Rising Son (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) [Mass Market Paperback]

S.D. Perry (Author)

Book Description

Series: Star Trek Deep Space Nine (Unnumbered Paperback) | Publication Date: December 31, 2002

A prophecy leads Jake Sisko on a desperate search for his missing father. Instead, what he finds at his journey's end is totally unexpected...In the climactic closing episode of the final season of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Captain Benjamin Sisko, his destiny inextricably linked to that of the alien entities known as The Prophets, was last seen plunging into the depths of the Bajoran Fire Caves, locked in combat with Gul Dukat. Although he appeared to his new wife Kasady Yates and promised her that he would one day return, his son Jake has not seen him since. In Deep Space Nine: Avatar, a mysterious prophecy sent Jake on an impossible quest to trace his missing father. However, instead of finding his heart's desire, Jake is thrown across the galaxy and saved by the unexpected intervention of a strange ship with an even stranger crew. Sharing their travels and their dangers, he learns important lessons about dealing with his father's loss, and about the truth of the prophecy that sent him here. In the process, he discovers much more than he anticipated; a revelation that will change the world forever for Jake, for Bajor and for Deep Space Nine.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

S.D. Perry is a top genre author who has written for Resident Evil, Aliens, Xena and Timecop as well as Star Trek. Her DS9: Avatar spearheaded the new, post-television series of Deep Space Nine books from Pocket.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One

...battles fall and fail, and there is a Time of waiting, the space between breaths as the land heals and its children retire from war. The Temple welcomes many home, the faithful and the Chosen.

A Herald, unforgotten but lost to time, a Seer of Visions to whom the Teacher Prophets sing, will return from the Temple at the end of this time to attend the birth of Hope, the Infant Avatar. The welcomed Herald shares a new understanding of the Temple with all the land's children. Conceived by lights of war, the alien Avatar opens its eyes upon a waxing tide of Awareness.

The journey to the land hides, but is difficult; prophecies are revealed and hidden. The first child, a son, enters the Temple alone. With the Herald, he returns, and soon after, the Avatar is born. A new breath is drawn and the land rejoices in change and clarity.

* * *

Something was wrong.

Jake knew it before he was entirely conscious. He groped for understanding, roaming his mind for how and why...and because he was scared, he thought of his father, and the simple, strong emotions drew him up through the dark.

"Dad?"

He opened his eyes at the sound of his own soft, scratchy voice, felt the numbing cold, saw his bag floating amid a frozen snow of empty food packets, like a symptom of sleep, a detail of some strange dream. He was floating, too, facing the single, outdated transporter at the back of the shuttle, muted red emergency lighting taking the sting out of the unlovely decor. Obviously, the Venture's AG had gone out...but it was the deep chill that had tipped him to wake up, that immediately had him moving before he could think clearly. Cold was bad.

Jake turned clumsily and kicked off the port wall, aiming for the tiny vessel's decidedly dead-looking flight controls; there were no alarms sounding and even the console screen was blank, a blind eye. He arranged his thoughts on the way, ignoring the growing urge to panic even when he realized that he couldn't hear anything -- not even the soft hum of the recyclers.

I was in the wormhole, waiting, about to give up and go back to the station...and everything started spinning, the prophecy was coming true, I thought, except I couldn't control the ship; I started to black out, and...

"And now I'm here," he muttered, grabbing the back of the pilot's seat and pulling himself down. Wherever that was. He tucked his feet under the chair, hooking his ankles under the manual height adjust, and tapped at the computer's old-fashioned console keys for a diagnostic.

Nothing happened. No light, no sound. He took a deep breath and went through the sequence to call up the shuttle's fail-safe backup system -- and it failed, not even a glimmer of power. He did it again, slowly and carefully, the knot in his stomach tightening further as he understood it was a lost cause. Except for the emergency lights, which ran off an independent battery, there was nothing on the ship that was working.

Okay, okay, don't freak out...check the main conduit, it's got to be a blown relay, I can fix that....

A darker thought intruded. What if it's not?

As far as anyone on the station knew, he had taken his newly acquired shuttle to Earth, to see his grandfather. He'd been too embarrassed to admit that he was following a scrap of prophetic text into the wormhole, hoping to bring his father home...though considering his current situation, finding Dad had just dropped a notch or two on his priority list. Nobody knew where Jake was, himself included, his fix-it skills were barely competent, and it was already cold enough for him to see his breath, a pale, ethereal mist hanging in front of the blank viewscreen. Where was he? How long had he been unconscious? And with the Venture completely dead, how much longer before he ran out of air, or hypothermia set in --

-- or is this all part of the prophecy?

The thought stopped him, refocused his thinking. The torn bit of parchment that had brought him here stated clearly that the journey to the land would be difficult...

...but that I would enter the Temple alone and return with the "Herald" before Kas has the baby. Kas was still months from her due date; maybe this was all part of it, maybe the Prophets had him and he just had to wait awhile....

"Knock it off," he told himself firmly. Daydreaming about salvation was as bad as straight-up panic; he knew better. He needed to check the conduit, and the relays, and about fifty other things. Anything else was a waste of time.

Jake pushed off from the chair to get his bag -- there was a light panel in it he was going to need -- reminding himself that he'd been in tight situations more times than he could count...definitely more than most men his age. Somehow, things always worked out. This would, too, because the alternative...there just wasn't one.

Jake set his jaw, clenching his teeth so they wouldn't chatter, carefully avoiding the feelings of fear and dread that had taken root in the shadows of his mind, that were beginning to grow in the powerful absence of light.

Stardate 53267.5. My name is Jacob Sisko; I'm human and a citizen of the United Federation of Planets. Whoever finds this, please contact any Federation outpost or any official of the planet Bajor and let them know what happened...that I ventured into the wormhole by myself and was caught in some sort of storm, one that caused severe damage to my shuttle. In spite of my best efforts over the last several hours, I've been unable to restore power to this ship, and will soon succumb to hypothermia.

These are my last words, it seems. I wish I could leave behind some profound statement about life or death, but all I can think is that this isn't what I expected. It doesn't seem real. All my life, I've heard "adults" talk about how young people don't really understand that they're going to die someday, and I always thought I was exempt from that particular patronizing bit of wisdom, probably because I lost my mother so early. That, and how I grew up. Who my father is. My life has been anything but sheltered.

The war changed things for everyone, I know, but even before that, before I learned firsthand about mortal terror on the front line at Ajilon Prime, I thought I understood that death was never all that far away -- that it could slip in and out of somebody's life without warning, taking, stealing, changing things. I knew, I understood, but I can see now, I didn't feel it. Because no matter how bad things got, he was with me. My father created the foundation of who I am. Guided me. He was...reality. There was a way that things weren't real for me until I could tell him, could take or ignore his advice, could feel his love for me and know that I wasn't alone. The way I'm alone now, finally understanding that I'm going to die -- this is real.

I thought I had let the need of a son for his father become the friendship of two men. I should have broken away earlier, perhaps, beyond just physical distance, beyond the surface. I should have sought my own way emotionally, looked inside of myself instead of to him...but so much of what I am is from him. It was too easy to ask instead of search, made all the easier because of his strength and certainty, even when he didn't know the answers. He has this way of making it okay, that the answers weren't always there, that things would unfold as they should. Maybe I should have done a lot of things different. Except...isn't it better that I had that time with him, now that he's gone? That we were still so close, now that it's over? My life...

Tell them it was hypothermia. There are worse ways. Already I'm getting sleepy and my fingers are cold, very cold; I can barely feel them; I don't know if I'm making sense anymore and I want to cry but I can't. Tell Kas I'm sorry and that I love her, that she has become to me what I would have wanted with my mother, and I'm sorry I won't be there for her and the baby. Tell Nog I said to look out for her, he's my best friend and I love him, too. I just wanted to find Dad so bad, I thought I could accept it but then I started to hope and I had to come. But he's not here and I'm alone its so cold. I was wrong and Tell them I'm sorry I died. When he comess home, tell him I couldn't move on, I tried but wasn't strong enouggh I miss himand love himm There was so much I wanted to be he always said I could be anythingg my father

"I've got you. You're going to be all right, I've got you."

The low voice, soft, warm, strong hands lifting him, cradling. Someone on an intercom, a woman, was talking about something, but all Jake cared about was that deep, loving voice.

He felt tears threaten, tears of love and joy, an ache in his throat that hurt worse than the cold, but then he slipped back into the dark, lulled into sleep by the same feelings that had woken him not so long ago. His father held him; he was safe.

Copyright © 2003 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 308 pages
• Publisher: Pocket Books (December 31, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743448383
• ISBN-13: 978-0743448383
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (28 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #892,316 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Here it is, January 3, 2003

By 

Matthew Snow (mesquite, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rising Son (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) (Mass Market Paperback)

The long awaited "Jake" novel is finally here. We finally get to learn to what happened to Jake's ill-fated journey into the wormhole all the way back in "Avatar, Book 2".

This book is full of likeable new characters, the re-emergance of the long missing Kai Opaka, and answers to previously unanswered questions that have dominated this latest "season" of DS9. When it's not answering questions about prophecies, there is enough action and suprises to keep you wanting more.

The best part of "Rising Son", however, is that Jake finally gets some real character development. In the show, his development was usually second to that of his dad, which considering the nature of his destiny is understandable. However, Jake is now given an opportunity for some serious sef-evaluation and growth.

All in all, "Rising Son" is a worthy addition to the series, and leaves me excited for the new hardcover, "Unity".

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best thing going in the Trek universe, January 11, 2003

By 

Kevin G. Summers (Amissville, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Rising Son (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) (Mass Market Paperback)

I enjoyed this book quite a bit. Jake has always been one of my favorite characters, and one of the most under-used. I didn't think I would like the idea of him trekking around the Gamma Quadrant, but his new friends were interesting, entertaining and very well written. And Jake is eaten up by internal conflict during the entire story. It's nice to see him growing up, realizing that he has to be a man with or without his father. This story also brings to my mind some of the best DS9 episodes, like Explorers. Jake is a complex character, and now we get to see him shine. The prophecy that he was chasing is, of course, a major part of the book. I had the feeling after Lesser Evil that he had misinterpreted the prophecy, and it was nice to see that played out. His feelings of resentment towards the Prophets were right on target. And then there is Opaka. How nice is it to see her again? I don't understand why the character of Wex is even in the story. I assume that she has a major role to play in Unity, because she seemed kind of random to me here. It was also nice to see some of the more underused species like Tosk and the Wadi. I don't have a lot of negative comments on this one. I wish it was longer. I would have liked Jake and Dez to have a larger confrontation about the lies. I would have liked to know more about the Eav'oq and the Ascendants. And the conclusion was painfully short. I realize that this is all building towards Unity, which must be a major payoff for all of the relaunch books. I can't wait for that one. All in all, this book was very well done.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Jake Sisko Book, February 8, 2003

By 

real man (Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rising Son (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) (Mass Market Paperback)

This book pick up where Jake Sisko disappears. Jake is lost in the Gamma Quad. and he is pick up by interesting assortments of Gamma aliens. S.D. Perry uses several aliens that we meet in the first season of DS9, such as Tosk and the Wadi. The book also deals with Jake's need to find his father. Also, Perry tells us about Kia Opaka and her life after being left on the moon in Gamma Quad from the first season. The best part is that Perry created a dog-like alien name Pif, who will make you laugh.