The Art of the Impossible

BOOK
The Art of the Impossible
Series	Star Trek: The Lost Era
Number	3
Author	Keith R.A. DeCandido
Published	October 1, 2003
Format	Paperback
Pages	384
ISBN	0743464052

"Politics is the art of the possible" - Otto von Bismarck, 1869

"What God is he writes laws of peace, and clothes him in a tempest?" -William Blake, America: A Prophecy, 1793

(UNDER CONSTRUCTION)

Summary

From the Back Cover: THE YEARS ARE 2328-2346

To the Cardassians, it is a point of pride. To the Klingons, a matter of honor. But the eighteen-year cold war between these two empires -- euphemistically remembered in later years as the Betreka Nebula "Incident" -- creates a vortex of politics, diplomacy, and counterintelligence that will define an age, and shape the future.

What begins as a discovery that would enable the Klingon Empire to reclaim a lost piece of its past becomes a prolonged struggle with the rapidly expanding Cardassian Union, which has claimed dominion over a region of space that the Klingons hold sacred. Enter the Federation, whose desire to preserve interstellar stability leads Ambassador Curzon Dax to broker a controversial and tenuous peace -- one that is not without opponents, including Lieutenant Elias Vaughn of Starfleet special ops.

But there are wheels within wheels to the drama unfolding in the Bretreka Nebula. Within the shadowy rooms of the Cardassian Obsidian Order, Klingon Imperial Intelligence, and even the Romulan Tal Shiar, secret scales are being balanced -- and for every gain made for the sake of peace, there will come a loss.

Prologue: On High My Spirit Soars

On an unidentified Klingon world, a father tells his son the legend of Ch'gran: following the Hur'q attack on Qo'noS, the warrior Ch'gran urged the Klingons to set out into space to fulfill their destiny and to save their plundered world. Ch'gran built a fleet of seven starships, all which were lost after sending news that they had found a world to claim. One ship was later found near the Betreka Nebula, but the other six, and Ch'Gran's colony, were never found. The prologue ends with the young boy dreaming of finding the Ch'gran colony and bringing glory to the Empire.

Part One: Sound! Sound! My Loud War-Trumpets (2328)

The Cardassian vessel Sontok, under the command of Gul Monor, is surveying planet Raknal V, where they discover the wreckage of an ancient Klingon ship. The Sontok is at the same time being shadowed by the I.K.S. Wo'bortas, under the command of Captain Qaolin, and at the direction of Klingon Imperial Intelligence agent Yovang. Realizing the Cardassians have found the remains of the Ch'gran colony, the Wo'bortas calls in a battle fleet, as the Cardassians call in their own.

The two sides fight to a bloody stalemate, following which the Klingons propose to negotiate for Raknal V, with the Federation as mediators. Ambassador Curzon Dax and Lieutenant Elias Vaughn of Starfleet special operations are part of the team hosting the conference aboard the U.S.S. Carthage. Dax makes the proposal that both Cardassians and Klingons be allowed to settle on separate continents on Raknal V, the one able to prove best able to manage the planet to then gain full control.

Neither side is entirely pleased with this arrangement, but as neither is in position to fight a prolonged war, both agree. Meanwhile, the Romulan Praetor, Dralath, decides to take a special interest in the situation.

Part Two: A Heavy Chain Iron Descends (2333-2334)

After five years of largely peaceful, if uneasy, co-existance on Raknal V, hostilities are ignited by an orbital collision between the Cardassian freighter Gratok and Klingon passenger transport, Chut. Among the dead is General Worf, whose son, Mogh, serves as first officer of the I.K.S. Pu'Behk under Captain K'mpec. While Mogh insists he has no need for vengenace against Cardassians, he apparently causes the destruction of a Cardassian ship, the Boklar, which Councillor Kravokh has ordered captured and its captain tried for attacks in Klingon space.

Relations deteriorate between Cardassia and the Empire, capped by the death of Klingon Chancellor Ditagh. His successor, Kravokh, places K'mpec on the High Council despite his role in the destruction of the Boklar, and vows a more aggressive stnace toward the Cardassian and a restoration of the Empire's former glory.

External Links

• The Art of the Impossible article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.

The Lost Era Mini-Series
The Sundered	Serpents Among the Ruins	The Art of the Impossible
Well of Souls	Deny Thy Father	Catalyst of Sorrows