Hmmm, I wonder, should I start a Hank/Nick ship? ... I've a feeling the Bethany gang would kill me, especially as it has taken so long for that particular pair to get together. Still, Nick has been ever loyal to Hank, seems to understand him and knows the buttons to press. Just sayin' stranger things can and have happened.

Now, usually I'd wax lyrical about Bethany being under Hank's nose the whole time and his not realising his true feelings (all of that is true) however this line I think is the most telling for me currently, as it hints to your big end game:

“My fate theory,” he leaned back, “is entirely correct. How can you explain my life and yours? There isn’t any random occurrences in the universe. History proves that.”

May be that Hank is entirely correct.

OKay the shoutouts here are just fantastic.  Made my night.  But poor Mark.  It's hard to age and feel like the next generation is set to pass you by before you've even made your mark.  You captured that feeling perfectly.  Well done, and ouch.

Seems Mark is going to need to earn his division respect and show them why he was appoint their head.
Chris is clearly a maverick and I do feel sorry for the engineers under him who are expose to classic rock. Could see that be a flash point further down the line.

Still only Hank could gets his officer around for a game of “Putt Putt Golf”, still nice to see Bethany can get away with assaulting her captain, I expect Mark to have said something still the fun atmosphere is only add to by Hank explain why not to call him Henry. ;-)

Now that was a very good introduction to the good Doctor’s Paul and T’Kel.
You handle their personal interaction in a way that felt realistic and yet did a great job to show more than tell how close their working relationship has been.

I look forward to seeing more of the pair of them in future chapters.

Still Paul reaction to the Captain offer and his inner conflict about what Hank will think if he doesn’t turn up, and Hank subtle attempts to convince him, that the senior officers need to play together to be a better team, is a great idea.

I've paused here for now, but...wow. Awesome, bud. I am enjoying this story very much, and it's shaping up to be a great introduction to this series. I've got a limited experience with Bethany and Hank, so seeing them here at the start of this story is awesome.

I really did get the same feeling that the Pearl is shaping up to be the island of misfit toys. Everyone has some chip on their shoulder, some skeleton in their closet. So many Treks look to gradually showcase those failings and fears as series go forward, but you do this in a unique way to show that everyone - including Bethany - is human. But it also makes the revelation in THIS chapter that much more unsettling. It reminds me of an NCIS episode, where they were hunting for a mole in NCIS. I won't give away everything, but the team that winds up being brought together is similar in that they were all misfits, all had their quirks...and they were all at the top of the list of being traitors. It has to be unnerving for Hank, especially when he already doesn't feel up to the task of being captain of this new ship and crew, and when he picked most of these people.

And hooray for Bethany. I loved seeing their reunion, and the descriptions of her definitely went beyond what I had imagined working with you/her in the RR earlier this year.

I'm really enjoying this story so far! This is fun!

Smiling again after reading another chapter of Hank, Well been Hank this is a good introduction for those who still not learn that Hank will say the truth and not compare about the how only the outcome. The walker brothers are a great pair of characters and having close but not to close brothers in the command structure will bound to give you some unique opportunities to reviews events on the USS Pearl.

Do like the description of the Bridge, does sound like someone with taste or common sense has re-design the sovereign bridge.
Had to love the line your “I’m of the opinion that he’s too rigid even for a stiff.”

Only poor Hank could achieve going from a pleasant drink with his crew to finding an admiral waiting in his quarters with a new briefing and the challenge of a frontline command.

Good to see Hank and the Admiral Jennings have their own strange working relationship, while I do find hard to believe anyone would turn down the opportunity to command a front line ship and yet you give Hank realistic reasons to be reluctance to leave his science ship and crew for the potential bigger things.

However please to see Hank reaction to getting the command was to go and get some shut-eye so he ready for tomorrow briefing.

Good opening scene for the series.

    "I don't now," Paul said with conviction. "I feel...dirty. Like we were just part of something that shouldn't have happened."

I think Paul surmizes the entire picture here with that statement. How sad after his happy opening. Seems Maria stayed true to her word but again her torture of Hank colours what her motivations are. She's made it very hard to believe her even if acts seem to prove her truth.

This is turning into a hell of a puzzle. To trust her or not?

Daren and Hank... RR awww. But in story context it is also a fitting a telling moment between the two characters. Hank is palgued with self-doubt and recriminations about New Haven and Maria. Those words from Daren may be the rallying call he needs. Especially as focuses now on Bethany.

Meantime, we get tantalizing answers about what happened but keep waiting for the full picture and what they can do to help. The answers from Doc Brown are less than answers and more questions keep cropping up.

"...once more unto the breach..." He whispered fearfully.

See again, it is this, the humanising, the bringing Hank down to earth, the undermining nearly of him all to make him a more relatable and realistic character. No cocky bravado with that line. It's said with fear.

The reveal of what happened to him though isn't belaboured by Hank or the author. He throws it out there for Nick and Bethany to process and to understand the situation. However, it is distrubing that after so long being messed with, Hank can't even be sure this isn't another vision and mind trickery - read for that mind fuckery.

Then we have a clearer picture of the plans and schemes completed by the Del'Vreer and hear too how Maria has had a plan all along, seemingly on their side. Again, how are we to believe or trust Maria. She's played the bad guy role so good that it is going to be very hard to believe she had an ulterior and better motive all along. She's made it way to hard for the crew to trust her.

Meantime, there's the enigma of the wormhole transport and who else is involved in this and how they can go about stopping the Del'Vreer taking over the Federation. What moment of time is fundamental to this? May it be that the Pearl's lineage may stand it in good stead as it will fit into an Enterprise-C Lost Era period?

You know what? The captain saving the ship trope can be tiresome and so badly handled. You know what? Hank saves the ship and says 'Dumb luck' before passing out. You defy the tropes, the conventions and cliches. It's the humanity of the Hank character, the everyman appeal and nature of him that makes him tick and resonate as a character with people. And amid such a scene of carnage and terror that he can say a line like that, showing humility, humanity, humour and awesomeness, that makes him and your writing so endearing.

I have to admit, that I didn't like Hank way back at the beginning. I know in the analyze thread on the forum there was talk about him being author avatar but I guess I knew you before I read Hank and I liked you already so didn't need to buy into the character. He just seemed so chipper, normal and everyday way back in the beginning. But then he steals over you. He wins you over, just when you're not looking. You find yourself rooting for him, worrying and fretting for him, and cheering for him - and then gasping in horror for him because almost after a win moment you go and pull the rug massively on us like you did at the end of book 2 (and well throughout too). No wonder that crown of yours is so polished looking!

Now, please don't be offended by the fact I didn't like Hank in the beginning. Because actually, I like having my opinions challenged and changes. I like stories with characters in them I don't like because real life is filled with that. And despite everything I initially didn't like about Hank, he always felt real and realised.

Your skill trekfan has been weaving this story that has taken the crew of the Pearl and its captain and carried us along so that we end up cheering them. That you make Hank win me over. And throughout it all, you keep the reader hooked, invested and puzzled and amazed by the rollercoaster plot.

Now it's all worth mentioning this in a chapter with little plot development in itself, because this is the opener to the third instalment and you chuck your readers right into it. The scene opening is confusing, chaotic, a frightful spectre of doom - it pays off on the climax of the last book and shows skill in your depiction.

Then with the transition to the medical bay to bring a level of normalacy back to the story. It's a natural ease down of the heightened tension and drama of the opening, serving well to introduce the reader back into the plot and setting the scene up for the hunt for answers.

And boys, what questions there are to be answered. The shockwave climax demands an answer and given the totality of it no wonder there's no ready answers yet. How does this all play into the larger schemes? What of the crew? Hank? And the dynamics now that Hank has returned to the Pearl after being missing for so long?

Somehow, I am thinking ... no.

I only know some of your mythos and so Maria is a familiar name and is someone awful, but I do not know where she's from, her species, her motivations, etc. But she seems like, as they say, bad mojo.

And just when Hank was all about to tell Bethany the wonderful truth!

I got a bad feeling about this.

A gripping beginning and a scary one as well. You got a lot of good, expository information out there very quickly. I'm walking into the middle of this movie, but I'm not having major issues with following the plot or the characters. Of course I know Hank and Bethany from your free writes, but I don't have to, in order to not be lost.

Can't say the same for the crew of the Pearl, though.

I've got you on my - read more later - list as I continue to plow through the stories on the review list. I'll be back. :)