The Return

:You might also be looking for the comic book "The Return!".
The Return is a Pocket TOS novel – the second novel in the retroactively-designated Odyssey trilogy – written by William Shatner with Judith and Garfield Reeves-Stevens. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in hardback in .
A sequel to , the novel sees James T. Kirk brought back to life following his death at Veridian III by an alliance of Borg and renegade Romulans who hope to use him for their own ends.
== Summary ==
;From the book jacket
:Veridian III: A world has been saved, the lies in ruins, and one of the galaxy's greatest heroes rests beneath a simple cairn of rocks on a lonely hillside. But as a legendary Vulcan ambassador comes at last to the grave of his best and dearest friend, the adventure is only beginning.
:The Borg and the Romulan Empire have joined forces against the Federation, and their ultimate weapon is none other than James T. Kirk, resurrected by alien science to destroy the Borg's most formidable enemy: Jean-Luc Picard.
Commander Riker and a group of security officers are preparing to meet Ambassador Spock so that he may come to give his final respects to James Kirk on his final resting spot. But they are halted by messages of attacks on the Federation base overseeing the dismantling of the . The team beams over leaving Spock to sit and wait for their return.
Riker and his team beam into a war zone, as several small fighter craft are firing at the off-guard Starfleet personnel. He and another officer manage to get a small shuttle and fire on the craft, but as they are taking off, they fire one last blast into the crowd, wounding Riker and killing his companion. The officers and crewmen are confused as to who would want to attack Veridian. Meanwhile in orbit, the shattered hulk of the floats dead, the victim of a Romulan disruptor. The Romulans turn and enter warp, having captured their prize: Kirk.
== Background information ==
* This is the second novel in the so-called "Shatnerverse".
* Shatner began to conceive of the idea for Kirk's return during production of . He noted that "I wanted to come up with a way to bring him back quickly, an idea I went to sell to Paramount. I outlined forty pages around the time we filmed the death of the character." ()
* The audiobook version was abridged by George Truett.
* This story takes place one month after the events of .
* The Return reached number four on the New York Times Best Seller List for , its fourth week on the list. It remained on the list for eight weeks. The paperback reprint reached number thirty on the Paperback Best Seller List for the week ending , its only week on the list. 
* The Science Fiction Book Club released a special edition of the hardback in .
=== Cover gallery ===
File:The Return audiobook cover, US cassette edition.jpg|Audiobook cover, US cassette edition
File:The Return audiobook cover, CD edition.jpg|Audiobook cover, CD edition
== Characters ==
;James T. Kirk: Resurrected by Borg and Romulan technology. Kirk is programmed with memories of a happy life among the Romulans, as well as a remembrance of his colony's destruction at the hands of Starfleet Captain Jean-Luc Picard
;Spock: Unofficial ambassador to Romulus's reunificationists. Spock left Romulus when he became aware of Kirk's death on Veridian III. On that world he witnessed the Romulan theft of Kirk's remains, and subsequently investigated recent goings-on on Romulus to try and track down Kirk's body
;Jean-Luc Picard: Awaiting reassignment after the destruction of Enterprise-D, Picard has been sent, along with Doctor Crusher, on a mission to investigate rumors of a Borg presence
;Data: Awaiting reassignment after the destruction of Enterprise-D, Data joined La Forge for an archaeological dig investigating a planet that is rumored to have destroyed itself when its artificial lifeforms rebelled against their creators
;Leonard McCoy: McCoy is called in to act as an adviser when an implant in Kirk's brain must be removed
;Worf: Worf has gone on the Klingon equivalent of a spiritual retreat following the destruction of the Enterprise
;William T. Riker: Riker is supervising the excavation of the saucer section of the Enterprise, and subsequently investigates the assailant (really Kirk) who has gone after Worf, La Forge, and Data
;Beverly Crusher: Beverly Crusher has accompanied Picard to investigate rumors of a Borg presence
;Geordi La Forge: La Forge and Data are on an archaeological dig investigating a planet that is rumored to have destroyed itself when its artificial lifeforms rebelled against their creators
;Julian Bashir: Bashir analyzes Kirk's DNA to confirm that he actually is James T. Kirk, rather than a clone, and subsequently operates on Kirk (aided by McCoy) to remove an implant that has been planted by the Borg/Romulan alliance to control Kirk
;Simm : Captain of USS Challenger, a starship
;Salatrel : Commander of the warbird Avatar of Tomed, and granddaughter of the Romulan commander whose ship was destroyed by Kirk during the events of 
;John Lewinski : Captain of USS Monitor, a starship; the ship is given to Kirk and Picard's joint crews and renamed Enterprise for the attack at the heart of the Borg/Romulan alliance
;Vox : Borg speaker to the Romulan worlds (as Locutus was the Borg speaker to Humanity), assimilated from a Romulan man who was Salatrel's lover. Similar to Locutus meaning "one who speaks" in Latin, Vox is the Latin word for "voice."
== References ==
;Alex Raymond : Starship
; : Romulan warbird commanded by Salatrel. 
::Named for the Tomed Incident.
; (NCC-1941)
; : Federation starship. In 2371, under command of Captain Simm, the Challenger was docked at Deep Space 9.
;Claw That Rends Our Enemies' Flesh : Assimilated Romulan vessel.
; : Federation starship formerly commanded by Pavel Chekov
; (NCC-60597) : Federation starship
; : Federation starship lost in 2367 at the Battle of Wolf 359. Part of this ship's hull structure was used in the construction of a Borg unicomplex in a transwarp conduit.
; : Federation starship of Captain John Lewinski, temporarily renamed USS Enterprise
;Talon of Peace : Fictional Romulan colony ship, a warbird supposedly commanded by James T. Kirk
; : Federation starship formerly commanded by Pavel Chekov
== External link ==
* 
de:Die Rückkehr
fr:The Return
Category:Novels
Category:Audiobooks