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Starfleet Corps of Engineers: What's Past, Book One: Progress





	June 20 - Retro Review: Disaster Troi must take command of the ship while Picard struggles to work with three children and Worf delivers Keiko's baby. June 6 - Retro Review: Silicon Avatar A scientist pursuing the Crystalline Entity discovers that Data's brain holds her son's memories. May 30 - Retro Review: Ensign Ro A court-martialed Starfleet officer from occupied Bajor is sent to help locate a terrorist leader. May 23 - Retro Review: Darmok Picard is exiled with the leader of an alien race who speaks in incomprehensible metaphors. May 15 - Retro Review: Redemption, Part Two Picard discovers that Tasha Yar's Romulan daughter is influencing the Klingon civil war. May 9 - Retro Review: Redemption, Part One When Picard is asked as Arbiter of Succession to oversee Gowron's installation, Worf resigns from Starfleet to fight against the Duras family. May 2 - Retro Review: In Theory Data creates a romantic subroutine to experiment with love. Apr 24 - Retro Review: The Mind's Eye LaForge is kidnapped and altered by Romulans to take part in an assassination plot against a Klingon governor. Apr 17 - Retro Review: The Host Crusher falls in love with a Trill, only to discover that his real personality exists in a small symbiont living inside his body. Apr 11 - Retro Review: Half a Life A visiting scientist falls in love with Lwaxana Troi, then reveals that he is expected to commit ritual suicide. Mar 28 - Retro Review: The Drumhead A famous Starfleet admiral leads a hunt for a traitor aboard the Enterprise. Mar 20 - Retro Review: Qpid In the middle of an archaeology conference, Q turns Picard and crew into Robin Hood and his merry men. Mar 13 - Retro Review: The Nth Degree After an encounter with an alien probe, Lieutenant Barclay develops super-human intelligence. Mar 6 - Retro Review: Identity Crisis LaForge learns that every officer on an away mission to Tarchannen Three years earlier has begun to transform. Feb 28 - Retro Review: Night Terrors The crew is trapped in a rift in space where lack of dreams causes psychosis.

By Jacqueline Bundy
Posted at April 11, 2006 - 11:03 PM GMT

Title: Star Trek: Starfleet Corps of Engineers, #61: What's Past, Book One: Progress
Author: Terri Osborne
Release Date: March 2006
Format: eBook
ISBN: 1-4165-2045-7

The latest Starfleet Corps of Engineers tale is part of a special S.C.E. event that celebrates the 40th Anniversary of Star Trek. The What’s Past miniseries will be comprised of six books that flash back to previous adventures of the S.C.E. from the 23rd century to the Dominion War. Each What’s Past tale will also feature the appearance of a special guest.

What’s Past, Book One: Progress, the newest offering from author Terri Osborne, kicks things of very nicely. Its charming story that manages to be a satisfying follow-up to the Next Generation episode “Pen Pals” while at the same time moving the S.C.E. storyline forward.

The year is 2369 and with the decommissioning of the U.S.S. Progress, Captain David Gold is contemplating his next command while on a mission to the Federation protectorate Drema IV. Gold's chief medical officer, Dr. Katherine Pulaski, has her own reasons for wanting to return to Drema IV, to check up on a former patient of hers: Sarjenka, the young girl who befriended Data and whose memories Pulaski erased. But what should have been a routine diplomatic assignment turns into harrowing adventure with far-reaching consequences for each of them.

As gratifying as the plot elements of this story are, it is the character of Sarjenka that makes it all work so well. When we last saw Sarjenka, she was a child, but in Progress we meet a mature young person searching for a way to make a difference. As written by Osborne, she is a captivating character.

Progress is a pleasure to read. The story does an excellent job of connecting the dots between the various parts of the Star Trek universe. It also presents the first chance for fans to learn more about Drema IV, its culture and what happened after the Enterprise-D's visit there. In addition, Progress provides the opportunity to discover more about the career of Dr. Pulaski after she left the Enterprise and David Gold’s career before he took command of the da Vinci.

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Jacqueline Bundy reviews Star Trek books for the Trek Nation, writes monthly columns for the TrekWeb newsletter and the Star Trek Galactic News, and hosts the Yahoo Star Trek Books Group weekly chat.



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