To Rule the Universe

To Rule the Universe, or UK comic strips, 37th story arc, was the last weekly story arc in the UK comic strips series. It was released in 12 parts in within issues of Valiant and TV21.

In this story, Plixeans conspired to assassinate the Federation Council and take control of the Federation.

Publisher's description

 * Teaser summary, 3 November, 1973
 * Lured to the hitherto unknown planet, Plixes, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock had been taken prisoner while the planetary leaders, Gokron and Chekra, had — by means of advanced science — assumed their bodies and minds! Beamed back to the starship Enterprise, Gokron and Chekra were indistinguishable from the real commander and first lieutenant of the starship…

Summary
On Earth, Federation Councillors gathered for a month-long conference. In System 330, the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) initiated first contact with the leaders of Plixes, who asked to beam aboard as honored guests. Spock was suspicious: how did they know the ship had transporters? As they toured the ship, Gokron and Chekra explained that they had long-range scanners, so they knew about the Federation. They asked if they could be beamed to the conference to ask for Federation membership. Kirk asked first to learn more about Plixes.

Gokron invited Kirk and Spock to visit the planet. Once they spoke with a few Plixeans, however, they realized Gokron was a tyrant. They were then apprehended. Their bodies and memories were imprinted onto Gokron and Chekra, turning them into facsimiles of Kirk and Spock. Gokron and Chekra beamed back to the Enterprise. Admiral Voysey agreed to let "Kirk" plead Plixes' case to the council. Using a long distance transporter setting, "Kirk" and "Spock" beamed directly to Earth, where they set up a sonic stunner and gas generator to kill all of the councillors.

Meanwhile, a jail break interrupted the execution of Kirk and Spock. They allied with escaping prisoners, then fought their way to a communications center. Long-range frequencies were jammed, so they could not warn Earth or be beamed there. To expose the Plixeans, they had to shut off the identity transference equipment. Kirk and Spock aided rebels by using armed shuttlecraft to knock out city defenses. Unfortunately, the identity transference building seemed impregnable. Kirk risked beaming himself to Earth despite the jamming. As he fought the tyrants in the council chambers, rebels finally were able to blow up the Plixes building. Gokron and Chekra reverted to their normal appearance and fled. Before the gas generator detonated, Kirk destroyed it and saved the councillors.

Gokron and Chekra hijacked the Vulcan ambassador's transport and headed at maximum speed to the Klingon border. Kirk suited up to follow in an interceptor craft, but Spock was able to use the long range transporter to beam the Plixeans out of the transport and back to the Enterprise. The tyrants would be handed back to the rebels and their new democratic government.

Characters

 * Brad • Chekra • Gokron • James T. Kirk • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • Voysey • unnamed Federation Councillors (Councillors of the Andorian Empire, United Planets of Tellar, and Confederacy of Vulcan) • unnamed Federation Security Agency officers • unnamed Plixeans


 * Daminon

Starships and vehicles

 * USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) ( heavy cruiser) • Columbus (class F shuttlecraft) • shuttlecraft •  Nemesis • Vulcan Ambassador's transport


 * Klingon starships

Locations

 * Border of the Klingon Empire • Earth (Federation Council Chambers • Spaceport • Supreme Headquarters of the Federation) • Plixes • System 330


 * Romulan Neutral Zone (Border Sector Six)

Races and cultures

 * Andorian • Human • Plixean • Tellarite • Vulcan


 * Klingon • Romulan

States and organizations

 * Andorian Empire • Confederacy of Vulcan • Council of the United Federation of Planets • Klingon Empire • Federation • Federation Security Agency • Plixes Democratic Union • Plixes Department of Science • Romulan Empire • United Planets of Tellar

Science and technology

 * anti-aircraft battery • brain-implantation machine • brain pattern • communicator • computer • coordinates • deep space transmitter • forcefield • gas generator • identity transference • interceptor • laboratory • laser cannon • long distance transporter • metabolic alteration machinery • missile • PADD • phaser • pistol • ray-probe • reconnaissance probe • rifle • rocket • scanner • science • tape recorder • transporter • Type 2 phaser

Ranks and titles

 * admiral • ambassador • captain • citizen • commander • Commanding Officer, Starfleet Command • delegate • dictator • Federation Councillor • Federation Starfleet ranks (2270s) • first lieutenant • first officer • guard • gunner • helmsman • lieutenant • mayor • officer • prime minister • prisoner • ranks • rebel • scientist • sentry • skipper • supreme commander

Other references

 * 75th Annual Federation Conference • arrest • atmosphere • beverage • bluff • brain • bridge • carbon • century • city • civilization • conference • Dark Ages • democracy • dictatorship • dog • dungeon • empire • espionage • execution • execution yard • Federation conference • first contact • fleet • freedom • gas • government • hospitality center • house • hypnotism • jail • life • lion • logic • minute • month • parking orbit • planet • police • prison • probe • scanner • second • sewer • sound • space • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • starship • star system • statue • steel • stone • telepathy • transporter room • troops • universe • video • viewscreen • Vulcan neck pinch

Chronology

 * Romulan activity was reported along the Romulan Neutral Zone.
 * A declaration of war was said to be needed before Starfleet could attack Klingon ships, suggesting that the Organian Peace Treaty was not yet in place.
 * Prior to this story, Montgomery Scott may have developed the formula for transwarp beaming, as the Enterprise twice used this capability.

Related stories

 * – In 2379, Shinzon used thalaron radiation to slaughter the Romulan Senate and become praetor of the Romulan Empire.
 * – Montgomery Scott's equation for transwarp beaming enabled a long distance transporter to beam people to distant star systems.
 * – The bodies and personalities of James T. Kirk and Roger Korby were copied into android form.
 * – An identity transference device swapped the personalities of Janice Lester and Kirk.
 * – The bodies and personalities of Spock, Hikaru Sulu, Pavel Chekov and Christine Chapel were copied into android form.
 * – An electro-prober downloaded copies of the personalities of Spock and Leonard McCoy into cerebot robot probes.

Background

 * This story was published without a title, but was given one ("To Rule the Universe") for its reprinting in The Classic UK Comics, Volume 3.
 * Published in 1973, Admiral Voysey was the first admiral to be identified as a Commanding Officer, Starfleet Command.
 * This story also was the first to establish that the Federation Council Chambers were on Earth. The building containing these chambers would later be established as the Palais de la Concorde in Paris, although it was implied in that it could be in San Francisco. Published in 1974,  featured the Supreme Council Hall and introduced the Chairman of the Supreme Council, but that story did not distinguish between civilian government and Starfleet operations. This chairman wore a Starfleet uniform and oversaw a court martial of Kirk, suggesting that he and the building were part of Starfleet.
 * The Enterprise had a long distance transporter capability in this story. It transported the two Plixeans from System 330 to Earth, then later beamed them back from Klingon space. This function was implied to exist in an earlier story arc, "Where Giants Tread", but the events of that story could be explained without having the technology.
 * The Vulcan Ambassador's transport was seen in this story. Although we did not see someone identified as the ambassador, the story did show Vulcan's Federation Councillor, a female Vulcan seen partially from the side. She wore T'Pau's hairstyle, though it was established in that it would not have been her.
 * Montgomery Scott wore a sciences division uniform and sat at the navigator's station.
 * Hikaru Sulu also wore a blue uniform and was seen at the helm, but had no dialogue.

Production history

 * The last two pages of this story were published on December 29, 1973. The February 1974 date cited in The Classic UK Comics, Volume 3 was a typo.


 * This story was published over 12 weekly issues, two pages at a time.
 * October 1973
 * 13 October: Pages 1-2 published in Valiant and TV21 #107.
 * 20 October: Pages 3-4 published in Valiant and TV21 #108.
 * 27 October: Pages 5-6 published in Valiant and TV21 #109.
 * November 1973
 * 3 November: Pages 7-8 published in 'Valiant and TV21 #110
 * 10 November: Pages 9-10 published in Valiant and TV21 #111
 * 17 November: Pages 11-12 published in 'Valiant and TV21 #112
 * 24 November: Pages 13-14 published in 'Valiant and TV21 #113
 * December 1973
 * 1 December: Pages 15-16 published in 'Valiant and TV21 #114
 * 8 December: Pages 17-18 published in Valiant and TV21 #115
 * 15 December: Pages 19-20 published in 'Valiant and TV21 #116
 * 22 December: Pages 21-22 published in 'Valiant and TV21 #117
 * 29 December: Pages 23-24 published in 'Valiant and TV21 #118