Twenty years ago, M’k’n’zy of Calhoun (later known as Mackenzie Calhoun) met Captain Picard when M’k’n’zy was leading the battle for independence for the Xenexians from the Danteri, and Picard was assisting the peace negotiations. (At that time Picard was captain of the Stargazer.) Ten years ago, Spock had rescued the Vulcan/Romulan female scientist, Soleta, from the home world of the Thallonian Empire, assisted by one of the Thallonian ruling family, Si Cwan. Two years ago, the Vulcan female physician, Selar, had her husband die of a heart attack on their wedding day, convincing her that states of mind like love are equivalent to a death sentence. In the present time (after the Enterprise E has been commissioned) the Thallonian Empire has collapsed into anarchy, and possibly the only remaining member of the Thallonian ruling family, Si Cwan, wants the Federation to assist in restoring him to power. He also suspects the Danteri (who are Federation members) of being at least partly responsible for instigating the uprising that led to the Empire’s collapse. The Federation agree to send one ship (the refitted Excalibur) to assist in restoring order. At Picard’s suggestion, Mackenzie Calhoun (who is currently working undercover for the intelligence arm of Starfleet) is appointed as captain. At Spock’s suggestion, Soleta (who has been teaching at Starfleet Academy) is also appointed to the mission, but just after hearing of the appointment, someone comes up behind her and puts a blaster-type weapon to the back of her head.
Mackenzie Calhoun takes over the captaincy of the Excalibur, and an ex-lover, Commander Shelby, (who thinks she should be the captain) accepts the position of First Officer. Soleta discovers that it is Si Cwan holding the gun to her head, but she eventually agrees to smuggle him aboard the Excalibur (after first clearing it with the captain). The Chief Engineer, Burgoyne 172, is a Hermat (a mixed-gender race) who seems attracted to the Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Selar. Mackenzie’s brother, D’ndai, is now a ruler, collaborating with the Danteri, Ryjaan, and they are not happy about having Mackenzie on a goodwill mission to the ex-Thallonian Empire. En route to Thallon, the Excalibur rescues Captain Hufmin and 29 refugees he was carrying in his stricken cargo ship. The Chief of Security, Zak Kebron, (a Brikar) takes an instant dislike to Si Cwan, but when a distress signal is received from a vessel claiming to have Si Cwan’s sister (Kallinda) on board, Mackenzie sends Zak and Si Cwan off together in a runabout to investigate. But it starts to look as though the distress signal may be a trap for Si Cwan. Meanwhile, the Excalibur has come under attack from a large black starship. [Timeline: Stardate 50923.1.]
The Excalibur is under attack from a Nelkar starship, but the Nelkarites end up offering the refugees, that Excalibur is carrying, a place to settle. Captain Mackenzie Calhoun is suspicious of the offer and says he will transport the refugees personally to the planet. Meanwhile, aboard a shuttlecraft, Zak Kebron is suspicious of the vessel (the Kayven Ryin) supposedly carrying Si Cwan’s sister, and the suspicion proves justified when the vessel (led by the Thallonians, Rojam and Zoran) fires on them. With their shuttle about to explode, they beam aboard the Kayven Ryin, and, after a battle, appear to have taken control of it, but then they find a bomb has been set. They do not have time to diffuse it before the bomb goes off. Mackenzie’s suspicions also prove right, when the Nelkarites end up holding the refugees hostage (and killing Captain Hufmin), while demanding that the Excalibur crew give them access to their weapons technology. Mackenzie refuses their demands outright, and threatens to destroy the capital city, Selinium. During all this, Burgoyne continues to court Selar, who rebuffs his advances, but comes to realize she is in the early stages of pon farr, and Soleta admits to being half Romulan (her mother was raped).
Mackenzie has two photon torpedoes launched at Selenium, but detonates them far enough above the city so as not to cause any damage. He causes more damage by having a recording of discussions with one of the Nelkarite leaders (who was expressing no concern for the general population) played back over the planets communication system. A popular uprising overthrows the existing leadership, and the new rulers welcome the refugees from Hufmin’s cargo ship (the Cambon) without conditions. This allows the Excalibur to go and find out what is going on with their shuttlecraft (carrying Zak Kebron and Si Cwan) and the Kayven Ryin. They find debris where the two ships should have been, and also an ion trail, indicating a third vessel having been in the area. Zak and Si Cwan had been beamed off the exploding Kayven Ryin at the last second by D’ndai, who had arrived to find out how Rojam and Zoran were proceeding with their mission. All had ended up back on Thallon, with Zak and Si Cwan in prison, which Zak proceeds to rename as the Federation embassy. Excalibur arrives at Thallon to find out what is going on and discovers that the earthquakes that had been ravaging the planet were due to a massive creature about to hatch from inside the planet. An evacuation of the planet is instituted, but not before Mackenzie ends up in a duel against Ryjaan, whose father he had killed in battle as a teenager on Xenex. The emerging creature turns out to be what Burgoyne’s race knows as the (supposedly mythical) Great Bird of the Galaxy, a winged four-legged energy creature. After chasing the Excalibur for a while, it disappears “to wherever it wants”.
The reputations of the USS Excalibur and Captain Calhoun have spread around the region once known as the Thallonian Empire, and the stories of their deeds have frequently grown in the retelling. The planet Zondar is populated by the Unglza and the Eenza, who have been at war with each other, on and off (mostly on), for about a millennium. But the prophecies of Ontear speak of a Savior who will bring peace to the planet, and Calhoun fits the description to a tee. When a delegation is sent to invite him to the planet, he accepts the chance to bring peace to a warring world but is non-committal about the title “Savior”. He is accepted with joy by the population, with the exception of Ramed, who is the keeper of the holy writings and is the only one who knows that the prophecies also predict that the Savior is to die 3 days and 3 hours after a celebration in his honor. Consequently, Ramed has Calhoun drugged and kidnapped, and held at the cave where Ontear used to live. A rescue party, led by Shelby, is almost wiped out when they encounter an energy being. Selar is among the crew members injured, which causes the Hermat, Burgoyne, to insist on leading the next rescue attempt, which he does, accompanied by the mugato security officer, Ensign Janos. They, too, encounter the energy being which creates hallucinations and causes them to start battling each other, but Burgoyne, with hish male and female anatomy, strengthened by hish pon-farr link with Dr. Selar, manages to overcome the hallucinations and knocks out Janos with the Vulcan neck-pinch. He goes on to rescue Calhoun, but in the process Ramed is killed by his own spear. Meanwhile, the Excalibur has been fighting off an attack by a race called the Redeemers, who see the ship and its captain as leading people away from belief in their god, Xent. The Redeemers’ ship is destroyed when they are tricked into flying into the sun. Calhoun manages to show the people of Zondar how Ramed fulfilled their prophecies of a Savior, and it looks as though peace will be established, although there is still a considerable amount of political infighting going on.
The Excalibur is called to the planet Momidium to take custody of Morgan Primus, who Lieutenant Robin Lefler identifies as being her mother who had supposedly died in an accident ten years previously but who had been in “protective custody” on Momidium for the last five years. Morgan ends up in the brig after nearly killing Si Cwan in an attempt to steal a shuttlecraft, but Si Cwan and Robin back her up with Captain Calhoun when she offers her help against an energy being that the Great Bird of the Galaxy had seemingly deposited in the ship’s warp core. It turns out that Morgan is actually many centuries old, and seemingly unable to die or be killed. She had disappeared in a search for a race of beings that she calls the Prometheans, and who she thinks will be able to provide a way for her to die. She had been headed for the planet Armista when she was captured five years back, and she leads the Excalibur there. Arriving at the planet, which used to have a thriving population, they find a deserted planet except for Morgan’s old friend, Tarella, who is clutching something like a large gun (which she calls her “lover”), but which is also sentient in its own way and had been responsible for the extermination of the population of Armista. Morgan, Robin, and an away team manage to cause a diversion and separate Tarella from the “weapon”, but not until after it has carried out an attack against the orbiting ship, causing considerable damage. The weapon had been given by the Prometheans who then turn up, surrounding the Excalibur in their “ship” which appears to be pure energy. The Prometheans appear on the bridge of Excalibur in the form of a traditional Southern gentleman, and they end up capturing the energy being from the warp core. Calhoun initially insists that they release it until he learns that if they did it would then devour the nearest populated planet. Calhoun then says that they should keep it, but then learns that the planet in question would have been that of the Redeemers, and that the Redeemers will soon be out searching for Calhoun. Meanwhile, Dr. Selar has become pregnant by Burgoyne, and Burgoyne has apparently become pregnant by Mark McHenry.
Calhoun first found the Captain’s Table on Xenex, when he was a captain in the army, trying to drive the Danteri off his world. The second time he found the Captain’s Table was in the holodeck aboard the Excalibur. There he got to tell the story of Captain Kenyon (who he saw in the bar but wasn’t allowed to talk to). Calhoun had been appointed as first officer on the Grissom under Captain Kenyon not long before they are assigned to transport a diplomatic team (consisting of Kenyon’s daughter, Stephanie, and brother, Byron) to try to find peace between the Carvargna (who looked rather like celery) and the Dufaux (rather demonic looking), who occupy planets in the same Anzibar system. The Dufaux refuse initially to see the diplomats, but Byron talks them into allowing a meeting. However, the Dufaux brutally murder the two ambassadors, and Kenyon seems to take it well, but Calhoun senses something is wrong. Kenyon claims that Starfleet has instructed them to arm the Carvargna against the Dufaux, and the Grissom is then called away on other business. A while later, Starfleet apparently orders them back to Anzibar, and they arrive just as a Carvargna fleet is setting off to attack the Dufaux. Kenyon insists on the Grissom going along to witness the event, and the Grissom ends up involved in the action. By this time Calhoun has discovered that the captain has actually been acting out of revenge, not on Starfleet orders, and tries to stop him, but (with the exception of Katerina Mueller) has difficulty in convincing others that Kenyon isn’t acting under orders. The Dufaux are defeated, and Calhoun ends up killing their leader, Kradius, and Kenyon then commits suicide. Calhoun tells his story to the captain of the Titanic, who doesn’t really hear him in his misery after his ship was lost to the iceberg.
General Gerrid Thul was allied with the Romulans and had attracted a large number of anti-Federation dissidents to his Dyson Sphere base, called Thul’s Sphere, and was planning to wipe out the Federation during the bicentennial celebration of the signing of the Federation Charter. He planned to take over Federation technology using the captured Omega 9 computer and use the replicators Federation-wide to release a gas with the Double Helix virus, just as the reenactment of the signing of the charter is taking place. Calhoun is also there, having come to Thul’s attention after a staged dispute with Admiral Jellico in which Calhoun floors Jellico with a punch to the head (that hadn’t been in Admirals Nechayev and Jellico’s script) and Jellico seemingly throws Calhoun out of Starfleet. Thul’s second-in-command, Darg, had taken on his own assistant known as Kwint, who was actually Jean-Luc Picard acting undercover at the behest of Jellico, who didn’t trust Calhoun. Unfortunately, Darg recognizes Calhoun as the person responsible for attacking and destroying his base of operations seven years earlier, and Thul recognizes Picard as being the one responsible for his son’s death, but Thul keeps his knowledge secret and reins in Darg’s desire to kill Calhoun. However, Picard and Calhoun do end up in the sphere’s brig, but they escape quickly, thanks to some special equipment Calhoun had been fitted with. They set out to stop Thul’s plans, which are getting close to being implemented, but Calhoun and Picard are separated after encountering people searching for them. Calhoun is chased by Darg but transports Darg into the sphere’s cloaking device, along with an explosive. That causes the device to explode, setting the sphere on the path to collapse and causing systems to short out and fail throughout the sphere. Picard makes it to the computer room as systems are starting to malfunction, and a fight with Thul ends with Thul being killed by his own virus after rolling onto a vial of the concentrated virus that Picard had recovered from the lab. Calhoun had recovered the specially equipped freighter that he had been using, and he beams Picard aboard and they escape as Thul’s Sphere burns and collapses around them. However, they don’t get far, because Thul had previously taken the precaution of draining most of their power. Riker had been appointed temporary captain of the Excalibur and had captured Sela after she had led two Romulan warbirds against them. A forced mindmeld by Soleta (assisted reluctantly by Dr. Selar) on Sela recovers some information but leaves Sela comatose. Part of the recovered information was the coordinates for Thul’s base, and Excalibur arrives to rescue Calhoun and Picard.
On the planet Montos, Riella has begun to have disturbing dreams, and gets more disturbed when she hears a mysterious man (Zoran, a Thallonian) discussing the dreams with the lady she believes to be her mother, so she runs away. Meanwhile, Xyon has escaped execution on Barspens when the Dogs of War attack, and he learns that they are after Riella, so he sets out to rescue her. At the same time, Si Cwan is on a diplomatic mission to Montos, accompanied by Zak Kebron and Lieutenant Soleta. Xyon rescues Riella just as the Dogs of War are closing on her, and Si Cwan learns that the girl is possibly his sister. The reason Riella was being sought, was because it was believed she had the secret to the Quiet Place, suspected of being a source of tremendous power, and she points Xyon in the direction of Star 7734, although nothing appears to be there. En-route they encounter a Redeemer ship and are captured. Escaping from the Redeemers, the pair run into the Dogs of War again, and Riella is captured, Xyon finally escapes aboard his ship, known as Lyla, but finds it drained of power, and is then rescued by Si Cwan and Zak aboard their shuttlecraft. Arriving at Star 7734 it is discovered that there is a planet there, hidden by some means, but showing on some sensors. The Dogs of War destroy the Federation shuttle, but Xyon, Zak and Si Cwan survive aboard Lyla, and the two groups meet up at the Quiet Place, and a voice speaks through Riella (now identified as Si Cwan’s sister, Kalinda) saying that nobody will be allowed to leave the planet. They appear to be surrounded by spirits of the dead, and then the two groups started fighting each other, and the Federation team along with Xyon and Kalinda manage to escape. Then the Quiet Place disappears. The Redeemers had been behind the Dogs of War, and are fairly satisfied with the outcome, until they discover that the Black Mass is heading towards their planet. Calhoun learns that Xyon is his son.
The Redeemers get Calhoun and the Excalibur crew to help them deal with the approaching Black Mass by holding the planet Fenner hostage, and later kidnapping Burgoyne 172 and Doctor Selar. Calhoun organizes countermeasures to both of these events but goes ahead with attempts to deter the Black Mass anyway (Si Cwan reports that the Black Mass can devour planets and stars). Si Cwan is more concerned about the growing relationship between his sister, Kalinda, and Calhoun’s son, Xyon, than he appears to be about the Black Mass. The first attempt at attacking the Black Mass only results in part of it breaking off to attack them, but they escape with a small sample to study. They discover that sound waves disrupt it, but since sound won’t travel through the vacuum of space, that knowledge doesn’t seem too helpful. Later they realize that the phasers can be modified to produce a similar effect, but it doesn’t work well enough to stop the Black Mass’s progress towards the Redeemer’s planet. Finally, they realize there is a black hole nearby, and they manage to lure the Black Mass into it, but apparently at the loss of Xyon, although he is actually still safe aboard his ship, but with the cloaking device activated. He transports the remaining sample of the Black Mass from Excalibur and deposits it on the Redeemer’s planet. While Burgoyne and Selar are being held captive they get attacked by, but escape from, a one-eyed one-horned flying purple people-eater, and their child (who they plan to call Xyon) is born.
The Excalibur has been suddenly and mercilessly destroyed, with the loss of Captain Mackenzie Calhoun. First Officer Shelby hopes to get the captaincy of the Exeter but is inclined against requesting that the rest of the Excalibur crew get assigned to the ship. Lieutenant Soleta returns to Vulcan to learn that the man she has known as her father (Volak) has received a message (sent to Soleta’s late mother, T’Pas) from the Romulan (Rajari) who had raped her mother and was her biological father. Taking the message to be a threat, she sets out to track down the Romulan, Rajari, but finds he is dying of Hammonds syndrome, and claiming to have had a religious conversion, and to be repentant of his actions. Soleta effectively befriending him, and saves him from an attack by a Romulan official. Before he dies, Rajari asks Soleta to return to Romulus an object he claims is a family heirloom he had stolen. Soleta agrees, but when she returns it, it sets of an explosion that destroys the Noble House along with several Romulan dignitaries. Meanwhile, Zak Kebron and Mark McHenry have been sent to discourage some alien students who are causing havoc on the planet Liten, but they encounter Q who sees something in McHenry that even gives pause to Q. During this time, Kalinda and Si Cwan have discovered that an old instructor of theirs (Jereme) has been brutally murdered, apparently by a previous student named Olivan, and they set about tracking him down. And Burgoyne and Selar have returned to Vulcan with their son, Xyon.
Selar decides that Xyon should be raised as a Vulcan, and that Burgoyne shouldn’t be part of the child’s life, but Burgoyne doesn’t give up easily, even bringing the case before T’Pau. But Selar gets the child, although she has second thoughts about it after the child’s development turns out to be very un-Vulcan-like. She sends Xyon to Burgoyne (in the care of her brother, Slon), and after Spock talks to her, she joins the two of them on Earth. Meanwhile, Robin and her mother, Morgan Lefler, have gone to Risa, where they meet Scotty (just past his 150th birthday), who has been working as the in-house techie for the El Dorado resort as a greeter. Morgan dates Rafe Viola, and Robin dates Rafe’s son, Nikolas, but the manager of the resort, Quincy, and apparently Scotty are killed by (or due to the actions of) Rafe. Rafe and Nik are involved in a scheme to defraud the resort, and Morgan comes to realize that something is wrong. At that point, Si Cwan and Kalinda arrive on the scene, claiming that Rafe is Olivan (although Rafe says that it was actually Nik who had murdered Jereme). Rafe reveals that they had been involved in the “double helix situation”, and that was related to the destruction of the Excalibur. He also reveals that he has installed a virus in the central computer of El Dorado, and that if he is killed, the whole area will become a death trap.
Mackenzie Calhoun had managed to escape from Excalibur aboard a shuttle, just before Excalibur exploded, but he is involved in an uncontrolled crash-landing on the planet Yakaba. He is rescued by Rheela’s son, Moke, but he ends up in jail after attacking Rheela while in a delirious state. When another prisoner’s (Kusack’s) brothers try to stage a jailbreak, Calhoun becomes the local Majister (sheriff) when the previous Majister gets killed. He goes to live with Rheela and Moke, who are somewhat outcasts, even though (or because) Rheela is a valued rainmaker. Meanwhile, Shelby is captain of the Exeter, and is having her own problems settling a dispute between the planets of Makkus and Corinder, while dealing with her hand-picked, rule-quoting first officer. Calhoun gets on the wrong side of the local entrepreneur, Tapinza, and Tapinza brings in an alien, backed up by Kusack’s brothers, to kill Calhoun. However, Calhoun manages to booby trap the place where the duel is to take place, and the alien, Krut, is killed, but Rheela gets killed by one of Kusack’s brothers. Before she dies, Calhoun promises to look after Moke, and he takes him with him when he leaves Yakaba aboard Krut’s ship (a Federation shuttle). A new ship is to be named Excalibur, and Shelby is to take command of it, but at the launching ceremony Calhoun turns up and proposes marriage to her. They do get married, but Calhoun gets the captaincy of the new Excalibur (with most of his old crew), and Shelby becomes captain of the Trident, with both ships assigned to the Thallonian quadrant.
The Aerons and the Markanians had been relocated from their home planet, Sinqay, to separate planets by the old Thallonian Empire because of their constant waring. When a supposed Iconian (a female named Smyt) arrives on Markania and offers the Markanians the use of a portable gateway (supposedly the only one in existence), they use it to attack the royal palace of the Aerons, and apparently kill all of the royal family, except for a nine-year-old daughter of the king and queen, Tsana, who is left in a coma-like state. When the gateway connection is learnt about, Excalibur (captained by Calhoun) heads for Aeron, and Trident (with Captain Elizabeth Shelby) heads for Markania. Arex and M’Ress are now aboard Trident having both been displaced in time from Kirk’s era. The Aerons are then offered the use of a portable gateway by a male Iconian (also named Smyt), and they use it to attack the Markanians, but Shelby puts a stop to that attack. A rebel group of Markanians, led by Ebozay, stage a coup soon afterwards and take over power from the previous governing body (which was more peace oriented). When the Aeron’s warmaster, Burkitt, refuses to accept Calhoun’s offer of help for Tsana, Calhoun has her beamed aboard Excalibur, and Dr. Selar, helped by Soleta, are able to mind meld with her and bring her out of the coma. Then it is discovered that the warmaster had killed the girl’s brothers, hoping to completely eliminate the royal family so that he would gain control of the planet. After much negotiation and threatening, Calhoun gets representatives of both planets to attend a peace conference at their original home planet, Sinqay. Both sides also insist on taking along their gateway, with its Iconian master (to ensure that neither side starts an attack). Arriving at Sinqay, it is discovered that the planet is no longer habitable, having been tilted on its axis by the final battles before the Thallonians relocated the two sides. When the Iconians are beamed down to the planet, they are both surprised to see the other (Soleta speculates that they are from different universes) and when they both start up their gateway the combined effect starts to suck everything in, and Calhoun and Shelby end up going through before the effect stops. They find themselves on a freezing planet with Ebozay (dead) the two Smyts (also dead) and a live gateway, which they go through.
[Continuing from Book seven of seven – What Lay Beyond] Calhoun and Shelby find themselves in what appears to be the Xenexian’s warrior-heaven, known as Kaz’hera, where they both get killed regularly, but then relive the events leading up to the previous death and find ways to continue on, until the next death. Shelby thinks Calhoun is enjoying it too much (he also meets his long dead father – but not his son, which gets him thinking). Shelby finally tells Calhoun that she’s had enough of it and plans to return through the gateway. Calhoun agrees to go with her, even if they only end up dying together on the ice planet and Calhoun’s father helps then reach the gateway. On the ice planet, a shuttlecraft arrives to rescue them, piloted by McHenry.
The Trident (with Captain Shelby) is sent to Danter as the rulers of the planet have asked to speak with Si Cwan. Excalibur (with Captain Calhoun) is on its way to investigate some mysterious energy emissions, which it is feared might be related to the Iconian gateways. Zak Kebron has become increasingly suspicious of Mark McHenry and his capabilities, and he gets Soleta to watch their old friend too. As they are approaching the source of the energy emissions, McHenry suddenly turns the ship around, but a giant hand appears in space and stops them. A lady then appears on the ship, who gives her name as Artemis, and it turns out that McHenry had known her since he was a child and had later had an affair with her before he became worried by her powers and had broken off the relationship. She claims to be the sister of Apollo (who Kirk had had an encounter with), and apparently McHenry is the great, great, great, grandson of Apollo (resulting from the affair between Apollo and Kirk’s crewperson, Carolyn Palamas). Meanwhile the Danteri have proposed the reestablishment of the Thallonian Empire, and Si Cwan goes along with the plan initially. Si Cwan gets suspicious of the Dateri after he finds himself being kept out of meetings with representatives of other worlds, and his sister, Kalinda, sees a mysterious “person” who she identifies with death. The Danteri finally admit to Si Cwan that they have been dealing with a group (Artemis’ associates, who call themselves the Beings) who have offered them an elixir, known as ambrosia, and Si Cwan is surprised to find himself overpowered and held captive by the ambrosia empowered Danteri. Artemis offers Calhoun the ambrosia elixir in return for being worshipped, but Calhoun refuses, and the Excalibur finds itself being attacked by a fleet of Greek battleships. At first the Excalibur appears to be gaining the upper hand, but end up being rammed, and McHenry and Morgan are killed. The opposing ships are driven off when the Trident arrives to join the battle.
The Trident tows the Excalibur to a space station for repairs, where it is discovered that Morgan’s body may be dead, but her personality has ended up in (or as) the Excalibur’s main computer. It is also noticed that McHenry’s body is not deteriorating, so it becomes unclear whether he is really dead or alive. Moke talks of seeing a ‘one-eyed man’ and McHenry, and Soleta tries mindmelding with McHenry’s body and says she caught a glimpse of him in there. Si Cwan and Kalinda get expelled rather forcefully from Danter but get rescued by a Romulan starship carrying Ambassador Spock who has been sent by the Federation to investigate what is going on at Danter (due to his previous encounter with Apollo). The Trident is called on to take Spock to Danter, and Calhoun decides to test out the repairs to the Excalibur by going there as well. As they observe the inhabitants of Danter, it becomes clear that they are somehow drugged by the ambrosia that the Beings are giving them, and then a Tholian fleet turns up claiming that Danter falls within the Tholian Empire, but the Beings destroy the Tholian ships. The Beings also start to turn against the Federation ships, but the ‘one-eyed man’ is actually Zeus (or Jupiter, Woden, Amen-Re, or Santa Claus), who has been kept isolated by the other Beings (after they escaped imprisonment by him, at the time of the gateways). He starts to gain opportunities as the other Beings are occupied with the Tholian and the Federation vessels, and together with McHenry and the efforts of the Trident and Excalibur crews (who had discovered how to cut the beings off from drawing strength from their ‘worshippers’), they get the other Beings captured in a rift. The effort is too much for Zeus and he fades out, but not before passing the essence of his being into McHenry, and McHenry remains to guard the other Beings to ensure they don’t escape again. Zeus had been Moke’s father, which accounted for Moke’s powers to create storms. During these events Zak Kebron sheds his old skin and progresses from being the equivalent of a teenager to become an adult. Then Calhoun and Shelby discover the torn-up body of the Trident’s science officer, Lieutenant Commander Gleau.
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