Just finished Star Trek Strangers From The Sky by Margaret Wander Boananno, published by Pocket Books. Here's the summary. According to Federation history, the Vulcans landed on Earth in 2065 A.D. The movie First Contact showed how this, supposedly, took place. With a "little" help from the crew of Picard's Enterprise, Zefram Cochrane managed to make history. But according to the book, there's more to this First Contact in the fist place.
The book takes place a few days before Star Trek 2: The Wrath Of Khan. The opening chapters places the story a few days before the events of The Wrath Of Khan. Admiral James T. Kirk is an instructor at the academy on Earth. Captain Spock is in charge of Enterprise & is testing out his new recruits. The ship is in maneuvers & won't be due back for a few more days. Dr. Leonard "Bones" McCoy is fascinated by a new book that's just recently been published. It's called Strangers From The Sky.
According to the book, some 20 years before Earth finally managed to make First Contact, there was already a ship that arrived & already made history, presumably Vulcans. It's making bestseller list & everybody's talking about it. Except for Kirk, who refuses to acknowledge the book's authencitity. However, to satisfy his friend Bones, he agrees to read it.
Somewhere in the galaxy, Spock is disturbed by "dreams" he can't explain. Someone is speaking to him & yet he can't imagine who. Kirk is also plagued by these "dreams", unable to sleep, feeling agitated. Starfleet thinks he's insane & has him "committed". Spock arrives on Earth, learns that his friend has been sent to an "asylum", insists he also be "committed" because he's also suffering from the same "delusions" as Kirk.
Spock performs a mind meld with Kirk to finally understand what these dreams meant. They both discover memories long hidden, buried by traumatic events, which eventually lead them to an answer to these dreams.
In short, Strangers From The Sky delves on the possibility that Earth might not have been alone after all, that the Vulcans were already aware of us but chose to not make any contact. That is, until a terrible accident that forever changed history....
If you're looking for something very exciting like ships engaging in combat, then this book is not for you. It's all about Kirk & Spock, how they managed to save history so that history as everyone knows about, is safe.
There are a lot of events depicted here. Kirk's early days as Captain aboard the first USS Enterprise. The crew you've known since the first movie doesn't yet exist, except for Spock. It talks about their early adventures & how they somehow managed to save history so that the future does indeed happen. It's about how humanity would REALLY react if confronted by aliens face to face. It's about human drama, Vulcan attitudes, & what must Kirk do to save history & keep his future safe.
It's a good book if you wish to delve into the possiblity of what must've TRULY happened before First Contact was made. It's kinda like X-Files meet Star Trek, trying to solve a mystery that has everyone baffled, except Kirk & Spock, who are the key to solving it.