"The Perithees Alliance" was an 18-page Star Trek: The Original Series comic strip. It was the 32nd weekly story arc in the UK comic strips series, published in nine installments in Valiant and TV21 in 1972. In this story, the Federation seeks an alliance with the Perithees system.
Description[]
- Omnibus teaser
- Hoping to secure an ally against the Romulans, Kirk welcomes Ambassador Sork of the Perithees Planetary System to the Enterprise. The Romulans, however, abduct the dignitary from Kirk's care to sabotage negotiations.
Summary[]
Ambassador Sork visits the bridge of the USS Enterprise. When an unidentified vessel drifts into range, it piques his curiosity. Kirk reluctantly agrees to let him accompany Pavel Chekov's boarding party. The four people enter an airlock to find the spacecraft undamaged and empty. Suddenly the ship blasts away, firing a weapon that temporarily disables the Enterprise.
Admiral Voysey and Kirk agree that the vessel had been a trap, and that only the Romulan Empire would benefit from a failed alliance. The Enterprise heads for Tekton, the nearest Romulan-controlled planet. Once in orbit, Spock detects heat signatures consistent with a rocket landing. Kirk and Spock dematerialize in the transporter, but at the last second Montgomery Scott realizes their coordinates are locked onto a volcano and quickly deflect the beam. They rematerialize in a jungle, alive but unconscious, and are found by sentient ape-like Tektonians. After recovering, Spock realizes the apes are non-hostile, but his communicator is damaged and he doesn't have a universal translator. Soon afterward, a probe from the Enterprise spots Kirk and Spock with the apes. Hikaru Sulu beams down with a translator, and after a discussion the Tektonians lead the three officers to a Romulan base.
Scheming to derail an alliance, the base's commander had allowed Chekov and Sork's team to escape from their prison cell, but booby-trapped a nearby rocket. Sork will appear to die at the hands of the Federation. Kirk, Spock and Sulu sneak into the base and locate Chekov and Sork. Together they dodge weapons fire and escape in the rocket. But Kirk smells a trap. Kirk locks the rocket's helm controls, and then all seven beam back to the Enterprise —the rocket flips over and crashes into the base.
Sork appreciates Kirk's resolve and agrees that they should become allies.
References[]
Characters[]
- Auguston • Pavel Chekov • Beggs Hansen • James T. Kirk • Montgomery Scott • Sork • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • Voysey • unnamed Tektonians • unnamed Romulans
Starships and vehicles[]
Locations[]
Races and cultures[]
States and organizations[]
- Federation • Romulan Empire • Starfleet (command division • operations division • sciences division)
Science and technology[]
- airlock • communicator • computer • convulsor • coordinates • electromagnetism • engine • grenade • gun • helm • library computer • mass-nullifier • missile • phaser • pistol • radio • remote control • rifle • rocket • science • sensor • shield • tele-probe • tele-scanner • thermal detector • tracker • type-2 phaser • universal translator • weapon
Ranks and titles[]
- admiral • ambassador • armaments officer • captain • chief engineer • commander • commanding officer • crewman • ensign • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • guard • helmsman • jailer • officer of the watch • rank • sentry • skipper • Starfleet ranks
Other references[]
- alliance • alpha watch • ape • assassination • assignment patch • atmosphere • beam • bridge • cat • cave • city • colony • fourth dimension • gas • gravity • helmet • hostage • jungle • lifeform • minute • orbit • prison • radiation • second • sign language • space • star system • Starfleet uniform • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • transporter room • tree • universe • volcano • Vulcan nerve pinch • yard
Appendices[]
Related media[]
- TOS comics: "The Marshall Plan", "Key Witness", "Shell Game" – Other stories featuring Romulans in the UK comic strips series.
- TOS comic: "The Mummies of Heitius VII" – Reappearance of the Romulan vessel.
- TOS comics: "Beware the Beast", "The Primate Directive", "All the Infinite Ways" – Other encounters with sentient apes.
Background[]
- This story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("The Perithees Alliance") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 3.
- A vessel identical to the Romulan's decoy ship subsequently appeared in a Gold Key Comics story published in November 1973, "The Mummies of Heitius VII" as a Romulan border patrol ship. This story would have to take place prior to the Gold Key Story, otherwise it would have been recognized as Romulan, and the landing party would not have brought the ambassador along.
- Admiral Voysey's hair is colored brown in this story, making him look younger than in his other three appearances.
- Romulans in this story wear helmets, had pointed eyebrows, and do not wear Roman clothing, which makes them look more like canon Romulans, although they are not drawn with pointed ears. In their next and final appearance in the series, arc #36 "Shell Game", they are finally drawn with pointed ears, but go back to having human eyebrows and wearing Roman clothes.
- The Romulan headquarters building is identical to the Federation Council building seen in "To Rule the Universe", except with stairs at the bottom.
- A Tektonian calls Kirk shrewd, a word Keras also uses to describe him in TOS episode: "Balance of Terror".
- The ship's helmsman, Beggs Hansen, also appears as a helmsman in two episodes of TOS. His name is spelled "Hanson" here.
- Valiant and TV21 cover illustrations during the story's original weekly run: #48 Cecil Rhodes, #49 Rolf Harris, #50 Robert Louis Stevenson, #51 Johnny Weissmuller, #52 Engelbert Humperdinck, #53 Glenn Ford, #54 Sitting Bull, #55 Edward Woodward, #56 Herbert Kitchener.
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous comic: The Mindless Ones |
TOS comics (UK comic strips) | Next comic: The Saboteur Within |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous adventure: Shell Game |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: The Truth Machine |
| Previous comic: Shell Game |
Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Year Two | Next comic: The Truth Machine |
Production history[]
- This story was serialized in two-page sections over nine consecutive weeks in Valiant and TV21 magazine. Issues 49 and 50 were 36 pages, with the Star Trek segment printed in color on pages 18-19. Issues 48, 52, 53, and 54 were 40 pages with the segment printed on pages 20-21. Issues 51, 55, and 56 were 44 pages with the segment printed on pages 22-23.
- 26 August 1972: Pages 1-2 published in Valiant and TV21 #48.
- 2 September 1972: Pages 3-4 published in Valiant and TV21 #49.
- 9 September 1972: Pages 5-6 published in Valiant and TV21 #50.
- 16 September 1972: Pages 7-8 published in Valiant and TV21 #51.
- 23 September 1972: Pages 9-10 published in Valiant and TV21 #52.
- 30 September 1972: Pages 11-12 published in Valiant and TV21 #53.
- 7 October 1972: Pages 13-14 published in Valiant and TV21 #54.
- 14 October 1972: Pages 15-16 published in Valiant and TV21 #55.
- 21 October 1972: Pages 17-18 published in Valiant and TV21 #56.
- September 2017
- Reprinted in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 3. (IDW Publishing)
- 16 July 2020
- Reprinted in the omnibus Graphic Novel Collection, Volume 121. (Eaglemoss Collections)
External link[]
- The Perithees Alliance article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.