Carmen Carter

A merchant ship's frantic S.O.S sends the U.S.S. Enterprise™ speeding to the rescue! But the starship's mission of mercy soon becomes a desperate struggle for survival against a nightmarish enemy Captain Kirk can neither identify nor understand, an enemy he must defeat without the aid of one of his most trusted officers. For the Leonard McCoy Kirk knew is gone. In his place stands a stranger -- a man with no memory of his Starfleet career, his family, his friends... or the one thing James T. Kirk needs most of all. His dreams.

When her brothers' lives are threatened, Lady Margaret Chattan, who has vowed never to marry in order to break her family's centuries-old curse, teams up with Laird Heath Macnachtan to fight a powerful supernatural foe.

The Hamlin Massacre—every Starfleet officer knows the tale. The tiny Federation outpost of Hamlin was destroyed. Its entire adult population ruthlessly slaughtered, before the first defense shields could be raised. Even worse, the colony's children disappeared without a trace, abducted by the aliens who attacked with a ferocity and speed that outmatched their Starfleet pursuers. Now, fifty years later, the Choraii ships have appeared again. But this time the Federation is ready; this time, the Choraii must pay for what they need. The precious metal can only be bought with the Hamlin children still living with their captors. This time, the Choraii must face Captain Jean-Luc Picard—and the crew of the starship Enterprise.