The United Federation of Planets and the Klingon Empire stand on the brink of war. Captain James T. Kirk and the <I>Starship Enterprise</i>? are sent back to System 7348 -- site of a previous skirmish with the Klingons -- for a confrontation with the <I>I.K.S. D'k Tahg</i> under the command of Captain Koloth.<P>Even as the two great ships face each other, trouble is brewing among their crews. On the <I>Enterprise</i>, Lieutenant Leslie Parrish is pregnant with a half-Klingon child and must face a critical decision about her future, while Section Chief Michael Fuller still carries the wounds of the twenty-five-year-old Battle of Donatu V, of which he was one of the few survivors -- not to mention his grief over the death of his son, recently killed in battle against the Klingons.<P>On the <I>D'k Tahg</i>, First Officer Karel finds himself trapped between the scheming, dishonorable Councillor Duras and his commanding officer, Koloth. While the stakes only seem to be the possession of a single star system, the ramifications may spread throughout the Klingon Empire, as they find themselves at a crossroads between conquest and honor!