The Children of Kings. Before Kirk's historic five-year mission, the mighty U.S.S. Enterprise was commanded by Captain Christopher Pike. In response to an apparent Klingon attack on a Federation starbase, Pike takes the Enterprise to the Borderlands, a lawless region of space controlled by the Orions. Hoping to strike an alliance with elements of the Orion syndicate, Pike soon discovers that not all is as it seems with this mysterious and ancient race.

In this episode of Literary Treks, hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson are joined by Justin Oser to discuss The Children of Kings. We talk about the time period in Star Trek history, some confusion about which timeline the book takes place in, Dr. Philip Boyce, Orion history, Number One, other characters in the novel, and wrap up with our final thoughts and ratings.

At the top of the show, Dan and Bruce review issue #3 of IDW's Star Trek: Year Five and respond to listener feedback from The Babel Conference on Literary Treks 272: A Fun Borg Romp?.

News Star Trek: Year Five #3 Comic Review (00:03:09) Listener Feedback (00:16:55)

Feature: The Children of Kings The Setting (00:25:07) Kelvin or Prime? (00:31:55) Dr. Philip Boyce (00:42:16) The Orions (00:47:18) The Tallith (00:51:59) How We Visualize Things (00:57:26) Kritos and Pike (00:59:21) Number One (01:04:49) Captain Dmitri Vlasidovich (01:10:54) Starfleet Intelligence (01:14:05) Ratings (01:18:08) Final Thoughts (01:25:20)

Hosts Dan Gunther and Bruce Gibson

Production Bruce Gibson (Editor and Producer) Dan Gunther (Producer) C Bryan Jones (Executive Producer) Ken Tripp (Executive Producer) Matthew Rushing (Executive Producer) Richard Marquez (Production Manager) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Patreon Manager) Ken Tripp (Associate Producer) Brandon-Shea Mutala (Associate Producer) Justin Oser (Associate Producer) Norman C. Lao (Associate Producer) Greg Rozier (Associate Producer) Jeffery Harlan (Associate Producer)