Star Trek: The Price of the Phoenix

The Price of the Phoenix -- Star Trek Adventures #4 -- Poker é um jogo melhor jogado com uma cara séria e nervos de aço. Agora Spock precisa jogar o mais perigoso jogo de todos. Em risco: a soberania da Federação. A aposta: Capitão James T. Kirk. |...| [From the book jacket]: Poker is a game best played with a straight face and steely nerves. Now Spock must play the most dangerous game of all. At risk is the sovereignty of the Federation and the stakes are Captain James T. Kirk. |...| CAPTAIN KIRK IS DEAD. LONG LIVE CAPTAIN KIRK.
Spock, Doctor McCoy and the other crewmen of the Starship Enterprise experience a stunning double-shock. The first, painful blow is Captain Kirk's tragic death. Then, Captain Kirk's miraculous rebirth reveals the most awesome force the Enterprise has ever encountered. Spock is forced into a desperate gamble for Kirk's human soul against Omne - the ultrahuman emperor of life beyond life, and death beyond hell |...| Omne, a genius megalomaniac who seeks immortality, has discovered a way to create a perfect duplicate of a sentient creature. As part of a plot against the Federation, he lures the Enterprise to his highly-protected planet, where Captain Kirk is apparently killed while breaking the Prime Directive. When Spock returns to the planet to confront Omne about Kirk's death, he is met with not one but two living, breathing Kirks - the original and a very convincing duplicate. Aided by the unnamed Romulan Commander from "The Enterprise Incident", Spock and the two Kirks attempt to shut down Omne and protect the balance of power. The extra Kirk later receives extensive cosmetic surgery to live as a Romulan companion to the Commander. |...| [Memory Alpha, the Star Trek Wiki -- Background Information]: The book heavily references the events of "The Enterprise Incident", in which a Romulan commander attempted to lure Spock to her crew. It is not established how she went from being a prisoner at the end of that episode to being in command of a ship and a representative of the Romulan Empire again. While it is revealed that her name means "dawn of springtime", the actual name is not given. |...| Originally published: July 1977. This story is continued in the 1979 book "The Fate of the Phoenix".