962. Time Crime Part Two: Nightmares!PUBLICATION: Star Trek v.2 #54, DC Comics, November 1993
CREATORS: Howard Weinstein (writer), Rod Whigham and Arne Starr (artists)
STARDATE: 8516 (follows the last issue)
PLOT: After consulting the Guardian of Forever, Starfleet finds that the temporally displaced Romulans are telling the truth and the timeline HAS been changed. Kirk is faced with the dilemma of restoring a timeline that will kill his son and turn the Klingons from artists and scientists into warriors. In the end, both the Federation and Klingons agree they must fix history by going back in time 700 years and making sure the Klingon Confederation's founder, Khartan, is assassinated. The crew of the Enterprise and Kor are assigned to go through the Guardian...
CONTINUITY: See last issue. Alt-Kirk has Real-Kirk nightmares, i.e. the deaths of Edith Keeler (City on the Edge of Forever) and David Marcus (ST III). Alt-Kor is an ambassador (Errand of Mercy).
DIVERGENCES: Kor seems not to be rid of the Klingon augment virus (at this time, according to Flashback), even the TOS Klingons should be getting their forehead backs. Then again, in the alternate history, it's unlikely the augment virus would ever have been released in the first place. (The comics have it that there is more than one race of Klingons about.)
PANEL OF THE DAY - In our timeline, the thing on Kirk's mind is to his left.
REVIEW: I only found one problem with this issue, and it's that the time distortion doesn't have anything to do with Khaless. Usurping his place in Klingon myth/history would have been a more relevant twist than the invention of the previously unknown Khartan. Otherwise, it's a fine continuation of the alternate timeline story. Not only is Kirk in anguish over the sacrifices he will personally make so that the billions killed in the Romulan war may live, but so are others. Worf, for example, isn't happy about his people turning to war. The central idea is that while the new timeline has a genocide in it, it's also a more positive "present" than the real timeline. Which is morally more acceptable? Kor as a friend to Kirk should be interesting, and they probably shouldn't turn their backs on the time-tossed Romulans who might have some secret agenda. The art is also good, with Guardian-shaped panels making up Kirk's vivid dreams/memories, and nice background details like a picture of young David with his daddy, Jame T. Kirk.
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