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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