Captain Kirk and the Enterprise must defend the colonists of Belle Terre from aliens using biochemical warfare.

Many light-years away from the safety of the Federation, the Starship Enterprise stands guard over an unstable alien world whose unique natural resources could change the balance of power throughout the Star Trek galaxy. Against all odds, Captain James T. Kirk and his crew have preserved the struggling Federation colony on Belle Terre, but their heroic efforts may have been in vain. In a last-ditch attempt to drive the entrenched settlers off their new home, the alien species Kauld have contaminated the planet’s atmosphere with a destructive biochemical agent that will soon render the entire world uninhabitable to human life. With only weeks to spare, Spock races to find a scientific solution to their dire predicament, while Kirk takes the battle to the enemy, determined to wrest the secret of their salvation from the very forces out to destroy the future of this new Earth.

Created by an incalculably ancient civilisation whose transcendent technology is quantum levels beyond that of the Federation and its allies, the newly discovered Gateways offer instantaneous transportation across the stars. Their sudden reactivation has destabilised relations between planets and cultures hitherto separated by countless light years. Starfleet's finest have coped with the crisis as best they can, but circumstances have forced a handful of valiant commanders, one after another, to make the leap through separate Gateways into the unknown. Each of these brave heroes has taken the ultimate gamble and hurled themselves bodily into a Gateway with no knowledge or forwarning of what they will find on the other side. Each must face a unique personal challenge and find their own way back to the ships and the homes they left behind. And beyond at least one of the Gates are their mysterious and primordial architects, the ageless Iconians themselves... THE AUTHORS of the Gateways saga are: Diane Carey, Peter David, Keith R.A. DeCandido, Christie Golden, Robert Greenberger and Susan Wright.

In this thrilling Star Trek novel, the crew of the Starship Enterprise embarks on its most ambitious assignment yet: to lead a courageous band of settlers to a far-off planet and defend the fragile new colony from alien threats amidst the mysteries of a stunning new Earth. A six-month journey from the Federation, the planet Belle Terre offers a new life to more than 30,000 families, pioneers, scientists, expatriates, go-getters, loners, and entrepreneurs, all under the watchful eye of Captain Kirk and his crew. But the would-be colonists have barely settled in the untamed wilderness of their new home when Spock makes a startling discovery: not only does the planet’s moon contains a rare ore of almost inestimable value, that same moon is also violently unstable. Within months, it will inevitably explode—destroying all life on Belle Terre. Will the Starship Enterprise be able to save this new Earth and all its inhabitants before it’s too late?