"Uhura's Story" was the 30th issue of DC Comics' 1984 series of Star Trek comics. It was one of a handful of comics from this era which took place during Captain James T. Kirk's five-year mission aboard the USS Enterprise.
Description[]
- We present a rather pleasant story about missing Enterprise crew members, Uhura violating orders, and a Klingon invasion. Enterprise? Yes, this is a special flashback tale courtesy of Paul Kupperberg, Carmine Infantino, and Ricardo Villagran.
Summary[]
Stardate 9142.50[]
- Captain's log, stardate 9142.50.
- While on routine patrol of the Cryblon system, the USS Excelsior has been diverted by Starfleet to observe seismic disturbances reported by the survey ship USS Wilson taking place on the fourth planet, Tally. This isn't my – or many members of the crew's – first visit to this planet. But it will be our last. Within hours, Tally will be gone.
Saavik is surprised when Uhura picks up a distress beacon with encoding indicating it comes from the Enterprise. The signal comes from an obsolete Enterprise shuttlecraft, the Keppler, in orbit around the planet. Admiral Kirk asks Uhura to give Saavik a full account of the events that led to the Keppler's presence so that Saavik can make a full report of their present mission.
Stardate 1297.80[]
Sulu and his friend Ensign Nelson await Uhura as she approaches them down a corridor. Uhura blows off Sulu's social approaches, giving the two men the impression of coldness. Uhura reports to the bridge, where she also comes across as rude to Parker. Dr. McCoy visits the bridge, and Captain Kirk expresses to him his concern about their new communications officer's distant attitude.
Uhura picks up a Klingon signal. Shortly afterward, the commander of a D7-class Klingon battlecruiser contacts the ship, demanding that the Enterprise leave the sector. He claims that the Cryblon system is Klingon territory despite Kirk pointing out that it is well within Federation space. Spock locates the cruiser behind Tally, and Kirk orders the Enterprise to take up an orbit on the opposite side of the planet. Because the world has no strategic value, Spock suggests that the signal Uhura detected is worth investigating. Kirk has a landing party prepare to beam down. Uhura asks to join them, being an expert on subspace communications, but Kirk denies her request, saying these circumstances require seasoned personnel. With Lee Kelso and Gary Mitchell joking that Uhura "wants to play soldier", she wonders what she has to do to be respected as an officer.
Studying readouts from Tally, she realizes Klingons have set up an outpost on the surface which is protected by a neural-disruptor energy field — it will block communications and interfere with transporters. She warns Montgomery Scott just as the team dematerializes, and he is unable to retrieve them. As senior officer, Mitchell chooses to withdraw the starship out of the system despite Uhura's insistence that the landing party is in deadly peril.
Uhura leaves the bridge and commandeers the shuttlecraft Keppler. She records a log entry noting she'll probably be court martialed, but she is willing to trade her career for the lives of the landing party. On the surface she detects at least 24 Klingons and feels the effects of the neural-disruptor starting to paralyze her. Uhura temporarily negates its effect with counter-frequencies broadcast from her spectrometer, but it's only protecting a small area around her. She finds the landing party comatose, their respiratory systems soon to collapse. Spock is barely conscious and tells her everything is up to her.
- Shuttlecraft Keppler log, supplemental.
- I do not deny that I am scared, feeling all alone on this alien world. But I have good cause for that. I am alone — and that makes it all the more imperative that I not give in to my fears. Too much depends on me.
- The frequency spectrometer is not powerful enough to shield more than myself from the Klingon onslaught. Nor can I risk using the Keppler, either to evacuate the others or to mount an attack on the Klingon base — without knowing what sort of defense net they have set up. Our only chance lies in my destroying their weapon and signaling the Enterprise to return... provided they are still within communicator range. There are so many ifs... and the odds are overwhelmingly against me.
Uhura observes that the Klingon sentries are overconfident, believing their neural-disruptor prevents any intrusion. Taking advantage, she uses hit and run tactics, using the spectrometer to negate whatever protects the Klingon soldiers from the disruptor field, paralyzing them. But the device is weakening, and she only has moments left to act. She adjusts it to emit an ultra-high frequency, capable of causing metal fatigue, and plants it like a bomb near an outpost structure she hopes is the source of the disruptor field. The device goes off, blasting apart the structure, and in the resulting confusion she is able to get back to Keppler, retrieve the landing party, and pilot the shuttle into a low orbit over Tally while the others recover.
Spock spots the Klingon cruiser approaching Keppler. Uhura has been hailing the Enterprise but getting no answer. The cruiser fires a hole through the shuttle's hull, just as Scott safely beams the crew back aboard the ship. Uhura tells Mitchell she's ready to face disciplinary action, but he says that's up to Captain Kirk, who is probably going to be lenient in that she saved his life.
Stardate 9142.50[]
Kirk tells Saavik that the Klingon encroachment in 2264 was handled diplomatically. Thanks to data collected by Uhura, a means of cancelling neural-disruptor fields was built into starship shields. Tally is about to break apart, but Uhura has no need to watch the viewscreen. Her memories of that world remain vivid.
Additional log entries[]
References[]
Characters[]
- Lee Kelso • Kentak • James T. Kirk • Leonard McCoy • Gary Mitchell • Nelson • Parker • Saavik • Sanderson • Montgomery Scott • Spock • Hikaru Sulu • Nyota Uhura • unnamed Klingons (commander • outpost soldiers)
Starships and vehicles[]
- USS Enterprise (Constitution-class heavy cruiser) • USS Excelsior (Excelsior-class explorer) • Keppler (class F shuttlecraft) • unnamed D7 class starships (Klingon battlecruiser)
- Referenced only
- USS Wilson (survey ship)
Locations[]
- Cryblon system (Tally)
- Referenced only
- Benito's • Deneb V • hell
Races and cultures[]
States and organizations[]
Science and classification[]
- autopilot • binoculars • class M planet • comm-beam • comm-link • communications • disruptor rifle • distress beacon • distress call • fourth planet • hail • high altitude orbit • neural-disruptor • phaser • radio • sensor • shields • spectrometer • star chart • stationary orbit • subspace channel • transporter • tricorder • viewscreen
Occupations and titles[]
- admiral • captain • commander • communications officer • doctor • ensign • lieutenant • mister • sentry • soldier • warrior
Other references[]
- alert status (red alert • yellow standby alert) • assignment patch • beam • brain • bridge • captain's log, USS Excelsior • court martial • diplomacy • Federation Starfleet ranks (2260s) • Federation Starfleet ranks (2270s-2350s) • five-year mission • hour • landing party • lifeform • log entry • logic • mess hall • metal • meter • minute • outpost • planet • rock • second • sector • security • space • Starfleet uniform (2265-2270) • Starfleet uniform (2278-2350s) • transporter room • year
Appendices[]
Related media[]
- SNW episode: "Strange New Worlds" – Cadet Nyota Uhura's first Enterprise mission.
- TOS movie: Star Trek – Cadet Nyota Uhura's first Enterprise mission in the Kelvin timeline.
- SNW episode: "The Broken Circle" – Ensign Uhura's first mission aboard the Enterprise.
- The backstory in the comic tells a different version of Lieutenant Uhura's first mission aboard the Enterprise to that told in TOS - My Brother's Keeper novel: Enterprise and TOS novel: Enterprise: The First Adventure.
Background[]
- In the feature film The Lost BoysWP, this issue can be seen on the shelf of comics Sam Emerson (Corey Haim) is looking at in the Santa Carla comic book store where he meets brothers Edgar Frog (Corey Feldman) and Alan Frog (Jamison Newlander).
Errata[]
- The shuttlecraft in this story, the Keppler, has the registration number NCC-1701/7, the same as the Galileo. One might theorize that the number was reassigned to the Galileo after the Keppler was disabled and abandoned in this story. The shuttlecraft on this issue's cover is named Galileo rather than Keppler.
- At one point the officer at the navigation station whispers: "Get her, Kelso. The radio lady wants to play soldier." However, later in the story, Uhura refers to this as "Kelso's whispered aside."
- Kirk and Uhura's uniforms are incorrectly drawn in three of the last four panels of this story. In the first two panels, Kirk and Uhura are wearing their uniforms from the five-year mission even though the flashback has ended. In the third panel, Uhura is still wearing her former uniform even though the other characters are drawn correctly.
Images[]
.jpg "Nelson (Ensign).jpg (421 KB)")
Connections[]
Timeline[]
| Published Order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous comic: The Trouble with Bearclaw |
TOS comics DC volume 1 |
Next comic: The Final Voyage |
| Previous story: Rest and Recreation! |
Stories by: Paul Kupperberg |
Next story: Sargasso Sector |
| Chronological Order | ||
| Previous adventure: The Trouble with Bearclaw |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: Maggie's World |
| The above chronology placements are based on the primary placement in 2285. The Memory Beta Chronology places events from this story in 1 other timeframe(s): | ||
| Previous adventure: Mirror Images, Issue 5 |
2264 | Next adventure: Alien Spotlight: Orions |
| Previous comic: All Those Years Ago... Back Story |
Voyages of the USS Enterprise (NCC-1701), Year One | Next comic: The Legacy of Lazarus |
External links[]
- Uhura's Story article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.