"The Void of Storms" was a 20-page TOS comic strip. It was the 34th weekly story arc in the UK comic strips series, published in ten installments in Valiant and TV21 in 1972 and 1973. In this story, the crew of the USS Enterprise inadvertently released a banished coup leader.
Description[]
- Teaser, 6 January 1973
- Traveling in a shuttlecraft to pay an official visit to the planet Zentar, Captain Kirk and Mr. Spock were brought down by an exiled criminal scientist named Zar. Zar's spy, his cousin, Lieutenant Vrett, passed the news of a “crash” to Enterprise, where Scott was in temporary command…
Summary[]
While exploring a previously uncharted system, the USS Enterprise is caught in a turbulent maelstrom, but is rescued by a Zentarian guardship. Making official first contact, James T. Kirk and Spock visit Zentar Watchdog Five, then travel aboard one of their shuttles to Zentar. En route, the shuttle is seized by a tractor beam and forced down by a robot controlled by the criminal Zar. As Pavel Chekov and Hikaru Sulu investigate, Zar silently beams up to the Enterprise with his robot and stows away. The shuttle is found with its door wrenched open, its passengers unconscious in Zar's residence.
Kirk meets with the president of Zentar, who describes Zar's bloody coup attempt that ended with Zar's robot army fleeing to the distant asteroid Zettin and Zar being placed in exile. Technicians devised the Void of Storms to quarantine the asteroid. The president deactivates the turbulent field of radiation so that the Enterprise can depart safety. Once the starship has cleared the dangerous region, Zar deactivates security systems in order to make an escape, but he and the robot are spotted. As they steal a shuttlecraft, they kill a security guard and two crewmen.
Kirk shows images of the incident to the president, who recognizes Zar and realizes he will head for the asteroid to retake control of the robot army. Kirk takes responsibility and promises to go after Zar. The president warns that the Void of Storms will have to be reactivated if Zar escapes — which would destroy the Enterprise and maroon survivors on the asteroid.
Kirk takes command of an assault force of three armed shuttles, but the ships are repelled by imposing weapons fire from the robots on the asteroid. Kirk retreats behind mountains and deploys a probe to assess Zar's outpost facility. Meanwhile, Zar's robots are boarding rockets to invade Zentar. Kirk's shuttles relaunch and strategically bomb the fortress with missiles. A probe locates Zar near the outpost's rocket launch pad. The shuttles target its roof with their final salvos, then retreat as a huge explosion wracks the asteroid. Kirk's shuttle pilot believes they've seen the last of Zar and his robots.
References[]
Characters[]
- Pavel Chekov • Frekk • James T. Kirk • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • Stakka Vrett • Zar • unnamed USS Enterprise personnel (2260s) (bridge crew, crewman, pilot, transporter operator, hangar deck technicians) • unnamed Zentarians (adjutant, pilot, president, Zentar Watchdog Five's bridge crew)
Starships and vehicles[]
- USS Enterprise (Constitution-class heavy cruiser) • Galileo (NCC-1701/1) • NCC-1701/3 (class F shuttlecraft) • NCC-1701/5 (class F shuttlecraft) • rockets • tanks • Zentar Watchdog Five (Zentarian guardship) • Zentarian shuttlecraft
Locations[]
- Zentarian system (Void of Storms • Zentar • Zettin)
- Referenced only
- Jupiter
Races and cultures[]
States and organizations[]
- Empire of Zentar • Federation
Science and classification[]
- airlock • communications • deflector shield • engine • environmental suit • force field • helicopter probe • mind-image recall scanner • missile • particle beam • phaser pistol • radio • stabilizer • tele-video • teleprobe rocket • tractor beam • universal translator • videoscan • viewscreen • Zentarian robot
Ranks and titles[]
- captain • chief engineer • commander • crewman • criminal • executive officer • helmsman • hour • lord • officer • pilot • president • radio operator • scientist • slave • spy • technician
Other references[]
- animal • army • asteroid • beam • bridge • bunker • cosh • coup d'état • exile • film • first contact • government • hangar deck • hurricane • launch pad • memory • metal • moon • mountain • peace • picnic • quarters • second • shuttlebay • space • star • steel • stowaway • tombstone • transporter • war • whirlpool
Appendices[]
Related media[]
- TOS episode & Star Trek 2 novelization: Space Seed – Self-exiled Khan Noonien Singh and his Augments took over the Enterprise.
- TOS comic: "Planet of Rejects" – Exiled Thaxian criminals took over the Enterprise.
- TOS comic: "The Mindless Ones" – The Janvar Five probe, containing minds of exiled Janvarians, took over the Enterprise.
- TOS comic: "The Devil's Isle of Space" – Exiled criminals attempted to trick Kirk into rescuing them.
Background[]
- This story was not printed with a title, but it was given one ("The Void of Storms") for its reprinting in the omnibus The Classic UK Comics, Volume 3.
- Hikaru Sulu was apparently serving a rotation as weapons officer. An unnamed helmsman was seen when Sulu provided an armaments report at the beginning of the story. Sulu took the helm during the assault on Zettin, with the other helmsman perhaps piloting one of the shuttles.
- The Enterprise carried four shuttles in this story: Galileo (NCC-1701/1), NCC-1701/3, NCC-1701/5 and an unidentified fourth class F shuttlecraft.
- This story takes place following Pavel Chekov's transfer to the Enterprise but not necessarily after his permanent bridge crew assignment shown in TOS - The Modala Imperative comic: "A Little Seasoning". Although he and Hikaru Sulu beamed down to Zentar to check on the crashed shuttle, Chekov provided an engineering status report and did not take the navigator's station.
- Valiant and TV21 cover illustrations during the run of this story: #64 Charlie Williams, #65 Ebenezer Scrooge, #66 Jimmy Logan, #67 Thomas Edison, #68 Michael Caine with a Supermarine Spitfire, #69 Harry Secombe, #70 Wild Bill Hickok, #71 Rod Steiger as Napoleon, #72 Emerson Fittipaldi, and #73 Alexander Fleming.
Images[]
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous comic: The Saboteur Within |
TOS comics (UK comic strips) | Next comic: Spheres of War |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous adventure: The Mindless Ones |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: Mister Chekov Last page |
| Previous comic: The Mindless Ones |
Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Year Two | Next comic: Mister Chekov Last page |
Production history[]
- This story was serialized in two-page sections over ten consecutive weeks in Valiant and TV21 magazine. All issues were 36 pages, with the Star Trek segment printed in color on pages 18-19.
- 16 December 1972: Pages 1-2 published in Valiant and TV21 #64.
- 23 December 1972: Pages 3-4 published in Valiant and TV21 #65.
- 30 December 1972: Pages 5-6 published in Valiant and TV21 #66.
- 6 January 1973: Pages 7-8 published in Valiant and TV21 #67.
- 13 January 1973: Pages 9-10 published in Valiant and TV21 #68.
- 20 January 1973: Pages 11-12 published in Valiant and TV21 #69.
- 27 January 1973: Pages 13-14 published in Valiant and TV21 #70.
- 3 February 1973: Pages 15-16 published in Valiant and TV21 #71.
- 10 February 1973: Pages 17-18 published in Valiant and TV21 #72.
- 17 February 1973: Pages 19-20 published in Valiant and TV21 #73.
- 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 Void of Storms article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.