"We Have Met The Enemy..." is the main story in the fourth issue of John Byrne's TOS Assignment: Earth miniseries. Featuring Aegis agents Gary Seven and Isis, and their associate Roberta Lincoln, this story explored the fates of Lincoln's previous employers, Agents 201 and 347.
Description[]
- From solicitations
- Mysterious alien technology. Senseless death. And a growing awareness that there may be those beyond our world who don’t want to see Earth survive! Seven and Roberta face their greatest challenge yet… an invasion from the most distant regions of the Galaxy! The penultimate issue in John Byrne’s first-ever Star Trek spin-off!
Summary[]
Seven enters the New York City Aegis office to find Lincoln using the Beta 5 computer and the long distance transporter to try out different dresses. An automatic alert goes off: a file encrypted three years earlier by prior agents 201 and 347 has been opened by Beta 5. In casual clothes, Seven and Lincoln track the agents' previous whereabouts to the DownRange Motel near McKinley Rocket Base. Via a level-nine bio-scan, they are able to see and hear the agents' conversation in the motel that took place in 1968. The two agents had agreed to encrypt their records because they were investigating Counter Strike activity on Earth. Seven explains that this organization mercilessly eradicates species whose technology advances too quickly. Concerned, Seven and Lincoln continue to follow the agents' prior movements as they drive along Route 949 to Ryerson River, where a truck rammed their car into a bridge pylon, blowing up the car and killing the agents – clearly not the "accident" police reports claimed.
Following up, they visit the sheriff's office in McQuade County. When police start shooting at them, Seven realizes that the officers have been programmed to eliminate anyone investigating the crash. During their retreat, Seven is shot in the shoulder, and Lincoln manages to haul him into their car and speed away with Isis. Unexpectedly, however, the car is transported into a starship and Lincoln comes face to face with a Counter Strike alien. It grabs her, and her servo is ineffective. It grabs Seven by the throat, but a disruption wave by Beta 5 stuns everyone else on the ship. Seven grabs a rifle, blasts them out of the ship, and they are immediately beamed aboard another starship. This ship vaporizes the enemy vessel, and Seven collapses.
A day later, Seven has recovered. The trio are back in their New York office, along with a shape-changing member of the ship's crew. It informs Seven that the police officers have been cured and their memories adjusted. After it beams up, Lincoln asks if they're friends with the people Seven works for. Seven confesses that they are, in fact, the people he works for.
References[]
Characters[]
- Albert • Isis • Jones (Agent 347) • Roberta Lincoln • Gary Seven • McQuade County sheriff • Smith (Agent 201) • unnamed Humans (Albert's wife, motel manager, police officers) • unnamed Aegis
Starships and vehicles[]
Locations[]
- Earth (DownRange Motel • McKinley Rocket Base • McQuade County • New York City • Route 949 • Ryerson River) • the galaxy
Races and cultures[]
- Aegis • Counter Strike • Human
- Referenced only
- humanoid • Vulcan
States and organizations[]
Science and classification[]
- atomic bomb • Beta 5 computer, a.k.a. "Betty" • bioscan • brainwashing • circuitry • computer • Counter Strike rifle • data bank • long distance transporter • orbital weapon platform • pistol • rifle • scanner • servo • shields • technology • teleporter • viewscreen
Occupations and titles[]
- cowboy • sheriff • soldier • special agent • supervisor
Other references[]
- air • beam • century • disruption wave • glasses • honeymoon • hospital • language • lung • memory • minute • month • motel • orbit • planet • sandwich • soda • space • tree • Vogue • year
Appendices[]
Related media[]
- TOS episode: "Assignment: Earth" – Agents 201 and 347 were noted as having died in a traffic accident shortly before Gary Seven arrived on Earth.
Background[]
- As the main story in this issue was two pages short of the twenty-two page quota, the issue also contained a short two-page story, titled "Isis".
- Seven's employers are not named in this issue, but numerous other stories featuring him identify them as the Aegis. The only other comic to have ever pictured the Aegis ("Future Imperiled") showed them as gigantic humanoids which would seem to conflict with their appearance here. However, this issue also showed they have the ability to alter their appearance at will, which might explain this apparent discrepancy.
- Agents 201 and 347 were presented in TOS novel: From History's Shadow as having different sexes, identities, and died for a different reason. Given that changes have occurred in the prime timeline due to the Temporal Cold War (as shown explicitly in canon in SNW episode: "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow"), it's possible for both sequences of events to have happened in different iterations or continuities of the timeline.
- The story's title was the first half of a quote by Oliver Perry, “We have met the enemy, and they are ours,” during the War of 1812. A variant, "We have met the enemy, and he is us," was used famously in the "Pogo" comic strip by Walt Kelly in the 1970s. ("We have met the enemy" article at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum website.)
Images[]
Connections[]
| Media featuring Gary Seven | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Episode | Assignment: Earth | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Miniseries | The Peacekeeper • Convergence • The Eugenics Wars • Assignment: Earth | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Novels | Assignment: Eternity • The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 1 • The Rise and Fall of Khan Noonien Singh, Volume 2 • From History's Shadow • Elusive Salvation | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Short stories | "The Aliens Are Coming!" • "Seven and Seven" • "Assignment: One" • "Rocket Man" • "Time Line" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Comics | "The Peacekeeper, Part One" • "The Peacekeeper, Part Two" • "Split Infinities" • "Future Imperiled" • "Brighter Than a Thousand Suns" • "Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow" • "My Name Is Legion" • "We Have Met the Enemy..." • "Too Many Presidents" • "Ah-Ha!" • "Medics" • "Hosts" • "1971/4860.2" • "An Unexpected Yesterday" • "Year Five, Issue 11" • "Year Five, Issue 12" • "Year Five, Issue 15" • "Year Five, Issue 16" • "Year Five, Issue 17" • "Year Five, Issue 21" • "Year Five, Issue 22" • "Year Five, Issue 23" • "Year Five, Issue 24" | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Timeline[]
| published order | ||
|---|---|---|
| Previous comic: My Name Is Legion |
TOS comics (Assignment: Earth) |
Next comic: Isis |
| Previous story: My Name Is Legion |
Stories by: John Byrne |
Next story: Isis |
| chronological order | ||
| Previous adventure: 1971/4860.2 |
Memory Beta Chronology | Next adventure: Isis |
Production history[]
- 6 August 2008
- First published by IDW Publishing.
- 4 December 2008
- Collected in the Assignment: Earth miniseries omnibus.
- 28 May 2013
- Collected in The John Byrne Collection hardcover edition.
- 31 December 2015
- Collected in The John Byrne Collection paperback edition.
- 9 November 2017
- Collected in Graphic Novel Collection, Volume 23. (Eaglemoss Collections)
Translations[]
- 31 January 2018
- Collected in the Italian release of Graphic Novel Collection, Volume 23. (RCS MediaGroup)
External links[]
- We Have Met the Enemy... article at Memory Alpha, the wiki for canon Star Trek.