The Children of Kings
The Children of Kings is a Pocket TOS novel written by Dave Stern. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in . 

The novel features Christopher Pike, and is set during his command of the . The Orion Syndicate, Number One, and Spock also feature.

Summary 
From the book jacket
A distress call goes out from a Federation outpost near the Klingon border. The , under the command of Captain Christopher Pike, responds. Starbase 18 lies in ruin. There are no survivors. And there is no clue as to who is responsible for the attack, until Captain Pike's brilliant science officer discovers a means of retrieving parts of the station's log. Lieutenant Spock has detected signs of a unique energy signature, one that he believes is Klingon. There are unsubstantiated reports that the Klingon Empire has made a technological leap forward and created a cloaking device – code-named Black Snow Seven – that can shield their ships from even the most advanced sensors. The destruction of the base and the unique energy signature that remains prove that the Empire has succeeded.

For generations the Orions have been known as pirates, operating at the margins, outside of legal conventions. A proud and powerful race, the Orions were once a major force in the sector, and they have been using the tension between the Klingon Empire and the Federation to rebuild their power. Captain Pike is charged with trying to foster cooperation between the Orions and the Federation. A distress call from an Orion vessel offers him the perfect opportunity. But the Orion ship lies in disputed space long claimed by the Klingon Empire, and crossing it could be the spark that sets off an interstellar war.

References

Background information 
 The novel was originally titled To Thine Own Self. It was solicited to retailers by Pocket under that title, and a cover bearing it was used in the Spring 2010 catalog. Stern and editor Margaret Clark ultimately felt that The Children of Kings seemed more appropriate. 
 The title and story were revealed by editor Margaret Clark at the Shore Leave convention on .
 Cover art by Cliff Nielsen, design by Alan Dingman.
 J.M. Colt is already serving as Christopher Pike's Yeoman in this story, and two other Federation Captains remark how unusual it is to have a female Yeoman. However, in The Cage it was established that Colt had only recently been appointed, as Pike's previous (male) Yeoman was killed on Rigel VII.
 In an Author's Note at the end of the book, David Stern states that he was inspired to write this story after seeing 2009's Star Trek and sees the book as a prequel to that film. Despite of this, he still pictured actor Jeffrey Hunter rather than Bruce  Greenwood when writing about Pike. The cover art features Hunter and Leonard Nimoy instead of Greenwood and Zachary Quinto.

Cover gallery 

Children of Kings, The