Template:Realworld Trapped behind the Neutral Zone – In the heart of the Romulan Empire.
Summary
- From the book jacket
- They are a race of warriors, a noble people to whom honor is all. They are cousin to the Vulcan, ally to the Klingon, and Starfleet's most feared and cunning adversary. They are the Romulans – and for eight years, Federation Agent Terise LoBrutto has hidden in their midst.
- Now the presence of a captured Starfleet officer forces her to make a fateful choice between exposure and escape. Between maintaining her cover – and saving the life of Dr. Leonard McCoy.
- Here, in a startlingly different adventure, is the truth behind one of the most fascinating alien races ever created in Star Trek – the Romulans.
- Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.
Synopsis
N.B. The narrative intercuts between the primary action of the novel (in the odd-numbered chapters) and an episodic history of the Romulans, taken from Terise LoBrutto's writings.
On ch'Rihan, Arrhae i-Khellian t'Llhweiir, head of household for Praetor H'daen tr'Khellian, is told to prepare the estate for a special meal, since the Praetor is expecting important guests. Arrhae is stunned at the identity of these guests: Commander Jaeih t'Radaik and Subcommander Maiek tr'Annwhi, escorting a Terran prisoner, Commander Leonard McCoy. As soon as his translator device is installed, McCoy angrily says that the Romulans have committed an act of war.
Arrhae is instructed to place McCoy in one of the cellars, pending his trial and execution as a War criminal before the Senate. After she has prepared his quarters, McCoy gives a quick hand gesture to Arrhae - in reality Starfleet xeno-anthropologist Terise LoBrutto, a deep-cover agent planted on Romulus eight years earlier.
In flashback, Terise is offered the posting as an alternative to serving aboard the USS Excalibur; although Starfleet Intelligence has a fair number of agents in the Romulan Empire, the data they provide is almost exclusively military and political; the Federation's knowledge of the Romulans' history and culture is still woefully incomplete. As dangerous as the posting is, to a scholar like Terise it is the opportunity of a lifetime, and she eagerly accepts.
Two years ago, Terise's reports stopped, and Starfleet began to worry that she had "gone over" to the other side. McCoy's capture, aboard a civilian passenger liner on his way to a medical conference, was staged to get McCoy onto Romulus to make contact with her. He was momentarily worried that Terise had in fact defected - in which case he was a dead man - but is relieved when she approaches him in private and tells him in Federation Standard what a fool he's been.
Subcommander tr'Annwhi approaches H'daen in secret, offering to "buy" McCoy. McCoy is wanted by the Romulans for his involvement in the theft of a cloaking device. After that incident, many heads rolled on Romulus, and many noble houses, including tr'Annwhi's, lost power and prestige as a result. McCoy is scheduled to be executed by the state, but tr'Annwhi would gladly pay a king's ransom, just for a chance to exact his own, private revenge on one member of the USS Enterprise's crew.
H'daen is conflicted; his house is one of the oldest and most honorable in the Empire, but is painfully lacking in wealth or influence. Tr'Annwhi says he can offer both. In alarm, Arrhae/Terise pulls H'daen aside and urges him that, whatever enticements tr'Annwhi is offering, H'daen's honor cannot let him sell a helpless man, even an enemy, into torture and death. H'daen is shaken, but abruptly orders her to attend to her duties.
Arrhae rushes back to McCoy and says he must escape immediately, and is surprised when he cheerfully declines. McCoy introduces his "ace in the hole": Ensign Naraht, one of the first Horta to serve in Starfleet, who was smuggled onto the planet at the same time McCoy arrived. Naraht hides as they are joined by H'daen, carrying several nasty bruises and the broken pieces of the credit-chip trAnnwhi was offering. H'daen told tr'Annwhi that his house's honor is not for sale, and the Subcommander took the refusal badly.
While she is out shopping in the capital city, Arrhae is approached by Nveid tr'AAnikh, a young scion of another noble house, who believes the Empire's treatment of McCoy is shameful, and wants to help him escape. Again, McCoy cheerfully declines the offer, but says that Nveid can do him a favor by transmitting a coded message on a certain day, at a certain hour...
Arrhae escorts McCoy to his trial before the Senate, where McCoy demands the Right of Statement, which he drags on for as long as possible to buy himself time. McCoy's epiphany, when it comes, is spectacular: Naraht bursts through the floor of the Senate, knocking aside McCoy's guards and dissolving those foolish enough to try to fight him. During the fracas, McCoy grabs Arrhae, pretending to use her as a hostage, while whispering in her ear that if she wants to go home, now is the time to say so. With some surprise, Arrhae/Terise realizes that she is home: she loves her life among the Rihannsu, whereas back in the Federation she'd be just another Starfleet officer. McCoy understands, and she pretends to break free from his grip, grabbing a phaser to fire at him before she is knocked over by Naraht - a convincing charade to maintain her cover.
The renegade vessel Bloodwing lands on the Senate roof and Commander Ael t'Rllaillieu beams into the chamber. It is her first time back to Romulus since her reluctant alliance with James T. Kirk, and she takes the opportunity to tell the Romulan Senate what she thinks of them: that they have given up their honor, their nobility, everything that makes their people great, for the sake of galactic power politics and the need to be feared by their enemies. In a move that stuns the Senate, she removes the sacred sword from The Empty Chair, both of which have remained undisturbed for millenia, and says they are welcome to try and get it back from her - assuming that they don't conform to habit and ask the Klingons to do it for them. With that, she signals the Bloodwing to beam her, McCoy, and Naraht out.
Bloodwing is pursued through Romulus's atmosphere by the vessel Avenger, with a furious tr'Annwhi in command. Ael's vessel's systems are still not operating at peak efficiency, and for a moment it looks like they will be caught. Then Ensign Luks, sent by Starfleet Intelligence to rendezvous with McCoy, pilots a small fighter craft from the Bloodwing in a daring attack on the Avenger. When his fighter is hit, he decides to go out in a blaze of glory, and drives the fighter in a Kamikaze strike on the Avenger that destroys both ships. Bloodwing escapes to Federation space, carrying McCoy home.
Back on Romulus, big things are happening for Arrhae/Terise. Her actions in the Chamber have made her a popular hero, and she is offered membership in the Senate, to the delight of H'daen, who no longer has to deal with people like tr'Annwhi for influence. Terise has also reached her own peace with her adopted home among the Romulans, having realized she prefers it to her "old" life in the Federation. She knows the Romulan people well, and knows that peace and understanding will one day come between them and the Federation. It may not happen soon, but when it does, she - or her children - will be ready for the day.
Background Information
- Diane Duane's third Star Trek novel, this book features many supporting characters who later appeared in her other TOS-era novels and comics. This novel is her first where collaborator Peter Morwood is credited as co-author.
- This novel is a sequel to My Enemy, My Ally, and was later made into a series, Rihannsu when Duane finally continued the story with Swordhunt, Honor Blade, and The Empty Chair.
- The two ships that appear on the cover chasing the two figures are Colonial Vipers, from the 1978 film and then-TV series, Battlestar Galactica, which also starred John Colicos (Kor) and featured George Murdock (Admiral J.P. Hanson) as a regular guest star.
Cover gallery
Memorable Quotes
"I am a Vulcan, bred to peace."
- - S'task, to his pirate captors
"I shall kill you if you do not ask leave."
"You may do so. That is the prerogative of force. But I give no honor to force. Power, yes. But you have no power, none that I recognize. I ask no leave of you."
- - T'Rehu and S'task, walking out of the Senate Chamber, unbidden, after T'Rehu's seizure of power.
"Make peace with them and close the door. Stop fighting. You will probably never beat them. But you can stop your ships being destroyed."
- - Ambassador Sarek, advising Starfleet's Admiralty to seek an end to the Earth-Romulan War
"The building is ringed with soldiers. They are not Rihannsu. And there is a starship on the roof."
- - Rihannsu officer
"Soft spot? My mother?"
- - Ensign Naraht, responding to McCoy's jibing
"Poor thing. For a millennium and a half no other weapon less noble has been permitted under this roof for any cause, not even for blood feud. Now they bring in blasters wholesale to guard one poor weak Terran. Or simply to terrify him for their pleasure."
- - Ael t'Rllaillieu, addressing the sword in The Empty Chair
"You have sold honor for power. You have sold what a Rihannsu used to be for what a Klingon thinks a Rihannsu ought to. You have sold your names, you have sold everything that mattered about this world - the nobility, the striving to be something right - for the sake of being feared in nearby spaces. You have sold the open dealing of your noble ancestors for plots and intrigues that cannot stand the light of day, and sold your courage for expediency. Your foremothers would put their burned bones back together and come haunting you if they could. But they cannot. So I have."
- - Ael t'Rllaillieu, addressing the Senate
Characters
McCoy in the 2270s
The Federation
- Leonard McCoy
- Starfleet commander, chief surgeon of the refit USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)
- Sarek (mentioned only)
- Horta (mentioned only)
- Terise Haleakala-LoBrutto / Arrhae i-Khellian t'Llhweiir
- Starfleet lieutenant commander, a xenobiologist
- Stephen C. Perry
- Starfleet commodore, head of Starfleet Intelligence;
- Naraht
- Horta Starfleet lieutenant
- Ron Luks
- Ensign, of Starfleet Intelligence
- Michael Reaves
- Captain of the passenger ship Vega
Romulus
- H'daen tr'Khellian
- head of House Khellian, Terise/Arrhae's master
- Commander Jaeih t'Radaik
- Romulan Intelligence officer
- Subcommander Maiek tr'Annwhi
- t'Radaik's suboordinate
- Lhaesl tr'Khev
- servant in tr'Khellian's household, smitten with Terise/Arrhae;
- tr'Amine
- Servant of H'daen tr'Khellian
- Eviess t'Tei
- Hloal t'Illialhlae
- Judiciary Praetor of the Romulan Senate
- Nveid tr'AAnikh
- Llhran tr'Khnialmnae
- Ael t'Rllaillieu
- renegade Romulan commander, previously appeared in My Enemy, My Ally
- Aidoann t'Khnialmnae
- Hvaid
References
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Excalibur, neutralized by M-5
- USS Excalibur (NCC-1664)
- Federation starship, a Constitution-class heavy cruiser. Lt. Cmdr. Terise Haleakala was assigned to this vessel, but transferred off shortly before the vessel was decimated by the M-5 computer.
- USS Nelson (NCC-1843)
- Federation starship, a close-cordon patrol cruiser. Nelson fired on an uncloaking Starfleet Intelligence vessel which took deep-cover agent Terise Haleakala into Romulan space.
- USS Valiant (NCC-2252)
- Federation starship, a light cruiser. At warp seven, Valiant attempted to intercept the Romulan raider Avenger after the capture of the freighter Vega.
- Vega
- Federation starliner that McCoy was traveling on
- Avenger
- tr'Annwhi's ship
- Thieurrull (Romulan, "Hellguard")
- A failed colony of the Romulan Star Empire, and the site of the "Thierrull Atrocity" (Chapter Six, pg. 113). The planet is later featured prominently in the novels The Pandora Principle by Carolyn Clowes and Unspoken Truth by Margaret Wander Bonanno as the birthplace of Lieutenant Saavik.
- Robert Heinlein
- A prominent 20th century Earth author; Terise's history draws similarities between S'task's intellectual fostering of the Rihannsu's decision to leave Vulcan with "Heinlein's Law": that overpopulation and scarcity of resources leads to war between regions, which in turn fosters advances in technology that temporarily alleviate the scarcity of resources. By describing this process as a recurring cycle, S'task planted the idea of embracing spaceborne migration to relieve overpopulation and other ills that might otherwise lead to war.
- Direidi
- This refers to a book published after this one, How Much for Just the Planet? Direidi was an unaffiliated planet with the richest natural deposits of Dilithium in the quadrant. According to Terise's history of the Earth-Romulan War, Starfleet was initially happy to draw the boundaries of the Neutral Zone, dismissing the planets within as of no importance, but later "kicked themselves" after the discovery of a planet on the Romulan side almost as rich in dilithium as Direidi.
- S'harien
- The most renowned swordsmith of pre-Reformation Vulcan. Described as a "diehard reactionary," S'harien professed to despise Surak and his teachings - yet after their first meeting, S'harien converted so completely to pacifism that he began buying back his own swords and melting them down. Even Surak tried to dissuade him from doing this, arguing that the swords were priceless works of art, but S'harien refused to listen. So Surak "rescued" three of S'harien's finest swords from their owners and gifted them to S'task for safekeeping. According to My Enemy, My Ally, Spock has a S'harien (a family heirloom) on the wall of his quarters, and only five S'hariens were carried off Vulcan by the Rihannsu; of these, three were destroyed, one was stolen and lost, and the last one rests in The Empty Chair, the Romulans' most sacred relic. This sword plays a major role in the subsequent novels Swordhunt and Honor Blade.
- The Empty Chair
- After the Rihannsu Ships left Vulcan, it was several years before they re-established communications with their home planet; during that time, several decades had passed on Vulcan and word reached the Rihannsu of Surak's death; S'task withdrew into his chambers to mourn, leaving his seat in the Ships' Council chambers vacant. When he returned to the Council, he laid one of the S'hariens across his old chair, and took another one from then on. The Chair and sword were transplanted, intact, to the new Romulan Senate chamber. To disturb either of them is a capital crime on Romulus, and an oath sworn on either is regarded as unbreakable except by death. The Empty Chair features prominently in the subsequent novel of the same name.
Chronology
External links
- The Romulan Way at Wikipedia
- Template:NCwiki-title
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