The Captains' Honor

Star Trek: The Next Generation #8

by David Dvorkin, Daniel Dvorkin

A series of vicious attacks by the M'Dok Empire has devastated the planet Tenara – bringing the USS Enterprise-D and another starship, the Centurion, to the planet's aid. The Centurion captain is Lucius Sejanus – a powerful, magnetic man who favors taking a far stronger stance against the M'Dok than Captain Picard. And as the conflict escalates, Sejanus's instincts seem to be correct… for it appears only extreme measures can stop the murderous raids on Tenara.

Now the people of Tenara must decide which path they will follow – the way of peace, or the road to war. But unknown to any, one of the Centurion officers has made that decision for them – and plans to provoke a full-scale war between the Federation and the M'Dok Empire!

Genres: Star Trek, Science Fiction, Star Trek The Next Generation, Fiction, Science Fiction Fantasy, Media Tie In, Ebooks

255 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published September 1, 1989

Reviews

[Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story; great writing.

[nnuk · Rating 2 out of 5]

A 'blah blah' attempt to turn a mundane TOS episode (Bread & Circuses) into a mundane book; and the result is, yes you guessed it, 'mundane'.

One of the joy of reading Star Trek is, well, the many excitements of future possibilities, humanity and anything far far beyond. If I wanted to read about Romans or German war, I'd probably go for history section. By giving a warp-drive spaceship to some Romans doesn't make a good Science Fiction. It's just a ST-themed messy drama.

[Bill · Rating 1 out of 5]

Blech.

On page 30 of 255 of The Captains' Honor and the Mary Sue and the Romans aboard the former Farragut were making me flinch already. The artist put a Japanese sword on the cover, not a Roman sword because it was cooler. Obviously, no one thought Romans would sell the book...

Ninjas would have been cooler. But there wasn't a single cool thing about this book, unless you're a little interested in the alternate history of Rome.

[Nadienne Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed the story as presented in this novel. It felt very Star Trek-y (although, far more TOS than TNG...which was kind of what TNG was like in the 1st season anyway)...we even had Riker trying to bone the alien world leader's daughter. And, in the end, the underlying conflict is resolved with diplomacy, in true TNG fashion. If you like Star Trek, you should read this book.

My favorite part was that we find out the Magna Roma world from TOS went through a cultural revolution after Cpt. Kirk left, becoming a Roman Republic instead of an Empire, and then joining the Federation. I really like the follow-up there. :)

I have a whole list of nerdy nit-picks and rants, as well...but, I'm not sure anyone actually wants to read those, so I shall keep them to myself...unless you reach out in the comments, and then I'll lay them all out.

[Donna · Rating 2 out of 5]

Captain Picard clashes with another Starfleet captain, Sejanus, when they are safeguarding a planet from an attack of cat people.

This was a pretty typical entry in the old ST:TNG numbered series. Authors of these books have two choices: they can either stick with our known crew and put them in a new situation, or they can have the crew, but focus on a few new, author-created characters. The Dvorkins chose to go with the latter, focusing mainly on Captain Sejanus (descended, along with the rest of the crew of his ship, from the Rome inspired 'Bread and Circuses' population) and Jenny, a security member under Worf. It was ok, just a little slow and boring. It's always nice to spend some time with the Star Trek family though.

[Camille · Rating 1 out of 5]

An uninteresting plot with mundane "new" characters, meanwhile the Enterprise crew lifelessly strolled about the novel doing nothing, seriously, nothing. A terribly boring book... totally without honor.

[Jeremiah Murphy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a solid story. I really liked the moral dilemma. My big problem with it was the ending fizzled after such a compelling build up. Is there a sequel?

I love how all sides of this story were given compelling reasons for their actions. Even the gruesome villains were a tad sympathetic.

This story was begging for a huge Picard speech. But we never got it. There were great Picard moments—especially if you’re a fan of Picard the diplomat.

Also points deducted for what felt like an obligatory Riker romance.

[WhatShouldIRead · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was an uneven read for me. Some of it was pretty good and the action well thought out. However there was alot of information about the civilization which I found slowed the book down. Granted, some of it was interesting but for me there was just too much.

I'm finding these franchise books to be extremely uneven. I'm not sure I've read any by an author that was completely absorbing in the Trek lore. But, the search continues...

[Randy Foster · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really liked this one, but it took a while to get going. It tried to weave an alternate history of Rome into the story, which took great suspension of disbelief, but even so, once I accepted it for what it was, I liked the plotting and scheming. The end felt a little rushed, but they did, quickly, tie up all loose ends.

[Scott Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have very clear memories of reading this novel as a kid. I still have a copy of the book report I wrote on it in grade seven.

It appeals to the Classicist in me. I love that the authors brought back the Magna Romans from TOS. They have a good handle on technical details established in prior Trek movies and on TV. For me, this is quite entertaining and I always wished there’d be a sequel.

[Petra · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trochu nudné. Na druhej strane aspoň nie príliš dlhé. Jean-Luc Picard a jeho posádka sa stretávajú s loďou Centurion, aby spoločne zabránili vojne...alebo žeby mal každý z nich iny názor?

Taký priemer, čítala som aj lepšie pribehy s Enterprise.

[Solitudes · Rating 2 out of 5]

What have the Romans ever done for us ?? Well, this time certainly not delivering a very good plot or book. I mean, is acceptable, in the way which listening to Mariah Carey's "What i want.." over and over again for Christmas, not because you like it but because you have to :))) So... the same with this book. You can read it because it's a TNG novel and you're such a fan or.. you can quite skip it. Something is not quite right with a book containing a ship full of Romans (yeah, Romans from from Rome as in Roman Empire from a planet where the Roman Empire never ceased to exist) which is supposed to be a legendary ship with epics battles (and the same with her Captain, also some legendary guy for some unknown reasons but described in the beginning of the book as being some sort of Kirk on steroids) but...that's it. They defeat an enemy ship which outguns them on a 4 to 1 ratio? Amazing battle - maybe, cause there is no word of how the amazing battle was won. Lol. And so on. Much emphasis on Picard and Sejanus (that captain supposed to be Kirk on steroids) , some Riker, a little bit of Worf, screw the others and screw also the plot where in the end all the bad guys are escaping and the end is just as interesting as the financial page of New York Times for a shepherd from the Maldives Islands. What? There is no shepherd there? Well, life kinda sucks. Like this book.

[Micah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this one. After returning to read some of these older ST novels for the first time since I was a kid, I've come to accept that they are basically fan fiction with a glossy cover, but this is a particularly egregious example. I think the authors' choice to revisit a world introduced in TOS in the TNG era has great potential, but the effort here is clumsy and completely inconsistent with even the very early episodes of TNG and its version of Starfleet. The romantic subplot with the 'native' girl and Riker is also cringe worthy. I feel that the this could have worked better if the original Enterprise crew had met the parallel Ancient Roman civilization again, especially since the original series was much less concerned about consistency and odd one off storylines that did not much sense if pondered very long.

[Kreg · Rating 1 out of 5]

Premise was interesting, but it went downhill from there. Having Magna Romans serve in Starfleet is certainly likely; having a complete ship for them in TNG era is not. The only ship run entirely by a specific race in was in TOS (the USS Intrepid, destroyed by the space Amoeba). By TNG that tradition seems to have been phased out. The Romans are far from "Starfleet normal" to be believable; none of the crew would have made it through the first year of the Academy as written.

In short, if this book had been set in the movie era; perhaps around Undiscovered Country timeframe it would be slightly more plausible; perhaps worthy of one more star. As it stands it's just bad, to make it a cliffhanger with a possible sequel just makes it worse.

[Daniel Kukwa · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the strangest Star Trek novels. The alternate Earth from the TOS episode "Bread and Circuses" now a Federation memeber? An Enterprise populated with crewmembers from other strange pseudo-Earths? There's an interesting story buried in here, but some of the continuity elements are warped and stretched around it, to ridiculous proportions. It's almost worth reading for curiosity value.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

An odd TNG book, in that all the characters apart from Picard and Riker are sidelined. The author concentrates on his characters more, so that it doesn't really feel like a TNG book that much. It was a quick read.

[Alan Grist · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not true to characters I know

Captain Picard does not ring true as well as word & some scenes, like a grieving ensign becoming romantic with a man right after her lover has died, just make no sense.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Captains Honor • David and Daniel Dvorkin • Pocket Books 1989 • Book 35 of 52
•
No mincing words here, I did not enjoy this book, it wasn’t SciFi, it was barely Star Trek. It revisits a TOS episode but the rest of the story used the TNG cast as supporting characters to a rather boring origin story for a new villain. The A-plot was a red herring, poorly resolved, and the ending was wide open and totally unsatisfactory. But here is my summary nonetheless because I need practice telling Star Trek stories.
•
Tenara is under attack by a felinoid race of aliens called the M’Dok. Two very different federation starships are dispatched to defend the planet, the USS Enterprise captained by Jean Luc Picard and the USS Centurion. The Centurion hails from Magna Roma, first visited by Kirk (ep. “Bread and Circuses”) 80 years ago. Captain Lucius Sejanus has an outstanding battle record but his lack of diplomacy could start a war using Tenara as the battlefield and its people as cannon fodder. 
•
For the away team Worf assigned Ensign Jenny de Luz from Meramar, a federation colony with similar martial views as Magna Roma. She installs defensive weapons on the surface with Gaius Aldus, the first officer of the Centurion. The pacifist people of Tenara refuse the weapons and the defensive training because it contradicts their beliefs. How can the federation protect Tenara without violating the Prime Directive? Picard takes a diplomatic approach and looks into the M’dok motivation for the attacks, but Sejanus has his own plot to indoctrinate the children on Tenara into Magna Roma to secure their future while broadening his empire.
•
There was a love interest shoehorned in between Riker and the daughter of the elected Tenaran leader. Lots of Magna Roman history played out on holo decks. Also a brief encounter with an unnamed crew of M’dok aliens as they attacked the capital city of Zhelnogra.
•
The story ends with the Centurion going rogue and labeled an enemy of the federation. Picard makes contact with the M’dok and resolves the famine that motivated their attacks, and Jenny de Luz now on the hunt for Captain Sejanus to bring him to trial for his crimes.
•
Meh.
•

[Octavia Cade · Rating 2 out of 5]

No matter what you think of the idea of another culture evolving in parallel to Earth's, the central conceit of this book (and of the episode that inspired it) is that such has happened, so might as well swallow down disbelief at the thought of ancient Romans in Starfleet and make the best of it. Essentially, this civilisation has evolved as the Romans did, and became part of the Federation, and Picard and the Enterprise are assigned to work alongside the crew of the Centurion, who are from this Roman world. Credit where it's due, the authors do a decent job of integrating the cultural background of the Centurion into Starfleet. A lot of this integration comes across as anachronistic, but in a universe where Vulcan crews and Klingon crews are accepted as normal, for instance, it's one very short step to a crew defined by a history rather than a culture (they're both very much intertwined, of course, but you get what I mean).

It works here because the captain and crew of the Centurion may not be the heroes of the story, but they put forth a valid viewpoint regarding their assignment to protect a planet from invasion. They're arguing in good faith, and if that good faith doesn't last, exactly (I'm trying not to give away too many spoilers) then it's certainly credible while it does last. Also, there's a junior security officer, one of Worf's cohort, who is likeable and given a central role that is not one of redshirt, which doesn't often happen with security officers in this franchise.

Unfortunately, it's let down by the conclusion, which is absolutely weak. It's like the story ran out of puff... several storylines are wrapped up in bare paragraphs, and the final scene is entirely unearned. Picard may muse about how much of the Centurion's captain is reflected in himself, but the text goes out of its way, many times, to show the exact opposite. It's as if this reflection has been tacked on to end the story on a thoughtful note, and it really doesn't.

[Michel Siskoid Albert · Rating 3 out of 5]

The return of the Romans from "Bread and Circuses" is unexpected and appreciated, though the use of a Constitution-class vessel is anachronistic. In fact, while I'm going to give this novel a good review, how it would fit in Star Trek canon is problematic at best. It seems implausible that Starfleet would let a ship function according to Roman ideals (even down to uniforms). The Centurion might have worked better as an allied Magna Roman ship, not as part of Starfleet. That's the big one, though the book gets smaller details wrong as well, like a delegation to the Enterprise using a shuttle to board the Centurion for a reception instead of using the transporters. Where the book works is in its presentation of other cultures. The Romans are very well drawn, both in their strategies and ethics, and the M'Dok are properly alien. You even get a sense of what being Tenaran means. The focus of the book is decidedly on the contrast between martial cultures and that of the Federation, and how one culture might proceed to assimilate another. The seduction of the Tenaran people is mirrored by that of Jenny de Luz, a good Tasha substitute, which allows for even more information about the Magna Romans to be presented. Worf has an excellent role, and Riker a little romance. Sadly, the M'Dok/Tenana plot is never resolved, and with Sejanus escaping at the end, it looked like this had everything required for a sequel. Never happened.

[Reesha · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.25 stars. This novel is a follow-up to the TOS episode Bread and Circuses, which was not a great watch and was not a stellar choice to base a novel on. The book is about as lacking in credulity as the episode was.

What's really a shame about this novel is that there is a more interesting story here that didn't get nearly enough time to shine: That of the peaceful world being attacked by the murderous force driven mad from famine, and the difficulty of trying to help them defend themselves when they see violence against another for any reason as unconscionable.

The attackers - M'dok - were especially interesting, but were barely developed, while chapter after chapter was dedicated to the ridiculous conceit that after only 80 years, Magna Roma managed to not only join the Federation, not only start having some citizens enroll in Starfleet, but has become so prevalent that they're allowed to run an entire starship with a Magna Roma-only crew - something we've only ever seen the oldest members of Starfleet do.

Their Romans-only ship is clearly breaking endless regulations, getting their own crew killed by rote, but our Starfleet crew just decide to let that fly for... well, no reason at all.

To put a cap on the lackluster experience, the entire ending just kind of fell apart.

Unless you are a huge fan of Roman history or you really loved Bread and Circuses, I'd give this one a miss.

[Daniel · Rating 1 out of 5]

Going into this book I didn't realize that the Magna Romans showed up in TOS. Skimming through the episode on Memory Alpha, there's a good chance I've never seen it. I don't recall anything from the description. Moving on, I assumed the Magna Romans were written specifically for this book, like many other Star Trek tie-in novels.

I didn't care for this book and I thought I would. The Magna Roman's have their heads up their asses. They're so flat you could use them as a plate. The entire time I was reading the novel, all I could think was, Why did the Federation accept these people as members? I also found it to be a stretch that Starfleet would staff an entire ship with Magna Romans; for the most part, all ships seem to have a mix of many races and cultures.

There is a scene at the end where Sejanus asks someone to get the Enterprise's prefix code. Like that was a curve ball, there's just a code that you can send that'll let you take over another ship remotely?

[Michael Hanscom · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somehow the Roman gladiator planet from TOS has become a full member of the Federation, with a Starfleet ship crewed entirely by these neo-Romans. It does not go well.

Perhaps there are some pieces of interest buried in here, but I just had too many problems buying that in a scant few decades, with the way they’re portrayed, that there would be a starship crewed nearly entirely by natives of this planet. It’s no wonder everything falls apart.

Beyond that, the book wraps up the secondary antagonist’s issues off screen and out of nowhere, and then the ending is left so far open, I have to wonder if there is a sequel (or if there was a plan for one, whether or not it manifested) later in the series.

Ah, well. I’m still early in the TNG run of novels. They won’t all be gems.

[Jon · Rating 2 out of 5]

If this book was made into an episode of Star Trek I think it would rank with the 'silly' episodes that pepper the catalogue. A race of aliens descended from cats? Well, I suppose it could happen... Another race (or two) descended - but not very far - from the ancient Romans?? Really? Star Trek always necessitates the viewer or reader suspending belief for the duration, and that is fine. That's what escapism is all about. Sometimes though, it goes a bit too far and that is the case with this novelette. Fortunately, it's not too long and so its silliness is tolerable.

Definitely not the best Star Trek novel, but it's OK.

[Joe Sullivan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Based on characters introduced in an episode of the original series, they simply don't fit in to the Next Generation narrative. Worse, the focus is on outside characters, not the TNG crew. Even worse, the little TNG cast usage is almost entirely limited to just Picard and Riker.
(It's almost like when one of those 80s TV series would put a backdoor pilot in as an episode that focused on these characters you'd never seen before and will never see again, and the actual cast are shoehorned in just enough to try and find a thread of plausibility that it's related to that show. Bad for those shows, even worse for a book.)

[Amber · Rating 1 out of 5]

I dug this out again the other day to re-read it (not having read it for a few years) and my thoughts could be summed up as 'this was less awful the first time'.

If this book was a fanfiction, the comment section would be full of complaints about Mary Sues and OOC. Few of the characters behave anything like their TV selves (save for Riker, who goes about his business as usual, messing everything up by getting into strange women's pants). The premise, while intriguing, is rendered absurd early on, when 'Magna Romans serving in Starfleet' (a promising concept) turns into 'bare-naked ladies and former slaves serve Roman delicacies to a Starfleet crew in full Roman armour' (hardly plausible).

Whereas the TNG crew never had any problems calling out unethical behaviour from their Starfleet colleagues onscreen, this one instead goes against their nature in every possible way. The protagonist of the story, an original character with the rank of ensign, makes everything worse by not only falling in love with a Roman - in the way usual for fanfiction, meaning implausibly fast, literally within minutes of meeting him - but also barely contributing anything useful to the story, other than a ridiculously obvious infodump in the form of a continuous inner monologue.

Most of the usual cast remain sidelined here - while LaForge and Data make a few cameos, most of the pages are spent on following Riker's and de Luz's politics-and-affairs chaos, with the occasional guest starring of Picard's. The new characters, including the Romans, seem flat and unlively as well, usually only serving to deliver some key dialogue or (unsubtly so) perform carricatures of what I assume are supposed to be emotions. All in all, the book is best summed up as a mediocre plot which is entirely at odds with its entire lack of Trek-ness. What starts out with 'this makes zero sense, Starfleet doesn't work like this, ever' doesn't really get better over the course of the next roughly 200 pages.

[Anthony Jackson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Would make for a good motion picture with more M'dok interaction. The storyline was excellent for 2/3 if the novel, but without fail another disappointing ending. In one fail swoop the Enterprise's technological superiority is demonstrated while incompetence or blatant disregard for common sense or security protocols allows the bad guy to escape. In what episode has there ever been the Enterprise's brig without security personnel stationed outside monitoring prisoners. There should be courts martial and demotions in abundance. Come on attention to details.

[Cheryl · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bleh. Our own crew did nothing. Troi counseled a new character, but said character didn't take Troi's advice, so that doesn't count. Data demonstrated that an android is handy in hand-to-hand combat. Riker let attraction turn into infatuation and then, fortunately, it faded in time for him to leave for the next adventure. And the Romans were ridiculous.

But I inherited almost the entire TNG numbered set so onward!

[Jay Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

Naturally, the idea that there are planets in the universe that follow Earth’s history is ludicrous. The premise in this book such a planet followed Roman history and is now a part of the Federation. The story itself is not ludicrous and is action packed. A race of sentient cats is preying on a Federation planet. A ship from the Roman planet is defending when the Enterprise arrives to assist. The Captain of that ship does not follow the prime directive. A conflict arises between allies.

[Kieran McAndrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

A threat of invasion leads to a clash of views between Captain Picard and a captain, Sejanus, from the 'Centurion' - a ship crewed by Romans from Magna Roma.

The book is called 'The Captains' Honor' and Dvorkin examines how both Sejanus and Picard view their role in the Federation and to what lengths they'd go to to uphold their views.