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Star Trek
"The Khitomer Conflict" Part 1
Star Trek #25
IDW
Written by: Mike Johnson
Story Consultant: Roberto Orci
Art: Erfan Fajar
Cover by:
Erfan Fajar
September 2013 |
Encouraged by Section 31, the Romulans
launch an attack against the Klingon colony on Khitomer.
Read the story summary at Memory Beta
Notes from the Star Trek
Chronology
This story opens about a year after the
events of the previous issue
("Here Today, Gorn Tomorrow"),
as evidenced by the stardate 2261.147. This means the Enterprise
would be about 1.5 years into the 5-year mission it began
shortly after Into Darkness.
Didja Notice?
This issue opens on stardate 2261.147 on the planet
Khitomer. In the original timeline in
Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country, in 2293, a
peace treaty between the Federation and the Klingon Empire was
reached on Khitomer called the Khitomer Accords. The title
"The Khitomer Conflict" is probably an intentional
opposite-reference to the Khitomer Accords, "conflict" being
an antonym of "accord".
Several Klingonese phrases are spoken on pages 2 and 3. The
translations provided in the footnotes of this issue are
roughly accurate, based on the official Klingon language
developed by the linguist Marc Okrand for Paramount. (Thanks
to the online
Klingon Pocket Dictionary for translations!)
The Romulan ships seen in this issue are a cross between
the Bird of Prey seen in the original series episode
"Balance of Terror" and the Warbird seen in episodes of
ST-TNG. The weapons mounted to the ships and brought to bear
against the Khitomer colony are similar to the Section 31
gun mounts seen on the Federation warship Vengeance
in
Into Darkness.
The Romulan Commander L'Nar is believed by some fans to be
the same Romulan commander seen in the classic ST-TOS
episode "Balance of Terror", based largely on the name
"L'Nar" being similar to the last name of actor Mark Leonard
who played the Romulan commander in that episode, and that
his junior officer, Decius, is the same name used for a
similar character in that episode. In argument against this,
L'Nar has Romulan tattoos on his face, appears to be younger,
and seems to be much more war-loving than the war-weary
commander presented in that episode.
The Romulans in this story are all seen to have tattoos on
their faces, similar to those sported by Nero and the crew
of the Narada in the 2009 movie Star Trek
(also see
"Countdown" Part 3).
Yet, the novelization of the film states that the tattoos
were "a tradition on Romulus that when a loved one died you
would paint your grief upon your skin. Ancient symbols of
love and loss. In time the paint would fade, and with it the
period of mourning..." (though the Narada crew
burned them in so they would never fade in honor of the
lives lost with the destruction of Romulus in the original
timeline from which they came). So, there is really no
reason for your average Romulan in the new timeline to be
sporting these tattoos.
On page 5, the Enterprise docks at Deep Space
Station K-11 as a final Federation stopover before heading
into uncharted space on its 5-year mission. This is the
first mention of K-11 in the ST universe, but several other
K-series space stations have appeared in ST stories of
various media, most famously K-7, in TOS episode "The
Trouble with Tribbles". The design of K-11 is similar, but
different, to that of K-7.
Lt. Yuki Sulu, sister of Hikaru, transfers from the
Armstrong to the Enterprise as an engineering
officer in this issue. She previously appeared as a Section
31 agent in
"Khan" Part 4;
"The Khitomer Conflict" Part 3 reveals that she is, in
fact, still with the disgraced Section 31.
On page 7, Yuki tells Chekov his reputation precedes him and
he responds with surprise, "I haf a...reputation?" Kirk
asked the same thing of Carol Marcus in
Into Darkness.
Yuki likes to call her brother "Hiki" rather than "Hikaru".
On page 8, Kirk states that Yuki is the highest-rated
technician in the fleet and top of her class at the Academy.
On page 10, panel 6, Chekov's tunic has the Starfleet emblem
on the wrong side of his chest!
The Section 31 agent tells L'Nar to rejoin the Romulan fleet
at the Hectori system. This is the first mention of the Hectori
system in the ST universe.
The Narada-inspired Klingon ships seen here were
first glimpsed in
"After Darkness" Part 2.
On page 16, Spock surmises that the Klingons were not idle
during the years they had Nero and the Narada in
custody, a reference to events in
"Never Bet
Against the Romulan". But how did Spock
know about the captivity of the Narada and its crew by the
Klingon Empire? As far as I can tell, it was never stated to
any Starfleet personnel, though I guess it's possible Nero
mentioned it to Captain Pike while he was held aboard the
Narada briefly in
"The Vengeance of Nero".
The leader of the Klingon fleet that responds to the
decimation of the Khitomer colony is Commander Kor. He
previously appeared in the current timeline (erroneously
called "captain"), 25 years earlier (!) in
"Second Chance". I suppose
we could argue that the earlier Captain Kor was a different
Klingon, perhaps the father of the Commander Kor seen here.
In the original timeline, Commander Kor appeared in the
Star Trek original series episode "Errand of Mercy".
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