History Lesson

Introduction (blurb)
From previews: Celebrate the 20th Anniversary of Star Trek: The Next Generation with this all-new relaunch of the Trek franchise in comics. In the first issue of this special miniseries, planet Tigan-7 requests entry into the Federation, but the Enterprise is attacked as a hostile invader when it makes contact, and the planet's leader has no record of any communication with any outside world. Riker, Tasha, and Data beam down to the planet in secret, and discover an information-obsessed culture, rewriting pieces of its 6,000-year history on a daily basis, to maintain political stability. An all-new, all-different, Next-Gen adventure, featuring Captain Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the Enterprise-D!

Summary
The Enterprise-D over Tigan, a traditionally isolationist world, Captain Jean-Luc Picard talks with the Tigan Chancellor, thanking him for the opportunity for contact. Commander Riker selects Data and Tasha Yar for the away team to the planet.

On the bridge Geordi LaForge detects a brief energy pulse from the planet. Awaiting their escort Picard fills in the away team on the unidentified energy readings, warning them to stay alert. They are met by Edic, who leads them to meet the Tigan Chancellor. En route Edic explains the Tigans impressive power facility, the gravimatrix, and about the Tigan neurological communications system which downloads information straight to the Tigans cerebral cortexes via minute tachyon bursts.

As they reach the Chancellor the team are surprised to find themselves met by a Chancellor Kadec, who claims no knowledge of anyone called Lomac. On consulting the Tigans computers Data confirms no record of Lomac or any contact with the Federation. Above, the Enterprise detects another energy reading, it is fired upon!

On Tigan the team find themselves out of contact with the ship. Data find evidence in the Tigan central computer that the first pulse Enterprise detected was a Gravimetric pulse which could have been used to wipe the computer core clean. The core lost 1.3 trillion mega-bits in the pulse and as the Tigans haven’t used a written history in centuries the team surmise the pulses could be being used to rewrite Tigan history. A near by Tiagn hears the discussion and fires on Riker, Kadec orders the team fired upon, the security forces are lead by none other than a man named Lomac…

Elsewhere, the Enterprise is being hurled across the galaxy by the Tiagns gravimetric pulse, if they don’t break free soon they’ll find themselves in the Gamma Quadrant. Picard and Geordi device a solution, pushing the warp engines to full power and nearing warp 10 they can break free, perform a slingshot manoeuvre and get back to Tigan moments before the pulse was fired. Mister Worf works on the necessary calculations.

In a Tigan library the truth about the history of Tigan is revealed as Kadec and Edic tamper with Data’s positronic brain in the hopes of wiping his memory so upon his return to the Enterprise no one will no of the going on below. When testing the gravimatrix a pulse was accidentally emitted, it wiped the Tigan computers and the entire Tigan database had to be re-entered by hand. The politicians of the time took the opportunity to make a few adjustments for the good of the people and other have been rewriting history ever since. In a Tigan cell Yar completes adjustments to her combadge and she and Riker prepare themselves as a Tigan guard approaches. As the guard enters they activate the badge which emits a continuous whine, sufficiently painful and distracting for the pair to battle there way through a succession of Tigan guards and make their escape.

Above the Enterprise returns and fires on a Tigan emplacement on the planet. Below Riker and Yar find there way to Data and Kadec just in time to witness Lomac making a stand, seeing the error of his ways he arrests Kadec for crimes against state.

Date comes back online asking “Did anyone get the name of that sehlat?”, but will soon recover, his advanced brain saving him from the damage the Tigan pulses might have done.

Later… The away team depart wishing Edic good luck on a reformed Tigan. Picard welcomes them back aboard the Enterprise.

In the observation lounge Yar finds Data musing over recent events, thinking of the words of Santaya “Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”, his mind remembered everything, and maybe that ability will one day allow him to learn to be human.

Regulars

 * Jean-Luc Picard
 * William T. Riker
 * Geordi La Forge
 * Natasha Yar
 * Worf
 * Deanna Troi
 * Data

Tigans

 * Edic
 * Kadec
 * Lomac

Referenced

 * George Santayana

Starships

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-D) - Galaxy class

Locations

 * Tigan
 * Gravimatrix
 * Tigan central computer
 * Gamma Quadrant

Species

 * Android
 * Human
 * Klingon
 * Sehlat
 * Tigan

States and Organisations

 * United Federation of Planets
 * Federation Starfleet

Other
Black hole | Book | Cerebral cortex | Chancellor of Tigan | Combadge | Containment field | Coup | Geothermic energy | Gravimetric pulse | Gravimetric wave | Graviton gun | Positronic brain | Slingshot effect | Tachyon burst | Tigan interface | Warp drive | Warp 10

Information

 * This issue is set in season one of the TV series.
 * This comic has four different covers, two which should be available equally; one by Dennis Calero and a photomontage. And two by Zach Howard of a more limited availability.


 * This is the first Star trek comic by IDW Publishing, and the first Star Trek comic (with the exception of Star Trek: The Manga in 2006) since Wildstorm Comics gave up the licence in 2001.
 * The comic states that the Enterprise is being pushed across the galaxy at "near-light speeds" yet also that at full warp power the Enterprise could not beak free and if they did not do so soon they would end up in the Gamma Quadrant. Given that they resorted to using time travel to escape one can assume the near-light speed line is inaccurate and the Enterprise was actually travelling at very high warp speeds.
 * The stardate given for the Editor's Log on the letters page is 60319.7, which would place the editorial content in early-2383.