Yeoman Zahra is the pilot of the shuttlecraft Kirk and his
party take into the Romulan Neutral Zone. She was last seen
in
"Operation
Annihilate" Part 2.
This issue reveals that the Enterprise security
officer with whom Kirk traded the nickname Cupcake in
"Parallels" and
"The Vengeance of Nero"
is actually named Hendorff. Possibly this is meant to be the
same Hendorff who appeared (and was killed) in the original
series episode "The Apple".
This issue seems to give us our first look at Romulan birds
of prey, though they are not identified as such. They have a
different look than the ones seen in the original
TV series.

On page 4, Dr. McCoy grouses about the mission and tells
Kirk to remind him to check into his transfer back to the
clinic in Huntsville. Given McCoy's southern U.S. heritage,
he is presumably referring to
Huntsville, Alabama.
The uniforms and disruptor pistols used by the Romulans in
this issue are very similar to those seen in episodes of the
original TV series. However, the sash on the uniforms has a
bird of prey design on it instead of triangles.
On page 9, Yeoman Zahra's hair and skin color are suddenly
different! She reverts back to normal for the rest of the
issue.
By the end of the story, the Romulan Empire is now in
possession of the red matter and the designs for the
Narada. Will they make use of them? Also, presumably
the Klingons still have records of the Narada's
design since the ones in this story were obtained from the
Klingon study of the ship at Rura Penthe during the 25 years
Nero and his crew were imprisoned there.
The end of this issue suggests that Christopher Pike is only
a vice-admiral, not a full admiral.
Kirk tells Spock that his conversation with Vice-Admiral
Pike about the results of Kirk's incursion into the neutral
zone included several uses of the phrase "balance of power"
now that the Romulans have the last known sample of red
matter in the universe. This may be a nod to the original
series episode "Balance of Terror", which was the first
Federation confrontation with the Romulans since the
Earth-Romulan War in that timeline.
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