddle Agesmoneymotion picturenightclawplanetPreserver languagePrime Directivesciencetagaak milktechnologyuniformwaryear

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
Pocket Next Adventure:
Future Shock
2nd and 3rd entries


Translations[]
1996
German : Drachenjäger, translated by Horst Pukallus. (Heyne)

External link[]

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