Review of
Star Trek the Early Voyages: The Battle On
Rigel, number 3 in the series
Five out of five stars
The crew of the
pilot must battle to survive
This story
features the crew of the original Star Trek pilot, “The Cage,” where the
Enterprise is lured to a planet where the remaining inhabitants have great
mental powers of illusion, but little real capability to do anything else. The “Early
Voyages” sequence of comic stories describes the adventures of the Enterprise
under Captain Christopher Pike, with Number one as First Officer and Spock as
another bridge officer.
In this case,
the Enterprise is on Rigel VII, supposedly to initiate deep contacts between the
planet and the Federation, where Rigel VII will join the Federation. The
society on Rigel VII was recently very warlike with the large and powerful
Kaylar specifically bred to be the elite warrior class. When the story opens,
the Kaylar are conducting the Festival of Light, which honors their code of
battle.
At first,
things seem normal when suddenly, the Enterprise crewmembers on the ground are
cut off and under deadly attack. Captain Pike is lured away from the others by
a beautiful woman that is an aide to one of the high government officials. It
is a trap, yet despite being much smaller than his opponent, Pike is able to
defeat the Kaylar in a maneuver that Star Trek viewers will recognize. Once all
is understood, the Rigellian application to join the Federation is denied,
although what will happen next is not specified.
This story is
very engaging, and in many ways quite realistic. Many of the episodes of all
Star Trek series have as a premise that planets are eager to join the
Federation. It was refreshing to read of an incident where there was strong and
deadly opposition to their planet becoming a member of the Federation.
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