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Tales from the Captain's Table is a short story anthology – inspired by the The Captain's Table series – edited by Keith R.A. DeCandido. Published by Pocket Books, it was first released in June 2005.

Summary[]

From the book jacket
In this follow-up to the bestselling Captain's Table series of books, nine new Star Trek captains belly up to the bar to tell their tales of adventure and romance, of triumph and tragedy, of duty and honor, of debts paid and prices exacted, including:
From the weekly episodes of Star Trek: Enterprise to the monthly adventures of SCE, from the bestselling novel Serpents Among the Ruins to the bestselling series Star Trek: New Frontier, from the past tales of Stargazer to the new stories of Titan, from the glorious exploits of IKS Gorkon to the post-finale chronicles of Deep Space Nine and Voyager, come nine new stories from the nine newest members of Star Trek's finest and bravest shipmasters.

Excerpts of copyrighted sources are included for review purposes only, without any intention of infringement.

Contents[]

Introduction – "How We Built the Bar"
by Dean Wesley Smith
"Tending Bar…"
Interstitials between each set of stories, from the perspective of the Captain's Table's bartender, Cap.
William T. Riker, Captain of the USS Titan – "Improvisations on the Opal Sea: A Tale of Dubious Credibility"
by Michael A. Martin & Andy Mangels
Jean-Luc Picard, Captain of the USS Stargazer – "Darkness"
by Michael Jan Friedman
Elizabeth Shelby, Captain of the USS Trident - "Pain Management"
by Peter David
"Tending Bar…"
Klag, son of M'Raq, Captain of the IKS Gorkon – "IoDnl'pu' vavpu' je" ("Brothers and Fathers")
by Keith R.A. DeCandido
Kira Nerys, Captain of Deep Space 9 – " The Officers' Club"
by Heather Jarman
Kira relays a story of her brother Kira Reon.
Jonathan Archer, Captain of Enterprise NX-01 – "Have Beagle, Will Travel: The Legend of Porthos"
by Louisa M. Swann
Demora Sulu, Captain of the USS Enterprise-B – "Iron and Sacrifice"
by David R. George III
Demora tells the tale of her one-year (2315–2316) leave of absence as captain of the Enterprise-B, to take care of her dying grandmother, as well as a mission to meet a Tzenkethi individual.
"Tending Bar…"
Chakotay, Captain of the USS Voyager – "Seduced"
by Christie Golden
Chakotay provides the story of when Demora Sulu came to his village and, ultimately, helped sponsor him for entry into Starfleet Academy.
David Gold, Captain of the USS da Vinci – "An Easy Fast"
by John J. Ordover
While fasting for Yom Kippur, Gold inadvertently angers several alien captains who try to buy him a drink. But he offers to tell them a story instead, as an alien Captain from the future walks in.
Gold tells the story of one "Abraham Silver," who as an ensign on his first shore leave is killed by three people in a casino after being scammed. Without the scammers' knowledge, his starship beams him to sickbay and is able to resuscitate him. After months of rehabilitation, he is back to full health, but now has a taste for vengeance.
Finally finding the first person, he finds that he has a family now, and has become a peace loving politician loved by millions who truly regretted what he did. Abraham decides to forgive him, and instead goes after the other two. The second has become a hugely successful business man, who is sponsoring the arts and on a planet whose economy had once hit rock bottom. When the alien offers Silver 5% of the profits from his company, Silver says to give it to the workers instead, and he can live. Finally, as a Captain, Silver comes across the third alien that wronged him. He is in prison due to be executed on a distant planet, and has in fact done many worse thing since attempting to kill him.
The alien shows no remorse, and in fact reminds Silver of why he killed him in the first place – scammed gambling debt – and still demands his money. The planets government auctions off executions, and the highest bidder can decide when the prisoner dies and how. Silver is the highest bidder, and even though the alien is still the horrible murderer he was years ago, Silver leaves the control in his hands and walks away – allowing the alien to pick his time and way of death, as there was no escape from it, he would get his punishment. As Gold finishes his story, the Alien from the future thanks him – and as a token of appreciation, tells him that "the second he walked in he recognized Gold, even being from two centuries in the future."
"Tending Bar…"

Memorable quotes[]

QUOTES NEEDED

Background information[]

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The Captain's Table Omnibus The Captain's Table Final novel in series
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