Double Blind, a two-part story, was written by Trek author Diane Duane, with the first part being found on comic spinners until March of 1986. DC Comics’ ongoing Star Trek series continued to feature pencils by Tom Sutton and inks by Ricardo Villagran. The cover was done by Jim Starlin.
Duane had written a couple of Trek novels at this point, so it’s cool that she also penned this comic story. With her pedigree, I expect it to be really good… so is it?
Stardate: unknown
The opening page sets the tone right away; there’s going to be a little bit of humour in this one. And if done right, Trek can be very funny, so I’m here for it, and willing to see how this day is going to play out for Kirk and the crew of the Excelsior.
Just as Kirk is hoping for lunch, they come across a completely alien ship, and the Human Adventure is about to continue!
The aliens send a hailing communication that demands Excelsior surrender immediately, that resistance is futile- I mean, useless. The alien ship seems to have something equal to phasers, but no shields, and is nowhere near the power of the Federation starship. Kirk responds to the hail. And the rest of his crew look on in disbelief as he signals their surrender.
As the aliens prepare a boarding party, Kirk orders phasers issued to the crew, but no one is to use them until given a direct order from the captain. Saavik is unsure of Kirk’s logic in the situation, he’s playing a hunch as they proceed to greet their conquerors in the transporter room.
The aliens, known as the Ajir, beam aboard, armed and trouble-looking. They inform Kirk that the Excelsior has intruded into Ajir space, but because it is a holy day for the Ajir, the crew will not be killed. They plan to ransom the crew and the ship back to the Federation.
With the officers locked in the big, with a security setting they can override, Kirk, Sulu, Chekov, Saavik, McCoy, Uhura and Scotty wait to see what will happen next. He also lays out his plan, which includes Lt. Naraht, a junior officer who is minding the conn, and just so happens to be a Horta.
Naraht orders some sabotage to the universal translator, which means the aliens won’t be able to communicate with the crew, and some of the crew with each other, but there’s a plan in action. When things go awry for the Ajir, they flee the bridge and head back to the brig to speak to the Kirk and company.
The more dialogue I read from the Ajir, the more I started to wonder if they were some strange offshoot of the Pakled culture. They’re not so bright. They agree to free the senior officers if they will help the Ajir take control of the ship.
The Great Bird of the Galaxy gets name-checked as Kirk broadcasts to the entire ship a message that suggests they cooperate but learn everything they can about the Ajir. Each of the senior staff is assigned to an Ajir to make sure the transfer of power goes off without a hitch, and you know things are going to start cooking soon.
Kirk suggests that the antithesis to the seriousness of the Ajir is humour, and that it should be used to find out all they can. Oh boy. If it wasn’t Duane writing this one, this would be the part where I would get really, really anxious.
Scotty suggests to his Ajir that the only way they can understand a warp engine is if they take it all apart and put it back together again, and apparently Scott has enough parts aboard to make a complete replacement, but he warns of the radioactivity, which freaks his Ajir out.
Saavik learns by doing, and McCoy uses the opportunity with his Ajir to gett lots of medical scans, and some jump scares. Bryce gives her Ajir grief because of some ‘bad language.’ Sulu confuses his with warp talk; Konom tries to ply his for secrets, Uhura tries to teach comms, and Naraht shares some ‘delicacies.’
Kirk drops his off on the Rec Deck with a dazzling view of the system and stars beyond. And what he learns from his command staff is that the Ajir have no real knowledge, no real empire and seem ignorant of the sciences and space travel in general. They seem to have a lot of hungry people, have no word for war, can’t fight, and may not be that much of a threat to anyone.
But the issue ends with the Ajir ship being destroyed and the Ajir captain panicking because the Grond have arrived!
An interesting issue; hopefully Duane gets it all to pay off in the next issue. Some of it seems a little goofy. But overall, it’s a solid tale, undeniably Trek, but also told with a sense of humour. They can’t all be big space battles; there has to be an exploration of themes, something Trek has done well for decades now.
So let’s see how the Human Adventure continues in issue 25, Double Blind Part 2! Boldly go!
