SPOCK GOT ZARABETH PREGNANT!

Name: Yesterday’s Son

Author: A.C. Crispin  

Publication Date: 8/1983

Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #11)

Page Number: 189

Historian’s Note:  This story takes place two years after the event s in “All Our Yesterdays” and before the events in “Yesteryear.”  Book 1 in the Yesterday Saga!

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            Nurse Christine Chapel          Ensign Pavel Chekov       Ensign Teresa McNair                   Ensign Juan Cordova         Ensign David Steinberg            Admiral James Komack    Commodore Robert Wesley          Dr.  Anna Vargas                     Zarabeth               Zar          T’Pau            Commander Tal    many unnamed Federation Marines, Federation scientists, and Romulan soldiers

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701, USS Lexington NCC-1709, Starbase 11,  ChR Glory Quest, numerous unnamed Starfleet and Romulan ships.

Planets: Guardian’s homeworld now called “Gateway,” Vulcan, and Sarpeidon

My Spoiler filled summary and review: The adventure begins with a young woman; named Ensign Teresa McNair who discovered something while studying archeological images from the destroyed planet Sarpeidon.  It appears to be a cave painting of a Vulcan.  She shows this to Mr. Spock asking if there were any Vulcan expeditions at that time.  Spock calmly tells the Ensign that there are many such historical coincidences such as Pan in Earth legends.

The Enterprise arrives at Starbase 11 for a much needed overhaul.  Spock at this moment requests leave time from Kirk.  Since Spock doesn’t normally request leave like this Kirk immediately knows that Spock has some sort of trouble of a personal nature, and as always Spock feels that his personal problems should be faced by him alone despite the fact that he has friends who would walk through a radiation infected engine room for him and he them.  Kirk then demands on going.  Spock tries to argue otherwise but it is useless if he wants to go on the mission Kirk is going coming along.  Spock tells him that he is convinced he fathered a son with Zarabeth as the Vulcan in the cave paintings dated to that time period.  That Vulcan was also a long haired child so it could not have been him.  With Sarpedion and its time device destroyed Spock wants to use the Guardian of Forever.

Spock's one time girlfriend

Spock contacts T’Pau on Vulcan and explains the situation; with her great authority Spock is able to secure access to the Guardian.  When he returns from the Enterprise to meet up with Kirk they find McCoy now insisting on coming along too.  They try to argue but McCoy points out they need his medical knowledge to help both Zarabeth and her son.  Kirk tries to point out that Spock only has secured permission for two, but Spock actually got it for three because he predicted McCoy’s behavior.  (I love that part.) 

T'Pau can secure access to anything

The three arrive at the Gateway planet and are greeted by Dr. Anna Vargas head of the expedition to explore the planet and the Guardian.  She is excited to meet the discoverers and the only people ever to use the Guardian.  She is amazed they got permission to do so again. They explain they are trying to save a child who is a relative of Mr. Spock, who is trapped in the past. When the three are alone with the Guardian, Spock speaks with it.  He is able to confirm that the Guardian can send them back to Sarpedion of five thousand years past.  Spock gets the Guardian to focus on the lifeform that most resembles Spock’s.  With that they jump through the great donut again. 

Once again using the Guardian

Back in the ice age of Sarpedion, this time at least they are in the summer; McCoy notices how strange the star looks.  He describes it as looking like it could blow at any moment.  The three take comfort in the knowledge that it won’t be destroyed for another five thousand years.  That night they set up a tent and sleep in it.  When they wake up they wonder around and have to dodge some predators.  They find a person has been watching him.  They catch up to this individual and discover that he is the person they have been looking for.  It appears they have miscalculated for they thought they came for a small child but they traveled to a time where Spock’s son is twenty-eight Earth years old.  They explain who they are and the man is very excited to meet his father.  He introduces himself as Zar.  Zar’s mother explained that his father came from a different point in time and space.  When they ask about Zarabeth he explains that his mother was killed in an accident some ten years ago.  He has been alone since. 

Zar takes them back to the cave the Spock and McCoy shared with Zarabeth during their adventure here.  Zar explains his life to the three.  There becomes a tense moment where Spock asks Zar to stop calling him “father” as he doesn’t think it’s right a “stranger” calls him that.  Zar is taken aback but complies.  They let them know they mean to return with him using the Guardian of Forever.  Zar packs his bag and they cremate Zarabeth’s body that Zar kept in a type of cold storage.

 As they return, Dr. Vargas is surprised to see an adult when she was expecting a child.  However, science he lived as a caveman in an ice age, Dr. Vargas now had a number of questions about his life style, all of which Zar happily answered.  They return to the ship and Dr. McCoy gives him a check-up, gives him all the necessary vaccines, and a shave and haircut.  Zar strongly resembles his father but given their closeness in actual age it is decided that he will claim to just be Spock’s relative.  Zar express a desire to use the Guardian to save his mother but Spock basically explains the grandfather paradox to him.  Spock says it’s easier to express in a mathematical formula than with words.  McCoy is uncertain how Spock and Zar’s relationship is going to progress.

Zar looks like a younger version of his father

Zar takes to life on the Enterprise like a fish to water.  Spock creates an educational program for him that he quickly aces.  His intelligence rivals that of his father’s.  Kirk bunks him with two security officers and Zar gains their friendship fast.  He learns of Vulcan culture and can reasonably present as one.  However, Spock is still treating his son more as a responsibility that is his obligation than a person whom he deeply cares about.   Zar confronts Captain Kirk about this and the Captain tells Zar about the circumstances that led to his birth.  He also told Zar that the time device on Sarpeidon had affected Spock so that he was emotionally unstable when he sought comfort in the arms of Zar’s mother.  Zar is disappointed an expresses that Spock views him as some sort of bastard what Vulcans call a “Krenath.”

  Zar goes into delayed teenage rebellion mode.  After finishing one of his lessons he gets himself a meat sandwich from the recreation room and eats in right front of Spock.  McCoy tells Kirk the Spock was very upset by his action.  There is no time to follow up on this because the Romulans have entered the Gateway planet’s solar system.  When they get there Kirk sends down a landing party to protect the scientists from the Romulans and prevent the Romulans from getting their hands on the Guardian.  The Romulans already have land troops and they attack the expedition.  All are killed including two who were bunkmates of Zar.  As they die, Zar feels their deaths.  He gets extreme pain, interrupting a conversation he was having with Ensign McNair about images of relics from his homeworld.  His reaction is similar to Spock’s in “The Immunity Syndrome.”  It takes a while but Zar recovers.  

With the Romulans on the ground and winning, the ship’s senior officers, plus Zar, are all coming up with nightmare scenarios once the Romulans have discovered the time portal.  Zar asked if it how they would know if they haven’t already used it, if history altered he reasoned wouldn’t their reality alter round them.  Lt. Uhura is one who brings the conversation back to reality.  She points out that if the Romulans knew what the Guardian was it would represent a security breach so high up in the Federation that they would have to already know that such a breach exists.  She points out the most likely scenario is the Romulans have noticed starships on regular patrols here and that has peaked their interests in the planet’s potential secrets.

Romulans taking an interest in what the Federation is hiding 

The Enterprise crew discovers that the Romulans on the planet have set up a cloaking device on the ground hiding the Guardian from the sensors.  Kirk decides he might have to destroy the Gateway world to prevent it from falling in the wrong hands.  To avoid this he sends Spock on a mission with Zar, possibly violating regulations since Zar is a civilian.  However Zar’s telepathic hunting abilities that Spock himself doesn’t have particularly the power to broadcast fear into others maybe vital to stopping the Romulans.  While on the mission Spock and Zar get a chance to speak father to son.  He tells Zar of their family history about how he is only half-Vulcan so Zar himself is a quarter.  Most importantly he explains to him that “Krenath” actually refers to parents who have wronged their child not the children themselves.  Later the two will mind meld, a process Spock earlier refused. 

A Romulan fleet enters orbit, with only the USS Enterprise, and the USS Lexington to hold them off.  A task force from Starfleet is on their way but won’t be here for another hour.  Since they can’t beam through shields Kirk and the landing party is stranded.  Commodore Bob Wesley is going to have to team up with Scotty to fight the Romulans.  

Two starships getting ready for a fight!

While trying to sabotage the Romulans’ cloaking device Zar ends up killing a Romulan guard leading to a disagreement about the proper use of killing and violence.  (Personally, I am on Zar’s side on this one.)  Either way they fail to destroy the cloaking device and must report that failure to Captain Kirk. Kirk and Spock decided to give it one more try, but Spock nerve pinches Zar so that he will stay behind.  This mission is a failure to as Kirk and Spock are both captured. 

The Captain and First Officer were now the prisoners of Commander Tal, who as Subcommander had faced off against them in “The Enterprise Incident.”  He is mad at what the two did to his previous commander so he will take some new pleasure in this assignment.   Tal demands to know why this planet is important and what they are hiding on it.  He begins to torture Captain Kirk hoping that one of the two will then tell him.

Zar recovers and he successfully rescues his father and Captain.  He does this without killing Tal which pleases his father.  The Starfleet task force arrives under the command of Admiral Komack, all the Romulans on the planet are captured.  Everything seems to be over except Zar has some news.  He is going to back to his home planet and time.  When asked why Zar explains that he was looking over some images from Enterprise’s computer with Ensign McNair and discovered that around this time his planet was supposed to undergo a social transformation that he will lead.  As they try to argue Zar pointed out that they didn’t think it was odd that his mother spoke English?  He has to go back to preserve the time line and allow his people to enjoy 5,000 years of civilization that they might not otherwise have.  With that he returns through the Guardian of Forever, back to his homeworld and time but much farther south geographically. 

 Back on the ship Kirk and Spock are talking and Kirk tells Spock that he doesn’t know how to view Zar.  As someone who is alive on the other side of a portal, or a person who died around 5,000 years ago.  Spock shows the Captain and image from Sarpeidon.  It’s an image of a Vulcan man giving the “live long and prosper” salute next to an image of the Enterprise.

Additional thoughts: Out of all the books I have reviewed for this blog so far, this one is by far the greatest.  This story set the standard for what a great Star Trek novel could be. The model that the author provides is one that was replicated by others in the four decades sense.  That model is you start with an episode from the show, in this case “All Our Yesterdays,” and use the strengths of the written medium to explore that episode’s concepts in way the sixty -minutes –with-commercials format wasn’t able to.  Include elements from other famous episodes as in this case The Guardian of Forever from “The City on the Edge of Forever.”  Finally bring the characters on an interesting and thought provoking adventure such as they have never been on before.   

What ends up making this so great is it not only tells its own great story but it adds richness to the original material.  I had always thought of “All Our Yesterdays” as a good episode, but I had my issues with it.  In my review of it for this blog I wrote the following:

“In this episode we encounter Mr. Atoz who has sent his entire planet’s population back to the past.  Your mind will quickly go numb at all the possible butterfly effects flying around.  How the Atavachron time travel device survives all these time alterations I have no clue.  It was amazing not to mention lucky for them to dodge all these potential temporal paradoxes to continue to sending their massive population to the past.  Now the Atavachron did require its subjects to go through a preparation where their cells and brainwaves were to match their intended time period.   This is interesting because we have seen our characters go back in time and have never required such a thing.”

 I continued to go through and nitpick every little part about it.  What this book did is it created in me a greater appreciation for the episode than I had before I read it.  Although I just re-read this book for my blog, I originally read this back in middle school.  I think knowing about this story made my subconscious grade “All Our Yesterdays” higher than I might have otherwise.  However let me be clear: this book makes the original source material better by being part of it.

The author’s mastery of these characters is evident in her writing.  There are such great small character moments throughout the book.  My favorite is after Kirk forces his way on to the mission Spock goes ahead and reserves three seats because he knows Dr. McCoy will try to force himself on as well so he might as well prepare now.  Speaking of McCoy, I also like how the author makes him Zar’s best mentor on the ship. 

McCoy was Zar's best mentor

Another rich character moment is also not a positive one.  It seems that Spock seems to inherited toxic father traits from Sarek.  It is often the case that children who were abused grow up to become abusers themselves.  Spock’s seems to have inherited his father’s disposition in dealing with the “disappointing child.”  Spock looks out for him and takes care of him but only as a duty and keeps him at arm’s distance to prevent any attachment from forming.  The low point was near the beginning when he demanded that Zar not call him “father.”  Now I understand that Spock was expecting a small child and is somewhat shocked to see his son fully grown up, which is no excuse he really needs to get over it.

Was not the best role model in terms of fatherhood

I also enjoyed McCoy chiding Kirk as things are getting more intense with the Romulans that he is starting to remind him of Matt Decker from “The Doomsday Machine.”  The best character moment comes when Uhura brings the senior staff back to reality when they were all in a panic about the Romulans using the Guardian of Forever. 

Uhura, "I will let you know when you're all being stupid!"

There may be many flaws with Vulcan culture but how they treat the “Krenath” versus how humans have historically treated “bastards” is not one of them.  In fact, their approach could teach humanity a number of lessons historically.   

I did love the use of Tal from “The Enterprise Incident.” It makes sense that he would have this intense hatred for Kirk and Spock considering their actions against him and his commander in that episode.  Unfortunately for him, like the Romulan Fleet Commander in that episode, he ends up a prisoner of Starfleet.

Tal returns!

Zar’s final fate explains a lot of the Earth/Sarpeidon similarities. Not only was Zarabeth and others great speakers of English, the medieval period that Kirk found himself in were almost identical to our own.  It even included witch hunts.  Now this was probably because they were limited in the costume department in the cost-cutting third season.  Having Zar help the planet in its cultural revolution has a lot of that making since retroactively.  I just wish he told his people that witches were not real.  It would have caused fewer headaches down the road.

 So I never saw the Guardian as a user friendly time machine.  There is just two much of an x-factor with it being an intelligent entity.  Also I thought Spock was a little plot stupid when he didn’t bother to ask the Guardian to make sure to send them back to Zar’s childhood.  Instead he tells the Guaridan to find the lifeform like himself and now he encounters his son almost as old as himself.  Before they used Spock’s tricorder to determine the right jumping point they didn’t ask the Guardian for the moment.  I also wondered when the Romulans showed up, why didn’t anyone suggest asking the Guardian not to let the Romulans through, sense the Guardian always pulls them back when the mission is over its not unreasonable to assume it could discriminate against certain users.. 

An error regarding the USS Lexington, its registry number is NCC-1709 not NCC-1704.  Also since Bob Wesley is a Commodore, when the Enterprise and the Lexington were in battle shouldn’t he have had overall command? 

Commodore Bob Wesley

It is interesting a year after fans saw Spock live out his final moments and die saving everyone in The Wrath of Khan we get these books that are so Spock-centric.  First was Black Fire that was all about our Mr. Spock, and now we have a follow up to one of Spock’s most famous episodes.  It’s almost like the writers were protesting the loss of such a great character.

Should it be canon: Yes, my god yes!

Cover Art: The cover has Spock’s face on the bottom of the viewer’s left.  Spock is facing the viewer. Behind him is the Guardian of Forever. The Guardian of Forever is showing the image of Sarpedion’s ice age.  Next to Spock and in front of the Guardian is Zar facing toward the viewer’s right side.  We see the entire right side of Zar’s face.   The cover does lie a little bit.  Spock’s collar is clearly from his uniform from “The Wrath of Khan” but this story doesn’t take place during that time period rather it takes place in the fifth year of the original five-year mission. 

Final Grade: Final Grade 5 of 5

 

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

 

The Alternative Factor-type book

 

Name: Triangle

Authors: Sondra Marshak and Myrna Culbreath

Publication Date: 3/1983

Publisher: Pocket Books (Star Trek #9)

Page Number: 188

Historian’s Note:  Sometime between The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan

Cast of Characters:  Rear Admiral/ Acting Captain James T. Kirk       Commander Spock              Dr. Leonard H. McCoy AKA “Bones”              Commander Montgomery Scott AKA “Scotty”       Lieutenant  Commander Hikaru Sulu              Lieutenant Commander Nyota Uhura              Lieutenant Pavel Chekov Lieutenant Dobius           Dr. Joseph M'Benga        Dr. Christine Chapel                The unnamed Starfleet Chief of Staff                        Sola Thane       Ambassador Gailbraith       Soljenov      Viana        Argunov         Z'Ehlah        Soljenov

Starships and/or Starbases: USS Enterprise NCC-1701

Planets: Cephalus IV

My Spoiler filled summary and review: A collective consciousness called the Totality is assimilating entire worlds into itself.  This thing originated on the planet Zaran, where the native population has been subjugated.  The Totality is descended from a group of Humans who fled Earth during the atomic wars and now form a collective unconscious. Ironically the Federation has the New Human Movement on Earth that is sort of doing the same thing on a much smaller scale.  That group’s “leader,” Ambassador Gailbraith, wants a chance to reason with this new adversary.  He argues since his Oneness is comprises of more highly evolved beings, they stand a better chance at facing it.  At his request the USS Enterprise, with her famous captain, is assigned the task of bringing him there.   

Prime target for the New Humans!

 

                Gailbraith’s motive in requesting the Enterprise is that he feels if he can assimilate Kirk into the Oneness that would be a great moral victory that would aid in the Oneness’s ultimate triumph.  Kirk isn’t too keen on the idea, and bumps heads with the Ambassador.  Gailbraith didn’t come alone but he brought many of his Oneness to assist.  To Kirk’s horror they began to go around assimilating members of his crew. With Gailbraith insisting his people are just exercising their right to proselytize, Kirk confines them to one section of the ship.  This had limited effectiveness although Gailbraith’s disobedience allows him to save Kirk from drowning in the ship’s pool. 

The Enterprise is redirected to pick up half-Zaran Federation Free Agent Sola Thane.  Thane was a Starfleet officer who was slated to command a starship when she resigned her commission to try and free her people from the Totality.  The fact that she gave up her opportunity to command a starship is absolutely puzzling to Kirk who himself regards starship command as his life’s work.  His instructions are to put his ship and crew at her disposal, which actually puts her in command of the mission, although this amounts to any plot point or relevance in the story. When they pick Agent Thane up, she and Kirk are immediately drawn to each other.  She also is drawn to someone else.  It is here we learn the episode “Amok Time” was exactly seven years ago.  This means Spock is getting into the mating cycle again and finds Thane an alluring match.

Spock maybe going through pon farr again 

We now randomly meet Soljenov the “leader” of the Totality. It becomes clear that the whole mission has been set in motion by Gailbraith and Soljenov.  Each is hoping that Thane will bond with someone, and this will allow them to use her advanced psionic powers to lock that person in their collectives and continue to universal domination.  Thane’s people do a “mate-hunt” where the female tracts down the male and bonds with them.

Kirk and Spock are both abducted to the surface of a nearby planet, forcing Thane to follow them in a "mate-hunt" as described above. Here we learn that Spock is willing to yield Thane to Kirk because he feels guilty for forcing Kirk to give up on Edith Keeler in “The City on the Edge of Forever.”  (So much for the power of pon farr.) Back on the ship McCoy tries to form an alliance with Gailbraith that story wise leads to nothing. The three of them put the mating conversation to the side and break into Totality's citadel. Thane is able to use her knowledge of her culture to convince one of the Zarans to trigger the self-destruct.

Kirk, Spock, and a lady!

Gailbraith and Soljenov both compete for the trio to join their group, with Thane encouraged to bond with either Kirk or Spock to help them escape the destruction. However, Zaran will not be destroyed.  Instead, the Totality and the Oneness both agree not to go on a universal conquest and to only accept new members voluntarily.  All Enterprise crew members taken by either group are released.  Thane leaves with Soljenov to try and re-direct the Totality.  The Enterprise heads home.

Additional thoughts: I really like that this story takes place during that unseen 2^nd five-year mission between the first two films.  It is such a space of time that is rich with possibilities. I thought the previous book I read, Black Fire, would have worked much better as a story if it was placed during this time. 

The collective consciousness reminded me of the Body of Landru from “The Return of the Archons.” “Are you not of the body? Blessed is the body and all of its parts.”  I have to give the authors some credit.  When I read about the new human movement in the novel adaptation of The Motion Picture, I thought it was just one Gene Roddenberry’s silly ideas that never would amount to anything:  like Starfleet officers having data chips in their head that lets Kirk see the opening sequence of V’ger destroying the Klingon ships.  However, the authors deserve credit for taking this small thought bubble of Kirk’s and making a story out of it. A big fish vs. little fish fight with the New Human Movement’s Oneness against the Totality.  If only the story were better.  Unfortunately, this story has a lot of issues.

Kirk falls a little too hard for Thane, this is a repeat flaw also seen in the episode “Requiem for Methuselah.” There are also a number of story points that are brought up but never acted upon, such as Thane getting overall control of the Enterprise and Spock potentially going through pon farr again. The worst part is this book is often difficult to follow and understand.  Major story moments come out of nowhere like Soljenov showing up.  The episode reminds me so much of “The Alternative Factor.”  A lot of neat story ideas and great concepts that just fail in the overall presentation and execution.

We have been here before!

Should it be canon: I am indifferent to the idea of this book being made canon.  I guess that means no.  

Cover Art: The Enterprise is flying in front of a nebula.  Kirk and Spock’s faces are at the bottom of the page with Kirk on the viewer’s right and Spock on the viewer’s left.  The cover is bit of a lie as the Enterprise shown is clearly pre-movie refit, and the story occurs in between the first two films.

Final Grade: Final Grade 2 of 5

 

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