Long after the end of the series Star Trek: Enterprise, Admiral Jonathan Archer is working to bring in new members to the newest gang this side of the Galactic Center, the United Federation of Planets. We heard about various planets in the Rigel system and we’ve even seen different variations of them on-screen. But how are they all related? Will they become a member at this time? And what is Trip up to these days?
Star Trek: Enterprise: Rise of the Federation: Tower of Babel
Author: Christopher L. Bennett
Pages: 349
Format: eBook
Published: April 1, 2014
Publisher: Pocket Books
View on Goodreads
Date Completed: February 3, 2024
My rating: 
Synopsis
The Rigel System. Several planets of varying species have come together to form a type of stellar community. A federation, if you will. A bunch of planets united together in commerce. So why would they want to join the Federation? And why would the Federation want them?
So Admiral Jonathan Archer and a bunch of Federation diplomats travel to Babel, a neutral planetoid, to debate Rigel’s admission. But there’s also a presidential race happening that just so happens to cause a stir at Babel.
And the Orions are back, doing what they do best – being pirates and bad, bad people. They do what they can to cause dissent among the Rigellians, kidnapping some of Starfleet’s finest for the cause.
And don’t forget about Charles “Trip” Tucker. He’s still working with Section 31, trying to help the Saurians through a crisis of their own.
Thoughts
I’m not really sure why the Federation was so bent on getting the Rigel system to join. The various planets were so disjointed and not united. If it was a singular planet with different nations acting the same way, the Federation would have waited. But alas, Archer is going to Archer.
I get it that they’re trying to expand the Federation. And what better way than to bring in a system that is already pretty big and well-known in its own right.
It really felt to me as if the author was trying so hard to take all the disparate things we know about the Rigel system from the shows and making them all make sense. He did a fine job of describing the different races we know from canon. But in doing so, I felt as if we should have put Rigel on the path to unity. And followed up with their admission to the Federation in another book down the line. It was just insane to me that they were still admitted at the end.
The Trip storyline feels disjointed to me too. I love Trip and want to read more about his adventures. It just didn’t really feel like it had a good place to fit in this book. And I would have been okay leaving him out so that we can explore his character in a different book.
And I’m sorry, but I’m tired of the Orions. I really don’t know what it is about them, but whenever they show up, I just want to go back to the other parts of the story.
Conclusion
To be frank, the Orions ruined this story for me. At no fault of the author. He did as good a job as we could want trying to piece together all we know (or thought we knew) about this time period and the races that were major players in it. The characters’ voices are all spot on and I really enjoy seeing where they’re all at during this time. But I have to give this book 3 stars. Some of the parts, mainly with the Orions, just dragged on too long for my tastes. I’m sure I’m in store for more Orions in the next books, but that’s okay. I’m honestly excited to continue in this series.
