In today’s episode, when the Klingons shoot down a science yacht in the Demilitarized Zone, it gets everyone wondering what they’re keeping a lid on over there. But the exiles on the planet below demand nothing less in exchange for the survivors than the total rerouting of nature’s course. When are Julian’s genetic enhancements a disadvantage? Would Klingons dig post-rock? And what new words did you learn today? All this and more in Armageddon Sky, the book with an uncredited cameo!

Armageddon Sky
Author: L.A. Graf
Pages: 279
Published: September 1997
Timeline: During the Klingon-Cardassian conflict of season four
Prerequisites: Kor first appeared in DS9 in “Blood Oath” (2×19) after having previously been in “Errand of Mercy” (TOS 1×27). A certain character who makes a cameo appearance is never explicitly named (and I won’t spoil it), but is guessed easily enough when first hinted at and is very obvious when he actually pops up, especially if you recognize certain things about him, like his roles on previous series and personal interests.

Arguing that she’s more needed at the station, Worf vetoes Dax’s desire to join the Federation science yacht Victoria Adams as it takes a group of civilians to the Gamma Quadrant to witness a rare celestial event called a cometary deluge. She gets her wish anyway, however, when Klingons guarding a planet in the Klingon Demilitarized Zone shoot it down, leaving the survivors stranded on a world that’s constantly being pelted with space debris. The DS9 crew soon finds out why the Klingons are so invested in this backwater nothingburger: they’ve got exiled houses down there, and they’re committed to making sure those folks live out the rest of their days well and truly cut off from Klingon society. And to show they’re extra-serious, the leader of the blockade is none other than Dahar Master Kor—a formidable opponent indeed, even when inebriated.

Most of the exiles demand little more than sufficient technology to protect the planet from the occasional armageddon event so they can run out the clock in peace. But the younger generations don’t understand why they should have to merely wait to die when they could still live fulfilling lives even within the constraints of exile, thus setting up the conflict I found the most compelling among a veritable sea of them. There’s also a civilian of worryingly high security clearance among the survivors who Admiral Nechayev wants extracted before the Klingons find out who he is and it causes an intergalactic incident; the xirri, a sentient race of lemur-like beings native to the planet that no one can figure out how to communicate with; and encroaching Cardassians, who have extended the exiles an offer to help them disappear into the Gamma Quadrant in exchange for being allowed to extract a chemical from these gigantic beasts of burden called banchory, which they claim [extremely exaggerated cough] will be used to help cure an outbreak of a disease targeting children. Oh, won’t someone please think of the Cardassian children?

If this sounds overstuffed, well, it kind of is. Armageddon Sky is significantly more chaotic and overstimulating than I prefer my Trek stories to be. It’s not bad—there’s just a lot going on, and it’s sort of hard to follow at times, and the impenetrable overgrowth that covers much of the elegantly named (slash S) KDZ-E25F was often difficult for me to properly visualize. But although I try not to do a lot of direct comparison to other books, this and Ancient Blood are both in the Day of Honor line, so they’re fair game, and with that said, let me say that for as much as I do not care for a lot of Armageddon Sky, it is at least a story that attempted to engage with the Day of Honor concept in something recognizable as good faith. L.A. Graf say in Voyages of Imagination that they’re not the biggest fans of Klingons, but nevertheless, they were approached, they accepted, and they tried. I don’t want that to cause me to rate it more highly than I believe it should be rated, but it goes a longer way than you might think.

The most purely entertaining part of the book is the appearance of the aforementioned high-clearance civilian, whose presence essentially amounts to an uncredited cameo. The person is described early on in terms that make it easy to figure out who it is even before they appear, with more clues when they do appear, and a pseudonym that gives it away in case nothing else tipped you off. What’s especially nice is that the character in question doesn’t take charge in a big dong-swinging “look at me” kind of way, but rather helps out in a way that tries to deflect attention rather than invite it. Also, it might be giving away a bit too much to say so, but the character is one that might make you say, “Yeah, L.A. Graf would find a way to fit that character into a novel.”

Something that occurs to one fairly early on with the Day of Honor concept is that around this time in Trek, there weren’t actually that many top-shelf Klingons to put in the spotlight. Voyager has Lt. Torres, of course. Martok’s debut episode1 first aired in February of the year this book was published—likely not enough turnaround time to include him in a novel. Gowron might have been a contender, but it would have to be set sometime before the Klingon-Cardassian conflict, since being at peak paranoia during that time doesn’t leave a lot of room for honor. There are a few from TOS who could fit the bill, and we’ll see at least one yet. Also, Kahless, maybe? Since there’s already been an event novel about him? Still, the pickins are pretty slim no matter how you slice it. As a result, Worf and/or Alexander comprise fully 50 percent of the Klingons covered in the Day of Honor series (counting the episode novelization), which is a little unfortunate but also feels like a bit of a mild inevitability at this stage of the game.

So it’s surprising to find that Worf is not as prominent a part of this book as his appearance on the cover might suggest. He actually stays on the Defiant for the duration—it’s actually the characters who go planetside, especially Kira and Dax, who get a firsthand lesson in what honor is, though Worf is part of some silly shenanigans that revolve around the official beginning and end of a day in different parts of space. Also, the final pages feature a closing reflection on the concept of Klingon honor that may well have been shoehorned in at the last second to meet a kind of minimum “honor” quota, but is nevertheless more even-handed, thoughtful, and pleasant than anything that appeared in Ancient Blood. Like I said, this one throws a lot at you, but it definitely benefits significantly from actually trying to be part of the miniseries it was asked to be a part of.

MVP & LVP

  • My pick for MVP in this one is Kira. I find it’s generally about 50/50 on whether her temper flare-ups are going to result in something annoying or exciting, and in this story it’s the latter. She is not afraid of these Klingon exiles, not one bit, and it’s pretty refreshing. My attention was definitely most engaged any time she was standing up to them.
  • This is one of those rare books that I would say doesn’t have a least valuable player. I guess the closest you might get is Quark, but he doesn’t appear at all, so he’s not really in contention for it. Everyone who does appear contributes at least one meaningful thing to the resolution. So maybe I’d give it to the character who made the least headway toward learning any sort of thing about honor, which would be … Odo, I guess? I dunno. There doesn’t have to be a loser all the time.

Stray Bits

  • Even though Quark isn’t in the book, various characters drop all kinds of Ferengi-related similes. In contrast to a certain other book that immediately preceded it, it’s a clever way to ensure a character’s presence remains felt in a story they have nothing to do with.
  • Rekan, leader of the exiled House of Vaag, is referred to more than once by the honorific epetai. Good to see folks still putting some respect on John M. Ford’s vision of Klingon culture.
  • Not all of Bashir’s genetic enhancements are advantageous all the time. His sense of smell being so acute isn’t great in situations where death is abundant, and he uses an anesthetic called olfacan to dull it in those instances. (p. 40)
  • Gordek, p. 63: “The shield will keep us safe from any more explosions in the sky.” And these earplugs will keep us safe from any more Explosions in the Sky. (Just our ears, that is. It is definitely safe to expose your music taste to them.)
  • Cute Invasion! callback: “Sisko never particularly noticed how his voice sounded, especially in the middle of a tense situation. The only reason he suspected something about it changed was the way his bridge officers and ensigns dove into their work at times like these, as if Furies stood behind them breathing fire down their necks.” (p. 209)
  • Well, I learned a new word today (emphasis mine): The little native doctor—a male, Bashir had finally determined when he’d been able to catch a glimpse of hemipenile bulges while they made their rounds—had found what looked like a piece of broken chert, and now used it to nick carefully, gently at the fabric of Bashir’s trouser leg.” (p. 232)

Final Assessment

Average. It isn’t great—there’s too much going on and it’s all a little tough to visualize and keep track of—but it at least tries to play fair with the Day of Honor concept, which is more than you can say for the one that immediately preceded it. And while that helps smooth over some of the roughness, it’s ultimately not enough to entirely abate the sensory overload. A cameo by a writers’-pet character is fun, if a little forced. Overall, I wouldn’t recommend it, per se, but at least someone is giving this idea the fair shake it deserves.

NEXT TIME: Cadet Janeway learns to account for The Chance Factor