Random Happenstance

About a million years ago, I made the only-slightly tongue-in-cheek claim that Chuck Dixon and Flint Henry's Law Dog was basically the American Doctor Who, but I suppose there could be an argument for an earlier character: Gary Seven, from the original series Star Trek episode Assignment Earth. That had been intended as a 'backdoor pilot' for a series, but it was never picked up, so Seven's adventures didn't continue. (And Teri Garr would have to find other roles!)

Of course, Trek fandom being what it is, Gary Seven would appear again in novels and comics, like today's book, which is kind of like what if the Doctor decided for the good of history you had to go, and was a real hardass about it. From 2020, Star Trek: Year Five #11, "The Mission that Walks Like a Man" Written by Jackson Lanzing and Collin Kelly (also credited as "showrunners"), pencils and inks by Stephen Thompson, inks by Maria Keane.

The Tholians had been a focus of this series, with the young "Bright Eyes" becoming more and more a part of the crew even as their people become more hostile to the Federation. (Bright Eyes identified as 'they,' possibly all Tholians did.) Gary Seven and his partner Isis review the Tholians' plan, on the orders of 'Command,' and while Seven had hoped to avoid it, they were going to have to deal with Kirk and the Enterprise: "Another Odysseus, lost to the perils of wave and war." (I believe there are a lot of Greek history/mythology references in this series!) Seven and Isis appear on the Enterprise seemingly effortlessly, with Seven going invisible and Isis making her way as a cat. Seven is there when Kirk gives Spock his "command review," based on a first contact in prior issues when Kirk was incapacitated. Kirk says he didn't see a way he could've done better, but with the results damaging a society, Spock thinks he should not have become involved at all. After a mind-meld with Bright Eyes, Spock did not feel he had been his best; while Kirk as always believed in his first officer and friend. Seven notes, "No man is so blind, as the man who can see home."

In engineering, Scotty was working on the finishing touches for an environmental suit for Bright Eyes, while Uhura worked on tweaking the translator. A somewhat xenophobic ensign points out the danger, since Bright Eyes's body temperature could turn it into a "walking firebomb," but he's disparaging the Tholian's loyalty more than Scotty's workmanship; and Bright Eyes pipes up that this ship was his "shard" now. The conversation is interrupted by Seven, who reveals his presence as he releases "Andorian nerve agent" into engineering. (I'm not sure if he brought that himself, or if it was onboard as a defense: Andor was a Federation planet, but I can't see the Federation using 'nerve agent.') Bright Eyes thinks he can take Seven, but Uhura correctly recognizes the danger. Transporting freely throughout the ship, security is no match for Seven or Isis, who do not seem concerned with human life. Chekov thinks he has the drop on Seven with a phaser rifle, and tries to ask him why: Seven will only say, as always, he's saving history, but he's no longer new to the job. He zaps Chekov with his sonic screwdriver-looking servo (not that one.) although Chekov should never have gotten that close to him. In environmental control, Seven sets the ship to depressurize.

Awoken in his quarters, Kirk quickly gets an emergency breather, and makes his way through gravitational shifts to get to the bridge. With Seven in control of the ship, Kirk is left with little option but to order the crew to abandon ship. Seven is annoyed Kirk beat the odds by getting to the bridge, but still proceeds on his mission, while Isis leaves for hers. With the ship clear and the bridge protected from decompression, Kirk calls out Seven; as Isis has stowed along with the crew to a nearby planet--Circe V, another Odysseus reference; but Seven corrects himself: Kirk isn't Odysseus. He's "every Cretian boy before Theseus" who thought they could beat the maze and the minotaur. Seven knows, the maze is time, and he is the minotaur. 

Some fans may have a problem with this, as Gary Seven had previously seemed quite benign: he also had his own Assignment: Earth mini-series from John Byrne. I also would swear there's something in his initial appearance that implies Seven might not be on earth on orders. But, he makes for a formidable foe, and even in the original episode there was a bit of coldness to him: it's entirely believable that he might save earth in the past to sacrifice it later, if ordered. And Isis shares something with the other cat to appear in the original series, in "Catspaw": a certain cruelty. I lucked into a quarter-bin copy of this one while getting the more recent Seven-centered issue #17: wish I could've gotten the variant cover, actually.