Attack Wing: Romulan IRW Haakona, Breen Gor Portas, Klingon IKS Somraw

Another month and thanks to a find via Australia, the Attack Wing collection continues to grow.

This time we're tackling the Klingons, Romulans and Breen with three older expansions. Our jump in point is the IKS Somraw seen in Enterprise and the only Raptor pack offered to date.

An 18 point ship, the model of the Raptor Clas ship is well detailed for its size with clear panelling and an oddly light finish which makes it look a little bleached. I would have hoped for something a bit darker green however the accented red stripes and darker feature blocks do provide good definition. There's some artistic licence here but let's dive into the real meat of the pack.

The Somraw's three point attack is well worthy of the low cost although don't expect much more for your money with one defence point, three Hull and two Shields. As for standard Actions, you'll be piloting a ship without a Cloak or Sensor Echo feature. This one carries Evade, Target Lock and Scan alongside one Tech, one Weapon and one Crew upgrade slot. Fortunately this unusually light Klingon ship does allow you to convert up to two Battle Station results on a Defence roll into Evades. Note that the ship itself only has a single die for Defence meaning you'll be relying on finding a suitable upgrade option to help you out as much as possible.

The generic version loses the Crew upgrade slot as well as a Shield and the Unique Action for 16 points. As for movement, the Somraw maxes out at speed four with full bank and hard turns at speeds two and three. Speed one allows for banking and none of the standard moves aside from the speed three hard about (180 turn) come with the red warning of an Auxiliary Power Token, making this fairly manoeuvrable.

Along with a generic captain there's Somraw Commander who rides in with a Captain Skill of five at a cost of three points. His long range attack is a blessing which keeps his ship out of trouble and allows for maximum damage as if attacking at range one. He adds a further die to your strike at the cost of an Auxiliary Power Token. This can only be used if one of said tokens is not already in play on the ship. 

The sole Weapon addition is the standard Photon Torpedoes (three point cost) card providing fire fore and aft at ranges two and three. As with the earlier sets it comes with the Disable feature once Target Lock has been utilised and one Battle Station result can be converted over to Critical Damage. 

Surprisingly there's only one Crew upgrade card in here with Bu'Kah. Costing four points you can ditch her off to repair two Hull points as long as you've performed a Green Maneuver. A large cost but one that will extend your ship's life in the game.

Tactical Sensors is the higher priced Tech upgrade (four points) which can be disabled to place a Scan and a Battle Station token besides your Raptor (and only a Raptor). Certainly one to up the defensive capabilities of the Somraw it'll work well in conjunction with the ship's own inbuilt Unique Ability to convert a Battle Station to an Evade if necessary.

The less expensive Shockwave for two points is a discard that would get you out of a sticky situation to perform a speed one reverse  instead of your chosen move. A good one if you have a high captain skill and can see where you may want to get out of danger rather than plunging further in. Good tosee this one isn't limited to use on the Somraw or a Raptor.

Last up for upgrades is the Elite Action, Klingon Honor. Tragically using the explosion from The Undiscovered Country as its backdrop, the five point price is worth it for the reusable nature of the text. Disabling the card adds one Attack die to your roll as well as converting a Damage into a Critical Damage. Sounds good - but the price on the other side is the loss of all defensive capability for the round which then aligns with the picture - it's a suicide tactic that makes sure you go out in a blaze of Klingon glory. Expensive but one fun way to end your appearance on the table!

The Somraw's mission is Escape the Gas Giant and sees a Federation player taking on the Klingons with 80 points apiece. Moving near the Gas Giant (represented by the large planet token) will incur additional damage as the two sides fight it out and even at range three there's still some effect on players' ships. Ultimately the goal is to escape with at least one ship in tact after defeating your opponent while enduring the stresses of the star. A cool twist on the standard two player game but nothing super exciting here.

Only my second D'Deridex Warbird, the IRW Haakona seems to hold some form of legendary status within the Attack Wing fold. A 30 point starship, the model is a repeat from the Starter Set although it would take 12 waves before reappearing. While the three point Attack and two point Defence are nothing to write home about especially if you compare to the Somraw above, the Warbird rocks it out on Hull and Shields with six and four points respectively. She might not be a hard hitter but the Haakona may take a while to take down. She also packs in three Crew and two Weapon slots plus a standard set (for Romulans) of Evade, Target Lock, Cloak and Sensor Echo. A large fleet is also super-beneficial as the Haakona gains an additional Primary Weapon die for every additional Romulan ship in your fleet when attacking cloaked. There's an upper limit of four but for a faction pure game she's a massive advantage.

The generic D'Deridex is reduced by a Shield, one Crew slot and the Unique Action to cost 28 points - but it severely loses the attraction over the hefty onslaught of the Haakona. Compared to the Somraw, it's exactly as manoeuvrable but instead of a speed three come about there's a speed one reverse that will incur an Auxiliary Power Token. High Weapons and good to move - what else could you want?

There are three skilled Captain options in here too with Mendak (six point cost), Taris (four points) and Centurion (two points) all adding something to the mix. With a skill of six, Mendak also offers an Elite Action slot. He targets a friendly ship at a maximum of range two and then can place a Battle Station onto it as long as one isn't already in place, nor can the target ship use that Action this turn. Taris might be more useful with a lower skill of five but costing the same. She allows you to discard a Crew upgrade from your ship to declare a target outside your forward firing arc. No need for Target Lock or torpedoes here which is a benefit and easily reusable as long as you have a number of Crew. Centurion is skilled to two and allows players to re-roll one Battle Station result. Fairly decent card here at low price  that might offer a better hit ratio.

There are three Crew card options in here with Romulan Security Officer upping your Captain skill by one point dependent on how many of this card are equipped to your ship up to a maximum of four. There are three in the pack which reduces your options with the Haakona since there are the same number of cards in total regardless of duplicates.

Romulan Security Officer can also be disabled to re-roll a blank result during defending so it has decent dual use in the game for its two point cost.

Romulan Helmsman can be disabled if you play a Red Maneuver to treat it as though it's a White Maneuver for two points. Finally there's Romulan Sub Lieutenant who costs four points. 

His ability is somewhat more complex. Discarding the card targets a ship at a maximum of range two and if that vessel has a Hull value of six or more then it has to disable two active Shields. If the Shield value is less than six it only disables one. This greatly reduces the number of hits required to take out an opponent and could ideally be comboed with something that would offer up a straight attack afterwards.

A trio of Weapons upgrades all have a cost of five points a piece. Disruptor Pulse hits with three Attack dice at a maximum of range two. Understandably a disabled card to complete the attack, every target in the forward firing arc and in range is hit with a separate three die shot. This is a powerful attack to have in one card and to be reusable is even better.

Plasma Torpedoes spend a Target Lock and hit with five Attack dice with any blank results rerolled. Operable from forward and reverse arcs, the torpedoes can hit at up to range two. Last up is Disruptor Beams which can have an effect from ranges one to three. Again a disabled card, it carries an increased possibility of damage. For every hit suffered another Attack die is rolled and if you roll at least one Damage or Critical Damage then the target receives another hit. The Haakona has a storming set of Weapon upgrades here that are essential to any self-respecting Romulan fleet.

Finally and with probably the longest script ever is Make Them See Us!. It's also very reliant on a very very specific set of circumstances and costs five points. In this case you need to remove a Target Lock from a ship you have already selected and be overlapping with either your own ship's base or manoeuvre template. Both ships take damage up to four hits determined equal to your speed in that manoeuvre. The captain with the higher Skill rolls the number of defence dice equal to the difference between the Captain Skill levels and deducts any evades from the result. 

Yes... it's a big one with a big hit reward but could backfire and cause you major issues. I'd say this is one of those last gasp moves to ensure you take something with you at the very end.

Based loosely around the episode of the same name, Contagion is the Haakona's special mission. Placing one Federation ship against a D'Deridex Warbird, the scenario sees the two ships attempting to download Iconian data while also tackling crippling malfunctions caused by orbiting probes. First they'll take down upgrades before hitting Shields and Hull so it's a race to recover the information - but there's a twist - because players will need to work together to remove the malfunctions from their ships and escape. This is a brilliant concept and very much foreshadows Alliance which has expanded on that co-op scenario. Definitely looking forward to trying this one out!

Last up and actually one of the very first expansions released is the Gor Portas. The lone Breen entry to the game, the ship is allocated to the Dominion meaning it'll be lining up with Cardassian and Jem'Hadar ships if you're staying faction pure.

Weighing in at 26 points, the Breen starship attacks with three dice, defends with two and has four Hull and four Shield points. Heavily armed, the Gor Portas offers four Weapon upgrade slots and just one Crew slot with standard Evade, Target Lock and Scan Actions. As for its Unique Action, the ship does need to have a Target Lock in play to fire torpedoes but you don't discard it once used. Not that's a bit nifty.

The model itself is quite impressive too with a black base coat accented with almost pink highlights to draw out the detail. Bit of a shame this was its only appearance in the game as a later wave could have redone the paintwork and offered some more Breen alternatives. Sadly we only have this one.

It's generic version loses a Shield, a Weapon slot and the Unique Action to cost 24 points. While it's well armed, the movement for the Gor Portas is a different matter. With red arrows on sharp three turns and the Come About, the ship is manoeuvrable at lower speeds which might make it seem like an easy, slow moving target until you get close. We'll come to it's Weapon abilities in a minute...!

Given the slots for upgrades, Thot Gor is your de facto Captain unless you're thinking of something radically different. With a Skill of six and a cost of four points, the Breen commander reduces the cost of each Weapon upgrade equipped by a point meaning you can take full advantage of those slots. Sar isn't too bad with a one point cost and a Skill of two. He also makes the generic version with no ability sort of redundant since he provides an extra defence die unconditionally.

What is bizarre with the Gor Portas is the lack of cards in the pack. Four Weapon slots is massive and there are just two upgrades with the Breen warship. One is the five point and very expected Photon Torpedoes which utilises Target Lock as standard with five Attack dice while Energy Dissipator provides damage but only at very close range.

A further disabling card, if the attack hits then the target ship receives one Energy Dampening Token and then you can immediately attack again with another Weapon. For the effects you then have to refer to the accompanying reference card which shows that the target ship loses Shields and cloak if applicable. Nor can it attack and during the subsequent Planning Phase it can't move and in the Activation Phase it then moves at speed one forward. Once all this is complete then the ship returns to its normal sequence of events. 

As it's a close range attack (one), this certainly means that any second or third bombardment onto the enemy ship is likely to incur some heavy damage. Only for Breen use, I'd be equipping this.

The only Crew upgrade in the set is Breen Aide who allows you to convert a blank Attack die roll into a Damage point as long as you have a Scan token in play. Not even needing to disable to use, this is only two points but adds a bit of kick to your attacks.

The Gor Portas mission is unusual in that it's a three player game rather than the standard two person set-up. The Breen have to manoeuvre by two Mission Tokens out in the field before heading to a third representing Cardassia Prime and therefore escape. 

This is The Fall Back to Cardassia Prime and "alliance" players are there to stop the Breen from getting to their safe haven. Both Federation alliance players have just 35 points while the Breen Battle Cruiser has slightly better odds with a 50 point payload.

I'm fairly pleased with the turnout on these three packs with the Haakona just beating the Gor Portas in my preferences here. The Breen ship is horribly light on upgrades and even the captains don't have Elite Action slots. The mission is nice but as a pack, the Warbird is an absolute storm of a set and highly powered. I didn't expect that to be the stronger pack but it does push me now towards the Vulcans, Dominion and Romulans as my top three factions of choice in the game.

Next up on Attack Wing
- the Dominion Faction Pack: Cardassian Union 

You can check out all our Attack Wing reviews over on the Gaming Section!

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Two Sides of the Fight: The Official Starships Collection Issues 68 and 69

I really, really, really wanted to like the Federation fighter with issue 68 but for some reason I'm not getting as excited as I thought I might be.

One of, if not the smallest Federation ship to be included in the series alongside the two man shuttles, the attack fighter is a charming little craft notable for its fleeting - and speedy - appearances in both The Next Generation and Deep Space Nine either in the hands of the Maquis or fighting against the Dominion.   

Coated in familiar Federation grey, the fighter is about 70% metal with only the underbelly and the lower sections of the impulse engines made from plastic. What makes this even more noticeable is because the plastic areas are not weathered with a sort of irregular rust/damage effect that's splattered across the surface. That's a cool touch and one we don't see too often. 

Here it helps to age the vessel and suggest this is 'likely' to be a version servicing the Maquis cause. That surface detail extends into the panelling at every point on the craft from nose to the tips of the impulse engines. Just a shame that they aren't made from translucent plastic which would have topped it off. Nor are the warp engines that visible here with only minimal blue edging to indicate their location on the upper and lower hull.   

The actual shape of the Federation attack fighter is particularly gorgeous with a sweeping curve most evident when viewed from dead front and centre. That curve is absolutely perfect and with the choice to mould the wings in metal, it's damn strong. The choice of mounting the fighter using the gap between the hull and the engines as the balance point is particularly inspired and works to offer a more "suspended" impression of the tiny two-man craft.

While the fighter is impeccably finished, cleanly painted and with one or two highlighted sections on its top section including the blacked out cockpit window I still can't get super excited about it. Why? 

Because it just doesn't carry that "wow" factor that so many of the absolute best in this collection have presented. The rough paint finish is nice, the build itself is perfect but as a design it doesn't ignite my starships passion that the NX-01 did or the Fortunate managed with its modular structure. It is, quite simply...simple. A bit plain but that's not to say it's a poor model because as always Eaglemoss has recreated the original as much as they can given technology and the budget constraints imposed by an £10.99 cover price.

The magazine intro does focus more on the use of the fighter by the Maquis in Pre-Emptive Strike and The Maquis two-parter with some references towards the end of their use during the Dominion War and most prominently during the battle to retake Deep Space Nine. We do get a "designing" section albeit a two page skant overview of the process before this time looking at the behind the scenes work completed by Digital Muse during the sixth season especially for the monumental battle in Sacrifice of Angels. For anyone with the companion doe Deep Space Nine the info will not be new but it's a relevant addition to the appearance of the fighter.

Issue 69 next and the eye-catching Breen warship that entered the Star Trek world during the final ten-part arc in Deep Space Nine's closing season. You'll be hard pressed to find another craft as weirdly designed and asymmetrical as the warship and I've been expecting this to turn up for a fairly long time. I can understand why it's taken a while to get to this ship with so many other notables to include early on so its arrival was highly anticipated. Honestly, this might be another reason why I wasn't too fussed with the Federation fighter.   

With a solid metal arc holding the elements of the warship together just the design and work that has gone into making this impresses me. I believe this is the first time such a ship has been realised in miniature and Eaglemoss should be congratulated for the result. Even on this scale the model carries off the crazy, seemingly random design of the ship in what appears to be a collection of very, very bright colours. Certainly it contrasts well against the bland grey of the Federation fighter but even from the preview pics I wasn't expecting it to be quite so colourful. The reason for that is, as with so many of the more extravagant colour schemes, they were toned down on the TV. 

Odd it might be initially but this is one of those models that you're going to spend flipping ages looking over because the surface has so much to examine. Every surface has a lump or bump worth examining from the tip of its forward weapon to the rear of the engine blocks. On a detail level this has to be one of the most covered craft yet in the collection which is more incredible if you consider that it's actually a very big ship in universe so cramming a lot of raised and dipped areas is a big achievement.

The quality and definition of the detail on the plastic sections - the two pieces attached above and below the grey arc - is visually much better. That said, the colour palette used is large for a starship with green, yellows of the engines and forward energy dampener, browns, greys and blue of the main reactor with a dash of white and a sprinkle of red all evident in the design. It's detail and colour that is expressed in every inch and every crevice of the ship with clear definition of the weapons emitters, bridge module and engines as well as some extremely small differentiated panelling which really lifts the design out of the norm.

I mean, the shape is striking for one but with the overall effect of the paint scheme included it's an utter beauty even if she does look obscure from just about every angle (even below as right). The stand isn't the best this time with the clear plastic grip wobbling like hell on the base however the grip around the rear of the Breen ship is firm and steady. Good choice on the arm positions to make that happen!

Definitely a hidden gem of the franchise and certainly a shining star when it comes to the Starships Collection. Being from Deep Space Nine might not be to all fans' tastes nor will she be in every display, but I really think you're missing out if you don't add this one.

The magazine continues to Breen it up with coverage of their franchise history from a first, brief mention in The Loss from The Next Generation to their use as the never seen super-villain responsible for probably just about everything the Klingons, Romulans or Borg weren't right to their first on screen appearance in Deep Space Nine's Indiscretion and onto their pivotal role within the Dominion War and the final ten-part arc of the space station saga.

Within the pages we also have info on their origins and the reason why they were used on screen in Deep Space Nine plus - and what would the magazine be without it - John Eaves discussing just how he came up with and developed the Breen warship from a fairly standard craft into the curved beast we have in this issue and finally into a realised CG vessel capable of incapacitating the Defiant. Aside from Eaves' concept drawings, 99% of the pics are lifted from the show either of the ship or clips from the ten-part arc so nothing majorly new here. The ship views are actually a bit poor since there is no dorsal view included and therefore no way to really compare. We only get front, side and rear images which don't tell a lot since this is a very "flat" ship.

For two issues focusing so much on Deep Space Nine (which I must applaud) there is quite a difference in my opinion between the two ships mainly on their appearance. Certainly it's a dramatic contrast from the bright colours of the Breen to the subdued grey tones of the Federation fighter  and in this instance the alien craft is the clear winner for its impression on me this month. Neither is a dud, let that be said, but this month's Federation design doesn't pack its usual punch.

If you've missed it recently Ben Robinson from the collection has recently posted up pics of both the Romulan shuttle and the USS Voyager Aeroshuttle models which we have yet to have issue numbers confirmed for. Could the aeroshuttle be an online special since it was never properly seen in the show? Hmmmm. One for your thoughts there! Both of these ships look spectacular and got a lot of collectors excited so I'm hoping these will be appearing in the late 70's or early 80's at the latest. We also got another image of the soon-to-be-released NX-01 from the Mirror Universe. Looks great and definitely more changes than we saw on the ISS Enterprise M1 recently (pics here from Ben's Twitter feed).

Next month we have the Voth City Ship from Voyager and Goroth's Klingon Shuttle from Enterprise. Right now these two aren't floating my boat but let's wait and see what the models are like. Oh and if you're waiting to see my thoughts on the NX-01 refit hold your breath a little longer - mine has been delayed (not sent out) so it'll be here shortly.

So what are your thoughts on issues 68 and 69? Good to see more Deep Space Nine recognition?

As always...

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Audio Frontier: Star Trek: Starfinder

When I was asked by the guys behind Star Trek: Starfinder to review their pilot episode,  "The Back of Beyond" I was filled with excitement and Fear.

While this is brand new Trek in an audio format and therefore a brilliant experiment I was terrified that saying anything which didn't involve superlatives would result in me being hunted down and fed to their pet Targ in very, very small pieces. Luckily I was reassured by writer/director George Silsby that this would not be the case - so wish me luck.

Set during the early 2400s and more significantly in the time frame populated by the Starfleet of Star Trek Online,  we are privy to the first mission of a new crew aboard the Odyssey Class starship. Starfinder. Essentially that's what this first 59 minute instalment is about; an introduction to this scifi audio experience and within it we meet an incredible array of characters who will be our guides through the evolution of the series. It's difficult to know where to start in fact as there are so many. We have an synthetic AI captain with the memories of several experienced captains to make him the ideal commander,  a Romulan first officer, a Breen security chief, an Andorian Aenar who is linked to a liberated Andorian Borg (certainly a duo my interest is peeked to see more of),  MACOs (Military Assault Command Operations) and a sprinkling of 155 Jem'Hadar accompanied by their Vorta supervisor, Alura. Alongside these diverse individuals there are a plethora of Star fleet crewmembers who help flesh out events in episode one - and one of them has a link to the shadowy Section 31. Still with me?! Good.

I've been fortunate enough to have some time to sit and listen to Starfinder uninterrupted and this is possibly one of the things that the ST:S team need to consider going forward. Running to nearly an hour is a big commitment for an audio series listener.  Lopping it down to 44 mins as per a standard TV Trek episode could be the way forward as at times it did feel as though we were getting rushed from one incident to the next to fit everything in under the one hour mark.  There are a lot of characters introduced and if you are listening to it in bits it might become quite confusing. The first fifteen minutes put us into contact with the majority of the list above and more as well as several pieces of key plot and background exposition around the ship, the mission and the crew themselves. While I thoroughly enjoyed this take on Star Trek from the beginning I felt that "The Back of Beyond" could have done with double length treatment just to allow the characters room to breathe and not feel that we're having things pointed out for the sake of them being said. 

There's a lot of chopping and changing in this hour as we meet everyone and get snippets of information about their characters that will (I hope)  be explored in episodes to come. From an action point of view this is brilliant as you really don't get the chance to be bored by anything that's happening. The one time that does stand out as some great potential for the relationships on board the Starfinder is between the Breen security chief and the MACO Trill Naveera. You can feel the hatred bubbling under and let's hope this gets a fair amount of time dedicated. However, one of the strengths that I felt TNG and DS9 handled well and could be something for the writers to develop over the course is to provide longer scenes that flesh out the crew naturally. I suspect there's a good deal of talent and enjoyment among the actors here and it would be great to see them properly chew through my headphones so to speak.

Before you worry that an audio Trek series is just going to be one long talk, don't. The Starfinder series kicks off with a number of key action sequences. There's an attack on the Starfinder as they enter the unexplored Outback and later on an away mission to an M-class planet old with less than welcoming inhabitants. These are both well handled considering this is a first attempt and you can feel a lot of work has gone into the production to ensure that we can feel the tension and suspense as events unfold. We get Tholians and Klingons as part of a two-for-one battle, again introducing us to more characters as I understand the Klingons will be returning. How their relationship with the Starfinder crew will go is yet to be seen as the two ships explore the mysterious Outback and the planets and lifeforms contained within it.

In the respect of the away mission, it seems to be over in minutes and that includes other pieces that link directly to what is happening on the surface. I would have loved to see more of this mission rather than have the crew planted straight into danger. There are a lot of different elements into this sequence and here the quick changes between involved parties does work well - but I wanted more! Have to say though, the solution dreamed up from Captain ANN-D (Artificial Neural Network version D) nicely nods the hat to one of the prior generations of Trek but I'll let you find that out for yourselves. In fact that brings me nicely to my next point.

Actually, it's a niggle.  The acting is fine and there's some white noise on the mixing but that's not what I'm here to look at. Those issues will be dealt with in time as cast and background crew become more familiar with their roles,  the script and what can be done to make a smooth audio production. However, there is a mass of character intros which just seem packed into a very short time and then we have a quickly executed mission. Perhaps with an expansion into "pilot length" and a two-part split there could have been the chance for some longer introductory sequences with less "forced" explanations of character motivations and backgrounds. Ideally the arrival at the Outback could have slotted nicely into that "cliff-hang" position as we're even told its a two week trip to get there from Deep Space Nine. Script-wise it's a good job overall and will progress as the show develops and other writers are involved - potentially I'd suggest being aware of the occasional colloquialism slipping in! 

As a secondary note I was granted access to Starfinder some first two mini-sodes and a teaser for the second episode. As things go I'll warn you that the following section is specifically about these three audio files so if you don't want to know, look away now! 

Introducing agent T'Kayla and her timeship and the half-Vulcan Sadera in the first mini-sode there's some nice referencing to a certain JJ-verse. T'Kayla's mission will undoubtedly bring her into contact with the Starfinder as it dallies with the temporal anomalies of the Outback. It's hard to review two minutes where it's a dialogue between two individuals but here we do get a nice teaser which works well in that format. The second mini-sode introduces us to Lieutenant Valor who is the deputy security chief. Nicely we get to see events from the first episode from a slightly different perspective in another part of the ship. The friction between the MACOs and the Jem'Hadar is again touched upon here so there's clearly a bigger plan in action. This is a very personal log which provides some excellent exposition of this new character - and means there's another potential story thread for us to follow if the previous mini-sode is anything to go by. I'm sure we can count on her Vulcan relationships coming into conflict with those she will have with the crew of the Starfinder. 


The trailer for episode two gives some great hints at whats to come - more Breen, more T'Kayla, more action, more conflict and more temporal happenings. So when can we get to hear this?

I'm quite excited to see where they will end up when compared back to this initial effort and all the signs point towards this being a great success because you can feel the passion for the topic from everyone involved. There is a drive to succeed and I for one will be proud to say I was there from the start of this, I suspect, epic adventure.

Episode One of Star Trek: Starfinder; "The Back of Beyond" is available for download now. 

Cold Equations Book Two: Silent Weapons

Silent Weapons picks up a short time after the events of Book One, The Persistence of Memory and from the off this is a very different beast to its predecessor.

Now before we go any further - SPOILER ALERT. If you haven't read the first book, be warned as I WILL be referring to it during this review!

While The Persistence of Memory skipped through time to provide the autobiographical narrative of Doctor Noonien Soong, this is a much more linear affair but much more complicated in the nature of the plot. It does require a bit more concentration to keep track of events right from chapter one - yep, David Mack kicks this sequel off with a lot of balls in the air and the art here is very much in the catching.

I was hesitant as to where this was going to go as Book One really left things open for interpretation. After getting into the heart of the book at about 150 pages I realised that it's as close as Star Trek could come to a taut political thriller. While the Vaslovik plot is carried over from the first novel in the trilogy, it spends a considerable amount of time on the proverbial backburner in favour of political machinations which I found to be more interesting but we'll come to that in turn. Book Two focuses more on the discovery of the android factory from the concluding section of The Persistence of Memory and the way in which the Breen are utilising this find for their own devices. There are numerous locations for the action, namely the Breen homeworld, a control centre for their acquired androids, a secret conference on Orion and then the Enterprise itself. Now you know that at some point they will all come together, the fun is in working out just how Mack will achieve this by the last page. I can assure you it does and - well, I'm not going to ruin it! I will say that it's a "thinker" and you need to be on your toes to keep up with who is doing what, where, when and how otherwise you might be in a big narrative mess by about page 160. 

My interest in this novel was piqued more than with the first not just for the multi-faceted thriller but also thanks in no small part to its supporting cast. The Gorn, one of my favourite alien races in the franchise (kudos for that, Mr Mack), are heavily featured and we get name-checks for the Tholians and the Tzenkethi too as part of the shadowy Typhon Pact. Even the Romulans manage an appearance to remind us that they're still a power to be reckoned with in this quadrant. I hope that Mack utilises the Gorn again in the future and that we get to see the Tholians in action and not just as a technology reference.

Reading this purely on my journey back and forth to work could have been a nightmare due to the strands that Mack lays out but I kept up with a couple of flick-backs to earlier chapters and previous pages so it was well worth it. Occasionally there are plot reminders from the cast which helps keep you in the picture. Everything has a purpose (as we know!) and no action is there for the sake of filling a page. As with my first review I don;t want to give too much away as it would ruin the experience that I was lucky to have upon opening chapter one - needless to say the Breen are up to no good here and Data gets implicated very early on, bringing the Enterprise to the Orion homeworld. Some of the initial chapters might seem irrelevant in some of the details described and you are left wondering - but persevere and you will not be disappointed. If there's one thing I'm learning from David Mack is that everything has a purpose!

One thing that I do enjoy within Mack's work is that he just loves playing with known Star Trek concepts. It happened in The Persistence of Memory and it's in action once again here. We're reintroduced to Captain Morgan Bateson, formerly of the USS Bozeman and it was impossible NOT to think of him as anyone other than Kelsey Grammer in "Cause and Effect" from The Next Generation. Orion was never visited in the multiple TV series but Mack builds on his visual impressions littered into Book One and fleshes them out further, even to the point of taking us deep into their slums and teaching the reader about the nature of their society. Fascinating stuff but my hat truly has to come off for his insights into the Gorn who have only managed two story appearance across the five series and ten films.  In particular their view of art is intriguing and I was quite envious of how Mack has established their culture, hierarchy and motivations within this story. While you would think it would be enough to focus on providing an insight into just the one race as part of the narrative, don't be deceived as the Breen get their own fair amount of page time in which we learn much more about the structure and taboos of their society while we watch them unfold their plans section by section.

Twisting thriller into mystery into action, Mack weaves the after-effects of The Persistence of Memory into this new story with deadly androids doing their masters' bidding, secretive Breen and even the UFP President thrown into the soup for good measure - one gripe; why did the President's bodyguards have to verge on the cliched CIA-style agent with dark glasses and a suit? Minor point but it's the 24th Century....! 

This new Data is something of an oddment and whenever I was reading this character I felt about as uneasy as Geordi - it's Data but it's not. The memories are there but this is Data version two and while you can see the character is there, if only through the absence of contractions in his speech, he feels different just in the way he carries himself through the narrative and on more than one occasion I made myself question who this character was. David, if this is part of the plan, I applaud you because it worked. The "new" Data is centre-stage for a good portion of this novel as are Picard, Geordi and Worf and all four characters are well defined and seem to work better within this story than they did in Book One. While the latter three characters are familiar the resurrected Data really is intriguing and slightly eerie. Indeed  it is his predicament which drives the story initially and the trail of crumbs and events from that which power the story along.  The pacing is great as we move from one set piece into investigation, to diplomacy, to private moments and then back into action once again - there's no let up so if you have to put this book down beware of what point you take a break - what you've just read may be very relevant in a few pages time or you might need to recall it in a few chapters!

Anyway, a lot of this book as you will have gathered, is focused on androids and Soong-type androids to be precise. They instill a great deal of paranoia into the story because you just don't know where or when they will turn up, what will happen when they do and whether or not they will succeed in their actions. Some of the descriptions of their actions are brutal and we can see that they are focused solely on their mission's goal. The androids are expendable but there is definitely more to them than you first think considering what they are capable of doing and who is in control of their minds. Manipulation is the name of the game.

Alongside the main story is a sub-plot revolving around Picard and Crusher which does link into the main thread at one point later on. I felt this was a particularly effective thread as it dealt with the nature of their relationship as a family and as shipmates. Mack drops in a note about the age difference between La Forge and Smrhova at one point - because these guys aren't getting any younger and it does waft up scents of nostalgia because of the length of service we have seen the main characters over. 

The Jean-Luc/Beverly plot reminds us that they are human and that at some point things have to change, especially as the captain is no longer single and there are important matters to consider for their future and the safety of his son. I'll be interested to see if this transitions into the final book, The Body Electric. I'm also fascinated to know how the Vaslovik plot is going to be continued in the finale as we have effectively skipped over it from the first few chapters of Silent Weapons. It was the reason for Data's presence on Orion but other things got in the way!

Overall I probably enjoyed this story much more than I did with The Persistence of Memory, possibly because I understood a bit more about the expanded Trek universe and also because the first book had "broken" me back into the TNG universe. Looking back, the first novel is very much a set up piece which lays a lot of seeds and possibilities for the second book and doubtless the third will bring all the threads together neatly (I say that now!). Not a book to pick up on its own but if you've pounded through the first book this is certain to satisfy your curiosity and leave enough questions unanswered (again) to ensure that the concluding book is an essential purchase.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Cold Equations Book Two: Silent Weapons is now available  from Simon and Schuster ISBN 9781451650730 priced £6.99