Star Trek vol. 3: Glass & Bone
Captain Benjamin Sisko: You’ve returned from the Great Beyond to captain Starfleet’s most advanced ship with an all-star roster and to avert a Klingon Civil War! What are you going to do now? The answer, as put by Admiral Sato, is “One for Starfleet.” The Tzenkethi are a race whose appearance can best be described as Space Dinosaurs and they’ve been putting together a fleet in order to expand their influence beyond their home planet. Sisko and the Theseus crew have been charged with negotiating to ensure that this is done in a peaceful manner. Which is something that his Romulan counterpart on the planet has no interest in. This may all prove to be irrelevant as what awaits everyone at the heart of the planet is nothing less than a geological nightmare.
While I really liked “Day of Blood” as it brought this series and “Defiant” together for a genuine event, “Glass & Bone” doesn’t quite capture the same momentum. It’s got lots of classic “Trek” qualities in its memorable alien race, the scientific approach used in addressing the planet’s core, and the desire by its protagonists to find a peaceful solution when all sides look like they’re trying to blast each other out of the sky. The problem is that we just had a really entertaining movie where the crew of the Theseus saved the Alpha Quadrant and this volume is them trying to do it again. To diminishing returns because it lacked the proper buildup that event had and the story here feels more predictable too.
Still, I won’t deny it isn’t nice to see these characters in action again and the direction an old “Voyager” character is given is nice to see if you can get past the try-hardness of it. Marcus To also provides quality art throughout the entirety of the volume, as he makes the most of getting to draw SPACE DINOSAURS! There’s also some quality setup for future stories that doesn’t get in the way of the main one. All of this is to say that I was still engaged while reading this volume, just that the experience felt akin to going from “First Contact” to “Insurrection.”
That last bit should also let you know that this volume isn’t any more friendly to “Trek” newbies than the last few were…