The Death of Princes by John Peel

The text details two concurrent, interconnected missions involving the Federation starship Enterprise and its crew, highlighting conflicts regarding the Prime Directive. One storyline focuses on the planet Iomides, where observer Maria Wallace violates the directive to prevent the assassination of First Citizen Chal, leading to her capture and the subsequent kidnapping of her supervisor, Dr. Starn, by local conspirators led by Tok Grell and Toma Sar. Commander Riker and Counselor Troi lead an away team to Iomides to recover the missing personnel, only to discover Wallace has been tortured and killed, Starn is dead, and Chal has been assassinated as Grell attempted to exploit xenophobia for profit. Simultaneously, Captain Picard, Dr. Crusher, and Data investigate a lethal plague on the planet Buran, ultimately discovering the contamination was spread via local grain by S’Hiri, the prince's fiancée, and orchestrated by King T’Fara to force the planet to withdraw from the Federation.