Blaze of Glory (novel)
A renegade ship's captain threatens the USS Enterprise and the Federation!

Blaze of Glory is a Pocket TNG novel – #34 in the numbered series – written by Simon Hawke. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in .

Summary 
From the book jacket
The  is assigned to the planet K'Trall – a planet just coming out from under the heel of barbarous suppression. When the planet's newly emerging freedom is threatened by a rogue ship attacking Federation shipping, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his crew put their lives on the line to protect K'Trall from the raids.

But the planet itself holds a deadly secret, one that could lead to resurgence of the despotic cruelty they have suffered for centuries. With time running out, Captain Picard must see his way past a maze of deadly deception, with billions of lives hanging in the balance.

The Enterprise is sent to the planet K'Trall near the Romulan Neutral Zone, to deal with a pirate that has been disrupting shipping in the area. He is called Blaze, and has at his disposal a refitted  vessel. Blaze's ship, dubbed the Glory, even has a cloaking device installed and manages to damage the Enterprise in a sneak attack.

J'drahn, the overlord of K'trall, seems reluctant to offer his assistance in capturing Blaze, and Captain Picard becomes suspicious. He sends Riker, La Forge, and Lt. Dorn, a security officer from Starbase 37, on an undercover mission. Posing as disgraced spacers, the three manage to become a part of Blaze's crew.

Picard soon becomes convinced that J'drahn is in league with Blaze. Unfortunately, the only man that can stop him is his father, the war-hero General H'druhn. The general, however, refuses to believe anything bad about his son.

Hoping that he can convince H'druhn of the truth, Picard rescues Colonel Z'gral, an old friend of the general. While there, the captain learns that the Romulans have a large force on K'Trall and are planning to assassinate General H'druhn.

Aboard the Glory, Riker discovers that Blaze's first mate is a spy for the Romulans, and that there is a cloaked Warbird in pursuit of the Enterprise. He manages to get off a warning message, but is badly wounded, and Lt. Dorn is killed. Blaze himself kills the traitor and saves Riker's life.

With the Glorys help, the Enterprise defeats the Romulans in space and thwart General H'druhn's assassination. Blaze is allowed to leave with his ship, but must restrict his piracy to Romulan space.

Memorable quotes 
"There he goes," said Riker. He shook his head. "The Romulans outfitted his ship, and now he's going to use it against them. That's what I call nerve."
"It's what I call poetic justice," said Picard.
 - Riker and Picard

Background information 
 Story is set before .

Characters 
 Jean-Luc Picard
 William T. Riker
 Geordi La Forge

References

External links 
 
 

cs:Blaze of Glory (román)
de:Die Rückkehr der Despoten
Novels