Star Trek The Next Generation - Ship of the Line

by Diane Carey

Revealed at last! The lost years between Star Trek: Generations and Star Trek: First Contact. The Starship Enterprise 1701-D has been destroyed, and Captain Jean-Luc Picard finds himself without a command. While waiting for his new ship, Captain Picard has gone with Lieutenant Commander Worf on a delicate diplomatic mission to the Cardassian Empire. As Picard conducts high-level negotiations for the return of Federation prisoners of war, the Starship Enterprise 1701-E is being constructed under the supervision of Captain Morgan Bateson, a veteran of the twenty-third century who spent nearly ninety years in a pocket universe. Commanding this new Enterprise on what was supposed to be a short shakedown cruise, Captain Bateson has an idea of his own. In defiance of Starfleet Command, he will take Starfleet's newest, strongest ship and strike at the heart of the newly aggressive Klingon Empire. Captain Picard's negotiations proceed smoothly -- until he discovers that a hate-crazed Klingon c