Star Trek: The Children Of Kings

I applaud Pocket Books and author David Stern for writing about a seldom explored era in Star Trek lore: the years that the starship Enterprise was captained by Christopher Pike. As any old ‘Trekker” knows, (I’m not a “Trekkie” since I am a fan of the series since it first broadcast in 1966), Pike was originally supposed to be the Captain of the Enterprise when Star Trek went on the air.

But, in a surprise move NBC requested a second Star Trek pilot be made that was less “cerebral” since NBC considered their audiences too dumb to understand at the time and so Gene Roddenberry replaced Pike with Captain Kirk-a man of action and notorious womanizer.

In the original series' pilot Christopher Pike was the Captain, Dr. Boyce (I like that name) the physician, Number One the First Officer and Mr. Spock the Science Officer. Their missions took them to both hostile and welcoming worlds that were as every bit as interesting as any Captain Kirk’s crew explored.

Captain Pike had a strong sense of discipline and loyalty to his crew. Less congenial than Kirk, Pike was a man who lived by the book but with the capacity to look outside the box for solutions when necessary.

In The Children Of Kings Captain Pike and his crew discover that Starbase 18 has been destroyed and all clues point to the Klingons and a new secret weapon. But, Pike is not so sure, especially when the Orions are thrown into the mix.

Do the Klingons have a new cloaking device and what of the Orions who have long been known to practice piracy and what of the Captain and crew of a disabled Orion ship that the Enterprise assists?

Regardless who, or what, is to blame for the destruction of Starbase 18, the threat of total annihilation hangs over the heads of Captain Pike and the Federation unless the threat is stopped. The Children Of Kings explores the tenuous relationship between the Federation and the Orions and delves into the reasons behind the tensions between the Federation and the Klingon Empire. For a Star Trek history lesson be sure to pick up The Children Of Kings.