confinement, and is unconscious anyway, but the others are decontaminated and resume duties. It is realized that the Andorian must be a carrier of the disease, and he had escaped previously in one of the Surak’s shuttles, inadvertently activating the distress signal which made it easy to track. That showed it to be headed into Romulan space, and the Romulans and Federation were on the verge of war. Kirk has Excelsior chase the Andorian, but they are soon stopped by a Romulan ship whose captain declares that the invasion of Romulan space means war. [Timeline: Stardate 8906.3]
Star Trek #35, February 1987
The Doomsday Bug!, Chapter Two: Stand Off!, by Len Wein
Kirk manages to get the Romulan commander to listen to his story, but the commander believes the story is fake because they had captured the missing shuttle, which appeared to have nobody onboard and the crew of the Romulan ship that housed it were unaffected. But then the crew of that ship does start collapsing, and Captain Tr’Aet locates and vaporizes the Andorian. The crew of that Romulan ship don’t die, but they do become obsessed with their own survival, and they start firing on the other Romulan ships before heading off at warp speed. The Romulan commander now has good reason to believe Kirk’s story and allows Excelsior and Kirk (who wants to find a cure for Spock) to accompany them as they chase the renegade ship. Meanwhile, Captain Styles has been sent out by Starfleet aboard the U.S.S. Saratoga to bring Kirk back and retake command of Excelsior. [Timeline: Stardate 8907.5]
Star Trek #36, March 1987
The Doomsday Bug! Chapter 3: The Apocalypse Scenario! by Len Wein
Spock had been infected by the “Doomsday Bug” when he rescued an Andorian and then accidentally passed the virus on to the crew of the Romulan ship, Predator. The disease has no noticeable effect on Andorians, but Spock has been rendered unconscious and the Romulans have been driven mad and are headed towards their homeworlds to share their “gift”. Admiral Kirk tries to head them off aboard the transwarp starship Excelsior as McCoy and Scotty try to find a solution to the ailment. The Romulan ship, Harrier, is following the Excelsior. The Excelsior catches up with the Predator at the Ch’Rihan/Ch’Havran system, and Harrier arrives in time to protect the Excelsior from further attack by the Romulan planetary defense. Scotty and McCoy come up with the idea of running the Predator, complete with its infected crew, through the transporter and rematerializing them, minus the virus. That takes the combined power of the Excelsior’s transwarp engine and the Romulan ships but proves successful. Captain Styles intercepts the Excelsior to arrest Kirk, but Kirk gets wind of that and escapes aboard the captured Bird of Prey (that McCoy renames HMS Bounty) to take Spock to Vulcan, hopefully for a cure.
[Timeline: Stardate 8908.3]
93
Choices, by Len Wein
Kirk has been “demoted” to captain and given command of the new Enterprise, with Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, Konom, Bryce, Bearclaw, Arex and M’Ress among those joining him. However, a religious zealot who thinks Kirk blasphemed by being involved in the Genesis project sneaks aboard with the maintenance crew and carries out some sabotage. When the ship leaves spacedock and attempts to go to warp, there is an explosion in engineering, injuring Scotty. Spock finds the sabotage and sees that safeties have been overridden and Enterprise has become an antimatter timebomb if the circuitry cannot be corrected in five minutes. After what Spock has been through lately, he is doubting his own abilities but with Kirk’s encouragement he gets the corrections completed with seconds to spare. Sulu asks if they should return to spacedock, but Kirk instructs them to continue heading out into the galaxy.
[Timeline: Stardate 8925.2]
Star Trek #38, May 1987
The Argon Affair, by Michael Fleigher
After an encounter with Argonian pirates, the Enterprise stops off at Starbase Ten while repairs are carried out. Kirk and Spock visit an archaeological site while there, but Spock gets called back to the ship. Then Kirk intervenes to assist a scantily dressed woman (Connie McQueen) being attacked by Argonians which leads to both of them hiding out in the ruins and becoming romantically entangled before the ship is able to beam both of them up as the Argonians had them surrounded. Luckily, Kirk was blinded by his passion, and he had additional monitoring of vital ship’s systems, so McQueen’s attempted sabotage of the deflector shields is discovered, and McQueen is identified as an Argonian agent. When the ship, with McQueen still aboard, leaves Starbase Ten they come under attack by Argonians, the Enterprise crew react as if the sabotage was still working, resulting in the Argonian ships moving in closer. That allowed the Enterprise to fire on them with greater effect, leaving them disabled and easy to be taken into custody.
McQueen, who had been there to get the Enterprise and its crew captured, is herself taken into custody. [Timeline: Stardate 3847.5]
Star Trek #39, June 1987
When You Wish Upon a Star … !, by Len Wein
Spock notices that Enterprise is headed in the wrong direction and all efforts to change course or slow down prove ineffective, so Kirk sits back and waits to see where they end up. That turns out to be a class-M planet and Spock’s scans show a fairly large population but only two brainwave-patterns. A landing party led by Spock is set to beam down, but only Spock and M’Ress of the planned team actually get beamed down, along with Kirk, McCoy and Scotty. Efforts to beam them back fail, so they set out exploring and find a city that is a replica of the capital of Wrigley’s Pleasure Planet. They also meet a blue-colored pig-faced short humanoid who answers 94
all their questions in a far from helpful manner. After a few other misadventures they come across a castle where they discover that their “host” is none other than Harry Mudd. [Timeline: Stardate 8931.7]
Star Trek #40, July 1987
Mudd’s Magic, by Len Wein
Kirk and his team soon find that even Harry Mudd doesn’t really know how the Enterprise ended up at this planet. Mudd had arrived there after a few of his misadventures, and he had discovered a smallish pyramid-shaped object that had the power to fulfill his wishes, but not necessarily in the way he had intended. Kirk’s landing party and the crew on the Enterprise begin to experience that kind of wish fulfillment too. When Mudd shows them where he had found it, McCoy deduces that the place was a kind of nursery and the pyramidal object was a nanny, treating them all as children. Nothing seems to convince it that they are adults until Spock mindmelds with it.
Finally, it allows them to contact the Enterprise, beam up, and leave, after Kirk allocates use of the planet to the “Final Wish Upon a Star” charity/foundation. [Timeline: Stardate 8932.8]
Star Trek #41, August 1987
“What Goes Around …”, by Michael Carlin
Bearclaw, after some disgraceful displays of unsportsmanlike behavior, is assigned as a trainee in Chekov’s team. Then the Enterprise responds to an emergency call from a freighter that was being attacked by Orion pirates, although the Enterprise is still running on half power as the earlier sabotage damage is repaired. Chekov assigns Bearclaw to his own station on the bridge, thinking he can keep a close watch on him, especially when Scotty announces that phasers must not be used as the power drain would kill all power on the ship. Kirk gets Scotty to beam the non-Orions off the Orion vessel, but he can only do that in batches due to power restraints. When the final batch (those on the pirates’ bridge) are beamed off, a team led by Chekov are beamed onto the Orion bridge. But the pirates fire at the Enterprise when their captives are beamed off, and Bearclaw returns fire against orders. That does disable the pirate vessel, but it also kills power on the Enterprise and Scotty is nearly killed by an energy surge while trying to restore power. The pirates are taken into custody and Kirk leaves the disciplining of Bearclaw to Chekov, who assigns him to guard duty outside sickbay. When Scotty discharges himself from sickbay and sees Bearclaw there, he walks up and thanks Bearclaw with a gut-punch that leaves him sprawled on the floor. [Timeline: Stardate 8950.4]
Star Trek #42, September 1987
The Corbomite Effect!, by Michael Carlin
The Enterprise is directed to check out how the inhabitants of Gamma Trianguli VI are doing but, en route, the failure of the deflector shields during an encounter with a meteor storm becomes the first of an ongoing series of unexplained and intermittent failures, some being 95
potentially fatal. When Scotty mentions to McCoy that he thinks gremlins had got onboard during the ship’s recent refit, McCoy has him taken off duty and told to rest. Instead, he takes the time to look up gremlin mythology and hatch a plan. During the night shift, he has all systems, including life support, shut down for 15 minutes. During that time, he sets up his antique fossil-fuel driven rotary engine in an empty photon torpedo casing, and with that as the only piece of working equipment on the ship, it attracts the gremlin and Scotty traps it inside. When ship’s power is restored, Scotty launches the torpedo casing at Bon-Wan’s abandoned light marker, which has plenty of old equipment for the gremlin to play with. Kirk tries questioning Scotty about what was going on, but Scotty pleads ignorance and Kirk doesn’t pursue it, particularly when the Enterprise is now functioning perfectly. [Timeline: Stardate 8953.7]
Star Trek #43, October 1987
The Return of the Serpent, Part One: Paradise Lost!, by Michael Carlin
Twenty years after their first visit, Kirk and his team find that Gamma Trianguli VI is far from the paradise it used to be. In fact, they find the place almost lifeless until they are attacked by a dinosaur, but that fades away when it’s attacked with sufficient force, showing that it was some form of projection. Then Makora and his harem appear, and Kirk has to stop them from worshipping him and the others. Kirk does accept their invitation to a meal, but they find that the food has been drugged. Makora planned on taking Bryce as his wife, but Konom (who wasn’t affected by the drug) intervenes. However, when Makora challenges Konom to a duel over Bryce, Konom runs away because fighting is against his beliefs. Kirk, Spock, and Chekov are sent to the torture chamber while McCoy, who seemed to Makora as the weakest of the “gods”, is prepared for fighting Makora, and Bryce is with the harem watching the battle commence. But Spock is able to free himself and then get Kirk and Chekov loose, and they find their way to where the fight is happening. Then Konom returns with a force of Vaalites (led by Akuta) who oppose Makora. With Kirk able to contact the ship and have McCoy beamed out and have Makora’s group stunned by the ship, it looks as if things are working out until Kirk then finds that he cannot raise anyone on the ship with his communicator. [Timeline: Stardate 8954.8]
Star Trek #44, November 1987
The Return of the Serpent, Part Two: Past Perfect, by Michael Carlin
Akuda had had ulterior motives for helping the Enterprise team, and now he has them tied up and, by combining his life force with those of his supporters, he starts to pull the Enterprise down from orbit to use as a replacement for Vaal (he had already made the crew comatose).
Spock breaks free of his bonds and offers to restore Vaal for Akuda, provided the Enterprise is restored to orbit. Akuda agrees, also releasing the Enterprise crew from their enforced sleep.
Spock accompanies Akuda underground to meet Vaal, and Scotty sends a rescue team down to free Kirk and the others. Then Kirk decides to go after Spock using the original landing party plus Bearclaw, while the others are sent back to Enterprise. Spock is seen encased in interfaces 96
connecting him with the Vaal computer and Akuda is operating the controls. [Timeline: Stardate 8958.6]
Star Trek #45, December 1987
The Return of the Serpent, Part Three: Devil Down Below!, by Michael Carlin Kirk’s efforts are thwarted by Spock, Vaal, and Akuda combined, and Kirk’s team find themselves encased in rock. Spock had discovered that Vaal was set up by the people of Arret (Sargon’s people) to maintain the artificial planet and prevent the “natives” from destroying their planet as they had done to their original homeworld. Spock prevents Scotty from beaming down more people, but when Makora’s forces attack Vaal’s domain, the effort to resist everyone drains Spock and Vaal and Spock is freed but on the verge of collapse. Akuda sacrifices himself to Vaal, effectively becoming one with him, and Akuda/Vaal appoint Makora as the one who will feed Vaal (as Akuda had done). Kirk, Spock and the rest of the Enterprise team are ordered back to the Enterprise with instructions not to return, and the planet starts blooming again. [Timeline: Stardate 8960.2]
Star Trek #46, January 1988
Getaway, by Michael Carlin
The Enterprise arrives at Christofi IX for shoreleave, which turns out a little different than expected. A starbase had been established on the planet after the planet had suffered a series of occupations by warrior races, including Klingons, so Konom finds himself coming under attack there. However, this shoreleave also ends with him being engaged to Nancy Bryce. McCoy breaks a leg while sand skiing with Chekov, Sulu, and Uhura; Bearclaw gets chatting with Ensign Elizabeth Sherwood. Kirk finds that the UFP have assigned him a watchdog in the form of a straight-shirt bureaucrat named Herbert, who Kirk has great difficulty getting away from, only succeeding in doing so by cutting short everyone’s shoreleave and taking the Enterprise out of orbit. [Timeline: Stardate 9212.8]
Star Trek #47, February 1988
Idol Threats, by Michael Carlin
Captain Edward Fields of the Cluster was leading a landing party on a planet when they found themselves surrounded by Romulans. Out gunned and heading for defeat, he ordered the Cluster and its cadet crew away, but acting captain, Commander Ronald Penn, decided to “do a Kirk”
and get revenge on the Romulans for the death of their captain. Although he succeeded in landing a few shots on the Romulan warbird, the Cluster was badly damaged and then boarded by Commander Lazar and his Romulan team. Happily, his communications officer (Lt. Ventura) had sent a couple of messages to Kirk, who had the Enterprise head to see what was happening.
He arrived in time to intervene, and his ire was more directed to Penn than the Romulans. Much 97
to Penn’s frustration, the Romulans were allowed to leave, and Penn faced a questionable future.
Kirk was rather disturbed by what his reputation resulted in. [Timeline: Stardate 9219.7]
Star Trek #48, March 1988
The Stars in Secret Influence, by Peter David
A surprise bachelor party is thrown for Konom, but too many people decide that the non-alcoholic punch could use a bit more ‘punch’. Consequently, everyone gets drunk, words get carelessly cast about, brawling starts and, when Kirk arrives to join the festivities, he gets knocked out by a bottle thrown by Bearclaw (who had been aiming – poorly – for Konom). The next day, as Kirk is giving the crew a dressing-down for their behavior, Spock interrupts to say that a message had been received from Starfleet saying that the unarmed Klingon scientific outpost on Miraud had been attacked, supposedly by a Federation starship, and most of the researchers had been killed. The message included a recording of an unusually frightened Klingon pleading for help. [Timeline: Stardate 8983.2]
Star Trek #49 April 1988
Aspiring to be Angels, by Peter David
A message is received saying that a Klingon research colony has been attacked, apparently by a Federation starship, and the Enterprise goes to investigate, hoping to find evidence of what occurred before the Klingons arrive and cover everything up. They see the colony destroyed, but no evidence of another ship in the area, so Kirk leads an away team in beaming down to the colony, where they interrupt a group of aliens tormenting a Klingon child. Then another starship decloaks and fires on the Enterprise before beaming up the aliens and Kirk’s team. The ship is the Renegade, captained by Zair, and they are attempting to start a war between the Federation and the Klingons. Kirk recognizes Phil Burroughs (who seems to be the captain Zair) aboard the Renegade, and Kirk’s team are put in environmental suits and sent out onto the Renegade’s disk.
When a Klingon ship arrives, the Renegade cloaks and disappears, leaving Kirk’s team floating in space, but the Klingons beam them aboard. Commander Kron seems satisfied with the explanation of what happened and has Kirk and his team beamed back to the Enterprise but insists they take the child with them because he is a Klingon/human hybrid. Before that, Kirk had reprimanded Scotty, McCoy and Chekov for spiking the punch at Konom’s stag party, and he also informs Lt. Bearclaw that he will be transferred off the Enterprise at the first opportunity because of his attitude. [Timeline: Stardate 8987.7]
Star Trek #50, May 1988
Marriage of Inconvenience, by Peter David
There is already enough animosity between the Klingons and the Federation, and when the Klingon warship Fury is destroyed by the Renegade, accusations by Klingons and vociferous denials by the Federation only get louder. Nevertheless, both sides finally agree to cooperate but 98
there are only the Enterprise and the Captain Kron’s ship in the area to try to protect whatever Renegade’s next target is. Spock identifies the two most likely targets as Gamma Delta II and Triminus IV and Enterprise and Captain Kron’s ship are sent to protect them. However, the small Klingon-human named Moron says he heard Captain Zair say that Endicor (a planet with Klingon and Federation settlements) was their next target, so Kirk breaks rank and has the Enterprise rush there. They come out of warp almost on top of Renegade. The Renegade and its crew are captured, but Zair escapes in a shuttle which Kirk expects is headed for Omicron Ceti IV and Kirk has the Enterprise head there. Earlier, Kirk had had a team headed by Konom go there because that was the last known stop of Captain Phil Burroughs’ Zephyr, and Kirk believes that Burroughs is now calling himself Zair and that the Renegade is really the Zephyr. Konom’s team had found that a battle had taken place on Omicron Ceti IV and there were no lifesigns, although they do have to fight off a force of androids. Just after Kirk gets there, Bloemker discovers the frozen body of Captain Burroughs, who had apparently been dead for about two weeks. [Timeline: Stardate 8994.6]
Star Trek #51 June 1988
Hell in a Handbasket, Part 1, by Peter David
Ensigns Konom and Nancy Brice have just got married, M’Ress is chasing Sulu, and Kirk has some understanding of Lt. Bill Bearclaw’s actions in stowing away on a shuttle to rescue Konom, but he still wants Bearclaw transferred off the ship as soon as possible. Enterprise is tasked with delivering vital medical supplies to Chaplin One. McCoy notices Lt. Castille looking a bit “off”, although Mentites are not known for becoming ill. However, strange things start happening, like a massive starship firing on the Enterprise but nothing hitting and the alien ship proving to be not there, and then people start spotting monsters all over the ship. McCoy tells Kirk that Castille is a projecting telepath and is the most likely source of what is happening.
Then a blast of psychic energy is felt throughout the ship, with even Spock being affected but not incapacitated like many of the crew on lower decks. Castille is identified as being in the botanical gardens on the lowest deck, so those on the bridge are the least affected of the crew.
[Timeline: Stardate 9000.1]
Star Trek #52 July 1988
Hell in a Handbasket, Part 2, by Peter David
Lieutenant Castille, a Mentite crewman, had started projecting illusions and now the whole crew are affected by an illusion, except for the bridge crew. Leaving Uhura and Arix in charge of the bridge, Kirk leads the others (Spock, McCoy, Sulu, Chekov, and M’Ress) down through the ship to find Castille, although now they see it as the various levels of hell as depicted from Dante’s Inferno. They have to face the various monsters and other trials from the story, and they encounter other crewmen who are caught up in the story. Different levels affect the various bridge crew members differently and at one point Kirk goes to rescue Bearclaw from a foaming watercourse, but nearly gets pulled in himself. Finally, they make their way to the lowest level 99
and get captured by Lucifer but that allows Spock to make contact and initiate a mindmeld with Castille and get the illusion to disappear. Castille had been suffering from a rare Mentite disease called Le Guin’s Syndrome, and he is kept in a neural dampener until a permanent cure can be achieved. The Enterprise is then able to resume its mission to Chapin One. Bearclaw asks to speak to Kirk, and then stabs him in the chest, telling him to “Go to hell, Kirk” and leaves him for dead. [Timeline: Stardate 9000.4]
Star Trek #53 August 1988
“You’re Dead Jim!” by Peter David
Kirk has been very seriously injured but is able to rouse himself, although he then finds that the doors have been sealed. Spock’s connection to Kirk alerts him to the fact that something is wrong, and he calls on McCoy and a medical team before forcing the doors open and finding Kirk. As Kirk is rushed to the Sick Bay, the crew get to realize how seriously injured their captain is, and they start to reminisce about him. While lying unconscious, Kirk has a form of near-death experience, seeing his late brother Sam and son David, but Spock mindmelds with Kirk and calls him back. Having regained consciousness, he announces that he wants Bearclaw’s head on a pike. [Timeline: Stardate 9000.8]
Star Trek #54, September 1988
Old Loyalties, by Peter David
Bearclaw is arrested and put in the brig for the attempted murder of Kirk and resisting arrest.
Spock has doubts about Bearclaw’s guilt because the murder seemed carefully planned. Kirk was recovering, but then had a bit of a setback when he discovered that the Federation Security Legion had been called in to handle the case, and gets set back even further on discovering that the shuttle bringing their representatives contains Commander Sean Finnegan (who was the bane of Kirk’s existence at the Academy) and his assistant, Miss Van Horne. Finnegan and Van Horne are escorted to see the Enterprise’s security chief by Ensign Bloemker. On Omicron Ceti IV
(where Finnegan had been investigating the Renegade’s attack before being called to the Enterprise), a naked female body is identified as being that of Bloemker. [Timeline: Stardate 9001.3]
Star Trek #55, October 1988
Finnegan’s Wake, by Peter David
Miss Van Horne’s low-level psychic abilities show her at least that Bearclaw truly believes that he is innocent, and she is able to convince Spock of that fact, and he gets Kirk wondering.
Finnegan is wondering about who might be out to kill Kirk, and the answer comes to him. Plus, having learned of the body of Bloemker being found on Omicron Ceti IV, he knows who the killer is masquerading as and confronts her. Unfortunately, ‘Bloemker’ is able to stun Finnegan and take his form. ‘Bloemker/Finnegan’ then goes to meet Kirk and invites him back to his cabin 100
to show him the evidence he'd found, intending to kill Kirk and frame Finnegan for the murder.
A booby trap that Kirk had set up as revenge on Finnegan momentarily stuns
‘Boemker/Finnegan’, but then he turns into Lord Garth of Izar and attacks Kirk. The convenient arrival of Spock and a swift neck-pinch stops Garth. Garth had been cured of his previous madness and had then been given menial tasks before he had disappeared a year previous. Now he is taken into custody again. Kirk decides to conveniently forget Bearclaw’s previous problems on the assurance that they won’t arise again. [Timeline: Stardate 9002.8]
Star Trek #56, November 1988
A Small Matter of Faith, by Martin Pasko
McCoy is annoyed with Kirk for diverting to Lavinius V after receiving a Priority One distress call, because Enterprise has injured crew from the Defiant onboard who will die of radiation poisoning if they don’t receive treatment at Starbase 27 soon. Kirk and Spock inform McCoy that there will still be time to get to Starbase 27, but at Lavinius V they find themselves hijacked by En-Lai and his followers. En-Lai says he has a calling to go to Calydon and that everyone will be fine. Calydon is a place of pilgrimage where “The Bright Lady” is said to appear and heal people. Efforts to retake control of the Enterprise prove fruitless, and Spock’s research suggests that they would be inadvisable anyway. At Calydon, the “The Bright Lady” appear soon after the initial beam-down and En-Lai and “The Bright Lady” combine and disappear/die in a display of energy, and all the pilgrims along with the Defiant survivors and others suffering from ailments are healed. En-Lai’s origins had been unknown, but seemingly he and “The Bright Lady” had separated at birth and now had revealed the existence of the Calydonian Healing Beings.
[Timeline: Stardate 3547.2]
Star Trek #1, October 1989
The Return!, by Peter David
Kirk returns to the new Enterprise after its refit, and on their first flight they rescue a Nasgulian (Argus) who had fled his planet after trying to organize rebellion against the Salla.
Unfortunately, the Salla’s ship arrives and the Salla pronounces the death sentence on Argus, who promptly dies on the Enterprise’s bridge. At Federation Council headquarters on Earth, the Klingon ambassador announces that the Klingons have placed a bounty on the head of James T.
Kirk. [Timeline: Stardate 8470.3]
Star Trek #2, November 1989
The Sentence, by Peter David
A Nasgulian dies on the bridge of the Enterprise when Salla of the Nasgulians tells him too, and that annoys Kirk. Salla is similarly annoyed when Kirk doesn’t die when told to, and he is more displeased when Kirk has the Enterprise warp away. Ambassador Palmer is annoyed at Kirk arriving an hour late at Starbase 42, and Kirk is informed that the Enterprise is to take Palmer to 101
Chronian III, where there has been a long running war between the Ziminda and the Buice. The leader of the Ziminda, Takula, has invited the Federation to mediate a peace treaty between the two sides. Before they head out, the Federation president informs Kirk that the Klingons have placed a ten million credits price on Kirk’s head. Arriving at Chronian III, they are greeted by Takula, but the leader of the Buice, Kime, sees this a desperate ploy by the Ziminda to stop the ultimate victory of the Buice, and orders the Federation team to leave. [Timeline: Stardate 8475.2]
Star Trek #3, December 1989
Death Before Dishonor, by Peter David
The greeting of Ambassador Palmer and Kirk’s team on Chronian III is far from harmonious, with Kime (of the Buice) demanding Takula’s surrender and telling Kirk’s team to leave the planet. Palmer insists on staying to assess the situation and then meet with Kime at his own capital. However, when that occurs, Kime attacks Palmer and the Enterprise has to quickly fight off an attack by the Klingon warbird captained by Klaa before they can beam Palmer up. Palmer has received injuries that would have been fatal without McCoy’s quick intervention. Kirk decides to intervene himself, beaming down to Chronian III and apparently vaporizing Kime when he refuses to make peace with Takula’s people (the Ziminda). After that, Kime’s people are very willing to listen to Kirk’s demands. Kime had actually been beamed to a remote area of the planet, where the nomads shun technology and live a life of friendship. It is reckoned that it will take Kime six to twelve months to get back to his own territory, by which time peace should be firmly established between the former warring parties. [Timeline: Stardate 8481.7]
Star Trek #4, January 1990
Repercussions, by Peter David
The Salla arrives at Federation Council headquarters demanding the death of Kirk, and that rattles the Klingon ambassador because he insists that the Klingons have that right. So, the Salla and the ambassador get in a bidding war for the right to kill Kirk. Meanwhile, Enterprise has arrived at Starbase 24 to get further treatment for Ambassador Palmer, but Kirk finds himself at an enquiry over his handling of events at Chronian III. That results in a protocol officer being assigned to keep watch on Kirk, but that turns out to be an attractive, stylish, lady named R.J.
Blaise. [Timeline: Stardate 8484.1]
Star Trek #5, February 1990
Fast Friends, by Peter David
The Enterprise is sent to test out a potential treatment for a fatal disease that is ravaging the lower-class on the planet New Brindon, and which the upper-class (led by Prefect Witten) wants to “cure” by killing off all the infected lower-class people. McCoy tries the treatment out on 101
patients, who initially seem to be recovering, but then start collapsing and dying. Meanwhile, 102
Kirk is doing his best to avoid his protocol officer, R.J. Blaise, although she seems to be more interested in talking to others about Kirk, rather than talking with Kirk himself. On Earth, Vice-Admiral Tomlinson is suggesting to the Federation president that they may have to cut Kirk in two and give half each to the Klingons and the Salla. [Timeline: Stardate 8485.3]
Star Trek #6, March 1990
Cure All, by Peter David
At New Brindon, Prefect Witten is still threatening to kill all the infected “lowlies”, but then he hears about the reward for Kirk’s head, so he offers to spare the lowlies and give Dr. McCoy more time to come up with a cure in return for Kirk turning himself over, so that Witten can claim the reward. He gives Kirk twelve hours to decide, and Kirk is seriously considering sacrificing himself to save the lowlies. Chekov mentions to Ensign Fouton that Witten needs to get a lesson in self-sacrifice, so he steals a vial of the disease organisms from sickbay, beams down and infects Witten as he sleeps. When Witten calls back at the end of the deadline period, he is begging Kirk to find a cure. On Earth, Vice-Admiral Tomlinson seems as eager to get rid of Kirk as the Klingons and the Salla are, and he says that he has a plan. [Timeline: Stardate 8487.1]
Star Trek #7, April 1990
Not … Sweeney!, by Peter David
Vice-Admiral Tomlinson offers the Klingon Ambassador and the Salla a deal whereby Starfleet will try Kirk for his deeds and the Klingons and the Nasgul will be able to state their cases, but any punishment will involve Kirk being detained at a Starfleet facility. The Klingons and the Salla agree to consider the idea. The Federation president is not happy with Tomlinson’s plan, but Tomlinson points out it’s better than the alternative – top bounty-hunter Sweeney is getting involved. The Enterprise is headed to Tau Gamma II to rescue the colonists (led by Janice) from the planet’s impending collapse due to seismic activity. When they find it is Kirk’s Enterprise coming to rescue them, Janice says they want any other ship, so Kirk, Spock, and Blaise beam down to convince them otherwise. But then Sweeney’s fleet arrives, Enterprise has to warp out of orbit to avoid destruction, and the colonists send Kirk, Spock and Blaise on their way from the colony in a landcar which then gets fired on by Sweeney’s ship. Kirk comes face-to-face with Sweeney who turn out to be a suave businessman-type who demands that Kirk surrenders to him or he’ll kill him. [Timeline: Stardate 8488.3]
Star Trek #8, May 1990
Going, Going … , by Peter David
Vice-Admiral Tomlinson thinks he has a deal going with the Klingons and Nasgul until they learn that Sweeney has captured Kirk (along with Spock and Blaise), and then the bidding war resumes. Sulu has called in backup, including Admiral Stephanoff with the Exeter and other 103
ships close enough. By the time the Starfleet ships arrive for a showdown with Sweeney’s fleet, Kirk, Blaise and Spock have broken free, Blaise has demonstrated admirable skill with a phaser, and Spock has discovered that although a neck-pinch will not render Sweeney unconscious, a hard punch to the jaw will. Kirk says he’s heading for the bridge of Sweeney’s ship and tells Spock and Blaise to beam down to Tau Gamma II as soon as the ship’s shields go down. A Klingon ship captained by Klaa and a Nasgul ship captained by Zarn both announce their imminent arrival to take custody of Kirk.
Star Trek #9, June 1990
… Gone!, by Peter David
The Enterprise is hosting a meeting between the Klingons and the Nasgul, while Kirk, Spock and protocol Officer R. J. Blaise have been taken captive by the bounty hunter named Sweeney, and the ships are stationed above a colony planet that is seismically unstable. The Klingon-Nasgul meeting breaks up as accusations fly from both sides, and soon the ships from both sides are firing on each other. Kirk succeeds in lowing shields on Sweeney’s ship long enough to beam Spock and Blaise down to the planet, then Scotty is able to beam Kirk back to the Enterprise, but a Sweeney look-alike, who is a literal ticking timebomb, was fighting him and gets beamed aboard too. Kirk has his opponent beamed immediately to deep space, and the tremendous explosion quietens the disturbances down a bit and lets the Enterprise beam up Spock, Blaise, and the colonists led by Miss Janice, just before the seismic activity causes the planet to break up. Nogura warns Vice Admiral Karl Tomlinson about his behavior towards the Federation President. [Timeline: Stardate: 8490.7]
Star Trek #10, July 1990
The Trial of James T. Kirk, Part 1 of 3, The First Thing We Do …, by Peter David Kirk gives himself up for trial in order to prevent further loss of life in the conflict between the Klingons and the Nasgul. He finds that his defense team is Cogsley and Cogsley, specifically Sam Cogsley and his wife, who Kirk knows as Areel Shaw. Before the trial begins, Lieutenant R.J. Blaise discusses her infatuation for Kirk with Uhura, Spock gets to discuss the concept of friendship with Sarek, and Scotty visits the grave of his nephew, Peter Preston. [Timeline: Stardate 8495.6]
Star Trek #11, August 1990
The Trial of James T. Kirk, Part 2 of 3, … Let’s Kill All the Lawyers, by Peter David Kirk finds himself facing charges of murder (brought by the Klingons) and breach of the Prime Directive (brought by the Salla). Kirk’s defense attorney is Cogsley, and Sulu had the broadcast of the trial made available throughout the Enterprise. The Salla parades a number of people from Kirk’s past adventures, including Anan 7 from Eminiar, Bela Oxmyx, and Prefect Witten of New Brinden who accuses Kirk of infecting him with a disease that had been afflicting his planet, but 104
Cogsley mounts a good rebuttal to all. Back on the Enterprise after the first day in court, an ensign admits it was he who had infected Witten. The Klingon Emperor is on his way to join in the trial.
Star Trek #12, September 1990
The Trial of James T. Kirk, Part 3 of 3, Trial and Error!, by Peter David
Ensign Foulton gets dismissed from Starfleet and returns to his home planet. Kirk’s trial gets underway, with the Klingon Emperor arriving to handle their case and getting into an argument with the Salla. Kirk gets into an argument with Miss Blaise when she is called as a witness, leading his command team to realize that they’re in love. Then Kirk notices that the Salla and his attendant Nasgul have left the courtroom and Kirk has the Enterprise scan the area. They observe an energy buildup near Kirk, and Kirk locates a bomb in the form of an official house badge that the Salla had manipulated the Emperor into wearing. Kirk has it beamed to a safe distance before it explodes, and the Emperor reluctantly drops charges. He does, however, contact his undercover spy (Tomlinson) to keep the pressure on Kirk. Kirk is relieved that it is all over until he finds that Blaise is still aboard ship. [Timeline: Stardate 8498.1]
Star Trek #13, October 1990
Return of the Worthy part 1: A Rude Awakening!, by Peter David & Bill Mumy Enterprise has been tasked with testing the Lamver Unit device which is designed to open a gateway to alternate universes. The first task was to check out a seeming lifeless planet in the Claneia system where the device will be tested, because the planet will be destroyed as the unit uses the power of the star to create the gateway. However, Kirk and his team first get attacked by a robot that McCoy manages to disable with a phaser shot, and then they discover an ancient spaceship that seems to have been there for 349 years and there are people in suspended animation inside. McCoy and his team are able to revive them, and Catalano, Eyleen, Gim, Enaaj and Arrit introduce themselves as the legendary Worthy from Karamia. They had been sent out as explorers, liberators, healers and discoverers which they did until encountering a being called Apollo who had transported them and their ship halfway across the galaxy to this barren planet.
With their ship damaged and unflyable, and their ability to feed themselves gone, the survivors put themselves in suspended animation. They are eager to return to Karamia, especially after hearing that the planet is on the verge of war. But Catalano is adamant that Claneia One (the planet they were found on) must not be destroyed. [Timeline: Stardate 8513.7]
Star Trek #14 December 1990
Return of the Worthy part 2: Great Expectations!, by Peter David & Bill Mumy The surviving members of the Worthy, who had been in suspended animation for 330 years, show Kirk and his crew the graves of their compatriots who died. Kirk agrees not to use the Lamver Unit device on Claneia One and says he will take them all back to Karamia, which is 105
known to be on the verge of war. En route, Gim studies Scotty’s manuals and starts repairing their ship and converting it to warp drive, Arrit repairs their robot, and Catalano regales the crew with stories of the Worthy’s adventures and plays a small role in seeing off the Gorn when they attack the Enterprise. Starfleet Command doesn’t appreciate Kirk’s side trip and Captain Styles is contacted to recover the Lamver Unit from the Enterprise and take over the mission of testing it. Arriving at Karamia, the Enterprise can get no response from the planet and sensors show no lifesigns but high levels of radiation. [Timeline: Stardate 8514.9]
Star Trek #15 January 1991
Return of the Worthy part 3: Tomorrow Never Knows!, by Peter David & Bill Mumy The Worthy are horrified to find that a war has killed all life on their planet, Karamia. They become despondent, arguing among themselves and blaming Kirk for reviving them just to find devastation. Then Captain Styles arrives and says he is taking control of the Lamver Unit project and will deploy it in the Claneia system as planned. The Worthy are up in arms at that idea, insisting that the planet should be preserved as a memorial to their fallen ones. They are also horrified to hear about the Federation’s Prime Directive that had prevented them from stopping the tragedy on Karamia and also prevented them from helping other races heading the same way.
After discussions among themselves, they take on the job of helping those races themselves, since they have no such Prime Directive. Styles tells them that the Federation has agreed to turn Claneia One into a memorial, although he had actually only been bluffing about destroying the planet. The Federation had already discovered that there was a flaw in the Lamver Unit device, and he had been playing along with an idea of Kirk’s to give the Worthy a new purpose in life.
[Timeline: Stardate 8517.4]
Star Trek #16, February 1991
World Singer, by J. Michael Strazcynski
The Enterprise visits the planet Theta VII as seismic activity is in the final stages of tearing the planet apart. Its total population had been removed and resettled over the past three years, but when Spock surveys it, he finds one lifeform still there. With about 5 hours to go to final breakup (although the planet accelerates that schedule) Kirk, Spock and McCoy beam down and find Rell. Rell had been the one who could hear the song of the planet and guided the other inhabitants accordingly. Now he had returned to be with, and die with, the planet. Kirk gets a sense of how much Rell values life, so he tells Spock and McCoy to beam back to the ship, while Kirk remained with Rell. Just before the planet’s final moments, Rell agrees to leave with Kirk and Enterprise warps out of orbit at the last second. Rell ends up working on a Starfleet science vessel helping them record the history of other dying planets. [Timeline: Stardate 3040.2]
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Partners?, by Howard Weinstein
Needra is a planet on the border between the Federation and the Klingon Empire, and they have resources being mined and shipped by a private company headed up by Sally Gallan, but their convoys (supplying Federation and Klingon colonies) have recently been coming under attack from an unknown force. The light cruiser, USS Lafayette (with Captain Anderson), and the Klingon ship, qui HoH (captained by Keydn), had been sent to assist in protecting the region, but then a large unknown vessel decloaks alongside the Lafayette and attacks it. The intruder is driven off by the timely intervention of the qui HoH, but Lafayette is seriously damaged, and the Enterprise is sent to provide additional assistance, and the Klingons send the Qapla with Commodore Khezri. The attacker is a Tyrion Legion ship captained by Exius who is in contact with Zandir based on Needra. Then the qui HoH gets attacked as the Lafayette had, and Khezri calls in the Enterprise to provide medical assistance. One of the injured that McCoy treats was the senior defense officer on the qui HoH, and he passes information on to Kirk that he thinks Keydn may have interfered with the sensors to prevent him noticing the approach of their attacker in time. Uhura notices a coded message being sent from the surface of Needra to deep space, and Kirk sends Chekov and a security team to check out the source of the signal and has Uhura try to ascertain where the signal went.
Star Trek #18, April 1991
Partners? Conclusion, by Howard Weinstein
Commodore Khezri had already worked out Keydn’s involvement and had set him up with information about a supposed convoy, and that was the message that Zandir had sent to the Tyrions. That enables Khezri to destroy one of their ships and drive off two others that had tried to ambush the fictional convoy. Khezri wants the Enterprise to join the Klingons in a preemptive attack on the Tyrion station, but Kirk is against becoming the aggressor. Instead, he calls in Sally Gallan of the mining company and has her approach Zandir about working with the Tyrions against the Needrans. That gets her ship aboard their station, along with Uhura, Scotty and Sulu hidden aboard. While Gallan and Zandir are in discussions with Exius, Uhura breaks into the Tyrions’ computer system, and Scotty and Sulu discover that some of the Tyrions supposed fleet don’t even have engines. When the Klingons and the Enterprise face down the Tyrions, the Tyrion ships all lose power, due to Uhura’s tampering with their computers. The Enterprise then has to stand in the way of the Qapla to stop it destroying the Tyrions. Exius is killed by another Tyrion (Trevin) and a deal is reached with Kirk whereby the Tyrion Legion can do business with Needra. Kirk hopes that this cooperation with the Klingons is a step towards peace with them.
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Once a Hero, by Howard Weinstein
The Enterprise responds to a distress call from a Federation freighter, the Arcade, that had been delivering supplies to Sandar Colony IX when it came under attack from what the Arcade’s captain thought was the Haigy (the Sandar’s enemy). The Arcade is found crashed on the planet Dinar IV, but there is no response to hails. Kirk, Spock, and McCoy beam down with a security team of Chekov, Hunter, Jackson, and Ensign Thomas Lee. The people they encounter claim to be the only survivors of the Arcade’s crew, but they seem to be acting suspicious, and then Ensign Lee intervenes to warn Kirk when he sees the captain walking into a trap. The supposed Arcade crew (actually Haigy raiders who had taken over the ship) are captured, but Lee is fatally shot in the process. In preparing the eulogy, Kirk finds that he and the crew never really knew Lee (who had joined the ship recently at Starbase 29) that well. The eulogy ends up being more of an encouragement to the crew to get to know one another, because they are all in this together.
Star Trek #20, June 1991
Gods’ Gauntlet, Chapter 1, by Howard Weinstein
The Enterprise had been tricked into going to Lerik 4 on the premise, presented by Ambassador Goffen, that the planet wants to join the Federation. The “Ambassador” is actually the Deputy Prime Minister, and he had carried out his deception to try and get Federation help in a dispute between the religion-oriented Reversionists and the government, which is devastating the planet.
Recently, natural disaster had been wracking the planet and the Reversionists blame the government for not abiding by the words of their traditional god, Olahm. Kirk is reluctant to intervene but gets talked into trying to at least meet with the Prime Minister, Daveeka, and Kirk and McCoy beam down with Goffen. Daveeka reluctantly agrees to speak with them and ends up asking if the Enterprise’s sensors can find a cause for the disasters. But while they are meeting, they are shaken up by a severe earthquake that seemed to have no cause, and then a fierce storm suddenly emerges in the region. Spock orders Scotty to try and beam Kirk and those with him to the Enterprise.
Star Trek #21 July 1991
God’s Gauntlet, Chapter 2: The Last Stand, by Howard Weinstein
Spock is only just able to have Kirk, McCoy, Goffen and Prime Minister Daveeka beamed to safety as mysterious fire storms and other events ravaged the planet Lerik 4. Then Kirk receives a message from Uslov, the leader of the Reversionists who is a sort of religious high priest. He invites Kirk for discussions, where Kirk learns that Uslov is interested in negotiating peace with Daveeka, and Kirk also finds that some of Daveeka’s court, specifically Goffen, feel that Daveeka could be more accommodating. Meanwhile, Spock has located where a mysterious energy field emanates from, although nothing seems to be there. That force seems to the cause of the disruptions on the planet, but as the Enterprise approaches the location, the ship is disabled.
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Spock uses a shuttle to complete the investigation, but Scotty sees the shuttle break up. On the planet, Kirk tries to get Daveeka to talk with the rebels, but she adamantly refuses and then Rekkar arrives and shoots and kills her. Then the storm starts again, and the window blows out depositing Spock into their midst, and an alien shaped like the outline of a massive butterfly.
Spock introduces the alien as Rala of the Olahm, and Rala says that they had been encouraging development of the Lerikans over time by taking on the role of a god. However, they now saw the Lerikans as being ready to look after themselves and the recent events had been a final test that Daveeka had passed. Rala restores Daveeka to life, and she, Uslov, and Goffen work together to bring stability to the planet and aim to bring it into the Federation. [Timeline: Stardate 8530.7]
Star Trek #22, August 1991
Mission: Muddled, Part 1, by Howard Weinstein
The Enterprise is sent to assist the mining colony on Skellen 3, but there is also what is claimed to be an agricultural colony there called the Circle, although Spock questions whether agriculture is really feasible on the planet. The leader of the Circle is a Nasgul named Ravia, who says the Salla (Vlagro) is her half-brother who cheated her out of her family’s inheritance. The miners say that the Circle has been disruptive, but Ravia says it’s all a misunderstanding and agrees to a meeting with the miners. But she is actually working with a Klingon weapons dealer (Grax), although she has other concerns when she learns that someone had stolen the Jaheelah, which is the most sacred Nasgul treasure. It had been stolen by Vashi for Socrates and his associate, Shilo. Vashi gets captured by the Nasgul, and Socrates and Shilo escape the planet aboard their ship while being chased by the Klingon’s vessel. The Enterprise drives off the Klingon and brings Socrates’s ship aboard, but then finds out that Socrates is actually Harcourt Fenton Mudd.
[Timeline: Stardate 8535.6]
Star Trek #23 September 1991
Mission: Muddled, Part 2, The Sky Above … The Mudd Below, by Howard Weinstein Shilo learns that the person she had known as Socrates was actually Harry Mudd when the Enterprise crew, who had rescued them, identifies him. He claims all he had done was overhear a conversation between Domine Ravia and a Klingon arms dealer, but Kirk doesn’t fully buy it.
On Skellen 3, Ravia is desperate to get back the holy object, Jaheelah, that she had stolen from her half-brother Vlagro. Vlagro had effectively stolen it when he took over the role of Salla by force after the previous real Salla had died, and he is also very eager to recover the Jaheelah.
Jebitok, who heads up the mining colony, and his assistant Maria Martinez call in Kirk and his team to protect them because Domine is accusing the miners of being in league with whoever stole the Jaheelah. Jebitok says he had discovered something of interest near another mine facility that they had abandoned, and he arranges to meet Kirk and his team there the next morning. However, the next day Kirk discovers that Jebitok had gone out to the abandoned mine 109
site ahead of them, due to an unsigned message he had received and, when Kirk and his team arrive there, they find Jebitok dead. Meanwhile, the Klingon rebels aboard the Lur Dech have been intercepted by Commodore Khezri aboard the Imperial Flagship Qa’pla.
Star Trek #24 October 1991
Mission: Muddled, Part 3, Target: Mudd!, by Howard Weinstein
Investigating the murder of Jebitok, who had headed up the mining colony on Skellen 3, the Enterprise team finds an underground storage facility that is now empty, but there are indications of Klingon weaponry having been stored there. Harry Mudd overhears talk of Domine Ravia and her ‘Circle’ being eager to get her hands on the Jaheelah and he plans of selling it to her and make his fortune, rather than return it to the Salla. He gets Shilo to use her encephalic-trace flute to put Scotty and his team to sleep, and then he beams down to negotiate with Ravia. That ends up with Mudd suspended upside-down and threatened with death unless he hands over the Jaheelah. The Enterprise locates Mudd in Ravia’s headquarters but is unable to beam him up because the Nasgul ship of the Salla, Vlagro, arrives and attacks the Enterprise demanding the return of the Jaheelah (which Shilo has shown to Kirk is on the Enterprise). Then another Nasgul ship arrives, and Brigadier Manik explains that Vlagro is an imposter, and he introduces the real Salla, named Watan. Manik also says that negotiations have continued with Ambassador Ajami and that Nasgul could be joining the Federation. After Manik disables Vlagro’s ship, Kirk is able to have Mudd beamed aboard just as Ravia is about to kill him. Then a Klingon ship with Commodore Khezri arrives, and Khezri explains that the weapons had been stored there by rebels who had been planning on taking over the government but had now been thwarted. He also says that Admiral Tomlinson is really a Klingon mole named Kerzuk who had been in league with the rebels. Ravia leaves Skellen and the mining colony is able to continue its work, now under the direction of Maria Martinez. Kirk is just left with the problem of getting Mudd off of the Enterprise. [Timeline: Stardate 8538.2]
Star Trek #25 November 1991
Class Reunion, by Howard Weinstein
The Enterprise is back at Earth after bringing Ambassador Berg there, and Uhura, Chekov and Sulu talk Kirk into attending a reunion at the Academy. Kirk pressures McCoy to come too.
Before they leave for the function, Chekov’s cousin Doctor Nina Popov beams aboard, and she will be joining the ship as an intern, which pleases Sulu. At the function, Kirk gets to meet Victoria Leigh who he knew at the Academy, and both had been posted on the Farragut where they had been appointed as direct liaisons to Tred Kegin of the planet Pilkor 3. Victoria had ended up marrying Tred and staying on Pilkor 3, but Tred had been killed and Victoria wants Kirk to help her find who murdered him. Kirk protests that he has no standing on the non-Federation world of Pilkor 3, but Victoria says that Kirk was Tred’s sole heir and everything he possessed, including her, was now Kirk’s.
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Where There’s a Will …, by Howard Weinstein
Vickie Leigh, now Mrs. Kegan, explains that her husband Tred had been associated with a covert resistance group called Brightstar that had found evidence of a secret plan (called Project Quest) to colonize some outlying planets, which was against the official policy on Pilkor Three. It also supposedly had something to do with action against the Federation. Vickie wants Kirk to join her in travelling back to Pilkor aboard a scout-class ship that she has rented in order to find out what is going on. Kirk checks it out with Admiral Nogura and he approves it, largely because there has been increasing Romulan activity along the neutral zone adjacent to Pilkoran space, and he suspects the activity might be linked with Pilkor’s secret plans. [Timeline: Stardate 8562.8]
Star Trek #27 January 1992
Secrets …, by Howard Weinstein
Vickie and Kirk fly a scout ship down to Pilkor Three, where they get a rather unwelcome
“greeting” from Minister Pitkemeni of the Legal Affairs Ministry, but they are allowed to proceed to Vickie’s house. Kirk gains access to Tred’s computer and locates a file about Project Quest which says that the Pilkorans have been training groups of their people to secretly colonize outlying planets. Meanwhile, Enterprise has picked up a distress call which is tracked to a world in the outlying regions of Pilkoran space. Kirk rejoins the Enterprise, and they go to investigate and find only one survivor who says the attack was carried out by people who looked like Spock, which the Enterprise crew assumes means that they were Romulans. That puzzles Kirk, because he had gained the opinion that the Pilkorans were working with the Romulans.
Star Trek #28 February 1992
Truth or Treachery, by Howard Weinstein
Leeta, the sole survivor of the colony Metaga Five implicated the Romulans in the attack, but no conclusive evidence of Romulan involvement is found when the Enterprise investigates the remains of the colony. Plus, they find only 100 bodies out of the supposed 900 colonists, and no indication of the missing 800. Further, a brain implant is found in Leeta and similar implants are then discovered in the 100 bodies, and these implants seem to have created false memories for the colonists. That gets Kirk wondering if this is something organized by those on the planet Pilkor Three where the colonists came from. McCoy is dressed up as an Admiral and a message is beamed at Pilkor Three saying that the Enterprise has been destroyed in an attack by the Romulans. That was a test for Kirk’s friend Vickie Kegan, because she would recognize McCoy and inform the Pilkor leadership if she was involved. That doesn’t happen, so Kirk beams down to see Vickie and discovers that her husband, Tred, is being held by the authorities to ensure her cooperation. Kirk has Vickie and Tred beamed aboard the Enterprise and discovers that Pilkorans had set up the colonists as “sacrificial lambs” to start a war between the Romulans and Federation so that the Tred could then pick up the pieces and form their own empire. Kirk 111
informs the Federation and Romulans of what had been done and tells the Pilkorans that their plan had been thwarted. Vickie and Tred were heading for Earth, and Leeta was joining them.
[Timeline: Stardate 8566.7]
Star Trek #29 March 1992
The Price of Admission!, by Timothy De Haas
The Enterprise arrives at the planet Zuyna which has applied for Federation membership, but where the Federation observer (Mirenna Dora) has apparently gone missing for about 18 months.
Enterprise’s scans of the planet show considerable development on the planet, including on the southern continent that had previously been unoccupied. The planet’s leader, Dranna Zhan, says that Dora is fine, and they can meet her after he has welcomed the Enterprise team to the planet.
Zhan eagerly tells them of the discovery of Hawkingite (an element essential to Federation computers) on the southern continent, and which he believes will guarantee Zuyna’s admission to the Federation. Then Dora bursts in and says that the Zuynans have been killing off another intelligent species, the B’Tin (of which McCoy had already seen a number of dead bodies). Zhan says that Dora had been placed under house arrest for interfering with their development, in violation of the Prime Directive. Dora then apparently has a heart attack, and Kirk insists on returning Dora to the Enterprise. There, McCoy realizes that she isn’t human. She was actually a B’Tin named B’Non that the real Dora had been protecting, but Dora had died in the attempt and B’Non had taken her form. The B’Tin were able to assume the form of anyone, but they normally keep that ability secret. B’Non takes Kirk to an actual B’Tin village, and he accepts that they are truly sentient. Kirk decides that Dora/B’Non has to be handed over to the Zuynans, and he tells Zhan that if Zuyna is accepted into the Federation then the B’Tin and Zuynans will be equally recognized as representing the planet. Zhan says that if the Federation isn’t interested in the Hawkingite then perhaps the Romulans will. At that, Dora lets out a cry, goes to attack Zhan but is apparently shot and vaporized. Immediately afterwards however, Kirk notices a bit of a change in Zhan and Zhan/B’Non says that next time they meet, Kirk might find some changes.
[Timeline: Stardate 8827.3]
Star Trek #30 April 1992
Veritas, by Howard Weinstein
The Enterprise is at the Quatrini space station awaiting the arrival of the U.S.S. Jonathan Levy, and Uhura and Sulu get lost on the station while exploring. They are about to request beam-up when they overhear three Quatrin operatives addressing someone called Bokkan who they describe as a terrorist. From their hidden vantage point, Uhura and Sulu observe three other Quatrin agents arrive, supposedly to take control of Bokkan, but instead they open fire on the original three agents and Bokkan and leave them for dead. Uhura and Sulu are about to get away from the scene when they realize that one of the agents is still alive, and the three of them get beamed up to the Enterprise, with Agent Keter put in the care of McCoy. Kirk makes a report to the station’s commander, Administrator Lojana, and she notifies Quatrin authorities. That results 112
in Director Prusk of the Quatrin Security Agency arriving on the station and then demanding to speak to Keter. Kirk tells him that Keter is dangerously injured and is unable to talk to anyone, and then Prusk says that the attack was by Betan terrorists posing as Quatrini agents and he demands that Uhura and Sulu travel back to Quatrin with him, to attend an inquiry. Kirk feels forced to accede to the demand, but soon after they have left aboard Prusk’s shuttle, Keter recovers sufficiently to say that those that attacked them had definitely been Quatrini agents, and that leaves Kirk second guessing his decision to let Uhura and Sulu go. [Timeline: Stardate 8588.5]
Star Trek #31 May 1992
Veritas, Part II: Sacrifices and Survivors, by Howard Weinstein
The surviving Quatrini agent that was aboard Enterprise said that he thought it was another Quatrini team that had attacked them, not Betan terrorists, which makes Spock, McCoy and Kirk begin to think it wasn’t a good idea to send Uhura and Sulu to Quatrin to testify about the attack.
Director Prusk is furious about the failure of his team to eliminate all witnesses and tasks his deputy, Ronago, with disposing of Uhura and Sulu. After the inquiry, Prusk escorts Uhura and Sulu to the shuttle that is to take them back to the Enterprise, accompanied by Ronago. During the flight, Ronago kills the pilot, then injures Sulu but finds he doesn’t die easily, and in the fight Ronago cuts himself and bleeds to death. Uhura and the injured Sulu exit the shuttle in an escape pod seconds before the shuttle self-destructs. Unable to return to Quatrin or reach the Enterprise, Uhura heads the pod towards Beta. [Timeline: Stardate 8588.7]
Star Trek #32 June 1992
Veritas, Part III: Danger … on Ice!, by Howard Weinstein
The escape pod with Uhura and the injured Sulu has landed on the icy planet Beta, and after patching up Sulu as best she can, Uhura goes looking for help. She encounters a Betan cadre with Ros as their leader, and they recover Sulu (although the Betan healer named Ferian has to bring him back to life using herbs) and then they destroy the escape pod, hoping that will prevent the Quatrini from homing in on its emergency signal. However, Director Prusk has already learned that an escape pod had left the shuttle before it exploded, and he sends a team led by Colonel Gavok to find and kill whoever was on it. When the Enterprise arrives requesting news of Uhura and Sulu, Prusk tells them he believes they died at the hands of Betan terrorists and tries to deter the Enterprise from searching for them but is not totally successful of course.
[Timeline: Stardate 8589.2]
Star Trek #33 July 1992
Veritas, the Conclusion: Cold Comfort, by Howard Weinstein
Uhura and Sulu are on an icy planet, called Beta, in the company of a small band of Betan rebels, led by Ros, who don’t shirk from using moral blackmail to get what they want. Sulu is seriously 113
injured, but Uhura accompanies Ros when he goes to check out a secret Quatrini staging base.
They find the place abandoned but with working communication equipment. Uhura slips out that night to try to use the equipment to contact the Enterprise who are searching for them. Ros nearly stops her, but he lets her proceed when he realizes she is not trying to betray them. However, the two of them get captured by a group of Quatrini who had been lying in wait. They try and force Uhura to reveal where Sulu is being kept, but she has incapacitated one of the Quatrini before Chekov and a team from the Enterprise arrive to take control. It is revealed that Prusk had been trying to establish a police state, but it ends up with Ros heading up a Betan delegation to negotiate peace with the government on Quatrin. Back on the Enterprise, Sulu discovers that he has been appointed as captain of the Excelsior.
Star Trek #34, August 1992
The Tree of Life, the Branches of Heaven, by David de Vries
The Enterprise investigates a newly discovered planet, and Kirk, McCoy and Spock beam down to the lifeless planet in an area that Kirk says reminds him of the Grand Canyon. That leads to McCoy saying that mountaineering types always seem to like terrains that resemble bottomless pits, and then McCoy finds himself looking down a deep ravine that Spock’s tricorder says is bottomless. A giant tree appears when Kirk mentions legends of the Tree of Life, and then plants and trees sprout up all around them. Spock convinces Kirk that it is all fantasy, even if feeling real, which leads to Kirk disappearing. Realizing that Kirk had thought, but not vocalize, another fantasy, Spock tries going after him. After a false attempt, Spock finds Kirk aboard the Enterprise with his son David as First Officer. It takes a trail of logic, but Kirk finally accepts that David is dead and that this David is only a pale reflection of the real thing, and Kirk and Spock find themselves back on the planet with McCoy. After being able to beam up, Kirk has the planet declared off-limits, because humans are obviously not ready to handle its powers.
[Timeline: Stardate 8583.7]
Star Trek #35, August 1992
The Tabukan Syndrome, Part One: Divide and Conquer, by Howard Weinstein
Sulu takes command of the Excelsior and then the Excelsior and the Enterprise are ordered to go to assist a Tabukan convoy that is to carry the doomsday weapons from Tabuk 4 and 5 for safe disposal in space. The two adjacent planets, near the Romulan border, had built up a massive stockpile of dangerous weapons during their long running dispute, but they had recently reached a peace treaty and joined the Federation. Then a medical distress call is received from the colony at Epsilon Kitaj, and the Enterprise diverts there, leaving Excelsior to proceed to the Tabukan system. The medical emergency had been caused by ships of the Markoans who are working with the Romulans and wanted to split up the Federation ships in order to more easily attack the Tabukan convoy, steal the weapons, and demonstrate to the Tabukans that the Federation couldn’t protect them. The Excelsior arrives to see the Tabukan convoy being attacked, and seriously outgunned, by four unidentified ships.
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Star Trek #36, September 1992
The Tabukan Syndrome, Part Two: Battle Stations!, by Howard Weinstein
Captain Sulu and the Excelsior drive off some unrecognized alien ships that were attacking a Tabukan convoy, and Sulu wonders if they have any connection with the Romulans because they have a form of invisibility cloak but not as up to date as the Romulans’ cloak. The aliens are the Maroans and they are in league with the Romulans, and they later stage a larger attack on the Excelsior and the convoy. The leaders representing the two Tabukan planets meet with Sulu, asking for Federation assistance in disposing of their dangerous weapons before they use them on each other. Meanwhile, Enterprise had responded to a distress call from Epsilon Kitaj, and they find a private hospital ship, the S.S. Salutaris, headed up by Dr. Abigail Wilson, who McCoy had known at the Academy. She tells Kirk that the planet had been affected by a poisonous space cloud, although Enterprise can find no indication of any such cloud. Kirk agrees to help them anyway, while checking out what really happened. [Timeline: Stardate 8598.6]
Star Trek #37, Early October 1992
The Tabukan Syndrome, Part Three: Choom Ka-Chooom, by Howard Weinstein
The Excelsior is able to drive off the Maroan attack without serious injury, but Sulu realizes he needs to call in the Enterprise for additional support in the event of another attack. McCoy insists on taking a medical team to join Dr. Wilson’s effort on the Epsilon Kitajan, so the Enterprise leaves without him. When Vodrin sees the Enterprise leave, he notifies Supreme Leader Brekara (his mother) and Admiral Jaricus (the Romulan overseeing operations) and he is ordered (as he had also been ordered previously) to bring his ships to join the rest of the Maroan fleet at the Tabukan system. Instead, he has satellites launched around Epsilon Kitajan to create a security net and he takes over the planet, although he allows McCoy and Wilson to continue their work within limits. [Timeline: Stardate 8600.2]
Star Trek #38, Late October 1992
The Tabukan Syndrome, Part Four: Consequences!, by Howard Weinstein
Dr. McCoy and Dr. Wilson had been left on Epsilon Kitajan while the Enterprise had headed for the Tabukan system, but Vodrin and the Maroans had taken control of the planet and erected a security net around it. When an explosion destroys much of the Maroans’ headquarters, Paylok threatens Dr. Wilson when she goes to assist whoever might be injured. At the Takukan asteroid belt, Kirk and Sulu meet with the Tabukan leaders and learn that the weapons stored there are in a dangerous state because the triggers for them have been removed. Sulu thinks that may be an advantage. Not having gotten any response from Dr. McCoy or from Dr. Wilson’s ship for some time, the Enterprise heads back there. [Timeline: Stardate 8601.6]
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Star Trek #39, Early November 1992
The Tabukan Syndrome, Part Five: Collision Course, by Howard Weinstein
On Epsilon Kitajan, Vodrin’s life is saved by Dr. Wilson, which infuriates the colony’s leader Paylok and he wants her off the planet. The Enterprise returns to find a security net around the planet, but they are able to break through and free the planet from Vodrin and his Maroan team.
Kirk also tells Paylok that medical help is available to him in the form of Dr. Wilson, but the Enterprise has to leave, and Paylok reluctantly agrees. The Enterprise also uses the trick that Excelsior had discovered to locate the four cloaked Monoan ships and forces them to surrender.
At the Tabukan system, Excelsior drives off a Monoan attack on the arsenal in the asteroid belt and Sulu defuses a dispute between the Tabukan leaders. [Timeline: Stardate 8604.3]
Star Trek #40 Late November 1992
The Tabukan Syndrome, Conclusion: Showdown!, by Howard Weinstein
Excelsior’s engineer, Lukas, worked out how to beam the Tabukan arsenal off of the asteroid base, and when that’s done, Sulu implements his plan. Explosions occur, destroying a couple of the protective domes on the asteroid and Sulu sends out a message that the weapons have begun to self-detonate and calls on the Enterprise for help. The Enterprise and Excelsior then supposedly leave for safe harbor at Tabuk 4, but actually they hide among the asteroids. Brekara talks the Romulan commander, Jaricus, into letting her lead her people in the recovery of the main weapons-cache that her sources informed her were in an undamaged area. Jaricus agrees, but the Maroan assault only finds an ambush there, led by Sulu’s first officer, Commander Rand.
The Enterprise and Excelsior defeat the Maroan ships, but the Romulan ship is able to escape back into the Neutral Zone. Sulu has the Tabukan arsenal detonated adjacent to the Neutral Zone so the Romulans can see. After that failure, the Romulans lose interest in any connection with the Maroans.
Star Trek #41 December 1992
Runaway, by Howard Weinstein
The Enterprise is searching for the research vessel U.S.S. Jonathan Levy that was late in reporting in. The region is experiencing stellar instabilities, and also an unusual energy field.
Then Scotty, Chekov, Saavik and others start experiencing vertigo and exhibiting unusual behavior for short periods of time. Spock then notices the energy field beginning to match the Enterprise’s course, and bits of it separate and invade the Enterprise. Turns out, the energy field consists of a colony of creatures who are heading for their spawning ground in the unstable stars in order to bring about the next generation. One of their number had gone off by itself to investigate and experience the lifeforms on the Enterprise, causing the vertigo, etc. The others came to bring the runaway back into the fold and they apologized to Kirk for the interference. As they leave, the Enterprise hears from Captain Lightfoot of the Jonathan Levy. [Timeline: Stardate 8611.1]
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Star Trek #42 January 1993
A Little Adventure … , by Howard Weinstein
McCoy and Scotty are taking shore leave on Starbase 99 where McCoy has been attending a medical conference, but then decides he’d like an adventure. He sees an opportunity when some Binzalans are left stranded when the ship’s captain they’d hired abandons them, claiming their ship is a death trap. The Binzalans are Sova (leader of a persecuted religious order who is setting up a colony on Anedius IV), her heavily pregnant daughter, Dareela, and son-in-law, Fass. The other members of her sect are following later. McCoy offers his help with looking after Dareela and Scotty can help their ship’s engineer, a hired Binzalan named Kalli. Scotty soon realizes that the previous captain’s description of the ship’s condition was maybe more glowing than it should have been. Three hours after they leave the Starbase, another Binzalan ship arrives, with Marshal Galo demanding that the fugitive Hovar be handed over, but he is told that the only other Binzalan ship had left. Aboard Sova’s ship, an explosion from some faulty engine room equipment leaves the ship disabled. [Timeline: Stardate 8914.6]
Star Trek #43 February 1993
… Goes a Long Way!, by Howard Weinstein
Scotty and McCoy are aboard the damaged Binzalan ship, slowly making their way to Anebius IV when the child of Dareela and Fass is born even though Dareela’s mother insists that it doesn’t happen until they reach Anebius IV because the child is fated to be their order’s Savior.
Then the ship is fired upon by Marshal Galo who demands the return of the fugitive Hovar.
Turns out that Fass is Hovar and had been the heir, but had disagreed with his family’s oppressive policies, staged his own death and assumed the identity of Fass. He also shows that he left Binzala legally, having obtained permission to establish a colony on Anebius IV. However, the damage inflicted by Galo’s ship is going to cause a core breach on Sova’s ship, and it seems that they will have to surrender to Galo. Then they all feel a transporter taking effect. The Enterprise had arrived just in time after finding that Sova’s ship had not reached Anebius IV.
The Enterprise delivers Hass, Dareela, Sova and the baby to a Starbase awaiting the arrival of other colonists, and the Binzalan engineer, Kalli, tells Scotty that he plans to join Starfleet.
[Timeline: Stardate 8915.1]
Star Trek #44, March 1993
Acceptable Risk, by Howard Weinstein
The Enterprise checks out the non-Federation colony that was founded two years previous by a childhood friend of Kirk’s, Mark Willis. They find a storm has ravaged the colony, but the five injured colonists all survive after McCoy treats them. However, 15 of the original 80 colonists have died, including Willis’s wife, all as a result of the storms. What puzzles Spock is how the planet is even habitable so far out from its star. Then Chekov and Uhura find a mining facility 117
that is polluting the planet, but Willis sees it as a triumph. Kirk gets caught in another storm and Spock sends two probes into the storm to check it out. He discovers that there is an unusual atmospheric layer between the troposphere and the stratosphere that is trapping heat in and making the planet habitable but is also keeping out the incorporeal lifeforms that are native to the planet. The storms are caused by those lifeforms trying to break through the layer, which had been created by terraforming technology that Willis had obtained from a source outside the Federation. When Kirk tells Willis that the colony must relocate and restore the planet to its rightful owners, they get into a fight. However, the colonists vote to relocate and break their connection with Willis, and the Enterprise retunes its phasers to destroy the atmospheric layer and let the native lifeforms return.
Star Trek #45, April 1993
A Little Man to Man Talk, by Stephen H. Wilson
An energy beam is seen to be focusing in on the Enterprise, which turn out to be Trelane arriving to carry out an experiment on Kirk by observing him making his romantic conquests. He moves the Enterprise to a new location when it appears that another energy beam is approaching (which the Enterprise crew assumes is Trelane’s parents), and Trelane then absconds with Kirk.
However, Kirk’s visit to an alien bar ends with a fight, not a tryst. So, Trelane reunites Kirk with Teresa Ross, who had been a yeoman but is now a court justice. No romantic feelings are shown there either. His third attempt is to take Kirk to the archaeological dig on Pellegrinos where Carol Marcus is working. That does lead a reconciliation between them, but Kirk refuses to take it any further. In anger, Trelane whisks Kirk back to the Enterprise, intent on destroying the ship and its crew. However, Spock apparently has already implemented a self-destruct that should be able to kill Trelane also. Trelane seems to wipe part of the ship’s computer’s memory to stop that, but then the other mysterious energy beam catches up with them while Trelane was distracted. Turns out it was a female, Valedsia, who was in love with Trelane, and he had been looking for pointers in how to handle the situation. Valedsia takes matters into her own hands, and (despite Trelane’s reservations) she disappears with him. The Enterprise is back in full working order and in open space, and Kirk puts in a call to Carol to finish their conversation.
[Timeline: Stardate 8620.3]
Star Trek #46, Early May 1993
Deceptions! Part One: Coup D’Etat, by Howard Weinstein
Spock, Saavik, Ambassador Berg, and Ambassador Metcalf are part of a negotiating team meeting with the Mardelvan authorities. Being close to the Klingon border, the Mardelvans want to join the Federation to help protect them from Klingon interference. Then the Mardelvan capital comes under attack by renegades who are believed to be in league with the Klingons, and the Federation team is advised to take their shuttle to the Mardelvan orbital station that they are told is secure. However, as they approach the station they witness a warbird-sized craft being kidnapped from the station and being chased by four government fighter craft. The shuttle is 118
affected by a powerful forcefield from the stolen vessel, the EX-300 and is forced to make a crash landing back on Mardelva in which Kersohn (one of the diplomatic team) dies. Spock is rendered unconscious, but Saavik gets him out of the shuttle just before it explodes. The Enterprise had been surveying the area when they received a distress call from the shuttle and, before they return, they have a brief encounter with four Klingon warbirds led by Captain Klaa and Vixis.
Star Trek #47, Late May 1993
Deceptions! Part Two, by Howard Weinstein
The Enterprise arrives at Mardelva to find that the authorities have apparently defeated the rebels, but that Spock, Saavik, the diplomatic team and the others who were on the lost shuttle (Galileo) are unaccounted for. The EX-300, supposedly the most powerful starship known, has been captured by the rebels and they are expected to be planning to try selling it to the Klingons.
Admiral Yankowski instructs Kirk to assist the Mardelvans in recovering the EX-300. While tracking the missing ship, the Enterprise encounters a Mardelvan space-station and colony that have been destroyed by the ship, but they don’t realize that they are been followed by Captain Klaa and his warbird, who is out to seek revenge on Kirk. On the planet, all but one of those who had been on the crashed shuttle have survived, and Saavik has located a cave that should provide them shelter. [Timeline: Stardate 8625.2]
Star Trek #48, Early June 1993
Deceptions, Part Three, by Howard Weinstein
The Enterprise, tracked by Klaa’s cloaked warbird, discovers the EX-300 just outside Klingon territory, and Brigadier Garad wants Kirk to destroy it. However, Kirk tries contacting the ship until sensors show that there is nobody on it. Not wanting to appear suspicious, Vayla agrees to Scotty and Chekov accompanying her as she checks out the ship. Chekov agrees that the ship is empty and can’t find any indication that anyone was there. Back on the Enterprise, it is decided to bring the EX-300 back with them, and Vayla and Scotty beam over to restart the ship, but Scotty insists first on checking out the startup routine and discovers that it will trigger a self-destruct. Vayla then shoots a paralyzing ray at Scotty and, as she tries to get the ship to start, she explains that this was a ploy to make it look like a Klingon attack and bring the Federation to their assistance. When she is unable to run the startup procedure, she calls Garad and tells him to trigger the explosion remotely, but when he tries (unsuccessfully) to do so, Chekov and a security team arrest him. Meanwhile, on the planet, Spock, Saavik and the surviving diplomatic team have been “rescued” by the rebels, who want to use them as hostages but, when the rebels’
ship is attacked by government forces, Spock and the others are able to safely jettison themselves. [Timeline: Stardate 8627.9]
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The Peacekeeper, Part One, by Howard Weinstein
The Thevosians (their team headed by Dr. Azark) and the Federation (with a team headed by Commodore Gracie Hirosaki) have been working on a protomatter weapon that requires no warp drive, is more powerful than phasers or photon torpedoes, and is seen as the ultimate deterrent.
Against Kirk’s objections to the whole project, the Enterprise is chosen to observe the first live test of the weapon system, to be carried out utilizing the basically derelict starship U.S.S. Pacific.
Scotty gets the ship working as best he can but, during the preparatory work, Lieutenant Keefer is rendered unconscious by something after he thought he heard a cat (that was Gary Seven and Isis checking the ship out). Two security personnel are killed when two other intruders put in an appearance. Nevertheless, the weapon’s test goes ahead with a minimal crew on the Pacific, consisting of Chekov (as captain), Scotty, and four Thevosian scientists. The aim is to use the weapon to destroy an asteroid but, when the weapon is fired, the Pacific finds itself unable to move away, and the Enterprise sees what appears to be the destruction of the asteroid and the Pacific. (Timeline: Stardate 8637.7]
Star Trek #50, July 1993
The Peacekeeper, Part Two: The Conclusion, by Howard Weinstein
The Enterprise has to beat a retreat when the Pacific (with Scotty and Chekov aboard) appears to explode, taking an asteroid with it, although the amount of resultant debris and the intense radiation puzzles Spock. Once the radiation had dissipated somewhat, Spock sends probes in and becomes convinced that the Pacific hadn’t exploded but had somehow been beamed out. Then Gary Seven and Isis arrive on the bridge and explain that a group of rebels (led by Shopay and Evad) were out to destroy the Aegis and undo their work, and they had stolen the protomatter weapon to aid them in their rebellion. While Kirk is not happy with Aegis intervention himself, he feels the rebels still don’t have the right to kidnap others to achieve their aims, so he cooperates with Seven. Aboard the Pacific, Scotty has discovered how to tie Pacific’s transporter into the Aegis’ rebel’s more powerful transportation, but before he can try using it, the Enterprise (with Seven’s assistance) arrives, having traveled 28,197 light years. A skirmish starts and the Enterprise has to take evasive action when the protomatter weapon is fired at them. But then Scotty drops the shields on the Pacific, and everyone is beamed off (Seven has to intervene to bring them aboard the Enterprise) and the Enterprise destroys the Pacific. [Timeline: Stardate 8639.2]
Star Trek #51, August 1993
Renegade, by Dan Mishkin
Kirk has been forced by events to send Saavik on what might be a suicide mission into Romulan territory to recover Professor Peter Erikson who had come up with a breakthrough in weapons technology for Starfleet but was defecting to the Romulans with that knowledge. Traveling 120
aboard a captured small Romulan vessel that had had its weapons upgraded, she succeeds in stunning and getting him aboard her vessel. Once there, he tries to convince her that his aim of providing a balance of power to maintain peace was correct, but she’s having none of it. Then they are intercepted by a Romulan warbird that demands their surrender, and Erikson seems to be helping Saavik in escaping from them. Reaching the Neutral Zone, it appears that a Starfleet vessel is there to meet them, although Saavik was expecting to meet up with the Enterprise elsewhere. Turns out, Erikson had signaled to the Romulans what kind of vessel was expected to meet them while they had been ‘escaping’ from the Romulan ship, and Saavik is able to check the ship’s transponder and identify that it wasn’t a Starfleet vessel. Erikson then tries to use what he believes is a tracer bracelet to get himself beamed onto the warbird, but it turns out to be a neural surger assassination tool instead, and he dies. The female Romulan commander, Agorra, commends Saavik on her victory, but Saavik is left wondering what victory.
Star Trek #52, September 1993
Epic Proportions, by Diane Duane
A Federation survey team had somehow encountered the Atyansa, a civilization approximately equivalent to 16th century Earth, and they had asked specifically to meet with Kirk, Spock and
“McCoy of the Complaints”. Arriving at Theata Leonis (near the Klingon border) the planetary leader, Lagonda, expects them to want to be heading out on their quest and introduces her son, Meresh, who will accompany them. They start out by going up a snowy mountain where they are supposed to meet with the creature of the mountain, but along the way they have to fight their way past various monsters who appear differently to different people. Before they reach their goal, a Klingon ship, Arekkien commanded by Kalak, arrives, and some Klingons beam down to intercept Kirk’s group. More would have beamed down, but Scotty uses Enterprise’s transporters to block the Klingon ones. Kirk and his group get to meet the “monster” who is a hologram, appearing as a beautiful woman when dealing with Kirk but a monster when handling the Klingons, projected by an ancient computer system built around 558,000 years previously by the Atyansa’s ancestors. It uses full-spectrum tachyonic data acquisition to gather information and used it to build up the legend of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy’s “epic” quest. The computer is reaching the end of its useful life and wants help from the Federation in backing up its data. Then the Klingons break in, but the “monster” forces them to beam back to their ship, then throws their ship out of orbit at warp 9.4. [Timeline: Stardate 8752.5]
Star Trek #53, October 1993
Time Crime, Part One, by Howard Weinstein
The Enterprise, with Captain Kirk, First Officer Uhura, and Science Officer Worf, is investigating a temporal disturbance that appears to be a vortex. Then the energy level of the vortex triples and a Romulan ship comes through, captained by Admiral Jaricus who demands to know why the Enterprise has encroached on Romulan territory. Kirk informs him that there has been no Romulan territory for 50 years because the Romulan Empire was wiped out after starting 121
a war against the Federation and the Klingons. When Jaricus tries to call home, he starts to suspect that Kirk might actually be telling the truth, and their time-travel mission had landed them in a different timeline. When Captain Spock (who had left the Enterprise a year previous) and Saavik join them, Spock decides that the only way to ascertain which is the correct timeline is to visit the Guardian of Forever, where David Marcus is working, and the Federation and Klingons agree. [Timeline: Stardate 8514.7, 22 years after the Enterprise first discovered the Guardian of Forever]
Star Trek #54, November 1993
Time Crime, Part Two: Nightmares!, by Howard Weinstein
Spock works with Kirk’s son David Marcus to record the past of the Klingon’s history in the current and the “real” timeline from the Guardian of Forever. One of the first things that Spock learns is that David dies in the correct timeline, and Kirk had previously been having nightmares about that. Kirk thinks David will be protected while assigned to the Guardian’s planet, but then David gets reassigned and will travel back to Earth on the Enterprise. Spock then learns that the major split in timelines related to the Klingon named Khartan who, in the current timeline, lived to old age and brought the Klingons to be a race of scholars, but in the “correct” timeline he is assassinated, and the Klingons go on to be warlike. When the Federation and the Klingons learn of what occurred, they all agree to the correction of the timeline to avoid the war that cost so many lives, especially of the Romulans. Kirk, Ambassador Kor and Admiral Jaricus are on the team that will go back into the past to correct the timeline. [Timeline: Stardate 8518.7]
Star Trek #55, December 1993
Time Crime, Part Three: Time … to Time, by Howard Weinstein
Kirk, McCoy, Sulu and Uhura (dressed as Klingons) accompany Lieutenant Worf and Kor through the Guardian of Forever to 300 years back in the Klingon’s past, while Spock, Admiral Jaricus and Venitra remain on the Guardian’s planet. Kirk gets arrested when he protests the treatment given to Uhura as Khartan is doing his daily ride through the festival grounds. Khartan apologizes to Kirk for the arrest and, after showing Kirk some of his plans, has Kirk released.
Later, Kirk and his group see Zorjak (the believed leader of the group that assassinates Khartan) and his guards killed in an explosion that Sulu ascertains must have been carried out by Klingons from the future. Worf feels he is now duty bound to carry out the assassination himself, which he does. However, when the group arrive back on the Guardian’s planet, they find that history hasn’t changed in any material way. [Timeline: Stardate 8520.9]
Star Trek #56, January 1994
Time Crime, Part Four: Call Back Yesterday, by Howard Weinstein
Spock works out that a warlord named Baraga had died when his aircraft was sabotaged, and consequent revenge taken by his supporters had been so violent that a backlash occurred, turning 122
the Klingons peaceful again. So, now Kirk and his team go back in time to 200 years more recent than last time, to save the life of a despot. After they are able to help a Klingon flyer who made a successful crashlanding after his engine faltered, Kirk and Sulu get jobs as mechanics for the military. That brings them to the attention of Baraga who has them assigned to look after his aircraft. In that position, they are able to locate and capture the person trying to sabotage Baraga’s aircraft, but when they try to take the culprit to Baraga, the three of them are thrown into a cell by Lord Haben. There is a Klingon team, led by Divak, who had gone back in time to disrupt history for their own purposes, but they recognize Kirk and others in his team as being human, and they think they will do their work for them. [Timeline: Stardate 8526.8 in the
“present” time]
Star Trek #57, February 1994
Time Crime, The Conclusion: Seems Like Old Times, by Howard Weinstein
Kirk and Sulu have been arrested in the ancient Klingon past and are brought before Baraga. He is pleased with the information they bring him about the assassination attempt, and together they prepare for Baraga’s demonstration of his warplane the next day. That demonstration ends with the plane exploding, supposedly killing Baraga, but he wasn’t piloting it. The timeline is reset, but Divak and her associates take Kirk and his group into custody on their ship, and plan to execute them. Divak’s group had gone back in time to try to give the Klingons the peace that the modern-day Klingons appeared to want, so that her group of renegade Klingons who had made a pact with the Romulans could defeat the Federation and the weak Klingons. Back on the Guardian’s planet, Spock is wondering why Kirk and the others had not returned now their job was done, and suspects that the Romulan ambassador and his aide are involved. He then talks the Klingons into going back in time and arresting Divak and her team and freeing Kirk and his group. In the restored timeline, Worf is a defense attorney for hopeless cases, and volunteers to defend Divak.
Star Trek #58, March 1994
No Compromise, Part One, by Howard Weinstein
Chekov hears of the death of Julia Crandall, who he had proposed to during their time at the Academy and who had served aboard the Enterprise for a while, around the time that he had been promoted to Navigator. That makes him recall when Enterprise received a distress call from Beta Mariotia 3 and, on arrival there, they found a large alien ship bombarding an area of the planet with radiation. That area housed a colony of humanoids who settled there 12 months previously and the radiation, which has been going on for two months, was affecting their crops and livestock. The alien ship did not respond to hails and ignored the Enterprise until the Enterprise tried firing on the ship and got too close while trying to scan it. The alien ship’s deflectors then proved to be effective at pushing the Enterprise away. [Timeline: Stardate 8651.1 when Chekov heard of Julia Crandall’s death and 3001.3 when they are sent to the Beta Mariotia system]
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No Compromise, Part Two, by Howard Weinstein
The Harahni colony is being bombarded with radiation from an unidentified alien vessel that has shields blocking contact by direct access or by communications or (as Kirk finds out the hard way) by transporter. In the colony, people, cattle and crops are dying, and the Enterprise is unable to bring all the colonists aboard or stop the alien ship from irradiating them. Uhura thinks she’s found a way to beam through gaps in the alien’s shields, and Scotty does find a way to shield a small area of the colony from the radiation beam, but that can only be maintained for a couple of days. But then Keyah, who has been getting more and more antagonistic against the colony’s leader, Veneth, leads her supporter on an armed attack, wounding Veneth (who gets beamed up to the Enterprise’s Sick Bay), and she takes Spock and Ensign Crandall hostage.
[Timeline: Stardate 3005.1]
Star Trek #60, June 1994
No Compromise, Part Three: The Conclusion, by Howard Weinstein
Kirk refuses to bargain with Keyah over her hostages (Spock and Crandall) and turns off the beam protecting the colony from the mysterious ship’s radiation. That leads to the other colonists, led by Borra, rebelling against Keyah, and then Crandall convinces them to contact the Enterprise and ask for help. That leads to Spock and Crandall being released, and the protection being restored to the colony. Scotty finally finds a way to beam objects on and off the alien ship, and Kirk and Chekov beam over. They discover that it was a ship sent out by the T’Gai to colonize the world, but the bio-stasis containers holding the lifeforms had failed, and the computer controlling the beam that was to prepare the planet for them was also malfunctioning.
Kirk and Chekov are able to shut it down. Veneth is healed and restored to the colony, and Crandall opts to remain there to study the T’Gai vessel. After Chekov recounts the story to Sulu and Uhura, Sulu still has no recollection of the event. [Timeline: Stardate 3006.4 when Spock and Crandall are released]
Star Trek #61, July 1994
Door in the Cage, by Steven H. Wilson
While the Enterprise goes to deliver diplomats to Babel, Captain Spock takes a shuttle to Talos IV to offer Christopher Pike an experimental procedure that could transfer his brain and mind into a functioning body. Arriving at the planet, Spock is surprised to be greeted by a boy, who Pike introduces as his son, Philip. It appeared that Pike, Vina, and their son were living on the planet’s surface in a log cabin, but Spock believes it is all an illusion, especially Philip. Pike is interested in the offer that Spock brings but, apart from being now a happy family man, he and Vina were helping the Talosians recover their planet and rebuild their civilization. Pike had learned to use the Talosian projection techniques and had discovered some of their abandoned technology, including robots that he had been able to repair and use to build their cabin. He also 124
came across medical techniques that allowed him and Vina to have a child. Consequently, he decides he will stay on Talos IV, but Philip is unaware of that decision and uses illusions to try to drive Spock away. Pike finds out what is going on and informs Philip that he would not leave him. Spock then leaves and rejoins the Enterprise, proposing that the General Order prohibiting contact with Talos IV be withdrawn. [Timeline: Stardate 8694.2]
Star Trek #62, August 1994
The Alone, Part 1, by Kevin Ryan
The Enterprise is sent to planet Venue II to assess whether the remains of a long-gone civilization are worth sending an archaeological expedition to investigate. They find a large well-preserved structure that Spock believes houses a transporter that can transmit through space and time, but now has insufficient power to operate. Then the building comes under attack from alien ships, and everybody except Kirk is able to escape and beam up to the ship, but when the ship’s sensors try to locate Kirk, they can find no sign of him. The commander of the alien ships and the Wumpar Defense Fleet, Ikemar, demands that the Enterprise leaves, but after discovering that the Enterprise can hold off any attack he can mount, Ikemar agrees to let them search for Kirk, and the Wumpar even help in clearing the rubble to allow access down into the building. No sign of Kirk is discovered, and Spock finds that the building’s transporter system had used power from the alien ship’s attack to transport Kirk to somewhere in the local system but possibly 300
years in the past. Kirk had found himself on a planet with plenty of native plant and animal life, which seems to be mostly benign. However, while camping out one night, he finds that they are not all benign when he comes under attack from large bear-like creatures. [Timeline: 5992.4, less than 60 days before the end of their 5-year mission]
Star Trek #63, September 1994
The Alone, Part 2, by Kevin Ryan
Kirk survives an attack by a pack of wild creatures and ends up with the pup of one of the creatures he killed, and it becomes his pet and companion as he builds some sort of life for himself on the planet. After years of work, he completes his task of creating out of rocks a massive image of the Starfleet insignia. The Enterprise is ordered back to Starbase 68 but Spock orders the route to go past every habitable planet in the region, and Commander Ikemar of the Wumpar insists on accompanying them and helping in their search. When the Wumpars’ enemy, the Drasalle, stage another attack, the Enterprise comes to the Wumpars assistance and the Drasalle are driven off. When the search for Kirk resumes, Chekov spots the stone insignia and Spock and McCoy beam down. They find Kirk’s remains and a diary/log that he had kept, written on dried leaves. It is established that his remains are 167 years old, and the Enterprise time-travels back and rescues Kirk less than a year after he had been stranded there. After the disappearance of the Drasalle, the Wumpar start reestablishing colony worlds, and the Enterprise is invited to visit. McCoy is peeved to find cities have been named after both Kirk and Spock, but not him. [Timeline: Stardate 8826.2]
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Star Trek #64, October 1994
Gary, by Kevin J. Ryan
Kirk has the difficult task of contacting Gary Mitchell’s parent to inform them of their son’s death on a confidential mission. Because he can’t tell them about the mission that Gary died on, instead he tells a story about how Gary lived by recounting the story of a mission to the planet Dimorus that occurred when they were both crewmen on the U.S.S. Farragut. Captain Garrovick appoints Lieutenant Kirk and Ensign Mitchell as part of a landing party to attempt to locate and recover a group of Federation scientists who had sent a desperate distress call when they were apparently under attack. Kirk is the team’s leader, but one of his team is fatally injured by a poison dart fired by one of the native humanoids who are descended from rodents. They track down the faint lifesigns of the surviving scientists, and despite Gary’s suggestion that they learn what is driving the Dimorans, Kirk leads an attack to recover the scientists. They get fought off and Gary gets hit by one of the darts. Despite his injuries, and ignoring Kirk’s command, he walks into the native’s camp and makes first contact with the natives. The natives had stories about star people in which those that came openly were teachers, while those coming in disguise (as the scientists did) were tricksters out to hurt them. The natives had thought the scientists were preparing to kill them, so they attacked in what they saw as self-defense. Unfortunately, the scientists die of their injuries, but the Dimorans heal Gary.
Star Trek #65, November 1994
Bait … and Switch, by Howard Weinstein
Enterprise gets diverted to Starbase 195 to take onboard a diplomatic team. They turn out to be Ambassador Sidak and his assistant T’Rin, and they will not give Kirk and his crew a briefing, only providing a data file that will interface directly with the ship’s computer and guide the Enterprise to its destination. When the Enterprise gets a call from a colony affected by a gas cloud from space, the ambassador relents and briefs them. Space in the Elikri sector has become chaotic, and the only safe route through the region requires going through Nara‘Gi space. The mission is to finalize a treaty, before the Romulans do. The Enterprise is allowed to respond to the distress call and to a later one to divert a comet provided that the lost time can be made up. In studying both incidents, it appears that both were set up by someone, presumably Romulans, to delay the Enterprise. At that point, T’Rin (who was really Commander T’Rin of Starfleet) has the evidence to arrest Ambassador Sidak who is really a Romulan agent. The real diplomatic mission had been carried out by someone else, and the Enterprise was just a decoy, but now it is tasked with collecting that team from Nara‘Gi. Enroute, they get a message from the Nara‘Gi that one of their courier vessels has been stolen, and the Enterprise is asked to intercept it. They do that, and they find that one of the people onboard is a ‘Gi, but the other is T’Arris, daughter of Ambassador Stonn. [Timeline: Stardate 8668.2]
126
Rivals, Part One, by Howard Weinstein
The Enterprise returns T’Ariis and her ‘Gi boyfriend, Dalen, to the planet Nara from where they had stolen a government courier ship. The two are taken into custody, during which Kirk tries to intervene as another ‘Gi is being held in stocks and severely whipped, but Ambassador Stonn tells Kirk to stop, as it is a local matter. T’Ariis is initially released after Dalen admits to enticing T’Ariis with sorcery, but it is believed that his confession was coerced, and it seems certain that he faces a severe whipping too. Ambassador Stonn, who apparently has a severe pulmonary congestion condition, is far from happy when he learns that Kirk’s inference in trying to stop the whipping has caused His Eminence, Reverad Taxafah, to cancel the treaty that Stonn had negotiated. [Timeline: Stardate 8673.9]
Star Trek #67, January 1995
Rivals, Part Two, by Howard Weinstein
Kirk’s plea to the Nara‘Gi on behalf of T’Ariis met not only with failure but with the collapse of the treaty that Ambassador Stonn had just concluded, so Stonn is not happy, and he also seems to be very unwell. T’Ariis thinks her stepmother, Sepora, is poisoning him, and Sepora wonders the same about T’Ariis. But he recovers enough to accompany Kirk when he beams down to apologize. That only seems to antagonize Taxafah even more, and then Stonn collapses and has to be beamed up to sick bay. There, McCoy ascertains that nobody is poisoning him, but that he has some infection that will kill him in days if a treatment isn’t found. Meanwhile, T’Arris hacks into the Nara’Gi computers and gets Dalen released, and the two of them are going to take a transport vessel to Dalen’s homeworld, ‘Gi. [Timeline: Stardate 8674.6]
Star Trek #68, February 1995
Rivals: The Conclusion, by Howard Weinstein
Ambassador Stonn admits to Spock that he has always been tortured by feeling of inadequacy compared to him, and he admits to McCoy that he is suffering from Serijian Pneumotoxia which is fatal, and he succumbs to it when trying to reopen negotiations with the Nara‘Gi Ordinat leader, Taxafah. T’Ariis accompanies Dalen to ‘Gi, but finds the welcome there decidedly unfriendly, and is not too reluctant to leave the place with Spock, who rescues her from a couple of serious incidents. She ends up telling her stepmother, Sepora, that she plans to take up Spock’s suggestion of joining Starfleet. Kirk attempts to complete the negotiations with Taxafah but still meets with a refusal, so he leaves them to the Romulans’ tender mercies. [Timeline: Stardate 8675.6]
127
A Wolf … in Cheap Clothing, Part One, by Howard Weinstein
The Excelsior had been the last Starfleet ship to visit Zantak Prime on the Ukaran frontier, so, when Kirk is ordered to check out potential problems with Klingon colonies there, Sulu and Lukas join the Enterprise for the mission. Kirk, Sulu, Scotty, and Lukas, disguised as Nilaran merchants, arrive at Zantak Prime and are approached by Lanamish who claims to have appointed himself as the unofficial mayor of the place. From him, they learn that some Klingon settlers had been ordered to return to the homeworld, but instead they had come to Zantak Prime.
Kirk and Sulu encounter them in a bar and get talking with them. Scotty and Lukas had been checking out a junk yard (called the lost & found) and come across a large stash of weapons. The Enterprise had been ordered by Starfleet to keep well away from the Zantak Prime region, and then Spock learns from Admiral Chu that the Klingons are sending a task force to deal with their rebellious colonists. Spock is ordered to keep the Enterprise out of any incident that happens there, but he obviously doesn’t intend leaving Kirk’s team on their own. [Timeline: Stardate 8685.9]
Star Trek #70, April 1995
A Wolf … in Cheap Clothing, Part Two, by Howard Weinstein
Kirk, Scotty, Lukas and Sulu are masquerading as Nilaran merchants on the planet Zantak Prime, which is a lawless frontier world according to its informal “mayor”, Lanamish. Broz of the Klingons says she has a list of items that Kirk could acquire for them. Kirk’s group keep seeing a small guy named Nolli, who Kirk thinks looks familiar, and they rescue him from a couple of situations where he seems to be in over his head, but his only thanks is to disappear. Kirk also meets a lady magician named Orana Della Monica, who is also good at disappearing, which she does after a dinner date and Kirk finds himself being knocked out. [Timeline: Stardate 8688.8]
Star Trek #71, May 1995
A Wolf … in Cheap Clothing: Part Three, by Howard Weinstein
Kirk finds himself facing Nolli, who reminds Kirk that they were at the Academy at the same time, and he claims to be on a secret Starfleet Intelligence mission. Kirk and his group head out from Zantak Prime to rejoin the Enterprise but they intercept a distress call from another courier vessel. That results in them beaming Orana and her cargo off the vessel before its warp core explodes. Back on the Enterprise, Admiral Whitehawk says that Nolli had been relieved of his duties but had gone rogue, apparently to prove that he was right about how dangerous the Klingons were. Orana admits to having worked for Nolli, and she believes he was the one who sabotaged her ship. [Timeline: Stardate 8690.5]
128
A Wolf … in Cheap Clothing: The Conclusion, by Howard Weinstein
Kirk is now determined to find the rogue Starfleet intelligence officer Nafaritaj Nolli, and Spock has determined that the artifact that had been stolen from Boreth could be the Klingon sacred artifact known as the tIq’a’. Between Kirk and his crew, along with Sulu and Engineer Lukas, they flush Nolli out, and the Klingons (alerted by an anonymous message from the Enterprise that the tIq’a’ was on Zantak Prime) are there to catch him. When Nolli tells Commodore Khezri that the tIq’a’ is destroyed, Khezr is ready to kill him, but Kirk makes an appearance and performs a magic trick to have Orana appear, and she hands over the tIq’a’ to the Klingons. Kirk has Nolli locked up in the brig, Sulu and Lukas leave to rejoin the Excelsior, and Orana make her own spectacular exit on the way to her next performance. Broz and Kleg had had the tIq’a’ stolen in the first place to try to use it to rally other dissident Klingons to their cause, and Nolli had offered to arrange to obtain it. [Timeline: Stardate 8691.2]
Star Trek #73, July 1995
Star Crossed, Part 1, by Howard Weinstein
Kirk, Gary Mitchell, and Carol Marcus were all friends at the Academy, and Kirk and Marcus a bit more than friends. Marcus and Mitchell are concerned for Kirk when he cheats on his third attempt at the Kobayashi Maru simulation, but he ends up being commended for creative thinking. Six years later, Kirk is Captain Botwin’s First Officer aboard the U.S.S. Eagle and is surprised to find that Carol Marcus is a crew member. They resume their relationship, even though Botwin tasks Kirk with reporting on Marcus’s suitability within Starfleet because of her frequent ignoring of orders. On an away mission, Marcus “creatively” interprets orders which endangers the lives of the other team members when a landslide occurs while they are searching for her. Knowing she will be on report, and finding out that she is two months pregnant, she resigns her commission and deliberately doesn’t tell Kirk about the pregnancy.
Star Trek #74, August 1995
Star Crossed, Part 2: Loved Not Wisely …, by Howard Weinstein
Kirk has been serving as First Officer on the U.S.S. Eagle, but he gets called back to Starfleet headquarters and Gary Mitchell accompanies him. Back at San Francisco, Kirk looks up Carol Marcus and discovers she has a young son, David – his son. Kirk had been planning on going to Iowa to visit his mother and his brother, Sam, and his family, and Carol tells him to go there and sort himself out because she is sure he will not leave Starfleet. While there, Kirk gets the message that he is being promoted to captain and told to return and take over his new command, the U.S.S. Oxford. He tries to contact Carol to tell her what is happening, but she doesn’t respond to his calls. She does, however, visit the Oxford before he leaves, and informs him that she doesn’t want him in David’s life, although Kirk likes the idea of being a father.
129
Star-Crossed, Part 3: A Bright Particular Star, by Howard Weinstein
The Enterprise arrives back in the solar system at the end of its first 5-year mission and witnesses the NX-500 testing an improved starship drive, but then explode when its warp field becomes unstable. Kirk tries to find out what happened, but he gets stonewalled by Commodore Wesley (who was in charge of the NX-500 project), and nobody else that he tries to get information from, including Carol Marcus, knows anything or they simply inform him that the subject is classified. He is also told that the Enterprise will be refitted and won’t be ready to go out again for three years. McCoy resigns from Starfleet and retires to Georgia, Spock returns to Vulcan, and Kirk is offered a promotion to Admiral and told he would be Chief of Starfleet Operations.
He accepts the post, supposedly so that he be with Carol, but he also knows that that is the only way he’ll find out what happened to the NX-500. He annoys Carol and Admiral Balzay when he uses his authority to make an unannounced inspection of the X.P. (a second test vehicle for the enhanced drive), taking Scotty with him. Scotty had provided input into the project. The two of them follow the X.P. in a shuttlecraft as Captain Liftis takes it out for its test flight. The warp field becomes unstable again, and Scotty is able to advise on how to keep things relatively stable long enough for them to beam a lot of the skeleton crew off, but Liftis is still aboard when it blows. Carol tells Kirk she doesn’t want to see him again, and Admiral Balzay tries to give him a dressing down, but Kirk says he will be reporting on the incompetence and the cover-up. Kirk determines to wait until the Enterprise is ready to go again. [Timeline: Stardate 6558.2]
Star Trek #76, October 1995
Prisoners, by Kevin J. Ryan
Tendar is a planet at the equivalent level of Earth in the 21st century, except that it has stumbled across subspace radio and sensors, and when it picks up the Enterprise in the vicinity, an invitation is sent out from the office of Prime Minister Jon to have a team beam down. When Kirk, Spock and a third crewman beam down, they get arrested and imprisoned. The society appears to work on the basis of imprisonment of anyone even suspected of committing a violation, in order to keep the population as a whole compliant, and seemingly Kirk’s group is imprisoned without trial, or even being charged, in order to ensure the compliance of the Federation. When Kirk refuses to be compliant, Spock is taken for punishment, but that allows Spock to pick up acoustic signals from the door locks and work out the access codes. That enables them to escape, find a control center and release all the locks of the prison that holds about 7% of the population, and they signal the Enterprise and get beamed up. They also beam up the prison commander and the Prime Minister and have them put in the brig to experience real Federation justice for a few days.
130
Deadlock, by Kevin J. Ryan
Enterprise is sent to investigate an attack on four freighters and a Starfleet scout class ship near the Romulan border and finds itself under attack from a Romulan ship that decloaks soon after they arrive. In the ensuing fight, both ships end up seriously disabled with little more than life support working properly. Then an attack is observed to have occurred in Romulan space and the alien ship that carried out the attack heads towards where the Enterprise and the Romulan ship are. Kirk talks the Romulans into sharing their engineering abilities to get some systems working, and by sharing equipment they get some weapon capability active on the Romulan ship and impulse drive and sensors working on the Enterprise. That begins to look insufficient in the fight against the alien vessel until the Romulan ship moves closer to the alien vessel and, by accident or design, its main drive overloads and explodes, destroying the Romulan and alien ships. Enterprise begins limping back to a starbase for repair. [Timeline: Stardate 6121.8]
Star Trek #78, December 1995
The Chosen, Part 1: The Hunted, by Kevin J. Ryan
The Enterprise has just been refitted at a starbase and is starting on a research mission when it gets a distress call from a Klingon colony, Tarnak II, that is 12 light years inside Klingon territory. When no Klingon vessels are seen close enough to respond to the call, Kirk has the Enterprise go to the colony’s aid. However, when Kirk, Spock, McCoy and a three-man security team beam down they find total destruction, no lifesigns, the computer databank wiped, and indications that the weapons used were of Federation style. Before they can beam back, a Klingon vessel arrives accusing the Enterprise of being responsible for the destruction. Scotty has to take the Enterprise into an asteroid field to escape from Captain Kang’s ship, and Kang followed the Enterprise after beaming a team down to the colony. Kirk’s security team are killed, but Kirk, Spock and McCoy are able to stun the Klingons and, when Sulu gets the Enterprise away from the Klingons, they beam Kirk and the others up and head back for Federation space.
It appears that war is about to break out with the Klingons, but the Enterprise is ordered to go to Starbase Seven because something has happened at the Romulan Neutral Zone. [Timeline: Stardate 6218.9]
Star Trek #79, January 1996
The Chosen, Part 2: Blood Enemies, by Kevin J. Ryan
Arriving at Starbase 7, Kirk is informed by Admiral Springer that the Klingons still believe that the Enterprise is responsible for the destruction at their outpost, but he is also informed of the destruction of scout vessel and an attack on Starbase 14 near the Romulan border. An ambassador will be joining Enterprise as an advisor for the investigation and the Romulans are sending a ship to assist. Arriving at the station, Scotty (assisted by Spock and McCoy) has to manually eject the station’s reactor core to stop it going critical, and McCoy finds 72 survivors in 131
the station’s school, 70 of whom are children. There had been 5,497 people aboard the station.
Ambassador Julia Bertrand from the planet Meta IV arrives and seems very willing to assist with whatever needs doing, and a Romulan bird-of-prey arrives, with Commander Koram, and the ambassador believes the ship could be under the command of the Tal Shiar. The Enterprise and the Romulans each send a team to work together in investigating the incident, which shows signs of Romulan weapons and drive systems being used. Kirk cannot shake the feeling that something is not as it appears. [Timeline: Stardate 6221.4]
Star Trek #80, February 1996
The Chosen, Part 3: Collision Course!, by Kevin J. Ryan
The Enterprise and the Romulan Tal Shiar ship continue to study the attack on Starbase 14 and all they find is evidence of Romulan weapons, but Kirk is still puzzled by events. He calls a meeting with the Romulans and suggests they look for evidence of a third party trying to stir up war between the Federation, Romulans and Klingons. The Romulan commander, Koram, agrees, and they start studying the data again. Ambassador Julia Bertrand expresses her surprise at his leap in thinking, and Spock commends Kirk on his impressive, if illogical, idea. Soon afterwards, Koram contacts Kirk to say that they had intercepted an encrypted message from the Enterprise to an unaligned planet, sent in a diplomatic pouch. Part of the message is a standard situation update, but there was an attached message about an attack in Romulan space that hadn’t occurred yet. Kirk is surprised that the Romulans could intercept such a message, but that makes it more believable. He confronts Bertrand who admits she sent it. Her people had considered themselves
“The Chosen” and the only intelligent race in the universe. When they learned of others, they decided that the other people were not real and needed to be destroyed, and this was part of their way to do that. She is put in the brig, and when the Romulans ascertain a Romulan planet as the potential next attack site, the two ships head there. However, after arriving, Kang’s Klingon ship arrives and attacks the Enterprise. The Enterprise and Kang’s ship inflict damage on each other before the Romulan ship positions itself between them and explains the situation to Kang. An unidentified ship is seen approaching, and the Romulans extend their cloak to cover the Enterprise and the Klingon vessel. The Metan ship is disabled, and Kirk announces that the Metan homeworld will be quarantined until they agree to live with the rest of the universe, and the Metan ship will be towed back to Federation space to face justice. The Romulans and Klingons prefer a different form of justice and destroy the ship. Kirk accepts the offer of being accompanied out of Romulan space. [Timeline: Stardate 6228.5]
Star Trek: The Modala Imperative, Part1, Late July 1991
A Little Seasoning, by Michael Jan Friedman
Kirk had visited Modala (also known as Beta Damoron Five) when he was an ensign. The planet was just entering its space age, and at that time it had been recommended that the people there be given more time to “season” before being approached regarding possible Federation membership. Now Enterprise is back to do another report on the planet and Kirk selects Chekov, 132
newly appointed to the Enterprise, to accompany him. However, they find the planet markedly changed, and where it had been a planet full of hope, now it is a police-state. When some rebels try to attack, Chekov noted that the police are fielding weapons far in advance of any that should be expected on a planet at this stage in its development. Kirk and Chekov get arrested as possible rebels, and Kirk ensures that his communicator is destroyed when a police officer hears it go off.
[Timeline: Stardate 3012.4]
Star Trek: The Modala Imperative, Part 2, Early August 1991
Tools of Tyranny, by Michael Jan Friedman
Spock decides to beam down and try to locate Kirk and Chekov, and McCoy talks his way into joining him. Meanwhile, Kirk and Chekov are in jail, and Kirk has been educating the natives on how to fight back against the Krisaia without causing bloodshed. So far, they have also avoided revealing that they are not from the planet. Spock and Chekov soon learn that there are weapons on the planet that don’t tie in with the technology level, but even a bartender cannot or will not give them any information about the whereabouts of Kirk and Chekov. But then Spock and McCoy are approached by a lady that Kirk and Chekov had previously saved.
Star Trek: The Modala Imperative, Part 3, Late August 1991
The Price of Freedom, by Michael Jan Friedman
The prisoners want Kirk to lead their escape, but he convinces them that one of their own should be their leader. He suggests that Stroyka be that person, and the others come to agree. Stroyka does lead a successful revolt and the prisoners, including Kirk and Chekov, escape. Spock and McCoy had located the prison building, and Kyle (the Enterprise’s transporter chief) locates Kirk and Chekov among the prisons and is waiting for a time when they are alone in order to beam them up. Unfortunately, he loses them in the mass breakout, and even more unfortunately, the prison guards stumble across Spock and McCoy while searching for the escapees and take them into custody. Spock realizes that he still has his communicator, which would be a serious Prime Directive violation if the natives discover it.
Star Trek: The Modala Imperative, Part 4, Early September 1991
For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Michael Jan Friedman
Kirk spots Spock and McCoy being taken captive, and, with the intervention of Chekov, they get the assistant of Stryka’s rebels in attempting to free them. Spock, McCoy, and the remaining prisoners are put aboard a vehicle and taken for execution. Stryka’s contacts had found out about that, so the people in the crowd to observe the executions include Kirk, Chekov and Stryka’s group. The rebels set off an explosion under the execution platform, and while the rebels battle the Krisian guards, the Enterprise foursome find an isolated area to get beamed up from. As they are leaving Modala, Kirk main regret is in not finding the source of the Krisian weapons, and 133
Chekov starts making friends with Sulu. [Timeline: Stardate 3012.7 – story continues in the TNG
section, see TNG The Modala Imperative #1 on page 179]
Star Trek Annual #1, 1985
All Those Years Ago, by Mike W. Barr
On Stardate 0981.72, the Enterprise with First Officer Pike (Captain April was indisposed) was studying the very active star known as Draxis II that was to have a nova eruption, when a fleet of unknown craft appear that seem to be unaware of the dangers from the active star. Being unable to communicate with the aliens, Pike has the Enterprise’s shields extended to protect them from the radiation and uses the tractor beam to stop them getting too close to the star. Then the ships break free and leave. On Stardate 1278.4, Kirk takes command of the Enterprise, inheriting most of Pike’s crew but bringing aboard Gary Mitchell as first office, Uhura at communications, and Dr. McCoy. Their first task is to take Pike to his new assignment, but en route they encounter the same mysterious craft, and Pike realizes that they are after him. Pike is indeed beamed off the Enterprise, and the aliens disappear faster than the Enterprise can follow and track. On hearing the story of the first encounter, Kirk has the Enterprise head for Draxis II, and they do find them there. Beaming aboard the vessel that Pike’s bio-signs are located on, they find Pike tied up, but they free him, and Spock had mindmelded with a stunned alien and absorbed their language, so he engages the leader in conversation. The aliens, known as the Tralmanii, had fed on the radiation from Draxis II and saw Pike as preventing them from receiving needed nourishment.
Now the star was in its death throes, and they had brought Pike to die with them when the star goes supernova. Spock (with McCoy’s assistance) comes up with a way for them to produce the radiation they need, and the Tralmanii head off back into whatever portion of deep space they came from. It is now Stardate 8370.2, and Kirk is in charge of the Excelsior when a message is received from the Tralmanii saying that they are returning. Kirk isn’t initially sure if that was meant to be a friendly greeting or not, but it turns out that they are considering joining the Federation.
Star Trek Annual #2, 1986
The Final Voyage, by Mike W. Barr
The Enterprise gets word from Starfleet that its 5-year mission is ending, and they are to return to Earth, which makes the crew happy. First, they stop at Starbase 10 to pick up Commander Will Decker who will be overseeing the Enterprise’s refit, but he is a very dour man, haunted by his father’s history. Then they are supposedly nearing Earth, but suddenly find themselves in orbit of Talos IV and surrounded by three Klingon warships. Klingon spies had found out about the planet and Koloth’s ships had been able to take control of the planet, forcing the Talosians to teach them their techniques. They had been able to overcome the Talosians because anger comes easy to Klingons. Koloth has Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Decker beam down, and has them captured and put in a cell. Spock is horrified at the treatment that the Klingons had been inflicting on Pike, and that, along with the illusions the Klingons subject Kirk’s team to, allows 134
the Starfleet group to build up their emotions, which lets them block the Klingon’s influence and overpower them. Kirk and McCoy beam up to take control of the Enterprise, reviving the crew and defeating the Klingon ships in a surprise attack. Spock and Decker had freed the captured Talosians, and the Talosians take control of the Klingons, holding them in a serene pastoral setting much to the Klingons disgust, while the Talosians work on removing their knowledge from the Klingon’s minds. Arriving back at Earth, Kirk wishes his crew well, as he takes up the role of Chief of Starfleet Operations. Kirk also convinces Decker that he shouldn’t be taking responsibility for his father’s actions. [Timeline: Stardate 5996.5]
Star Trek Annual #3, 1987
Retrospect, by Peter David
Scotty was 7 when he first met Glynnis Campbell, and 15 when they went to a dance together.
That was when Glynnis had given him a heart pendant as a keepsake. Later they had become lovers, but Scotty was also interested in Starfleet, and when he got accepted to the Academy, she knew it was time for them to go their own way, as she didn’t see herself traipsing across the galaxy. Sometime into the Enterprise’s 5-year mission he met her again when the Enterprise visits the colony at Nirobi II (Stardate 3471.4) and Scotty discovered that she had married his old
‘friend’, Angus McFarlane, (who he considered to be a scoundrel) and a couple of embarrassing situations result from that meeting. During a time when the Enterprise was being refitted, he discovers that she is back in Scotland and divorced. He proposes to her at that time, but she wasn’t ready then. After the 5-year mission had ended and it looked as though Scotty would be based on Earth, she was ready to sign a 5-year marriage contract. But near the end of that period (Stardate 8140.1), she learns that Scotty is considering joining Kirk in his unofficial/illegal attempt to find Spock and release his katra from McCoy’s head. She sees Scotty as going
“home” to the Enterprise and she tells him that she is going home to Scotland. At a stopover at Starbase K-12, Scotty learns that Glynnis had died while the Enterprise crew had been exiled on Vulcan. Kirk and McCoy find him drinking away the pain as he looks through his box of mementos of her.
Star Trek Annual #1, 1990
So Near the Touch, by George Takei & Peter David
The inhabitants of the planet Datugad had caused serious pollution to the planet, affecting their bodies until any prolonged bodily contact between two of them causes them to burn up in flames.
The Federation had used the trimanium, whose production had caused the pollution, so, when the Datugad authorities (led by Wynnis) had called on the Federation to find a way to harvest their eggs and sperm and create an unaffected race that could live elsewhere and learn their ways and history, the Federation agrees. The Enterprise is tasked with taking a team, led by Dr. Corazon Kowangko, to the planet, and Sulu and Kowangko had become very close friends previously, after a chance meeting at Starbase 27, and referred to each other as Yin (Kowangko) and Yang (Sulu). What Wynnis hadn’t told the Federation was that there was a religious group (the 135
Essejjians, led by Shelm) who were firmly against the reclamation plans, seeing their fate as the will of their god. The Federation team are fitted with belts that provide a shield against the pollution and its effects, but the Essejjians prove to be more organized than Wynnis had expected, and they capture the Federation team when they try to start work on the planet.
Starfleet says they are sending a negotiating team and a team that will attempt a rescue, if necessary, but Sulu takes things into his own hands, and Chekov comes to his assistance with a security team. When Kirk sees their shuttlecraft leave unauthorized, he takes no action against them. Sulu’s team fights their way into Shelm’s headquarters, and Sulu tricks Shelm into believing he had been infected and goes to embrace Shelm so that they could both die together, as Shelm’s god supposedly wanted. Shelm declares that he is too important to die, unlike the other “little ones”. That leads to Donnor (Shelm’s second in command) firing on the struggling Sulu and Shelm, “accidentally” missing Sulu and killing Shelm. He then says the Federation team can leave. However, Shelm had been going to kill off the captured team one-by-one until his demands were met, and Kowangko had taken off her own belt to be the first one to die. Now she was unable to leave the planet, and planned to stay there to give whatever help she could to the population. There is a tearful, and no touching, farewell between Sulu and Kowangko.
[Timeline: Stardate 8503.1]
Star Trek Annual #2, 1991
Starfleet Academy, by Peter David
Kirk’s arrival at the Academy got off to a bad start when another cadet tries to grab his bag and the contents get scattered; then he blurts out accusations when he thinks the boy had returned to gloat, but it was his professor, Matt Decker. Then he finds that the interfering cadet (Gary Mitchell) is his roommate, and his attempt to change rooms gets turned down. He also starts having run-ins with Finnegan, who is supposed to be there to help the cadets. Kirk gets a name for always studying and never joining in the fun and games that the other cadets get up to. When the first exam is approaching, Mitchell brings the party he had been attending back to the room he shared with Kirk. So, Kirk takes his books out into the courtyard to study, but Gary gets Carol Marcus to out and join him. Kirk then joins her in bed and nearly misses the exam next day.
After the exam, Decker announces that someone had cheated by hacking into the Academy network and obtaining the questions ahead of time. Consequently, the whole exam is declared null and void, and restrictions are imposed on the cadets until either the culprit admits their guilt, or it is determined who had hacked into the system. Consequently, the cadets start falling out, blaming each other. Then Kirk gets an idea and gets Carol’s assistance. With the help of one of Carol’s friends (Uhura), Kirk, Carol, and Lynch (another of Carol’s associates) break into the Daystrom Institute and hack into the Academy network, determining that the only person who had accessed the exam ahead of time was Decker himself. Kirk then visits all of the cadets and next day, one-by-one, they all admit to being the person that obtained the questions. That leads to Decker admitting that it had actually been a test to see if, as a crew, they would fall apart or pull together. He is pleased with the way Kirk had handled it, but not so pleased when Kirk points out that it doesn’t really teach them to respect senior officers when a senior officer (i.e., Decker) lies to them. Then Kirk’s girlfriend from his hometown (Ames) turns up, announcing that she had 136
moved to San Francisco to be with him. Carol jokes that Kirk is no longer Ruthless (the girl’s name was Ruth).
Star Trek Annual #3, 1992
Homeworld, by Howard Weinstein
The Ketirans were a race who had had to evacuate their original homeworld because of a war between two other worlds, and a group of the evacuees had established themselves, with the help of the Federation’s Ambassador Sarek, on what is now known as New Ketira. Now they are applying for Federation membership, and Sarek has been invited to participate in the ceremony, and Enterprise transports him there. The planet’s leader, Lar’tok, is delighted to see Sarek again, but then she tells him that she has reached the age where she will die, and her successor, Shiel’kia, has been appointed. Those plans are disrupted when Shiel’kia says she refuses to go through with the Blending (like a mindmeld, but which passes on the knowledge of the current ruler and those who had preceded her). Shiel’kia doesn’t want to be changed by the process.
Then a fleet of nine very well armed ships arrives, and the occupants claim to be Sancti, the descendants of the spiritual leaders of Ketira, and their leader (Rhul’jai) claims the right to rule.
They had been collecting the old scriptures (which had been split up when they had had to evacuate their original planet) and demand to be given those on New Ketira, and they end up stealing them. They are also trying to locate the whereabouts of creatures called the Peacegivers, who they claim will direct who is to rule. When Lar’tok collapses and the Sancti gets beamed back to their ship, Spock, McCoy and Lar’tok are also beamed up with them, and they head off to find the Peacegivers, having extracted the location from Lar’tok. The Enterprise, with Shiel’kia aboard, chases them. En route, Lar’tok dies, but not before Sarek had mindmelded with her to obtain her knowledge for possibly passing on to Shiel’kia. The Peacegivers turn out to be creatures who had been given the task of teaching peace to the Ketirans, but admit they hadn’t succeeded very well. Shiel’kia reaches a compromise with Rhul’jai by suggesting that together they try to earn the right to rule, but the choice would be the decision of the people of Ketira.
However, she still refuses to take aboard the past knowledge of her predecessors, preferring to make her own decisions. [Timeline: Stardate 8467.5]
Star Trek Annual #4 1993
To Walk the Night, by Michael Jan Friedman
Spock has joined the Enterprise under Captain Christopher Pike and the ship is on its way for a survey of the Rigel system when they get a distress call from the mining colony at Beta Trilochus. The colony’s leader, Harl Malley, says that they are being haunted by alien ghosts and having weird dreams, made weirder by the fact that they all are having the same dream. Arriving there, they find that some of the colonists have gone berserk and were speaking a strange language. The colony’s doctor, Barbara Asanjian, insists that the colony be relocated to another planet, but Doctor Boyce doesn’t want to risk spreading the malady. Spock had been investigating any unusual recent events and notes a number of meteor strikes, but the colonists 137
dismiss those as normal. A survey carried out by Number One and Scotty from aboard the Enterprise determines that the colonists have a toxin, Elibrium, in their bodies, and they later identify a concentration of Elibrium on the planet coinciding with one of the meteor strikes. It is determined that the safest thing to do is to remove the colonists to a secure medical facility but, when the colonists learn of the plan, they all go berserk. At this point it is realized that Spock has gone outside, against Pike’s express orders. Spock had felt drawn to go out, and he locates a protoplasmic creature that starts to form a copy of him. Spock fights off the creature’s influence while gaining telepathic knowledge about it, and he is able to stun the creature, saving himself along with Pike and a team that had come to find him. Spock explains that the creature is a
“colonizer” sent out to locate other lifeforms, replicate them as vessels for alien consciousnesses it carries, but include the consciousness of the original lifeform to allow it to incorporate itself in the new society. When the creature is stunned, the colonists return to their original natures, but they come to realize they are actually aliens that the creature has produced before destroying their original bodies. While the creature is stunned, they are not under its influence, and Pike leaves the colonists to decide what to do with it.
Star Trek Annual #5 1994
The Dream Walkers, by Michael Jan Friedman
The Enterprise crew start having very realistic daydreams of events that happened during the first few months of their five-year mission. Initially, it was thought that they were reliving memories from that time, although the events transpired differently from the original. But then, Chekov and another crewman experience events that happened before they had joined the ship. They determine that Janice Rand was the common denominator in the events and, when Kirk tries to contact her, he is told she and the ship she was on went missing several weeks ago. They had been on a clandestine mission to investigate the Chuniikite empire where a civil war was in progress. Spock realizes that coordinates he had noted during his “daydream” were inside Chuniikite space, and the Enterprise goes to try and recover her. They find a decaying world with skeletons lying among the rubble everywhere, but they locate Rand in a building that also contains a lot of natives of the planet. All of them, including Rand, appear to be asleep and are hooked up to tubes. With a Chuniikite fleet approaching, Kirk pulls the tubes out of Rand and picks her up, but he then finds himself in a dream where Charlie Evans has taken control and won’t let him go. Rand says he has to wake up, and Kirk succeeds in doing so and gets them beamed up. The Enterprise is chased to the Federation border by the Chuniikite fleet, but the fleet leader, known as Lord Captain, then breaks off the chase because the civil war is enough to deal with. Rand explains that she and the rest of the crew had beamed down to the planet to escape the Chuniikites who destroyed the ship, but the rest of the crew had been killed by the native wild animals. The “sleepers” that Kirk had found her with had been in a symbiotic relationship with other humanoids called “brutes”. The “brutes” had provided the sleepers with adventures to dream about, and the “sleepers” had provided the “brutes” with inventions, until the “brutes” died from a plague. Rand had been used by the sleepers to provide them with new adventures, but she had used their mental powers to contact the Enterprise crew. [Timeline: Stardate 5268.1]
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Star Trek Annual #6, 1995
Convergence, Part One: Split Infinities, by Howard Weinstein
Kirk’s Enterprise gets a surprise visit from Gary Seven who starts to warn of a danger to Spock, but then another humanoid beams in, blasts and kills Seven and captures and absconds with Spock. Then another Aegis agent, Exana and her cat Nova, arrive and warns of a time-travelling race that is manipulating the timeline to destroy the Federation, which she and Seven had seen as a serious problem although the Aegis disagreed. She says she needs their help and, once Kirk has agreed, the ship heads for the Devidian system. Spock (circa year 2290) had found himself on a world with the Romulan General Tellius (from year 2162). Soon afterwards, Captain Harriman from Enterprise-C (year 2311) appears, and Data is abducted from Enterprise-D and joins them.
While trying to not reveal information that could affect the timelines of the others, if they were returned to them, Data does suggest that the Devidians are behind all of their abductions. Aboard the Enterprise-D, Picard and his crew identify Triolic waves in the beam that had brought the person who had abducted Data, and then Guinan senses something is wrong when they bring Ambassador Sybok aboard, so Picard has the ship head for the Davidian system. [Timeline: Stardate 6812.1 as far as Kirk’s Enterprise is concerned. Story continues in The Next Generation Annual #6, 1995, on page 175]
Star Trek Special #1, Spring 1994
Blaise of Glory, by Peter David
The Enterprise goes to the rescue of a ship that was being pulled into a black hole, and Kirk is horrified to find that the sole occupant is R.J. Blaise. She had negotiated a treaty between the Landorians and the Ramazians, but the Landorian warlord, Lord High Darrich, went back on his agreement and refused to sign. Blaise “talked” him into doing so at the point of a phaser, and then she had to leave in haste with Darrich in pursuit. Darrich catches up with the Enterprise and demands that Blaise be handed over, which Kirk refuses to do. Darrich then demands that they meet on the planet Nirobi III to settle the matter, Darrich beaming down with two associates and Kirk, Spock and Blaise beaming down from the Enterprise. Blaise says she wants to hand herself over, but Kirk refuses to let her. Darrich and Kirk get into a fight, with Kirk coming off worse, and then Blaise and Kirk start arguing. When Darrich buts in, Kirk floors him while telling him to shut up. Darrich then says that Blaise is free to leave with the Enterprise, because it is apparent to him that they are thorns in each other’s sides. Spock realizes this was all a ploy hatched up between Kirk and Blaise. While Blaise is beaming off at Starbase 42, Kirk bids her farewell using her names, Raspberry Jam, which she had revealed to him in confidence during “pillow talk”. Blaise is furious and Kirk orders the Enterprise away at maximum warp. [Timeline: Stardate 8626.1]
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The Needs of the One, by Michael Collins
Spock’s body, that was discovered on the Genesis planet, has been reunited with his katra, that had been stored in McCoy’s mind. Sarek says he expects Spock to start his life over on Vulcan and leaves Spock in the hands of Amanda while he goes to Earth to speak on behalf of Admiral Kirk. Then Spock disappears and Amanda says she thinks he may have gone to relive the experience of the Kahs-Wan. Kirk actually catches up with Spock at the site of the Koon-Ut-Kal-If-Fee although he is headed for the High Plateau of Gol. There he encounters T’Pring who is now a Matriarch and tells him that she had followed the paths of logic and higher reasoning, while Spock’s path was in the stars, and that he would return there. Spock asks Kirk if it would be possible for him to return with him to Earth aboard the Klingon warbird. Kirk is happy to oblige.
Star Trek Special #2, Winter 1994
Raise the Defiant, by Kevin Ryan
The Enterprise is briefed on a special mission by Dr. Allison Juram. When the Defiant had been lost to interspace, it had been testing an experimental subspace inverter which was still operating and will start to affect Federation and Tholian space, so the Enterprise is to enter interspace and locate and disable it. The core of another subspace inverter had been built, but Scotty’s knowledge of the new Enterprise and the previous encounter with interspace was needed to complete its integration into the Enterprise, and McCoy was tasked with coming up with a medication to allow the crew to survive interspace and remain functional. They even got cooperation from the very suspicious Tholians. The initial transition takes them into the wrong universe, but Scotty had obtained some readings indicating the location of Defiant, and a second jump locates the ship. Time moved slowly in that universe, so the Defiant is still functional but, after two jumps, the Enterprise’s connection with the location buoy that they’d left in their own universe was now tenuous. The decision is made to tow the Defiant home, although both Dr.
Juram and Dr. McCoy question that decision. The preparations for the return trip are made, but then Dr. Juram’s shuttle is seen leaving the ship and a number of the Enterprise’s functions are disabled. It was actually a Romulan who had taken Dr. Juram’s place, and she was going to destroy both the Defiant and the Enterprise to ensure that the mission fails. The Romulans were planning on taking advantage of disruptions to Federation and Tholian space. However, they hadn’t counted on Scotty being so observant, and when he had noticed her recommending Romulan-type techniques, etc., he had become suspicious and tinkered with the weapons on her shuttle. When she tried firing on the Federation vessels, a feedback loop resulted in her shuttle exploding. Sadly, that also broke the connection with the location buoy, but Scotty noted that both the Enterprise and Defiant had links at a fundamental level with their home universe, and he used that to guide them home. [Timeline: Stardate 8544.9]
A Question of Loyalty, by Stephen H. Wilson
The Enterprise is hosting a group of graduating cadets, including Valeris, a Vulcan who sees her race as superior to others and doesn’t mind telling anyone that. She also sees Saavik, who is in 140
charge of the cadets, as being less than Vulcan because of her human heritage. When Saavik puts her life on the line and saves the damaged starship, U.S.S. Tinian, along with six of its crew trapped in engineering, Valeris considers Saavik’s actions as illogical. Saavik is considering failing Valeris because of her racial bigotry, but Spock sees something of his old beliefs in Valeris and talks Saavik into passing her. Saavik had been intending to follow Spock’s suggestion that she take his place as chief science officer on the Enterprise, but now she tells him that she will be leaving the ship and taking a position on a deep space mission. She suggests that Valeris might be appropriate for the position of chief science officer. [Timeline: Stardate 9481.1]
Star Trek Special #3, Winter 1995
The Unforgiven, by Michael Jan Friedman
Kirk has taken some time off to go camping on Daxor Four with his three nephews, Peter, Jason, and Adam. Then Kirk notices that Jason (who has been accepted into the command track at the Academy, but still incorrectly blames himself for the death of his mother and father) has disappeared. Kirk finds him spying on some Orion ground vehicles that were testing their cloaking ability in preparation for an attack on the colony to gain possession of the dilithium that they had mined. Kirk says they should warn the colony, but Jason jumps down for a closer look at the vehicles. That results in Jason and Kirk being captured, followed by Peter and Adam. The four are held in the sweltering cargo hold of the lead Orion vehicle as the vehicles head towards the colony. Adam had hidden a communicator inside his boot, but it won’t work inside the vehicle. Jason works out how to use the power source from the communicator to short out the cloaking effect, which allows the colony to disable the vehicles and take the Orions into custody, although Jason and Kirk had already knocked out the Orions’ leader. Kirk takes a couple more days to have an actual camping vacation with boys. [Timeline: Stardate 5049.2]
Echoes of Yesterday, by Mark A. Altman
When the Enterprise gets called back to Earth for the inauguration of a new Federation president, Kirk makes a trip home to Iowa and visits his brother Sam’s grave. He also meets up with his nephew Peter, who is accompanied by two massive and telepathic Sumellians who want the secret of time-travel so they can go back and save their planet that was destroyed when the planet’s reactor exploded. Kirk refuses, but they render him unconscious and steal the information from his mind, and they are able to implement the jump soon afterwards. Kirk is ordered to stop them and, being a faster ship, the Enterprise is able to arrive at Summellia first and take the two into custody. However, Peter wasn’t with them and then Kirk realizes that the date was the day his brother, Sam, and his wife had died. They travel at maximum warp to Deneva and Kirk beams down alone. He meets up with Sam and David, and when Sam is told what is supposed to happen, he refuses to allow history to be changed. Almost immediately afterwards, a parasite slams into Sam’s chest and he dies. Peter aims to save his mother, but then he is hit by a parasite just as Kirk is calling for beam up, and Kirk is stunned by David’s phaser as he transports. Following the orders that Kirk had left before beaming down, the Enterprise immediately travels back to its own time, so Kirk never gets to know that David was the pilot of the ship that the Enterprise from that past era sees flying into the system’s star in order to free 141
himself from the parasite. [Timeline: Stardate 3287.1 or April 13, 2267, when Sam Kirk dies, and nearly 20 years later when Kirk visits the grave]
The Next Generation #1, October 1989
Return to Raimon, by Michael Jan Friedman
Picard had visited Raimon once before, for the pre-death celebration of the then-ruling primarch.
Now the current primarch has announced his upcoming death, and Picard is expressly invited to attend his celebration. Picard feels obliged to attend, partly because of the Federation’s mining agreement with the planet, but Riker has heard disturbing reports about the place, so Picard invites Riker to accompany him. Their arrival is uneventful except for an encounter with Lord Tardol, who Picard recalls has always been against off-worlders and hasn’t changed his opinion.
An encounter with the primarch’s full-grown and beautiful daughter, Lutina, is far more friendly, and she is still wearing the model of the Stargazer that Picard had made for her when she was a 5-year-old. Arriving at his room, Picard finds there is someone already there, who says he was sent by the primarch to bring Picard to a special private meeting with him. He is taken to the primarch’s summer residence, and he informs Riker of his location. Unfortunately, he finds the primarch dead, and he stops someone else from escaping the place, who turns out to be Tardol.
As Picard and Tardol face off against each other, an armed team arrives declaring that both of them are being arrested for the murder of the primarch. [Timeline: Stardate 42305.7]
The Next Generation #2, November 1989
Murder, Most Foul, by Michael Jan Friedman
Riker informs Data and Troi what has transpired and asks Troi to view the recordings of the celebration to see if Tardol shows any indication that he was planning anything. On the planet, Tardol challenges Picard to trial by duel, an old custom that is still part of the law. When Data discovers that a substitute can be appointed to fight, Riker volunteers but Picard refuses.
However, he changes his mind when Troi reports that she can identify nothing suspicious about Tardol’s behavior, but that Lutina was behaving strangely. While Riker faces Tardol, Picard visits Lutina and lets her know that he is aware of her involvement. She admits that she did it because her father was going to cancel the Federation’s mining contract and she felt is was benefiting the planet. Her father had called Picard to his summer residence to tell him that, but Lutina was unaware of it. She had sent a note to Tardol telling him to be there, so he could be accused of the murder and she would get rid of a political opponent in the process. Picard had arranged for the conversation to be overheard by a senior official, who takes Lutina into custody.
Picard then stops the duel between Tardol and Riker before Riker ended up on the wrong end of it. [Timeline: Stardate 42307.2]
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The Next Generation #3, December 1989
The Derelict, by Michael Jan Friedman
The Enterprise comes across a starship of unknown origin that appears derelict, with no indications of power and no lifesigns. Riker, Dr. Crusher, Worf and Engineer McRobb, and two other specialists beam over to investigate, and soon after they arrive a source of power is noticed, and then life support comes on. No indication of any damage to the ship is found and no bodies are seen. Also, no seats or computer monitors are seen, leading Worf to suggest that the ship probably wasn’t built to carry a crew. Then the hatches that they had entered through start to close and, while Worf and McRobb escape before the hatches close, Riker and the others get locked in the room. Then a recorded message plays, telling them that they are to be put in stasis and taken to Taxxus where they will be dissected and studied to contribute the Taxxan knowledge. Then the ship powers up and starts to move off at warp, as Worf and McRobb begin trying to find what they can do to stop it. Enterprise follows the ship, but Geordi has found that there is a crack in the dilithium crystal that could cause serious problems if it fractures at high warp, and they are pushing Warp 9. [Timeline: Stardate 42315.8]
The Next Generation #4, January 1990
The Hero Factor, by Michael Jan Friedman
On the supposedly derelict Taxxan ship, most of the away team had been captured and placed in stasis for the journey, leaving Worf and Assistant Chief Engineer McRobb to try and slow down the ship which was pulling further ahead of the Enterprise. They succeed in getting past something like a giant octopus, but then come under attack by a robot that is like a sort-of giant praying mantis. Worf succeeds in spearing it with a piece of equipment that freezes its action, but Worf is badly injured in the process, leaving McRobb to find engineering. He succeeds in that, but there are no controls or any way to turn off the power. On the Enterprise, a failing dilithium crystal fractures, ending their pursuit, although Picard has a probe launched to follow it. McRobb makes his way back to the giant mantis robot and, to Worf’s surprise, disintegrates the object that has speared it, allowing the creature to move again. McRobb gets it to chase him through the corridors to engineering, then dives out of the way just before reaching the ship’s engine. The collision of the giant mantis with the warp engine destroys both, and the probe sends a message back to the Enterprise that the Taxxan ship has come to a full stop. While LaForge installs a new dilithium crystal, Picard has a shuttle sent to recover the away team, and McRobb is hailed as a hero. [Timeline: Stardate 42361.8]
The Next Generation #5, February 1990
Serafin’s Survivors, by Michael Jan Friedman
The Enterprise responds to a distress call from the Federation colony on Serafin’s Planet (Cassiopeia Delta Seven) which is suffering severe seismic activity due to internal stresses.
Geordi is concerned because he knows one of the colonists (Dahlia), all of whom became part of 143
the colony because they had a particular debilitating genetic disease. However, when the handful of survivors from the colony are beamed up, they are in perfect health, seemingly as a result of something to do with the recent changes in the planet. Geordi is delighted to resume his strong friendship with Dahlia and becomes very defensive of her and the other survivors when Troi says that she senses that they are deliberately hiding something, and that she appears to have observed violent feelings among them. [Timeline: Stardate 43201.8]
The Next Generation #6, March 1990
Shows in the Garden, by Michael Jan Friedman
Troi informs Picard and Riker of her misgivings, but since the colonists have done nothing specifically wrong on the ship, there seems to be nothing they can do. Geordi observes Dahlia suffering something she calls cramp, then observes another of the colonists suffer cramp as well.
When he confronts Dahlia about it, she admits that they are all suffering. They had been exposed to radioactive material on the planet when the seismic activity started, and that cured their genetic ailment and made them strong. However, they could only survive by drawing the life-force from others, and that’s what killed the other colonists. They were now trying to resist the temptation until they got to Starbase 10, where there were enough people that they could draw the life-force from with relative impunity. When Geordi says he will call Dr. Crusher to cure her, Dahlia stuns him and then goes looking for someone to feed off. When Geordi recovers, he alerts Worf, but Ensign Weyler was already dead. Geordi finds Dahlia with the other colonists who had attacked her because she had become a danger to them by her actions. Worf arrives in time to save Geordi from them, and the colonists are stunned when they try escaping. There turns out to be nothing Crusher can do for Dahlia, and Geordi is with her when she dies.
The Next Generation #7, April 1990
The Pilot, by Michael Jan Friedman
The Enterprise had arrived at Errev to deliver supplies to relieve their famine and are surprised when the Errevians say the Enterprise had been there two days ago and then left without offering help. Since no Federation ship had been near Errev recently, this puzzled Picard, but transport of the supplies began. Then, another ship arrives, and while shields are down for transporting supplies, four aliens beam aboard and abduct Data and take off with him. The aliens are of the race known as Mezartine, and their lives are devoted to taking what they want and attacking and destroying others. Their leader is known as the The Pilot and is an android containing the knowledge and consciousness of Gebaan, the greatest Mezartine astrotactician. However, his android body was wearing out, and Data had been kidnapped as a replacement body. When the supplies are all beamed down, the Enterprise goes after and catches up with the alien craft (known as the Conqueror), but the alien ship proves itself able to outmatch the Enterprise with its weapons. When Picard demands that the aliens show themselves, The Pilot appears on the screen in Data’s body. [Timeline: Stardate 43265.4]
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The Next Generation #8, May 1990
The Battle Within, by Michael Jan Friedman
Troi senses that Data is still in the body, trying to overcome The Pilot’s control, and that is suspected by the crews of both ships to be the reason that The Pilot gives Picard ten minutes to start beaming over supplies they need, instead of just taking the supplies. It is also realized that there is a special interface that The Pilot uses to control the ship, and Riker beams over to the alien ship inside one of the supply crates to find and destroy the interface. Meanwhile, the crew try to get Data to exert control, and a child (Randy) that Data had befriended nearly succeeds, but The Pilot recovers and plans to destroy Enterprise. Then Riker succeeds in destroying the interface and The Pilot loses control of the ship, with it heading towards a star. Picard says they will save the ship with their tractor beam if The Pilot goes back to his own body and returns Data and Riker. The Pilot sees that as the only option other than a fiery death in the star, so he consents. Picard feels that the Mezartine will have enough to do, adjusting to a failing Pilot and having to learn to control the ship themselves, to cause too much more trouble.
The Next Generation #9, June 1990
The Pay Off, by Michael Jan Friedman
Picard gets a message from Admiral Rosenstrum ordering him to Starbase 104 in order to face accusations of encroaching on Ferengi space, which Picard doesn’t understand because they haven’t been anywhere near Ferengi space recently. However, he has to comply with the order, but then Dr. Crusher falls ill with the Rihehnnia virus which is fatal unless treated. It has a very long incubation period, and she realizes she must have contracted it while helping out on Onorrh twenty years ago, and the Onnorhans are the only ones who have the antiviral medicine. Picard, therefore, delays the return to Starbase 104 and heads to Onorrh, but then finds that the Onnorhans have aligned with the Ferengi, and they have to negotiate a price with the Ferengi, Bagla. He demands the plans for Enterprise’s engines, which Picard knows he can’t give because of security concerns, but then Wesley comes up with an idea and an exchange takes place. Bagla is very unhappy about getting the plans for the original Enterprise’s engines, but the antiviral medicine works for Dr. Crusher. The Enterprise is about to head off for Starbase 104 when the Hood and the Courageous arrive, and Captain Lavelle tells Picard that they are there to bring him back to Starbase 104 by any means possible, to face charges for the destruction of the U.S.S.
Nairobi and the loss of everybody aboard the ship.
The Next Generation #10, July 1990
The Noise of Justice, by Michael Jan Friedman
Picard is taken into custody at Starbase 104 for the destruction of the Nairobi and encroachment into Ferengi territory. Although the visual evidence transmitted by the Nairobi before it was destroyed seemed convincing, when Admiral Rosenstrum examines the logs of the Enterprise and Captain Phillipa Louvois takes depositions from the command crew, everything coincides 145
with Picard’s version of events. Then word comes through that the Enterprise has been spotted in the Alpha Sarpeidon sector, even though it is currently docked at Starbase 104. Picard is given control of the Enterprise to investigate the report, but Admiral Rosenstrum accompanies him.
The Next Generation #11, August 1990
The Impostor, by Michael Jan Friedman
The Enterprise arrives at the Alpha Sarpeidon sector to find the remains of the starship Merrimac that had been destroyed by the fake Enterprise. That ship now had been responsible for the deaths of over 1,000 people. It then occurs to Data that the fake Enterprise is following the same route that the actual Enterprise had taken years ago, which leads him to predict that the ship will turn up at Beta Tarsus Four colony next. Picard orders the Enterprise to head there at maximum warp, although Admiral Rosenstrum thinks it is probably a waste of time. Soon after arriving in the vicinity, the admiral takes back his comment as the fake Enterprise arrives. A battle between the two ships begins, with the fake Enterprise getting the best of it. Then Riker suggests that those on the fake Enterprise seem to be anticipating what Picard will do, so Picard orders Riker to take command of the action, and that seems to level the playing field. [Timeline: Stardate 43269.3]
The Next Generation #12, September 1990
Whoever Fights Monsters, by Michael Jan Friedman
The real Enterprise starts to get the better of the fake one, and after switching command from Riker (because the fake had got a handle on his moves too) to Data, they knock the shields out on the other ship. Then they see the damage to the fake ship being repaired and shields being raised once more but, while shields are down, Worf scans the ship and realizes the image is only a projection and it is really a living entity. Troi also senses an alien intelligence. There seems to be no way to communicate with it until Wesley suggests sending a shuttlecraft out to the alien.
Picard sends three shuttles with Riker, Data, and Troi at the controls. Replica shuttlecraft emerge from the alien with replicas of those piloting the vessels from the Enterprise, but none of the discussions go anywhere because the alien cannot imagine living beings composed of matter.
Finally, Troi tries an empathic link to the alien and shows it the distress they had about the loss of life it had caused. That gets through to the alien, which expresses extreme remorse over what it had seen as some form of game, and it reverts to its energy form and leaves. The connection leaves Troi unconscious, but back on the Enterprise, Dr. Crusher is able to revive her. [Timeline: Stardate 43284.2]
The Next Generation #13, October 1990
The Hand of the Assassin!, by Michael Jan Friedman
Before the previous queen of the planet Domakleion died, she apparently told her youngest daughter, Madriana, that she should become the new queen, but tradition said the older daughter, 146
Alliena, should be the successor. Now the Enterprise is hosting a meeting to try and achieve a solution and reconciliation, but because the Domaks are telepaths capable of influencing others, no weapons are allowed. Worf’s security team are watching Picard and Riker who are conducting the meeting, and Deanna Troi is monitoring the security team. However, one of Alliena’s team (Zadeus) was a particularly adept telepath, and he takes control of O’Brien planning to use him to “accidently” kill Madriana when next he transports her back to the planet, and then there will only be Alliena to assume the throne. However, Zadeus knows nothing of poker. After Picard suggests that Alliena rules the northern continent and Madriana the southern, both queens-apparent decide they need time to consider and are preparing to beam back. When Lieutenant Forthol, who had been observing a poker game that O’Brien had been in, asks Geordi about why O’Brien might have thrown away one of a pair of queens that were in his hand, Geordi realizes he was signaling that he had been taken over. Geordi is able to alert Picard just as O’Brien was preparing to beam Madriana down. When Zadeus realizes his plan had been thwarted, he reacts in a way that exposes his intention to Troi and to Alliena, and Alliena is very displeased with her advisor. He is not expected to be on the team when discussions resume.
[Timeline: Stardate 43423.6]
The Next Generation #14, December 1990
Holiday on Ice, by Michael Jan Friedman
While other crewmembers are discussing the pleasures of the vacation planet called Grindelwald, Riker and Geordi are out snowsailing. However, they go further than they had intended and then spot what appears to be a large movable structure, and they cannot resist the opportunity to investigate what it is. The planetary authorities have maintained the planet in near pristine condition, even resisting mining the abundant trillium ore to avoid damaging the ecosystems, and this structure looks totally out of place. The first clue is a Ferengi shuttle seen entering the structure, and then the pair find themselves chased by a group of Ferengi. Riker and Geordi end up captured and held in a deep pit dug out of the ice. [Timeline: Stardate 43810.7]
The Next Generation #15, January 1991
Prisoners of the Ferengi, by Michael Jan Friedman
Riker gets Geordi to whistle, which attracts giant snowbats who attack the Ferengi guarding the pit. That enables Riker and Geordi to obtain Ferengi energy whips, and they go to check out what the Ferengi are up to in the mysterious structure. They find them pit-mining trillium, but the Ferengi also find Riker and Geordi, and take them prisoner again. But Riker and Geordi’s absence had been noted on the Enterprise, and Worf and Data, assisted by two Grindelwaldens, including Administrator Markis, had gone to find them, arriving just in time. Apart from rescuing Riker and Geordi, Worf also shoots down a Ferengi shuttle that had arrived to carry the trillium off planet. The Grindelwaldens are left to clean up the rest of the Ferengi operation.
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The Next Generation #16, February 1991
I Have Heard the Mermaids Singing, by Michael Jan Friedman
The Enterprise is observing an unparalleled eruption of energy and matter from a seemingly empty point in space, and Geordi provisionally identifies it as a white hole. Then, the Enterprise is battered by a sudden increase in the erupting energy, and the warp and impulse engines are knocked out of commission, along with shields, sensors, and astrogation, etc. Geordi leaves the bridge to oversee the repair of the engines, but he diverts to holodeck 1 and is found participating in a recreation of the encounter of Odysseus and the sirens. That odd behavior is followed by Worf starting to attack anyone near him, and Wesley deciding to take a spacewalk outside the ship. Then, astrogation is restored and it is discovered that the Enterprise has been knocked a considerable distance from its previous location and is now in the Romulan Neutral Zone.
[Timeline: Stardate 43878.1]
The Next Generation #17, March 1991
The Weapon, by Michael Jan Friedman
Geordi, Worf and Wesley had exhibited bizarre behavior, and the Enterprise has ended up disabled and inside the Romulan neutral zone with a couple of Romulan warbirds bearing down on them. The Romulans suspect a trap and imagine that the Enterprise is there to test some kind of new weapon on them, so they scan the ship. What they find is that there are three energy lifeforms cohabiting with some of the Enterprise crew, and they assume that the energy beings are enhancing the Enterprise crew’s abilities. When the Romulan commander challenges Picard about them, Picard realizes what has been happening and calls on the energy beings to show themselves. By that time, they had left Geordi, Worf and Wesley and had been affecting others, including Troi and Riker, but they leave them and show themselves to Picard on the bridge. They had accidentally been drawn through the white hole from their own universe and were studying the domain they now found themselves in. When they ask Picard what they could do to correct any damage they had caused, Picard suggests they affect the Romulan crew. That causes enough disruption aboard the Romulan vessels to give time for Geordi to get the ship capable of at least warp 1 and get them out of the neutral zone.
The Next Generation #18, April 1991
Forbidden Fruit …, by Dave Stern & Mike O’Brien
Wesley tests his experimental hyperport to transport a model ship from one small pad in his room to another, but Geordi and Data notice a power drain and go to investigate. Wesley claims that his little experiment shouldn’t have caused that, but then his experiment starts to power up again and an alien named Pierce appears. Picard orders the engineers to work on adapting Wesley’s experiment, even though it incorporates some Iconian technology concepts, to send Pierce home. Pierce talks with Wesley, telling him to destroy his experiment because it was dangerous, but when Wesley points out that now every engineer onboard knows how to make it, 148
Pierce steals a vial of V’Daran Fever (for which there is no cure) and contaminates the ship’s water supply. His planet had suffered a disastrous disease outbreak after being visited by Captain Wesley Crusher’s ship, U.S.S. Santa Maria, which was outfitted with hyperports instead of transporters. Something to do with the hyperport had caused the disease, and Pierce had been sent back in time to stop Wesley creating it, but Pierce is devastated when he realizes there are also children onboard who are dying. As the only one not to be in any way infected, Data is sent back in time, arriving on the pads as Wesley does his first test, and the equipment bursts into flames and melts down. Wesley learns to put a lot more thought into safely before carrying out experiments, and this one is put on indefinite hold. [Timeline: Stardate 43131.4]
The Next Generation #19, May 1991
The Lesson, by Michael Jan Friedman
Beverley Crusher has a birthday coming up and is feeling her mortality, so she calls upon Troi for advice. Instead, Troi takes her to the holodeck and calls up a wonderful scene that is an amalgam of places from a number of planets. Troi leads the way into the forest. Meanwhile, Riker has taken on a task of teaching a class about the American Civil War to the students (including Wesley) aboard the Enterprise. He starts talking about Benedict Arnold, but Wesley interrupts and mentions a recent reassessment of Arnold’s actions that paints him as a double agent who was actually helping American forces all along. Riker admits that he hadn’t heard of the author of that study and tells Wesley he’d like to see him after class. That private meeting leads to Riker congratulating Wesley on correcting him, and as they leave Riker’s office Wesley sees his mother looking rather bedraggled. Troi had taken Beverley on an adventure navigating a number of obstacles and climbing to a vantage point that gave a fantastic view, leaving Beverley more breathless from the sight than from the climb. Beverley was also feeling more like a teenager again and appreciating Troi’s efforts. [Timeline: Stardate 44270.1]
The Next Generation #20, June 1991
The Flight of the Albert Einstein, by Michael Jan Friedman
The Enterprise is sent to assist with an outbreak of Zelaznan fever on the colony worlds in the Alpha and Beta Hydros star systems. While Dr. Crusher leads the team on Alpha Hydros Five, the warp-capable shuttle, Albert Einstein, takes a medical team commanded by Riker, along with Worf and Wesley piloting the shuttle headed for Beta Hydros Four. Crusher finds that the outbreak is not as bad as reported and feels that everything will be under control quickly.
However, a subspace vortex or portal opens up in space ahead of the Einstein and, unable to pull away, they get pulled into it, shaking up the shuttle and leaving Riker unconscious and in serious condition. They also end up in an unknown region of space, warp engines inoperative, and no idea which direction they should head in to get back. With Riker needing better medical help than is available on the shuttle, Worf directs Wesley to pick a direction and proceed at maximum impulse. [Timeline: Stardate 44212.9]
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The Next Generation #21, July 1991
Mourning Star, by Michael Jan Friedman
Aboard the Enterprise, Picard comes to accept the fact that Starfleet isn’t going to let them search for the Einstein and its missing crew forever and organizes a funeral service for them. Yet he finds he cannot mourn them himself because he doesn’t believe they are dead. Aboard the Einstein, some are having a particularly difficult time accepting what their possible future will be, but then Wesley gets readings of lifeforms in space. With Worf ordering caution, they approach and find something like a space station constructed by joining multiple spaceships together in a rather haphazard form. [Timeline: Stardate 44295.3]
The Next Generation #22, August 1991
Trapped, by Michael Jan Friedman
The team aboard the Einstein find themselves caught in some form of tractor beam from the odd space station, and then a beam from the opposite end of the station grabs them as well. Happily, the second beam wins, and they get greeted by a Betazoid (Darios Appolene) and members of other Federation races, all of whom had been pulled through the same subspace vortex and stranded, but there is another group there as well who are opposed to the Federation. There was a large vessel that got pulled through the vortex recently, which seems to have no crew aboard but has a working warp drive. Unfortunately, it is too massive to pull in with the tractor beam, so they are hoping to use the Einstein to ferry them out to it. Meanwhile, Enterprise has been called in to assist with the evacuation of a water-world (Lanatos) that will soon be impacted by an asteroid. Picard is rather annoyed to find that the authorities want them to rescue holy monuments and relics, and Troi feels that First Governor Imlach is hiding something from them, so she goes down to check things out. She soon picks up a telepathic signal and goes to check it out, but she is followed by two Lanatosians. She comes across a massive underwater wall, but then finds an opening large enough to swim through, and she finds a large serpent-like creature that is sentient and telepathic, who has been trapped behind the wall. Then the two Lanatosians seal up the opening, leaving Troi trapped too. [Timeline: Stardate 44292.2]
The Next Generation #23, September 1991
The Barrier, by Michael Jan Friedman
Worf and the crew of the shuttle Einstein have met up with a group led by Darius, a Betazoid, who are surviving within a structure consisting of derelict spaceships, and they are making plans for using the Einstein to get access to the alien starship floating in nearby space. It is expected that that ship is large enough to carry them all, and hopefully the ship’s warp engines are still workable. But there is another group of aliens (including some Klingons, Romulans and Ferengi) living in their floating junkyard, and that other group attacks the Einstein crew and their allies, but Worf is helping to lead the defense. On Lanatosia, Imlach is infuriated with the time it is taking the Enterprise crew to dismantle their precious monuments and get them aboard the ship 150
before the approaching comet destroys their planet, but Picard is more concerned with the fact that Troi has gone missing. Data locates her and finds her with the surviving members of the Skriiti, who had been walled off by the Lanatosians so that the Enterprise crew would not realize that there was a second sentient race on the planet. When Picard learns of this, he abandons work on the monuments in order to create accommodation for the Skriiti, and he tells Imlach that the Lanatosians should consider themselves lucky that they are not being left behind after their lack of concern for sentient life.
The Next Generation #24, October 1991
Homecoming, by Michael Jan Friedman
The Enterprise delivers the Lanatosians and the Skriiti to their new home on Beta Diomede and he hopes that the Lanatosians will learn to work with the seahorse-like Skriiti. However, Picard has been putting off promoting Data and Mister Burke to fill the roles of Riker and Worf who were among those lost on the shuttle Einstein, but as he is getting ready to carry out the promotions, a message arrives from the Klingon Empire. That message said that an unidentified ship had arrived unannounced near Qo’noS and was not responding to hails, and before they destroy it as a threat to their homeworld, the Federation was being notified in case it was one of their ships gone astray. Actually, it was a ship that the crew of the Einstein had taken over to get back to Federation space and it had stopped in Klingon space when its engine cut out, and it was now building up to an overload. The ship’s communications were inoperable, so they weren’t able to warn anyone or notify them of what had happened. When the Enterprise arrives, Troi senses humans, Klingons, and other alien races aboard the mystery ship, so Picard talks the Klingon Commander Krogh into holding off attacking the alien vessel while he beams over to investigate. When he does, he is delighted to find the Einstein’s crew aboard, even though Riker is injured. They get everyone beamed off the ship just before its engines explode. [Timeline: Stardate 44298.2]
The Next Generation #25, November 1991
Wayward Son, by Michael Jan Friedman
While Worf frets over not being with his son Alexander and with Jeremy when they meet up at his adoptive parents’ home, the Enterprise discovers the Erstwhile (Thadium Okona’s ship) adrift in space. It is discovered that the ship has nobody onboard, and when Riker and Geordi beam over to inspect it, they find that Okona had disappeared from the ship near Alpha Pintara, so Picard has the Enterprise head there. Arriving at the planet, they ascertain that there is only one sentient lifeform there, and that appears to be Okona. An attempt to contact the planet gets no response initially, so Picard authorizes an away team to beam down. Before they go, a response is received but the universal translator can make nothing of the signal, so Picard tells the away team to proceed. When the team, consisting of Worf, Troi, Dr. Crusher, and Data beam down they find themselves wearing costumes reminiscent of what people in a mediaeval court might have worn, and find Okona similarly attired. [Timeline: Stardate 44698.7]
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The Next Generation #26, December 1991
Strangers in a Strange Land, by Michael Jan Friedman
The away team are stuck in a medieval setting with clothing to match, but minus their Starfleet uniforms, communicators and phasers. Apart from Captain Okona, there appears to be nobody else around. Okona takes them to a room where he has built a primitive communication system from old parts he found there, and they contact the Enterprise asking to be beamed up. However, O’Brien finds there is a field blocking transportation, although it only extends a kilometer or two and he gives them coordinates to go to. They set out, against Okona’s warning, and soon they come under fire from flaming arrows being shot at them from an adjacent building’s battlements.
Meanwhile, on Earth, Worf’s son Alexander and Jeremy are with the Rozhenkos, and Jeremy tells Alexander a story that is a cross between the story of Damon and Pythias (two human friends) and the story of Radak and Maruk (two Klingon friends).
The Next Generation #27, January 1992
City Life, by Michael Jan Friedman
Between Worf and Okona, the archer with the flaming arrows is taken care of, but they come under attack again as they make their way through the city, including an attack involving something like an elephant with four trunks. Then they encounter a tall female who focusses her attention on Okona, but to kiss him, not fight him. She also leads the group of them through an underground passage and out of the city. At that point, they all have their original clothing and equipment returned, meaning that they are able to call for beam up. Before that, Allenby aboard the Enterprise had succeeded in interpreting the message that had been received from the planet.
The city was actually a burial monument for a deceased king, who had been buried there nearly a thousand years ago along with his family, friends, servants, pets, and enemies, except that those others were in the form of holographic copies similar to holodeck characters. Okona and the others had been abducted to be shown the city and give them a taste of the king’s life. The female that had led them out of the city had been the queen, the late king’s wife.
The Next Generation #28, February 1992
The Remembered One, by Michael Jan Friedman
It is one year since K’ehleyr died and, while the Enterprise is in orbit of the pulsar Beta Caligula, Worf is in Ten Forward mourning her loss. Guinan comes over to comfort him, but suddenly everyone around Worf freezes. He dashes to the bridge and finds everybody there in the same state. Then someone else appears who looks like K’ehleyr, but Worf doesn’t believe it. The being admits that she is a short-lived creature of pure life-essence who was born complete with her race’s memories and wanted to complete a meaningful life on a starship, so she had frozen everyone else and taken this form. When an alarm starts sounding, indicating that the ship is getting too close to the pulsar, she also admits that she is having to draw power from it to 152
maintain the illusion, and is allowing the ship to fall to its doom in order to fulfill her short life.
Worf angrily exclaims that the real K’ehleyr sacrificed herself for others. The creature then says that she, and consequently her race, has learned something from her experience, and she fades away in time for the Enterprise crew to pull the ship back to a safe distance.
The Next Generation #29, March 1992
Honorbound!, by Kevin Ryan
The Enterprise is on a mission delivering farm equipment when Picard receives a call from Commodore Anson Peters saying that he and his son, Bryant, are aboard a freighter that will be in the Enterprise’s vicinity in ten minutes, and asks if they can be taken aboard, which Picard agrees to. Anson explains that he has retired and was travelling the galaxy with his son. Then the Enterprise is approached by six armed Shardak ships led by Lenet Tau, and Tau demands that the Enterprise turn over Bryant for immediate execution. They don’t want a criminal in their presence, so they want him sent out on a shuttlecraft that they will destroy. Anson explains that he been on a hunting expedition with the Shardak but he had accidently shot and killed Tau’s son, and the Shardak want like-for-like retribution. When Picard refuses to hand over the boy, one of the Shardak ships attacks the Enterprise, then destroys itself by ramming the Enterprise.
Shields are down to 40% from the attack, and the other ships surround the Enterprise as Tau tells Picard he has one hour to send the boy out, or they will destroy the Enterprise. Data comes up with a plan but refuses to tell Picard what it is, because the Shardak can tell when someone is lying. Picard tells Tau that Bryant is being sent out in a shuttle, and the Shardak then destroy it.
But Data had sent the shuttle out with a holographic replica of Bryant aboard, and the more primitive sensors of the Shardak couldn’t tell the difference. The Shardak’s honor was satisfied, and Anson still had his son.
The Next Generation #30, April 1992
The Rift, by Michael Jan Friedman
The Enterprise responds to a distress call from a space station orbiting Beta Maxilla Seven and arrives to find it being pulled close to a rift in space. Interference from the rift prevents O’Brien from beaming the crew off without something like a communicator to lock on to, so Riker heads an away team to assist. He thinks there is plenty of time to get everyone off safely, but the approach to the rift speeds up, and the head researcher on the station, Doctor Jonas, is blaming Riker for not working faster. Riker offers to be the last one off and then gets stranded aboard the station when it gets pulled completely inside the rift. He starts to wonder if he’ll spend the rest of his life there alone, but then finds there are others who had got caught inside the rift previously, who are now insubstantial and ghostlike, and who tell Riker there’s no escape. Riker refuses to believe that. [Timeline: Stardate 45492.6]
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The Next Generation #31, May 1992
Kingdom of the Damned, by Michael Jan Friedman