Authors Shirley Maiewsky, Anna Mary Hall, & Virginia Tilley wrote alternating chapters of this serialized novel which takes place in their "Light Fleet" universe. (The other 3 universes are: the regular Star Trek universe; the Mirror universe; and the fan-fic "Kraith" universe.)

#1 (1974)     #2 (1975)     #3 (?)     Echerni: The Lightfleet Letters (1980)    

Kirk is distracted by headache at a critical battle moment, and three planets are destroyed by the enemy. The guilt-ridden Kirk is drummed out of the fleet and sent penniless into the world. Spock and McCoy prevent him from committing suicide, and he becomes a freight navigator under an assumed name. However, he is recognized by an agent of Light Fleet - benevolent meddlers in societies, the same folks who employed Gary Seven, and whose aim is a peaceful galaxy. This issue ends with Kirk recruited to Light Fleet as an “Action Agent.” When a mission goes awry, Kirk is briefly captured on the Enterprise, but Spock and McCoy, trusting him, allow him to escape. A pleasant enough read with decent writing, though the angst was a bit overdone, and I found I didn't care much for the whole idea of Light Fleet - too much Big Brother, perhaps.

My same criticisms apply to this second installment - everybody's guilt-ridden agonizing is heavy-handed and Light Fleet is a disturbing concept. But again, the writing is frequently quite good, and the plot kept me reading - or at least scanning for the most interesting bits. On assignment, agent Kirk is rescued from hanging by the Enterprise - alerted by Light Fleet. (Uhura, conveniently, is also an agent.) When McCoy discovers his communications chip, Kirk, per Light Fleet orders, escapes by staging his own suicide. Blaming himself for having betrayed Jim in obeying his Starfleet oath, McCoy becomes such a total wreck that Spock suspends him and he goes to soak his sorrows on leave planet Gagarin. Meanwhile, back in Light Fleet, Vulcan agent Malon is assigned to assassinate the Klingon leader to stop intergalactic war. She does so, but is devastated at having killed. She compares sorrows with Kirk, and they get permission to collect Dival, a Light Fleet telepathic psychologist, and go to Gagarin to put McCoy right. McCoy, however, detects and prevents the healer's telepathic contact, and cannot be cured in the short time left before Dival must go home to undergo a type of spontaneous fission in which a Child is formed. Distracted by McCoy's problems, Dival leaves it too late and goes into the "creation" phase with McCoy witnessing the weirdness. Meanwhile, the war has not stopped after all - Klingons attack Gagarin with a new, indestructible ship, and Enterprise roars into the fray. Dival's friends arrive to help him in his Creation, and Kirk shows himself to McCoy, opting for personal over professional loyalty. But McCoy has now seen too much. He is invited into Light Fleet, but refuses to abandon Spock and has them mind-wipe him, all except for the knowledge that Kirk is alive, which he is allowed to share with Spock. Oh, meanwhile... Malon has had to participate in a Vulcan gang-mind-meld and Spock - also drafted into the group - recognizes her from long ago and questions her supposed death and motives, but she escapes thanks to Light Fleet training. Enterprise, with a little help from Light Fleet, defeats the invincible Klingon ship - leaving Spock to ponder the impossibility of that victory and start putting 2 & 2 together. Kirk and Malon go off to new Light Fleet adventures.