Dallas McCord "Mack" Reynolds was, and continues to be, a popular
American science fiction writer. He wrote under many names including
Dallas Ross, Mark Mallory, Clark Collins, Dallas Rose, and others.
Reynolds was the first author to write an original novel based upon the
1966-1969 NBC television series Star Trek. The book was called
Mission to Horatius and was written in 1968.
Medal of Honor is considered one of the best of his many stories. In
it, Captain Don Mathers, a less-than-heroic interplanetary scout during
an interstellar war with powerful aliens, is approached by two
businessmen. They have a scheme to fake an enemy engagement and win
Captain Mathers the Galactic Medal of Honor, the "highest honor of which
man has ever conceived." This medal is awarded to very few, since the
bearer of the medal "can do no wrong."
Being awarded the Galactic Medal of Honor would make Captain Mathers
above the law and able to accomplish certain unsavory projects with
impunity. Things do not go exactly the way he or his associates hoped
and, in a strange way, Captain Mathers learns that the motto associated
with the medal is actually true.
