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"Hila"
Star Trek: Boldly Go #6
IDW
Written by Mike Johnson and Ryan Parrott
Art by Chris Mooneyham
Colors by J.D. Mettler
Letters by Andworld Design
Cover by George Caltsoudas
March 2017 |
The Endeavour
investigates a white hole in space-time, a first in
Federation history.
Characters appearing in this
issue
Captain Kirk
Lt. Commander Sulu
Ben
(Sulu's husband, mentioned only)
Sulu's daughter (unnamed, mentioned only)
Captain Robbins (mentioned only)
Lt. Commander Valas
Captain Terrell
Spock
Lt. Uhura
Lt. Darwin
Lt. Ellix
Scotty
Keenser
Lt. Hila
Dr. McCoy
Medical
Chief Groffus
Lt. Murcia
Lt. Zahra
Livia
Notes from the Star Trek
chronology
This issue takes place approximately on stardate 2263.125.
That means, somehow, this places the story before the events of
Star Trek Beyond, yet, clearly, it
takes place after!
Didja Know?
This issue does not have an individual title. I've chosen the
title
"Hila" from the name of a character in the story who is
more than she appears.
Didja Notice?
This issue features what seems to be the first appearance of
Federation Starbase K-4.
Sulu tells Captain Kirk that he has requested a posting on
the Rodham, but Kirk responds that he wants him as
his own first officer aboard the Endeavour.
This appears to be the first mention of a ship called the
Rodham
in the ST universe.
On page 2, Captain Kirk tells Sulu that the Romulans have
agreed to a summit at Babel to discuss joint preparations in
the event the Borg return. Babel is a
neutral world long used by the Federation for diplomatic
conferences with rival interstellar governments, first
mentioned in the original series episode "Journey to Babel".
On page 3, Sulu refers to Captain Terrell as "Craig".
Terrell was referred to as "Craig" in
"New Frontiers", but as
"Clark" in "Resistance is Futile"
(which was the
name of the Captain Terrell who first appeared in the
original timeline in Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan).
Also on page 3, Captain Terrell seems determined to face the
Borg if they return to the Federation, perhaps in a quest for
vengeance against them for turning him (temporarily) into a
Borg.
On page 5, the
Endeavour begins studying a white hole for the
first time in Federation history. The existence of
white holes is theorized as part of general relativity as a
region of space-time from which light and matter can emerge,
but nothing can enter (the opposite of a black hole).
Lt. Ellix states that the white hole has high levels of
Hawking radiation and heavy Novikov particles emerging from
the center. Hawking radiation is a
type of radiation predicted to be released by black holes;
though I'm no physicist, it seems unlikely (impossible?)
that a white hole could emit Hawking radiation. I am unaware
of the concept of Novikov particles, though it is presumably
named for Russian astrophysicist Igor Novikov, who
postulated the existence of white holes as the opposite of
black holes.
Scotty has now apparently transferred away from teaching at
Starfleet Academy (seen in "New
Frontiers") to working in Engineering for Captain Kirk
aboard the
Endeavour. Keenser is also there.
Lt. Hila has the appearance of an Andorian, as mentioned by
Dr. McCoy on page 8, but turns out to be an unknown species
of alien. Lt. Murcia, seen as a human since
"New Frontiers", also turns
out to be one of these undercover aliens, though Hila's
sacrifice to save the Endeavour near the end of the
issue leaves Murcia trapped in his human form in the material
galaxy.
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