Star Trek Explorer finds the best talent to create the most entertaining stories for readers, and now that the magazine is winding down, we don't have many more to look forward to. But Titan Comics has put together a book of short stories that will certainly help ease some of the disappointment. And they were kind enough to send over a small excerpt of one of the stories so you can see the quality they are so good at bringing to light.
This story is in the latest collection of short stories, "Star Trek Explorer Presents Star Trek—A Year to the Day that I Saw Myself Die—and Other Stories." This collection includes original short fiction by Walter Koenig, known for portraying Ensign Pavel Chekov on Star Trek: The Original Series and the continuing movies as well as stories by David Mack, Michael Collins, and more. And these tales cover six series: Star Trek, Star Trek: The Animated Series, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: Voyager, and Star Trek: Picard.
This particular excerpt is from a story called "Working Miracles" written by Jake Black with art by Pete Wallbank. This story finds Scotty and Uhura working together when a routine trip turns out to be not so routine, which is an interesting take, considering Scotty and Uhura never had the opportunity to work together on missions.
The shuttlecraft Galileo’s II’s warp engines ignited in a stellar display as it shot away from Spacedock. Inside, its inhabitants, Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott and Lieutenant Nyota Uhura, manned the controls, setting a course for the Suhazal system and their rendezvous with the U.S.S. Enterprise.
“It’ll be good to be home.” Scotty said.
“What? Don’t tell me you didn’t love every minute of that conference,” Uhura laughed.
The two friends had spent the last week at a gathering of Starfleet’s finest operations officers, seeing for the first time the initial designs for the Constitution-class refit. With the Enterprise due to complete her five-year mission in three months, it was essential that Scotty and Uhura, as the ship’s senior operations officers, be briefed on the new systems.
“Aye, lassie, I suppose you’re right. The refit Enterprise is going to be a beauty of a ship,” Scotty sighed. “I just want to see her one more time before they tear her apart and put her back together.”
Uhura patted Scotty’s back as she moved to the aft of the shuttle, pulling ration packs from a storage compartment.
“Well, the communications systems upgrades look very impressive. The Golding brothers gave quite the presentation,” she said, handing Scotty one of the packs. “And you couldn’t have asked for a more appropriate venue than the Ames Research Center.”
Scotty smiled and set his ration pack on the console. “That three-hundred-year-old building has seen better days. But I guess if it was a good enough place to design the six Voyager probes and the first Mars rover missions, it’s good enough for the Enterprise,” he said with a glint in his eye.
They each tore the silver packaging from their ration packs.
“Nothing like a starlit dinner,” Uhura joked.
“With good company,” Scotty replied.
Suddenly, the shuttlecraft jerked to a stop, sending Scotty and Uhura, and their meals, crashing to the floor. Scotty leapt to his feet and studied the console.
“We’re being pulled by a tractor beam!” he shouted.
The Galileo was dragged towards a massive freighter that displayed no name and no affiliation.
“Unidentified vessel, this is the Shuttlecraft Galileo. You have committed an act of aggression against the Federation. We demand you release us immediately,” Uhura said into the shuttlecraft’s comms relay.
“No reply,” Uhura said, slapping the console as Scotty feverishly, albeit futilely, tried to break the shuttle free.
“Their tractor beam is strong! I can’t warp us away, or else it would tear the shuttle apart.,” Scotty said, concern hanging over his words.
Within minutes, the shuttle landed in the freighter’s hanger bay. As the two Enterprise officers disembarked, they were met by a tall Andorian, a mammoth Ursinoid, and a phaser-wielding Orion.
This collection will be on sale on December 10, 2024 so just in time for Christmas for all of the Trekkies in your life. And if that's only you, then treat yourself! In hardcover, the book, which consists of fourteen stories coming in at ninety-six pages, costs $24.99 and will be available at Amazon, Forbidden Planet, Books-a-Million, and Barnes and Noble.