Bob Rozakis serves as the author for issue 26 of DC Comics’ ongoing Star Trek series. He wrote The Trouble with Transporters! which continued to feature pencils by Tom Sutton and inks by Ricardo Villagran. It was on comic spinners until May of 1986.
After having had a run of issues checking in with supporting characters and a humorous escapade penned by Diane Duane, we check in with Captain Spock and his crew aboard the science vessel Surak.
Stardate: 8892.3
The Surak is surveying the planet Verdee, shortly after Excelsior’s visit there. Commander Brinks, who still seems to be harbouring some racist tendencies about Spock, is furious to learn that he’s planning to beam down to the surface with Dr. Chu-Sa, Garace and Mello. Apparently. Mello is not who Brinks would have chosen.
Spock takes her aside and chastises her privately. He reminds her not to air her grievances in public and that he is her commanding officer, no matter what she thinks of him.
Assembling in the transporter room, we learn it is an odd landing party. Chu-Sa is, of course, an Avian humanoid; Garace wants to bring a bicycle down to help cover more ground; and Mello wears glasses and may be smart, but is a bit of a doof.
When they materialize on the planet, Mello is missing. The Surak is unable to beam her back, but scans show that she is standing with the landing party. Spock forbids any more use of the transporter until they can figure out what is going on, and he Chu-Sa and Garace begin their investigation of the planet.
Garace bikes off in one direction, and quickly runs afoul of… Romulans! That being said, I only know they are Romulans because it says they are on the cover. Their armour, looks, and weaponry do not look like any Romulans we’ve encountered to date.
On the Surak, the transporter system checks out; there’s nothing wrong with it. McCarthy reports that a number of Mello’s friends think Brinks did something, since she handled the transporter and that is causing some upset aboard ship.
Brinks is upset over what has happened, and considering that she doesn’t think Spock thinks very highly of her, prepares her resignation from Starfleet. But then she sees Mello, attempting to reach out to her before vanishing!
On the planet, Garace rejoins Chu-Sa and Spock, revealing that he was attacked. No sooner is that revealed than a new attack begins!
The Excelsior receives a redirect from Starfleet to return to Verdee to aid the Surak and Spock. Kirk can’t change course fast enough! And it will take them four hours to get there travelling at warp 12!
McCarthy comes to see Brinks moments after she’s transmitted her resignation, but she decides to take action. She grabs a box of phasers and, against orders, uses the transporter herself.
The phasers appear on the surface, but Brinks does not. But moments later, she appears to Spock and the landing party, much as Mello did to her, and she identifies their attackers – Romulans!
McCarthy reveals that they’ve picked up a disruption beam being used on the transporter stream. And it originates from what must be the Romulan base.
Spock, using flawed logic, says that the Romulans won’t expect two attacks at once, orders the launch of a sensor probe at the base, and at the same moment, beams Spock and his team into the base – Spock believes that the Romulans will be too distracted by the probe to use their beam to interrupt the transporter signal.
Spock and his landing party best the Romulans. With a little tweaking to the Romulan beam, they are able to recover Mello and Brinks. They all return to the Surak and cancel the request for assistance from Excelsior as they continue to boldly go.
An okay story. I think Spock needed a little more to do in terms of settling into command, and maybe a little more science and exploration. Also, I’m not quite sure how Brinks got through the Academy with so much racism, but perhaps she can start to prove herself.
Most of the Surak’s crew aren’t much more than character sketches witth Brinks, McCarthy and Chu-Sa to some degree being the most fleshed out. I think they need to do a little more to stablish the Surak crew.
But it won’t be next issue, because next time it’s a day in the life of the Excelsior with Around the Clock! The Human Adventure continues…
