'Star Trek: Discovery' Novel To Revisit Key Event From Captain Kirk's History

The second Star Trek: Discovery novel will focus on one of the darkest moments in the life of James T. Kirk.

Star Trek: Discovery: Drastic Measures, by author Dayton Ward, will take place a decade before the Battle at the Binary Stars that kicks off the war between the Klingons and the Federation of Planets. The novel finds Gabriel Lorca, then a Lt. Commander, and Philippa Georgiou, then a Commander, responding to a crisis on the planet Tarsus IV.

Here's the synopsis:

It is 2246, ten years prior to the "Battle at the Binary Stars," and an aggressive contagion is ravaging the food supplies of the remote Federation colony Tarsus IV and the eight thousand people who call it home. Distress signals have been sent, but any meaningful assistance is weeks away. Lieutenant Commander Gabriel Lorca and a small team assigned to a Starfleet monitoring outpost are caught up in the escalating crisis, and bear witness as the colony's governor, Adrian Kodos, employs an unimaginable solution in order to prevent mass starvation.

While awaiting transfer to her next assignment, Commander Philippa Georgiou is tasked with leading to Tarsus IV a small, hastily assembled group of first responders. It's hoped this advance party can help stabilize the situation until more aid arrives, but Georgiou and her team discover that they're too late—Governor Kodos has already implemented his heinous strategy for extending the colony's besieged food stores and safeguarding the community's long-term survival.

In the midst of their rescue mission, Georgiou and Lorca must now hunt for the architect of this horrific tragedy and the man whom history will one day brand "Kodos the Executioner."

Fans of Star Trek: The Original Series will recognize Kodos the Executioner from the episode "The Conscience of the King." That episode revealed that Kodos was responsible for killing 4,000 people on Tarsus IV, half of the population, and that one of those who lived on the planet and survived was Captain Kirk himself. Kirk was also revealed to be one of only a few alive who could identify Kodos.

In addition to illuminating a key moment in Kirk's history, the novel may also help fans understand the unconventional Captain Lorca of the USS Discovery.

Star Trek: Discovery: Drastic Measures goes on sale February 6, 2018.