A Star Trek: The Original Series novel by Howard Weinstein that has the Enterprise going to a water planet called Akkalla and the mission becomes a desperate search for Spock and Chekov that pits Kirk against a corrupt government.
The novel was released on March 1, 1987 by Pocket Books.
Tropes for the novel:
- Bad Ass In Distress:
- Spock and Chekov, as they are threatened with torture as the rebels view the Federation as their enemies as Kirk and the Enterprise try to locate them
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: The Akkallan activists placing their boat and themselves in the path of the Chorymi harvest ships.
- Green Aesop: Standard for Howard Weinstein's novels.
- A state of cold war exists between Akkalla and its neighboring planet Chorymi, because Akkallan activists have tried to stop the Chorymi harvest ships sucking up huge tracts of sea water and marine life, arguing that some or all of these life forms may be sentient.
- The Chorymi are dependent on what they take from Akkalla because their own wasteful economic and energy policies have reduced their planet to a desert, with virtually no arable land, bodies of water or edible resources.
- Single-Biome Planet: Akkalla is mainly a water based planet with very little land. Likewise, their neighbor planet, Chorymi, is a barren desert with no remaining bodies of water.
- The Woman Behind the Man: Brigadier Vvox is the power behind the ineffective head of state. When flattery or browbeating doesn't work, she just sleeps with him.
- Your Terrorists Are Our Freedom Fighters: The rebels view themselves as freedom fighters against a government that can be viewed as corrupt and out of touch with the public.
