Survivors, by Jean Lorrah, is the fourth of the numbered TNG novels.
The story involves Data and Tasha being sent down to a potential Federation candidate planet (Treva) which has asked for help in quelling an insurrection by local warlords. Things happen, eventually they are captured by these warlords, who include Tasha’s former mentor and original rescuer and ex-lover (and who betrayed Starfleet and has been on the run ever since) Dare. More things happen, Data/Tash know that the supposed leader of the planet has drugged the population and they will (ostensibly because they are forced to) help the rebels. Rebels are victorious, reluctant arrest of Dare, discover Dare is innocent, “hurrah” Dare is freed and end story. The last chapter skips forward to Tasha’s funeral and also a discussion Data and the captain have, regarding events that have transpired.
Comments: As is similarly commented by various in many other comments on this novel, its novelty is its presentation of Tasha Yar, and it expands on various issues that were only dealt with in passing by the television series, especially including the impact of the one-night Data-Yar romance on the characters. To this is added an enrichment of the last scene of Skin of Evil.
However: as is so often the case, the author succumbs (on a regular basis) to making Data far more emotional than is expected. This includes not least his pangs of jealousy during Yar’s rediscovery of her love for Dare, but also at the end he shows a little too much comprehension of what Picard is telling him. That final scene could have been more appropriately poignant if Data had committed some of his dialogue and actions with a little less awareness of their implications. TNG succeeded best when Data exhibits a humanness that is still foreign to himself, a fact those around him appreciate but which he (at least until told) misses. Adding to the difficulty of Data’s character is Jean’s decision to present him occasionally in the first person, in a manner which, at least to myself, was not convincing. Other characters are mostly done well.
External links:
Notes and a review by Siskoid, and also the Memory pages – Alpha and Beta. There’s a good review by kallan at Amazon, which whilst praising the novel, points out some of the weak aspects of the novel which seem to generally be ignored.
