The Klingon Ultimatum

The Klingon Ultimatum was a 12-page Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip published in 1970. It was the 11th story arc in the UK comic strips series, released in six parts within issues of TV21 & Joe 90. This was the last of 11 stories illustrated by Harry Lindfield. In this story, the Klingon Empire aimed a metaweapon at Earth.

Publisher's description

 * Teaser summary, 24 January 1970
 * Despite an uneasy peace treaty that had lasted for several years, the warlike powers of the Klingon Empire had secretly longed for the means of smashing their sworn enemies in the space Federation. Now, at last, their ruthless leaders were ready for an act of supreme treachery…

Summary
A Klingon strike raider made a surprise attack on the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701). Stunned by their audacity, James T. Kirk pursued the raider to the uninhabited planet Seggor, then accompanied a team in an armed shuttlecraft to the surface, but they were unable to locate the raider. A hidden Klingon guard kidnapped crewman Hoskins, dragging him underground to a secret base. There, he became a living test subject for the granulator, an experimental weapon. Hoskins was returned to the team via a lift shaft. When Kirk reached to touch him, Hoskins collapsed into a pile of dust.

To lessen risks, Kirk beamed up all but Hikaru Sulu and himself. Suddenly they were captured by Klingons and taken into the base. The professor in charge used the granulator to return Hoskins to normal. He then turned their shuttle to dust, through its force field. The granulator had limitless range and could disintegrate anything. He then gave Kirk an ultimatum: procure the surrender of the Federation, or he would fire their weapon of mass destruction at Earth. Completely demoralized, Kirk and his crew beamed up.

Kirk updated his senior officers, but Montgomery Scott wouldn't accept their fate. He told Leonard McCoy that perhaps Kirk had been hypnotized or duped. Before McCoy could stop him, Scott transported to the surface. Kirk was forced to leave Scott behind and leave orbit. Meanwhile, Scott adjusted his communicator to act as a sonar scanner and located an access point into the base. He sneaked in, knocked out a guard, and jammed the firing mechanism before he was discovered. He then scrambled to the surface and called for emergency beam-out. Klingons targeted the Enterprise, but the weapon backfired — it destroyed itself, the base and a dozen square miles of the surface. Kirk would have court martialed Scott for mutiny had he not just saved the Federation.

Characters

 * Hoskins • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Meng • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • unnamed Klingons (captain, commander, guard, professor) • unnamed USS Enterprise personnel (2260s)

Starships and vehicles

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) ( heavy cruiser) • class F shuttlecraft • Klingon strike raider

Locations

 * Seggor

Earth (Highlands • Jupiter)

Races and cultures

 * Human • Klingon • Vulcan

States and organizations

 * Federation • Klingon Empire

Science and technology

 * bombarder • communicator • granulator • disintegrator • engine • force field • gun • hydraulic lift • lift shaft • metaweapon • phaser • phaser rifle • rifle • scanner • sonar • transporter • viewscreen

Ranks and titles

 * captain • chief engineer • commander • crew • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • guard • lieutenant • officer • professor • skipper • Starfleet ranks

Other references

 * beam • court martial • devil • holocaust • hypnotism • mile • metal • mountain • mutiny • peace treaty • pirate • planet • standby stations • second • star • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • starship • universe • video • war • year

Chronology

 * The Klingons were said to have tried more than once to provoke another war.
 * The existence of the metaweapon suggests a placement prior to signing the Organian Peace Treaty in 2267. After that time, Organians would render the weapon inert.

Production history

 * This story was serialized over six issues of TV21 & Joe 90 magazine in two-page sections.
 * January 1970
 * 24 January, pages 1-2 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #18
 * 31 January, pages 3-4 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #19
 * February 1970
 * 7 February, pages 5-6 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #20
 * 14 February, pages 7-8 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #21
 * 21 February, pages 9-10 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #22
 * 28 February, pages 11-12 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #23 (in black and white)

Background

 * The story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("The Klingon Ultimatum") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 1.
 * The teaser for the fourth segment, "Mutiny on the Enterprise!", would later become the title of a Pocket Books novel in 1983.
 * This story contained the final Star Trek comic strips drawn by Harry Lindfield.
 * Beginning with the edition published February 28, 1970, the various serialized comics in TV21 & Joe 90 were reordered, with the center spread now devoted to color photos of local English soccer teams. The only other color position, pages 4-5, was taken by the Lindfield-drawn Land of the Giants comic strip, leaving the pages of Star Trek to be printed in black and white.
 * Black and white production affected the final segment of this story as well as each segment of the next story, "The Marshall Plan". Artist Jim Baikie drew the b/w strips.
 * The Klingons had an unusual appearance in this story, looking like a hybrid of QuchHa' and HemQuch Klingons, and might belong to an unnamed splinter species. This variety of Klingon would be seen again in "Mutiny on the Dorado".
 * Feeling completely defeated and hopeless, Kirk envisioned no defense for the Klingon metaweapon. However, given the extreme danger to the Federation, Kirk could have issued General Order 24, moved the Enterprise out of the weapon's line of sight, and then launched tricobalt devices to annihilate the planet along with the weapon.
 * Scott creatively turned his communicator into a sonar scanner to measure density below the surface.

Related stories

 * – In 2268, Kelvans used a portable device with similar granulating capabilities to convert the Enterprise crew into porous cuboctahedrons, then later returned them to normal.
 * – In 2269, the tested a Klingon prototype stasis projector on the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701).
 * – In the 2270s, Klingons tested a powerful gravitational field weapon on the Enterprise.