- For other uses, see Spectre.
"Spectre of the Zond" was a Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip published in 1969. It was the eighth story arc in the UK comic strips series, released in six parts within issues of TV21 & Joe 90. This was the eighth of 11 stories illustrated by Harry Lindfield.
Description
- Teaser, 4 October 1969
- Something strange was happening aboard the Starship 'Enterprise'. Crew members had reported unmistakable physical contact… when there had been nobody else near! Now, in his quarters, Captain James T. Kirk had had his bedclothes ripped off by unseen hands… and watched his uniform flung across the room by some invisible force!
Summary
During a routine exterior maintenance check, crewmen feel invisible hands poking at them. That evening, Kirk awakes to see his uniform shirt levitate. In the briefing room, Leonard McCoy suggests trying to contact any invisible beings on the ship. A communicator floats and opens by itself. Over its speaker speaks a disembodied Zond, who says he is from the nearby planet Vartax and asks for their help. Montgomery Scott and Hikaru Sulu accompany Kirk to the surface, where they find a Zond corpse. The communicator voice explains that primitives had invaded their cities and slaughtered them, but that their personalities survived in a non-corporeal state. It begs Kirk to locate restoration machinery within Vartican caves to rejuvenate their bodies.
Kirk beams down a security squad. Leaving crewman Tremayne to guard a cavern entrance, the rest explore underground tunnels. Shortly they come upon a group of Varticans, but these beings are terrified, not threatening. Sulu runs back to the cave entrance to retrieve a universal translator, but is surprised to find Tremayne dead. After returning with the device, the landing party is able to communicate with the Varticans – who reveal that the crew has been duped. The Zonds were an invading extra-planetary force with invisibility powers who'd captured Vartican cities. At that moment, armed Zond forces turn visible on the bridge and force Spock to surrender. Using the ship's transporters, Zonds maroons the entire crew.
However, Spock has been able to hide aboard the Enterprise. He surreptitiously begins gassing and incapacitating the now-visible intruders. In an abandoned city, Kirk locates a long-range beam weapon capable of destroying his starship. Uncomfortable with killing Spock without a warning, Kirk hails him, just as Spock is sneaking onto the bridge through a secondary entrance. Zonds overhear the hail, and Spock is forced to dive at them, then quickly captures the Zond leader. At gunpoint, Spock forces them all into a space bug and off the ship. The Zonds destroy themselves rather than face an intergalactic court of law.
References
Characters
- Ed • Joe • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Sam • Spock • Montgomery Scott • Hikaru Sulu • Tremayne • Nyota Uhura • unnamed Zonds • unnamed Varticans
- Referenced only
- Pavel Chekov
Starships and vehicles
Locations
Races and cultures
Science and technology
- airlock • communicator • disintegrator • environmental suit • freedom • gas grenade • gun • hammer • phaser • plane of existence • radio • rifle • self destruct • translator communicator • transporter • universal translator • weapon
Ranks and titles
- armaments officer • captain • crew • crewman • doctor • duty officer • envoy • guard • lieutenant • orderly • senior officer • skipper • weapons officer
Other references
- atmosphere • briefing room • cavern • century • city • cudgel • ghost • hour • intelligence • intergalactic law • invisibility • magic wand • maintenance • monkey • parking orbit • planet • quarters • science • security squad • shuttlecraft • sickbay • space • space jitters • star • starship • swamp • war • watch • zoo
Appendices
Related media
- VOY episode: "Basics" – After a hostile takeover, the crew of USS Voyager were marooned on Hanon IV.
- TOS episode & Star Trek 6 novelization: The Lights of Zetar – In 2269, non-corporeal Zetarians attacked the USS Enterprise and Memory Alpha.
- TOS comic: "Experiment in Vengeance!" – In 2273, non-corporeal transporter test subjects attacked the USS Enterprise.
Background
- The story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("Spectre of the Zond") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 1.
- Nyota Uhura assumes command as duty officer during an evening watch.
- Secondary entrances to the bridge were referenced in TOS episode: "Space Seed" and featured in TOS - Log Ten novelization: The Slaver Weapon.
- Although many stories in the UK comic strips series depicted Kirk wearing an operations division shirt, he wears a command division uniform shirt on the cover for October 18, 1969, and wears one of Spock's extra sciences division shirts during the meeting in the briefing room.
- A space bug is referred in narration as a shuttlecraft and transporter. The entire force of Zonds apparently fits within this one space bug. Although claiming only 12 of them survived, at least 22 Zonds are shown boarding the craft.
- Communicators have built-in universal translators in the UK comic strips, foreshadowing this update in later series.
- Space jitters are mentioned to explain unusual ghostly experiences at the beginning of the story, something Montgomery Scott also thought of to explain Mira Romaine's troubles in TOS episode & Star Trek 6 novelization: The Lights of Zetar.
- Spock mentions Vulcan childhood legends of an invisible planet.
- Pavel Chekov is stated as suffering from a throat infection in sickbay, but does not appear. His presence places the story after he first came aboard during the events of TOS comic: "Mister Chekov".
- Hikaru Sulu is identified as the ship's weapons' officer and armament's officer.
Images
Connections
Timeline
| Published Order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous story: The Eagles Have Landed |
TOS comics (UK comic strips) | Next story: Nor Any Drop to Drink |
| Chronological Order | ||
| Previous adventure: To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh Chapters 3-6 |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: Revolt on Dak-Alpha |
| Previous comic: To Reign in Hell: The Exile of Khan Noonien Singh Chapters 3 |
Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Year Two | Next comic: Revolt on Dak-Alpha |
Production history
- The British magazine Joe 90: Top Secret relaunched as TV21 & Joe 90 in September 1969. This was the first Star Trek story produced for the new title and was serialized in two-page sections spanning six issues.
- 27 September, pages 1-2 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #1
- 4 October, pages 3-4 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #2
- 11 October, pages 5-6 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #3
- 18 October, pages 7-8 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #4
- 25 October, pages 9-10 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #5
- 1 November, pages 11-12 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #6
- April 2016
- Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 1 (IDW Publishing)
- 11 May 2017
- Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection, Volume 10. (Eaglemoss)
External links
- Spectre of the Zond article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
