As the God City of T’Kon awakens, the crew of the USS Theseus try to avert a deicide and Worf meets a familiar face. Afterwards, a renegade Worf, joined by a crew of misfits and mutineers, hijack the USS Defiant in order to save the galaxy. Star Trek #5 written by Collin Kelly and Jackson Lanzing, with art by Ramon Rosanas and Erik Tamayo, colors by Lee Loughridge and letters by Clayton Cowles. Star Trek: Defiant #1 written by Christopher Cantwell, with art by Ángel Unzueta, colors by Marissa Louise and letters by Clayton Cowles.
Tony Thornley: Mark, I feel like there’s a lot we should have seen coming in these two issues, yet I was pleasantly surprised throughout. I’m impressed that we’ve gotten such a consistent series so far, and to see the spin-off nail it pretty quickly too…
Mark Turetsky: This reminds me of the very beginning of Marvel’s Star Wars re-launch, with two interconnected series that wove in and out of each other. And hey, those had Heather Antos editing them as well, didn’t they?
Tony: It’s almost like IDW knew exactly what they were doing with this launch or something.
Fall Of The God City (Star Trek #5)
Tony: We start right where we ended last issue. Kahless is revealed as our God-killer, with his frightening red Warbird. As the crew of the Theseus scrambles to prevent another murder, we learn that Kahless didn’t just get a god-killing weapon from the Sarkadesh, but advanced shields and transporters as well. That means boarders on the Theseus!
Of course, that means the crew needs to repel the boarders, which Worf immediately springs into action as Chief of Security. And that sends him into direct contact with one hostile in particular — none other than his son Alexander, who has whole-heartedly joined the Red Path!
What did you think of this HUGE reveal?
Mark: In previous reviews, I’ve mentioned Kahless’ similarity here to the various ultra-right wing would-be despots that have been popping up all over the world. And who are they especially effective at recruiting? Disaffected young men who feel their lives lack purpose, or who feel that the things that should be theirs by right have been denied them.
The last time we saw Alexander was at Dax and Worf’s wedding in “You Are Cordially Invited,” and before that, his only appearance on Deep Space Nine was in “Sons and Daughters.” Worf may be an excellent warrior and one of the most notable Klingons of his era, but he is a terrible father, and Alexander’s file seems to call that out as well. It’s a surprise that he’s joined up with Kahless, but I’m not at all shocked by the development.
Tony: Yeah, that’s exactly what I was thinking too. Alexander is young and vulnerable, he’s had a relationship with his father that’s strained at the best of times, and in his last on-screen appearances, he was trying desperately to connect with his Klingon culture. Even taking the real world parallels out of it, that’s ripe for a cult recruiter as well.
This twist adds a HUGELY personal element to this affair not just for Worf but for other former members of the Enterprise crew too. Though Ben and Jake didn’t really interact much with Alexander on DS9, Crusher and Data were close with Worf while Alexander was aboard the Enterprise. This is just a great storytelling move in general, and the art sells it so well. That splash page revealing Alexander threw me, in the best way. I love a good page turn like that.
Mark: And kudos to the creative team for keeping his presence under wraps, considering his showing up is the catalyst which launches Star Trek: Defiant (let’s face it, though, he’s on the cover of this issue).
The other big revelation of the issue comes in a visitation from The Prophets, where Sisko learns that Kahless’ godkiller weapon is one of the Tears of the Prophets: the Orb of Destruction. There’s a bit of a retcon here, in that the Prophets tell Ben that they sent ten orbs, when DS9’s “Emissary” says that there are only nine. Still, that’s an easy hand-wave, since the earlier number wasn’t stated by the Prophets, but rather that’s just the number that the Bajorans found. We only learned the names of five of the orbs on the show, and it makes sense that the Bajorans never found the Orb of Destruction, or else the Cardassian occupation might have turned out very differently.
Tony: We keep seeing these natural choices being made in this series. A lot of projects in these big well-known franchises are simply love letters to the franchise. This series is a good example of how to write a story that’s both loving homage to what came before and still an excellent action and adventure story.
The fact that the Orb of Destruction even exists is a fantastic idea. The Prophets are typically held up as a generally benevolent, if detached, pantheon. Though Sisko struggled with them often, they still were omnipotent benefactors. (I know I’m grossly oversimplifying here.) The fact that an Orb exists that’s as destructive and powerful as this casts their… everything into doubt. Almost makes them seem no better than the Pah Wraiths, or other malevolent forces.
Mark: Don’t forget that The Prophets also erased an entire Dominion fleet from existence when they tried to pass through the wormhole. It mirrors Kahless’ previous victory against the Klingon “gods” (which this series implies were simply advanced aliens, roughly on the level of the Federation or the present-day Klingons): he steals their weapons to use against them. The real question is if he’ll be able to keep using them. The Prophets, the Q, the Crystalline Entities, they’re not really akin to us meat-based life forms.
Anyway, Kahless shows his true colors: when someone foils his plan, when the Theseus puts up a better fight than he was expecting, he does what all petty dictators do when they’re personally threatened: he runs and hides.
Tony: But damage is already done. They’ve fired on the God City. Sisko is able to minimize the damage through use of shield emitters, but the being at the heart of the God City is pissed. It’s a fantastically chaotic cliffhanger at the end of a very chaotic issue.
So at the end of Star Trek #5 Data is in command, trying to hold the ship together. Ben, Jake and Crusher are on T’Kon as the City is crumbling apart around them. Worf is in hot pursuit of Kahless, and the god-like squid creature at the heart of the God City has broken free and is in extreme pain and anger.
Mark: Don’t forget that Jake is injured, possibly dying, with Sisko shouting to the Prophets, specifically to his mother, not to take Jake away from him. There’s definitely something Freudian in that. Still, I don’t think they’d kill off Jake here, especially since we know about the conversation that Sisko is destined to have with him (hinted at last month).
Tony: Oh, absolutely. I haven’t seen an all action issue drive plot and character so well in a long time. So much happened in 21 pages here, and the entire creative team just did fantastic work to make it feel so hefty.
Going Rogue (Star Trek: Defiant #1)
Tony: This issue just dives right into the deep end as well. I think, to be clear, there is no picking up Defiant without picking up the parent title. This issue basically starts in the middle of Star Trek #5. That’s great for showing how important these books are for one another. Not so great for anyone only interested in Defiant.
Though let’s be real, who wouldn’t want to be reading the flagship at this point?
Very quickly, we bridge the gap between Worf’s frantic pursuit of Kahless and the Red Path, and Worf aboard the Defiant. Immediately after what we saw in Star Trek #5, Worf is shot down and ends up in Romulan space, coincidentally on the exact planet on which Ambassador Spock currently resides.
Mark: It’s Chaltok IV, a planet that’s been mentioned a couple of times, once on Voyager and just a few weeks ago on Picard (it’s where Laris is going in order to do her Very Important Work). It’s funny that it’s been mentioned so few times, and never shown onscreen, but it’s famous in-world for leading to a ban on polaric weapons. Anyway, it’s fun to see Spock again, since he’s canonically still very much around and still plugging away at reunification in this era (and if you watch Discovery, you’ll know that his efforts ultimately succeed in the far future!).
Tony: I missed that reference. What a great tie. Though Spock’s presence threw me a little at first, once the flashback catches up, his inclusion feels so natural. Worf needs strong allies on several levels, and of course Spock would see stopping the Red Path as logical. As a scientist, he would know that their murders would begin to unravel spacetime. Plus Worf needs someone with active command codes to pull off what he’s planning. It’s just layers on layers.
And the rest of the crew from there just builds slowly and — as Spock would say — logically.
Mark: Apart from Spock, the crew is made up of the biggest rogues in the fleet. We’ve got B’Elanna (now that she’s back in the Alpha Quadrant, she’s viewed as Maquis scum, despite her service on Voyager), Ro Laren (sprung from a Federation prison) and as their science officer, Lore. Lore’s saved for the final page reveal, so it’s a bit of a shame the surprise of his presence is given away on the cover. Still, the crew is a fun counterpart to the crew over in the flagship comic. Where Star Trek has Starfleet’s best and brightest, Defiant gets the most devious.
Tony: B’Lanna’s frustration at being an outcast is such a highlight. She proved herself so well in Voyager, but even with what everyone did to get Voyager home, some of the crew was sure to slip through the cracks. Thanks to Prodigy and Picard, we know the fates of a fair chunk of Voyager’s crew.
Mark: Lower Decks shows us that Tom Paris got his own commemorative collectible plate collection!
Tony: You know Tom doesn’t stop talking about that.
I’m glad we got to see that not everyone was elevated as a hero and lauded as such. Seven struggled, for sure, but not in this way. It makes me wonder about The Doctor, who’s the next most obvious Voyager crewman to suffer a similar fate to Torres.
And Ro. Is there any recurring character in the entire franchise with more potential? I get Michelle Forbes not accepting a series regular role for whatever reason, but I’m so glad we finally get to have Ro developed as a regular in a series.
I love Lore’s fate. Last we saw him onscreen chronologically was “Descent, Part 2“, correct?
Mark: Yes, Data deactivated and dismantled Lore, and while he hasn’t shown up yet, rumor has it that Spiner will be reprising the role of Lore in this season of Picard. It ought to be fun seeing this comic dance between the raindrops of however they end up using the character on the show. The other major character whose presence is felt, even if her character doesn’t show up on panel, is Sela, another character with a ton of potential that never really got much resolution. It’s great, because with the “Unification” two parter, her story is closely tied to Spock’s during this era. I can’t wait to see how she gets used here.
Tony: That data page was a fantastic slow build. I love that DS9 introduced the equivalent of the CIA for each galactic player. Section 31, the Obsidian Order, the Tal Shiar… Sela having an antagonistic presence in this series is an exciting tease.
Mark: I also loved seeing the friction between Torres and Ro, the Starfleet officer turned Maquis and the character who made the opposite journey.
Tony: Definitely! Torres practically spitting at her for not actually being a true believer, even after Torres’ own journey, is a great sign of things to come.
I really liked that Ro’s presence is just as the scapegoat. Worf and Spock need to come out of this with some plausible deniability (after all, we do see them both in good standing after this chronologically). I know she’ll have an active role in the stories to come, but it’s a great reason to have her here besides “you have flexible ethics, we need flexible ethics, let’s go!” After all, you can’t really add more time onto a life sentence.
Mark: She’s also their pilot!
Tony: Even though Star Trek Defiant #1 is mostly set-up, it’s a fun issue. It plays with character dynamics and gets ahead of the picky “yeah, but how?’ questions that may come up. Angel Unzueta’s art isn’t very dynamic at the moment, which normally bothers me when the artist is relatively photo-realistic, but here it works. We’ll see him get plenty of opportunities to cut loose soon, I’m sure.
What did you think?
Mark: I think it’s a worthy addition to this line of (two) comics. I’m excited to see how these two series tie up the Kahless plot, but even more about how they continue afterwards, assuming they do. Both crews seem so incredibly ad hoc and it’ll be interesting to see what holds them together once this initial threat is taken care of.
Prepare Yourself for Warp 10 Excitement!
- I know the Defiant was built for a skeleton crew, but also a crew of only five seems pretty sparse. Wonder if they’ll pick up more, including any faces we know.
- Thomas Riker, Will’s transporter double, ended up in a Cardassian prison as a member of the Maquis right before the Dominion War. The common wisdom has it that the Dominion executed him along with the rest of the Maquis, but we never got confirmation of it. As far as dark reflections of Trek characters go, he’s right there!
- And also, what with all of the Maquis people showing up, might we get Eddington joining our gang?
- Wait. What if Nick Locarno shows up?
- Both of these issues made me miss Jadzia pretty badly.
Tony Thornley is a geek dad, blogger, Spider-Man and Superman aficionado, X-Men guru, autism daddy, amateur novelist, and all around awesome guy. He’s also very humble.
