The Quiet Place (Star Trek New Frontier, No 7) (Mass Market Paperback)

by Peter David (Author) "THE DREAMS CAME AGAIN, MOTHER..." (more)
Key Phrases: Dogs of War, Prime One, Zak Kebron (more...)

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Product Description

Ever since the fall of the Thallonian Empire, Si Cwan has been searching for his younger sister, the only other survivor of the royal family. His quest has been a hard one, filled with many disappointments, but now it may be nearing its end....

On the planet Montos, a mysterious young woman, whose past is shrouded in secrecy, finds herself pursued by both the fanatical Redeemers and a vicious race of feral predators known only as the Dogs of War. All are in search of information regarding the true nature and location of the Quiet Place, a mystical realm celebrated in myth and legend. Only this same woman, now called Riella, may hold the secret of the Quiet Place, a secret that the Redeemers and others will kill to possess.

Is Riella indeed Si Cwan's long-lost sister? Before he can learn the truth, he and his crewmates must brave the unchecked savagery of the Dogs of War -- and enter the terrifying heart of the Quiet Place.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter 1

Morgan Lefler took one look at her daughter and knew that something was wrong.

Robin had returned to the quarters they shared looking rather quiet. The fact that she was back at their quarters was not unusual; she had just gone off shift. It was the quiet part that caught Morgan's attention. Customarily, when Robin came off duty, she would tend to burble to her mother excitedly about everything that had gone on that day, whether big or small, important or not-so-important. So, the silence that marked Robin's return this particular evening was more than enough to snag Morgan's attention.

"What's wrong?" she asked, in the tone of voice that mothers had been using in interacting with their daughters for centuries without count.

To which Robin gave the customary response in such situations, "Nothing."

Morgan considered that rather useless reply for a moment and then decided to take another angle. At that time, Morgan was engaged in studying some recent research published on the subject of wormholes, so rather than press the issue overtly by turning away from her work, she continued to scan the information on the computer screen while chatting with Robin in a fairly offhand manner. "That's nice. So...how was your day?"

"It was fine."

"And your meeting with Si Cwan?"

That clearly surprised Robin. She looked up at her mother, her eyebrows knit together in confusion. "How did you know I had a meeting with Si Cwan today?"

"I didn't. It was just an educated guess. Whenever you work with him on something lately, you come back here just a little more thoughtful than usual. Tonight you seem extremely thoughtful, so I reasoned that you had an extremely important meeting."

"Oh, well...no. No, I mean, it wasn't all that important. Just planning a diplomatic mission, that's all."

"Really. Where to?"

"It doesn't matter," Robin said. She slapped her thighs briskly and rose to her feet, clearly ready to change the subject. "So...how was your day?"

"Well...since you asked, this article on worm -- "

"Here's the thing," Robin said, crossing the room quickly and leaning on the edge of the desk. "Lately, Si Cwan seems to be keeping me at a distance."

"I see. At a distance you say."

"Yes, that's right."

"Lately."

"Yes."

"And what about not lately? That is to say, how has he been towards you in previous weeks. Or months."

"Oh, he's been polite. Respectful. Attentive to my opinions."

"And how has that changed? Recently, I mean."

"He..." Her voice trailed off as if she were losing steam. She frowned, apparently trying to consider a reply that sounded reasonable, and she couldn't quite come up with one. "Okay, maybe that hasn't changed."

"Then what are you complaining about? Oh. Of course," she said with a smile. "You're complaining because it hasn't changed. There's something going on between you and our esteemed Thallonian nobleman, isn't there? Or at least, you'd like there to be."

"The latter. Much more the latter," admitted Robin.

"Honesty with your mother. I'm impressed. There was a time not so long ago when such a thing would have been unthinkable."

"Oh, don't be silly, Mother."

"I'm not being silly. You have a tendency to draw inwards at crucial emotional times, Robin." She turned the computer screen completely away from her now and focused her full attention on her daughter. "You do a superb job putting forward the attitude and behavior of a very social animal, but you also have a real tendency to withdraw into your...your 'den,' as it were. Particularly when something that makes you uncomfortable is being presented to you."

"That's absurd, Mother. I don't withdraw anywhere. Excuse me."

"Where are you going?"

"To the bathroom."

"We're in the middle of a discussion, Robin."

"No, we're not. You're in the middle of treating me as if I'm a child, telling me that I run away and withdraw. Me, I'm just going to take a very quick shower and attend to other calls of nature."

"You're withdrawing."

"And you're ridiculous. I'll be out in ten minutes and we'll continue right where we left off, if you insist."

She went into the bathroom and emerged some time later, clad in off-duty attire. "There. How long did that take me? Ten minutes, like I said? Fifteen?"

"An hour and nineteen," said Morgan.

"No, it didn't. That's" -- then she looked at the chronometer and saw that, sure enough, an hour and nineteen minutes had passed -- "absurd." The word rolled unconvincingly off her tongue.

"So let's see," Morgan said coolly, engrossed once more in her work and this time not even bothering to look in her daughter's direction. "Let's see if I've got this figured out. Si Cwan is about to embark on some diplomatic mission. The truth is, you'd like to accompany him. It doesn't matter to you overmuch if you're actually needed on the mission, but you want to go anyway. It's a desire not particularly spawned from any mission imperative, but instead because you'd really like to have the opportunity to spend some time with him away from the ship. You figure that, if he suggested you accompany him, it might be an indicator that he shares some of the still-nebulous feelings you have for him. But he doesn't suggest it, indicating to you that he sees you only in terms of your function as his shipboard liaison rather than as someone he'd actually like to spend time with. This leaves you lost in thought as you try to determine whether you're being unprofessional, or unreasonable, or just simply too much the coward to tell Cwan exactly how it is that you do feel; presuming you've worked out your own emotions on the matter sufficiently to be able to articulate them. There. Does that more-or-less summarize the situation as it now stands?"

Robin slowly nodded and then, as if catching herself, she quickly shook her head. "No, that's not it at all...that's...the truth is, I...you see..."

"Robin," and Morgan reached over and took her hand gently. "Robin, I bear some degree of responsibility over this. If I had been there for you when you were a teenager, and you were first dealing with these kinds of heartbreaks and difficulties, I could have guided you, helped you through. Instead, you seem a bit adrift."

"Oh, Mother," and Robin patted her shoulder. "It's not really your fault."

"I know. I just thought saying that would make you feel better."

Robin rolled her eyes. Then she fixed a gaze on her mother and said, "All right, but you're here now. What would you suggest I say or do?"

"That's obvious. You're not a teenager any more, Robin. You're a Starfleet officer, for God's sake. You should have enough confidence to say what's really on your mind. I mean, hell, if you make a mistake at Ops, you have to worry about ramifications for the whole ship, and you do that job perfectly well. Here the only consequences are personal, and certainly they're not life-threatening or even remotely catastrophic. Do the job and stop nattering about like a teenager with a crush on the boy across the schoolyard."

"You're right. By God, Mother, you're right." Robin squared her shoulder. "If I have feelings for Si Cwan, then I should tell him. I owe it to myself, and in a way I owe it to him."

"That's right."

"Because, damn...I'm a good catch."

"You certainly are," smiled Morgan.

"And he should have the right to know that someone as high quality as me is interested in him."

"Exactly the attitude to have."

"And I can do this without withdrawing. Wish me luck, Mother."

"Good luck, Robin."

Robin strode forward. Morgan watched her go, watched the door slide shut behind her. She hesitated a moment, as if reluctant to speak, and then sighed as she called, "Robin. You do realize that's the bathroom."

"I know. I'm just composing myself. I'll be ten minutes."

"Now, Robin."

"Mother, I assure you -- "

"Now, Robin!"

The door slid open again and Robin emerged with a tread that could best be described as stomping. "You don't have to talk to me as if I were a child, Mother," she said stiffly.

"Well, then try not to act like one."

Robin blew air impatiently through her lips and then, with that same stompish tread, walked out of their quarters. Morgan just shook her head and went back to her reading.

With each stride that she took down the corridor, Robin felt confidence seeping into her. The truth was, she had no reason to doubt herself. She had proven herself as a competent and dedicated officer on the Excalibur. She had served on away teams. She knew the ropes. Indeed, there wasn't a single good reason that she should not be part of the mission. The only type of reason was a bad one -- Si Cwan had gotten to her.

When she'd first been assigned to be his liaison in his duties as the official "unofficial" ambassador of goodwill aboard the Excalibur, granted she'd found him intriguing. No reason she shouldn't, really. This was a Thallonian noble, after all. Scion and possible last survivor of a royal family, he tried to use goodwill and his considerable personal charisma to stitch together the tattered remains of Thallonian influence. The star-spanning Thallonian Empire, of which he had been a part, was gone. It was obvious after five minutes of conversation with him that he was more than aware of that. What made Si Cwan different from the others of his royal ilk is that he cared, truly cared, about the people who had been affected by the collapse of the Empire. He really, genuinely wanted to make things better, safer. He wanted to make certain that the assorted worlds that had once comprised the Empire, now left to their own devices, would not spiral downward into chaos and anarchy. He did not seem interested in leading so much as guiding.

Yes, first she had been intrigued by him. And then she was impressed by him. Then she admired him. Then she thought about him more often than not. And then...then...

"Then what?" she asked herself as she entered the turbolift and ordered it to bring her to deck 12, where Si Cwan's quarters were.

Si Cwan was not the type to be effusive in his sentiments. It seemed undignified somehow. Beneath him. Even though his titles and rank in the extinct Empire had no relevance in his status quo on the Excalibur, he still maintained a sort of regalness that demanded a reserved, restrained attitude. Consequently, Robin was unable to get any sort of read off him at all as to just how he might feel about her. That was quite frustrating because Robin had always prided herself on her ability to intuit what other people were thinking. Unfortunately, she was getting no such sense from Si Cwan at all. That didn't necessarily mean that he cared nothing for her, but it wasn't a strong indicator that he felt something.

The problem was that the more time she spent with Si Cwan, the more confident she should have become in her dealings with him. Instead, although she had maintained an outward air of poise, inwardly she was a conflicted mess. She was reasonably sure that her quandaries and internal discontent hadn't spilled over into her interaction with him; certainly no one else had commented to her that anything seemed remotely off. Still, there was that niggling, damnable uncertainty.

So, when she and Si Cwan had been discussing the impending diplomatic mission to the planet Montos, they had talked in cool, dispassionate terms about who would be the best people to accompany him. What she had wanted to say was that, as his liaison, it would be best if she attended with him. But she didn't trust her judgment. She wasn't sure how much of that sentiment was being generated by genuine belief that she was relevant to the mission or how much came just from her desire to spend an extended amount of time with him. Rather than err on the side of misjudgment prompted by inappropriate or irrelevant concerns, she had kept her silence and been willing to discuss just about anyone except herself.

That had been a foolish error, and one she would not repeat. Because, dammit, she should go along. That's all there was to it.

No. That's not all there was to it. Si Cwan deserved to know the reason -- all the reasons -- that she wanted to accompany him. There was simply no way for any sort of progress on their relationship (whatever that might be) to occur if he didn't know what was what. Matters might still be nebulous, in a state of flux, but she had to tell him just what the flux was going on.

She walked up to his quarters feeling newly emboldened and rang the chime. She heard a voice from within say, "Come," but she barely paid attention to it as her thoughts swirled within her head. Her fists clenched tightly from building tension, she strode in, her eyes closed tightly (as she occasionally did when she was faced with a situation that was emotionally stressful) and blurted out, "Look, I've been keeping this to myself for a while, and I'm not even sure I know what I'm feeling because it needs to get out there so we can talk about it and see what's what, but I have to tell you that I think I'm attracted to you and developing very strong feelings for you that extend beyond our duty-related relationship."

She opened her eyes.

Seated quite comfortably on Si Cwan's couch was Captain Mackenzie Calhoun. He was holding what appeared to be one of Si Cwan's Thallonian texts in his hands, and he was staring at Robin Lefler with a carefully neutral expression.

Then he sighed heavily.

"It's all right," he said. "I hear that all the time."

All the blood drained from Robin's face and poured down into her feet; consequently, she thought she was going to pass out, but she wasn't able to move as her boots were firmly anchored. "Captain, I...I..."

He raised an eyebrow and waited expectantly.

"Captain, I'm...I'm not attracted to you at all, sir."

"Oh." A small flicker of what appeared to be disappointment -- or possibly amusement, although Robin wouldn't have been able to discern it at that moment -- danced in his purple-hued eyes. "Well, I hear that all the time, too."

"That is to say...I'm not...I mean, I..." She cleared her throat, but didn't succeed overmuch for there was still a deep raspiness in there. "Is Si Cwan here?"

"No. He's not. As you know, we have a diplomatic mission on its way to Montos. Si Cwan felt that, since they were ready to go, there was no point in delaying the departure. So he, and Lieutenants Kebron and Soleta, departed an hour ago on the runabout, Marquand II. However he had some historical texts here in his quarters that he invited me to read. He simply asked if it wouldn't be too much trouble if I read them here, however. He didn't want them circulating around the ship; they're quite old and sacred and, well..." He shrugged. "We all have our quirks, I suppose."

She nodded, still feeling so mortified that she was having trouble composing anything resembling a coherent sentence, or even a coherent thought.

Calhoun paused and then said, maintaining that careful deadpan, "Would I be correct in assuming that the sentiments you were expressing were intended for him?"

"Captain, I..." She took a very deep breath. "I would be most appreciative if you could...maybe...well, forget everything I said. Or ever said. Or will say."

"That might be a bit of overkill, Ensign. But I understand your chagrin. I think you needn't worry."

"Thank you, Captain. And I...I didn't mean to insult you, sir. I wouldn't want you to think you aren't attractive because, you know, I'm sure that someone other than me would -- "

"Robin..." He raised a hand as if to ward off the barrage of verbiage. "It might not be a bad idea if you stopped talking now."

She bobbed her head. "Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." She turned on her heel and bolted from Si Cwan's quarters...leaving Calhoun shaking his head and chuckling slightly to himself.

Copyright © 1999 by Paramount Pictures. All rights reserved.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 258 pages
• Publisher: Star Trek (November 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067102079X
• ISBN-13: 978-0671020798
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #259,159 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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• This is item 7 in The Star Trek: New Frontier Series.

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A different voyage on the New Frontier, January 27, 2000

By	Jayson A. Olson (Rancho Santa Margarita, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Peter David's 7th attempt at his own created Star Trek series is both very good and dissapointing at the same time.

What makes this a great book, is that the story is truly that of Star Trek lore: New species, new civilations, places where man has not been before. There is also wonderful chracter development, an introduction to a few new characters (handled expertly), and some reminders of a few past characters. This book did have a plot and made a great journey towards its end.

And as always the humor between Si Cwan and Kebron is always fun, as is the new wit of chracter 'Xyon'.

The bad: Well, if you're looking for all your dangling plot lines from the previous 6 books, they aren't addressed here. This book really centers on two chracters who aren't in the previous 6, or even in Star Fleet. If you want to see Capt. Calhoun, the Excalibur and her crew, you're not gonna find it here.

Also, though there was some action spots, for those that are used to that big climatic Starfleet or ship face off with blasters firing away, this book is a bit shy on that typ eof action.

However this is an excellent read that reminds me more or less of those individual 'filler' episodes you see once in a while....a refreshing change, but still longing for the whole crew.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable entry in the series, November 4, 1999

By A Customer

After two entries as part of a Pocket Book "series" of novels, David returns to the New Frontier universe with a book that revolves around the current events facing Thallonian Space and the crew of the U.S.S. Excaliber. And it's with good results, overall, though I suspect much of this will be set-up for events in book eight.

After the two previous efforts that were extremely Calhoune heavy, it's nice to get to see other members of the crew get to shine. David also provides a diverse, interesting supporting cast that is caught up in a race against time....At stake: the Quiet Place, the Thallonian's version of heaven.

David blends his usual humor and quick plotting along with strong characters for an enjoyable, if quick read. The Excaliber crew plays a side role to some of the new characters we meet in this book (Xyon for one, the Dogs of War for another) and we can only hope that this development pays off in future books.

Personally, I recommend this entire series. It's a series that is willing to take chances and these are the Trek novels I always look forward to.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Star Trek New Frontier No 7 The Quiet Place, November 22, 2002

By	K. Wyatt "ssintrepid" (St. Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

As is usual with this series, Peter David's writing is very strong. This is an intriguing and enthralling story, which like most, if not all of Peter David's stories, is a page turner that is very hard to put down. The premise: The Quiet Place, most of all, is the realization of Si Cwan's quest to find his sister. Previous New Frontier novels have established that Zoran, Si Cwan's childhood friend, turned traitor, had kidnapped and hidden his sister Kalinda. The Quiet Place begins with Kalinda, who doesn't know who she actually is, living on a backwater planet name Montos, going by the name of Riella. She's living with Malia, whom Riella (Kalinda), believes to be her mother. There are some very interesting scenes here.

We also meet Xyon who is an adventurous young man, who in his first chapter, is in a very dire situation. He's about to be put to death. As you read about Xyon, you almost get the impression you're reading about Captain Calhoun. We're then introduced to the Dogs of War. Only Peter David can convincingly create this warrior race of genetically engineered dogs and write them into a story so well. Throw in the Redeemers and what we have here is not only one of the best New Frontier novels written, this one falls into the category of one of the best Star Trek books ever written. As is usual with this wonderful series, it ends with the big bold To Be Continued..... This was of course preceded by a shocking discovery. Thank you very much to Peter David for this excellent addition to the New Frontier Series.

MINOR SPOILER - One note of interest, in past New Frontier novels, Peter David fairly well detailed the Redeemers as far as skin color, facial features and general demeanor. If I remember correctly, he had not talked much about their height. Somehow, I never figured the Redeemers to be somewhat similar to Star Wars Jawas, in height at least. It almost makes them sort of comical, whereas my previous impression of them had been of average to large bad guys. This almost makes them funny except that they have some personal abilities that more or less takes the humor right out of these little villains