Star Trek 1253: Our Dearest Blood

1253. Our Dearest Blood

PUBLICATION: Star Trek: Early Voyages #3, Marvel Comics, April 1997

CREATORS: Ian Edginton and Dan Abnett (writers), Patrick Zircher and Greg Adams (artists)

STARDATE: 2387.5 (follows the last issue)

PLOT: While on shore leave on Rigel VII during a festival to highlight the planet leaving behind its martial tradition to join the Federation, some of the crew are attacked by barbarian-like dissidents. Meanwhile, Pike is given the tour of a fortress by a native beauty called Talza who leads him into an ambush. While Pike fights the Rigelians, she escapes and kills Yeoman Cusak as he disables a communications jammer. The Enterprise is then free to send down troops, but there are still three dead and seven wounded.

CONTINUITY: The story of Rigel VII was recounted in The Cage, including the fortress, the swords and armor, and the injuries and deaths (including that of the Captain's Yeoman). Talza's role in this story is played by Vina in the Talosians' illusion.

DIVERGENCES: Tyler is mentioned among the wounded in The Cage, but doesn't suffer a scratch here.

PANEL OF THE DAY - All Pike wanted to do was get to his P.O. box.
REVIEW: Our first misstep. We heard about this tale in The Cage, both in discussion between Pike and Boyce, and later as part of the Talosians' illusion, but the writers don't quite manage to make it work. The villains are really strange (giant barbarians that keep screaming the same word and a buxom beauty) and don't quite get their due. Things just seem to happen, as if foretold (in that we were told about them before), but only for that reason. Even as some characters are involved in superhero-type action, Cusak gets backstabbed by the girl and dies like a chump without even so much as a last talk with his captain and best friend. And though the details are mostly correct, we don't get the sense that it's all Pike's fault for going into the fortress, as he states in The Cage. I guess maybe Cusak wouldn't have had to go after him, but most deaths and injuries don't even occur in the fortress, so... It just seems very random, is all, though I do appreciate how Cusak's last appearance plays. He's on top of things, finalizing crew schedules, etc. most efficiently. I wish we'd seen other yeomen do as much on the show, and I kinda wish Cusak had been around longer in this series.