Changes: The Flight of the Buccaneer

Revision as of 02:00, 5 April 2019

Kirk betrays Spock and Scotty to divert the suspicions of a space pirate!

Summary

Part I

Undercover on a pirate spaceship, Kirk has betrayed Spock and Scotty, who are about to walk the plank...

Captain's log, supplemental – In this, the 23rd century, where man has learned to sail the sea of deep space, the almost-lost art of piracy has risen from the ashes... The universe is vast and the twelve Federation starships cannot guard all of the infinite spaceways – despite our efforts, the merciless marauders continue to strike... Swiftly, violently, the fierce freebooters strip their victims of any and all valuables and then vanish back into the shadows leaving only burned-out shells that once harboured men...

Captain's log, star date: 3264.3 (Lt. Sulu reporting) – As per the captain's orders, we are pursuing a small space cruiser in the direction of the planet Tortuga VI – interception imminent...

Although Sulu orders an increase of speed to warp five, the Enterprise loses the cruiser when it enters Tortuga's space boundaries. The cruiser lands on the planet, a haven for pirates; its crew, who declare their intention to trade stolen Jovian fire jewels, are Kirk, Spock, McCoy and Scotty disguised as pirates.

In flashback, McCoy recalls Kirk receiving a message from Starfleet Command 48 hours earlier informing him that dilithium supplies had become dangerously low. Starfleet had found half of a map showing the location of a stolen dilithium shipment; the other half was believed to be held by Black Jack Nova, a pirate captain in hiding on Tortuga, outside the Federation's jurisdiction. Starfleet authorized Kirk to take any action necessary to recover the dilithium.

Kirk's party overhear someone speaking of Nova inside a tavern where the pirate captain is drinking. Scotty starts a fistfight by claiming his own captain is a better man than Nova; Kirk, Spock and McCoy join in and defeat Nova's crew, leaving only Nova himself standing. Kirk shows Nova his half of the map, and they agree on a partnership to find the dilithium – but Nova is already planning to kill Kirk and the others.

Nova and Kirk's group travel in a shuttlecraft to Nova's ship, the Windjammer. Nova's first mate, Kreel, shows them their bunks. Later, Kreel overhears Spock warning Scotty not to be too hostile to Kreel and mentioning that they are Federation agents. Kirk sees Kreel listening to Spock and Scotty and realizes what he must do. On the bridge, Kirk tells Nova that Spock and Scotty are Federation spies. Scotty protests Kirk's betrayal, but Kirk says they betrayed him by claiming to be thieves. Nova sentences Spock and Scotty to walk the plank.

In the airlock chamber, Nova tells the two men to don transplastic spacesuits. Spock asks why he is giving them suits, since they would die in seconds without them; Nova replies that he wants them to die slowly as their oxygen runs out. McCoy urges Kirk to save Spock and Scotty, but Kirk tells him they cannot sacrifice the Federation for their two friends' lives. Spock and Scotty are sent through the airlock and float off into space...

Part II

Captain's Log, Star Date: 3246.8 – Under Federation orders to recover a stolen shipment of valuable dilithium crystals, Officers Spock, McCoy, Scott and myself have made contact with the infamous space pirate, Black Jack Nova! When the success of our mission was threatened by discovery, I was forced to sacrifice Officers Spock and Scott to divert attention away from myself! Now as I watch my two best friends vanish into the void – I pray their sacrifice will not be in vain!

As Nova's ship sails away, leaving Spock and Scotty behind, they are beamed aboard the Enterprise, which has been following the Windjammer using the Romulan cloaking device. Back on the Enterprise bridge, Spock orders a course for Taos IV, where the dilithium is located. Sometime later, Enterprise reaches the planet. Spock leads a landing party down to the surface, ordering Sulu to take the ship away from the planet so as not to alarm Nova. Spock plans to let Nova find the dilithium and then confiscate it. However, Spock's party is accosted by Ben Cannon, an old man toting a rifle, who has been spacewrecked on Taos IV for almost a year. Nova's shuttlecraft lands, and Spock, Scotty, Cannon and the others head for it.

Debarking from the shuttle, Nova and Kirk put their halves of the map together. The pirates dig at the spot the map indicates, but find nothing. Nova accuses Kirk of finding the treasure first and pulls a gun on him. Spock shoots the gun out of his hand and Nova runs away. Kirk follows, ordering Spock to contact the Enterprise and have the Windjammer captured. As Kirk searches the jungle for Nova, the pirate drops on him out of a tree. The two men fence, and Nova makes it to the shuttlecraft. As he closes the cockpit canopy, Kirk throws his sword at him but misses. The shuttle takes off, but Kirk's sword has struck one of its generator tubes, and it crashes and explodes. Meanwhile, Spock has used his tri-corder to discover that the dilithium has been dug up and stored in a cave by Cannon, the Windjammer's former captain. He was betrayed by his crew, who took the map and left him to die. McCoy receives word that the Enterprise has captured the Windjammer. Back on the starship, McCoy expresses surprise that piracy still exists in the 23rd century; Spock attributes this to humanity's "violent tendencies."

References

Races and cultures

Human • Vulcan
Referenced only: Romulan

States and organizations

Starfleet • Starfleet Academy • Starfleet Command • United Federation of Planets

Ranks and titles

admiral • captain • doctor • first mate • lieutenant • officer • science officer • spy

Science and technology

airlock • black hole • cloaking device • dilithium • electron cutlass • galaxy • generator tube • impulse engine • oxygen • rocket • sensor • spacesuit • star • starship • stellar wind • stratosphere • transporter • tri-corder • viewscreen • warp drive

Other references

23rd century • Altarian fog • banyan • bridge • cave • Centurian shakes • diamond • fencing • inter-stellar law • Jovian fire jewel • jungle • piracy • planet • prayer • priority one • rat • shovel • silver • soul • Star Date • sword • tavern • transplastic • uniform • vacuum • Venusian Waldorf

Information

Due to artists unfamiliar with the Star Trek series, this issue features Scotty wearing a command division green-gold Starfleet uniform, rather than his proper engineering division red uniform, although in his case the uniform is explainable – as second officer, he can properly wear command colors as an alternative to his regular operations division uniforms. (Scotty makes switches between command and operations uniforms in his last few movie appearances.) However, the other members of Spock's landing party also wear green-gold uniforms, even though they are presumably Security personnel who should wear red uniforms.
McCoy is not actually present for the events of his own flashback.
Kirk tells Nova his real name.
Perhaps influenced by the nautical ambience of Nova's ship, Spock refers to "the vacuum of deep sea".
Surprisingly, Kirk refers to Spock and Scotty (not McCoy) as "my two best friends" in his log entry.
Kirk mentions that he was on the Academy fencing team.
Kirk's log on page 2 establishes the setting as the 23rd century prior it being established in canon in TOS movie: The Wrath of Khan.
This story has been released nine times in English and has been translated 14 times into other languages: French (3x), Italian (3x), German (2x), Portuguese (2x), Dutch, Serbian, Spanish, and Turkish.
The reprint in The Enterprise Logs, Volume 2 omitted page 2, which contained the initial captain's log by Kirk describing the state of piracy in the 23rd century.
The striped-shirt pirate clothing in this story was revisited in TOS comic: "A Thousand Deaths". The Sustainer created a simulation in which Kirk was captain of the HMS Enterprize during an attack by Spock’s pirate ship.

TOS audiobook: The Robot Masters — Kirk, Scott and Pavel Chekov went undercover as pirates to track down stolen robots in the Vega system.
TOS comic: "The Retirement of Admiral Kirk" — Kirk and McCoy joined the crew of the Free Trader freighter Orion, whose owner Morbus was a pirate in the slave trade.
TOS comic: "The Nogura Regatta" – During a starship race, pirates led by captain Sturdevant destroyed the USS Rim Explorer, then targeted the Enterprise.
TOS comic: "Sport of Knaves" — Kirk, Spock, and Scott posed as civilians on lawless Grotus to search for Gharian wedding birds stolen from the Salvum wildlife preserve.
TOS episode & novelization: The Enterprise Incident — Kirk was disguised as a Romulan as part of a ploy to steal a cloaking device.

published order
Previous comic: #11: The Brain Shockers	TOS comics (Gold Key)	Next comic: #13: Dark Traveler
chronological order
Previous Adventure: The Enterprise Incident	Memory Beta Chronology	Next Adventure: And the Children Shall Lead
Previous Adventure: The Enterprise Incident	Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) (2264 to 2270)	Next Adventure: And the Children Shall Lead

Production history

November 1971: First published by Gold Key Comics
1972: Printed in hardcover in Star Trek Annual 1973 (World Distributors Limited)
August 1976: Printed in the omnibus The Enterprise Logs, Volume 2 (Golden Press)
1976: Printed b/w in Australia in Star Trek #26002 (Rosnock Publications)
1976: Printed b/w in Hong Kong and the Philippines in Star Trek #26002 (South Pacific Publications)
June 2004: Printed in the omnibus The Key Collection, Volume 2 (Checker Book Publishing Group)
September 2008: Included on The Complete Comic Book Collection DVD (Graphic Imaging Technologies)
August 2014: Remastered in hardcover in the omnibus Gold Key Archives, Volume 2 (IDW)
22 June 2017: Remastered in hardcover in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection #13 (Eaglemoss)

Translations

1972: German: Serialized over four issues as "Das Piratenschiff" in Zack 1972 #47 - 50 (Koralle)
June 1973: French: As "La Planète Pirate" in Star Trek #6 (1st series) (Remparts)
September 1973: Italian: As "Il Pianeta dei Pirati" in Star Trek Albi Spada #12 (Edizioni Fratelli Spada)
1973: French: In the omnibus Star Trek Album #3 (Remparts)
1973: Spanish: In Domingos Alegres #1103 Viaje a las Estrellas (Editorial Novaro)
1974: Dutch: As "De Vlucht van de Boekanier" in b/w in Star Trek #5 (De Vrijbuiter)
1974: Italian: As "Il Pianeta dei Pirati" in Raccolta Superspada #6 (Edizioni Fratelli Spada)
December 1976: Portuguese: As "O Piratas do Espaço" in Jornada Nas Estrelas #6 (2nd Series) (Abril)
1976: German: As "Das Piratenschiff" in the 228-page omnibus Zack Parade #19
23 May 1978: Portuguese: In b/w in O Caminho das Estrelas #10 (Aguiar)
13 December 1978: Serbian: In Denis #135
1981: Turkish: In b/w digest-size in Uzay Yolu #4 (Alfa)
April 1983: French: In the omnibus Présence de L'Avenir #3: Le Voyageur du Cosmos (Sagédition)
2005: Italian: In the omnibus The Gold Key Collection, Volume 3 (Free Books)

External links

The Flight of the Buccaneer article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.
Best of Gold Key #1-20 article at The Mugato’s Blog.

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 | writer = [[Len Wein]]
 | omnibus = [[The Enterprise Logs, Volume 2]]; [[The Key Collection, Volume 2]]; [[Gold Key Archives, Volume 2]]
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+| published = {{srcdate|1971|November}}
 | format =
 | pages = 25
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 * {{memoryalpha}}
 * [https://themugato.blogspot.com/2016/08/gold-key-comics-tos-1-20.html Best of Gold Key #1-20] article at [https://themugato.blogspot.com The Mugato’s Blog].
 [[Category:TOS comics]]

Memory Beta, non-canon Star Trek Wiki