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"The Nogura Regatta" is a TOS comic strip. It is the 13th story in the US Comic Strips series, published daily in newspapers over a period of seven weeks by the Los Angeles Times Syndicate. The story was set during Captain Kirk's second five-year mission aboard the refit USS Enterprise. In this story, ambitious pirates attack Federation starships during a celebratory race.

Description[]

Omnibus teaser
Kyoshi Nogura plans a starship race to honor his grandfather, Fleet Admiral Nogura, but pirates abduct several entrants.

Summary[]

Captain's log: stardate 7760.5.
To celebrate Admiral Nogura's birthday, a group of cadets headed by the admiral's grandson, Kyoshi, have organized a starship regatta.

The race is a rally-style race between six Federation starships. Two other captains participating are Kirk's friend Bob Clark with the Cutter-class USS Rim Explorer and Kirk's former Starfleet Academy student Vera DiMarco with the USS Bold Venture. Kirk's command crew is initially hesitant to participate, but Kirk wins them over with the notion of competing for the pride of Starfleet.

That evening, Kirk has dinner with DiMarco, who tries to get Kirk to reveal weaknesses to the Enterprise left over from their battle with the Kzinti. Kirk says she'd been an unusually aggressive and competitive student. McCoy compares her to a Dalgorian water viper.

LA13-Racers2

Racing ships.

Early the next day, Kyoshi explains the rally-style rules to Kirk's crew. Ships are handicapped to equalize their capabilities, and each is given a sealed pouch to unseal at a designated checkpoint that reveals a mission to complete en route. As a warp twelve cruiser, the Enterprise will depart last. Amongst themselves, Kyoshi and two cadet friends discuss how the race, Kyoshi's psychology term project, is designed to “bring out the best and the worst in all participants".

Clark's ship reaches its checkpoint and is directed to the Hydra Daco system to retrieve a deep-sea batfish. DiMarco tries to break open her pouch before reaching their checkpoint. Enterprise leaves at 0740 hours at warp seven. At its checkpoint, Kirk learns he has to retrieve a Thorian blood rock on a planet deep within Free Trader Lanes, a sector notorious for criminal activity.

LA13-Rim-Explorer-destroyed

USS Rim Explorer destroyed by Free Traders.

Kyoshi's cadets dock at the Free Trader station and meet with Captain Sturdevant, commander of a massive Free Trader pirate starship. Kyoshi pays Sturdevant to delay the racers, but the pirate instead kidnaps the cadets, heads to the Hydra Daco system and destroys Rim Explorer. Focused on the race, DiMarco ignores Rim Explorer's distress call, but the Enterprise diverts and rescues Clark's crew.

Captain's log: stardate 7759.3.
The Enterprise is in orbit around Thoris Amarnis 4

Beaming down, Kirk, Spock, Leonard McCoy and Montgomery Scott find that the blood rocks supply light and heat to local inhabitants, and taking one would be a crime. Feeling like laboratory rats, they choose instead to trade for the rock. DiMarco also feels the race was rigged — Bold Venture's crew had been manipulated into kidnapping a telepathic reptilian — so Bold Venture changes course and joins the Enterprise. Meanwhile, the cloaked Free Trader ship has also arrived in the Thoris Amarnis system. Sturdevant and his fellow Free Traders plot to attack, capture and sell the Enterprise to Klingons.

LA13-Cadets

Kidnapped cadets.

Feeling guilty for the mess they'd created, the cadets escape the brig and deactivate the pirate ship's cloaking device. DiMarco decides to beam aboard and rescue the cadets. Her first officer says the race has changed her, that she wasn't usually “heroic". DiMarco feels guilty for having not rescued the crew of Rim Explorer. Kirk and DiMarco beam aboard the cargo hold of the pirate ship, surprised to see each other. Kirk's blood rock overheats the cargo hold, leading two pirates to investigate. When they don't return, Sturdevant goes to check on the hold, only to find himself at the wrong end of Kirk's phaser pistol. He surrenders, preferring the brig to facing Klingons who'd already paid him for the Enterprise.

LA13-Scotty-racing

Racing to the finish line.

Leaving the system with the cadets, DiMarco suggests a private race, head to head, with no tricks, and Kirk accepts. At warp 11, the Enterprise crosses the finish line 29 hours later, just ahead of Bold Venture, the last to arrive in the official regatta. DiMarco then asks Kirk to dinner in Chinatown.

Chronology[]

1970s
Rallying is a popular form of groundcar racing. (300 years prior to story)
2250s
Vera DiMarco attends a class taught by James T. Kirk at Starfleet Academy.
2274
USS Rim Explorer is destroyed by a Free Trader starship during a starship regatta.

References[]

Characters[]

USS Enterprise crew[]

Pavel ChekovLeonard McCoyJames T. KirkMontgomery ScottSpockHikaru SuluNyota Uhura
Referenced only
Christine Chapel

Other characters[]

CharlieBob ClarkVera DiMarcoMelkisKyoshi NoguraSturdevantUrdiss
Referenced only
Heihachiro Nogura

Starships and vehicles[]

USS Bold VentureUSS Enterprise (Enterprise-subclass refit Constitution-class heavy cruiser) • Free Trader starshipUSS Rim Explorer (Cutter-class cutter) • unnamed Federation shuttlecraft (Starfleet Academy transport) • unnamed Federation starships (unidentified Daedalus-style starship • unidentified Starfleet cruiser • unidentified Cutter-class starship)

Locations[]

Starfleet Command HeadquartersFree Trader Lanes sectorFree Trader stationHydra DacoThoris Amarnis (Thoris Amarnis IV)
Referenced only
Beta VChinatownEarth

Races and cultures[]

HumanThorianUrdiss's speciesVulcanunnamed races and cultures
Referenced only
BebebebequeKlingonKzintiRomulan

States and organizations[]

FederationFree TraderStarfleet (Starfleet AcademyStarfleet Command)

Science and classification[]

Atalskes phaser IVcircuitrycloaking deviceclubcoordinatesdeflector shieldforcefieldinternal combustion enginelaboratorymicroscopenavigation beaconphaserpsychologyradiosensorsensor ghostsubspace communicationtransporterviewscreenwarp engine

Ranks and titles[]

admiralcadetcaptaincommandercriminaldoctorengineerfirst officerhelmsmanpiratescience officer

Other references[]

20th centuryassignment patchbacteriabankbatfishbeamblood rockbridgebriefing roombrigcaptain's log, USS Enterprise, 2274cargo holdcivilizationcolonycrewcrimeDalgorian water viperdistress signaldrydockengine roomFederation Starfleet ranks (2270s)fencinghonorhourlanding partylightlight yearlionlog entryminutemoneymonkeyorbitparsecplanetplantquartersratreptiliansecondsecuritysickbaysnakeStarfleet uniform (early 2270s)Starship classificationsystemtelepathytransporter roomtreewarp factor (warp sevenwarp 10.5warp 11warp 12) • warshipyear

Appendices[]

Related media[]

Background[]

Starships and locations[]

Creator credits[]

  • Previous US Comic Strips writer/artist Thomas Warkentin ghost-illustrated the final two weeks of this story. (Star Trek: Communicator Issue 121: "Forgotten Frontiers") The last 12 dailies were unsigned. In addition to differing art styles that distinguish the two artists, their art could be recognized by the shapes of the panels they used. Ron Harris's five stories used rectangular panels, whereas Warkentin's eight stories used rectangular, curved, rounded and circular panels.
  • Paul Chadwick provided art assistance for this story. (http://www.hassleinbooks.com/pdfs/TrekComics.pdf) Daily strips signed PCRH (Paul Chadwick/Ron Harris) were published on 7/19, 7/20, 7/22, 7/23 and 7/24/82. The strip for 7/21 was signed PCRHTW (Paul Chadwick/Ron Harris/Thomas Warkentin). Chadwick may also have helped with the 7/18 Sunday strip, as its inking style sharply differs from prior and subsequent Sunday strips, yet is similar in style to the art of the dailies credited to him that week.

Images[]

Connections[]

US Comic Strips stories
Stories "Called Home" • "Dilithium Dilemma" • "The Real McCoy" • "Double Bluff" • "Aberration on Abaris" • "Husian Gambit" • "Heads of State" • "It's a Living" • "The Savage Within" • "Quarantine" • "Restructuring Is Futile" • "The Wristwatch Plantation" • "The Nogura Regatta" • "A Merchant's Loyalty" • "Taking Shape" • "Send in the Clones" • "Goodbye to Spock" • "Terminally Yours" • "The Retirement of Admiral Kirk" • "Getting Real"
Collections The Newspaper Comics (12) • Graphic Novel Collection (152434)

Timeline[]

published order
Previous comic:
#12: The Wristwatch Plantation
TOS comics
US Comic Strips
Next comic:
#14: A Merchant's Loyalty
Previous story:
The Wristwatch Plantation
Stories by:
Sharman DiVono
Next story:
latest story
chronological order
Previous adventure:
The Wristwatch Plantation
Memory Beta Chronology Next adventure:
Heads of State
Previous comic:
The Wristwatch Plantation
Continuing voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701)) Next comic:
Heads of State
Production history[]
18 July4 September 1982
Published in daily newspapers. (Los Angeles Times Syndicate)
1 October 2013
Collected in the The Newspaper Comics' Volume 2 omnibus. (IDW Publishing)
12 April 2018
Collected in the Graphic Novel Collection's Volume 34 omnibus. (Eaglemoss Collections)

External link[]

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