Star Trek’s first annual from DC Comics was on shelves for October of 1985. Mike W. Barr delivers the story, perhaps explaining why he wasn’t around for the last few issues. And the art, which is intent on making the environments, uniforms, and characters look like their counterparts from the various eras, and done well, was by Penciller David Ross and Inker Bob Smith.

As suggested on the cover, this is the first mission of Kirk and the crew of the Enterprise together, something that would be contested less than a year later by Vonda N. McIntyre’s novel, Enterprise: The First Adventure, and much later by the events chronicled onscreen in Strange New Worlds.

Stardate: 8370.2

Starfleet has ordered the Surak, under command of Captain Spock, to rendezvous with the Excelsior, currently under Kirk’s command. Spock is beamed aboard by Scotty. There is apparently a joint mission to be undertaken, though the details haven’t been revealed yet.

They join Kirk and the rest of the command crew in a briefing room that looks like it’s right out of the original series instead of the films, which feels a little wrong, when they are on the Excelsior, the newest ship on the line.

It seems Starfleet has received a transmission from the Tralmanii claiming they are returning, so a crew needs to go out to determine whether their intentions are peaceful. So Starfleet is sending the only active-duty officers to have dealt with the race before, Kirk and company.

Saavik asks, logically, for the full story, and Kirk begins the tale. In this version of events, Kirk was first the captain of the Saladin, returning from a deep space mission, while Christopher Pike was in command of the Enterprise.

A rendezvous between the two ships allows Kirk to lay eyes on the vessel for the first time. Although the transfer of command is a few days off, Kirk wants a look around his new home. Pike agrees to give the tour while Kelso (nice to see him making an appearance) takes the conn, while Sulu mans the helm, before the stations are flipped.

Neither of them thinks Kirk is showing a lot of nerve getting Pike to show him around before he even takes command.

Pike welcomes Kirk aboard and introduces him to Scotty. Kirk reveals to Scot that he served as Assistant Engineer on the Farragut, and Scotty is worried about Kirk telling him how to do his job because of it.

Not a very auspicious beginning for the youngest captain (at the time) in Starfleet.

He then meets Science Officer Spock, and the First Officer, Number One. Kirk lets her know that he was First Officer on the El Dorado. Tragedy strikes when a cargo container drops (shades of Worf!) and she pushes them out of the way, only to take the brunt of it herself.

While they wait for Dr. Boyce, whose retirement is looming, Spock mind melds with her to help ease her pain. Boyce reveals that Number One’s legs were crushed. She may walk again with reconstructive surgery, but that’s a long way off.

So Kirk will need a new First Officer…

Kirk and Pike go to Pike’s quarters, rather expansive considering what we saw in The Cage, and he has a great view of the nacelles. Kirk asks why he’s giving all this up to become Fleet Captain, and that he has his own ideas for who Enterprise’s First Officer should be.

Their conversation namechecks Talos IV!

McCoy gets drafted by Kirk (again for the first time), an assignment he’s looking forward to. And to tie in with the established canon of the comic, Uhura is breaking up with Kubaka. She says she’ll wait for him, if he will for her, while she takes a promotion to Enterprise, but he walks out on her.

And Kirk pulls Gary Mitchell’s shore leave from Wrigley’s Pleasure Planet with a missive that orders him to Enterprise.

Kirk and McCoy meet up, and the doctor expresses his ambiguous feelings about hopping galaxies. His divorce is finalized, and he’s worried about his daughter, Joanna. They are joined by Gary, and the trio begin looking forward to the realization of Kirk’s dream.

Meanwhile, in spacedock, aboard Enterprise, Pike summons Spock to his quarters so they can discuss the Enterprise’s new captain. Pike suggests Spock can learn from Kirk, as he hopes Spock has learned from him. It’s a nice scene, where Spock intimates that Pike has almost been like a father to him.

The crew of the Enterprise, including her new command staff (where Spock and McCoy’s bickering is off to a start) attend the transition of command ceremony, and Kirk, James T., becomes captain of the USS Enterprise.

While some of the crew wonder if Kirk can fill Pike’s shoes, the Enterprise readies for departure. And just like that, her five-year mission begins… Her first mission: deliver Pike to his first post as Fleet Captain.

But first they’ll encounter a strange alien ship that ignores their hails. Kirk tries ship-to-ship. Neither Spock nor Uhura is able to translate the reply, but in his guest quarters… Pike does, and he races for the bridge to warn Kirk! Spock is puzzled that the ship is scanning for personnel, not tech…

… and just as Pike arrives on the bridge, claiming he knows them, the alien ship releases a strange burst of energy, and Kirk orders the shields up!

The burst is some sort of transporter, and Pike is beamed away. The Enterprise gives chase, hoping to capture the fleeing alien ship, but the aliens elude them, racing away at warp 17!

Kirk orders Spock to check Starfleet records for info, while Kirk goes through Pike’s personal log, kept in an actual journal. Kirk summons Mitchell and Spock to Pike’s quarters, where they can discuss what each of them has learned.

We learn the story of Pike’s encounter. He was serving as First Officer on the Enterprise under Robert April, who was taken ill when they encountered a fleet of the strange alien vessels. Pike makes an effort at contact and warns them away from the radiation of a nearby star, which is pulsating and progressing to a nova.

When Pike interferes with the ships’ approach to the star, they flee. And now… they’re back, so Kirk orders them to that same star, Draxis II, which hasn’t gone nova yet. On arrival, they discover a fleet of the alien ships arrayed geometrically around the star.

Scotty confirms he can punch a transporter through the aliens’ shields to get a landing party aboard to recover Pike; Kirk, McCoy and Spock beam over. Scotty informs them the star is due to finally go nova in two hours. I love that they are wearing the old landing party jackets and earlier phasers and communicators.

The aliens have Pike strung up. But for what purpose? They seem to be waiting for something.

But the landing party is discovered, and even though McCoy stuns one, the group is quickly overpowered. There’s still a chance, though; Spock conducted a mindmeld with the stunned alien and may be able to establish a rudimentary form of communication.

It seems they thrive on the energy that was given out by Draxis II, and by driving them away, Pike may have inadvertently started the demise of their species. They beamed him aboard, so he could join them in death.

But if the bio-technology of the ship can be completely repaired and restored, the species may have a chance at life. Spock and McCoy work on a very strange patient, the ship’s bio-tech. With the ship restored, it rejuvenates the entire species almost immediately.

An uneasy peace is established, and while Kirk extends the hand of Federation friendship to them, the Tralmanii may not be ready yet to accept it.

Kirk and his command crew aboard the Excelsior are now prepared for the new meeting with the Tralmanii, and perhaps new allies have been found as the Human Adventure continues!

I quite liked this issue. Barr has a solid way with the canon of the franchise and the characters. It’s a solid adventure, and a great first annual.

Next time we get a Sulu story in issue 20, Giri! Boldly go!