A Star Trek: The Next Generation: Time #4: A Time to Harvest

UNTIL NOW.

It was supposed to be a mission of mercy, until the unthinkable occurred: the destruction of the U.S.S. Juno, killing all hands on board. Starfleet Command has unjustly assessed the actions of Captain Picard and the Enterprise crew during that fateful assignment to the Rashanar Battle Site -- the sector that saw one of the fiercest conflicts of the Dominion War, and which is now a hazardous interstellar graveyard filled with hundreds of devastated starships. While the court-ordered medical evaluation that relieved Picard of command is ongoing, there is growing speculation that his illustrious career may be coming to an end.

Until now.

More than two centuries ago, the Dokaalan sent an unmanned probe into the void, bearing a distress call for anyone who could save their doomed world. But the message reached Federation space too late to save the planet or its people.

Or so it was believed....

UNTIL NOW.

The site of one of the Dominion War's fiercest battles, the Rashanar Sector now contains a vast interstellar graveyard littered with the lifeless hulks of hundreds of devastated starships. The explosive destruction of so many varied warp drives has severely distorted the space-time continuum in this region, resulting in dangerous unleashed energies and bizarre gravitational anomalies.

The Enterprise has been assigned to patrol the perimeter of the danger zone, while other vessels carry out the difficult and highly hazardous task of retrieving the bodies of the dead from the wrecked warships.

UNTIL NOW.

One hundred years ago, the recurring conflicts between the Bader and the Dorset ended mysteriously when both races colonized the distant planet Delta Sigma IV -- a world located far from the destructive wars of their people -- and quickly became the Federation's perfect example of interspecies cooperation. But there are now rumblings of trouble in paradise, as an investigation led by Kyle Riker -- Commander William Riker's estranged father -- into this harmonious society has discovered a shocking, immutable truth: over the next few generations, the reaction to a native gas will spell the extinction of Delta Sigma IV's inhabitants.

UNTIL NOW.

The recurring blood feuds between the Bader and the Dorset ended mysteriously a century ago when both races colonized the planet Delta Sigma IV. But, unknown until now, it was a reaction to a naturally occurring gas that led to their harmonious existence...a reaction that would eventually mean certain death for the planet's inhabitants. What the Enterprise crew believed was a cure for the population -- a treatment introduced into Delta Sigma IV's environment by Kyle Riker, a man at odds with his son, Commander William Riker -- has instead triggered worldwide carnage, as long-suppressed aggression and hostility are suddenly and violently unleashed.

UNTIL NOW.

At the height of the Dominion War and unknown to all save those in the highest levels of command, the Federation secretly armed the neutral planet Tezwa with devastating weapons -- part of a contingency plan against the Dominion if the front lines collapsed. But Tezwa also lies near the border of the Klingon Empire...making the Federation's covert strategy in direct violation of their fragile peace treaties,and creating the potential threat of scandal and all-out war.

UNTIL NOW.

A cataclysmic war between the Federation and the Klingon Empire has been miraculously averted, and a new government is finally in place on the planet Tezwa. But deadly secrets still threaten the fragile peace accord.

UNTIL NOW.

Following the scandalous Tezwa affair, the Federation president's resignation forces an election, with the future of the United Federation of Planets to be determined by who emerges victorious from a hotly contested vote. But it is the fate of the entire galaxy that may actually be decided on Qo'noS, as the Federation embassy is seized by terrorists whose actions expose intrigue reaching the highest levels of Klingon government -- and it will take all of Ambassador Worf's skills to keep the fragile Federation-Klingon alliance from collapsing. And while this potential intergalactic chaos looms, Commander Riker finds his plans for command and marriage soured by a brutal, high-level inspection of the ship from which the crew may not escape unscathed....

A quantum slipstream -- instantaneous transportation -- is controlled by these beings in the cluster, and in the heart of the cluster there is now a Borg ship. Cut off from the rest of the Borg collective, the Einstein cannot be allowed to rejoin it. For the sake of humanity, the Borg cannot gain access to quantum slipstream technology.

Starfleet Command gives Captain Picard carte blanche: do whatever he must to help the beings in the cluster, and stop the Einstein no matter the cost.