Two books in the Star Trek Novel 'Verse. A collection of five interrelated stories that feature team-ups between each of the series' regular characters and a guest crew from the continuity. The name is taken from the DC Comics series of the same name (which would also give its name to Batman: The Brave and the Bold). The stories are linked through the device of Sealed Evil in a Can Malkus the Mighty, and the deadly artifacts created for him.
Tropes:
- And I Must Scream: Malkus’ eventual fate is to be sealed inside his box as a disembodied mind, totally cut off from external stimuli while remaining conscious.
- Artifact Domination: Malkus is able to take control of individuals who interacted with the first three devices, provided they are still alive. He thus can control Ambassador Spock, Admiral McCoy, Colonel Kira, and Captain DeSoto. The only person he can't control at all is Captain Sisko (because he is no longer on the corporeal plane), and Spock is eventually able to resist Malkus because his death and resurrection weakened Malkus' hold over him.
- Artifact of Doom: The four Malkus devices. In order of discovery:
- The Plague Machine
- Death Ray
- Weather-Control Machine
- Mind-Control Device (and this is the specific artifact that houses Malkus)
- Brainwashed and Crazy: The mind-controlled Klingons on Narendra III.
- Charm Person: Aidulac, and the females of the Peladons (a race into which this immortal character spread her genes), can influence most males into doing their bidding. Originally, anyone and everyone was affected, but over time the ability atrophied to affect only males.
- Continuity Nod:
- Many. As an example, when preparing to leave for a conference on Khitomer, Ambassador Worf is looking over the latest reports from around the Klingon Empire. Among the items awaiting his oversight is a progress report from Emperor Vall on taD, a Continuity Nod to the earlier novel Diplomatic Implausibility. Also,
Word of God has stated that Commander Joseph Shabalala is the father of Anthony Shabalala, from the Starfleet Corps of Engineers series. - Similarly, the first time we see Commodore Matt Decker, he's seen talking to his son, then-Lieutenant Willard Decker of Star Trek: The Motion Picture fame.note
- Many. As an example, when preparing to leave for a conference on Khitomer, Ambassador Worf is looking over the latest reports from around the Klingon Empire. Among the items awaiting his oversight is a progress report from Emperor Vall on taD, a Continuity Nod to the earlier novel Diplomatic Implausibility. Also,
- Cross Through
- A Day in the Limelight: The four main stories were told from the guest crew's POV.
- Dr. Jerk: Dr. Rosenhaus of the Constellation is a mild example - mainly he ruffles everyone's feathers by being a young, overeager, and somewhat sloppy physician who thinks his textbook solution is the right one without thinking things through. McCoy gets him to come around at the end.
- Dramatic Irony: If you knew the fate that befell a few of the crews in the respective canon, several instances of this are plainly visible. Probably the biggest of all is Voyager first officer Cavit's asking for a date with the Hood first officer after Voyager "gets done with this Maquis business." note
- Disintegrator Ray: The second artifact found fires bolts of energy that instantly and soundlessly vaporize whatever they hit. Orta kills the Odyssey's chief engineer with it, and when he blows up a building the only sound made is when the air rushes into the spot where the building was.
- Emergency Authority: The Enterprise and the Constellation oversee martial law on Alpha Proxima II, with Kirk making damn sure this martial law didn't turn out like the one he survived on Tarsus IV.
- Evil Overlord: Malkus, or at least he was 90,000 years ago, when he ruled the Zalkat Union for a millennium. He’d like to be the overlord again.
- Fantastic Fruits and Vegetables: Mmmm, clamdas.
- Imported Alien Phlebotinum: The Klingon mind-sifter (which always seemed more advanced than their usual quasi-medical technology) is believed to have been derived from Zalkatian artifacts left behind on worlds later colonized by Klingons.
- Incurable Cough of Death: Averted with the artifact that causes disease, as the disease pumps adrenaline into the infected's system until their heart fails from overwork.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Tereth; Commander Voyskunsky (off-screen).
- Legacy Vessel: Sun.
- The Mole: Tuvok among the Maquis, in the Third Artifact story (which takes place just prior to the pilot of Star Trek: Voyager). Elios Phifer is another example.
- The Plague: On Alpha Proxima II, thanks to one of the four artifacts.
- Precursors: The Zalkat Union, which 90,000 years ago controlled a number of worlds in what are now the United Federation of Planets, Klingon Empire and Cardassian Union.
- Properly Paranoid: Sisko and O'Brien are aware of the risk of Maquis or other criminals stealing DS9's runabouts, so O'Brien reprogrammed them so that if someone inputs an older command code the runabout will work for a short time before shutting down and transmitting a beacon for them to go collect it.
- The Resenter: The person in control of the artifact on Alpha Proxima II was a mid-level government bureaucrat who was passed over for promotion and had just been sacked.
- Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Tharia ch’Ren ends up trying one of these, using one of the Malkus artifacts. He uses its weather control capabilities to wreck Cardassian and Federation colonies, first to avenge the deaths of his bondmates and then to get revenge on an informant who betrayed the Maquis.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: Malkus the Mighty, whose consciousness is contained within a box.
- Shaming the Mob: Kirk, as usual, gets a big moment to quell rioters who think Starfleet has a cure but isn't handing it out. Decker and his security chief are impressed, as just minutes earlier they thought they'd have to stun the whole crowd.
- Slipped the Ropes: Kira gets free to fight back against Orta, pointing out that he always "tied a lousy knot".
- Smart People Play Chess: Go variant. Robert DeSoto is presented as a champion-level player. He teaches his first officer to play...and regrets it, as she goes from a handicap to whooping his tail inside of a month.
- Weapon of Mass Destruction: Malkus liked these.
- When the Planets Align: One of the stories involves a Bajoran prophecy suggesting Bajor will be at peace when all the planet’s moons fully align. The bitter old terrorist Orta seeks to use the Malkus artifact he’s unearthed to artificially move a moon and fulfil the prophecy early. Of course, he doesn’t actually want peace - he’s just using the prophecy as a ploy to start a conflict with the Federation.
- You Did Everything You Could: Kirk is beating himself up for not being able to stop the woman with the first artifact from killing herself. Decker gives him some fatherly advice, pointing out that they saved 99.9% of the planetary population and the Enterprise crew from the plague she unleashed, and based on what Decker's people found the woman was so far gone into irrational insanity that "the entire Federation Diplomatic Corps" couldn't have talked her down.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Malkus was fond of this, too, though it’s also a practical paranoia; why let those who had intimate knowledge of his capabilities (and helped design his superweapons) live? The only person who had survived his dispatching is Aidulac.
