Under the Sea

"Under the Sea" was an 18-page Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip published in. It was the 16th story arc in the UK comic strips series, released in six parts within issues of TV21 Weekly. This was the last of four stories drawn by Mike Noble. In this story, Galileo searched underwater for a missing survey ship.

Publisher's description

 * Omnibus teaser
 * Kirk's crew investigates the disappearance of a Federation survey expedition to Tekkor, whose population moved beneath the sea nine centuries prior when a storm flooded all surface land.

Summary
Aboard the Galileo, James T. Kirk, Pavel Chekov,  and three other crewmen searched the water world Tekkor for wreckage of  Survey II, which vanished two months earlier. When Galileo reached the site of the surveyor's final transmission, a massive quadrapod emerged from the ocean and grabbed the shuttlecraft in mid-air. Kirk electrified the hull, shocking the animal into releasing them, but Galileo plummeted wildly into the sea.

After they regained control of the ship, they headed for the sea floor to search for wreckage, traveling deep enough that the sea blocked communications with the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701). They suddenly spotted more quadrapods. But as they evaded them, ice formed around the Galileo. It was dragged through an airlock into a hangar next to the missing survey ship. Kirk's crew disembarked and located the survey team nearby in stasis chambers. Armed Tekkorians approached, and, thinking one of them was about to shoot, Chekov instinctively fired at them. Eventually Kirk's group were captured.

Early the next day, Spock took shuttle NCC-1701/8 alone on a rescue mission. He came upon an underwater battle between quadrapods and several Tekkorian sea-snakes. One of the sea-snakes wrecked a nearby mounted cannon and stunned the two Tekkorians manning it. Spock quickly acted to rescue the humanoids, who explained that they'd rescued the human surveyor crew after their ship was damaged by sea-snakes, and they were recovering in a hospital. Unfortunately, Kirk's team thought the Tekkorians were hostile had no universal translators to clear up the misunderstanding. Spock quickly took his shuttle underwater.

Meanwhile, Kirk's team had escaped and was engaged in a firefight. One of the Survey II crewmen awoke from stasis and interceded in the battle, telling Kirk that the Tekkorians were friendly. When Spock arrived, Kirk borrowed his translator and established friendly relations. As the two shuttles returned to the Enterprise, he hoped the way was paved for a future alliance with the Federation.

Characters

 * Pavel Chekov • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • • Montgomery Scott •  • Spock • Nyota Uhura

Starships and vehicles

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) ( heavy cruiser) • Galileo (class F shuttlecraft) • NCC-1701/8 • submarine •  Survey II (surveyor)

Locations

 * Tekkor

Earth • Jupiter

Races and cultures

 * Human • quadrapod • Tekkorian • Vulcan

States and organizations

 * Federation

Science and technology

 * airlock • cannon • communicator • engine • intercom • machine • missile • phaser • phaser rifle • radio • stabilizer • stasis pod • translator communicator • viewscreen

Ranks and titles

 * captain • engineering officer • ensign • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • officer • rank • skipper • Starfleet ranks

Other references

 * assignment patch • bell • century • city • civilization • continent • fish • government • hospital • hour • hull • ice • life • month • ocean • orbit • sector • star • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • suicide • Tekkorian sea-snake • water • year

Background

 * The story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("Under the Sea") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 1.
 * Kirk appeared to be piloting the shuttle with Chekov as co-pilot.
 * Kirk electrically charged the hull the same way Montgomery Scott did in.
 * Galileo operated underwater. The class F shuttlecraft NCC-1701/8 was shown hovering as well as operating underwater.

Errata

 * Artist Mike Noble depicted the intelligent cephalopods with four tentacles, making them Quadrapods, whereas dialogue indicated that they had eight tentacles. On the September 26, 1970 cover, the one which grabbed Galileo either had five tentacles, or a second creature's tentacle was visible.

Related media

 * – In 2265, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) was encased in ice within a globular planet.
 * – In 2266, James T. Kirk, Spock, Leonard McCoy and Barbara McCoy used scuba gear to explore the underwater culture of Bwuja.
 * – In 2270, a class S-4 aquashuttle was used to survey Argo, which endured a similar planet-wide catastrophe.
 * – In 2270, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) was trapped within an artificial water body.

Production history

 * This story took place in 2267 while Pavel Chekov was still an inexperienced officer, but after his visit to Modala in May 2267, his first planet-based mission.


 * This story was serialized over six weekly issues:


 * September 1970:
 * 19 September: Pages 1-3 published in TV21 Weekly #52.
 * 26 September: Pages 4-6 published in TV21 Weekly #53.
 * October 1970:
 * 3 October: Pages 7-9 published in TV21 Weekly #54.
 * 10 October: Pages 10-12 published in TV21 Weekly #55.
 * 17 October: Pages 13-15 published in TV21 Weekly #56.
 * 24 October: Pages 16-18 published in TV21 Weekly #57.
 * April 2016 : Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 1 (IDW Publishing)
 * 28 September 2017 : Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection #20 (Eaglemoss)