Taking Wing (Star Trek: Titan) [Mass Market Paperback]

Captain Riker has a lot to deal with on his first mission. His choice for first officer has reservations about Riker's wife being on the command staff (Troi is the ship's counselor as well as its Chief Diplomatic Officer). The Titan is the most culturally and biologically diverse ship in Starfleet, so a lot of accommodation has to be given, both physically and socially. Some ship's quarters have to be refit for its crew, such as a low-gravity berth for Lt. Melora Pazlar, from a planet with very low gravity. The new Chief Medical Officer unintentionally frightens some of the crew, or at least makes them uncomfortable. Still, this is his first command, and they are going on a mission of exploration, a great change from all of the military work that Starfleet has been carrying out the last four years since the Dominion War. Unfortunately, that mission is put on hold as the Titan is assigned to escort a relief convoy to the Romulan homeworld as unrest from Shinzon's abortive coup in Nemesis threatens to explode into civil war. Riker, instead of exploring, must tip-toe through a diplomatic minefield, along with his wife, or war could again be coming to the Romulan empire, perhaps exploding into the Federation.

The Titan is the most diverse ship in the fleet. Yes, I know I'm repeating myself. However, I am only taking after the book, which seems to mention it almost every chapter. This diversity does make for some interesting situations, such as the new first officer (I won't say who it is, because the series leading up to Titan takes great pains to hide who becomes Riker's first officer) having to dress down a crewmember for making derogatory generalizations against both the Klingons and the Romulans. In fact, the books does go overboard with this (the aforementioned scene being a good example). I think the diversity of the characters goes along way in showing us this without actually having to be told about it all the time.

That being said, the rest of the book is very good. Riker's first meeting with the reptilian Dr. Ree is classic, his interactions with Deanna are very natural, both professionally and personally. There is some concern in some quarters about Riker having his wife on his senior staff, and whether he would be able to be objective when it comes to Troi in a dangerous situation. Riker handles it beautifully, though it remains to be seen if he can do it the way he talked about. In fact, Riker is probably handled the best he has been in quite a while. The same goes for Troi. The highlight of the book, however, is the mixture of old and new faces. A few faces have been seen before on the Enterprise or in previous books, while others are brand new. Dr. Ree is probably the best of the new bunch, with his reptilian features masking a very gentle soul. He has a gentle humour that I hope gets developed in future Titan books. Nurse Ogawa, one of the older faces from the Enterprise, gets some good development too.

With introducing a new crew, sometimes the plot can get sidetracked. Thankfully, that's not the case in this one. There is a lot of Romulan intrigue, with four different factions vying for control of the Empire, and Riker having to make sure he doesn't set off an interstellar incident. We get to see both Riker's diplomatic skills as well as his tactical skills as things start to go a bit too far. Riker ends up with a novel solution to the whole thing. Being a big Romulan fan, *this* is the book I have been waiting for (as those who have seen my complaints about both Nemesis and Captain's Blood can probably attest). The Tal Shiar (the Romulan secret intelligence agency) is well-represented, we see progress in Spock's "Vulcan-Romulan reunification" plan (not much, maybe, but there are developments), and we see the Romulan military in action. It's a cornucopia for any green-blooded Romulan fan.

Even better is that the plot is interesting and unpredictable. We have a good idea that Riker's going to succeed in his mission, but his idea is quite unique, showing quick thinking (though we do see a bit too much "what am I going to do?" angst in some of these decisions). The intrigue amongst the Romulans is also fascinating, as we see a world that doesn't know here it's going to go from here. The current Praetor (leader) is not legitimate at all, and the power struggle between all of the factions keeps the plot moving. And the cliffhanger ending hit especially hard and shows us that the next book is going to be a sequel of sorts to another Mangels and Martin book (I won't say which one).

Mangels and Martin do a great job making all of the characters either three-dimensional, or interesting enough that we want to learn more about them in subsequent books. They keep the reader glued to the page, and while it's a long book for a Star Trek book, it does move very fast. You'll find yourself done before you know it, breathlessly awaiting the next book. Let's just hope they tone down the diversity a bit (not the diversity itself, but the need to tell us about it). I know I will be buying it as soon as it comes out.

David Roy