ENDANGERED ROMULANS

 

Name: Web of the Romulans

Author: M.S. Murdock

Publication Date: 6/1983

Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #10)

Page Number: 220

Historian’s Note:  This book takes place shortly after the episode “Tomorrow is Yesterday”

Cast of Characters:  Captain James T. Kirk       Commander Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”       Lieutenant Commander Rex Colfax    Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura              Lieutenant Kyle           Lieutenant  Kevin Thomas Riley         Lieutenant Arviela                Lieutenant Onorax              Lieutenant Bryan              Dr. Joseph M'Benga        Dr. Laurence Kalvecchio          Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov       Ensign Garrovick                   Ensign Stewart         Yeoman First Class Janice Rand             Yeoman Second Class Briala       Yeoman Third Class Kyotamo             Admiral Jake Iota     Rear Admiral Arc Poppaelia       Rear Admiral Zoraxz             Rear Admiral Kaal            Commodore Yang Li           Captain Mikel Garson     Captain Charles        Captain Popov       Commander Yellowhorse                Lieutenant Murphy    Lieutenant Ben Greeen                 Ensign Heery          Yeoman Second Class Kouc          Specialist  Belisanna       Romm Joramm         Jaael            Praetor Jublius Mannius         Supreme Commander Tiercellus          Commander S'Talon                Commander S’Tor               Commander Pompe               Centurion S'Tarleya         Navigator Argelian          Weapons Master Hexce          Science Officer S'Tokkr       Lieutenant S'Teer           Lieutenant  Livius

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Exter NCC-1672, USS Excalibur NCC-1664, USS Hood NCC-1703, USS Potemkin NCC-1657, Starbase 8, ChR Eagle, ChR Raptor, and ChR Remus

Planets: Romulus and Canara

My Spoiler filled summary and review: This adventure starts in a different place than normal. Instead of beginning on the Enterprise, the audience is brought to the planet Romulus.  The Romulan Praetor has a special mission for the Romulan Commander S’Talon.  S’Talon is a well-respected commander, a fact the paranoid Praetor finds threatening, he is willing to overlook it as this mission is far too important to be left to just anyone.  Either way he assigns his nephew to the Commander’s ship the Raptor to spy on him. 

The Raptor

After receiving his assignment he goes to his loyal Centurion, a female Romulan named S’Tarleya, explains their mission to her and the two of them go to visit the Commander’s mentor.  This elderly Romulan is named Tiercellus, he is a retired Supreme Commander.  S’Talon makes it clear that he does not expect to return from this mission.  He doesn’t hesitate because the survival of the Empire is at stake.  However the reader is not given any information about the threat that they are facing.

The Commander has the Praetor's nephew  

The Enterprise’s main computer is still infected with the reprograming from the technicians on Cygnet XIV, this was the planet dominated by women who decided to give the ship a female personality.  It has evolved from a minor inconvenience into a huge problem as the ship seems to be falling in love with Captain Kirk complete with jealously and refusing of orders.   Kirk thinks the Enterprise needs to be taking out of commission until they can get this fixed, however heave Romulan activity makes that impossible.    

Kirk and Spock having trouble with the computer

The Raptor crosses the Neutral Zone and the Enterprise pursues.  What happens is a cat and mouse game with the Romulans relying heavily on its cloaking device while trying to avoid direct engagement.    While this is going on back on Romulus Supreme Commander Tiercellus has been reactivated and placed in command of a fleet with a very special mission.    

The Romulans on mission

The head of Starfleet intelligence, Admiral Iota, becomes concerned that the safety of the Federation is currently as stake and the Romulans are about to strike.  This feeling doubles when Spock found a spy device on the Enterprise’s bridge that Kirk orders deactivated.  Iota is now convinced the Enterprise was destroyed by the Romulans and tries to get Starfleet to respond.  

The computer growing jealous for Captain Kirk’s affections decides to “murder” the competition by deleting the files of every female member of the crew.  This has the effect of making it so the women onboard cannot access any computer system and the automatic doors won’t open for them.  This severally hampers the ship’s effectiveness while fighting the Romulans as half the crew has now been locked out.

Members of the Raptor crew grow impatient at the lack of engagement with the Enterprise and Commander S’Talon survives one direct challenge to his command.  Elsewhere at the meeting of the Starfleet defense committee, Admiral Iota finds he is the only hawk alive.  Others on the committee urge more caution, including Admiral Poppaelia, the committee’s chair.  It is decided to dispatch a fleet to the Romulan Neutral Zone with Admiral Iota in charge of the diplomatic and intelligence end, but with the Admiral not being a line officer, Captain Garson of the Potemkin is given command over the military side of the operation.     

Defense Council 

Things go from bad to worse as the computer decides to the delate the profiles of all the crew, save Captain Kirk.  She prevents them from accessing auxiliary control.  It is at this point that the Romulans begin to attack.  Kirk, as the Bane of all Artificial Intelligence, begins to work his magic Spock stops him, as he reminds the Captain that in the middle of the battle would be the wrong time to talk the computer into suicide.  Instead, Kirk goes easy and just convinces the computer to give him back control.  Once Kirk has control back he goes to work on the Romulans and being a master tactician he quickly defeats them.  S’Talon decides not to go the way of the Romulan Commander from “Balance of Terror”, and instead just surrenders his ship to Kirk.  Once on aboard after some tough “let’s get to know each other moments” that include a bluff of torture we finally arrive at the truth of what is going on with the Romulans.  A virus is spreading across the Empire threatening to wipe them out.  The only potential cure exists on the planet Canara, a Federation member.  The Raptor was going to provide a distraction so a fleet of Romulan ships can take the planet for themselves.  While discussing this, the Centurion collapse and dies of the very disease.   

Trying to save everyone!

The Romulan Fleet and the Starfleet task force nearly come to blows while the citizens of Canara threaten to destroy their crops then submit to Romulan domination.  Kirk is able to negotiate a peace deal allowing the Romulans to purchase for a fair price what they need.   However, Admiral Iota won’t accept and he hides in the auxiliary control room of the Potemkin and try to use it to attack the Romulans.  The other Starfleet ships move into stop him, but Kirk reactivates the intelligence device to show the Admiral the truth.  The Admiral back down and there is once again peace in this side of the galaxy. 

Additional thoughts: When “Balance of Terror” first introduced fans to the Romulans a good deal of the story was shown through their perspective.  In this book the story begins on Romulus and a great deal of the story is through the eyes of the Romulans.  You can almost say the Romulans are the protagonists in this story.  You see the diversity in Romulans thought where you have the honorable S’Talon and the devious Praetor. 

The “computer is in love with Kirk” storyline is one I could have done without.  It seemed like plot busywork to me.  Keep the crew of the Enterprise occupied until their story can be directly tied to the Romulans.  Once the Romulans and the Enterprise crew have engaged the computer story almost fades away.  The computer story also is the beginning of a messy time line.

 The computer plot comes from a minor part of the episode “Tomorrow is Yesterday.” In the book the crew is dealing with the aftermath of that episode and have gone to Starbase 8 to complain that the problem of the reprogrammed computer is becoming a larger problem by the day.  Yet, the book keeps referring to adventures in episodes that came after all the way to the third season.  For example the Romulans reference how Kirk has beaten them twice and a footnote in the text lets us know they are referring to “The Enterprise Incident.”  That was an episode from the third season of the show quite a while from the point in time they are supposed in.  And strangely enough that also means they are conveniently forgetting that encounter was actually the third time that Kirk defeated the Romulans.  The second occurred in “The Deadly Years.”  There is also a reference to the episode “The Gamesters of Triskelion” again an episode that took place long after where this book is supposed to be. 

Ensign Chekov is here

There are also characters that weren’t on the show at this point, primarily Ensigns Chekov and Garrovick.  Now Chekov has already been established in The Wrath of Khan to have been on the Enterprise, just probably in a different department, but this book has him in his season 2 job. Ensign Garrovick, however, he had clearly just joined the crew in “Obsession.”  There didn’t seem to be any reason for him to be in this story, it was as if the author just choose to drop his name in. 

In the end I conclude this story would work better if it were to be placed sometime between the end of the Animated Series and The Motion Picture, not only for the references but if the Federation had so saved the Romulans in season 1 as it would seem, the super hostile relationship in “The Enterprise Incident.”

Why is he here!

This book is a great statement on the values of the United Federation of Planets and those who fall short of them through paranoia.  The Romulans maybe the oldest enemy of the Federation but they aren’t going to sit on their hands and allow a disease to wipe them out when know they can save them.  The preservation of life, even Romulan life, is far too important.  Yet people like Admiral Iota can’t see it that way he cannot stop thinking about the Romulans in tactical terms.  People like him do have a place in our society, someone needs to be concerned with our safety, but the book shows that people like him shouldn’t be absolutely in charge. 

To be fair, Iota wasn’t absolutely in charge in one of the best examples of “don’t confuse your rank with my authority” the defense committee gives Captain Garson joint command and in charge of the military aspect of it.  Given his place as an officer of the line it is felt that Garson is a far better choice than Iota despite his much higher rank.  One of the unresolved issues of this story is Admiral Iota’s fate.  You would think that someone who tried to commit munity on a starship and almost started a war would face high penalties for his actions.

Should it be canon: Yes, but you would have to remove the computer story and replace the adventure as happening sometime after the third season of classic Star Trek.

Cover Art: The faces of Kirk, Spock, and McCoy sit at the bottom of the cover.  Kirk’s delta is the wrong side for some reason.  Above their heads flies the Romulan Bird of Prey Raptor.

Final Grade: Final Grade 4 of 5

 

KIRK AND THE ENTERPRISE CREW FIND A SIMPLE PEOPLE ON A COMPLEX OBJECT

 

Name: The Starless World

Author: Gordon Eklund

Publication Date: 10/1978

Publisher: Bantam Books

Page Number: 152

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 Gregory           Lieutenant  Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Nyota Uhura              Lieutenant Kyle                Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov             Crewman Nathan Boggs          Crewman Arthur Kaplan          Crewman Martin      Thomas Clayton          Alhamisi Uhura       Princess Kyanna                Captain Kree         unnamed Klingon Officer   Ola                 Domo       Ay-nab

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, unnamed Klingon K't'inga-class battle cruiser, unnamed Starfleet Shuttlecraft, Lyra

Planets: None

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise is off exploring a new region of space.  No planets in this area, just some interesting stars.  The entire crew, including the Captain, is enjoying some time working on personal hobbies.  Then they find something strange, Spock reports to Kirk that they have come across a Starfleet shuttlecraft whose sole occupant claims to be Jesus Christ.  The shuttlecraft itself is from the USS Rickover, a ship that has been missing for thirty years.  When they bring the shuttlecraft onboard, they discover that “Jesus Christ” is in fact Thomas Clayton, a former Starfleet cadet.  He had been expelled from the Academy when his roommate, Jim Kirk, turned him in for cheating.  He then when into the merchant service where he enjoyed a lot of success, until he disappeared.  Now here he was saying the was the messiah and they all have to try to escape the wrath of a vengeful god.

Lost little shuttlecraft

As the Enterprise proceeds, they come across something that they never thought they would see: a Dyson’s Sphere.  It is basically a large megastructure built around a star, using most of the star’s energy to power itself.  Fascination soon turns to fear as they are pulled into the structure by a powerful and all of their navigation and weapons systems are all off-line.  Inside the sphere they discover that there exists a habitable world and a Klingon battlecruiser.  When they try to communicate with the Klingons all they get is a young officer, who is clearly not the captain, who proceeds to threaten Kirk and the Enterprise.   It is clear from his blundering that his ship is just as trapped, and he has no idea where his commanding officer is making Kirk suspect that he is on the planet.  Clayton escapes from sickbay and ends up on the bridge and seems to worship the Dyson’s Sphere before being taken into custody again.    

a nut

Kirk arranges of landing party of himself, Nurse Chapel, Lt. Uhura, Lt. Sulu, and a few red shirts to die in case things go wrong.  They beam down to the planet and begin exploring its rather pleasant environment.  Then a large predator shows up not only to threaten them—as their phasers don’t work down here—but also some local natives.  A small group of humanoids that scatter upon the predator’s appearance, leave only one young one who fell to face the creature.  However, Kirk chases the thing away and the native, who announces her name as Ola, is very pleased to be saved and is grateful to now have a strong husband in Captain Kirk.  Not familiar with local customs, Kirk nevertheless convinces Ola that he is not her husband, but they could instead be very good friends.  Although a bit disappointed she takes the landing party to her village and introduces them to the elder who is known as the Domo.  Domo seem to be a type of priest who is responsible for overseeing the worship of Ay-nab, their god.  Kirk decides to return to his original plan of talking to the Klingons and proceeds to go to where the tricorder tells him they are.

He meets the Klingon commander, Captain Kree, who immediately comes off as the friendliest Klingon that the crew has ever met.  With the Captain is a female Klingon who Kree introduces as Princess Kyanna, the rightful heir to the Klingon Empire who has been usurped by her uncle.  Kree led his ship to rebellion trying to put the Princess on the throne.  The Klingons believe that there is advanced weaponry to be found on this artificial world.  They don’t believe Ola’s people to be the dominant race and think there is another more intelligent species of Lyrians who have produced such weapons.  Ola thinks the weapons that the Klingons have found are just their sacred relics.  What the Klingons seek is to find the other species on this world.  Given that Starfleet sensory technology is superior to the Klingons, Kree thinks the Enterprise would have an easier time spotting these mystery beings than their own ship.  If Kirk is willing to cooperate, then Kree will share whatever weapons are found with him.  Ola wants to go as it is dangerous to be out at night.  Kirk tells Kree he will think about it but heads back to the huts prepared for the landing party by the Demo.  Ola asks to stay with the Captain in the hut he shares with some of the landing party.

Some Klingons are not so mean

Up on the Enterprise Thomas Clayton receives commands from Ay-nab and decides he must go back to the surface.  He steals a phaser and uses it to kidnap Dr. McCoy and Spock.  When they beam down, they are attacked by a “stranger,” one of the creatures that roam around in this world’s night.  Interestingly the phaser can work when Clayton is using it.  However, in the confusion Spock is able to nerve pinch Clayton.  They are able to take both Clayton and the stranger hostage and rendezvous with Kirk and the landing party.  It appears the “stranger” is dressed in an old Starfleet uniform, with the rank of commander, and his ship insignia is the Rickover’s.  Kirk tried to communicate with him, but the former officer is incoherent.

At this point they notice that Lt. Uhura is missing, and it turns out her father is on this world—or something that claims to be her father—and is now a “stranger” and her lures Uhura away from their huts and brings her with him to wear the strangers hang out.  Kirk goes to talk with the Demo and asks where he can find Uhura.  The Demo won’t tell him.  Kirk informs the Demo that the Enterprise has confirmed that their world is on track to crash into a black hole.  The Demo is upset by this and wishes to communicate with Ay-Nab.  Ola tells Kirk she knows where the strangers go, and Kirk allows her to lead him which allows him to rescue the Lieutenant. Ola is concerned Uhura is now a stranger, but Kirk brings her back anyway.

At this point the Demo is done communicating with Ay-Nab and is in a depressive state because his people are all going to die.  Kirk offers to bring him on his ship, but he needs to communicate with Ay-Nab too.  Ola once again steps up where Demo won’t and teaches Kirk the meditation technique to communicate with Ay-Nab.

Kirk and Ay-Nab have a discussion in which Ay-Nab explains that his people almost destroyed themselves with nuclear weapons, rebuilt, and repeated.  That this Dyson’s Sphere was constructed to give his people a new world with the understanding that he, Ay-Nab the sun, would be able to choose their end.  His choice was to fly toward a black hole.  Kirk explains to Ay-Nab that his world view is completely stupid and proceeds to outwit Ay-Nab and convinces him to let them all go.  The Enterprise, the Klingons, and Ola too.   Kirk and Spock finish the story with a conversation about the nature of Ay-Nab.   

Additional thoughts: Overall I thought this was a great book.  It reminds me a little bit of the classic episode “For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky.”  In both cases you have a population that is living in a moving space vehicle that is on a collision course with another space object, so everyone is going to die unless they leave or do something to alter its path, but the people have been convinced a machine is their god and it won’t acknowledge that there is even a problem.  Granted there are important differences.  Lyra was much larger than Yonada physically, but Lyra had a much smaller population.  Kirk, unlike McCoy, didn’t fall in love with the native girl and planned to live out the rest of his life with her.  In addition to that no one from the Enterprise is dying of a strange disease this time. Also, in this story the crew has to deal with the double threat of the Klingons.

Not the first people to worship a computer

One of the elements that makes this book work so well is the author having a strong understanding of who all these characters are and what makes them tick.  Not all Star Trek books can do this.  While reading I felt as if I was watching the original cast on screen.  I appreciated the elements of side humor as well, such as the rant about a needle in a haystack.  Another part about what makes this book good is you don’t have to be familiar with Star Trek in order to enjoy it.  If this was your first experience in the franchise, you would not feel lost as everything you need to know is quickly and easily explained.

So, what is up with Kirk’s old classmates who wash out at the Academy, join the merchant service, make millions, get lost, lose their minds almost totally, and they try to capture Kirk and the Enterprise crew?  In both cases they both end up dead in the end, although Clayton here was dead from the beginning, because according to Ay-Nab all the strangers were walking dead but they didn’t always realize it.  

You can't trust Kirk's old classmate

When Spock and Kirk discussed the nature of Ay-Nab it was a moment of pride for me. I had thought throughout the story the Ay-Nab was some kind of artificial intelligence and not some deity or a sentient sun.  So, when Spock proclaims this belief as well, I felt good to have come to the same conclusion as Mr. Spock.  The only problem that when Spock explained how Ay-Nab could communicate telepathically and told Kirk he received a message from the self-proclaimed god that he and his children were fine.  As soon as he said that I felt disappointment, because I was sure this was another case of Kirk talked the AI into killing itself again.  He let the Enterprise, the Klingons, and the locals go and flew into the black hole to die.  However, by suggesting that he kept his people and survived as if black holes are just gateways to other universes, and that Ay-Nab has survived than Kirk didn’t talk him to death did he?  Now granted maybe Ay-Nub just wanted to give Kirk a comforting message prior to his death.  Yeah, that’s go with that.

So, the old ship was the USS Rickover?  As in Hyman G. Rickover, the father of the nuclear navy?  I can see him having a ship named after him, what I find odd is when this book was published, he was still actively serving and would still for another four years.

So, is Ola now the last of her kind?  I didn’t hear of any of her people escaping Lyra so she may be headed for a lonely future.  Then granted the Federation is a wonderous place it is possible that she might find that husband she was always looking for.  I hope so for her Ola was a very nice young lady.

Should it be canon: Maybe, just maybe.  Everything else is perfect but one little thing. This isn’t the author’s fault either as Star Trek hadn’t explored the inner working of the Klingon Empire yet.  (This is one of those rare exceptions where I talk about later elements of Star Trek, which I mostly refuse to do.) However, we know the Klingons do not have an emperor at this time period, and the chancellorship is not decided by hereditary rights.  It is selected by the High Council.  Yet, the other elements of Star Trek contain non canonical elements yet the episode itself is canon.  (James R. Kirk, Romulans not having Warp Drive, etc.)  In addition, Kirk himself is left uncertain about the validity of the “Princess’s” claim.  Kirk mentions that most of Starfleet doesn’t really understand internal Klingon politics that well.  It is possible that the entire story was a ruse to gain Kirk’s sympathy and trust. So, let’s call this one a maybe. 

Cover Art: Captain Kirk is on the front of the cover with two Klingons aiming disruptors at him.  The Klingon closest to him looks angry.  There is a town of huts in the background, the sky is red and there is fog on the ground.  The cover is somewhat misleading as Captain Kree was rather quite courteous with him the moments they were together. 

Final Grade: Final Grade 5 of 5

 

CAPTAIN KIRK TEAMS UP WITH A SUPERHUMAN AND STOPS ANTOHER AI

Name: Star Trek: The New Voyages 2 – Story 8 “The Sleeping God”

Author: Jesco von Puttkamer

Publication Date: 1/1978

Publisher: Bantam Books

Page Number: 51

Historian’s Note: Sometime after The Second Season of 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 Endercott         Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov      Admiral Olaf Sondergaard       Manda-Rao      Signa            Nagha

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, Columbus NCC-1701/2, unnamed Nagha sphere ship

Planets: Raga’s Planet, Nagha-Planet

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The adventure (and most sections of this story) begin from the point of view of the Nagha.  I think all readers will come the conclusion when they start that this Nagha is the sleeping god the title suggests. She is not, rather she is an ever growing and increasingly powerful artificial intelligence.  The Nagha overthrew the biologicals that created her and ultimately destroyed them.  Due to her experience with her creators, she decided that all biological life-forms were a threat and built fleets of sphere-shaped ships and sent out on mission of conquest and genocide throughout her universe.  She was extremely successful and then she figured out there was another universe.

                In our regular universe, the crew of the Enterprise receive unpleasant news of an unknown enemy attacking the Altair system in Federation space.  Altair VII is colony with millions of people living there.  No one knows who this new enemy is but they are doing a lot of damage.  It is not just the Federation who is under attack either, the Enterprise receives word that the Klingons are also suffering from these strangers from elsewhere.

Okay maybe not quite like this, but right shape

                As the Enterprise rushes to the Altair system to aid the starships USS Republic and USS Excelsior already there in battle with the enemy, they receive a priority communication from Starfleet. Admiral Sondergaard orders them to change course and head to Raga’s Planet to and pick up Signa, known to the locals as the “the Sleeping God.”  Starfleet considers Signa to be a prime asset and do not want him to fall to the enemy.  

                At this point Spock gives a long monologue where he explains the origins of Singa the Sleeping God. Singa was once human.  Spock explains, Singa’s family was of Indian descent and he was exploring space with them, over eighty years ago, when there was an accident on their nuclear-powered spacecraft.  This killed the entire complement of crew and passengers.  However, the nuclear radiation affected him differently.  He grew large, green, strong, and mean whenever he became angry.  Just kidding, that is not what Spock said. Spock explained he gained great mental powers and used them to stowaway aboard a ship looking to form a colony on Raga’s Planet.  Singa was adopted by all of the townspeople.  Signa later confides to the Elders of Raga’s Planet and to a representative of the Federation about his amazing abilities and wanted to use them to aid mankind.  The Federation came to regard Singa was one of its greatest assets.    But Singa had a slight problem, he wasn’t one of the those superhumans who was immortal.  He was aging just like anyone else. Within one generation his great mind and powers would be gone.  So, he came up with a solution.  He built a machine that would keep him in suspended animation but with access to his mental powers.  The farming community of Raga’s Planet formed a whole religion around their Sleeping God, and the Federation would help him while he helped the Federation when it needed.  Now Singa needed to be transported off planet and the Starfleet wasn’t going to say “no.”

                The Enterprise reaches Raga’s Planet and Singa, his suspended animation machine, and his priests who worship him are all brought aboard.  His chief priest, Manda-Rao, acts as a go between. No sooner did they have the Sleeping God secured, the ship came under attack.  One of the strange sphere-shaped ships that had been causing trouble all over showed up.  The Enterprise tried to fight but its attacks were ineffective.  Nevertheless, the enemy doesn’t destroy the Enterprise, it simply sees it as not a threat and moves onto its next target.  

Enterprise has to leave its sisters behind

                Under “normal” war circumstances Kirk should have the Enterprise give chase in order to try to stop it from killing millions of colonists along the way.  But Kirk has a killer instinct, one that served him well in “Balance of Terror” and not so well in “Arena.”  Kirk thinks instead of fighting them over here he should instead fight them over there.  (Anyone who was older than 10 during the 2001-2009 years will know what I am talking about.)  Kirk is determined to find the enemy’s homeworld and attack it.  They fly to a star system where they think it should be but discover there are no planets orbiting that star.  However, they do encounter another enemy ship and this time when they attack, they do some damage.  This seems to open a rip in space and Sulu sends the ship into and claims some outside force made him do it.  When they were through Kirk realized they were in a parallel universe.  I’m assuming this experience in “The Tholian Web” helped him recognize it.  There were planets in this new solar system that they were in. 

                Suddenly Kirk and the crew lost consciousness after the ship was seemingly jolted. When Kirk woke up, he found the ship nearly empty.  In a situation that must have given him flashbacks to “The Mark of Gideon” the only people he could find was a security officer still out on a sickbay bed, and the Sleeping God with his priest.  At first Kirk things that Singa might be dead, but it becomes clear when Manda-Rao speaks it is actually the Sleeping God who is talking.  Singa tells Kirk that their enemy took control of the crew’s minds and they all beamed down to the planet.

                Kirk takes the shuttlecraft Columbus down to the Nagha-Planet in search of his crew.  He finds Spock, who is strapped buck naked to a metal table. Then Kirk is captured by some robots and also stripped naked and tided up to a table next to him. Spock tells Kirk that they are going to be experimented on.  Kirk wonders if they are going to be dissected like frogs.  Spock confirms this and is also taken back by the irony of a science officer being part of a science experiment.  It is unlikely that their captor will suddenly realize their intelligence and free them like the alien did in the fourth story in this volume.

Kirk has been here before

                However, the Nagha is already doomed.  Kirk the Bane of All Artificial Intelligence has already set a plan in motion.  Kirk knew what the Nagha was going to do and acted like a trojan horse. While the Nagha had focused on Kirk, Sleeping God using the power of the Enterprise stuck at the Nagha where she was vulnerable destroying her and freeing our universe from her wrath. The crew all get back to the ship, they conclude that Nagha was behind everything from the start from getting the Admiral to order them to pick him up to taking control of Mr. Sulu at a key moment. It was now time to bring the Sleeping God home.       

Additional thoughts: Well, this a very fun story.  It’s not really that original.  The evil AI that has decided it knows better or no longer needs its creators is a story that had been told for over half a century by the time this book was published.  It is nevertheless a very solid Star Trek tail.  Its end is a bit rushed but that is to be expected with short stories.

                So Nagha had already conquered and exterminated all biological lifeforms in her universe. However, she dips her toe into our universe and gets her head handed to her. Apparently, in her own universe there is no one with the talent of Captain Kirk.  Here in this universe however he is the Bane of All Artificial Intelligence even when he is not aided by a Sleeping God person.  If Singa hadn’t been there than Kirk would have just talked Nagha into suicide.

Kirk is good at getting these things to kill themselves

                On a much lighter note, am I the only one who thought it was weird that Dr. McCoy had such a hard time believing Singa’s origin story?  McCoy insists that exposure to radiation can only make some into a Captain Pike. However, it is not like they haven’t seen things like this before. Granted, McCoy wasn’t on the ship for the Gary Mitchell adventure, but he must have heard about it.  He lives in a universe where this stuff is outright normal.

Should it be canon: I see no reason why it shouldn’t be.  It’s a great one act adventure.  Since the villain was destroyed, you don’t have to worry about any continuity issue.

Cover Art: As I stated in the first story:

The cover has the Enterprise flying in front of what appears to be a wrecked space station.  Both appear to be in orbit around a planet that you can see part of in the corner.  There is this red haze that surrounds everything.

Final Grade: Final Grade 5 of 5

 

KIRK TAKES DOWN ANOTHER AI

 

Name: Star Trek: The New Voyages 2 – Story 3 “The Patient Parasites”

Author: Russell Bates

Publication Date: 1/1978

Publisher: Bantam Books

Page Number: 40

Historian’s Note: Sometime after The Second Season of 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              A number of unnamed crewman

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets: unnamed barren planet

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise has uncovered a strange energy source coming from this barren planet.  Since they are here to explore the unknown, they go to check it out. Although not good for long-term survival, the planet’s air is breathable.  Captain Kirk sends a landing party down lead by Spock with Sulu and a number of unnamed security personnel as well.  This turns out to be a bad idea for they find that the energy that drew them here has turned now a massive energy cloud, and as they get close the energy cloud suddenly expands to envelop the landing party.

                Having failed to beam the landing party up, Kirk leads a new landing party down to the planet.  They find their missing crew mates trapped in a construct contained in this energy field with their minds, according to the tricorder, in a state of flux.  Using their phasers, they are able to free Spock and Sulu but not the others. Considering these are red shirts to most fans it will seem their fate is sealed.  

Landing party quickly captured!

                Then it is revealed that the construct is an artificial intelligence called the Finder.  Its creators sent the Finder and others like it to search the universe for technology.  This finder’s personal mission is to locate a design for faster than life travel.  It is designed to capture those who may have this technology and transfer their minds back to the Finder’s creators.  That is what it intends for those still within the forcefield. It is not the most efficient way of producing technology however the Finder’s masters’ culture teaches them that patience is a virtue and good things come to those who wait. 

                What the Finder doesn’t know is it is going up against James T. Kirk, the Bane of All Artificial Intelligence.  The Finder was doomed the moment this encounter happened. It’s already dead it just doesn’t realize it yet.

This crew can take down anything AI

                After the senior officers all talk it over, they conclude that the Finder’s creators were a bunch of space parasites.  They don’t invent anything they just try to steal it from others.  This makes them dangerous, and Mr. Spock goes so far to suggest they may have to sacrifice the crewmen captured to prevent it.  McCoy’s horrified but he has forgotten that red shirts usually die.

                Sulu suggested they look for its power source and that plan panned out.  Realizing that the Finder is tapping into the sun for a power source, the Enterprise cause an artificial solar eclipse. The Finder however adjusted to this trick by tapping directly into the Enterprise.  Kirk orders Scotty to cut the ship’s power long enough to disable the Finder’s abilities.  During this time Mr. Spock finds something interesting, the Finder’s creators were a people called the Tullvans.  The most interesting thing about them is that they went extinct over 1800 years ago.  So, if the Finder tries to send minds over space there won’t be anyone on the receiving end.

                Kirk now has the information he needs to kill this AI. He lets the Finder know his origins and as expected the Finder now wants to die. While it is dying, the Finder releases the redshirts, so no redshirt is sacrificed today. They all head back to the Enterprise and onto their next adventure.

Additional thoughts: This story was originally attended to be an episode for Star Trek: The Animated Series. It was rejected because it didn’t “make use of the potential in animation” enough, what ever that means.  Mr. Bates would get an episode made which would be “How Sharper Than a Serpent's Tooth” in the show’s second and final season.

                This would have been a fine episode and uses many traditional Star Trek troupes.  They are fighting and artificial intelligence that one point almost pulls the Enterprise out of the sky, which we have seen before in both “The Return of the Archons” and “The Apple.”  McCoy and Spock fight about many things.  The ship is threatened by a civilization that no longer exists. Both Mr. Sulu and Mr. Scott contribute in critical moments.  Kirk talks a machine into killing itself.  Most importantly for the “anti-woke how dare Star Trek have politics in it crowd,” there are no female characters in it so no woman could possibly do anything. (That last sentence was called sarcasm for those who might be reading this but are not smart enough figure that out. I know most of you are smart enough but there are always the occasional fools.)  Finally, the episode did forget to have the redshirts die, but every now and again Kirk and crew should be able to save them. 

Nowhere to be found!

Should it be canon: I see no reason it shouldn’t be.  It was written by an actual Star Trek writer to be an episode.  It definitely fits the lore.

Cover Art: What I said after the first story:

The cover has the Enterprise flying in front of what appears to be a wrecked space station.  Both appear to be in orbit around a planet that you can see part of in the corner.  There is this red haze that surrounds everything.

Final Grade: Final Grade 3 of 5

 

KIRK MAYBE A JERK BUT HE IS STILL THE BANE OF ALL AI

 

Episode Title:  The Practical Joker

Air Date: 9/21/1974

Written by Chuck Menville

Directed by Bill Reed

Cast: William Shatner as Captain James T. Kirk    Leonard Nimoy as Commander Spock        DeForest Kelley as Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              James Doohan  as Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”, Lieutenant Arex, unnamed Crewman                           George Takei as Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu                    Nichelle Nichols as Lieutenant Nyota Uhura          Majel Barrett as Lieutenant M’Ress and Enterprise computer        Norm Prescott as Romulan Commander              Lou Scheimer as Romulan Crewman

Ships: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, 3 unnamed D7-R class ships

Planets: none

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The Enterprise is doing a routine survey of some type-4 asteroids.  Just as they are about to complete their relatively boring task, they are ambushed by three Romulan D-7 cruisers.  Suddenly boredom doesn’t look so bad as they are chased across space by this act of unprovoked aggression.  (Or, maybe it was provoked I bet the Romulans haven’t gotten over Kirk stealing that cloaking device a few years back.) Kirk decides that since they are outnumbered three to one trying to out maneuver them and escape is their best bet.  It is at this point that the Enterprise’s sensors pick up a strange energy field.  Kirk decides that is their best bet and heads straight for it.  Not wanting to follow them in and possible surrender their advantage, the Romulans back off.

Ambush

Later as the ship’s senior officers are having a meal and discussing the day, they discover all their glasses have holes causing their drinks to spill over their shirts.  It reminds most of a Starfleet Academy prank but no one comes forward as the culprit.  As the mission goes on other “jokes” start plaguing the crew. Forks bend, Mr. Spock gets eyeliners applied when using a science monitor, the food synthesizers start making random things and one of them throws items at Scotty, and the final straw is when “Kirk is a jerk” is written on the back of Kirk’s uniform and one of the decks was frozen in ice.

The jokes are going to begin.

The crew begins to accuse each other of being the one responsible however Mr. Spock makes the accusation against one that no other even suspected.  Mr. Spock thinks the prankster is the ship itself and that is the laughter being heard over the intercoms is the voice of the ship’s main computer. He concludes that something akin a virus effected the ship’s main computer when they passed through that energy field.

At this point McCoy, Uhura, and Sulu decide to spend some time in the rec room.  The rec room is capable of simulating other environments.  They go over a few before settling on one, however their enjoyment is short-lived when the computer decides it would be fun to change the environment on them.  So instead of a nice day at the beach or a walk in the woods they are instead put into an artic climate, or as McCoy would say “he means it’s cold!” 

"He means it's cold!"

Scotty tries to free the ship’s crew from the main computer’s mercy by detaching its reasoning circuits.  However, while he is attempting to do that the computer cuts the ship’s gravity sending everyone to the roof of their decks.  Scotty wiggles away from the main computers hardware and the gravity turns back on giving everyone a hard fall to the floor.  They manage to free McCoy, Sulu, and Uhura from the misfunctioning rec room the old-fashioned way: with crowbars.

A bad day for Mr. Scott.

It was around this time that the Romulans stuck their Vulcan-looking heads back in.  However, the computer of the Enterprise decided it was time for some revenge. It constructs a balloon duplicate version of the Enterprise that has the ability to make itself appear as a regular ship to enemy sensors.  It is doing this realizing that the Romulans value honor above all else and once the Romulans discover that the ship they thought was the Enterprise was in fact a fake it will be humiliating for them. 

The Enterprise creating its own fake!

The Romulans are humiliated just as the computer intended and come gunning for revenge.  Captain Kirk, realizing that the half-hour show plus commercials is just about up and he is really tired of dealing with the self-aware starship, Kirk then uses some good old reverse psychology acting like he is scared to reenter the energy field.  The computer hears this and decides to fly straight at it.  Kirk now wins as going back through the energy field undid the changes and the Enterprise has a normal functioning computer again.  The poor Romulans however are not so lucky as they followed the Enterprise in, the crew of those ships now have some practical jokers of their own.  

Now its his turn to suffer

 

Additional thoughts: Well, this episode was a blast and probably the most fun Majel Barrett has since “What Are Little Girls Made Of?”  The show balanced the seriousness of a Romulan ambush with some comedy elements similar to “The Naked Time,” “I’Mudd,” and “The Trouble With Tribbles.” This episode also did not feel rushed due to its run time, unlike other episodes of this series where things seem to resolved to quickly after lots of  build up.

Poor Scotty!

I am going to break my rule about only commenting on Star Trek that existed when the reviewed episode came out.  It’s just for this small moment however.  I want to talk about the Rec Room/Holodeck.  This does appear to be the origin of the concept.  However there does seem to be one major key difference: the Rec Room does not appear to create characters just environments, where the later can create people who look and feel real.  Either way this is the first “holodeck breaks down and becomes dangerous” troupe episode.  My only real issue with this is McCoy, Uhura, and Sulu should be smarter than this.  Do you really think that during a time where the Enterprise computer has gone rogue you want to keep your Rec Room/holodeck appointment.  It seems to me like you are asking for trouble.

These three probably should have waited!

"Its cold!"

Once we knew the Enterprise had somehow gained a type of sentience it was only a matter of time before Kirk defeated it.  Captain Kirk has proven time and again he is the Bane of All Artificial Intelligence. No AI is a match for him especially one that was born less than an hour ago.  Heck if Kirk had fought Skynet then it never would have got off the ground, as Kirk would have just talked into sending a terminator back to kill its own creator instead of Sarah Conner.  I do wonder though was it an AI or a strange entity that lived in the energy field that simply hopped on board the Enterprise as it was passing though.  The reason I ask this is it took time for the computer to build up to its greater pranks while on the Romulan ships they get there right away.  Maybe it was an energy creature that jumped into the Enterprise’s computer system that then took the opportunity to trade it out for three Romulan ships when such an opportunity presented itself.

"Must really hate Captain Kirk"

The Romulans must really hate Captain Kirk.  He must have such a negative reputation in the Romulan Star Empire.  He destroyed their scout sent to judge human weakness in “Balance of Terror,” his ship for no real reason flies into the Neutral Zone bluffing his way out of capture in “The Deadly Years,” and then he does it a second time and when he is caught, he fakes his death to steal the new cloaking device in “The Enterprise Incident.”  Now he survives an ambush that should have killed him and while doing so messes up three Romulan ships.  On a side note, I am assuming the reason they didn’t take the Romulans prisoner at the end is the Enterprise crew is unsure if the infection in Romulan the computers can spread.

FINAL GRADE 5 of 5