“Section 31: Cloak” by S. D. Perry.
Finished “Section 31: Cloak” by S. D. Perry.
The Enterprise is on its way to a science conference at Deep Space Station M-20 when it picks up an automated distress call from a runaway starship, the U.S.S. Sphinx, coming out of the Lantaru sector. They catch up to the Sphinx and manage to pull it out of warp, only to find that the entire crew are dead. There is also an unidentified individual aboard who is not on the crew roster. This stowaway was apparently killed on the bridge in a fight with the captain.
Enterprise begins its investigation. They find a datachip belonging to the stowaway, but the only words recoverable are “from thirty-one”. Scotty discovers a trace of gravitons consistent with the use of a Romulan cloaking device, similar to the one they... ahem... appropriated some weeks prior. This suggests that the Sphinx was in range of a Romulan cloak recently. But Enterprise eventually ordered to proceed on their previous course M-20, bringing the Sphinx in tow, and hand the investigation over to a special task force upon arrival. When Kirk enquirers about this, Commodore Jefferson informs him that the captain of the Sphinx, Jack Casden, while he had a solid record, was also know to have political leanings that were a little bit dovish. So Starfleet believes this may have lead him to conspire with certain... Klingon or Romulan elements.
The station commander of M-20 is an old friend of Kirk's, Gage Darres. But Darres also knew Casden, and knew him to be absolutely loyal to the Federation. He believes Casden was being set up. But the investigation is out of their hands.
Much of the first half of the novel focuses on setup, and general milling about. Spock attends the science conference, while Kirk strikes up a dalliance with one of the attendees, Dr. Jain Suni.
Meanwhile, McCoy is performing the annual crew physicals, including his own, and discovers that he has contracted Xenopolycythemia. He spends much of the novel coming to terms with his diagnosis, and eventually tries to track down an old friend Dr. Karen Patterson who had done some research on the condition. But she has fallen completely off the grid. He asks Chekov for help, because Chekov bragged about being able to track down anybody.
Darres contacts Kirk stating that he's found something in relation to the Sphinx investigation that he needs to discuss in private. But dies in an apparent transporter accident while beaming over to Enterprise. The Enterprise transporter checks out, so Scotty investigates the transporter on the station, and finds a magnetic signature that could mean nothing, but under highly specific circumstances, could potentially cause an accident similar to the one that killed Darres. Highly circumstantial, and not at all conclusive.
Darres has an encrypted data chip on him that he said before his death contained details of his investigation, and proof of a conspiracy that he'd uncovered. But when Uhura manages to decrypt the contents, it turns out to just be the Starfleet charter.
Kirk attends a panel with Suni, in which one of the panelists, Suni's college, a one Bendes Kettaract has an outburst bemoaning the Federation's slack in pursuing certain technologies for fear that the Klingons or Romulans will outpace them.
Chekov reports back to McCoy that he was able to pick up Patterson's trail, only for her to go even further off the grid along with a handful of other scientists, and the ship that took them off the grid was... The U.S.S. Sphinx.
Spock speaks with Kettaract concerning some of his early research into a theoretical particle that could potentially be used as an alternative power source. But their conversation is cut short when Kettaract receives a cryptic message. He hails Suni, compelling her to cut her date with Kirk short as well, and the two of them take off to parts unknown.
And the plot thickens.
The novel is quite front-loaded with setup, but it's not unwelcome. Not only does it set the stage for the mystery to come, but it also gives us a glimpse of some of the characters going about their day to day business. And the McCoy subplot ties into the episode “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky”. Where on the show, this diagnosis is just backstory that comes out of nowhere, here it's given a bit more exposition.
It's a little bit convoluted how all these seemingly unrelated subplots all seem intertwined. It's a little bit 'small galaxy' but I guess it's subjective how much you're going to let it bother you. I'm fine with it. It's a bit odd, but... it's fine.
The back half of the novel ramps up the tension as Enterprise rushes to the Lantaru sector to catch up with Kettaract and Suni, and try to stop them before they can complete a highly secret and dangerous experiment that Spock believes is doomed to end in disaster.
The main cast doesn't interact directly with Section 31, but the reader can see their fingers in everything. They are involved. But the extent of their involvement remains a mystery. The breadcrumbs are being carefully laid out for the remainder of the series.
Kirk and Suni's brief but interrupted flirtation was interesting, from an interpersonal perspective. And McCoy's subplot related to his diagnosis felt like much needed context to the episode that follows.
It was a little lite in dealing with the supporting cast; Sulu had little to do. Uhura and Chekov at least were given a chance to contribute to the plot, but Uhura's part in particular felt a bit like an afterthought.
And a couple of elements that share similarities with recent Trek entries that I have to figure were just plain coincidence, and weren't at all planned. Near the end, Sulu is reminded of an end of the world myth where a goddess gives birth to a shadow, and the shadow becomes darkness. And when the mother dies, the darkness strikes out in grief and everything would end forever. I'm not sure what myth this is referring to, though I only looked briefly. If anyone happens to know off the top of their head, hit me up. But it immediately reminded me of the source of the Burn in Discovery Season 3. It's possible the Disco writers were referring to this, but more likely I think they were just drawing on the same myth, or came up with it on their own.
And the coded message that Kettaract and Suni receive shared a similarity with the code that Ake gave the Doctor in the recent season 1 finale of Starfleet Academy. Way more tenuous. And again, probably not planned, and just a coincidence. But it was fresh in my mind, so it got noticed.
It was an interesting exploration of background events in Trek lore that we've never seen on screen, while fleshing out some of McCoy's character development that the TV show had precious little time to expand on.