"Kal-toh is to chess as chess is to tic-tac-toe."

Star Trek #11
Written by: Collin Kelly
Art by: Jackson Lanzing and Angel Unzueta
Cover Art: Malachi Ward

"Day of Blood," Chapter Three! Only emissary Sisko and his crew of Starfleet's finest and disgraced ambassador Worf and his band of insurgents can save the universe. But they are divided in every sense of the word… In space, Lieutenants Paris and Torres fight over control of the Defiant while Spock and Scotty do everything they can to keep the Theseus from being cleaved in two. On the ground, Ro and Sela have given up hope, and siblings Data and Lore can't see eye to eye-all while their captains resist the urge to tear each other apart. Can they defeat Kahless and his Red Path when they cannot overcome their own differences?  
 

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds - The Scorpius Run #1
Written by: Mike Johnson and Ryan Ryan Parrott
Art by: Angel Hernandez
Cover Art: Angel Hernandez

Set course with Captain Pike and the crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise to the Scorpius constellation! As they venture into the unknown, the Enterprise crew learn what it truly means to traverse through the strange and unfamiliar when they lose contact with Starfleet and find themselves trapped in unexplored space!

^edit:^ ^The^ ^post^ ^previously^ ^had^ ^incorrect^ ^writer^ ^information^ ^for^ ^the^ ^SNW^ ^book,^ ^based^ ^on^ ^what^ ^was^ ^solicited.^

• The title refers to the Gorn Hegemony, the name of the polity from which the Gorn hail. It was first mentioned on screen in the ENT episode, “Bound”, but it as used non-canon as early as the 1992 novel, “The Disinherited”.

• Captain Betel’s log gives us the stardate as 2344.2. Seeing as we’re in the season finale, let’s look at both seasons.

• The USS Cayuga is visiting a world outside Federation space, Parnassus Beta, which a colony built on the ”small town model,” and it was “made to look like the old Midwestern United States,” and certainly not like a backlot in Pickering, Ontario, just outside Toronto. In “Sub Rosa”, we were introduced to the Caldos colony, which was modelled to look like a Scottish village.

     • Like an authentic midwest American town, the Parnassus Beta colony is having trouble making sure everyone is vaccinated.

     • The Parnassus system is named for the mountain in Greece, and all the businesses we see are also named for Greek mountains or mountain ranges.

     • Despite being outside the Federation, the medical clinic still features the Starfleet Medical caduceus.

• Several the officers on the planet are wearing excursion jackets, and we get close up enough on Batel to see that the patch on her shoulder reads "USS Enterprise".

     • Based on the length of the word, it also looks like ensign Doug's shoulder patch is also the Enterprise one, we don't get a clear enough look at it that I saw.

• Nurse Chapel has tagged along for the ride so she can reach her fellowship with Doctor Korby. Korby was first mentioned in “What Are Little Girls Made Of” as Chapel’s fiancée. His expedition will go missing on the planet Exo III approximately two years after this episode.

• ”I’m not busting into song every ten minutes, so that’s a minor victory.” Pike is referring to the events of the previous episode, “Subspace Rhapsody”.

     • Pike is fidgeting with the Opelian mariner’s keystone Batel gifted him in “Among the Lotus Eaters”.

• A Gorn Destroyer, previously seen in “Memento Mori” breaks through the atmosphere.

• ”I’ve seen them up close and personal, and they’re not hard to understand, Bob. They’re monsters.” In “Arena” Kirk monologued of the Gorn, “Like most humans, I seem to have an instinctive revulsion to reptiles. I must fight to remember that this is an intelligent, highly advanced individual. The Captain of a starship, like myself. Undoubtedly a dangerously clever opponent.”

• According to Spock’s display, the Cayuga was a Constitution-class Heavy Cruiser, which settles the question as to whether or not it might be a second Sombra-class starship.

• We previously saw the Gorn Hunter ship class in “Memento Mori”.

• The Gorn have sent Starfleet an image with a demarcation line separating the Parnasus system. According to Tim Peel, the motion graphics designer for SNW, the intent is that as planets move through the system they’ll end up on the Federation side, tempting Starfleet to engage in rescue or reconnaissance missions, and eventually the planet will cross back into the side claimed by he Gorn, at which point any stragglers will be fair game to use as food, or breeding incubators.

     • According to display of the planet, Parnassus Beta’s year is 402 days. Whether that’s Earth days, or the 26.5 hour Parnassus Beta days is not explicitly clear.

• The crew has duct tapped random bits of scrap to a shuttlecraft so they’re disguised as debris to fool the Gorn Hunter. In “Lower Decks” Geordi and Taurik marked a shuttle with phaser burns to fool the Cardassians.

• ”Don’t worry, I did this a hundred times during the war.” It was established in “Those Old Scientists” that Ortegas served on the front during the Federation-Klingon War.

• “I thought you were a test pilot.” Pike’s first assignment out of the Academy was test pilot, as per “Light and Shadows”.

• La’an relates her memories of surviving on the Gorn breeding planet as a child. La’an’s history with the Gorn was established in the series premiere, “Strange New Worlds”.

• La’an questions why the Gorn ”younglings” aren’t fighting for dominance, which they apparently did in her experiences on the breeding planet, as well as when we saw them in “All Those Who Wander”.

• It’s Scotty! From Star Trek! Montgomery Scott first appeared in the second TOS pilot, “Where No Man Has Gone Before” played by James Doohan. Since then the character has been played by Simon Pegg in the Kelvinverse films, as well as Matthew Wolf briefly offscreen in the alternate future Pike experienced in “A Quality of Mercy”. Here he’s played by Martin Qinn, who, unlike all the previous actors, is Scottish.

• Doctor M’Benga and Ortegas discuss having learned that Nurse Chapel beamed back to the Cayuga right before the Gorn arrived in system. ”I’m not sure how I’m going to tell her sister,” Ortegas mentions having once met Chapel’s identical sister who is named Kristine, and happens to also be a nurse serving in Starfleet.

• ”If you had answered like that in my class, I would have given you an A+.” Number One received a C in Pelia’s class at the Academy, as per “Lost in Translation”.

• ”Placing those rockets is a near impossible task. No human can do this.” Spock was a huge influence on Captain Solok, introduced in “Take Me Out to the Holosuite”, who published over a dozen papers on the relative merits of humans and Vulcans.

     • “...I am the only member of the crew who can pull this off.” Apparently it’s not just humans, but also Tellarites, Andorians, Illyrians, Lanthanites, Bolians, Denobulans, and whatever other non-Vulcan crew people are serving aboard the ship whom Spock looks down on.

     • Spock was right; no human could possible place a rocket on to the ship, wait for it to adhere itself, and move on to the next spot to repeat the process, which is what we see Spock doing on the wreck of the Cayuga.

• We see an adult Gorn with a rather lengthy tail. Or at least a mechanical tail built into its space suit. In previous episodes where we’ve seen adult Gorn -- “Arena”, “The Time Trap”, “In a Mirror Darkly, Part II”, “Veritas”, and “An Embarrassment of Dooplers” -- none of them have had tails.

     • We also saw a Gorn skeleton in “Context is for Kings” and no signs of tail.

• Batel has been infected by Gorn eggs. She claims it takes ”about a day and a half” for the eggs to mature. According to the records aboard the USS Peregrine in “All Those Who Wander” it took days for the eggs to mature in a human host.

• Batel invokes Hemmer and his sacrificing his own life for the good of everyone else in “All Those Who Wander”.

• The saucer of the Caygua crashes into the surface of Parnassus Beta, destroying the Gorn interference field tower. Fortunately Chapel was certainly the only one aboard the ship at the time of the attack who survived, and Spock didn’t just send a bunch of others still unconscious or trying to work their way off the ship to their deaths.

• We see a Gorn transporter effect, and it is green.

• Pelia is the only person this episode to call lieutenant Scott ”Scotty.”

• Admiral April orders the Enterprise to withdraw from the Parnassus system, despite the fact that Starfleet officers, and human colonists, were just beamed up by the Gorn. In “Saints of Imperfection” Pike gave a speech: ”Starfleet is a promise; I give my life for you, you give your life for me, and no one gets left behind.”

• In the final scene of the episode, Scotty and Pelia are working on his jury-rigged Gorn transponders in sick bay when the eggs in Batel’s arm hatch, exploding out out and spattering emerald viscera all over Scotty’s face. We get an extreme close up on his hundred yard stare, as he whispers hoarsely, ”It’s green,” echoing lines spoken in “By Any Other Name”, and “Relics”.

** Star Trek: The Motion Picture - Echoes #4**
Written by: Marc Guggenheim
Art by: Oleg Chudakov
Cover by: Jake Bartok

Tensions are at an all-time high with Chekov in a dire medical state while his evil doppelgänger, Akris, is supplying the Romulans with the Nightbringer weapon. The Enterprise crew's mission is clear: infiltrate the Romulan dreadnought and destroy the Nightbringer before Akris can bring the destruction he's inflicted upon his universe into theirs. But can Kirk and Nyota set their differences aside to ensure a peaceful resolution and avoid sparking a war with the Romulans?

• Uhura provides the stardate 2398.3 in her communications officer’s log.

• Uhura is routing communications manually like a switchboard operator, because apparently every extra bit of computing power is necessary for an experiment Spock is running. Among the calls she takes are:

     • Captain Pike requesting a hail be put through to Captain Batel, who was introduced in the series premiere, “Strange New Worlds”.

     • Number One requesting an update on the arrival of James Kirk from the USS Farragut. James is Sam Kirk’s brother, who was introduced in the episode “Where No Man has Gone Before”. The Farragut was first mentioned in “Obsession”.

     • Chapel is awaiting a reply from Doctor Korby regarding her application to his fellowship. In “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” we find out that Chapel and Doctor Korby were engaged before he went missing on the planet Exo III in 2261.

     • Uhura’s console shows names and ranks of people whom are using the communications, though we only see named characters and ”cadet” who apparently doesn’t rank having a name. Interestingly, Number One’s is listed only as ”Lt. Una”, whereas characters other than Spock have their first initial and full surname; also, Number One’s rank is lieutenant commander, not lieutenant.

• We see lieutenant Mitchell in the captain’s chair, I believe for the first time.

     • When Pike arrives on the bridge later, Mitchell is back at navigation, and an unnamed gold shirt is in the big chair.

• The captain of the Farragut sent a message ahead of James’ arrival on USS Enterprise but we’re not given that character’s name. Previously, the ship was commanded by Captain Garrovick, but he was killed by a predatory cloud two years earlier than this episode, according to “Obsession”.

• The drink James mentions refers to the time La’an contacting under false pretenses after watching an alternate universe doppelganger of him get killed by a Romulan agent in the past in “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”.

• Doctor M’Benga echos the claim Spock makes in “What Are Little Girls Made Of?” that Doctor Korby is ”the Louis Pasteur of archaeological medicine.”

• The song Uhura sends through the subspace fold is “Anything Goes”, written by Cole Porter for the 1934 musical of the same name. The version she selects was recorded by Eileen Rodgers in 1962.

• Spock begins singing his report, and is followed by the rest of the cast, for “Status Report”. The first time we saw a character sing in Trek was in “Charlie X” when Uhura sings in the rec room.

• The opening credits are accompanied by an a capella version of the theme.

• The Heisenberg compensators are a transporter component introduced in “Realm of Fear”.

• During the song “Connect to Your Truth”, Number one sings, *”I can see myself up on the stage, And for three hours a night, And to everyone’s delight, I’d regale them all with my renditions, Of Gilbert and Sullivan.” While trapped in a turbolift with Spock in “Q&A” the pair sang a piece of the “Major-General’s Song”.

     • The theme of the song is based in Number One’s new philosophy that she should not be so closed off from the crew, though in “Q&A” she advised Spock that it was necessary ”keep [his] freaky to [himself]” if his ultimate goal was command.

• While she sings “How Would That Feel” La’an opens a case in a drawer in her quarters to reveal she’s held on to the diver’s watch she and the alternate James Kirk used in “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”.

     • In her fantasy, we see the hotel room she and that James shared, which he was able to pay for in cash after winning a bunch of chess games.

• During “Private Conversation” we learn that Captain Batel’s first name is Marie. Surely this, and the sudden priority one mission the USS Cayuga is assigned at the end of the episode can only mean good things for her long term prospects as a character.

• The improbability field causing the Enterprise crew to break out into song is expanding to the entire fleet, including the USS Cayuga. Uhura projects a map of the local subspace network on the main viewer, and in addition to the Enterprise and the Farragut we see listed:

     • USS Lexington; Constitution-class - first seen in “The Ultimate Computer” but listed on a chart of ships at Starbase 11 in “Court Martial”

     • USS Potemkin; Constitution-class - first seen in “The Ultimate Computer”

     • USS Kongo - only listed on a chart displayed in “Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country” and named on the pin Spock wore for Starfleet Remembrance Day in “Memento Mori”.

     • USS Republic - James is mentioned as having served aboard the ship in “Court Martial”

     • USS Hood; Constitution-class - first seen in “The Ultimate Computer” but listed on a chart of ships at Starbase 11 in “Court Martial”

     • USS Valiant; Valiant was one of 14 names proposed for Constitution-class ships by the producers of TOS’ second season

• ”...And those feelings pose an actual space-time security risk.” La’an is referring to the events of “Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow”.

• *”The secrets I keep safe inside, A skill I perfected, So I could survive.” During the song, “Keeping Secrets”, Number One refers to the fact that she previously hid the fact that she’s an Illyrian, and subject to prejudice and discrimination in the Federation.

• ”The last thing anyone wants is singing Klingons.” Klingons have a rich history of opera and drinking songs.

• General Garkog is played by Bruce Horak, who has previously portrayed Hemmer in season one, and the illusion of Zombie Hemmer in “Lost in Translation”.

• “Some of us need fun to deal with the constant threat of dying.” Kirk is killed by flying extragalactic parasites on the Deneva colony after leaving Starfleet, and his corpse is found in “Operation -- Annihilate!”

• During “I’m Ready” Chapel sings, “The sky is the limit, My future is infinite, My possibilities are endless.” Chapel continues serving aboard the Enterprise for over a decade, eventually becoming and MD and taking over as chief medical officer until Kirk has Doctor McCoy drafted in “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”. She does not appear to be part of the crew when the ship is reassigned as a training vessel, but does show up organizing relief efforts on Earth during “Star Trek: The Voyage Home” when the whale probe begins to destabilize the planet.

• La’an calls the incoming Klingon vessel a K’t’inga-class ship. The term originated in Gene Roddenberry’s novelization of “Star Trek: The Motion Picture”; this is actually the first time it’s been said on screen.

     • The model we see is the same as the one used for the D7-class introduced in “Through the Valley of Shadows”. Whether or not the K’t’inga and the D7 are the same ship has been a matter of some dispute among fans since 1979, and this likely isn’t to change that.

• James mentions his baby mama, Doctor Carol Marcus, who was introduced in “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan”.

     • Doctor Marcus is pregnant with their son, David Marcus, which would mean he’s around 25 years old when he appears in “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan”.

• Spock sings “I’m the X”, as song about how he needs to close himself off from his emotions to avoid being hurt in relationships. In “This Side of Paradise” he encounters Leila Kalomi, a woman who fell in love with him six years earlier in 2261, but he never expressed his feelings to her.

• In “Keep Us Connected” Uhura recounts how everyone around her dies, beginning with the deaths of her family via shuttle crash, which we learned about in “Children of the Comet”, and then Hemmer’s demise in “All Those Who Wander”.

• Spock asks how they’re going to get 200 crew members to sing in spontaneous unison. The Enterprise had 203 crew people during their visit to the Talos system according to Pike in “The Menagerie, Part I”, as well as Burnham’s scans of the ship in “Brother”.

• During “We Are One”:

     • James sings, “If I make captain, It’ll be thanks to all of you.” Seems like he’s getting a little bit ahead of himself.

     • We see the interior of the IKS par’Machstreet Boys, and it is significantly different from any Klingon bridge we’ve seen before, including being extremely deep, as well as having a captain’s chair that appears capable of dollying backwards.

     • The Klingon captain’s chair has Klingon glyphs on it, which appear to read “Kahless Rocks”.

     • The mek’leths the Klingons are dancing with are the simpler version originally introduced in “The Way of the Warrior” as opposed to the more ornate iterations seen in season one of DIS, beginning with “Battle at the Binary Stars”.

• Spock once again was able to drink the Klingons into not wanting destroy the Enterprise, as he did in “The Broken Circle”. This is not a technique he employed in other encounters with the Klingons, such as in “Errand of Mercy”, “Friday’s Child” or “Day of the Dove”.

• ”Sorry, earworm.” In “Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan”, Khan inserted Ceti eel larva into the ears of Captain Tarrell and Chekov, causing them to be extremely susceptible to suggestion.