Where Giants Tread

Where Giants Tread was a Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip. It was the 18th story arc in the UK comic strips series, published in nine installments in TV21 & Joe 90 in and. In this story, unexpected gravity from a cloaked planet forces the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) to land on its surface.

Description

 * Omnibus teaser
 * When Kirk is badly injured, the insane Captain Eustace Hensham is placed in command of the Enterprise, and the crew becomes trapped on, a planet of xenophobic giants.

Summary
From out of nowhere, an undetected meteor shower pummeled the hull of the Enterprise, leaving the ship immobilized while engineering teams conducted repairs. While outside in an EV suit, Kirk was accidentally struck by a large tool and severely wounded. Leonard McCoy sent him back to Earth to recuperate, and HQ assigned Captain Eustace Hensham to assume temporary command.

Hensham's arrogance rubbed the crew the wrong way, but they nonetheless obeyed his orders. After Montgomery Scott determined that the meteors had been manually shot at them, Hensham ordered the ship to track their source, which turned out to be a cloaked mass driver. It fired another round of rocks at them, which this time were deflected by the shields. Evasive maneuvers at full speed caught the ship within the gravity well of a cloaked planet. Hensham hesitated, then panicked and ordered the crew to abandon ship. Spock countermanded him, ordering vertical thrusters to hold the ship level as it descended. The Enterprise safely touched down on the planet's surface, then tipped awkwardly to starboard. Hensham was relieved of duty and taken to sickbay.

Outside, a trio of tanks approached. Spock leapt out of an airlock to meet them. When a soldier stepped out of the tank, he was revealed to be a giant, perhaps 70 feet tall. Using the universal translator, Spock explained that they had no hostile intent and were helpless. The relatively tiny Spock, Scott and Pavel Chekov met with the planet's president, who was amenable and hospitable, but as they were isolationist, he couldn't allow them to leave. He gave them a tour of the city and nearby spaceport, where they met the president's son Mankar, who was sympathetic to their plight.

Meanwhile, Hensham escaped, sneaked out of the ship and bombed one of the Carnak tanks. Spock arrested Hensham and locked him up, but it was too late. Carnak reinforcements retalizated with weapons bombardment. Spock fired starboard vertical thrusters to keep the primary hull off the ground so shields could defend it, but eventually they lost power and the ship tipped again. Mankar headed through the battleground to help them, but was struck by weapons fire. Hikaru Sulu and Chekov accompanied Spock outside to find Mankar barely alive. Spock brought the president and a doctor to the fallen Carnak. The doctor didn't have medicine to help, but Leonard McCoy brought a full drug kit and together they stabilized him. The president apologized for their misunderstanding and agreed to help them leave so long as they kept their location secret. Carrier rockets attached to the Enterprise were able to launch the starship back into space.

Characters

 * Pavel Chekov • Eustace Hensham • James T. Kirk • Mankar • Martin (Admiral) • Leonard McCoy • Mychek • Montgomery Scott • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel (unnamed USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) personnel) • unnamed Carnak

Starships and vehicles

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) • Carnak hover tank • Carnak space cannon • ground car • motorcycle

ferry ship

Locations

 * • Carnak city • Carnak government house • space sector G-5

Earth • Jupiter

Races and cultures

 * Carnak • Human • Vulcan

States and organizations

 * Federation • Starfleet

Science and technology

 * airlock • bazooka • bomb • communicator • drug • engine • explosive • force field • gun • jet welder • reverse polarity projector • medicine • missile • neutron • neutronic particle • neutronic particle tank • pressure suit • rifle • rocket • satellite • science • starship • technology • thruster • translator communicator • vertical thruster • weapon

Ranks and titles

 * admiral • anti-video device • captain • Carnak president • chief engineer • chief medical officer • commander • commanding officer • communications officer • doctor • engineer • ensign • Federation Starfleet ranks • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • first officer • judge • lieutenant • lieutenant commander • navigator • officer • orderly • president • science officer • skipper • surgeon • tactical officer •

Other references

 * arkan • alarm stations • atmosphere • battle stations • clothing • colony • communications • court martial • desert • dress uniform • electrical bay • energy • galley • government • gravity • hull • lifeform • matter • meteorite • meteorite storm • moon • museum • mutiny • nation-state • orbit • operations division • planet • primary hull • quarters • races and cultures • sciences division • sector • shuttlecraft • sickbay • sick leave • space • spacecraft • spaceport • star • star system • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2240s-2265) • time • uniform • universe • vacuum • Vulcan nerve pinch • war • wrench

Chronology

 * Pavel Chekov was shown wearing a blue tunic, as was Montgomery Scott. As such, the story could have occurred as early as February 2267 when Chekov initially served with Scott in engineering.

Publishing history

 * None of the UK weekly installments were printed with titles.
 * Each segment began on the cover and continued onto two interior pages of TV21 & Joe 90.

December 1970 January 1970 February 1970
 * Part 1: TV21 & Joe 90 #65,
 * Part 2: TV21 & Joe 90 #66,
 * Part 3: TV21 & Joe 90 #67,
 * Part 4: TV21 & Joe 90 #68,
 * Part 5: TV21 & Joe 90 #69,
 * Part 6: TV21 & Joe 90 #70,
 * Part 7: TV21 & Joe 90 #71,
 * Part 8: TV21 & Joe 90 #72,
 * Part 9: TV21 & Joe 90 #73,

Background

 * The story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("Where Giants Tread") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 2.
 * Artist Harold Johns signed the second through seventh installments.
 * The author apparently misinterpreted the range of the transporter. The ship was immobilized in sector G-5 for six hours, during which time Kirk was beamed back to Earth and a replacement commanding officer arrived "from HQ". They were not inside the Sol system within transporter range of Earth, but rather were within attack range of a cloaked mass driver orbiting . Sector G-5 must be within six hours' travel to Earth, close enough for unspecified vessels to pick up Kirk and drop off Hensham.
 * Eustace Hensham wore an operations division uniform, suggesting he might have had an administrative background like George Stocker rather than one of starship command. He wore a non-standard tunic with a pointed collar and pointed bottom end with a thick black edge.
 * The Enterprise was dragged vertically through cloud cover towards a planet's surface, and fought back with vertical thrusters, similar to events from.
 * Spock relieved Hensham on grounds that he was unfit for duty, as Spock had threatened to do to Matthew Decker in.
 * The author misused the terms meteorite and meteorite shower. Meteors, meteoroids, and asteroids are encountered in interstellar space, whereas meteorites and meteorite showers occur by definition only within an atmosphere.

Related stories

 * – Damage from a meteor strike prompted the Enterprise to drop to the surface of an airless moon for repairs.
 * – Captain Zarlo temporarily assumed command of the Enterprise while Kirk was assigned a secret mission on Mobita.
 * – Captain Edward Jellico temporarily replaced Jean-Luc Picard as commander of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D).