Double Bluff

Double Bluff is a Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip. It is the fourth story in the US Comic Strips series, published by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. The story was set after TOS movie: The Motion Picture, depicting events from Captain Kirk's second five-year mission aboard the refurbished USS Enterprise (NCC-1701).

In this story, Kirk grants diplomatic asylum to two civilian Klingon refugees.

SummaryEdit

Captain's Log: Stardate 7541.1.: We are in orbit about the planet Telos, making a careful survey to determine its suitability as a relocation site for a colony threatened by collision with a massive asteroid.
Captain's Log: Stardate 7541.1.: We are in orbit about the planet Telos, on a routine survey mission…

Two days before their survey mission was to end, Nyota Uhura reported an old, fusion-powered, Vegan Tripper-class commercial flyer approaching on a collision course. Unable to contact the pilots, Pavel Chekov locked a tractor beam onto the spacecraft, which started to break up. Janice Rand beamed up the crew: Morg and his sister Chetar, civilian Klingons requesting sanctuary. Chetar said they'd spoken out against their government and been sentenced to death for it, but doubted if Kirk would accept them, as she’d heard about Federation death camps and mind control. Kirk granted them immunity, gave them quarters, and said he’d take them to the nearest starbase where they could make a formal request for asylum.

Cautious, Kirk had the Vegan flyer examined by a bomb squad in EV suits, then brought into the hangar bay for repairs. Montgomery Scott said it was scrap that required disinfecting, but worked to get it spaceworthy. McCoy gave the two Klingons a standard medical check, reporting them "fit as Georgia mules. And twice as ornery!"

LA4-Morg-Chetar — Morg and Chetar request asylum.

The presence of the two Klingons generated some negativity among the crew, what Spock called "friction." Morg picked a fight with Chekov, which led to an exchange of blows. Chekov dazed Morg and won the fight, but ended up with a black eye. Security took Morg to Christine Chapel in sickbay.

A K't'inga-class Klingon battlecruiser approached at warp nine. Hearing the red alert, Morg fled sickbay and rushed to the bridge, warning Kirk he had to run away or be killed. On the viewer, Captain Tunzos of the IKS Rakor said he was looking for two escaped criminals, and Kirk replied they were under his protection. Tunzos thoughtfully replied that he’d been ordered “to return with them at any cost.”

After discussing the lack of information about K't'inga class ships with Spock, Kirk suggested Tunzos pursue diplomatic methods to extradite the fugitives. Tunzos fired a torpedo in reply. Chekov fired a similar warning shot. Tunzos brought his ship beam on to the Enterprise and threatened to open fire in one hour unless the fugitives were released, destroying both ships.

Meanwhile, frustrated by their experiences on the ship, Morg and Chetar reconsidered life in the Federation and told Kirk they'd chosen to flee in their ship. Morg suggested the Enterprise block the battlecruiser's line of sight to provide an escape route. Before leaving, Morg said, "I've never said this to anyone before, but thank you for believing in us," and Chetar kissed Kirk on the cheek. Kirk added a distraction to the tactics, telling Tunzos that his two fugitives were not aboard two high-speed travel pods launching in opposite directions from the Enterprise. Tunzos destroyed the pods, and told Kirk they’d meet again someday.

Inspecting Chekov's black eye, Kirk asked, "How did we do?" Chekov replied, "Starfleet honor is... intact, sir."

ReferencesEdit

CharactersEdit

Christine Chapel • Pavel Chekov • Chetar • Guindon • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Morg • Janice Rand • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Taskul • Thobo • Tunzos
Referenced only: Hikaru Sulu

Starships and vehiclesEdit

USS Enterprise • IKS Rakor (K't'inga-class) • travel pod • Vegan Tripper-class commercial flyer

LocationsEdit

Telos
Referenced only: Georgia

TimelineEdit

Published Order
Previous comic: #3: "The Real McCoy"	Star Trek: The Original Series (US Comic Strips)	Next comic: #5: “Aberration on Abaris”
Previous story: "The Real McCoy"	Stories by: Thomas Warkentin	Next story: "Aberration on Abaris"
Chronological Order
Previous adventure: "The Real McCoy"	Memory Beta Chronology	Next adventure: "Aberration on Abaris"

AppendicesEdit

InformationEdit

This is the fourth of 13 stories set after the events of TOS movie: The Motion Picture with the crew wearing the Starfleet uniform (early 2270s). It was the fourth of five stories set in 2273 near the beginning of Captain Kirk's second five-year mission aboard the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701).

This story arc was not printed with a title. The title was provided from Warkentin's original script by his widow, Rosie Warkentin Ford, for the story's reprinting in The Newspaper Comics, Volume 1. (ST reference: New Life and New Civilizations: Exploring Star Trek Comics).

Arcturian Taskul appeared by name in two dropped panels of the comic strip from May 25, 1980. Morg called Taskul "blob face." The Arcturian wanted to retaliate, but Pavel Chekov restrained him. Taskul was featured in "Dilithium Dilemma" and also appeared in "Husian Gambit". These panels were not reprinted in the omnibus The Newspaper Comics, Volume 1. (Dropped panels article at the Star Trek Comics Checklist.)

As IKS Rakor approached the Enterprise, a Klingon officer reported, "That's one of their new Constitution Class II heavy cruisers. We don’t know its strength." Earlier in 2273, immediately after the V'Ger incident, Commander Krell attacked the Enterprise with three cruisers to assess its strength. Kirk exaggerated his ship's firepower by leveraging a design flaw with the ship's phasers, and questioned whether the Organian Peace Treaty was still active. (TOS - Untold Voyages comic: "Renewal")

As with the earlier battle in "Renewal", weapons fire was exchanged in this story between the IKS Rakor and the Enterprise without any response from Organia. Later in 2273, fighting between the Enterprise and the IKS Ghargh was punished by Weyland, an omnipotent being, possibly a member of the Q Continuum, but not an Organian. (TOS novel: Home is the Hunter)

IKS Rakor's sensors, or the crew manning them, performed poorly in this story. Blocking its line of sight was enough to allow a sublight spacecraft to escape. The two Klingons were not detected aboard the Enterprise. The two travel pods were either not scanned before they were destroyed, or scans were unable to tell that they were empty.

Extinction-level events appeared "routine" in this area of space. In addition to the asteroid collision mentioned at the beginning of this story, for which the ship's survey mission to relocate inhabitants was called "routine," a planetary collision was observed from 400,000 kilometers away in the next story, "Aberration on Abaris". Chronologically, a few stories ago, "Tomorrow or Yesterday" also featured an extinction-level event.

After Morg called him a klyshka, Chekov called Morg a pig in Russian (свинья).

A Saurian and a Zaranite were seen in engineering. Part of the face of a hammerhead-like humanoid was visible behind the logo of the comic strip on May 25, 1980. Thobo's species was not named.

BackgroundEdit

Mark Rice was credited with art assists to Warkentin. (Checklist at Hasslein Books website) Rice’s credit appeared alongside Warkentin's on Sunday comics for May 18, May 25, June 1, 8, 15, and 22 (hidden that day within Klingon equipment). The writing credit was printed as "By Thomas Warkentin from a story by Tom Durkin" on Sunday, May 18, 1980.