 |
"The Q Gambit" Part 2
Star Trek #36
IDW
Written by: Mike Johnson
Story Consultant: Roberto Orci
Art by: Tony Shasteen
Cover by:
Tony Shasteen
August 2014 |
The Enterprise finds itself over
100 years in the future, when the Federation no longer exists.
Read the story summary at Memory Beta
Didja Notice?
In the "Previously in Star Trek" paragraph on the inside
front cover of this issue, it states that Q has arrived in
the new timeline "caused by the elder Spock's pursuit of
Nero (as seen in the 2009 STAR TREK film)." But Spock did
not intentionally follow Nero's ship into the singularity
that transported them both back in time; both ships were
sucked unintentionally into the gravity well of the
singularity, as seen in
"Countdown" Part 4 and in flashbacks in
"The Vengeance of Nero".
The inside front cover of this issue
features birth date information for McCoy, Scotty, and 0718.
McCoy, born 2227 in
Marietta, Georgia, Earth; Scotty, born
2222 in
Linlithgow, Scotland, Earth; and 0718, online as of
stardate 2260.314. These dates are correct from what was
known before except for 0718; he was already online before
the events of Into
Darkness, which takes place in 2259. Possibly the
stardate of his activation should be 2259.314, which would
be a couple of months before the earliest stated stardate in Into
Darkness, 2259.55.
As stated at the end of the study of
"The Q Gambit" Part 1,
the ships confronting the Enterprise at Deep Space
Nine here are Jem'Hadar battleships.
On page 5, Jem'Hadar soldiers of the
Dominion beam aboard the Enterprise and take the
crew prisoner. The Jem'Hadar and other members of the
Dominion were seen frequently in episodes of ST: DS9.
The being depicted on the right-hand edge of the splash page
of page 8 may be the Lurian, Morn, seen in numerous episodes
of ST:DS9 as a patron of Quark's Bar.
The commander of Deep Space 9 is found to be the Cardassian
Gul Dukat and the space station referred to as Terok Nor. In
the original timeline, the station was originally a
Cardassian one, used during their occupation of the planet
Bajor and named Terok Nor; the Cardassians were ultimately
driven away in a Bajoran uprising and the station was
administered by a combination Bajoran/Federation contingent,
as seen in episodes of ST: DS9. Gul Dukat was also a
recurring character in that series.
In this story, Dukat has a diagonal scar
running across his face from right to left, starting above
his right eye. Additionally, his right eye appears to be
discolored, suggesting he may be blind in that eye in the
new timeline. These traits did not exist in his appearances
in the original timeline.
Gul Dukat suggests that Kirk has never seen the Cardassian
species before. This would make sense since the Federation
is not known to have encountered the Cardassians until the
24th Century in the original timeline. However, in
"Parallels", Uhura orders a
couple of Cardassian sunrise drinks at the
Shipyard Bar, implying the Cardassians
were already known. In the lettercol of
Star Trek #38 ("The Q Gambit" Part 4), writer Mike
Johnson explains the seeming continuity glitch with a
sort-of No-Prize like answer: "The 'Cardassian Sunrise'
cocktail was introduced to the Federation by a lone
Cardassian smuggler, the first of his species to enter
Federation space years before. Only the few humans who did
business with him at remote outposts ever saw his face
before he was murdered in an I'danian spice barter gone awry,
but the popularity of his drink spread quickly, years before
the Federation would ultimately make first contact with the
Cardassians as the history books record it."
Page 13 introduces Benjamin Sisko. In the original timeline,
he was the commander of Deep Space 9 during the events of
the TV series ST: DS9.
The "Open Channels" letter column of Star Trek #37
reveals that the two prominent figures in the background of
page 14, panel 2, are Trent and Teresa Walsh, who were drawn
into the comic in return for their generous donation to the
Comic Book
Legal Defense Fund at 2013's
ComicsPro meeting.
Page 16 introduces the U.S.S. Defiant. This was a
Starfleet ship stationed at DS9 during the Dominion War in
the original timeline.
Page 17 introduces the shapeshifter
Odo. He was one of the regular characters in episodes of ST:
DS9.
Page 19 introduces Keiko O'Brien as the captain of the
Defiant. She was a recurring character
in episodes of ST: DS9, where she was a botanist, stationed
with her husband, Starfleet engineer Miles O'Brien, who is
introduced in this timeline in
"The Q Gambit" Part 4.
On the last page of this issue, we see that, in the future
timeline, Earth is now subjugated by the Klingon Empire. The
bridge in the foreground appears to be a Klingonized version
of the
Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
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