MORE PROBLEMS ON SHERMAN’S PLANET

 

Name: Pawns and Symbols

Author: Majliss Larson

Publication Date: 11/1985

Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #26)

Page Number: 277

Historian’s Note: Sometime between Turnabout Intruder and More Tribbles More Troubles

Cast of Characters:  Captain James T. Kirk       Commander Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”       Lieutenant Commander Barry Giotto                     Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura            Lieutenant John Kyle     Lieutenant Kevin Riley         Lieutenant Daniel Alden                   Lieutenant Jerry Freeman               Lieutenant William “Bill” Hadley                Lieutenant Ross Johnson            Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov                 Yeoman First  Class Keiko Tamura             Crewman Sanders          Crewman Banerjee        Crewman Juliette            Lieutenant Jean Czerny                      Commander Kang               Dr. Aernath                     Aethelnor      Ahmad            Eknaar              Ekthorn            Maevlynin        Tirax        Willinck         Lieutenant Reena Tertullian           

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Starbase 10, IKS Devisor, IKS Kahless, IKS Klolode II, two unnamed Klingon battlecruisers, one unnamed Romulan ship

Planets: Sherman’s Planet

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The story begins with right after a Federation outpost on Sherman's planet is devastated by an earthquake. Jean Czerny, a Starfleet officer and researcher, is trying to do math in her head to see if she will still be alive by the time the Enterprise is scheduled to arrive. She is rescued but not by the people she was expecting.  She has been saved by a Klingon ship commanded by Commander Kang.  Kang is friendly at first but soon he learns that she was on the team that developed a new strain of quadrotriticale.  He wants her to share this with him, but she refuses.  The Enterprise arrives demanding her return. Kang invokes an obscure Klingon tradition whereby, having saved her life, she and her property belong to him and refuses to hand her over.  With other Klingon ships on their way Kirk orders a retreat for now.

Kang

Czerny refuses to co-operate and Kang orders her not to be fed.  Dr. Aernath, a Klingon she has befriended, gives her food.  For this Kang orders him to die, but Czerny says she will now cooperate. They arrive in the Klingon homeworld and there Czerny learns that the Klingons are beset by famine. Czerny expresses to Kang that he should have started with that and is now more than willingly to help to counter it.

Later Kang seems to try to rape Czerny, but Aernath informs her that is trying to take her as one of his consorts to give her protection in the Empire. Kang we learn is the heir apparent to the imperial throne that is his right as the Emperor’s sister’s son.  He is allowed to have as many as he wants but we also learn Mara left him on returning from the Enterprise with pro-Federation sympathies.

            While this is all going on the Enterprise finds an abandoned Romulan ship.  They trace the escape pod to a local planet where they Reena Tertullian, the only Romulan survivor.  Thinking they are who attacked her, she panics and fires a missile that attaches to the ship with a timer that will destroy the ship the moment she tries to leave.  Reena comes to like and respect humans and even forms a relationship with Chekov and decides to defuse the weapon.  She decides to return to her own people but asks the crew to make it look as though she was tortured so she won’t be executed.

Romulan ship dead in the water

Aernath tricks Kang's crew and forcibly takes Czerny to Mara.  They are attempting to arrange a peace between the Federation and the Klingons.  She has secretly born Kang's son, Aethelnor, who is due to inherit a powerful position from her brother, putting Kang in a very strong political position.  She wants Czerny and Aernath to take him into Federation space so Kang will have to follow and negotiate with Kirk.

Kang and Mara

They meet with a Romulan who turns out to be Mr. Spock.  Spock with help from Cyrano Jones, who needs to work off his debt for the tribble incident, gets Aernath and Aethelnor off the planet.  During the transfer Czerny is captured and left behind.  Spock using a mental link makes it so she can’t be interrogated or tortured. On the ship Aernath gets in trouble for entering the dilitheium chamber bit he is exonerated when it turns out Klingons can’t see the color red.

They agree to meet

Czerny is returned to Kang, and he agrees to meet Kirk with Mara and Czerny at his side and a number of settlements are reached to prevent a war. It is agreed that the Federation and the Klingons will both establish presences on Sherman's planet, with Czerny and Aernath remaining there to work on the quadrotriticale strain.  Czerny is granted a sort of divorce from Kang where she is no longer his consort but is still part of his family.  Kang has also established a relationship with his son.

Additional thoughts: This story had a lot of ups and downs.  It started strong, then fell off in the middle but ended well.  The author almost falls into the trap of being so focused on her own characters that she forgets it’s supposed to be a Star Trek story.  I did like that the Klingons had a problem that they could completely solve if they just were less mistrusting of the Federation. I did find the whole Romulan rescue sub-plot to be interesting but also pointless to the overall story.

I didn’t care for the idea of Kang being the heir to the Empire, it seems to me he would have more than one ship and not sent to the frontiers of space if that were the case.  The patriarchal but matrilineal succession to be interesting but would later be contradicted by later stories about Klingons.  I also feel the same way about the colorblind issue or not really color blind more like color difference since they can see ultra-violet. 

Should it be canon: There are some parts that can’t be: Klingon succession laws and eyesight limitations are later contradicted by other stories. Some elements of it could be made canon, such as the famine and Czerny’s intervention.

Cover Art: A person who I assume is Czerny is walking along a checkered floor.  There is some wheat growing in one of the squares.  The Enterprise is flouting above the floor.  Kirk and Kangs heads are up in the sky with Kang facing directly at Kirk and away from the viewer.

Final Grade: Final Grade 3 of 5