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"Connection" Part 2
Star Trek #60
IDW
Written by: Mike Johnson
Story consultant: Roberto Orci
Art by: Tony Shasteen
Colors by:
Davide Mastrolonardo
Letters by: Andworld Design
Cover by:
Tony Shasteen
August 2016 |
Each
of the two
Enterprises finds itself in possession of the
alternate universe probe of the other as they attempt to
determine the nature of the space-time anomaly that has been
causing the minds of the two crews to switch.
Story Summary
The two separate crews glean the data from the alternate
universe probes they've received, finding that the space-time
anomaly the two
Enterprises have encountered is composed of a
sentient energy that has become trapped between the two
universes. The Spock and Scotty of each universe manage to
devise a way to free the energy being through the use of a
modified photon torpedo. As crews begin work, the distortions
become worse, merging parts of the two
Enterprises themselves temporarily.
When the torpedoes are ready, the crews independently fire them
into the anomaly, freeing the energy creature and stopping the
merging of the two universes. At the end, however, each Captain
Kirk finds that the two Enterprises'
databanks are left with bits of information from the other
universe's ship which the two captains classify, but not without
each Kirk getting a glimpse of the past life of the other.
THE END
Characters appearing in this
issue
Kirk-Prime
Spock-Prime (young)
Scotty-Prime
Scotty
Kirk
Spock
McCoy-Prime
Uhura-Prime
McCoy
Uhura
Chekov-Prime
Chekov
Yeoman Rand-Prime
Admiral Pike (flashback)
George Kirk-Prime (possibly, seen in silhouette only, flashback)
Khan-Prime
(flashback)
Didja Know?
The covers of this two-part story (Star Trek
#'s 59 and 60) by Tony Shasteen form a connected image of the
respective Enterprises and crewmembers from the original
TV series and those of the Kelvin timeline.
This issue was the last one of this comic
book series. However, a new series from the same publisher,
Star Trek: Boldly Go, continues the stories of the
Enterprise of the Kelvin timeline.
Didja Notice?
When the message of the living energy of the space anomaly
is translated by Uhura-Prime, Scotty remarks on the part of
the message that reads "our infinite lost", "Well that's as
clear as tritanium!" Tritanium, in the Star Trek
universe, is element 126 on the periodic table, a heavy
metal 21.4 times harder than diamond. According to the ST:
Enterprise episode "Dead Stop", the hull of
Enterprise NX-01 was made of tritanium. In ST: TNG,
Galaxy and Intrepid-class starships also had
tritanium hulls.
After helping the sentient energy to break free from its
trap, the two Enterprises databanks are left with
bits of information from the other universe's ship which the
two captains classify. Only Kirk himself looks at some of
the alternate biographies of the crewmembers, particularly
his own. On page 19, Admiral Pike is seen in a wheelchair
from his appearance to commend Kirk at the end of
"The Vengeance of Nero".
Khan-Prime from the original series episode "Space Seed" is
also seen. A silhouette of a man and boy tossing a baseball
around may be of a young Kirk and his father, George (George
Kirk lived longer in the Prime timeline than his Kelvin
timeline counterpart did).
Page 21 of the issue is a memorial to actor Anton Yelchin
(1989-2016), who played Chekov in the current movie series.
Yelchin was killed on June 19, 2016 when he exited his 2015
Jeep Grand Cherokee on the steep incline of the driveway of
his home and it rolled backward into him, pinning him to a
brick pillar with its weight; the vehicle model was actually
under recall notice for a transmission problem that could
cause unintended rolling. The 2016 film
Star Trek Beyond,
his last role as Chekov, was also dedicated to his memory.
Unanswered Questions
It's not revealed what Starfleet did with the alternate
universe information left in the Enterprise's
databanks in the Prime universe. One might conjecture that
the technical data was examined thoroughly and used to
"back-engineer" some of the more advanced technology of the
Kelvin timeline
Enterprise, prompting the more "realistic",
high-tech look of Federation technology beginning in
Star Trek: The Motion Picture and on from there.
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