House of Cards
A new ship, a new crew, a new mission! 

House of Cards is a Star Trek: New Frontier novella – the first book in the series – written by Peter David. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in .

Summary 
From the book jacket
Sector 221-G: For the whole of Federation history, this large area of space has been controlled by the Thallonians, a cruel, militaristic race of which little is known – except that they rule the other races in their sector with a vicious iron hand. 

Now the Thallonian Empire has collapsed and the systems it once ruled are in chaos. Old hatreds are surfacing. Petty tyrants control deadly weapons. World after world is descending into disorder and self-destruction. The Federation must send a starship to help where it can and report what it finds. 

That ship is the , a newly refit  starship commanded by Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and manned by Starfleet's best and brightest, including some old friends from  and some of the most dynamic new characters ever to crew a Federation starship. 

Join Captain Calhoun and the crew of the USS Excalibur as they explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no one has gone before!

Background information 
 The novella's title does not appear on its cover, where it is identified merely as  Book One. House of Cards appears only on the inside title page, and identifies the book in Pocket's backlist.
 The novella was later collected in the Star Trek: New Frontier Omnibus.
 Combined with the other three novellas in this serialized release, House of Cards reached number nine on the New York Times Best Seller List for , the serial novel's third week on the list.  The serial remained on the list for four weeks.

Characters

Main cast and recurring characters 
Mackenzie Calhoun  Starfleet captain of USS Excalibur

Elizabeth Shelby  Starfleet commander, Excalibur executive officer.
Si Cwan  Thallonian royal family member, a refugee of the Thallonian Empire collapse.

Selar  Starfleet medical officer, CMO of Excalibur.
Soleta  Starfleet science officer. Soleta previously appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation - Starfleet Academy series.
Spock  Half-Vulcan ambassador.
Jean-Luc Picard  Starfleet captain of the Enterprise-E. Picard is the one who recruited Mackenzie Calhoun into Starfleet.

Edward Jellico  Starfleet admiral.
D'ndai  Xenexian.
Falkar  Danterian.
Kally  Nickname of Kallinda, Si Cwan's sister.
Morgan Korsmo  Former captain of Excalibur.
Ryjaan
Yoz

Other characters 
Kristian Ayre  Enterprise-E conn lieutenant.
Barsamis  Trader.
Bragonier  Danteri.

Jack Crusher  Stargazer officer.
Delina  Danteri.
Giniv  Vulcan.
Seth Goddard  Starfleet commander.
Voltak  Selar's late husband.
Krassus  Orion.
Paige  Enterprise-E tactical officer, a lieutenant
Zina

References 
Calhoun  Xenexian village.
Battle of Condacin  One of a number of military conflicts where M'k'n'zy cemented his role as leader, and liberator, of Xenex.
Danteri  Humanoid species.
Danterian Empire  Government.
Deep Space 5  Federation starbase.
  Federation Sovereign-class starship.
   starship.
IDIC
katra
USS Grissom  Federation starship.
Mojov Station  Space station.
The Pit
Plains of Seanwin
pon farr
Search for Allways
Sector 221-G
Sector 221-H
Starfleet Academy

Thal
Thallon
Thallonian Empire  Government.
Thallonian steed
Thallonian Summit
Vulcan
warhoon
Xenex  Planet.
Xenexian  Humanoid species.

Timeline 
2353
2363
2373

External link 
 

Novels