5. Avatar - S.D. Perry (2001)
When Deep Space Nine came to an end, the third live action Television series was also something of a first. The Original Series and The Next Generation both left their crews as they were, but DS9 made about as many changes as it could get away with, which included major characters departing the station left right and centre. Commander Worf's return to the Enterprise notwithstanding, without the possibility of these characters reappearing on-screen, the two book story Avatar took the changes made during the finale, and was able to add plenty of it's own. Nog's engineering duties increased to cover for O'Brien, recurring TNG favourite Ro Laren was brought in to replace Odo as chief of security, while the Jem'Hadar Taran'atar took over his role as outside observer. Other original characters included Commander Elias Vaughn, the 101 year old former Starfleet Security operative, and Andorian science officer Thirishar ch'Thane. Not content with merely filling the gaps either, the story itself deals with the discovery of a Bajoran Orb and a centuries old prophecy. The latter of these has great ramifications for both Jake Sisko, who sets off on a pilgrimage to find his father, and Kira Nerys who is attained; she is banned from the Bajoran faith she has so faithfully worshipped all her life. Add in a rogue Jem'Hadar faction intent on reigniting a war between the Dominion and the alpha quadrant, and even those left behind are dealing with as many changes as those who moved on. Although Avatar didn't compete with New Frontier in terms of originality, tie-ins were now boldly going where none had gone before. Even going so far as to eschew the TV series logo in favour of its own, the idea behind the "DS9 Relaunch" as it is known has since gone on to include The Next Generation, Voyager, and Enterprise. Following the publication of this particular adventure, the days of novels following TV's lead were over, and the days of paving their own way had arrived.