Star Trek: Special
Explore the Star Trek universe with top comics creators!

Summary
From the book jacket

Some of the best writers and artists working in comics and science fiction bring their talents to bear on a universe of tales featuring all the beloved characters and crews from the Star Trek® television shows.

In "Bloodline," Ian Edginton and Carlos Mota explore Captain Kirk's family ties in a high-pressure setting. "A Rolling Stone Gathers No Nanoprobes" teams Paul Neary, penciling again at long last, with Andy Mangels and Mike Martin's story about a Borg attempt to assimilate a planet mostly occupied by rock-like Horta. "When the Stars Come A-Calling," by Ben Raab and John Lucas, reveals the events that made Benny Russell turn to writing science fiction. In "Exercises in Futility," by Stuart Moore and Gordon Purcell, Seven of Nine tries a number of techniques to speed USS Voyager's trip home. Science fiction novelist Christopher Hinz and Tommy Lee Edwards, contribute "The Legacy of Elenor Dain," a moving story that spans two different USS Enterprises and two Captains, Kirk and Picard. And with "The Wake," Star Trek novelist Jeffrey Lang and Eisner winner Steve Lieber help us bid farewell to a much-loved character.

Bloodline
"Captain's log, stardate 9498.3. The Enterprise is responding to a distress call from the science frigate, USS Feynman. The Feynman was studying a unique astronomic phenomenon, the stellar equivalent of a deep ocean, geothermal vent – a "Black Smoker.""

Kirk heads toward the surface in a shuttlecraft, the shields and systems enhanced by Spock. The ship crashes down onto the surface, scattering strange alien creatures everywhere. Kirk is there because his nephew Peter, son of his brother, Sam. Peter accuses Kirk of simply riding in to the rescue and suggests that he could rustle up a blonde or brunette for him. He also tells him that he's a liability, riling up the crawlers and using up flares, the only thing that keeps the creatures away.

Dr. McCoy asks Kirk what Peter is talking about, and Kirk tells him that after Sam and his wife were killed on Deneva, he used up all of his shore leave to spend time with their sons, Peter, Marcus, and Virgil. He also contemplated quitting Starfleet to adopt them, but thought it best that Aurelan's sister take care of them instead, something Peter did not take well. Peter, however, disagrees, blaming Kirk's "monumental ego" for overshadowing his father's scientific legacy. McCoy interrupts the tirade to tell him about the death of Kirk's son at Klingon hands.

Chekov collapses, as one of his oxygen processors is corrupted. Kirk shares one of his tanks with Chekov and they plan on a way to get off of the hunk of rock. Unfortunately, the crawlers are attracted to engine oscillation. They fire their phasers at the rock, slicing an island off. The thrusters they have attached push the island away from the rest of the rock, but the crawlers are coming. Fortunately, they aren't fast enough to catch the island. The vibrations begin to tear the rock apart, and Peter is on a portion that is beginning to break away. Kirk extends his hand and Peter reaches for it. Just as they approach the Enterprise, the two begin to drift apart.

A month later, Kirk stands at the grave of his brother and sister-in-law, laying a bouquet of flowers at it. Peter walks up and thanks Kirk for his recommendation and tells him that he is leaving in an hour with a new expedition to the anomaly. Kirk tells him that he need not thank him, they're family, and then says "but let's not make it goodbye… only au revoir."

Background information
 According the the official Pocket Books timeline presented in , this story is set in 2292, approximately one year prior to the events of .

Creators
 Writer: Ian Edginton
 Artists:
 Carlos Mota (pencil art)
 Keith Aiken (inking)
 Dan Brown (color art)
 Naghmeh Zand (letter art)

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Nanoprobes
"Chief mining engineer Nellis' personal log, Stardate 46918.6: From the outside, Lythos Prime looks pretty inhospitable. Hence, its well-deserved nickname: Rockpile."

The planet Lythos Prime has large deposits of kelbonite and other refractory minerals. The planet is the first discovered that has the mineral composition that can help sustain the mining crew's partners, the Horta of Janus VI. The crew was celebrating the centennial of Rockpile, but some were still working, in order to meet the quotas for when a Tzenkethi freighter arrived in two days to pick up pergium and other high-grade ores. Pr'H'Ska, the chief Horta engineer informs Nellis that a ship is approaching, rapidly and without hail. Despite her voice modulator, her fear was palpable. It was a Borg cube. The Horta tells Nellis and Darey Hawk that the Borg had come to Janus VI a Horta generation ago, but had assumed that mindless rocks were not sentient beings they could assimilate, and had left again.

Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated. Your biological and technological distinctiveness will be added to our own.

Nellis contacts Palmieri in one of the mining tunnels, and tells him to run Intruder Control Scenario Alpha-Three in coordination with Ryan's and Morrill's teams. They fire at the roof of the cavern, bringing it down and blocking the tunnel, forcing the Borg to take an alternate route down toward the carbon-silicon amalgam they have detected. At the bottom of the shaft, they discover that they are out of contact with their ship and cannot return to the surface, nor can they locate the lifeform.

Nellis meets up with Palmieri and they come across a lone Borg drone. As it attempts to assimilate her, Palmieri vaporizes it with his phaser, but not before it tells her that it is not interested in her, but in the amalgam. Nellis hurries back to talk with the Horta, who laughs off the concept of a Human-Horta hybrid. Nellis gives her a tricorder set to give off the life signs of a silicon-carbon hybrid and sends her off to bring all of the Borg to once place.

The Horta heads off and accomplishes her mission within ten minutes, but the tunnel she creates into Nellis' office allows the Borg drones to follow. She turns on the tricorder, making the Borg think that she is the hybrid. She then leads them to the central cavern and leaps away from the Borg onto a banner, dropping the tricorder in the process. the Borg realize that they have been duped, but as they realize, the Horta arrive, en masse.

The Borg are unable to assimilate the rock creatures and are forced back to their cube. With the distraction gone, the mining crew is able to meet their quota, and all returns to normal again.

Background information
 This story is set during the sixth season of , and features none of the regular Star Trek characters.
 According to the creators, Darey Hawk is actually Lt. Hawk's brother, as mentioned in the  Section 31: , and the miner named Palmieri is named after Pocket Books editor Marco Palmieri.

Creators
 Writers:
 Andy Mangels
 Mike Martin
 Artists:
 Paul Neary (pencil art and inking)
 David A. Roach (inking)
 Laura DePuy (color art)
 Naghmeh Zand (letter art)

When the Stars Come A-Calling
Benny Russell is turned away from a third publisher in three weeks because he is a black man. This, despite his writing being beyond superior. 1953 was supposed to be a good year, and Benny had just left the military to return to New York City.

One night, on his way home, he was beaten by Klingons, or so it seemed. He stumbled home, bleeding. Cassie helped fix him up and continued to be optimistic, even though his spirits were slipping. Hallucinations continues, seeing billboards advertising Quark's and warning about the Borg. Aliens walked the streets having replaced all white men, women, and children in the city.

He had to do something, so he began writing about the aliens, continued submitted stories, and on 18 April 1953, he received a letter from Douglas Pabst informing him that his story had been accepted and was about to be published in an upcoming edition of their magazine, Incredible Tales, and inviting him to come meet them.

He arrived at the publisher, expecting the worst, again.

"A pleasure to finally meet you, Mr. Russell. Welcome to Incredible Tales."

Background information
 This story is presented as if it were printed within the Incredible Tales magazine, as prose with comic book artwork in and around it.

Creators
 Writer: Ben Raab
 Artists:
 John Lucas
 Melissa Edwards (color art)
 Naghmeh Zand (letter art)

Exercises in Futility
Stardate 54002.5, local time: 13:16:03
Seven of Nine presents a theory to Captain Janeway, Torres, and Tuvok that might help  return home in a swift manner by creating a series of small wormholes. Tuvok agrees that it is worth trying, but Janeway warns them to do it quietly, and not to get the crew's hopes up too much.

After making modifications, they try out the theory, but the warp core begins to overload. To prevent a full warp core breach, they are forced to eject the warp core, stranding them in the Delta Quadrant with no way to achieve warp speed. Janeway approaches Seven and tells her that the plan was ill-advised, but that she accepts full responsibility for the decision.

Stardate 54002.5, local time: 13:16:04
Seven of Nine presents a theory to Captain Janeway, Torres, and Tuvok that might help USS Voyager return home in a swift manner by creating an artificial wormhole. Despite some possible drawbacks, Janeway okays the plan. They modify the deflector array, and Tom Paris engages the wormhole and takes them into it. Unfortunately, the wormhole destabilizes, ejecting Voyager several hundred thousand light years beyond the edge of the galaxy, a distance that would take them over one hundred years to traverse, but that there are no planets to provide them with replacement dilithium crystals.

Stardate 54002.5, local time: 13:16:05
Seven of Nine presents a theory to Captain Janeway, Torres, and Tuvok that might help USS Voyager return home in a swift manner by using a technique similar to the crew of the . They make the modifications, but a warp core breach ensues, forcing the crew to abandon ship in escape pods, as Voyager explodes.

Stardate 54002.5, local time: 13:16:06
Seven of Nine is tapped on the shoulder by Janeway because she'd frozen up for a moment. Seven tells Janeway, Torres, and Tuvok that she was running simulations on her Borg implants, but they were nothing that need concern the captain.

Background information
 This story is set at the start of the seventh season of .

Creators
 Writer: Stuart Moore
 Artists:
 Gordon Purcell (pencil art)
 John Stanisci (inking)
 Dan Brown (color art)
 Naghmeh Zand (letter art)

The Legacy of Elenor Dain
"Captain's log, Stardate 42315.5. Feeniks-Denn IV has been off limits to Federation vessels for 90 years. Back then, the original  was forced to evacuate the planet's small colony during the onset of a bizarre subspace radiation storm. This storm, which ended only recently, pounded the surface and atmosphere for nearly a century, severely disrupting all electronic systems. Transporters, communicators, sensors, and even simple navigational devices badly malfunctioned. In effect, the storm rendered the planet incapable of sustaining a modern technological society. We have sent a science team down to the abandoned colony to gather data. They hope to develop a way to shield this primordial world from future storms so that someday it might be opened for settlement."

The ship's sensors have picked up a small structure, 3100 miles west of the main colony. William T. Riker assembles an away team with Data, Deanna Troi, Worf, and a security team. Data tells them that there is nothing on the planet than flora. They spot a cabin across a river and head toward it. Inside is the skeleton of an elderly Human female, dead for about 15 years. Troi notes that it must be Elenor Dain.

90 years earlier, Captain Kirk asks Scott if the last of the inhabitants of the world have been beamed up. Scott reports that two people remain on the surface, Elenor Dain and the boy, her six-year old son. Elenor is an artist who "works in the hyper-abstract historical mode using oil paints on two-dimensional canvas". On the surface, Elenor and Esmondo, her son, hurry toward the rendezvous point, carrying some of her artwork, unfortunately, the storm worsens, and the Enterprise can only transport one up, and Kirk tells them to bring the boy. Spock notes that it is "the logical choice".

Troi finishes telling the story of Elenor Dain, and Riker notes his amazement at her prowess and survival. Worf reports that his security team has found a cave 200 yards southwest of the cabin. In the cave, Elenor's paintings can be found everywhere, a legacy of 75 years living alone on the surface of the planet.

Back on stardate 7521.5, Kirk tells Esmondo that he's sorry about what happened to his mother, and admires the painting that Esmondo brought with him, his mother's best work. The boy confides in Kirk that his mother shall return one day.

"Captain's log, stardate 42378.1. For an artist, having your work shown in the Orbital Museum of Himalias V is a stupendous achievement. And consider that dozens of major museums were vying for the display rights, the accomplishment is even more profound."

Picard and Troi admire the artwork, and an old man approaches them, introducing himself as Esmondo Dain. They discuss his mother's work, and he shows them his favorite work.

Background information
 This story is set in 2365, during the second season of , with flashback moments to , not long after the events of .

Creators
 Writer: Christopher Hinz
 Artists:
 Tommy Lee Edwards
 Melissa Edwards (color art)
 Naghmeh Zand (letter art)

The Wake
Set in 2371 at the home of Admiral Dr. Leonard McCoy, retired.
Montgomery Scott drops by to visit, after having returned from his encounter with the Dyson sphere. He tells McCoy that he tired of wandering and that Starfleet has put him up in the shipyards. They discuss the newly commissioned Enterprise and the events that led to the destruction of the prior vessel and the return, and subsequent death, of Kirk. Scotty notes that his prior apparent death aboard the Enterprise-B didn't suit him. He brought a bottle of scotch to drink a toast to their Captain, and the two agree that they haven't seen much of the others of late as it is only times like this that bring them together. Scotty gives McCoy a hologram box picturing their original crew, back in their prime. Scotty asks McCoy about Spock, and learns that he hasn't seen him, since he left for Romulus. Scotty lets himself out and McCoy goes to sleep.

A few hours later, Spock wakes McCoy, who thinks him the Grim Reaper at first. Spock tells him that he returned from Romulus when he heard the news of Kirk's return and subsequent death. McCoy accuses Spock of coming to pay his respects and asks him to drink the scotch that Scotty had poured for him. Spock tells McCoy to go to sleep and begins to leave. Before he gets out, he takes the scotch, raises the glass "to absent friends" and drinks it down.

Background information
 The story is set in 2371, some time after the events of . 
 This appears to be one of Scotty's first meetings with McCoy since the events of . They discuss the events of  and .

Creators
 Writer: Jeffrey Lang
 Artists:
 Steve Lieber (pencil art, inking, and letter art)
 WildStorm FX (color art)

Background information
 This is a collection of six stories from different eras.
 A seventh story, written by  author Rich Handley, was originally slated to appear in the issue but was cut from the final version due to space constraints.

Creators
 Cover art: John Van Fleet
 Editor: Jeff Mariotte

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