Star Trek Deep Space Nine: Lightstorm

In the Gakora Colony newly founded in the Gamma Quadrant by the Federation, an alien foe is coming. Meanwhile a Klingon Warship commanded by Captain Kol who struggles for command with Katha, a female Imperial Adjutant under the director authority of Chanchellor Gowron sent on a mysterious mission to the Gamma Quadrant receives the distress from the colony at Gakora which is now under attack by an alien fleet.

On reaching the colony however they discover only one survivor lying trapped with severe and serious injuries under a pile of debris that was dislodged during the alien assault on Gakora. When questioned by Captain Kol, he describes what happened as a Lightstorm before lapsing into outright incoherence. Unable to treat him, Koleth returns him to the warship to place him cryostasis until he can be passed on to human medical authorities in the United Federation of Planets.

Meanwhile back on Deep Space Nine, Dr. Bashir is playing tennis with Chief O'Brien when a call comes in requiring medical care. The wounded man in need of care is of course that very same survivor from the Gakora colony now brought to Deep Space Nine by Captain Kol. Captain Kol is determined to return to the Gamma Quadrant to hunt down the perpetrators of the attack and destroy them while Commander Sisko uncharacteristically threatens to pressure the Klingon High Command to restrain his vengeful impulses. This however does no good and Captain Kol departs anyway.

Meanwhile Commander Sisko meets with Imperial Adjuntant Katha in which they discuss the need for diplomacy against an unknown and hostile universe. The Klingon focus on avoiding conflict with new races is simply uncharacteristic of the Klingon empire and particularly uncharacteristic of Gowron himself. A reference is dropped early on by Katha regarding warships observing warp speed limitations imposed by the Federation. This is nearly halfway as plausible as Klingons learning to play tennis and have their own little tea parties. Klingons are about as likely to observe warp speed limits, pollution of the time space continuum or not, as truckers are to drive safely and indeed Klingons are the big rig truckers of the universe.

The behavior is somewhat uncharacteristic of Sisko as well but then again this is an incarnation of Sisko back when he was only a Commander rather than a Captain and still had hair and was apparently a good deal more cautious and a whole lot more forgiving of alien races who shot up human colonies.

Then follows a dialogue in the famed Klingon restaurant on the DS9 promenade between Bashir and the Klingon warship's doctor Koleth on the overriding value of life. Sadly the dialogue has a distinctly canned flavor, the recycled feel of second hand idealism clumsy and formulaically jammed in where it does not belong while ignoring the more sophisticated grayer areas of human and alien conduct, culture, behavior and attitudes toward the value of survival.

Meanwhile Commander Sisko and Dax are accompanying Captain Kol's return expedition into the Gamma Quadrant because the United Federation of Planets apparently just can't spare a spare ship to investigate when one of its colonies gets destroyed. Of course since a Federation colony seems to get wiped out every other week, it is understandable that Starfleet would be a little busy constantly chasing around after the Borg, the Tholians, the Crystalline Entity, the Cardassians and everyone else out there in that great big ball of energy, matter and mostly empty space we call the galaxy, who takes it in his, her or its mind to shoot up a Federation colony this week.

Captain Kol is not happy to have Sisko on board and since he's only a Commander for now and still has hair, he feels no need to be respectful toward him. On the other hand considering that Commander Sisko and Katha had previously treated Captain Kol like an idiot child, he has a legitimate reason for not wanting to play ball. All told treating a Klingon like a child is an attitude nearly as smart as juggling hot cross buns with plastic explosive for filling.

Just as everyone is sitting down to an extremely unfriendly meal of barely live Gakh, the aliens attack. Fortunately their weapons are no threat at all to the Klingon warship. Unfortunately Commander Sisko and Katha insist on talking to them. So basically the aliens who overran a Federation colony barely had weapons strong enough to scratch the polish on a Klingon warship. You might think that if the Federation is going to set up colonies in alien territory and in another quadrant of the galaxy, they might trouble themselves to actually do something wacky for a change like protect them instead of sending them out there like sheep to the slaughter.

The aliens hail the Klingon warship, announce they have no grudges against Klingons and congratulate them for capturing Commander Sisko and Dax and offer them an escort to their homeworld, Myvock, which sounds like an intestinal disorder. That of course is what diplomacy gets you.

Down on the happy happy world of Myvock, Sisko, Dax and Captain Kol all beam down. Because of course beaming down to an enemy planet unarmed with no diplomatic gurantees is sane behavior. At least it would be for Commander Ghandi. Not for Commander Sisko. Malek, ruler of Myvock, populated by a race with extremely odd foreheads and hairlines courtesy of a pen drawing imitation of Michael Westmore's brilliant alien makeup concepts, immediately imprisons the humans. Sisko and Dax get shoved into a Zero G Molding cell which is basically like being trapped in invisible jello and every bit as exciting.

Meanwhile back on DS9 Dr. Bashir learns from the survivor, Kevin Chiles that Lursa and Betor were with the Myvock raiding team that assaulted Gakora. The brilliant response to that knowledge is for Bashir and O'Brien to go alone to Gakora where Lursa and Betor promptly capture them. This leaves all four Starfleet officers as prisoners of the Myvock. The story then plays out the usual way that bad Deep Space Nine episodes did back then with a reversal, a brief shootout and Malak realizing that humans were his friends after all. Oh and Katha dates Morn.

All in all Lightstorm is a good demonstration of why Star Trek comics from Malibu Comics rarely amounted to much back then. Written by Mark Altman who persistently hangs around the margins of Star Trek like a hyena around a carcass and drawn so poorly that Dr. Bashir looks middle aged, O'Brien has apparently gained eighty pounds and Katha looks like a man, Lightstorm doesn't have much to offer except a disposable 5 minute read.