Probe by Margaret Wander Bonanno

Probe picks up ten years after Captin Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise saved Earth from a mysterious and deadly unknown object by stealing a klingon ship and retrieving whales from the 20th century. 

Now the mysterious Probe has returned on the eve of the death of the Romulan tyrant known as Praetor.  The Romulan's have extended the olive branch of peace to the Federation, but suspicions abound on both sides.The Romulans send Subcenturion Tiam and his musician wife Jandra as part of the negotiating team, along with her twin brother who will be part of a historic group of archaeologists to descend to the planet Temaris's surface for the first time in eons. 

The Federation has been instructed to send Dr. Benar, a leading authority in archeology, along with Ambassador Reily, a past interning Lieutenant on the Enterprise and student of Ambassador Sarak.  When an assassination plot fails, and the Probe annihilates a Romulan cargo ship and planet, the peace treaty falls apart.  It now falls on the shoulders of Captain Kirk to salvage what peace he can for the safety of the entire Universe. 

Hmm...sounds rather grandiose and convoluted, doesn't it?  Well, this is Star Trek after all and it was grandiose and convoluted. 

I found the writing style to be more explanatory than story telling.  There was a lot of exposition thrown in which I found to be unnecessary.  This world has already been built, it follows a movie (Star Trek #4 I believe), and the characters are established.   The constant comparisons to US and Russia were heavy handed and really seemed out of place in the far future.  It's was like bringing the Nazi's back in Pattern's of Force (TOS, ssecond season).  The future just can't replicate the past. 

To clarify, I don't usually read Star Trek books.  The movies and TV show are plenty and visually more appealing (I can't believe I just admitted that...).  But given the circumstances of being the recipient of this book, I felt obligated to read it.  Recommended if you're a seriousTrekkie and want to know more about the mysterious Probe and the whales.