The Human Adventure continued in issue 15 of DC Comics’ ongoing Star Trek title. On spinners until June of ’85, the story continued the Mirror Universe saga, which was written by Mike W. Barr, and featured pencils by Tom Sutton and inks by Ricardo Villagran.

This is part seven of eight of the Mirror Universe saga, so how is it all going to play out?

Stardate: 8223.4

The splash page sees Captain Blaine standing before the Empire Command and being sentenced to death. He recounts what happened when his fleet attempted to stop Kirk and the Excelsior. Blaine hates Kirk, and the Empire will use that hate, and let him hunt down Kirk and kill him.

Meanwhile, Kirk aboard the Excelsior is meeting with representatives from both the Klingon and Romulan Empires in an attempt to forge an alliance. However, the Klingons and Romulans seem to hate one another more than the Terrans. Can a beneficial peace be brokered?

Kirk is finally able to persuade them to work together.

McCoy and Saavik are working to keep all of their counterparts in stasis. But Saavik’s Mirror self wakes and takes Prime Saavik’s place. That’s definitely going to be a problem. Before she can make a move on McCoy, however, Kirk and David arrive.

She accompanies Kirk to the bridge and is shocked to find not only Prime Spock there, but Mirror Spock as well, working with Kirk and his crew.

Aboard the Klingon D7 it is revealed that the alliance will only last as long as it takes to remove the Terran Empire’s rule. And the Romulans and the Klingons are already planning against one another. Kirk’s plan has a way to nullify a large percentage of the Terran fleet thanks to Dr. Pedersen.

The same tech is used in the Mirror Klingon and Romulan fleets, but the Spocks have come up with an energy field to preserve their abilities, while crippling the Terran fleet. The plan will require Chekov, Sherwood, Bearclaw and Moreau to use shuttlecraft to create the energy field that will surround the Terran Empire ships and render them useless.

As defences are installed on the Romulan and Klingon ships, the rest of their fleet arrives, an imposing sight.

Meanwhile, Mirror Saavik waits for an opportunity to turn the tables.

The ISS Nixon picks up a faint signal that Uhura lays out for them, and the race to intercept as Blaine and his own crew prepare to follow. The Terran fleet arrives ready to attack, and as things get underway, Kirk orders Chekov and his shuttles to activate the field. The Terran fleet is rendered immobile and dead in space.

The Romulans and Klingons destroy a number of ships, and the Nixon contacts Blaine to warn them of what has happened. Blaine orders his ship onward.

The ISS version of the Excelsior, under Blaine’s command, arrives to take on Kirk and his Excelsior. The Klingons and Romulans refuse to help, letting the two ships slug it out on their own. Kirk engages the cloaking device (still not quite sure how that happened).

Blaine’s ship overloads (Kirk’s plan? Scotty much like he did to the Excelsior in the Trek III, but this time it was the Mirror Universe that scanned the Excelsior, after Scotty messed with the chips), but Saavik sabotages the Excelsior and makes a break for it. He transmits terms for Blaine’s surrender as Saavik attacks McCoy in an attempt to free her own crew from stasis.

However, when she rouses the Mirror Kirk, he doesn’t believe her motivations and phasers her just as Prime Saavik wakes and renders Kirk unconscious.

But with the Mirror Excelsior bested, and the Terran fleet rendered inoperable, the Romulans and Klingons turn on Kirk and his ship. But the tech that the Spocks installed on the Klingon and Romulan ships is triggered, and they are rendered inoperable as well.

Kirk is ready to hand off the disabled fleet to David and his rebels (what about their crews?).

Kirk sets their counterparts off in a shuttlecraft, but as soon as Mirror Kirk sends a transmission they are targeted (and destroyed?) as enemies of the Terran Empire.

Marlena, David and Mirror Spock return to their tasks in their universe as the Excelsior prepares to return to the Prime universe.

The story will wrap up completely in the next issue Homecoming. Until then boldly go with this very enjoyable series. I know I keep saying this, but I am loving this run of comics. I’m just enjoybing the story, the art, and how hard it works to tie into canon. Damned fun.