"The Klingon Ultimatum" was a 12-page Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip published in 1970. It was the 11th story arc in the UK comic strips series, released in six parts within issues of TV21 & Joe 90. This was the last of 11 stories illustrated by Harry Lindfield. In this story, the Klingon Empire aimed a metaweapon at Earth.
Description[]
- Teaser, 24 January 1970
- Despite an uneasy peace treaty that had lasted for several years, the warlike powers of the Klingon Empire had secretly longed for the means of smashing their sworn enemies in the space Federation. Now, at last, their ruthless leaders were ready for an act of supreme treachery…
Summary[]
A Klingon strike raider makes a surprise attack on the USS Enterprise. Stunned by their audacity, James T. Kirk pursues the raider to the uninhabited planet Seggor, then accompanies a team in an armed shuttlecraft to the surface, but they are unable to locate the raider. A hidden Klingon guard kidnaps crewman Hoskins, dragging him underground to a secret base. There, he becomes a living test subject for the granulator, an experimental weapon. Hoskins is returned to the team via a lift shaft. When Kirk reaches to touch him, Hoskins collapses into a pile of dust.
To lessen risks, Kirk beams up all but Hikaru Sulu and himself. Suddenly they are captured by Klingons and taken into the base. The professor in charge uses the granulator to return Hoskins to normal. He then turns their shuttle to dust, through its force field. The granulator has limitless range and can disintegrate anything. He then gives Kirk an ultimatum: procure the surrender of the Federation, or he will fire their weapon of mass destruction at Earth. Completely demoralized, Kirk and his crew beam up.
Kirk updates his senior officers, but Montgomery Scott won't accept their fate. He tells Leonard McCoy that perhaps Kirk has been hypnotized or duped. Before McCoy can stop him, Scott transports to the surface. Kirk is forced to leave Scott behind and leave orbit. Meanwhile, Scott adjusts his communicator to act as a sonar scanner and locates an access point into the base. He sneaks in, knocks out a guard, and jams the firing mechanism before he is discovered. He then scrambles to the surface and calls for emergency beam-out. Klingons target the Enterprise, but the weapon backfires, destroying itself, the base and a dozen square miles of the surface. Kirk says he would have court martialed Scott for mutiny had he not just saved the Federation.
References[]
Characters[]
- Hoskins • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Meng • Montgomery Scott • Sondar • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • unnamed USS Enterprise personnel (2260s) • unnamed Klingons (captain, commander, guard, professor)
Starships and vehicles[]
Locations[]
Races and cultures[]
States and organizations[]
Science and technology[]
- bombarder • communicator • disintegrator • engine • force field • granulator • gun • hydraulic lift • lift shaft • metaweapon • phaser • phaser rifle • rifle • scanner • sonar • transporter • viewscreen
Ranks and titles[]
- captain • chief engineer • commander • crew • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • guard • lieutenant • officer • professor • skipper • Starfleet ranks • weapons officer
Other references[]
- beam • court martial • devil • hypnotism • mile • metal • mountain • mutiny • peace treaty • pirate • planet • standby stations • second • star • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • starship • universe • video • war • year
Chronology[]
- The Klingons were said to have tried more than once to provoke another war.
- The existence of the metaweapon suggests a placement prior to signing the Organian Peace Treaty in 2267. After that time, Organians would render the weapon inert. (TOS episode & Star Trek 2 novelization: Errand of Mercy)
Appendices[]
Related stories[]
- TOS episode & Star Trek 6 novelization: By Any Other Name – In 2268, Kelvans used a portable device with similar granulating capabilities to convert the Enterprise crew into porous cuboctahedrons, then later returned them to normal.
- TAS episode & Log Four novelization: More Tribbles, More Troubles – In 2269, the IKS Devisor tested a Klingon prototype stasis projector on the USS Enterprise.
- TOS comic: "War in Space" – In the 2270s, Klingons tested a powerful gravitational field weapon on the Enterprise.
Background[]
- The story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("The Klingon Ultimatum") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 1.
- The teaser for the fourth segment, "Mutiny on the Enterprise!", would later become the title of a Pocket Books novel in 1983.
- This story contained the final Star Trek comic strips drawn by Harry Lindfield.
- Beginning with the edition published February 28, 1970, the various serialized comics in TV21 & Joe 90 were reordered, with the center spread now devoted to color photos of local English soccer teams. The only other color position, pages 4-5, was taken by the Gerry Haylock-drawn Land of the Giants comic strip, leaving the pages of Star Trek to be printed in black and white.
- Black and white production affected the final segment of this story as well as each segment of the next story, "The Marshall Plan". Artist Jim Baikie drew the b/w strips.
- The Klingons had an unusual appearance in this story, looking like a hybrid of QuchHa' and HemQuch Klingons, and might belong to an unnamed splinter species. This variety of Klingon would be seen again in "Mutiny on the Dorado".
- Feeling completely defeated and hopeless, Kirk envisioned no defense for the Klingon metaweapon. However, given the extreme danger to the Federation, Kirk could have issued General Order 24, moved the Enterprise out of the weapon's line of sight, and then launched tricobalt devices to annihilate the planet along with the weapon.
- Scott creatively turned his communicator into a sonar scanner to measure density below the surface.
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous story: Menace of the Moloth |
TOS comics (UK comic strips) | Next story: The Marshall Plan |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous adventure: Voyage of Discovery part 3 |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: Smoke and Mirrors |
| Previous comic: Voyage of Discovery part 3 |
Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Year Two | Next comic: Smoke and Mirrors |
Production history[]
- This story was serialized over six issues of TV21 & Joe 90 magazine in two-page sections.
- 24 January, pages 1-2 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #18
- 31 January, pages 3-4 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #19
- 7 February, pages 5-6 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #20
- 14 February, pages 7-8 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #21
- 21 February, pages 9-10 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #22
- 28 February, pages 11-12 published in TV21 & Joe 90 #23 (in black and white)
- 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[]
- The Klingon Ultimatum article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.