SPOCK BECOMES A PIRATE

 

Name: Black Fire

Author: Sonni Cooper

Publication Date: 1/1983

Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #8)

Page Number: 220

Historian’s Note:  Sometime between The Counter-Clock Incident and The Motion Picture.

Cast of Characters:  Captain James T. Kirk       Commander Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”       Lieutenant Commander Alexander Leonidas                     Lieutenant Commander Thorin Martin                    Lieutenant Commander Heath Douglas                     Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura              Lieutenant Kyle           Lieutenant Lowry                    Lieutenant Gordon            Dr. Joseph M'Benga        Dr. Jonah Levine                       Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov      Yeoman First Class Janice Rand            Yeoman Second Class Yolanda Helman                Commodore Pierce                   Commodore Kingston Clark              Commodore Bragg                          Fleet Captain Iko Tomako                Lieutenant Ellen Janest                     Commander Bryant           Dr. Lucas Freed               Tim Macklen AKA Bull          Cadet Cathy White                      Supreme Commander Desus       Commander Julina      Sub-Commander Placus      Weapons Officer Delus        Commander Klee         Lieutenant Commander Melnek       Lieutenant Kasus     The Romulan Fleet Commander                           Begum Isla       IIob        Captain Astro        Galicia        Linia     Commander Relos      Harry Needham     Impertor Melek         Clea

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Raven (registry unknown), Starbase 12, ChR Bird of Prey, ChR Moonhawk, ChR Space Hawk, ChR Sun Falcon, IKS Force, Talon, and Equus

Planets: Corsair, Minos, Paxas, Romulus, Rontelm, and Tomarii

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The story starts with a bang quite literally with an explosion on the bridge of the ship.  There were some redshirt casualties in addition to many of the senior staff of the Enterprise being severally injured.  They are all in intensive care, with Spock being the only one consciousness, aware, and giving McCoy hell for wanting to return to work.  Because of the massive damage the ship has to get everyone to the secondary hull and perform an emergency saucer separation.  The star drive section returns to Starbase 12 to recover and await the return of the main section.

Enterprise crew in bad shape

  

Once Spock is able to leave sickbay, he launches his own investigation into the matter.  With the assistance of Mr. Scott, the two of them return to the abandoned saucer section of the Enterprise to investigate. While they are going through their home wearing spacesuits, they gather some evidence that includes a star chart, and they even have a suspect: Yeoman Isabel Tomari.  This Yeoman prior to this mission didn’t exist.  The return to Starfleet expecting action.

Starfleet holds an inquiry into the disaster, they find Spock’s evidence to be insignificant.  They conclude that the explosion was accidentally in nature.  Spock doesn’t accept the outcome.  He is as outraged as a Vulcan can possibly be.  He decides to continue this investigation unofficially.  Scotty continues to assist him.  Spock for the second time in his life decides to steal a starship.  The two officers steal the small USS Raven that at the time was unattended as its tiny crew were all on leave.  Spock uses the star chart they uncovered to set his destination.  Arriving at an unexplored planet, Spock and Scotty explore a little bit and get captured by some Romulans.  The Romulans, led by Commander Julina, accuse the Federation of a terrorist attack on one of their vessels.  Their claims, however, sound remarkably like what happened to the Enterprise.  Shortly after Klingons, led by Commander Klee, show up leveling the same charges at the other two.  

Looking into the incident

The three parties decided to call a truce and share information.  While they discuss events and introduce themselves suddenly, they find themselves face to face with their actual enemy.  They are called the Tomarii.  They are humanoids with a lot of fur from a cold planet.  They no longer live there primarily.  Because they reproduce so fast and compete over resources, they are extremely warlike.  They care almost nothing for even their own individual lives, they just attack and compete for resources.  This has led them to having an odd state of technological development.  They have the speed and power to compete with other space powers, but they need rocket ships to get themselves off planet.  The Tomarii take all three groups as prisoners.  The Tomarii decide to use them in their wargames as further test of each of their abilities.  

During the wargames the Klingons do the best.  Their culture and the Tomarii are not so different.  One of the Romulans is killed in the games.  Scotty is doing well and gets along with his guard Ilob.  Scotty is hoping that a friendly relationship would perhaps lead to greater understanding between their peoples.  Of course, while Scotty’s guard likes him, Spock’s guard, the Begum Isla is actually in love with him.  She has competition for the second time in history a Romulan Commander is falling in love with Spock.  Julina finds out about her predecessor when doing a mind meld with Spock.  The mind meld was used to help Spock deal with massive pain.  He still has some shrapnel in his body that needed to removed surgery, but he didn’t wait for it.  Although the mind meld helped with the pain it will not stop the consequences as the shrapnel has moved into Spock’s spin disabling him. 

Spock in bad shape

Spock notices that his condition has prevented the others from adequately forming an escape plan, for they are trying to take into account how to save him too.  Spock decides the only logical thing to do was commit suicide.  He convinces Julina of his decision, and she agrees to help him.  However, Isla shows up in time to “rescue” Spock and kills the Romulan Commander.

Back at Starbase 12 Captain Kirk has now recovered from his injuries and is looking forward to getting back to his ship.  When he gets there, he finds that things are different.  Everyone is wearing the new uniforms and there is a new color scheme.  Kirk expected that he didn’t expect to have two of his key officers replaced.  It turns out Kirk was so badly injured that no one wanted to tell him while he recovered: that Spock and Scotty had stolen a ship and gone missing.  Three new officers are aboard to replace the two.  Lieutenant Commanders Leonidas (first officer), Martin (science officer), and Douglas (chief engineer) are the new people Kirk has to meet and work with. 

Everyone's dressing differently now!

Kirk then goes on a personal mission to find Mr. Spock and finds an encoded message from his former first officer.  Spock explains what he is doing and asks Kirk not to follow them.  Of course, Kirk does.  The Captain makes all sorts of excuses to put the Enterprise near to the location that Spock indicated on his star chart.  From there they follow a series of clues that leads to them locating the Tomarii homeworld.  They arrive just in the nick of time as Spock has another attempted suicide.  The Enterprise rescues Spock and Scotty logged the location of the planet and got the hell out of there.  Because of their fugitive status, Kirk has them confined to quarters with the first officer objecting saying he needed to go to the brig.  It turns out he was right because Spock, having been cured of his paralysis by Dr. McCoy, snuck into Auxiliary Control and contacted the Klingons and Romulans with updated information about the Tomarii.  Spock explains but Kirk has to place him in the brig now.

Spock and Scotty are put on trial for their alleged crimes.  Spock pleads guilty but says his guilt is technical and that he was acting on behalf of Starfleet and the Federation.  Spock also insists that Scotty, who had pleaded not guilty, was just obeying his orders. The defense tries to argue that what was learned is valuable for the security of this entire side of the galaxy.  The tribunal finds Scotty not guilty but liable for bad judgment.  He was suspended from starship duty for a year and demoted to lieutenant.  Spock, however, is found guilty, dishonorably discharged from Starfleet, and sentenced to five years in prison. 

Spock explaining himself at trial 

Spock tells Kirk not to contact his family and he politely goes to prison.  At this point the book gives us all the prison tropes.  From the natural unpleasant and demeaning searches, the horrible prison jobs, and the big mean prisoner, named Bull Macklen, who Spock is going to have to take out in order to win respect.  While fighting Macklen, Spock befriends a captured Romulan pirate named Desus.  Spock begins to think of him as a Romulan Kirk.  Spock decides he doesn’t like being in prison, so he decides it’s time to escape.

Prisoner Spock choosing to escape

Spock and his new substitute Kirk friend, Desus, escape prison and go to where Desus had dealings before.  They secure two vessels on the black market.  They transform them into pirate vessels intent on looting and plunder.  Each takes the name “Captain Black Fire” so they can double the reputation of the name.  Kind of like the Dreed Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride, ten years after the book and four years before the movie.  The difference being that these two operate at the same time.  The two are instantly successful as pirates, at one point earning the jealousy of another pirate.  The jealous pirate lost a showdown with Spock making Captain Black Fire even more legendary. This continues until Spock is almost captured by the Enterprise. The two pirates escape to Romulus.  Where Spock is arrested again. 

Spock's new life.

Desus is now revealed to be Supreme Commander Desus who had the whole time been spying on the pirates for the Romulan Star Empire.  Desus convinces his fellow Romulans to accept Spock now as one of their own.  Spock is now a Sub-Commander in the Romulan military.  Back on the Enterprise, Kirk requests a new chief engineer, as he has not warmed to Douglas.  To his surprise they send him Scotty restored to his prior rank as if nothing had happened at all.

Spock convinces his new friend and commanding officer that in order to defeat the Tomarii threat then they must form a temporary alliance with the Federation.  When they make contact Kirk is somewhat shocked to see Spock in that uniform but agrees to the alliance. They basically close both openings to the Tomarii’s secret planet.  The Federation wants to help them keep their population under control and learn to live peacefully in the universe.  If they don’t the Romulans will destroy them.  The agreement is made, and peace is achieved.  Spock later asks Kirk to place the Enterprise outside of the Neutral Zone at a later date.  Kirk does this and it turns out to be Spock’s escape attempt.  He shows up in a Romulan shuttle giving out a distress code. While loading the Tomarii to the Enterprise, Spock also put in information about Romulan ships.  He has Kirk take the Enterprise out of the Romulans’ set trap.

They get the Romulans one more time

Spock informs Kirk that he was on a special mission from Starfleet to act as a double agent in order to get the goods on the Tomarii, the pirates, and the Romulans. Kirk is glad this (for him) confusing adventure is over.

Additional thoughts: It is very interesting that after Spock’s death in the engine room of the Enterprise at the end of The Wrath of Khan the very first book published after—not counting the movie novelization—happens to be a book that focuses primarily on Spock.  It is almost as if the author is trying to say something about the loss of this particular character.

We object to his loss!

In the episode “The Apple” Kirk orders a possible saucer separation in order to escape the planet Gamma Trianguli VI.  There Kirk tells Scotty to leave the star drive and get out with the main section. In this book the main section has been damaged, and the crew has to escape in the star drive.  This sucks because it is not meant to house an entire crew. Later when Spock and Scotty return to the saucer section in space suits it has an eerie feeling about it.  Fortunately, they were able to recover and get the section reattached.

The very brief appearance with the Romulan Fleet Commander from “The Enterprise Incident” worked well.  She was still angry with Spock, because according to her she lost rank and status because of what had occurred.  This makes more sense than her appearance in the book The Price of the Phoenix, she is just way too friendly with them for my liking.  This is how she should react upon seeing Spock.  Of course, this would have to set this book and the former book into separate realties.  Unless what the Fleet Commander is angry about here is not the stolen cloaking device but rather blame, she assigns Spock for the loss of her Kirk-clone Romulan boytoy from The Fate of the Phoenix. 

She is not happy with him!

It is interesting how Spock keeps referring to Desus as being Kirk-like.  However, that only got that Romulan so far as Spock points out that his betrayal will most likely cause his friend to lose his life.  Cold Spock, cold. The book also tends to forget that Spock’s relationship with McCoy is just as important as his relationship with Kirk.

In the book we see the crew changed from their classic uniforms to the ones that we saw in The Motion Picture.  In addition to that, repairs to the Enterprise give the ship the feel of its movie refit.  I think both are mistakes.  The first is unnecessary and the other tries to give an explanation where none was really needed.  The ship’s overhaul in the first movie is explained well in the first movie.  They were already getting done with it at the start of the film. 

Although this is a good story, I have an issue with the time it needs to take place. I have this same objection to the short story, Mind Sifter, it’s a great story but it takes a huge chunk of time out of what is a five-year mission.  It seems to me the story takes place for a minimum of four months. It may have been a better idea put this adventure as part of the second five-year mission that took place in-between The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Kahn.  Those five years are mostly unexplored and could fit in a story like this.

The end twist was good.  Normally the way a judge a good twist is when you don’t see it coming but after it does when you go back and rewatch or reread something it is clear and obvious.  Now we know right from the beginning that Spock is not going to turn traitor, not simply because he is a star but know from the last film that he is supposed to become the Captain of the Enterprise and die in the engineering room.  However, the twist was how this was all going to come about.  I had suspected that the Tomarii had somehow infiltrated the highest points in Federation government and was now controlling Starfleet.  As we got to the end of the book it was clear that could not be the case because we were out of space.  When Spock reveals he was a double agent this whole time it is shocking but it fits.  The clues are there such as Starfleet’s reluctance to do anything about the Tomarii threat despite Spock’s returned with clear evidence of it.  Kirk himself is shown to be confused by Starfleet’s lack of initiative.   That Spock was able to escape from the Federation prison so easily was another clue, I assumed it was plot armor but they just let him go.  The biggest hint was Scotty’s punishment suddenly erased. 

Not the first time a Spock "betrayal" ends in a twist!

Boy, the Romulans thought they hated Spock from before.  So, they first truly encounter Spock in “The Enterprise Incident” he was there for “Balance of Terror” but he had no interaction with any Romulan directly.  In the follow up he gets the Romulan Fleet Commander to think he has killed Captain Kirk and that he maybe willing to join the Romulan Star Empire.  However, it all turns out to be a ploy to steal their cloaking device.  Now he has done it again!  They fell for it again!  Desus is so confident in his buddy Spock that it never occurs to him that he could betray him.  Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.

They must feel like fools!

So, what came of Spock’s replacements Leonidas and Martin?  We know Spock gets his job back, but the book ends without the readers getting any insight into their fates.   

Should it be canon: Maybe.  Some details might have to be changed. As I said earlier, I would like to see the story moved to the post-TMP time period.

Cover Art: The cover art is nice but a little misleading.  To glance at it one would assume that the book to place in after The Motion Picture.  Kirk is in his admiral’s uniform from that film.  Kirk is on the viewer’s left-hand side at the bottom.  Behind Kirk is a planet, Spock is located on the right-side bottom.  On top is the refitted USS Enterprise trying to evade two Romulan D-7Rs that are firing upon her.   

Final Grade: Final Grade 4 of 5

 

IF “THE NAKED TIME” AND “DAY OF THE DOVE” HAD A BABY

 

Name: The Klingon Gambit

Author: Robert E. Vardeman

Publication Date: 10/1981

Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #3)

Page Number: 158

Historian’s Note:  The story takes place after the third season of classic Star Trek and before the first season of Star Trek: The Animated Series

Cast of Characters:  Captain James T. Kirk       Commander Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”       Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura              Lieutenant Candra Avitts                Lieutenant Kyle           Lieutenant Patten                    Lieutenant Gordon            Dr. Joseph M'Benga        Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov      Ensign Jenniver Aristeides          Chief Petty Officer  Heather McConel      Captain Kalan                 Lieutenant  Kislath          Dr. Threllvon-da    Thoron           

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Vulcan Science Vessel T'pau, IKS Terror

Planets: Delta Canaris IV and Alnath II

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise is on a routine but exciting mission.  They are around a strange planet, Delta Canaris IV, that on the outside resembles Jupiter, but interior scans show may contain life.  These are the missions that people join Starfleet for.  Unfortunately, they are called aways from that mission in order to deal with a crisis at the newly explored world, Alnath II.  Here a scientist, an Andorian named Threllvon-da is leading an expedition into the mysteries of this planet.  The world only has one very advanced pyramid structure on the surface.  Leading the archeologist to believe there may be advanced underground cities beneath the surface. They were being transported and aided by the Vulcan Science Vessel, T’pau.  However, Threllvon-da lost contact with the T’pau hence the distress call.

Science ship in trouble 

When the Enterprise gets there, they discover that the entire crew of T’pau are dead.  The big mystery is how they died.  There is no evidence of foul play or of a ship malfunction.  There is also no trace of disease.  All the bodies were peacefully in their beds.  It was like they all got up and decided to go to bed to die.  Although it doesn’t look like a murder, they soon get a murder suspect.  Sensors pick up a Klingon vessel into orbit.  The vessel is IKS Terror, a Klingon dreadnought, with enough fire power to make short work of the Enterprise.  Spock notes that in order to directly oppose them they need one of Starfleet’s own dreadnoughts and the closest one wouldn’t arrive in time to defend them.  They maintain their orbit so that they stay past the Klingons’ horizon to avoid detection.  Their only hope would be to take them out in a sneak attack.  Kirk instincts decide differently, and he elects to talk to the Klingons.  Their conversation is unproductive with both sides claiming rights on the planet; however, it leads to no violence.

Klingons on the rise

That is where things start to go sideways for the crew of the Enterprise.  Lt. Kyle abandons his post to take up pottery, Scotty becomes obsessed with fixing warp engines that don’t need to be fixed, McCoy starts to hate all technology even his own medical equipment, and Chekov becomes trigger happy.  The Enterprise isn’t alone in their struggles. Intercepted messages from the Terror to High Command indicate that the Klingon ship has had to put down a series of mutinies.  This eliminates the Klingons as inventors of a new deadly weapon causing misbehavior in the crew.

Crew starts to get weird

Things continue to pile up for the crew of the Enterprise.  Spock’s primary assistant science officer, Lt. Avitts, starts to make known her feelings for him.  That has happened before, what has not happened is Spock returns his feelings toward said crewmember.  He really is feeling it for his assistant.    On the bridge Chekov nearly lost it when they intercepted a message from the Klingon ship asking permission for an attack.  He charges the weapons and is about to move on the Klingons without calling his Captain.  Kirk rushes to the bridge, calms the situation, and relieves Chekov.  For his actions Chekov is court-martialed.  However, Spock points out all the strange things that have been going on and affecting the crew.  It is logical to believe that Chekov is also affected, given his reputation as an outstanding officer.  With Spock’s defense, Chekov’s charges are dismissed. 

Chekov has a hard time keeping his nerves! 

Kirk meets with the Klingons on the planet, not much progress was made but Kirk did learn from the meeting that the Klingon captain, Kalan, was more interested in mineral mining rights and could care less for archaeology, despite the fact that Threllvon-da has discovered and entire underground city, Kalan couldn’t be less interested.  Kalan’s first officer Kislath tries to kill Kirk but is stopped by Chekov.  (I bet Kirk was now glad Chekov wasn’t found guilty.)  Kalan will bring his rebellious first officer back to his ship for punishment. 

Kirk and most of the senior officers return to the ship.  Suddenly, they are under attack from the Terror. Kislath managed to convince the crew he was in the right and has now taken the Klingon dreadnought over and decided to attack.  Kirk has the Enterprise take evasive maneuvers, rather than engage with a ship where they are outgunned.  Kirk contacts Kislath and challenges him to a duel.  A Game of Thrones fan might recognize this strategy that Jamie Lannister tried against Rob Stark and Ramsey Bolton tried against Jon Snow: you’re facing odds which result in you most likely to lose so you challenge their leader to a personal fight where you might have the advantage.  Kislath doesn’t have the wisdom of a Rob Stark or Ramsey Bolton and actually takes Kirk up on his offer.

What doesn't work for the Kingslayer works for the Captain of the Enterprise!

Kislath beams down to the surface to face off against Kirk, the greatest fighter in the known galaxy with speed and grace that make others green with envy.  He doesn’t even face Kirk alone the battle is a three-way with his old commanding officer Kalan.  Kirk is able to play one against the other and ends up stunning both.  Kalan is injured and has to go to the Enterprise for treatment.

Klingons don't fair well in fights against Kirk!

Up on his ship Kirk is able to negotiate with Kalan.  The Federation and the Klingon Empire will share the world.  Klingons will be allowed to mind the minerals while the Federation gets to explore the archaeological finds. Kirk also agrees to give the Klingons Kislath in exchange for the return of an artifact, a crystal taken from the pyramid.  Once the artifact is put back into place sanity is restored everywhere.  Apparently, the technology of the crystal allowed the inhabitants to make their wishes come true, so no waste was created to leave evidence of their existence on the surface.  As aliens, the Enterprise crew, the Klingons, and the archaeology team, couldn’t handle the mental energies and it made them act crazy. The threat is now over.   

Additional thoughts: This story is somewhat special for me for it’s the first Star Trek tale that came out in my lifetime, granted I was only three months old so I couldn’t read it, but everything I reviewed on this blog so far came out before I was born.  From now on everything that we cover came out while I was living and breathing.

As my title says this is “The Naked Time” and “Day of the Dove” combined into one.  The Enterprise enters the system to find that the Federation base/ship is filled with a dead crew.  Investigations reveal that the dead crew was acting strangely before they died.  Then the crew of the Enterprise start to act wild and crazy too. This makes them incapable of dealing with a big threat to the ship.  They need to recover from this illness and save the ship.  Sound familiar?  The Enterprise must deal with a Klingon threat, while doing so things start to happen.  At first, they think it is a new Klingon weapon, but it is soon discovered that the Klingons are being affected just as much.  Finally, the two Captains need to see eye-to-eye in order to resolve the crisis.  Yes, we have been here before.

This again!

I didn’t like the idea of the Enterprise being so outgunned.  It is fine when they encounter some strange new alien vessel, like Balok’s ship in “The Corbomite Maneuver.”  It is not so fine among their contemporaries like the Klingons.  Now I know Dreadnoughts were mentioned in “The Technical Manual,” but in the classic series, Kirk talks about Starfleet only having twelve ships like the Enterprise and mentions that the ship’s loss would jeopardize the security of an entire section of the Federation.  However here they are incapable of facing this Klingon ship in a fair fight and that really strikes me as wrong.  Also, a slight minor issue, I don’t know why the author phonically spelled out Scotty’s accent but not Chekov’s, that just seemed weird. The author also forgets Klingons have disruptors not phasers.

It makes since for the Enterprise to be outgunned here!

I thought the end was too easily resolved.  The Klingons just gave up, went home, and gave back the crystal.  It made sense, unlike the ending of “Day of the Dove.”  However, I think the author should have stuck to the dramatic endings like in “The Naked Time.” On a side note, I did enjoy the Chief McConel gambling side story, I thought it was funny.

Should it be canon: Yes, I don’t see any reason the story shouldn’t be in canon.  The only thing that would have to be addressed is the “Enterprise can’t fight certain ships problem.”

Cover Art: The cover features the IKS Terror flying in orbit around Alnath II.  The ship is the center of the cover while the planet is to the bottom left. Despite being a Dreadnought, it doesn’t look any different than the K't'inga-class battle cruiser.

Final Grade: Final Grade 3 of 5

 

SPOCK GETS A MAGICAL GIRLFRIEND, KIND OF

 

Name: Star Trek: The New Voyages – Story 3 “The Enchanted Pool”

Author: Marcia Ericson, with an introduction by Nichelle Nichols

Publication Date: 3/1976

Publisher: Bantam Books

Page Number: 20

Historian’s Note: Sometime after the second season of The Animated Series and before The Motion Picture.  

Cast of Characters:  Captain James T. Kirk         Commander Spock                 Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Lieutenant Phyllida Gains             Lieutenant Leslie         Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov      Crewman Bemis           Crewman Latrobe        

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Yorktown NCC-1717, numerous shuttlecraft not identified.

Planets: Mevinna

My Spoiler filled summary and review:  The Enterprise has been dispatched to help the Yorktown that is transporting an experimental weapon code-named Excalibur.  The Yorktown had been attacked by renegade Andorians.  They managed to take the Excalibur of the ship in a shuttlecraft and it is believed that the shuttlecraft crash landed on the planet Mevinna.  Mevinna is a class M planet that nevertheless contains minerals the obscure both sensors and communications. The planet has no intelligent native life forms. However, the planet has attracted many who hate the modern Federation and want to return to primitive times.  In other words, the planet has many space hippies similar to the ones from “The Way to Eden.”

                Since sensors are useless are landing parties would be too slow the Captain organizes teams into shuttlecrafts to explore the planet.  Spock is assigned command of one with two crewmembers, Bemis and Latrobe.  Believing they see evidence of a crashed shuttlecraft they land and begin to look around.  At this point it seems to the fan we might be getting a repeat of “The Galileo Seven” and Spock is going to have a hard time with his assigned crew again.  Nope these guys are red-shirted right away, when a force field turns on right where they are standing and they are turned to dust.   

This event did not go well for Mr. Spock

 

                Spock now trapped on this planet under a forcefield that he has no control over and with no way to communicate with his ship.  He comes across a pool of clear water.  Having developed a thirst, he drinks and while doing so a young beautiful water nymph appears at his side.  She identifies herself as “Phyllida” and declares that she is Spock’s “one true love.”  Spock has a number of different thoughts about her.  Is she a hallucination caused by some thing wrong with the water?  Is she one of those space hippies he has heard about? 

                Phyllida says things that Spock finds to be nonsense.  She claims to have been a powerful princess who had spell but a upon her and turned her into a nymph.  She says that in order to have the spell life lifted she must receive a kiss from her one true love, who she claims is Spock.  While Spock is trying his best to use his equipment to find a way out of this place, Phyllida keeps trying to lure him into a magic cave. At one point Spock humors her and gives the kiss she desires and then immediately calling her out for not transforming. She then reminds him that they must go to the magic cave.  They go there and then after another kiss she revels to him the truth.  She is Lieutenant Phyllida Gains of USS Yorktown.  The whole performance was just a show because they are being watched by the Andorians, however their listening devices are not present in the cave.  From there the two plan to break the force field that Lt. Gains discovered could be destroyed using M-Rays. 

                Everything is resolved the Excalibur has been delivered.  Spock and Gains have a good-bye moment where they discuss what happened. Gains insists that Spock is still her one true love and as she leaves Spock for a moment sees again as the water nymph.  

Spock with Leila

Additional thoughts: The best twist in any story are ones that you don’t see coming but after when you go back over them the clues appear obvious and you feel like fool for not noticing.  Lt. Gains gives many clues to her true identity.  She asks Spock if he would like to be the commander (his actual rank).  She says that her regular clothes are fiery red dress (a reference to her Starfleet uniform).  She refers to flying insects that are clearly meant to stand for the shuttle craft.

Spock with Zarabeth

                It is clear why Spock was chosen to the main character in this adventure as any other character, especially Captain Kirk would have jumped at the opportunity to kiss Phyllida in the mystery cave.  Also, as Nicholas says at the start of her introduction that many women over the years would like to find some magical way, they might be able to breach Mr. Spock’s cold exterior.  Gains leaves an impression so where would we rank her among all the women that could be Spock’s true love. Gains has potential but I don’t recall ever seeing her beyond this story. I know that most people see Zarabeth from “All of Yesterdays” and many like Leila Kalomi from “This Side of Paradise.”  Personally, I think his best lady love was Droxine from the “The Cloud Minders,” they may have had a one-night stand but the two seemed to understand each other really well.

I thought this was Spock's best match!

                There were some other minor details that I wondered about calling the weapon “Excalibur” isn’t that already the name of one of their starships, the NCC-1664?  I also thought it was strange that the bad guys in this story were the Andorians.  Last I checked the Andorians were Federation members, not only that I believe they were one of founding Federation members.  So why are they the bad guys here?  Granted the story did mention they were rouge agents, but still I think it would have worked a lot better if the author had used the Orions.  I wonder if the author was confused because an Orion pirate had stolen the identity and replaced an Andorian diplomate in “Journey to Babel”?  After all there was no internet in the 1970s so no way of going online to check.

To be clear this isn't a real Andorian.

Should it be canon: Yes, like the other two stories in this volume “The Enchanted Pool” would fit well with established Star Trek lore as a single episode where everything reverts to status quo at the end.  Its inclusion would enhance canon.

Cover Art: What I said for the first review in this volume: 

“The cover is beautiful.  You have the Enterprise flying in all its glory in the bottom center of the image.  Behind it looks like a space station built on an asteroid.  Flying above in the opposite direction is an unknown starship whose design I don’t recognize.”

  

Final Grade: Final Grade 4 of 5

A VULCAN SPOCK, A HUMAN SPOCK, IS EITHER SPOCK IS THE REAL SPOCK?

 

Name: Star Trek: The New Voyages – Story 1 “Ni Var”

Author: Claire Gabriel, with an introduction by Leonard Nimoy

Publication Date: 3/1976

Publisher: Bantam Books

Page Number: 36

Historian’s Note: Sometime after season three of classic Star Trek but before the first season of the Animated Series. I am assuming this because the events of “Infinite Vulcan” are never discussed. 

Cast of Characters:  Captain James T. Kirk         Commander Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”        Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Lieutenant Kyle        Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov      Dr. Albar Exar         Dr. Shona             The “Twins”      

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Starbase 10

Planets: Fornax II

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The story begins with the Enterprise being diverted from their trip to Starbase 10.  They are sent to the planet Fornax II where a dying scientist, named Dr. Albar Exar, wants the Enterprise to deliver research an electronic copy of his research to be deposited in the main Starfleet commuter system at Starfleet headquarters.   Dr. Exar has requested that Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock come down to pick up his research alone. When they arrive Dr. Exar takes a strong interest in Mr. Spock, due to Mr. Spock being a Vulcan/human hybrid.  The Doctor even noted on how healthy he is for “a hybrid.”

Spock is healthy for a "hybrid"

                As a Fornaxian, Dr. Exar is 7-feet tall, has bright red skin, and a rectangular shaped head.  His wife, Dr. Shona, is a beautiful Andorian.  Spock is shocked to discover that they have twins, two boys with rectangular heads complete with Andorian antennae.  The reason Spock is shocked is because the couple was reported to have just one child. Exar claims that they had just the one, but he pointed out that most hybrids are unhealthy and his son was no exception.  Therefore, in order to save his son’s life, he created a device using the principles of the transporter to split him into two separate beings.  Despite the two boys looking exactly alike in physical appearance one is biologically Andorian while the other is Fornaxian. 

                Both Spock and Kirk are appalled.  Spock feels that they have denied their son a chance to be his true self.  Kirk is horrified because it brings back memories of his least favorite adventure, when the transporter split him into two different people.  According to Exar it was Spock’s write-up of that incident that jump started his research into splitting hybrids.  He only wishes he could complete his research before he dies.  

                Kirk is called away to take a communication from Starfleet Command leaving Spock behind to collect the research.  However, Exar wants to finish the research and Kirk has left him with his perfect subject.  Spock is knocked out with a phaser and an evil experiment is about to begin. 

Poor Spock

Kirk is notified twice when Spock returns to the ship, which makes him think Scotty forgot to tell Kyle that the he already informed the Captain of the First Officer’s arrival.   When Kirk first sees Spock after his return, the First Officer explains to both the Captain and Dr. McCoy that Exar has fallen into a coma and will soon be dead.  That Spock would just leave the soon-to-be widow and her two children by themselves, shocks the two other men.  Spock just explains that Andorian women are known to be strong and efficient in times of crisis and she didn’t need him.

                That is the first sign for the next few weeks Spock seems to be increasing his distance from the crew.  At one point asking the Captain for the crew to always identify each other by their rank titles at all times. It as if he lost all emotional connection to the ship and has recommitted himself to Vulcan philosophy multiple times over.  McCoy pointed out that they can’t write Spock up for “acting like a Vulcan” but he is concerned about Spock ignoring his physical.   

                However, in addition to Spock acting super-vulcanish there were also times where the exact opposite was occurring.  One example is Mr. Sulu caught Mr. Spock grinning from ear to ear while on duty.  It was like the only thing Vulcan about him was the pointed ears.  Given what he heard on the planet Fornax II Kirk goes to Spock’s quarters while he knew Spock was on the bridge.  When he got there, he was let in by Spock!

If Spock is smiling something is up!

                This Spock explains that they were split by the dying mad scientists, and they kept their situation a secret while they tried to decide what they would do.  The two new Spocks, one fully human and the other fully Vulcan, were not sure they wanted to be reunited.  As they have continued separately problems have emerged. The human Spock cannot control his emotions while the Vulcan Spock cannot connect with humans.  Kirk is puzzled why either would have such difficulty as humans control their emotions—just not to the same extent as Vulcans—and Vulcans don’t have a hard time connecting with humans, heck Spock’s father Sarek married Spock’s human mother Amanda.  The human Spock claims that both sides of him learned to depend on the other when they were one being.  His human side never had to learn any type of human control as the Vulcan side had always taken care of that.  Also, it was the human side that was able to connect to his fellow crew members with him never having to learn it the same way another Vulcan might.  As a single person this was never a big deal, but split into two separate entities each feels helpless.  The human to such an extent that he preferred to hide in his quarters and allow the Vulcan to deal with the outside world even with his new limits.  However sometimes it is necessary for him to act and that is why he was on the bridge.

                Kirk promises to keep his secret while the Spocks work on a device that will help them become on being again.  McCoy becomes suspicious and they take him into confidence. The device is finished at Starbase Ten, the Spocks walk in together with the Vulcan’s hand on the human—despite Vulcan’s not liking physical contact—as they look to be rejoined.

                The rejoining is successful.  Kirk and Spock have now both undergone a very similar experience, although Spock’s may have been better seeing as neither side was violent.  Although to be fair that may have been due to the separation process being done intentionally rather than accidentally.  Spock lets Kirk know that he is grateful and the expression comes from the “both of us.”      

Additional thoughts: This is the third story that involves a duplicated Spock.  The first was James Blish’s poorly named Spock Must Die and the second was the animated series episode “The Infinite Vulcan.” I like Mr. Spock too but I wonder what others see in him that makes them want to duplicate him so often.  One Spock is nice they say but why can’t we have two?  

Is two better than one?

                Of the three stories however this on is by far the best.  It is the story I thought I was getting when I first read Spock Must Die.  Spock’s dual nature of being half Vulcan/ half human is explored by separating the two.  It is interesting that Spock’s human half chose to hide in his quarters for as much as he could reflects Spock’s desire to be seen for his Vulcan traits.  We first saw this in “Journey to Babel” and I wrote about it here. Therefore, when split in two the decision is made to have the Vulcan be the one to represent the person upfront, it makes for a minimum change.

                I love how this story ties directly into “The Enemy Within.”  It has some direct consequences, someone learning about what happened and trying to duplicate it. It was really nice touch to have Spock’s own scientific paper that he wrote about the incident be used as the basis for the antagonist’s study.  In addition, we also see how the incident effected Captain Kirk in the long-term.  Even mentioning the incident creates pain.  His other self robbed McCoy, attempted to rape Yeoman Rand, and almost killed an entire away team.  One point the book misses however is Kirk’s perception of events. The author discusses how the memory causes him pain but I always wondered exactly how does he remember it?  Does he have dual perception of the events?

Kirk's nightmare!

                I did think it was odd that once Kirk figured out Spock’s situation that they didn’t involve Dr. McCoy right away.  Considering his relationship with both them he should be trusted not to mention his medical knowledge that could be very useful.  Yet McCoy must basically force himself into the fold by threatening Spock to report to his physical. Also shouldn't all the senior staff be made aware, you know in case it matters at one point if they know. 

Spock should want Captain Kirk to be in the know!

                There was also a strange side quest where the Spock twins had to work together to try to get Kirk not to go on a landing party on a particular mission they were assigned.  I didn’t understand what this had to do with the rest of the story as it did not lead to anything. Although it did contain a cool reference to the episode “Obsession.”

                Lastly one major thing the story lacks is a confrontation with those responsible for doing this to Mr. Spock.  Exar and Shona greatly violated Mr. Spock’s person and yet this is never mentioned thought the rest of the story. I understand Exar may have died, but his wife was helping him and was also responsible for what happened.  I don’t care if she is “the twins” only parent, being a parent doesn’t give you a right to go conducting involuntary illegal experiments on others.  Also, I would have liked Spock to talk about what has happened as a violation of his person.  With Kirk it had been an accident.

Should it be canon: Yes, I really like this story and I think it fits well with established Star Trek lore, this very easily could be an episode of the original series.  Its inclusion would enhance canon.

Cover Art: The cover is beautiful.  You have the Enterprise flying in all its glory in the bottom center of the image.  Behind it looks like a space station built on an asteroid.  Flying above in the opposite direction is an unknown starship whose design I don’t recognize.   

Final Grade: Final Grade 4 of 5