Star Trek 953: Deceptions! Part Three

953. Deceptions! Part Three

PUBLICATION: Star Trek v.2 #48, DC Comics, June 1993

CREATORS: Howard Weinstein (writer), Rod Whigham and Arne Starr (artists)

STARDATE: 8627.9 (follows the last issue)

PLOT: As Klaa continues to shadow the Enterprise under cloak hoping she'll cross into the Neutral Zone, the ship finds the Ex-300 empty and adrift. The Mardelvans plan to bring it home on automatic, but Scotty wants to inspect it first. One of the Mardelvans gets the jump on him and sets the auto-destruct instead, hoping to hide the evidence. Seems like this was all a ploy by certain officers to create a Klingon-related incident that would make Starfleet take the protection of Mardelva more seriously. Back on that planet, dissidents capture Spock's party on the island, but they are rescued by the government. As the Enterprise leaves the area, Kirk sends a farewell message to Klaa just to bug him.

CONTINUITY: Klaa and Vixis. Saavik apologizes to Spock for her behavior when possessed by an energy being in #41, attributing her inappropriate feelings for him to his pon farr on the Genesis Planet (ST III).

DIVERGENCES: None.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Kicked out of bed by a Klingon woman.
REVIEW: Well, that cover's an outright lie, as is the splash page featuring the Enterprise destroyed by a bird-of-prey. The comic just doesn't play fair and all that time spent on the Klingons in this and previous issues is a big waste. Weinsteiiinnnnnnnnnn!!! As for the rest of the issue, it offers a fair resolution of the plot, with some nice dogfighting action for Spock and Saavik.