Best Defense (Q55230329)

The events of this story take place after the Enterprise crew’s mission to the diplomatic conference on Babel (“Journey to Babel”), one week after their mission to Argus X (“Obsession”), and roughly six weeks after a foreign spy escaped from the Enterprise having stolen the mysterious alien artifact known as the Transfer Key (Star Trek: Legacies—Book 1: Captain to Captain). (English)

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His mind was preoccupied to a peculiar degree, bent toward grim memories of recent events. Just a week prior, the Enterprise’s survey of Argus X had resurrected an old horror from Kirk’s past, a gaseous creature that drained iron-based blood corpuscles from living beings—in effect, a vampire masquerading as a cloud of sickly sweet vapor. It was the same alien monster that eleven years earlier had killed over two hundred of Kirk’s shipmates on the Starship Farragut, including his commanding officer, Captain Garrovick. (Embu)

Divergence

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8

Sarek knew his peers understood as well as he did Gempok’s allusion to the previous century’s infamous Augment virus, a genetic-engineering program based on human efforts to create a “superior” species. The virus had conferred some genomic enhancements, but at the cost of humanizing the patients’ appearances. That side effect had made its victims, the QuchHa’, objects of ridicule and oppression within their own culture. (English)

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Historian's Note

The events of this story take place after the Enterprise crew’s mission to the diplomatic conference on Babel (“Journey to Babel”), one week after their mission to Argus X (“Obsession”), and roughly six weeks after a foreign spy escaped from the Enterprise having stolen the mysterious alien artifact known as the Transfer Key (Star Trek: Legacies—Book 1: Captain to Captain). (English)

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He dismissed the awkwardness with a small wave. “It’s of no consequence. The wedding is set for next month, on Qo’noS.” Returning his focus to Sarek, he asked, “And how is your health, Mister Ambassador? I understand you had surgery not long ago, on the Enterprise?” “Yes, to correct a cardiac ailment. I am fully recovered.” (English)

guaranteed minimum income

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https://memory-beta.fandom.com/wiki/Guaranteed_personal_income?oldid=812306#mw-content-text

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Guaranteed personal income | Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki | Fandom (English)

economies of scale

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Balance of Terror

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On the viewscreen, the image of the Velibor was blotted out by the all-too-familiar sight of a plasma torpedo hurtling toward the Enterprise. It had been over a year since the ship had last faced the Romulans’ terrifying new armament, and Starfleet still had no solid defense against it. (English)

Mirror, Mirror

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Having recently perused Kirk’s report of a similar device he encountered in an alternate universe, and Spock’s report of how a transporter malfunction had opened a pathway to that universe—first by accident, then a second time by design—she had gleaned new insights concerning the alien gadget she and Captain April had seized on Usilde in 2249. (English)

Errand of Mercy

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Then, too, Kirk had stood at the flash point of what had threatened to become a war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire—one the Organians had forced both sides to abandon, lest the two rival powers see their formidable militaries permanently enfeebled. (English)

The Trouble with Tribbles

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Montgomery Scott had come ready for a fight. He had five Starfleet engineers at his back and no qualms about throwing the first punch, if someone deserved it. He still savored his memory of cold-cocking Korax, the first officer of the Klingon cruiser Gr’oth, aboard Deep Space Station K-7 a few months earlier. That’s what he gets for calling the Enterprise “garbage.” (English)

Vanguard

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“Jorncek, the Tiburonian.” The name sounded familiar to Elara. “Isn’t he that hitter with a torque problem Ganz kicked off the Omari-Ekon last year?” “A misunderstanding, I’m told.” (English)

highway hypnosis

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Captain to Captain

statement is subject of

exposition

recap

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Outranked and outflanked, Kirk relented. “Mister Spock? Care to fill him in?” Spock shouldered his expository duties with aplomb. “For some time, commanding officers of the Enterprise have been in clandestine possession of the Transfer Key, an artifact from an alien universe—a device that by itself can be used to shift individuals out of this universe into another, and that when connected to its parent apparatus, located on a world whose territorial sovereignty is a matter of dispute to be resolved at this conference, might enable much larger movements of personnel and materiel, including starships, between the two universes.” (English)