“The Starship Trap” by Mel Gilden
Finished “The Starship Trap” by Mel Gilden.
Enterprise is ordered to transport a somewhat belligerent Federation Council member Conrad Franklin Kent and his aide Hazel Payton to Starbase 12. Along the way, they encounter a Klingon ship that is investigating the disappearance of several Klingon ships in the general vicinity. Kent mentions that the Federation and other powers, including the Romulans have also had ships gone missing, and seems to imply that he knows more than he is letting on, but generally being unhelpful.
At Starbase 12, they're ordered to investigate the disappearances. Thankfully they leave Kent behind, but they bring along Payton, and an enigmatic Professor Omen, who happens to be a weapons expert, and designer of the Enterprise's current loadout.
Spoiler alert for a 32 year old novel, and to anyone unable to pick up on subtle foreshadowing, but the cause of the starship disappearances turns out to be a weapon designed by Professor Omen himself. He calls it the Aleph, and it works by trapping ships in a random pocket dimension. Enterprise is thrown into one of these pocket dimensions, and needs to find a way back to their home dimension to stop Professor Omen before he strikes again.
There are some interesting bits in the nature and description of the Aleph, which might sound familiar to anyone with a passing interest in cosmology. Not too heady, but no more than is needed for a pop culture understanding.
It was a serviceable novel; not too dense, in fact, it felt a little oversimplified in places. I don't think I have much else to say about it. It was an OK read, but not particularly remarkable, save for the interesting physics quirks that only get explored as much as necessary to move the plot along.
If I had one complaint, it would be Kirk's occasional lament that Payton is already in a relationship. But it's not the first novel to lean a little too far into Kirk's playboy reputation, and it only comes up a couple times.