Chain of Attack

Star Trek: The Original Series #32

by Gene DeWeese

While mapping a series of gravitational anomalies, the Enterprise is suddenly hurled millions of light-years through space, into a distant galaxy of scorched and lifeless worlds . . . into the middle of an endless interstellar war.

With no way back home, the crippled starship finds itself under relentless and suicidal attack by both warring fleets. And Captain Kirk must gamble the lives of his crew on his ability to stop a war that has raged for centuries⁠—and ravaged a galaxy . . .

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Fiction, Star Trek Original Series, Science Fiction Fantasy, Adventure, Ebooks

251 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 1, 1987

Reviews

[Louie the Mustache Matos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chain of Attack is #32 of the Star Trek: The Original Series books; this novel is by Gene DeWeese. Although the story is thematically pretty common, the Enterprise while mapping anomalies gets thrown into another galaxy, the level of suspense and tension are enhanced. All threats seemed to be ramped up by innovative narrative devices used by DeWeese.

We have a jerk scientist that wants to engage Kirk in a contest of wills. The Captain continuously tries to be sympathetic, but his goodness and patience is overtly exploited. (I think Kirk was entirely too nice in this novel. I think at a certain point, he would have gotten physical, which was warranted. Usually I am critical of someone that can't keep it together, but here above and beyond.)

It might have been that Kirk was distracted seeing as how both races discovered in this sector of space seem hell bent on attacking the Enterprise. All those challenges and they still need to find a way back home. Strong story IMHO.

[Bill Riggs · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent story. It feels like it could be a novelization of one of the original series episodes. In this story the ship and crew definitely go where no one has gone before when they are accidentally transported to another galaxy. Like the original show, Kirk and crew find themselves caught up in a centuries old war between two feuding races and must find a way to end the conflict or be destroyed themselves.

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

An exciting, if different, adventure.

[Reesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. This book would have made a great episode of TOS!

I love that the Big Bad wasn't revealed, and that the entirety of the story made a cogent point about the escalating nature of revenge wars.

Lots of twists and turns in the plot, with a variety of tight situations for the crew to overcome. There were also interesting aliens, fun technology, and a new piece of space—and I am a sucker for exploring brand new sections of space in Star Trek.

The main "evil" on the ship was just as over the top as any pompous bureaucrat from the original show, but had a far better redemption arc than any of them ever did. It made another great point of how, if we could only fully understand one another, perhaps we wouldn't try so hard to hurt each other.

After quite a few rough Star Trek novels to get through in my quest to read them all in publication date order, this one was a real pleasure to read. 251 pages went by darn quick.

Recommended!

[Ian Banks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rather than focus on character studies and intrigues as the last few novels in the series have done, Mr DeWeese takes us back to basics with an old-fashioned Trek adventure, with a walloping of some decent SF ideas mixed with the Trek optimism. Quite a lot of fun, and easily imagined as an episode of the show.

[Octavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Me ha ENCANTADO. Lol. Me lo he pasado teta, es como un muy buen capítulo de TOS.

[Holland Bakowsky · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine you are on a spaceship in the middle of space; that is terrifying enough. Now imagine that your ship was instantly teleported to an unknown galaxy and you are thrown into an intergalactic war where both factions are attacking you. That is what the crew of the U.S.S Starship Enterprise must deal with and must be feeling. Terror. It is up to Captain Kirk to end the war, save his crew, and get that crew back home. This all happens in Gene DeWeese’s science fiction action novel, “Star Trek: Chain of Attack.” I found that this book was a great book with relatable characters and a riveting story.

I admit that I came into the book with a bit of a bias; I already know and respect the characters in the Star Trek franchise. This book does, however, strengthen my opinions about the characters. I would mostly relate to Spock as he is candid but actually cares for his crew despite his “shell.” I have been told that I am curt when I explain things. On the other hand, I would put the needs of my friends and family before myself. Spock does this several times in this story alone where he puts himself in danger for the well-being of his crew. Another character that I would relate to is the Chief Engineer, Scotty. I am aspiring to be a technical engineer in the near future and who else to see as inspiration in Star Trek, (besides Chekov), than the character whose job is to work technical and mechanical jobs. Compared to the books I have read so far, I actually relate to some of the characters in the story.

The story also keeps me absorbed in the book. It is about the captain of the starship gambling his and his crew's’ lives to get home and end a war. In several instances the Enterprise comes under attack and the scene becomes action-packed and you want to know how it ends. That is the style of writing that I look for in books and that keep me interested in the story. The past few books I have read are relatively boring compared to this novel. The story also gets me to think about how I would react in these situations; would I try to take a side in the ongoing war to end it or try and get my ship away from the war and find a way home, where is far enough that we wouldn’t be followed? These connect me to the book unlike what most other books won’t do; and I perceive that it makes for a more gripping read.

“Star Trek: Chain of Attack,” by Gene Deweese is action-filled with respectable characters. These components of a story make it hard for me to put the book down; unlike many other books I have read. This book is definitely aimed towards fans of Star Trek, like me, who prefer books with excitement as a main constituent of the story.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

The copy on the back cover promises an exciting read: “While mapping a series of gravitational anomalies, the Enterprise is suddenly hurled millions of light-years through space . . . into the middle of an endless interstellar war.” It’s unfortunate that the book itself doesn’t live up to the potential of this premise. What James Kirk and his crew encounter instead is planet after planet blasted into irradiated ruins, with weeks passing before meeting up with the first ships in this far-off part of the universe. These vessels are primitive compared to the Federation’s pride-and-joy, which works for the story but also saps the encounters of any suspense – after all, what threat exists from ships that can be outrun and outfought?

Gene DeWeese seems to have appreciated this, which is why he inserts a wild-card into the plot in the form of Jason Crandall, a scientist and administrator who was aboard for the mapping mission and found himself along for the unexpected ride. As a narcissistic psychopath his existence in the story is so obviously to disrupt Kirk’s efforts to navigate their situation that DeWeese might as well have just named the character “Monkey Wrench.” Moreover, Crandall only poses the threat that he does in the novel because of Kirk’s too-trusting nature, which strains the reader’s credulity to the breaking point. Perhaps DeWeese should have paid closer attention to the episodes of the original series (which he boasts of having re-watched as research for the book) with a similar plot device, as it was much better done in episodes such as “A Taste of Armageddon” (a clear inspiration for DeWeese’s story), “The Doomsday Machine,” and “The Deadly Years,” to name just three. In DeWeese’s hands it just feels like unnecessary tension added because it was absent from his central plot.

[Mario · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surprisingly excellent. If it weren't so reliant on the reader bringing knowledge of the characters and setting in with them, it would work perfectly well as a standalone novel. The plot itself is, from a standard fiction point of view, almost timid and slow, but from a Star Trek perspective it is absolutely perfect. This is what a Star Trek story is supposed to be. My biggest problem with it that they used the refit Enterprise on the cover, though I suppose it is prettier.

[Leila Anani · Rating 3 out of 5]

If there are any Trekkies out there who fancy a Stargate cross over, Gene DeWeese's Chain of Attack is a good starting point. The Enterprise are investigateing what are basically stargates of unknown origin and predictability. They've been sending through probes with various reactions - some have come back exactly the same, some have manifested elsewhere and others have not come back at all. The Enterprise is forced through one of these gates and gets stranded with no way home. They investigate and find a basically annihilated galaxy with two hostile races both of whom are convinced the other is responsible for the destruction around them.

Kirk attempts to mediate peace but is hampered by a villainous visiting politition observer aboard the Enterprise who attempts mutiny and to discredit the 'family' he can never be a part of.

While the story isn't particularly original I thought this one was fairly exciting, well paced and would make a decent episode of TOS. Characters are all on point - the only niggle is Kirk being a bit too nice - but he's being distracted by hostile aliens in a strange galaxy with no way home, so we can cut him some slack - still letting Crandall back on the bridge after his previous mutiny.... waaaaaaaaay to lenient if you ask me. Spock gets to be both logical and heroic and Scotty & Bones have their moments.

As Trek novels go, I thought this one was pretty good, not quite in the favourites pile - it doesn't offer me anything new in terms of plot, character exploration, originality or expansion/exploration of the Trek universe and it maybe lacks humour but it is pacy and exciting and as a Star Trek adventure doesn't disappoint.

The one neat thing this does bring in is the for want of a better word, stargates. We don't learn who built them, why or where they all lead. Trek itelf of course uses this trope later on with wormholes - but here its kind of left hanging. I mean you could read this that they are in fact wormholes and someone like the Dominion or Borg have been destroying worlds - Or you could read them as actual stargates, or completely unrelated portals which gives plenty of scope for more exploration and stories in this particular sandbox.

[L. Morley McCurdy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Overall I enjoyed the story. It had a diverse character set, perpetual conflict, and decent resolution — but the fundamentals were really lacking.

The character development was almost non-existent. It’s safe to assume that most people reading this book are familiar with the bridge crew of the Enterprise, but that doesn’t mean a refresher course and author interpretation of the characters wouldn’t go a long way to getting the reader immersed in the story. There were efforts made, but all through dialogue, so nothing memorable.

The environment wasn’t accessible. The most important part of Star Trek stories is the thing that gets the characters where they are — the Enterprise. That stage wasn’t set. We are just supposed to know the layout, where everything is, and how everything works. Which again, considering most readers that are picking up the 32nd book of the Star Trek TOS book series are familiar with the ship, there’s an opportunity to immerse the reader in it with some basic interactions, descriptions, anything at all.

The first 30 pages could have hit the cutting room floor. Honestly, it’s surprising I made it through them, but I really wanted to escape into space for a couple weeks so I plowed through.

I’m being very critical of this book but here’s why — I REALLY liked the story. And I’m leaving these notes here as notes to myself about what not to do if I am ever in a situation where I get to tell a story within an already established universe.

The initial complication was scary, the Enterprise essentially gets “lost in space” and their first mission objective is obviously to get home. They get lost by going through a gate, some sort of wormhole that uses ancient technology. They come to find, that alien race is long gone, and this tech is thousands of years old.

They then encounter two alien races that have been at war with each other for hundreds of years. Why? Because they’re scared the other race will destroy them. Why do they think that? Because every habitable planet in this galaxy has been annihilated with weapons of mass destruction. This destruction was actually caused by the race that designed the gates, but these current alien races don’t know that. They each just assume the other has planet killing technology. They don’t.

When Captain Kirk eventually brings these two warring tribes to the peace table, and they walk away with a truce, they ally with each other, and decide that the Federation are the planet killers.

So now the crew of the Enterprise, in a beat up ship, has to get home and activate the gate before these new allies kill them, and they’re on their way to do that when they’re abducted by a third alien race that holds them prisoner. So what do they do now?

So the story is great. It was a great idea. It just wasn’t executed well.

Not unhappy I read it, but wouldn’t read it again. Unless I was adapting it for a screenplay, which, if done well, would be exceptional.

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well good start to the year! I really enjoyed this one. It was a very smart novel that had interesting new characters and villains (if you could call them that) which spiced up the solution. DeWeese really understands the Kirk/McCoy/Spock dynamic and it's on full display here - along with his understanding of the other core characters as well. The premise was interesting along with the dilemma they found themselves in. I liked the solution and my only real complaint was what happened with the conference of ships and Dr. Crandall's actions - it was written to get inside of his head but I kind of missed what he was doing outside of it. Other than that it was a great little book and an enjoyable read. It was truly a book that felt that it belonged in the Star Trek universe - which surprisingly a lot of them don't.

[Anderson Rearick III · Rating 3 out of 5]

This novel was a lot of fun. I actually got through it in a single day. The author a good ear for the main characters in the Star Trek universe. Also the intergalactic journey through what is basically a stargate-wormhole which leads them to a galaxy where all of the life bearing planets have been destroyed is grim and powerful. However, I was less than satisfied with the final bringing together and the explanation for these events. Also the "villain" whom they bring with themselves is never really a threat. Also the plot is occasionally cluttered with references to specific episodes from the original show. These not needed. Still, it was engaging and enjoyable.

[Katerina · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[James Hearn · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all-time favorite Star Trek novels. Very different from most.

[Tim Deforest · Rating 4 out of 5]

While investigating a strange anomaly, the Enterprise is suddenly transported millions of light years to a different galaxy.

And this particular galaxy is not a nice place to visit. Exploring and searching for a way home, Kirk and his crew discover planet after planet on which all live has been wiped out by advanced weaponry.

Soon after that, they find themselves under attack by the ships of two different alien races. The races are also at war with one another and have a nasty habit of committing suicide by setting off explosives implanted in their bodies if captured.


Kirk finds himself tasked with trying to establish communications with aliens who are willing to blow themselves up if necessary to take out the Enterprise and who seem to have little desire to negotiate. This is all complicated by the presense of a civilian observer aboard the Enterprise--a scientist who is really just a sleazy politician at heart and who is soon plotting against Kirk. (For some reason, Federation politicians are all annoyingly arrogant and cause Kirk problems when put aboard the Enterprise--see the TOS episodes "A Taste of Armageddon" and "The Galileo Seven" for evidence of this.)


Just when Kirk seems to be making progress, events turn violent again. And then yet another faction shows up and beams the entire crew of the Enterprise into captivity. Now Kirk has to figure out how to talk to THESE guys if he's going to save his ship and get his crew home.

It's a good, solid Star Trek novel, with the main characters handled well as they make intelligent decisions while dealing with their new environment. The plot unfolds logically and everything is appropriately "Star Trek-y."

The novel was published in 1987, 8 years before Star Trek:Voyager premiered. The similarity in premises is probably a coincidence, though I wonder if the creators of Voyager did lift the general idea of a ship teleported away from the Federation from here.

One final note--I really wish the Pocket Books had put more effort into the covers of their Star Trek books. This cover is good, but still pretty generic. In a book that contains a number of space battle scenes--an artist given time to read the story could have created something awesome.

[Doris · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book picks up just after The Abode of Life, where the Enterprise had been transported across space due to an anomaly. In that book, the crew dealt with a single world who believed they were all there was to the universe. In this book, the Enterprise is seeking out these type of anomalies, trying to understand them. When they cross through one, the crew then dealt with not one but two space-faring species who not only knew there were other people, but each believed the other to be evil.

One of the first things the Enterprise encounters after the crossing is an attack by a group they are able to defend against, but who then explode their ships in mass suicide. That was odd enough, but then they discover hundreds of devastated worlds. While dealing with these and trying to find out if there are survivors, they also have to deal with a megalomaniac with a persecution complex.

It was interesting, but there were several gaping logic holes that any Vulcan should have seen, and any starship captain avoided. Without giving major spoilers, I can't list those but will say that the outcome of the efforts of the madman were inevitable and obvious to anyone paying attention to him, and no captain would give away all his knowledge - just in case.

Because of those two events, I downgraded this story from the original 4 to a 1 and a half. It read well but the ending was in my opinion poorly done, with the madman allowed way too much latitude and given far too much forgiveness.

[John Nolley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars is probably a bit too generous for this one, but it does set the stage for DeWeese's superior "The Final Nexus." In Chain of Attack, the Enterprise encounters nearly-invisible "gates" which transport items light-years to millions of parsecs into the distance... and accidentally finds itself in a distant galaxy filled with ruined, destroyed worlds and belligerent aliens. I'll save you the full plot, but the title refers to the tens of thousands of years of warfare within that galaxy, where each successive spacefaring species comes upon the ruined worlds and finds itself attacked by aliens with no attempt at communication--eventually themselves coming to distrust and destroy every new species they themselves encounter, believing them the "destroyers" responsible for the original war.

The writing is heavy-handed at points, and there's the stereotypically-annoying bureaucrat on board who causes no small share of trouble before the Enterprise is able to achieve a shaky peace between the two most recent warring species and find its way back to its own galaxy. Like I said, overall, probably a 2.5 star entry, but you need some of the context for "The Final Nexus," which is a significantly better book.

[Andy Stjohn · Rating 3 out of 5]

TOS #32: Chain of Attack by Gene DeWeese

It took me three years to read this book. It sat on my shelf for so long, I finally picked it up… and it was ok. The premise of the book immediately caught my attention. Kirk and crew travel to another galaxy?!? Sign me up. It was like Voyager before Voyager.

This book overall was decent but it had some issues. The biggest one was Crandall. He just came off as really annoying and didn’t really add anything to the greater plot. Kirk was also way too nice to him despite his attempt at mutiny.

The two new alien species the Hoshan and Zeator were interesting, and the reveal that they have been both duped into fighting each other by another species was an interesting twist. I also didn’t know this was a sequel to another book, the Abode of Life. The final bit with the Aragoros was great as Spock’s indirect mind meld with the computer and getting sort of a cosmic awareness from it was interesting. Overall, this was a decent book but I would have liked if it explored the bigger galaxy at large in this new corner of the universe. You can only do such in 250 pages.

6.5/10

[Patrick Hayes · Rating 4 out of 5]

The premise for this book preceded Janeway and her Voyager crew by eight years.

The Enterprise is accidentally shot five thousand parsecs beyond their intended flight path into an area far beyond where the Federation has ever gone. They investigate the nearby worlds and discover them to be devoid of most animal life, with the majority destroyed by different forms of aerial bombardment thousands of years previously. However, they do encounter a space faring race and that's when things get interesting. I'll not spoil what happens after this race is encountered, but it's interesting and had me wishing that author DeWeese had several books to carry over the concept he's created. Dr. Jason Crandall is an observer aboard the Enterprise, trapped like the rest of the crew in an unknown region of space. He was the low point of the book for me, reminding me too much of Lost in Space's Dr. Smith. All that was missing was a yelp of "WILL-IAM!"

Regardless of one character, this was a solid Trek read.

[Cheryl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nicely done. Not as ambitious as some of the 'special' ones I've read lately, like Spock's World for example. Just a very well done philosophical 'episode.' I love that we got DeWeese's exploration of some of the things that go on with the rest of the 400+ members of the crew.

"Had his whole life been, as these weeks on the Enterprise had been, a series of disastrous misunderstandings, all growing out of his own egocentric - and horribly wrong! - imaginings? Had he, in assigning to others the motives he himself was driven by, ruined not only his own life, but the lives of countless others?" Of course the answer in the story is yes, in order to give this character a chance at redemption. And I'm not cynical enough to believe that this realization couldn't help other people with twisted perspectives... too bad we can't give them the information they need psychically....

(I believe this author has written other STTNG books - I will check.)

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

The strengths of the book include DeWeese’s description of how universal translators work, which was always something taken for granted in the TV show(s). Beyond this, he develops a fairly interesting premise, but really under-delivers by the end of the book. Without going into any detail, the narrative lacked satisfactory explanations in places and pacing was occasionally off. Lastly, DeWeese needed to work out a synonym for ‘jury-rigged’, because he uses the term repeatedly in the final third of the book. Maybe that’s just a pet peeve, though. Overall, it was an entertaining read, but the story sort of disintegrated in the final 40 pages.

[Scott · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've got about twenty of these novels on a bookshelf that I got as a bundle off ebay and I pick one up now and then as the mood strikes me when I want something lighter and just a good tale with great characters.

The Enterprise is tossed millions of light-years through space while they were out trying to find out what's up with some gravitational anomalies and they find themselves in the middle of an endless interstellar war.

By default I usually start at three stars for a Star Trek novel and then go up or down based on my enjoyment. I thought that DeWeese really added a lot to the story with his character work and humor. It was a good read and I enjoyed it.

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was enjoyable read. It felt like an episode of the Original Series. The author did his research and to wrote it with numerous allusions from the Original Series. The characterization of the main crew was spot-on. However, there were many more planets, spaceships, and aliens that the budget for an episode of the Original Series could accommodate. So it was a bit more epic than an episode. The only weak spot was a character created for the novel, a civilian observer aboard the Enterprise. He was immature, obnoxious, unstable, and insufferable. Kirk in the book was too lenient with him; the Kirk on the Original Series would have dealt with him much more sternly.

[Katrina Veerkamp · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’m really on the fence with this book. It was back and forth over and over with the two opposing forces but it seemed to go on and on. Then the politician Crandall. He was so ridiculous. I really didn’t like how he was thinking. I didn’t need them. He so didn’t fit in the Star Trek type. Ugh. What an idiot. I read it. I won’t read it again. Spock was amazing here. Again lots of details of his thoughts. Maybe too much

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

While investigating a series of wormholes, the 'Enterprise' is hurled into another galaxy with no apparent means of returning home.

Kirk finds a number of planets in the vicinity have been irradiated in cataclysmic events millennia ago and is soon confronted by suicide ships from two alien races.

DeWeese writes in a clear manner and exemplifies the essence of an excellent 'Star Trek' story.

[David Palazzolo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Started off interesting, but was dragged down through painful exposition that should have been condensed and presented in a more interesting manner. The most annoying part of the book was that it ended without fully explaining all the mysteries. I understand now there is a sequel, but I don’t think I’ll subject myself to it.

[DavidZ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A solid story that keeps to the tone of the series, focuses on the plot, and allows the ToS characters to behave like competent problem solvers. The b-plot with the Starfleet lab administrator who makes multiple attempts to sabotage the crew was a bit weak.

[Linda · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining plot of slipping into a grivation hole and finding yourself tossed millions of miles into another galaxy where the only signs of life attack first. Finding themselves in the midst of a war that had been going on for centuries.

[Lee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maybe only 2.5 stars- it was slow to get going, and felt rushed at the end with lots and lots of exposition revealed all at once. Most of which was dumped on/by Spock via a mind-meld that got beyond his control.