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"The Q Gambit" Part 3
Star Trek #37
IDW
Written by: Mike Johnson
Story Consultant: Roberto Orci
Art by: Tony Shasteen
Cover by:
Tony Shasteen
September 2014 |
Sisko brings Kirk to the Klingon-subjugated
Earth, governed by Chancellor Worf.
Read the story summary at Memory Beta
Didja Notice?
The inside front cover of this issue
features birth information for Sisko. It matches what
we know of him from ST: DS9, except, of course, that Earth
was not a Klingon colony in the original timeline.
On page 1, the Defiant is landing at what appears to be the
damaged grounds of the
Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.
Sisko tells Kirk of how the Dominion arrived through a
wormhole from the Gamma Quadrant. This is the Bajoran
wormhole, prominent in episodes of ST: DS9.
Sisko goes on to tell Kirk that the Romulans and Klingons
put their differences aside to fight the Dominion.
Eventually, the Dominion destroyed the Romulan homeworld
using the Romulans' own red matter. However, recall that the
Romulans' red matter (which they procured from the shattered
remains of the planet Vulcan in
"Vulcan's Vengeance" Part 2) was taken from them by
Section 31 in
"The Khitomer
Conflict" Part 4. So, how do they have more in this
future timeline? In the lettercol of
Star Trek #40 ("The Q Gambit" Part 6), writer Mike
Johnson responds to this question from a reader by
saying simply, "...it's an untold story of this timeline's
future as to how the Romulans recovered it, OR found a way
to make more of their own. Either are possible. I liked the
poetic justice of Romulus following Vulcan's fate." I kind
of think he just forgot he had written that the red matter
was taken from the Romulans in that earlier story!
Notice that the explosion of Romulus is depicted, in part,
with smudged fingerprints on page 3. It's an interesting
effect.
Sisko states that the Klingons decided to take Earth before
the Dominion could and Starfleet made its last stand at Wolf
359. In the original timeline, Wolf
359 was the site of Starfleet's battle against the Borg in
the ST: TNG episodes "The Best of Both Worlds" Parts 1 and
2.
Under Klingon occupation, Earth is known as Tera'.
Terra is the Latin name for
Earth.
The depiction of the young Ben Sisko in the flashback of
panel 2 of page 4 looks a lot like young Cirroc Lofton, the
actor who played Sisko's son, Jake, in ST:DS9.
On page 4, Sisko states he joined the Klingon Empire's Human
Auxiliary Corps in order to see other worlds.
Page 4, panel 4, presents the image of a Klingon cargo ship,
never before seen. It looks like a truncated and clunky Bird
of Prey!

Page 6 introduces the Klingon, Kurn (though the final page
of this issue reveals him to actually be a Changeling in
disguise). Kurn is the brother of
Worf and was seen in several episodes of ST: TNG and DS9.
Page 12 introduces Worf, a regular on both ST: TNG and DS9;
here he is the Chancellor of Earth.
On page 6, Kirk remarks that the Klingons he meets on Earth
look a little different than the ones he remembers from his
past. This is left unexplained in the story, but is likely
the result of the Augment Virus, introduced in episodes of
Star Trek: Enterprise to explain the different
appearances of Klingons over the years in the various ST TV and
movie series.
On page 7, panel 2, an Enterprise captive on Bajor
is seen in the background who has pointed ears like a
Vulcan, but has the curved eyebrows of a human. Is he a
Vulcan or something else?
Page 8 introduces Dr. Bashir. He was a regular character on
ST: DS9.
Page 11 reveals that Starfleet Academy in San Francisco is
now the planet's leading center for Weapons and Research
Development.
Growing irritated with Q, McCoy tells Spock that the next
time he sees Q, "...my Hippocratic Oath goes out the window.
'Do no harm,' my ass..." The phrase "to abstain from
doing harm" (sometimes presented as "First, do no harm...") is part
of the Hippocratic oath taken by western doctors to obey a
certain code of ethics. The original version is believed to
have been written by Hippocrates in ancient Greece.
Page 17 introduces Quark, a Ferengi who appeared in most
episodes of ST: DS9.
The Dominion "guards" (as described by Quark) introduced on
page 17 are Vorta, seen in numerous episodes of ST: DS9 as
Dominion diplomats.
On page 19, Dr. Bashir flies off in a Ferengi Marauder.
Page 22 introduces Kira Nerys, a Bajoran who appeared in
most episodes of ST: DS9.
When Worf is killed at the end of the issue, notice that his
blood dripping off the bat'leths is a violet color, as seen
of Klingon Chancellor Gorkon's blood in Star Trek: The
Undiscovered Country. But in most other instances,
Klingon blood has been shown to be red. In
"The Q Gambit" Part 4, the blood pooling under Worf's body
is again presented as violet.
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