The Zodian Sacrifice

The Zodian Sacrifice was a four-page Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip published in. It was the sixth of 11 annual stories in the UK comic strips series.

Publisher's description

 * Omnibus teaser
 * A Zodian vessel attacks the Enterprise and immediately surrenders, its crew hoping to gain passage from the planet, a dinosaur-inhabited world on which they had been trapped.

Summary
The USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) arrived at Korak to check out Starfleet Intelligence reports of recent activity by the hostile Zodian Empire. A Zodian vessel launched from the surface and fired on the Enterprise. Hikaru Sulu returned fire, and the Zodians signaled their surrender.

Once aboard the starship, they confessed to James T. Kirk that huge dinosaurs killed most of their expedition and wrecked their base. They didn't even have enough fuel to leave the planet. Kirk and two crewmembers conducted a fly-by in the Galileo, confirming that the base was destroyed and spotting a wrecked Zodian spacecraft. Suddenly a paw from an immense armor-plated dinosaur swiped at the shuttle, hurling it into the trees and knocking Kirk unconscious.

The creature lumbered toward the shuttle to try to eat it. By the time Kirk came to, a second shuttlecraft had arrived and was distracting the dinosaur. The second ship self-destructed against the side of the creature, giving Galileo time to escape. Spock later explained that the Zodian crew volunteered to save Kirk to regain their. Kirk hoped their sacrifice would lead to improved relations with the Zodians.

Characters

 * James T. Kirk • Spock • Nyota Uhura • unnamed Zodians

Hikaru Sulu

Starships and vehicles

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) ( heavy cruiser) • Galileo (class F shuttlecraft) •  NCC-1701/C (class F shuttlecraft) • Zodian starship

Locations


Jupiter

Races and cultures

 * Human • Vulcan • Zodian

States and organizations

 * Federation • Starfleet Intelligence • Zodian Empire

Science and technology

 * force field • fuel • engine • scanner • weapon

Ranks and titles

 * captain • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • gunnery officer • Starfleet ranks

Other references

 * atmosphere • battle stations • brig • dinosaur • empire • • hurricane • orbit • planet • space • star • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • starship • suicide • tree

Production history

 * April 1971 : First printed in TV21 Annual 1972 (World Distributors)
 * December 2016 : Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 3 (IDW Publishing)

Background

 * This story was printed on pages 4-7 of TV21 Annual 1972, followed by 17 non-Star Trek stories. A side view of the Enterprise appeared among the illustrations on the inside covers.
 * Publication release date was April 1971. (TV21 Annual 1972 article at the Star Trek Reading Order website)
 * The Galileo shuttlecraft in this story bore registry number NCC-1701/B. The unnamed shuttle piloted by Zodians had the registry NCC-1701/C.
 * At the end of the story, Kirk referred to the Zodian Empire and the Federation as "two empires".

Related stories

 * – In the 2270s, the crew of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) explored a planet of sentient dinosaurs.