Star Trek 1226: Command Decisions

1226. Command Decisions

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine #12, Marvel Comics, December 1997

CREATORS: Michael Martin and Andy Mangels (writers), Tom Grindberg and Bob Almond (artists)

STARDATE: 50796.2 (between Empok Nor and In the Cards)

PLOT: Deep Space Nine prepares for imminent attack by Cardassian/Dominion forces massing around the Bajoran system as Omega Squad rushes to get to the station and away from their death sentence. The Enterprise-E, commandeered by Decker's Admiral father, has been sent to retrieve the renegade cadets, who manage to get on board with Nog's help. When their runabout is destroyed, they are presumed dead. Strangely, the Admiral doesn't seem that bothered, but Troi knows the kids are still alive. Kira wants to preemptively attack the Dominion fleet and flies out with the Defiant without authorization, beaming Worf to the ship at the last moment. Omega Squad finally reaches Sisko to tell him about the attack on the Alpha Quadrant's telepathic races, but yet another force of Jem'Hadar chooses that moment to come out of the Wormhole...

CONTINUITY: The fleet is disorganized after the events of First Contact. The Dominion and Cardassians are currently allied (By Inferno's Light). Appearances by Picard, Riker, Troi, the Enterprise-E, Nog, General Martok (his first comic book appearance, not long after By Inferno's Light), Garak, and Omega Squad. Nog uses Quark's trick from Invasive Procedures to get the runabout close to the station undetected. Worf admits to seeing Dax (Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places) when asked by Troi.

DIVERGENCES: The timeline seems a bit wonky here. This MUST take place after First Contact, but by then, Nog would have been separated from Omega Squad for weeks, yet for them, it can't have been more than a few days.

PANEL OF THE DAY - Ladies and gentlemen... the Klingon Barbershop Quartet!
REVIEW: This good-looking issue indulges in what crossovers should - interaction between characters of different series. Nog's loyalty to his old team is of course the focus, but there are some nice TNG/DS9 bits like Troi inquiring about her former almost-lover's new girl (and Worf, as usual, fairly tight-lipped), and many other little "continuity plugs". And though that makes for a lot of talking, especially since Martin and Mangels must set up where DS9 is in the timeline at this point (very different post-By Inferno's Light) AND recap Starfleet Academy for those who don't read that series, there's still plenty of action and tension. It doesn't feel like an issue of padding even if it does all the expository work. At least, not too much. And you can't beat that cliffhanger.