1166. The SearchPUBLICATION: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #23, Malibu Comics, May 1995
CREATORS: Dan Mishkin (writer), Leonard Kirk (artist)
STARDATE: Unknown (between Through the Looking Glass and Improbable Cause)
PLOT: The Secret of the Lost Orb trilogy begins when con artist Lance Crockett, posing as a Vedek, kills a Nausicaan come back for its property. Crockett is exposed, but Kai Winn vouches for him. He is on a mission to find the fabled Lost Orb for her. Once released, he steals an orb from a martial order of monks and heads for the Wormhole. Dax and O'Brien follow in a runabout, but are routed by warships from an alien species who ALSO received an orb - the Lost Orb - and built their warlike religion around it. Has Crockett sold Bajor out by giving the aliens a second orb?
CONTINUITY: The story features a Nausicaan, Kai Winn and of course, the orbs sent to Bajor by the Prophets. The monastery that gets its orb stolen is said to be at the root of Bajor's Resitance.
DIVERGENCES: The title is the same as the 3rd season opener. Kai Winn's hair is miscolored.
PANEL OF THE DAY - Aye Guramba!
REVIEW: Mishkin abandons his techno-plots for a true blue Bajor story, and I'm glad. Building on Bajoran myth, he creates the Lost Orb and its link to the Gamma Quadrant. I never thought about the other end of the Celestial Temple and how the Prophets might have interfered elsewhere. With the martial monks, he also plays with Bajoran history in a meaningful way that still doesn't contradict established events. Kai Winn is her usual hypocritical self, and the art is as good as ever. I'm a little worried that Crockett, obviously designed as a "cool" roguish character, gets so much play at the expense of our heroes. Here's hoping this isn't a "mercenary" story (in which the writer's plugged in character is the real hero), because it started on the right foot.
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