“Mudd in Your Eye” by Jerry Oltion.
Finished “Mudd in Your Eye” by Jerry Oltion.
The novel opens with Kirk presiding over the wedding of two crew members, Simon Nordell from Engineering, and Leslie Lebrun from Security. A couple apparently in love, despite their constant bickering.
Symbolism!
After the wedding, he receives orders from Starfleet to travel to the Nevis system. The Nevisians have been at war for over 12,000 years. That's not a typo. They've actually been at war that long. They'd begun pushing out into the galaxy doing all the usual spacefaring stuff, exploration, commerce, what have you, until suddenly they were all recalled to their home system, withdrew all their ambassadors, and reverted to isolationism while they persistently fought each other. And suddenly, these cultures who have been at war since humanity first figured out agriculture have declared peace. The Federation is certainly not complaining, but thinks it's unusual enough that they ought to send a starship over to check it out.
The two cultures of the Nevisian system the Distrellians and the Prastorians inhabit 2 different worlds. Enterprise arrives at Distrell, as it's the first on the way, but Prastorian officials are there too celebrating.
Nevis is home to a rare fruit delicacy called Palko fruit, which consists of purple and white parts. Each has part of a binary neurotoxin. As long as you only eat either the purple or the white part, and not both, you'll be fine. But they're deadly if you eat them together.
Symbolism!
Apparently the petty grievance that lead to the Nevisians going to war for 12000 years is who gets to eat the more flavourful purple bits. The solution that lead to their newly found peace was that they both eat the purple bits, and sell the white bits to the galaxy at large. And the entrepreneur who brought them this new marketing opportunity is none other than…(spoiler alert for the guy whose face is on the cover, and also his name in the title…) Harry Mudd!
When we last left Harry Mudd, (Depending on how you feel about the New Visions comic book series (Meh… it's ok, I guess)) Kirk had exiled him on the android planet with 500 android copies of his estranged wife Stella for company. He escaped his imprisonment by convincing the androids that he'd reformed. That he was ready to be released. And that apparently convinced them enough to parole him, but with one of the Stella androids as chaperone.
Symbolism!
Kirk and Mudd exchange a few barbs, they make a scene, and Kirk and crew are asked to leave the party. So they return to the ship.
Mudd begins skulking about the palace, looking for something to loot, when out of nowhere, hostilities resume. Mudd is caught sneaking around the catacombs, and is presumed to have betrayed Distrell by allowing Prastorian soldiers in. Kirk contacts the Distrellians and while the battle is still raging outside, he learns that Harry has been sentenced to be executed. He offers to beam down and take him into Federation custody instead, and the Distrellians agree. So Kirk beams down with a landing party, including the newlywed Lebrun.
I need to put a 🚨SPOILER WARNING🚨here. By this point the reader has likely figured this part out, but I don't want to rob anyone of the fun of piecing it together.
When you die on Distrell you respawn on Prastor, and vice versa, and are expected to begin a new life on that world until you are eventually called up to go to battle again. Their prolonged war has been a 12000 year long Call of Duty LARP, and the Nevisians are eager to get back into it.
Lebrun is killed trying to help Mudd escape. Mudd suffers a fatal injury, and eventually dies. Kirk and the rest of the away team return to the ship, not realizing yet that Lebrun and Mudd are still alive on Prastor.
Stella takes off in her ship toward Prastor for some reason, and Kirk goes after her. Chekov, Sulu, Scotty, and Kirk all die trying to retrieve Stella and escape the fighting on Prastor. Stella is beamed back to the Enterprise, and informs Spock that the away team was killed, and Spock is unaware that they're still alive on Distrell.
🚨Thus endeth the spoiler bit.🚨
So the landing party is separated across the two planets in the middle of a war zone, and need to escape and find their way back to the ship.
It's a fun story. There's some standard banter between Kirk and Mudd. The supporting cast gets a little bit more to do than in recent novels. The overarching puzzle isn't too complex for the reader, but it's fun watching the characters figure it out.
Mudd gets a bit of character growth. He's still a scoundrel, but not wholly irredeemable. And is given the opportunity for heroic self-sacrifice.
And a good time was had by all.