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The story begins with the launching of the U.S.S. EnterpriseTM NCC-1701-B and the mysterious disappearance of Captain James T. Kirk. Then, seventy-eight years later, Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the U.S.S. Enterprise NCC-1701-D receives a distress call from a remote scientific observatory. Picard learns that a newly developed super weapon has been stolen by a desperate scientist with an insane plot. Facing the most difficult task of his career, Captain Picard must seek out the one person with the power to help him, a person long thought dead: Captain James T. Kirk. Together, the two captains are tested as they've never been before. And both men are forced to make the greatest sacrifices of their careers to save countless millions from a madman with a plan for mass destruction.… (more)
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Following Kirk's death on the Enterprise-B, Dillard turns his attention to original crew members besides Scotty and Chekov. Sulu, aboard the Excelsior, receives the news via subspace message in the middle of an evacuation drill in which his crew is simulating a warp core breach and separating the saucer section. This is particularly poignant as it foreshadows the later evacuation of the Enterprise-D. Dillard's addition of McCoy and Spock attending Kirk's memorial service provides a much-needed emotional response that seemed missing in the film.
Moving to the Next Generation-era scenes, Dillard hews fairly close to the film, though with additional dialogue or the full sequence of Geordi following his return from the Klingon Bird of Prey. Dillard drastically alters both Kirk and Soran's deaths, removing the bridge crash from the movie. Instead, Soran shoots Kirk with the distruptor during their fight. Soran, recognizing Kirk, realizes that Picard must have traveled to the Nexus and is now working to undo Soran's work. Rather than die when his probe explodes, Soran dies after Picard shoots him. Apparently, this sequence did not test well with audiences, but I feel it works better than the scene the filmmakers reshot, in which Kirk dies in a bridge collapse.
The final section of the book contains a making-of for Star Trek: Generations that has some interesting behind-the-scenes information. It's mostly promotional, meant to help sell the film, but it should be of interest to Trekkers curious about The Next Generation's transition from television to film.