Section 31: Cloak Bk.3 (Star Trek: The Original) Book

Cloak is the original series entry in the Star Trek Section 31 quartet of novels, and sees Captain Kirk investigating what appears to be an act of treachery by another Starfleet captain. The Enterprise rescues a runaway starship, the Sphinx, only to find its entire crew dead due to a life-support malfunction, while the captain, Jack Casden, was murdered by a man whose identity nobody can trace. Kirk is pulled off the case, but refuses to give it up altogether. When the officer in charge of the investigation, an old friend, dies under mysterious circumstances, Kirk becomes even more determined to get to the bottom of the mystery. Scotty discovers that the Sphinx has been in contact with a cloaking device, and Casden is posthumously accused of collaborating with the Romulans. Spock goes to question the Romulan commander from whom the Enterprise stole a cloaking device a few months before, while Kirk tries to discover who killed his friend. Predictably, he is distracted by an attractive young woman scientist, but doesn't allow romance to get in the way of his investigation for long. Behind everything is the shadowy presence of Section 31, the autonomous intelligence agency that answers to no one. Like the other books in the series, this one contains more moral ambiguity than is common in the Star Trek universe, although Kirk, like all the other regular characters, is completely opposed to Section 31 and everything it stands for. The plot moves forward at a fast pace, the characterisations are good, and the denouement exciting. This is a solid entry in the series. -- Elizabeth SourbutRead More