House of Cards

A new ship, a new crew, a new mission!
House of Cards is a Star Trek: New Frontier novella – the first book in the series – written by Peter David. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in .
== Summary ==
;From the book jacket
:Sector 221-G: For the whole of Federation history, this large area of space has been controlled by the Thallonians, a cruel, militaristic race of which little is known – except that they rule the other races in their sector with a vicious iron hand. 
:Now the Thallonian Empire has collapsed and the systems it once ruled are in chaos. Old hatreds are surfacing. Petty tyrants control deadly weapons. World after world is descending into disorder and self-destruction. The Federation must send a starship to help where it can and report what it finds. 
:That ship is the , a newly refit starship commanded by Captain Mackenzie Calhoun and manned by Starfleet's best and brightest, including some old friends from and some of the most dynamic new characters ever to crew a Federation starship. 
:Join Captain Calhoun and the crew of the USS Excalibur as they explore strange new worlds, seek out new life and new civilizations, and boldly go where no one has gone before!
== Background information ==
* The novella's title does not appear on its cover, where it is identified merely as Book One. House of Cards appears only on the inside title page, and identifies the book in Pocket's backlist.
* The novella was later collected in the Star Trek: New Frontier Omnibus.
* Combined with the other three novellas in this serialized release, House of Cards reached number nine on the New York Times Best Seller List for , the serial novel's third week on the list. The serial remained on the list for four weeks.
== Characters ==
=== Main cast and recurring characters ===
;Mackenzie Calhoun : Starfleet captain of USS Excalibur
;Elizabeth Shelby : Starfleet commander, Excalibur executive officer.
;Si Cwan : Thallonian royal family member, a refugee of the Thallonian Empire collapse.
;Selar : Starfleet medical officer, CMO of Excalibur.
;Soleta : Starfleet science officer. Soleta previously appeared in the Star Trek: The Next Generation - Starfleet Academy series.
;Spock : Half-Vulcan ambassador.
;Jean-Luc Picard : Starfleet captain of the Enterprise-E. Picard is the one who recruited Mackenzie Calhoun into Starfleet.
;Edward Jellico : Starfleet admiral.
;D'ndai : Xenexian.
;Falkar : Danterian.
;Kally : Nickname of Kallinda, Si Cwan's sister.
;Morgan Korsmo : Former captain of Excalibur.
;Ryjaan
;Yoz
=== Other characters ===
;Kristian Ayre : Enterprise-E conn lieutenant.
;Barsamis : Trader.
;Bragonier : Danteri.
;Jack R. Crusher : Stargazer officer.
;Delina : Danteri.
;Giniv : Vulcan.
;Seth Goddard : Starfleet commander.
;Voltak : Selar's late husband.
;Krassus : Orion.
;Paige : Enterprise-E tactical officer, a lieutenant
;Zina
== References ==
;Calhoun : Xenexian village.
;Battle of Condacin : One of a number of military conflicts where M'k'n'zy cemented his role as leader, and liberator, of Xenex.
;Danteri : Humanoid species.
;Danterian Empire : Government.
;Deep Space 5 : Federation starbase.
; : Federation Sovereign-class starship.
; : starship.
;IDIC
;katra
;USS Grissom : Federation starship.
;Mojov Station : Space station.
;The Pit
;Plains of Seanwin
;pon farr
;Search for Allways
;Sector 221-G
;Sector 221-H
;Starfleet Academy
;
;Thal
;Thallon
;Thallonian Empire : Government.
;Thallonian steed
;Thallonian Summit
;Vulcan
;warhoon
;Xenex : Planet.
;Xenexian : Humanoid species.
=== Timeline ===
;2353
;2363
;2373
== External link ==
* 
Category:Novels