Children of Hamlin, by Carmen Carter, is the third of the numbered TNG books .
There are two plots, the minor of which involves the ferrying of some “Farmers”, who eschew technology, to a new colony. The major plot begins with the discovery of a ship under attack by an unknown alien vessel. After sending the enemy ship into retreat they take on board the survivors, including one man named Deelor, to whom Picard is ordered by his superiors to hand over command control of a mission to engage with the aliens. Facts are revealed slowly in piecemeal, including that these aliens, the Choraii, were responsible for the “Hamlin massacre” years ago, including the kidnapping of the children from the eponymous colony. The crew is engaged on a mission to rescue these survivors (and their descendants).
Comments: It might be noted that the entire concept of the Federation having a dirty core is something that does not truly appear in the ST saga until the introduction of Section 31 in DS9, (although to be fair, not really dirty here – more faced with a utilitarian reality). The author does a good job misleading (without deceiving) the reader as regards the role and intentions of Deelor, and the reader’s fluctuations closely (and so sympathetically) mirror those of Picard. The minor plot also manages to stay just below the surface, which is good given its lack of interest, until such time as it is needed before the end when it is revealed that the Farmer’s goal planet has been attacked by a Choraii vessel. The Choraii, with their oblique social networks and music/harmony based epistemology (after all, they employ it not just for communication, but also for making sense of space’s topology and movement within it), form an interesting change from the standard fare.
External links:
As always, there’s some good stuff by Siskoid, and not much at MemoryAlpha or Beta.
