These Were the Voyages, pt. 3

I mentioned this story in the first of these posts. For years I had a vague memory of a Saavik origin story I read someplace but could never find mention of it anywhere. I re-read the novelizations of TWOK and TSFS, thinking what I half-remembered reading would be in there, but no luck. I looked through a few of the Saavik-appearing Pocket Books, but nothing rang a bell in there either. It was tough because the only details I could remember were “Saavik origin story” and (if pressed) “something about Xon, maybe? I don’t know.” (For many years, even knowing who Xon was marked you as a certain "belt" of Trekkie. Alas, no more.) I remembered her being half-Romulan, and that is mentioned, if memory serves, in the novelizations, but that was it.

Well, whaddya know? Here it is in Star Trek #7 and 8, published August and November, 1984. I love when that happens.

The two-parter opens with Enterprise's science officer trying to hide the symptoms of her Vulcan blood fever. 

Pon Farr! It's not just for dudes.

Kirk and Bones, having some small experience in this aspect of Vulcan biology, assure Saavik she can count on them, and divert course for Vulcan. Saavik tells them about her childhood as a Romulan street urchin, orphaned and left to die in an abandoned colony, her half-Vulcan nature making her unwanted. She was found by Starfleet, more specifically Spock, who brought her home to Vulcan and adopted her into his family. Sarek and Amanda raised her and in her time of joining she was betrothed to Xon, the Vulcan created for the aborted Phase II project.

Unfortunately, Xon – whose Pon Farr is tempered by Saavik being his second bonding and is therefore not as intense – is in deep space on a secret assignment for the Vulcan Science Council: creating super-soldiers!

This whole part is a little hazy, but yeah, Vulcan and Romulus are working together on some kind of super-soldier project, but it’s gotten out of hand. When Xon objects, the Romulans turn on him and torture him.

Xon's pretty ripped!
And the Romulans have apparently joined Marvel's Serpent Society. 

Luckily, Saavik – “out of her mind with the blood fever!” as Kirk recounts helpfully; he knows it's called Plak Tow, why's he pretending? While we're here, the scene in Free Enterprise where Mark gets caught up in summarizing "Amok Time" and an exasperated Robert cuts him off ("I am perfectly aware of the events in "Amok Time...!") forever cracks me up – steals a ship and goes after Xon, saving him from death and the galaxy from the super soldiers. The Enterprise pursues and saves everyone. The pursuing Romulans are destroyed in a nebula that Kirk uses to his advantage, as he often does.

Saavik and Xon are left to get on with it, then. 

And then it’s back to Vulcan for Xon.

Well! Not bad. It’s interesting how elements of this origin were lifted or altered for other characters in the franchise (Ensign Ro, Sybok, Discovery, etc. although it’s well known that Sarek is the Kevin Bacon of Vulcan degrees of separation, Discovery or no Discovery). 

Pon Farr was of course returned to in Voyager, twice. So far in eight issues we've revisited "Amok Time," "The Savage Curtain," "Errand of Mercy," "A Taste of Armageddon," and "The Omega Glory."

LEFTOVER PICTURES

"Out of her mind with the BLOOD FEVER!" is worth the price of admission right there. 

"I am PERFECTLY AWARE of the plot of "Amok Time"...!"

Oh David - so eager to die. 

NEXT:

The adaptation of Star Trek III: The Search for Spock