Book picks similar to
Descent by Diane Carey


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The Devil's Heart


Carmen Carter - 1993
    Worlds that believe in magic consider it Darkness's mightiest talisman; and worlds of science consider it a lost artifact of some ancient and forgotten race. Some say the Heart enables its possessor to control people's minds and to amass wealth enough for a dozen lifetimes, while others think it capable of raising the dead, perhaps even changing the flow of time itself. But to all, the location of this fabled object has remained a mystery, until now. An isolated archaeological outpost has suddenly stopped responding to repeated requests for information. Sent to discover why, the "U.S.S. Enterprise" TM crew finds a devastated outpost and a dying scientist, whose last words fall on disbelieving ears: the Devil's Heart has been found. As the quest for the Heart unfolds, Captain Jean-Luc Picard discovers that beyond all the legends and age-old secrets lies an awful truth: whoever holds the Devil's Heart possesses power beyond imagining.

Relics


Michael Jan Friedman - 1992
    Enterprise(TM) NCC 1701-D." Missing in space for seventy-five years, Scotty manages to survive against incredible odds, only to be found by the crew of the "Starship Enterprise(TM) ." Though rescued, Scotty soon finds himself lost in a world that he barely recognizes, a world that has passed him by...But the adventure is not over for Captain Scott who must do the impossible when the new "U.S.S. Enterprise(TM) " faces a very old danger in a remote sector of space. This time, Captain Picard and his crew will need more than all of their courage and all of their skills to save the great Starship from destruction. This time, they will need a miracle worker.

Infection


John Gregory Betancourt - 1999
    Enterprise-D's ongoing mission when a virulent epidemic strikes the populace of Archaria III, endangering the lives of thousands and provoking acts of mob violence against those believed responsible for the spread of the disease. While Data and Natasha Yar team up to uncover the true origins of the virus, Dr. Crusher finds the implacable sickness resists all her efforts to find a cure. The desperate quest for a cure becomes even more urgent when Deanna Troi succumbs to the dreaded plague...again and again.

Vendetta


Peter David - 1991
    In their relentless quest for technological perfection, they have destroyed entire star systems, enslaved countless people, and, in a single brutal attack, decimated Starfleet's mightiest vessels. Answering a distress call from a planet under attack by the Borg, the U.S.S. Enterprise meets Delcara, the lone survivor of an alien race the Borg obliterated. Blinded by hatred, Delcara seeks the ultimate revenge, the complete destruction of her race's executioners. But the U.S.S. Enterprise crew learns that Delcara's vengeance carries a terrible price, for once unleashed, the destructive force she commands will annihilate not only the Borg, but countless innocents as well.

A Time to Be Born


John Vornholt - 2004
    Among the changes were William Riker's promotion to captain and his new command, Riker's marriage to Counselor Deanna Troi, and Dr. Beverly Crusher's new career at Starfleet Medical. But the story of what set them on a path away from the Starship Enterprise™ has never been told. UNTIL NOW. The site of one of the Dominion War's fiercest battles, the Rashanar Sector now contains a vast interstellar graveyard littered with the lifeless hulks of hundreds of devastated starships. The explosive destruction of so many varied warp drives has severely distorted the space-time continuum in this region, resulting in dangerous unleashed energies and bizarre gravitational anomalies. The Enterprise has been assigned to patrol the perimeter of the danger zone, while other vessels carry out the difficult and highly hazardous task of retrieving the bodies of the dead from the wrecked warships. To some alien races, the former battleground is hallowed space. To others, including the rapacious Androssi, it is a scavenger's paradise, ripe for salvage. None expect this ship's graveyard to hold a deadly secret that will force the android Data to make a heart-wrenching decision about the path his life will take -- and that will endanger not only the Enterprise, but Picard's future in Starfleet.

The Best and the Brightest


Susan Wright - 1998
    They come from all over the Alpha Quadrant, from hundreds of worlds and species, to prepare themselves for the challenges of the final frontier. Meet a new generation of cadets: a newly joined Trill just beginning the first of many lives; a Bajoran Vedek who finds himself torn between his vows and an unspoken love; a reckless young man fond of pushing the limits; a feline alien raised among humans; a brilliant but immature young woman with a lot to learn; and a native-born Earth woman with a talent for engineering.Together they will learn about courage, life, teamwork, and themselves. Their future is just beginning-- but one of them will not survive!

Dark Mirror


Diane Duane - 1993
    Humanity’s greatest dreams have become reality. Along with dozens of other sentient races, the people of Earth have formed the United Federation of Planets—a galactic civilization that governs much of the known universe for the good of all. Over the past two centuries, mankind has tamed its basest instincts, and reached the stars…But suppose it hadn’t happened that way at all? Suppose instead humanity’s darkest impulses, its most savage, animalistic desires had triumphed? Suppose that the empire mankind made out in the stars was one ruled by terror, where only those willing to brutalize their own kind and their neighbors could survive?One hundred years ago, four crewmembers of the U.S.S. Enterprise crossed the dimensional barrier and found just such an empire. A mirror image of their own universe, populated by nightmare duplicates of their shipmates. Barely able to escape with their lives, they returned thankful that the accident that brought them there could not be duplicated. Or so they thought.But now the scientists of that empire have found a doorway into our universe. Thier plan: to destroy from within, to replace one of our starships with one of theirs. Their victims: the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC 1701-D.

Rogue


Andy Mangels - 2001
    Amoral, shrouded in secrecy, answerable to no one, Section 31 is the mysterious covert operations division of Starfleet, a rogue shadow group committed to safeguarding the Federation at any cost. Six months before their ultimate battle against the Borg for the fate of Earth, Captain Jean-Luc Piccard and the crew of the "USS Enterprise"™ face a very different kind of crisis. A world in turmoil becomes the focal point of conspiracies and betrayal as an unexpected reunion brings with it startling revelations. Old friends become bitter enemies and one young officer reaches a crossroad when he's forced to choose between the greater good of the Federation and the ideals for which it stands.NO LAW. NO CONSCIENCE. NO STOPPING THEM.

Encounter at Farpoint


David Gerrold - 1987
    Enterprise is en route to Cygnus IV, home of the technologically illiterate Bandi and their mysteriously advanced Farpoint Station. After adding to its crew complement from Deneb IV they are harassed and prosecuted by an omnipotent being named Q, who claims that humanity has not progressed beyond barbarism. Captain Picard and the crew of the Enterprise must defend themselves by solving the mystery of Farpoint Station in a manner satisfactory to their newest judge and nemesis.

The Body Electric


David Mack - 2013
    Wesley Crusher, now a full-fledged Traveler, knows the Machine must be stopped…but he has no idea how. He enlists the help of Captain Picard and the Enterprise crew, who also fail to halt the unstoppable alien juggernaut’s destructive labors. But they soon divine the Machine’s true purpose, which threatens to exterminate all life in the Milky Way Galaxy. With time running out, Picard realizes he knows of only one person who might be able to stop the Machine in time to avert a galactic catastrophe—but he has no idea how to find him.

Star Trek Generations


J.M. Dillard - 1994
    Enterprise NCC-1701-B and the mysterious disappearance of Captain James T. Kirk. Then, seventy-eight years later, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D receives a distress call from a remote scientific observatory.Picard learns that a newly developed superweapon has been stolen by a desperate scientist with an insane plot. Facing the most difficult task of his career, Captain Picard must seek out the one person with the power to help him, a person long thought dead: Captain James T. Kirk.Together, the two captains are tested as they've never been before. And both men are forced to make the greatest sacrifices of their careers to save countless millions from a madman with a plan for mass destruction.

A Hard Rain


Dean Wesley Smith - 2002
    His holographic excursions into 1940s San Francisco, a colorful world of gunplay and gangsters, provide a welcome diversion from his hefty responsibilities as a Starfleet captain.But not this time.The starship Enterprise has lost power and control, its own momentum carrying it ever deeper into a dangerous zone of warped space and time. And the only way out is hidden somewhere in the mean streets and back alleys of old Frisco. But so is a cold-blooded murderer…Now Dixon Hill, alias Jean-Luc Picard, must get to the bottom of a tangled mystery that threatens the lives of everyone aboard the Enterprise!

Federation


Judith Reeves-Stevens - 1994
    Captain Kirk and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701 are faced with their most challenging mission yet—rescuing renowned scientist Zefram Cochrane from captors who want to use his skills to conquer the galaxy. Meanwhile, ninety-nine years in the future on the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D, Picard must rescue an important and mysterious person whose safety is vital to the survival of the Federation. As the two crews struggle to fulfill their missions, destiny draws them closer together until past and future merge—and the fate of each of the two legendary starships rests in the hands of the other vessel...

Metamorphosis


Jean Lorrah - 1990
    For on this alien world, he is drawn into an impossible quest, leading him to consequences both heartwarming and disastrous, as he finally dares to pursue his fondest desire: to become human.

I, Q


John de Lancie - 1999
    Now de Lancie and Peter David, the bestselling author of such acclaimed novels as Q-in-Law and Q-Squared, have joined forces to send Q on an unforgettable cosmic odyssey, told from the mischievous trickster's own unique point of view. The Maelstrom, a metaphysical whirlpool of apocalyptic proportions, is pulling all of reality into its maw, devouring the totality of time and space while bringing together people and places from throughout the universe. The Q Continuum pronounces that the end of everything has come, but Q refuses to meekly accept the end of all he has known. Defying the judgment of the Continuum, he sets out to derail doomsday—at whatever the cost. Q has been everywhere and done everything, but now he's in for a cosmic thrill ride beyond even his own astonishingly unlimited imagination. Old friends and adversaries wait in unexpected places, transcendent hazards abound, and the multiverse's most unlikely savior encounters wonders and dangers enough to render Q himself speechless. Almost. Can even Q, reluctantly assisted by Jean Luc Picard, prevent the Universe as We Know It from literally going down the drain? I, Q is a wild and witty voyage through the secret soul of creation—as only Q can tell it!