293:. After her "ship" takes several hits and sustains heavy damage, Lt. Piper uses an unusual method to issue commands to the ship's computer via handheld communicator. The technique results in the computer controlling the simulation crashing. The simulator's commander comments during the debriefing that she has come closer to checkmating the no-win scenario than any other command-line candidate, then tells her that she has been reassigned to the starship
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considered immoral. Piper, in her ignorance, informed the academy staff of Sarda's talents, which led to his great personal embarrassment and being ostracized by other
Vulcans in Starfleet. Piper and AndrusTaurus do some research on Vulcan and decide to consult with a Vulcan embassy that specialized in human-Vulcan relationships.
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Once at the deck, they are confronted by
Rittenhouse and more guards. Piper threatens to self-destruct the Arco attack sled they arrived on and take the destroyer with it. Rittenhouse, seeing that she's serious, withdraws from the deck and allows them to escape. The four of them escape in two attack
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I'm not much of a feminist myself—I'm more of a people-ist. Piper is only female because I am and she is my alter ego (Boris
Vallejo even put myself and my husband on the cover, speaking of fannish wishes). Only success in women's fiction forced me to use female main characters when I actually
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After a conference, Piper retires to her cabin and has a conversation with AndrusTaurus, where it is revealed why Sarda and Piper have strained relations. Sarda has a talent for defensive weapons design, which
Starfleet keeps developing for offensive uses as well and that is something which Vulcans
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and after Piper's biocode is transmitted communication is established. To everybody's great surprise, Brian
Silayna appears on the screen. He reads a message from Commander Paul Burch stating that they have seized the dreadnaught in the name of galactic civility and request an ambassadorial party
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Piper, sensing something in the hints that
Rittenhouse dropped, uses the destroyer's computer to access Starfleet and Federation organizational charts. She and Sarda find a disturbing pattern: men that had served with Rittenhouse over the years had been placed in high levels of the civilian and
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to haul it inside its hangar bay. They meet Vice-Admiral
Rittenhouse, who informs them that Commander Burch was his personal aide but had deteriorated until Rittenhouse believed he had become sociopathic. They discuss the situation of Piper and Sarda briefly with Captain Kirk, then Rittenhouse
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Piper, Sarda, Sandage, and AndrusTaurus surprise and disable the guards outside the stateroom and stage an effort to free Kirk and his officers. They find that Kirk and his officers have disabled the guards inside their room and were planning to come and rescue them. They then sabotage the
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and begins to move aggressively, using the dreadnought's multiple phaser banks and newly activated secondary shielding to dish out heavy hits on the opposing starships. With
Rittenhouse's three starships considerably damaged, Piper bluffs their commanders by arming
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With
Rittenhouse dead, the commanders of his three other starships surrender. The novel ends with medals being awarded to several of the crew and Piper gets promoted to Lieutenant Commander. Then Captain Kirk extends an offer to Piper to go sailing with him on his
532:. Kirk becomes increasingly suspicious of Rittenhouse's unwillingness to let him contact the dreadnought's crew and Rittenhouse's disregard for their lives and balks. Rittenhouse finally orders security to arrest Kirk and his officers and lock them in a stateroom.
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preferred males, but that's the fallout of being a professional. Now I do whatever works. I make no conscious sexual statements, and wonder if the "plucky female" observation would have been brought up at all if the characters had been plucky males.
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Lt. Piper meets briefly with Brian
Silayna, an academy cadet in the engineering program and her friend and lover. Piper and Silayna had originally been assigned to the same ship, but with Piper's reassignment (which Silayna reveals was from
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is in fact a sophisticated sensor projection when it dissolves from sight shortly thereafter, followed by the creation of five more dreadnought projections. This projection device is one of Sarda's weapons projects he finds embarrassing.
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They move immediately to the hangar bay; where they have another encounter with a security team. A fight ensues, ending when AndrusTaurus grabs a guard's dropped phaser and shoots him with it. Against regulations the phaser is set to
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to find out what was going on, why Silayna was on the dreadnought, and why he had never revealed his intentions to her. She tricks open the door by cutting the fire-alarm circuits to the bridge then triggering the heat sensor with a
517:’s corridor into the conference room. Fearing for the safety of Kirk and his officers, Sarda and Piper move to the engineering section, bluff past the engineers there, and find an isolated spot from which to contact the
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and rush to the bridge. There they find a skeleton, untrained, largely bureaucratic crew that has only basic control over the ship's systems. Commander Burch explains the situation and they try to contact the
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discusses the recent galactic political situation and hints at his desire to unite the various galactic governments under a common flag of peace. He then leaves the conference room to attend to other duties.
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crew. Kirk then fires on the two starships, inflicting heavy damage and evening the odds. The two sides maneuver warily, until Commander Burch is disabled in an attack. Piper is forced to take command of
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of Kirk, Piper, and a Vulcan. Kirk refuses to comply and orders Piper arrested for conspiracy with terrorists, then cuts the transmission. Kirk orders the security guards to confine Piper to her quarters.
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While in the brig Piper and Sarda discuss Earth history and Piper explains the pattern of socialist political, military, and economic changes that Rittenhouse is repeating and how it would affect the
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During the meeting, Rittenhouse and his hand-picked captains square off against Kirk, with Rittenhouse advocating for harsh measures and being indifferent to the potential deaths of the crew on
460:) have been ordered by Admiral Rittenhouse to the location, and also accidentally reveals another benevolent invention that Starfleet weaponized and that he is embarrassed about.
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is also damaged in the fighting and is left facing long odds against the two remaining Klingon ships. Suddenly, movement is detected in the asteroid field, and a second
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military leadership, including the captains of the three other starships en route. Believing Rittenhouse may be planning a military coup, Piper tries to contact the
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521:. Sarda contacts AndrusTaurus and Sandage, who transport over. With Sandage's help they manage to use the ship's intercom system to listen in on the meeting.
484:, but Rittenhouse and Dr. Boma, a civilian scientist who also worked on the dreadnought project, stop her and order Piper and Sarda thrown in the destroyer's
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s heavy photon torpedoes, a single hit from which would destroy any of the damaged starships killing all on board. Rittenhouse's ships fall back, and
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characterization. Greg Brodeur, Carey's husband and editor, commented in an interview that "According to the fans who write to us, everybody wants to
436:. Sarda finds her there, having deduced her intentions and location after discovering her missing from her quarters, and informs her that the
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instead of stun and the guard is vaporized. AndrusTaurus feels horrible guilt about her action as they continue to flee to the hangar deck.
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has been dispatched in pursuit. The head of the dreadnought project, Vice-Admiral Rittenhouse, is in pursuit as well aboard the destroyer
388:. One is damaged and retreats to hide in an asteroid field. Hard fighting results in another Klingon ship being destroyed. However, the
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and its galactic neighbors. Suddenly, the power to the brig is briefly interrupted (by Boma, after he realizes Rittenhouse's plans for
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called the book "a page turner" but noted that "One more time, however, a brave, plucky, courageous woman holds the key to success."
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is apparently helpless, its crew unable to fight while the attacking Klingons inflict heavy damage on the dreadnought with
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still takes significant damage, as Burch is not a combat commander and is reluctant to fire on other Federation vessels.
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s phaser batteries. Piper destroys one phaser bank, then the two sleds vector away from the destroyer and towards the
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Shortly thereafter, Lt. Piper is summoned to the bridge where she finds out that a top-secret Federation vessel named
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named Sarda. It is revealed that Piper and Sarda have a history together which has generated animosity between them.
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increased shielding and weapons ability to withstand the heavy attacks by the opposing starships. However
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920:"Beyond the Final Frontier. By logic alone, Diane Carey & Greg Brodeur pen "Star Trek" bestsellers"
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Rittenhouse, seeing that he no longer has the upper hand and that victory is out of reach, orders
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could re-activate. Sarda then turns off the forcefield and he and Piper flee the detention area.
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and that Piper's unique biocode would be needed to enable transmissions at the rendezvous point.
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destroys two of them and sends the last one fleeing. Then it is revealed that the damaged
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tries to jam the signal, and when that fails the destroyer opens fire on the ill-prepared
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named Telosirizharcrede, a human from Earth named Judd "Scanner" Sandage, a humanoid from
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bay, open the doors, steal a 2-seat Arco-class light attack "sled", and head towards the
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feigns fatal damage, luring Rittenhouse to order two other starships in to evacuate the
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s crew), and Sarda acts quickly, throwing himself through the cell's doorway before the
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s phasers were disabled after the initial shots, leaving three other starships against
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appears. Engaging the damaged Klingon ships with heavy photon torpedoes, this unhurt
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The novel begins with Lt. Piper (no last name), a native of Proxima Beta, taking the
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In her quarters, Piper reflects on the situation and decides she had to get over to
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moves in to help the crippled dreadnought, engaging the Klingons with phasers and
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room and begins to activate the equipment with the intention of beaming over to
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Enterprising Women: Television Fandom and the Creation of Popular Myth
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sleds, skimming along the destroyer's hull to avoid being shot by the
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and reports to her assigned cabin. Here she meets her cabin-mates: a
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so that the safety features override the door lock and lets her out.
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Moving through the destroyer, they spy the senior officers from the
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The hero of the story, Lt. Piper, has been cited as an example of
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has moved out of transporter range. Instead, they move to the
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829:"Mary Sue Gives Birth, Baby Undergoes Sex Change. The Role of
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best-seller list for paperbacks on May 18 and May 25, 1986.
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by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise.
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beam back first; however, before the others can leave the
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drops out of warp, intercepts the attack sled and uses a
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s phasers before meeting in the transporter room. Kirk,
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simulation) they wind up saying their goodbyes instead.
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In a reply to Greenberger's review, Carey commented:
337:, first of a new class of heavily armed and shielded
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627:Piper is able to unlock the ship's systems, giving
341:, has been stolen by persons unknown and that the
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971:Novels based on Star Trek: The Original Series
513:and three other starships walking through the
353:has transmitted rendezvous coordinates to the
372:being attacked by four Klingon vessels. The
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364:Upon arrival at the rendezvous point, the
221:from the perspective of Lieutenant Piper.
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889:Bacon-Smith, Camille (December 1, 1991).
862:Cheeseman-Meyer, Ellen (April 26, 2012).
467:is cut short, however when the destroyer
271:Learn how and when to remove this message
864:"Mary Sue Fights Fascism: Diane Carey's
826:
963:
841:The Internet Review of Science Fiction
772:"PAPERBACK BEST SELLERS: MAY 25, 1986"
754:"PAPERBACK BEST SELLERS: MAY 18, 1986"
326:Four named Merete AndrusTaurus, and a
956:Internet Speculative Fiction Database
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789:Greenberger, Robert (November 1986).
609:. A fierce battle then ensues. The
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314:Lt. Piper takes a shuttle to the
895:University of Pennsylvania Press
589:can bring more phasers to bear.
562:s crew disable the transporter.
246:too long or excessively detailed
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986:American science fiction novels
918:Hall, Wanda J. (October 1990).
833:Fan Fiction in the Creation of
349:. She also finds out that the
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893:. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
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835:Star Trek: The Next Generation
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210:Star Trek: The Original Series
69:Star Trek: The Original Series
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827:Gardner, David (March 2004).
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307:, who had been observing the
675:before she can collide with
242:This article's plot summary
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981:1986 science fiction novels
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808:Carey, Diane (June 1987).
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31:Cover of the first edition
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217:. It is written in the
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991:Novels by Diane Carey
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976:1986 American novels
299:by special request.
847:(3). Archived from
695:The novel made the
592:They escape to the
164:Crisis on Centaurus
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897:. pp. 98–99.
776:The New York Times
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701:Robert Greenberger
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904:978-0-8122-1379-9
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335:Star Empire
261:August 2010
215:Diane Carey
41:Diane Carey
965:Categories
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740:References
735:, a sequel
641:Enterprise
637:Enterprise
618:Enterprise
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519:Enterprise
511:Enterprise
504:forcefield
493:Federation
482:Enterprise
390:Enterprise
382:Enterprise
366:Enterprise
355:Enterprise
343:Enterprise
316:Enterprise
296:Enterprise
100:1 May 1986
831:Star Trek
816:(119): 7.
118:Paperback
85:Publisher
727:See also
717:Mary Sue
685:schooner
458:Potemkin
153:13571480
57:Language
924:Starlog
876:tor.com
814:Starlog
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665:Pompeii
611:Pompeii
603:Pompeii
587:Pompeii
576:Pompeii
557:Pompeii
538:Pompeii
515:Pompeii
469:Pompeii
454:Lincoln
380:fire.
347:Pompeii
251:Please
244:may be
116:Print (
60:English
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378:phaser
368:finds
328:Vulcan
324:Altair
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65:Series
37:Author
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