"A Merchant's Loyalty" is a TOS comic strip. It is the 14th story in the US Comic Strips series, published daily in newspapers over a period of seven weeks by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. The story depicts events from Captain Kirk's second five-year mission aboard the refit USS Enterprise (NCC-1701). In this story, scrap merchants conspire to destroy the Enterprise and sell it as salvage.
Description[]
- Merchant fleets from the Deltan 300 Graveyard Sector stage a deadly rivalry to lure the Enterprise into their grasp.
Summary[]
- Ship's log, stardate 8123.2.
- We must pass through the Deltan 300 graveyard sector to make the meeting with the Komar ambassador on time. An unpleasant shortcut...
Approaching a pair of merchant ships shooting at each other, the Enterprise is suddenly fired on. Pavel Chekov disables one of the ships, then restrains both with tractor beams.
- Ship's Log: Supplemental.
- We have captured the two merchant ships, in hopes of resolving their conflict quickly.
- Ship's Log: Supplemental.
- The leaders of the battling merchant ships have beamed aboard—but their battle rages on.
Beamed aboard are Merchant Captain Krieger of the Latimor Recycling Plant and his opponents, Merchant Captain Kro-Regas and Merchant Lieutenant Zaia from a competing salvage operation. The salvagers recycle and sell large amounts of scrap in the sector left over from the Delta Wars, but thanks to Federation peace missions, the scrap is running out and their livelihood is endangered.
- Ship's Log: Supplemental.
- A feisty merchant lieutenant has agreed to give up her weapon. Hopefully there will be no further delay in resolving this conflict.
Unknown to the crew, the merchants' rivalry is a ploy. While "feisty" Zaia distracts James T. Kirk, Spock and Scotty, Regas plants a bomb on the wall of the transporter room. En route to the conference room, while Zaia and Kreiger tussle in the hall, Regas plants a second bomb on a wall near the ship's main circuits. However, Zaia drops a bracelet during the fight, which Kirk keeps. Hikaru Sulu alerts Kirk to a large debris cloud approaching, and as Kirk gives the merchants a tour of the bridge, Regas hides a third bomb on the bridge's life support panel. Done with their sabotage, Regas signals for beam-up as the first bomb explodes, but minus her bracelet, Zaia does not beam away with the others; Kirk does.
- Ship's Log: Supplemental.
- Admiral Kirk has been captured by the merchant captains while Zaia has unfolded the plot to the crew of the Enterprise.
Sensors reveal that the debris cloud hides more than one hundred of Krieger's salvage ships. The second bomb detonates, leaving the ship defenseless. However, Regas implores Krieger not to destroy the Enterprise because Zaia is aboard and she is secretly his daughter. Krieger ignores him, locking Kirk in a storage room. Regas hides a bomb on Krieger's ship, then flies himself and Kirk in an escape pod back to the Enterprise. Spock diffuses the bomb on the Enterprise while Krieger's detonates. Seeing their leader's ship damaged, the rest of the Latimor Recycling Plant merchant ships flee. Regas says "A merchant's loyalty extends only as far as his purse strings."
Nyota Uhura reports that Deltan authorities have arrived to take Regas and Zaia. Kirk orders the ship to Manark V.
References[]
Characters[]
- Pavel Chekov • DeCorte • James T. Kirk • Krieger • Kro-Regas • Leonard McCoy • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • Zaia
- Referenced only
- Komar ambassador
Starships and vehicles[]
- USS Enterprise (Enterprise-subclass refit Constitution-class heavy cruiser) • escape pod • merchant ships
- Referenced only
- bilge barge
Locations[]
- Deltan 300 graveyard sector • Delta 330 sector
- Referenced only
- Delta • Manark V • Regula • Ziba
Races and cultures[]
States and organizations[]
- Federation • Kro-Regas recycling fleet • Latimor Recycling Plant
Science and classification[]
- bomb • circuitry • hand phaser • life support • phaser • sensor • tractor beam • transporter • viewscreen • weapon • wrist communicator
Occupations and titles[]
- admiral • ambassador • captain • lieutenant • merchant
Other references[]
- alert status (red alert) • animal • beam • blood • bracelet • bridge • conference room • corridor • credit • death • Delta Wars • Federation Starfleet ranks (2270s) • flogging • graveyard • honor • hour • minute • mongul • parasite • power • Scitilli duck • sector • security • ship's log, USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) • Simian slime worm • space • Starfleet uniform (2278-2350s) • transporter room
Appendices[]
Related media[]
- TOS movie: The Wrath of Khan – First appearance in canon of the maroon uniforms seen in this story.
- TOS comic: "The Nogura Regatta" – Free Trader pirate Sturdevant attempted to destroy the Enterprise and sell the scrap to the Klingons in 2274.
Background[]
- This was the 14th of 20 newspaper story arcs. In all subsequent stories, Enterprise crew wore maroon uniforms.
- This story was not printed with a title. Editor Rich Handley chose the new title for the 14th arc's reprinting (http://www.hassleinbooks.com/pdfs/TrekComics.pdf).
- This story contained the series’ final Sunday segment on 10/24/82. Subsequently stories unfolded only on Monday through Saturday in black and white.
- At the end of the story (10/30/82), Kirk’s purpose for cutting through the graveyard sector — to meet with the "Komar ambassador" — was ignored without explanation in favor of setting course for Manark V. It was unclear whether "Komar" was a location, organization, or species.
- Writer/artist Padraic Shigetani was dissatisfied with his work on story arcs 14 and 15, having drawn both and written arc 14. He said syndicates usually have three months of strips in reserve, but they'd run out on Star Trek, and he was asked to produce material in "as little as a day! It killed me!" (Star Trek Communicator Issue 121: "Forgotten Frontiers")
Story placement[]
- This story was set between TOS movie: The Motion Picture and The Wrath of Khan. Based on the uniforms alone, this story took place either in 2277 or 2278. White and gray uniforms were worn in 2276's TOS comic: "Silent Cries". Maroon uniforms were worn in 2278's TOS comic: "Odyssey's End". According to TOS novel: Wagon Train to the Stars, prior to being instituted fleet-wide, the new Starfleet uniforms debuted early aboard the USS Enterprise.
- Considering the further evidence of Chekov's rank, this story took place in 2277. In the 15th comic strip arc, which takes place immediately after this one, Chekov is a lieutenant (1/29/83). That would place both comic strip stories prior to the events of TOS anthology: Star Trek II Short Stories, set in 2277, where Chekov was a lieutenant commander (page 124), and prior to the events of TOS - Plot-Your-Own Adventure Stories novel: Distress Call!, where Chekov was also a lieutenant commander (pages 2, 10, 67, 78).
Images[]
Connections[]
| US Comic Strips stories | ||
|---|---|---|
| Stories | "Called Home" • "Dilithium Dilemma" • "The Real McCoy" • "Double Bluff" • "Aberration on Abaris" • "Husian Gambit" • "Heads of State" • "It's a Living" • "The Savage Within" • "Quarantine" • "Restructuring Is Futile" • "The Wristwatch Plantation" • "The Nogura Regatta" • "A Merchant's Loyalty" • "Taking Shape" • "Send in the Clones" • "Goodbye to Spock" • "Terminally Yours" • "The Retirement of Admiral Kirk" • "Getting Real" | |
| Collections | The Newspaper Comics (1 • 2) • Graphic Novel Collection (15 • 24 • 34) | |
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous comic: #13: The Nogura Regatta |
TOS comics US Comic Strips |
Next comic: 15: Taking Shape |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous adventure: Star Trek IV Sourcebook Update |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: Taking Shape |
Production history[]
- 5 September – 30 October 1982
- Published in daily newspapers. (Los Angeles Times Syndicate)
- 1 October 2013
- Collected in the The Newspaper Comics' Volume 2 omnibus. (IDW Publishing)
- 12 April 2018
- Collected in the Graphic Novel Collection's Volume 34 omnibus. (Eaglemoss Collections)
External links[]
- A Merchant's Loyalty article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.