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===Other references===
 
===Other references===
:[[alliance]] • [[anesthesia|anesthesia gas]] • [[assignment patch]] • [[atmosphere]] • [[battle stations]] • [[beam]] • [[bluff]] • [[brain]] • [[bridge]] • [[capital city]] • [[constellation]] • [[dress uniform]] • [[duty shift|duty watch]] • [[gas]] • [[government]] • [[Government House]] • [[hangar deck]] • [[helmet]] • [[hour]] • [[hypnosis]] • [[Jefferies tube|inspection channel]] • [[karate]] • [[kitchen]]s • ''[[menek]]'' • [[meteorite]] • [[minute]] • [[parachute]] • [[orbit|parking orbit]] • [[planet]] • [[revolution]] • [[space]] • [[star]] • [[Starfleet uniform]] • [[Starfleet uniform (2265-2270)]] • [[stun]] • ''[[torok]]'' • [[transporter room]] • [[treaty]] • [[uniform]] • [[Vulcan neck pinch]] • [[war]] • [[year]]
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:[[alliance]] • [[anesthesia|anesthesia gas]] • [[assignment patch]] • [[atmosphere]] • [[battle stations]] • [[beam]] • [[bluff]] • [[brain]] • [[bridge]] • [[capital city]] • [[constellation]] • [[dress uniform]] • [[duty shift|duty watch]] • [[gas]] • [[government]] • [[government house]] • [[hangar deck]] • [[helmet]] • [[hour]] • [[hypnosis]] • [[Jefferies tube|inspection channel]] • [[karate]] • [[kitchen]]s • ''[[menek]]'' • [[meteorite]] • [[minute]] • [[parachute]] • [[orbit|parking orbit]] • [[planet]] • [[revolution]] • [[space]] • [[star]] • [[Starfleet uniform]] • [[Starfleet uniform (2265-2270)]] • [[stun]] • ''[[torok]]'' • [[transporter room]] • [[treaty]] • [[uniform]] • [[Vulcan neck pinch]] • [[war]] • [[year]]
   
 
==Timeline==
 
==Timeline==

Revision as of 20:34, 27 April 2019

By Order of the Empire was an 18-page Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip. It was the 26th weekly story arc in the UK comic strips series, published in nine installments in Valiant and TV21 in 1971. In this story, Klingons used mass hypnosis to control the crew of the USS Enterprise.

Publisher's description

Teaser, October 30, 1971
The starship Enterprise, under the command of Captain Kirk, had been ordered to the planet Lothor. Kirk's mission was to persuade the Lothorians to make a defense alliance with the space Federation against the hostile Klingon Empire ...

Summary

A spy at Starfleet Command informed the Klingon Empire of Kirk's assignment. Seeing an opportunity to mortally wound Starfleet, the Klingons immediately dispatched a D7-class battle cruiser to Lothor. Klingon Professor Karkax used a new invention to hypnotize the entire Lothorian government. When the USS Enterprise arrived, the Lothorians could act normally but could not disobey Klingon orders. The Lothorian president gave Kirk, Spock and Montgomery Scott a tour of their capital city and invited Kirk's crew to a banquet. Appreciating the hospitality, and needing to cement an alliance, Kirk brought down nearly the entire ship's complement.

At the banquet, the crew were subjected to Karkax's machine, then were ordered to crash the Enterprise into Starfleet Headquarters on Earth. They returned to the ship to carry out their orders. However, Spock's Vulcan physiology overcame the hypnosis, and he secretly met with Pavel Chekov's skeleton crew that had missed the banquet. Kirk discovered their plotting and flooded their room with anesthesia gas. Spock clogged the vent to allow time for the crewmen to escape through a maintenance duct, yet they were still captured.

Spock made his way to the transporter room and beamed down. He located the Klingon commander and Karkax, but not quickly enough; Kirk had already warned them. Karkax ordered Kirk to shoot Spock. Spock telepathically reached out to Kirk — and broke his hypnotic spell. Spock knocked out the Klingon commander with a karate chop. Karkax fled with the mechano-hypnotiser. Eventually he lifted off in a type of aircraft, and in desperation Kirk rammed it with a hovercar. The explosion killed Karkax and destroyed the device, breaking the hypnotic hold over the Enterprise personnel before they could crash into Earth.

References

Characters

Pavel ChekovJathtarKarkaxJames T. KirkSpockHikaru SuluMontgomery ScottNyota UhuraVoyseyunnamed USS Enterprise personnel (2260s)unnamed Klingons (Klingon commander) • unnamed Lothoriansunnamed Starfleet personnel
Referenced only
DavidGoliath

Starships and vehicles

aircraftUSS Enterprise (Constitution-class heavy cruiser) • Galileo (class F shuttlecraft) • five other class F shuttlecrafthovercar • unnamed Klingon D7-class battle cruiserKlingon raiderSurvey Ship 365B
Referenced only
Klingon shuttlecraft

Locations

Sol system (Earth) • Lothor (Monades Complex)
Referenced only
Alpha CentauriCanis Major constellationCentaurus constellationColumbaLepus constellationMonoceros constellationOrionSirius

Races and cultures

HumanKlingonLothorianVulcan

States and organizations

Klingon EmpireFederation CommandUnited Federation of Planets

Science and technology

airlockcommunicationscomputerforce fieldlong distance transportermaintenance ductmechano-hypnotisermissilephaserrifleself destruct devicetransportertype-1 phasertype 2 phaserventilation system

Ranks and titles

admiralambassadorcaptaincommanderensignFederation Starfleet ranks (2260s)clerknon-commissioned officerofficerpersonnelweapons specialistpresidentprofessorsentryskipperspyStarfleet ranks

Other references

allianceanesthesia gasassignment patchatmospherebattle stationsbeambluffbrainbridgecapital cityconstellationdress uniformduty watchgasgovernmentgovernment househangar deckhelmethourhypnosisinspection channelkaratekitchensmenekmeteoriteminuteparachuteparking orbitplanetrevolutionspacestarStarfleet uniformStarfleet uniform (2265-2270)stuntoroktransporter roomtreatyuniformVulcan neck pinchwaryear

Timeline

Chronology

Published Order
Previous comic:
The Aging World
TOS comics
UK comic strips
Next comic:
Creeping Death

Production history

  • This story was serialized in two-page sections over nine consecutive weeks in Valiant and TV21 magazine. Star Trek remained the only color feature in the publication and was printed on the center spread. Each issue was 36 pages, except for #8, which was 40 pages.
October 1971
November 1971
December 1971
December 2016
Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 2 (IDW Publishing)
1 February 2018
Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection #29 (Eaglemoss)

Appendices

Background

  • This story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("By Order of the Empire") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 2.
  • Admiral Voysey made his first of four appearances in this story. He also appeared in "The Collector" (arc #29), in "The Perithees Alliance" (arc #32) with his hair colored brown, and in "To Rule the Universe" (arc #37). His name and position as highest-ranking Starfleet officer were stated in his final appearance.
  • The author did not distinguish between Starfleet and the Federation, instead referring to Starfleet as Federation Command. Voysey's office was located in the Federation's capital city, later established as Paris, France. However, Starfleet Headquarters was later established to be in San Francisco. As those distinctions hadn't been made when the story was written in 1971, it's become unclear whether the Klingons ordered the Enterprise to crash into Paris or San Francisco.
  • Hypnotized Kirk gave Nyota Uhura command while he dealt with Spock's resistance party.
  • Vulcans were shown able to block hypnotic compulsions.
  • Spock was able to break the hypnotic spell placed on Kirk via telepathy. They were described as being as close as brothers.
  • The Lepus constellation visible in the star chart in Admiral Voysey's office didn't look like the real-world constellation, which resembled the side view of a hare when seen from Earth. But star configurations look different when viewed from other vantage points.
  • The story was unclear regarding how far Lothor was from Earth. During the time it took for the Enterprise to travel from Earth to Lothor on their urgent diplomatic mission, a spy message was relayed to the Klingon Empire, a plan was hatched, a Klingon ship traveled to Lothor, and the leadership of Lothor was hypnotized. Yet when the Klingons ordered the Enterprise to crash on Earth, Montgomery Scott managed to get the ship there in less than an hour. That may have been dramatic license by the author, to depict Earth being saved "at the last minute".
  • Kirk and Spock beamed back to the Enterprise from Lothor while the starship was still in the Sol system. If that were possible, Admiral Voysey could have beamed a full ambassadorial party to Lothor instead of dispatching a starship. That also may have been dramatic license, to end the story with Kirk and Spock back aboard the ship.

Related stories

Images

Connections

UK comic strips
Weekly story arcs "Life Form Nonexistent" • "The Crucial Element" • "Beware the Beast" • "The Third Party" • "The Children of Stai" • "Skin Deep" • "The Eagles Have Landed" • "Spectre of the Zond" • "Nor Any Drop to Drink" • "Menace of the Moloth" • "The Klingon Ultimatum" • "The Marshall Plan" • "Mutiny on the Dorado" • "The Ageless One" • "Thorpex" • "Under the Sea" • "Revolt on Dak-Alpha" • "Where Giants Tread" • "I, Emperor" • "Slaves of the Frogmen" • "Key Witness" • "Nova-Thirteen" • "Prison Break" • "Vibrations in Time" • "The Aging World" • "By Order of the Empire" • "Creeping Death" • "Ground Zero" • "The Collector" • "To Swiftly Go..." • "The Mindless Ones" • "The Perithees Alliance" • "The Saboteur Within" • "The Void of Storms" • "Spheres of War" • "Shell Game" • "To Rule the Universe"
Annual stories "Target: Zargot" • "A Bite of the Apple" • "Captives in Space" • "Planet of Rejects" • "Gateway to the Future" • "The Zodian Sacrifice" • "Smoke and Mirrors" • "Planet of the Dead" • "What Is This Thing Called Spock?" • "The Gods Have Come!" • "Rock and a Hard Place"
Collections The Classic UK Comics (123) • Graphic Novel Collection (102029121)

External links