Paradise Lost!

Return of the serpent! (Part 1 of 3)

Log entries

 * Captain's log, stardate 8954.8 : The Enterprise'' and her crew are in a stable orbit around the class M planet Gamma Trianguli VI...
 * ...Once a thriving paradise, Gamma Trianguli VI was a veritable Eden in space sector 18... Until I interfered.


 * Captain's log, stardate 8955.4 : Executive Officer Sulu recording... The Enterprise'' maintains her orbit around Gamma Trianguli VI... And all goes well...

Background Information

 * This story takes place about 20 years after the events of, and is the first installment of the three-part Return of the Serpent storyline.

Creators

 * Based on Star Trek created by Gene Roddenberry
 * Writer: Mike Carlin
 * Artists:
 * Tom Sutton (pencil art)
 * Ricardo Villagran (inking)
 * Michele Wolfman (color art)
 * Agustin Mas (letter art)
 * Joe Brozowski (cover pencil art)
 * Bob Lewis (cover inking)
 * Editor: Robert Greenberger

Regular and recurring characters

 * James T. Kirk : USS Enterprise (NCC-1701-A) commanding officer, a Starfleet captain.
 * Spock : Vulcan Half-Vulcan Starfleet captain serving as Enterprise-A exec and science officer.
 * Leonard McCoy : Enterprise-A CMO, a Starfleet commander.
 * Montgomery Scott : Starfleet captain serving as Enterprise-A chief engineer.
 * Pavel Chekov : Enterprise-A security chief, a Starfleet commander.
 * Uhura : Enterprise-A communications officer, a Starfleet commander. Uhura does not have any lines in this issue, but can be seen seated on the bridge in a couple of panels.
 * Hikaru Sulu : Enterprise-A helmsman and executive officer, a Starfleet commander. Sulu is left in command while the landing party visits Gamma Trianguli VI. ''It seems unusual that Sulu would consider himself to be executive officer in light of the fact that ranking officer Captain Scott was still aboard while Captains Kirk and Spock were on the surface, although it is possible he was using the term in a more general sense, referring to an officer commanding the bridge as part of his regular duties.

Other characters

 * Akuta : Leader of the Vaalites, a sect of Vaalians that still wished for Vaal to return so that they could again serve him. IN the two decades since the fall of Vaal, Akuta had become aged without the beneficial protections of Vaal's energy fields.
 * Nancy Bryce : Human Starfleet ensign assigned as Enterprise-A navigator. Bryce was separated from the landing party when Makora drugged the group, and she awoke in a harem tent with native women. She thought she could escape, but did not move fast enough to do so before the women realized she had come to.
 * Makora : Leader of the main population of Vaalians when the landing party arrived in the 2280s. Makora had tried to remember and emulate the ways of the original Federation landing team in order to please them that their will was being done on the planet. Makora drugged the Starfleet officers to see whether or not they were truly gods.
 * Konom : Klingon expatriate granted an honorary Starfleet commission as ensign by Captain Kirk. Konom's pacifist ways were challenged as he was forced to fight an illusory dinosaur, against his will, to save his Federation comrades. When the rest of the team was drugged, Konom's Klingon physiognomy allowed him to stay conscious, but he chose to run rather than fight the numerous native guards.