The Center Network

    For two centuries, Charles “Trip” Tucker III was believed to have been tragically killed just days before the ratification of the Coalition of Planets charter. Declassified Section 31 documents reveal history was altered; not only was the Coalition of Planets charter signed years earlier, but Commander Tucker did not exactly die…

    Star Trek: Enterprise: The Good That Men Do by Andy Mangels and Michael A. Martin is the first book in the Enterprise Relaunch to detail the adventures of the NX-01 Enterprise after the ending of the television series. This book also serves as a tool to retcon the events of the final episode “These Are The Voyages…” which featured a number of inconsistencies and the unnecessary death of Charles Tucker. Luckily, since the events of that episode were portrayed in a holodeck program, it was not an awkward transition at all for a retcon. Instead of pretending that the events never did happen as with usual retcons, the authors used Section 31 as a means to alter the history that would eventually be viewed by Riker and Troi in the future. This also allowed them to move the timeframe back to just after the “Terra Prime” episode, providing for a much cleaner relaunch timeframe. The book itself utilizes Deep Space 9 characters Nog and Jake Sisko, now living in old age, as a way to peruse the now declassified Section 31 documents to tell the “real” story. The events involving Enterprise itself are not entirely new. The book mostly weaves together elements of the final episode with the Aenar storyline from earlier Season 4 episodes. The signing of the Coalition of Planets charter is fast approaching, and the Romulans want to do everything they can to disrupt the event, including launching more telepathic drone-ships. Captain Archer realizes how much of a threat the Romulans can be and wants to do something about it, but Starfleet Command wants to take a defensive approach. The final piece of this story’s puzzle involves Commander Tucker. Experiencing much pain and suffering from recent events involving Terra Prime, Tucker decides the best way to cope is to focus on getting away and doing something productive. When news of the defensive stance on the Romulans becomes known, Tucker uses Malcolm Reed’s connections to hook up with Section 31 and hopefully do something about the Romulans. This leads to a split storyline, with Enterprise attempting to track down a raiding ship full of captured Aenar while Tucker attempts to infiltrate a secret Romulan project for Section 31. Most of The Good That Men Do ends up being a retreading or retelling of familiar events, but it successfully fixes many of the problems with the final episode of Enterprise and provides an excellent launch pad for the further adventures of the NX-01 Enterprise.