By Simon Hugo and Ben Robinson

Hero Collector Books, out now

A reference guide to 24th century Federation life on the diplomatic outpost of DS9, looking at the main station and its craft.

I was one of those fans in the late 1990s who collected weekly part-work Star Trek Fact Files but had to bail out long before it ran its 300-plus issue run. With over 8,000 pages of quality content to draw on, editors Simon Hugo and Ben Robinson have collated a ‘best of DS9 tech’ volume in Hero Collector’s ongoing series of hardback manuals.

The content is well chosen, no longer requiring you to flip between bulging ring binders to find the relevant material. Written ‘in-universe’ (I.e. this is all real, not a fictional TV show), this handsome volume is split between the station, Runabouts and Defiant.

The exhaustive chapter on DS9 takes us from its days as Cardassian ore-processing plant Terok Nor to the conclusion of the Dominion War. Detailed isometric drawings of the key locations sit alongside CG renders, including impressive spreads of the Promenade, Quark’s Bar and its Holosuites. Inevitably there’s a section on resident barfly Morn!

The section on the Runabouts reveals just how much thought went into the design of these shuttlecraft – can you name all six? But my favourite section is on Starfleet’s first warship, NX-74205, USS Defiant. There’s a gorgeous cross-section showing the scale of the Defiant-class prototype. Each section of the craft is revealed, with focuses on the little-seen Shuttlepod and Shuttlecraft Chaffee. In addition to content about weaponry and uniforms and a very useful index, there’s even a section on identical vessel the São Paolo. That’s the level of detail we’re working to.

Verdict: A welcome compilation of relevant highlights from the Star Trek Fact Files, collected in a handy volume for the next generation of DS9 fans, or those who just geek out at a lavishly-illustrated technical manual. 9/10

Nick Joy

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