The Redjac story concludes with Wolf at the Door, the twenty-third issue in DC Comics’ ongoing Star Trek series. It was on comic spinners for February of 1986.
It was written by Tony Isabella, and Tom Sutton continues on pencils with Ricardo Villagran delivering pencils.
Stardate 8878.4
The story picks up where the previous one left off. On the planet Enoch IV, Nancy Bryce, possessed by Redjac, has a knife, and an injured Chekov! The opening three-panel page brings readers quickly up to date.
Kirk attempts to use a phaser to stun Nancy, but the entire planet is under Redjac’s now considerable powers, and it doesn’t work. McCoy attempts to sneak up with a hypo, something that worked well last time (Wolf in the Fold). Nancy strikes McCoy, allowing Saavik to inject her instead.
Redjac escapes Nancy’s body, making an appearance for the landing party’s benefit, as McCoy moves to tend to the wounded Chekov. He uses a Fabrini (For the World is Hollow and I Have Touched the Sky) drug to stabilize him.
Kirk attempts to contact Excelsior, but Redjac has control of everything, including the locals, who begin to close in on the landing party. Security officer Richardson and Saavik realize their phasers work again. The detector that Scotty gave Saavik before leaving Excelsior tracks Redjac’s energy signature, and it reveals that perhaps the entity isn’t as powerful as it would have them believe.
They only work for a moment before Redjac blocks them again, and it descends into hand-to-hand combat. Is it all done to make the landing party more fearful and panicky? Redjac does feed on fear, after all.
The group decides to take cover in Redjc’s temple. If the locals so fear their god, they probably won’t enter it. Saavik carries Chekov while McCoy revives Nancy, who immediately recalls the things Redjac made her do.
Within the temple, they find countless statues and images depicting Redjac in countless forms and shapes across the eons. It made me wonder: Redjac predominantly feeds on fear… is it another aspect of It/Pennywise? Sorry – been reading a lot of Stephen King lately, and this just seemed like a great tie-in possibility. Yes, I realize the episode predates the novel by almost two decades, but it’s a fun thought.
Despite their fear, the locals attack the landing party in the temple, and it’s fists again as the phasers are out. As things look the most dire, Scotty is able to maintain his reputation as a miracle worker by beaming them up, much to Redjac’s fury.
The data feed from Saavik’s device allowed Scotty and Konom to figure out a way to beam the party up. They were able to modify Excelsior’s shields to keep Redjac from coming aboard. They are able to keep it out, but it can still physically attack the Starfleet vessel.
Redjac is drawing its energy from the fear of the inhabitants of Enoch IV; they are dying because of it, so Kirk decides to go on the offensive. They aren’t able to fire phasers, so how will they stop Redjac? And while all of this is happening, McCoy is operating on Chekov.
Kirk orders evasive maneuvers as he needs a moment and some space for his plan to work. In a nod to The Motion Picture, Kirk suggests Scotty organize a matter/antimatter imbalance to open a wormhole on command. But will Excelsior be able to escape its pull?
We are given a quick glimpse of Nancy mourning the lives Redjac took through her as Kirk’s plan goes into action. Tensions rise as the Excelsior races through the wormhole with Redjac in pursuit, but Scotty is able to get them out of the wormhole as it collapses around Redjac, trapping the entity.
The Excelsior is battered but will survive, as will Chekov. Konom advises Kirk that he can still sense Redjac, trapped in wormhole space, ready to return… and Nancy and Kirk have a chat over some photon tubes repurposed as coffins.
Kirk confides that he carries the number of deaths under his command as a reminder and an obligation to the mission and his life. Can Nancy do the same in her service to Starfleet? He reminds her that everybody gets by with a little help from their friends.
End.
It’s a good story, ties nicely into established continuity and without sounding mean, has a better wrap-up than the Mirror Universe story did. I do like how the series not only revisits past ideas, but boldly goes with new adventures and characters. It’s a nice mix.
So let’s see what happens as the Human Adventure continues next time with Double Blind!
