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    Star Trek: Fatal Error
    Star Trek: Fatal Error
    Star Trek: Fatal Error
    Ebook99 pages1 hour

    Star Trek: Fatal Error

    By Keith R.A. DeCandido

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Take it apart, figure it out, put it back together. That's the ongoing mission of the U.S.S. da Vinci, commanded by Captain David Gold and his first officer, Commander Sonya Gomez, late of the Starship Enterprise and one of Starfleet's top engineers. They oversee a crack S.C.E. team composed of specialists in such diverse fields as tactical systems, alien cultures, computers, linguistics, and cryptography. Together they're ready to cope with just about every kind of high-tech challenge imaginable -- and a few that nobody could have imagined.
    For centuries, the planet Eerlik has had a thriving civilization, completely run, maintained, and administered by a giant sentient computer. But now that computer is breaking down and the desperate inhabitants are helpless to repair the damage. Only the crew of the U.S.S. da Vinci, accompanied by Geordi La Forge, can hope to fix the massive computer before the Eerlikkan society collapses entirely. Their mission grows more dangerous, however, when they discover evidence of sabotage -- and learn firsthand that hostile forces will do whatever it takes to stop Gold and his crew from saving the imperiled planet!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPocket Books/Star Trek
    Release dateSep 13, 2000
    ISBN9780743419024
    Star Trek: Fatal Error
    Author

    Keith R.A. DeCandido

    Keith R.A. DeCandido was born and raised in New York City to a family of librarians. He has written over two dozen novels, as well as short stories, nonfiction, eBooks, and comic books, most of them in various media universes, among them Star Trek, World of Warcraft, Starcraft, Marvel Comics, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Serenity, Resident Evil, Gene Roddenberry’s Andromeda, Farscape, Xena, and Doctor Who. His original novel Dragon Precinct was published in 2004, and he's also edited several anthologies, among them the award-nominated Imaginings and two Star Trek anthologies. Keith is also a musician, having played percussion for the bands Don't Quit Your Day Job Players, Boogie Knights, and Randy Bandits, as well as several solo acts. In what he laughingly calls his spare time, Keith follows the New York Yankees and practices kenshikai karate. He still lives in New York City with his girlfriend and two insane cats.

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    Reviews for Star Trek

    3.5/5

    11 ratings9 reviews

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    • 4/5
      Fatal Error by J. A Jance is a 2011 Touchtone Books publication. I will admit after reading Beaumont and Brady novels for so long the Ali Reynolds series didn't make a big impression on me at first. It was OK, but nothing like the other two series. However, after reading the next 2 book is the series, I found myself feeling excited about touching base with Ali again. This sixth book has Ali looking forward to a new chapter in her life. She has a new boyfriend, she is about to become a grandmother, and is training to be a cop. However, when an old acquaintance looks her up out the blue asking for help with a background check on a shady online boyfriend, Ali agrees to help her out. But, Ali never dreamed she would find herself in the smack dab middle of a collision between her old friend, B. Simpson, the FBI, military drones, and a greedy and twisted killer. I love how Ali never rest on her laurels when she could take life at her leisure. I admired her courage to go through the police academy even though she was a few years older than the average recruit. She always challenges herself and refuses to allow her difficult past to dictate her future. I loved touching base with the Arizona crowd I've come to know and love as well, although some characters really were in the background in this one. I am also happy to see the blog Ali spent so much time on the first two books, has slowly died out. I didn't really miss it and the stories flow much more evenly now as a result. This mystery was very different from anything Ali has dealt with previously and although she was not officially a cop, she showed she has what it takes to be a great investigator. Drones are a very hot topic these days and Jance may have actually been a few years ahead of time with this one. A very interesting take on the use of drones and one we should certainly be paying attention to. I do think that I am warming up to Ali more and more each time I read a book from this series and I am dying to see what she will get up to next. 4 stars
    • 4/5
      Computer dating takes a new twist, in Jance’s “Fatal Error”. Richard Lowensdale is a despicable man who preys on vulnerable women in an online dating scam. Using fake names he has several fiancés around the country until he becomes bored with their particular neurosis and cuts loose, usually dropping them right after he has had them pick out their engagement rings. When he is murdered and several of his girl friends suddenly show up at the same time to check on him, there are suspects aplenty.
      The protagonist, wealthy widow, former Los Angeles TV news anchor and aspiring cop, Ali Reynolds finds herself smack in the middle of the investigation when a former colleague, now down-on-her-luck recovering alcoholic, Brenda Riley goes missing. Brenda had been the target of Lowensdale’s particular cyber-sociopathic behavior and was in the process of writing an exposé to blow the lid off his cover. Using her boyfriend’s security company to gather behind-the-scenes information, Reynolds teams up with over-worked homicide detective Gil Morris to ferret out the truth behind her friend’s disappearance and the death of Lowensdale.
      “Fatal Error” takes us beyond just cyber-stalking to the warped mind of a victim of the Bosnian wars who applies her own sociopathic skills to gain untold wealth by dealing with cartel criminals in the drug-smuggling wars of the Mexican borders. As Reynolds and Morris discover the depths of depravity, it all boils over as they find themselves stumbling into the middle of an FBI sting in San Diego. Can they rescue Riley before she gives the ultimate sacrifice in reporting a news story, in which she has become the unwitting pawn?
    • 3/5
      It's been a while since I read a JA Jance novel, and I don't know if my memory of previous novels is just overlaid with uncritical rosy delight or if this newish one is more simplistic than the ones I recall. Sure seemed more simplistic. But the suspense holds well, the characters have a bit of depth, the villain is suitably evil and grotesque...
    • 4/5
      Synopsis: Ali Reynolds has completed the six-week course to become a police officer, but the economy keeps her out of uniform. However, that doesn’t keep her from becoming embroiled in a murder mystery that has her running all over the country tracking down clues. This multifaceted story begins with the unexpected arrival of an old acquaintance who requests Ali’s help in locating her fiancé and ends with multiple police and FBI involvement.Review: This was an enjoyable read with lots of interesting character studies. Throughout you wondered if the ‘bad guy’ would or would not get away. While I like most of the characters in this book, the boyfriend still seems rather lame, probably because he goes by B. rather than his actual name.
    • 4/5
      I like the character of Alie Reynolds. She's passed through the police academy but because of budget cuts wasn't picked for the force. She is asked for help by a friend who has been in an internet relationship with man to look into his situation since she believes he's missing. The man is scamming a bunch of women as a hobby while working at illegal off the books computer programming. Alie's friend is missing, there's a murder or two, a busybody neighbor's help, a local cop, a retired cop, Alie's boyfriend's security firm's help all before she becomes a grandmother.
    • 3/5
      In “Fatal Error” Ali Reynolds, the primary character, takes her training in the Arizona Police Academy. She is older than the other candidates and is also a woman, so although her training is not without challenges, she is successful and on successful completion looks forward to returning home and working as a police office when budget cuts begin to have an impact of local police forces. At the same time a former acquaintance Brenda Riley, a former colleague contacts her and then goes missing. She has become an alcoholic and comes form a very dysfunctional family. Is she missing on a drunken trip which is her history? This is a story that combines the issue of computer relationships, misrepresentation during dating, cyber-stalking and old fashioned mysteries combined with police work and is full of action and fun. It is a light and good read and I finished it easily.
    • 4/5
      I read this book, and enjoyed it. I gave it a 4 star rating (which was probably 3.5 stars, rounded up). I thought I'd come back and write my review in a few days, like I often do. It was almost a week later when I came back, and realized most of the details (of the story, of the characters, of what I did and didn't like) had all slipped my mind.As I read through the description again, it started coming back, but I'd have to say it was a fast fade, even for me.So, I came in mid-series on this one, so there are several things that I just accept as being part of the universe. A forty something year old woman deciding to go to the police academy to become a police officer is part of that. Her having very large amounts of money to throw at any problems that arise is another. Both are very convenient, and I chose to just accept them and move on.I really liked Ali, once I accepted the above, and in the end, that's what made the book work for me. She's a strong, gutsy lady.The thriller aspect made for an interesting cat and mouse game. I love it when there is intrigue within the bad guys, and this set were not a united team.One of the things I was looking forward to in this book was the technological aspect, and I was a little disappointed. Once I suspended disbelief, it was fine, but I knew enough to know some of it doesn't completely hold together.Still, it was a fun read, and that's what I was looking for.
    • 4/5
      J.A. Jance is building a great new character to follow in Ali Reynolds. Ali is attempting to further her career as media relations for the police dept. by attending officer training. Budget cuts leave without even the media job, but she doesn't sit still. Between covering her parents work at the family restaurant while they are on a cruise she ends-up helping another former newsgirl, Brenda Riley. Brenda did not handle her job loss as well as Ali. Between drinking to excess and falling for a man over the internet she is at the bottom of the bottle and her life. But it turns-out, through Ali's help, she wasn't the man's only internet fiance nor was he on the up and up in his business dealings. It all comes down to Ali to save the day and thankfully her parents are back so she doesn't have to work the morning shift anymore!
    • 4/5
      A complicated tale involving a cyberstalker and a corrupt former government contractor. Ali Reynolds is drawn in by a former colleague, now fallen on hard times, whose fiance is not what he seems.

    Book preview

    Star Trek - Keith R.A. DeCandido

    This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

    An Original Publication of POCKET BOOKS

    POCKET BOOKS, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

    1230 Avenue of the Americas,

    New York, NY 10020

    Visit us on the Web:

    http://www.SimonSays.com/StarTrek

    http://www.StarTrek.com

    Copyright © 2000 by Paramount Pictures. All Rights Reserved.

    STAR TREK is a Registered Trademark of Paramount Pictures.

    This book is published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon © Schuster, Inc., under exclusive license from Paramount Pictures.

    All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Pocket Books, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020

    ISBN 13: 978-0-7434-1902-4

    ISBN 10: 0-7434-1902-2

    POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

    For David, Alexandra, and Steven

    CONTENTS

    BEGIN READING

    The holo in the center of Ansed’s living room showed a comedy program that had stopped production a decade earlier, and for which Ansed owned no recordings. A minute ago, it had been showing archival footage of the landing of the Pevvni ship that had colonized the ninth planet fifty years ago. A minute before that, it had been showing a real-time image of the weather on Hendorf Island.

    But, for the life of her, Ansed, First Speaker of Eerlik, could not get the holo to open a simple communications channel.

    That was only part of the problem.

    Ansed looked around the living room—currently illuminated by candles, since the lights no longer worked—and out the window at the hailstorm that should’ve been stopped by the weather control system. She pulled the blanket around her teal shoulders with her short arms—necessary, as the house’s heating system was no longer functioning properly.

    The unthinkable had happened. The great Ganitriul was breaking down. And if someone didn’t stop it from doing so, the entire fabric of Eerlikka society would collapse.

    Suddenly, the staccato slamming of hail against the outside of Ansed’s house ceased. She looked out the window to see that the storm had finally abated.

    There was no chance she’d be able to convince the holo to go to communications mode. She’d tried for hours to contact anyone she could, from her fellow speakers and the priests who kept the knowledge of Ganitriul on-planet, to the Pevvni colony, or even the nearest Federation outpost off-planet. Nothing worked. The priority at this point was to consult the clergy. Ansed feared that even they could do nothing—after all, the transporters and spacefaring vessels were also operated via Ganitriul, so they probably weren’t functioning any better than the weather control system, the heat, the holo, or the lights. Still, they were the experts …

    Left with no traditional method of speaking to the priests, Ansed was forced to go outside and walk to the temple. Ansed couldn’t remember the last time she’d walked outside, nor the last time she’d gone from place to place in that manner. The necessity annoyed her, and the thought that the situation might continue was frightening.

    She almost bruised her forehead on the door, which did not open at her approach as it was supposed to. Sighing, Ansed opened a window. She had closed her living room window for the first time in years today; usually, there was a nice breeze coming in. Now, though, she had to use the window as a door.

    Clambering out, she was assaulted by the bitter cold. Since the construction of Ganitriul—long before Ansed’s great-great-grandparents were born—the capital city had had an even climate. She was forced to continue to huddle inside the blanket in order to stay warm, since she did not have proper clothing for this weather, and the clothes-provider wasn’t functioning any better than any other device.

    For three millennia, the computer on the moon had provided every creature comfort the Eerlikka could want or need. Since Ganitriul’s autorepair components had been installed a century ago, there had never even been a hint of a problem. Though tourists did make regular pilgrimages to the public parts of the caverns that housed Ganitriul’s terminals, there had been no need for anyone to travel to the moon to effect repairs in a hundred years.

    Until now.

    After an exhausting walk of almost fifteen minutes, Ansed arrived at the temple. It was the only structure in the capital city that still retained the hideous Yarnallian architectural style, and Ansed had to admit to finding it painful to look at. But the priests insisted that the temple look as it had when it was first constructed, and Ansed could not blame them for that.

    Of course, the temple’s greeter wasn’t working properly. She wondered how she would be able to gain the attention of those inside.

    Then, noticing the ornate handle in the center of the door, she remembered that the temple still had one of those old-fashioned doors that opened manually. She could only hope that it wasn’t locked.

    First, she tried to slide the door to the side, the way normal doors worked, but it didn’t budge. Then she pushed the door at the handle, but still it did not move.

    Pulling, however, seemed to work.

    Winded after all the walking and the effort of pulling the door open, Ansed took a moment to compose herself before entering the temple.

    Is anyone here?

    Her words echoed throughout the temple, which was almost pitch-dark.

    Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, Ansed thought. She considered turning back and going home to try the holo again—but she didn’t fancy the idea of walking any more, and dammit, she needed to talk to the priests. At least one of them had to be here….

    Suddenly, the lights in the temple came on—at about twice their usual intensity. Ansed’s wide eyes were momentarily rendered useless by the sudden onslaught, and she blinked both her upper and lower eyelids furiously to clear the spots that now danced in front of her face.

    When her vision cleared, she screamed. Ansed was the foremost political personage on all of Eerlik, and she’d been a respected scholar and politician for years prior to that. She hadn’t screamed since she was in her crèche.

    But she screamed now.

    Seventeen priests and twenty acolytes served in the temple. In addition to their other spiritual duties, the priests were tasked with guarding all the knowledge that related to Ganitriul. If anyone would be able to solve the current crisis, it would be them.

    Right now, Ansed stared at a pile of corpses that seemed to number approximately thirty-seven, all wearing the robes of either priests or acolytes. They looked like they had been placed there in a semi-orderly pile. Blue blood was splattered all over the bodies, and pooled on the floor around them.

    A shiver passed through Ansed that had nothing to do with the unnatural chill in the air. The numerous

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