Captain Picard must decide whether to sacrifice a world in order to save the galaxy.

Interstellar civilization depends on the twin blessings of warp travel and subspace communications. But now an unknown force is disrupting subspace throughout the galaxy, creating "dead zones" in which advanced technology will not function. Ships are stranded in space, unable to communicate. Colonies are losing life support. Governments can no longer negotiate with their allies -- or their enemies. Worse yet, the dead zones are proliferating at a geometric rate. Unless a solution is found, the entire Alpha Quadrant may be doomed to a new dark age! in the wake of the Dominion War, a tenuous peace exists between the Federation and the Romulan Empire. The uneasy alliance is strained to the breaking point, however, by the enigma that is destroying subspace. Now Captain Jean-Luc Picard and Ambassador Spock must join forces with an infamous Romulan war criminal in a desperate attempt to find the source of the disruption -- even if it means sacrificing the very peace they hope to save!

A mysterious cosmic force is destroying the very fabric of subspace, rendering warp travel and interstellar communication impossible throughout scattered regions of the galaxy. Even worse, these "dead zones" are spreading rapidly, bringing the entire Alpha Quadrant to the brink of a new dark age. Only Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Starship Enterprise™ stand a chance of reversing the decay by tracking the disruption to its ultimate origin. Beyond the boundaries of the Federation, deep in uncharted space, Picard and his treacherous Romulan allies have discovered the source of the crisis: a vast alien mechanism suspended between a black hole and a nearby inhabited planet. The ancient device is all that prevents the imperiled planet from disappearing into the voracious black hole, but its cataclysmic effects are eroding subspace at speeds faster than light. Now Picard faces a wrenching dilemma: must he sacriÞce an entire world to save the galaxy?

Seven months ago, Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the USS Enterprise rescued a Federation cargo ship and a Romulan Warbird, both drained of power by an unknown source and mysteriously trapped together in the Neutral Zone. Five months ago, the captain of the USS Exeter launched a log buoy from her helpless ship, reporting it adrift and without energy for reasons she is unable to explain. Now, a power plant on Mars has gone down, leaving tens of millions in the dark. Reports of remote outposts losing power, ships stranded in space, and unexplained dead zones throughout the United Federation of Planets are beginning to cause a general panic. But Starfleet sends Picard and the Enterprise to Romulan space with orders to enter as covertly as possible and rendezvous with a high-ranking Romulan named T Sart. An infamous war criminal and a cold-blooded killer, T Sart's expertise runs from biological warfare to high-tech weaponry. Now he claims he is planning to defect - but even though the rendezvous was arranged with Vulcan Ambassador Spock's authentication codes, no contact with the Ambassador himself can be established. Sabotaging the project of his one-time protege, T Sart arranges the destruction of a Romulan warbird - the distraction for his pickup - with disturbing ease. But T Sart insists he is trying to save the universe, not destroy it - and the Federation may have no choice but to take him at his word.

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Starbse 27 has gone dark, functions grinding to a halt as its energy source mysteriously fails. A province on Bajor reverts to pre-cardassian power plants - where it can. Three Vulcan cargo ships are lost with all hands aboard. The mysterious dead zones continue their expansion, creating havoc throughout civilised space. Communication, transportation, medical facilities, replicators - without this technological infrastructure, the United Federation of Planets will descend into primitive chaos. On board the Starship Enterprise is the one man who may be able to halt the deadly decay. T Sart, an egomaniacal war criminal whom Picard and his crew suspect of treachery and lunacy, plans to save both the universe and his own career by manoeuvering Picard into a position of weakness even as the two men work together as allies. He leads Picard to a planet on the edge of a black hole from which the decay appears to emanate. There, Picard and the Enterprise must hijack technology beyond their comprehension to save the lives of billions - and prepare themselves to sacrifice millions on the planet below.