Star Trek: The Last Starship series is nearing its story arc climax, and the Federation as we know it is in peril. Captain Delacourt Sato’s former first officer has sold him out, wishing for the remaining worlds in the Federation to disband and become their own nations. With a nanite-cloned Captain Kirk standing by, it’s now or never to save the Federation, even if it means killing people in the process.
Star Trek: The Last Starship #6 is an interesting and sometimes perplexing combination of fast and slow pacing. The anticipation of Kirk’s actions is exciting and dangerous, while the rest of the crew stands by, seemingly tense but not as intense as Kirk. One can see the ongoing themes of Sato being peace-focused and calm, versus Kirk’s fly-by-the-pants decision-making, at odds with each other. The effect is an issue that feels oddly passive as the story barrels towards the next chapter.
The issue opens where we left off, with Sato’s Borg crew member choosing violence to stop the decision to break up the Federation. An intense moment that is quickly stopped. Sato’s ship is also neutered, making his ability to act increasingly limited. And yet, Kirk persists.
Too bad the Borg couldn’t pull this off.
Credit: IDW
The first half of the issue is reminiscent of Star Wars, when the various planets choose to empower the Emperor. We know the choice being made is bad, but most of the world is excited and happy to basically demolish democracy. Sato seems to accept the choice, but Kirk doesn’t, leading to an intense sequence drawn expertly by Adrian Bonilla.
Kirk has never been so badass, and while his sacrificial act is in line with his inability to back down, the scene feels a bit jumbled. The doctor, for instance, must come up with a plan, and while it’s valiant of him to quit drugs in the moment, his acts happen off-page. By the time the issue was resolved, I wasn’t exactly sure how it played out the way it did. Bonilla draws an awesome scene of Kirk being broken up into pieces, but I was also unsure what was happening to him. Ultimately, the stakes weren’t exactly clear, including whether or not Kirk’s actions would have done anything at all. At face value, I think I know what was happening, but the issue has to wrap things up with only a couple of pages left, leaving you wondering what it means.
After some reflection and deep thinking about the events at hand, it’s clear to me that Star Trek: The Last Starship #6 moves the plot forward, conveying that the Federation’s hope lies in Sato and his one starship. That’s exciting, albeit it was sort of the premise from the very start. Between the politics of the various worlds and the characters’ actions in this issue, I ended up feeling out of the loop for chunks of it, making this climax feel less exciting and more of a brain teaser.
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