© 1994 Lois Tilton
280 pages
I recently acquired a box of thirty-odd Star Trek: Deep Space Nine paperbacks, and after excitedly pawing through them, Betrayal appeared of immediate interest for its cover, which depicted Marc Alaimo as Gul Macet. Alaimo later played Gul Dukat, one of Trek's more developed villains. Number six of the numbered DS9 novels, Betrayal, places the entire station in jeopardy. While ambassadors from various Federation worlds gather on DS9 for a conference that may open up economic opportunities for both Bajor and worlds throughout the Alpha Quadrant, the station becomes the target of multiple terrorists attacks that imperil the post and its crew as well as scuttling Bajor's hopes for a bright future in the Federation family. Meanwhile, a belligerent and comically-villainous Cardassian gul who demands that Sisko formally cede the station and the newly-discovered Wormhole to the Cardassian Union causes a stir when his troops begin shaking down the merchants of the promenade while looking for a deserter.
As the book takes place early in the DS9 canon, it contains a few anachronistic quirks in violating canon-yet-to-be-written. Quark and Garak are interpreted differently from the show's eventual treatment of them, for instance. Kira, Sisko, and the aforementioned Cardassian deserter are the primary voices in this tale, which proved interesting. While the primary plot tended toward the predictable, it did lead into DS9's second season and overall characterization pursues paths somewhat ignored by the television show until much later. I enjoyed the book most for the deserter's story. I like Cardassians, and his depiction was a welcome relief from the usual "Cardassians = Nazis in Space" treatment.
Nice light reading for a DS9 fan at any rate.
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