My Enemy, My Ally

My Enemy, My Ally
Author Diane Duane
Cover artist Boris Vallejo
Country United States
Language English
Series Star Trek: The Original Series
Genre Science fiction novel
Publisher Pocket Books
Publication date
 July 1984
Media type Print (Paperback)
Pages 309 pp
ISBN 0-671-70421-4 (first edition, paperback)
Preceded by Star Trek III: The Search for Spock
Followed by The Tears of the Singers

My Enemy, My Ally is a Star Trek: The Original Series novel written by Diane Duane.[1]

Plot

The USS Enterprise is contacted by Ael i-Mhiessan t'Rllaillieu, a Romulan commander with whom Captain Kirk has tangled several times before. Ael has become disillusioned with the Romulan Empire's politics, and is especially concerned with a secret project she has discovered which seeks to use captured Vulcans for medical research with the goal of allowing Romulans to develop extensive mental powers. She convinces her crew to cross the Neutral Zone into Federation space, where the Enterprise is patrolling with the Starships Constellation, Intrepid and the Denebian Defender-class battleship Inaieu. Ael hopes to convince Kirk to launch a strike against the medical facility.

The Captain declines, but when the USS Intrepid mysteriously vanishes during an ion storm, Ael convinces him that the ship has been captured by Romulans and its Vulcan crew will become part of the project. This convinces Kirk to take the Enterprise with Ael's ship, Bloodwing, into Romulan space in a rescue mission. The plan involves Ael's ship pretending to capture the Enterprise, taking it back home through the Romulan defences on a course which will pass close to the research station.

The plan proceeds smoothly until a double cross by Ael's son, Tafv threatens to leave the Enterprise genuinely captured. This attempt is overturned, the Intrepid and her crew rescued, the base destroyed, and the Enterprise duly heads back to Federation space. Ael and Kirk go their separate ways, he back to duty and she to a life of exile as a traitor. Before leaving she tells Kirk all of her names and their meaning, a highly symbolic act for a Romulan which is only done to "one closer than kin". She tells him her names will be purged from the records back home, rendering her essentially a non-person in Romulan eyes. On returning to Earth Kirk hangs a pennant with Ael's names on it in a remote valley, symbolically counteracting this status.

References

  1. ↑ Cheeseman-Meyer, Ellen (Mar 5, 2014). "Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Romulan Warbird: Diane Duane's My Enemy, My Ally". TOR. Retrieved 25 August 2014.


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