Tunnel Through the Stars: The Dominion War, Book 3 (Star Trek: The Next Generation) (Mass Market Paperback)

~ (Author) "SAM LAVELLE STRODE onto the bridge of the Orb of Peace, hardly able to believe that he had given up a spacious Cardassian antimatter tanker..." (more)
Key Phrases: artificial wormhole, subspace beacon, accelerator room, Captain Picard, Sam Lavelle, Enrak Grof (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

From the Gamma Quadrant they came, hordes of merciless Jem'Hadar soldiers commanded by the shape-changing Founders, who seek to conquer both the United Federation of Planets and the Klingon™ Empire. Now that the Dominion has joined forces with the Cardassians, and claimed Deep Space Nine™ as their prize, Starfleet is running out of time. As a secret military project nears completion, the destiny of the entire Alpha Quadrant depends on the courage of a few.

In the Federation's time of greatest peril, as the Starship Enterprise™ readies itself for battle, Captain Jean-Luc Picard leads a desperate mission of espionage deep into the heart of the hostile Cardassian Empire. Unless they can prevent the Dominion from creating an artificial wormhole, hordes of fresh Jem'Hadar warriors and Changelings will pour into the Alpha Quadrant, dooming the Federation to unconditional surrender. But there may be a traitor along on the mission and Picard finds he cannot trust even his closest allies.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Chapter One

Sam Lavelle strode onto the bridge of the Orb of Peace, hardly able to believe that he had given up a spacious Cardassian antimatter tanker for this austere Bajoran transport. He was sure he had gotten the worst of the deal, especially considering that he thought he was going to be rescued and sent home. His last voyage had been a perfect example of Murphy's Law, and this one promised to send him from the frying pan into the fire.

The cramped bridge had a strange viewscreen with Bajoran writing all around it. He was able to translate two phrases: "The devout will enter the Celestial Temple," and "The Kai holds the lantern of Bajor." Even without the platitudes, the stars glimmered enticingly on the screen, making him wish that he were going home.

But Sam knew there was no escape from this war -- not until the Dominion was driven back to their part of the galaxy.

He spotted the slim Bajoran, Ro Laren, seated at the conn. Both Captain Picard and Geordi La Forge looked Bajoran -- with nose ridges and earrings -- but Ro was the real thing. Sam remembered hearing stories about her on the Enterprise, but he had only seen her once, in Ten-Forward, just before her ill-fated mission to infiltrate the Maquis. Now she was captain of this Bajoran vessel.

"I'm your relief, Captain," he said, keeping his voice low in the dimly lit bridge.

"Thank you." Ro Laren rose from her seat and stretched like a willowy lioness, shaking her short-cropped mane of dark brown hair. She was wearing a Bajoran uniform which hugged the lanky contours of her body, and Sam looked longer and harder than he should have. Ro caught him staring at her, and her eyes drilled into his. Sam knew he should look away, but it had been a long time since he had gazed lustfully at a woman, and he wasn't anxious to stop.

"I'm sorry," he said, managing a shy smile. "I don't know what got into me. It's funny what even a small taste of freedom will do to a man."

Her face softened, and she looked sympathetic if still annoyed. "How long were you a prisoner of the Dominion?"

"About two months, I guess," answered Sam. "It's hard to say, because we were never allowed to see any chronometers, except when we were on work detail, building that damn collider. And then, we only saw shift timers. We were kept segregated from the women. I saw them every now and then on the worker transports, but that was it."

"I know the Cardassians -- it must have been bad."

He nodded slowly. "Yes, it was, and a lot of good people are still there. I wish we could do something to help them."

"There's no chance for a mass escape?"

"I don't see how," Sam answered glumly. "The complex where the prisoners are housed is near the collider, but each pod of prisoners is isolated. There's no way to get hold of a ship like we did -- that was a fluke. No matter when you do this, thousands of prisoners will be working. If your mission is to destroy the artificial wormhole, your mission is to destroy them, too."

Ro crossed her arms and wrinkled her ridged nose. "You know, that's exactly what I've been telling Captain Picard. And it sounds even worse coming from you, because you've been there."

"Yes, I've been there, and I can't believe I'm thinking about going back. This isn't exactly the way I envisioned my escape -- going back to that place, on purpose." Shivering, Sam sunk into the chair at the conn and studied the unfamiliar instruments.

"I'm sure Captain Picard would offer you a chance not to go, if he could," said Ro. "But we only have this craft, and no way to split up."

Sam snorted a laugh. "Yeah, if you don't mind me saying so, your demolition squad is a little shorthanded."

"We had a whole crew and more than one torpedo. But we lost five torpedoes fighting our way through the Dominion border patrol, then we got shanghaied by pirates in the Badlands, and hijacked by Romulans -- "

"Pirates and Romulans?" asked Sam with boyish curiosity. The smile faded from his lips when we saw how upset Ro was about these incidents. "Hey, I'm sorry if we lost more good people, but I'm sort of burned-out on death. I can't even think about it, if you know what I mean."

"I know what you mean," admitted Ro, staring down at the deck. "The Enterprise is supposed to take us home, but only if we alert them with a subspace beacon."

"But how quickly could they get here?"

"That's a good question." The Bajoran hovered over Sam's shoulder and pointed at his console. "You'll want to watch the hull pressure -- right there."

"Okay, thanks." Sam took some time to scan all the readouts, finding them fairly easy to understand. It wasn't nearly as complex as the antimatter tanker. He tried to concentrate on his duties, but the Bajoran's presence was bringing back memories and emotions he had tried to push away, without much success.

"I had a good friend who was Bajoran, Ensign Sito Jaxa," he said with a wistful smile. "Her death was the first casualty I really experienced in Starfleet, and it hit me pretty hard. She was killed by the Cardassians, and that act started the war for me a couple of years early. I was gung-ho to get at them."

"I followed Sito's career," said Ro, "but I never got a chance to meet her. I think I was away at Tactical Training while you and your friends were serving aboard the Enterprise."

Sam chuckled. "You couldn't help but to follow Sito's career -- she was full of zip. She got into a lot of trouble at the Academy."

"Along with Wesley Crusher," said Ro with a smile.

While they shared an unexpected moment of nostalgia, Sam glanced at the striking Bajoran. It was too bad that his life expectancy was so short, or he would have been tempted to pursue the former Starfleet officer. Of course it was wartime, and anything could happen.

Returning his mind to his duty, Sam adjusted the viewscreen, and a brown-magenta cloud coalesced into view, still some distance away. Pulses of light blinked on and off within its murky depths, which gave it an oddly cheerful glow, like a surreal Christmas wreath.

"The Badlands," he mused. "Is it all that bad?"

"Worse," muttered Ro. "I wouldn't go back there, except there's no other place to hide."

"Well, if it's any consolation, you're within striking distance of the artificial wormhole from here. It's just that there's a fleet guarding it, and it's ten kilometers long."

"So I gather," replied Ro solemnly.

They heard footsteps, and Sam turned to see Captain Picard come striding onto the cramped bridge. He looked odd with his Bajoran earring, nose ridges, and tufts of white hair; but his voice, bearing, and stern demeanor left no doubt who was in charge. Immediately, Sam stiffened in his seat and studied his readouts until he was caught up.

"Status?" asked Picard as he consulted the small padd in his hands.

"Estimated arrival time at the Badlands: one hour," reported Sam. "No sign of enemy craft."

"Thank you, Lieutenant. I haven't had an opportunity to say how good it is to see you again, although I wish it were under better circumstances."

"Me, too, sir."

The captain looked somber. "I've talked to your crew. I realize that we ruined your escape attempt. I'm sorry. I'm sure you expected to get farther away than the Badlands -- "

"I wasn't really expecting to escape," replied Sam honestly. "I just wanted to die like a Starfleet officer, not a slave. I don't want to go back to that place -- and I doubt if this mission will work -- but it's still a good chance to die as a Starfleet officer."

The captain's lips thinned. "I wish there was an alternative, but there isn't. We can't allow the Dominion to ever use that artificial wormhole."

"I know, sir," admitted Sam. "I thought the same thing every day, even while I was building it."

Picard consulted his padd and looked around t

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 269 pages
• Publisher: Star Trek; 3rd edition (November 1, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671025007
• ISBN-13: 978-0671025007
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #480,439 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in these categories: (What's this?)

  #11 in	Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Authors, A-Z > ( V ) > Vornholt, John
  #42 in	Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Media > Star Trek > Next Generation

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The best of the Dominion War series yet, December 10, 1998

By A Customer

In his second novel of the Dominion War series, Tunnel Through the Stars, John Vornholt crafts an incredibly exciting science fiction story that surpasses the previous Dominion War books in most respects. The story is a direct continuation of Vornholt's first entry in the series, Behind Enemy Lines, and follows Picard and his unusual crew as they attempt to destroy the secret Dominion project that threatens to doom the Federation. Along with this formidable task, Picard must also deal with a deadly threat from within his own crew. The novel is entertaining from start to finish as Vornholt creates a story that successfully combines elements of mystery, suspense and action. With all of these essential elements in place, Tunnel Through the Stars earns its mark as the best Dominion War book yet.

5.0 out of 5 stars Loved Star Trek, October 5, 2008

By	Rondall Banks "Rondall Banks" (Toccoa, Georgia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Well here we are again with the next generation crew of the starship Enterprice as they battle their way through the Dominion War book 3 called tunnel through the stars so grab one and enjoy reading.

Rondall Banks

3.0 out of 5 stars The graveyard of the ships and the dimensional portals made no contribution to the plot , December 9, 2006

By	Charles Ashbacher "([e-mail])" (Marion, Iowa United States([e-mail])) - See all my reviews (TOP 50 REVIEWER)

The Federation is locked in a brutal war against the Dominion and things are not going well. Deep Space Nine has been lost and the Dominion is building a giant artificial wormhole. If it is completed, the Dominion will be able to send enormous numbers of Jem Hadar soldiers and ships through it to join the battle against the Federation. If that were to happen, the Federation would certainly be defeated.
Captain Picard is on a ship with a motley crew of various species. The crew includes a Trill who was the genius behind the development of the artificial wormhole, a Bajoran who once deserted to the Maquis, a Starfleet officer who was once a Dominion slave, a captured Romulan with one arm, Geordi LaForge and a Vulcan. Their mission is to somehow infiltrate Dominion space and destroy the wormhole. To complicate matters, there is a traitor on board who is sabotaging the mission. Despite the odds, Picard manages to get the ship into Dominion space, reaching the wormhole. He also manages to identify and destroy the traitor just before they launch their mission of sabotage.
The action in this story is kept rather low-key until the end. Most of the plot revolves around Picard's attempts to simultaneously carry out the mission and expose the saboteur. This point is a little weak, as the first act of sabotage should have been a strong indication as to the nature of the threat. Data and the rest of the Enterprise crew play essential but bit parts in the story, the focus is on Picard and his command abilities. While the story did keep my attention, there were points where the pace of the story was too slow for my tastes. I started to grow weary of the same features repeated with slight modifications over and over again. I also didn't understand why the story about the graveyard of ships and the winking in and out of the various dimensions had to be included. It came across as filler.