2. Whatever Happened To The Romulan Commander? - The Enterprise Incident
An episode written by D.C. Fontana and loosely inspired on the circumstances surrounding the USS Pueblo an American naval vessel captured by North Korea in 1968 on a charge of espionage after allegedly straying into North Korean waters. When the Enterprise enters the Romulan Neutral Zone, it is immediately surrounded by three Romulan battlecruisers. Their objective is to capture the Star Fleet vessel and take it back to Romulus as a major propaganda victory. Declaring Captain Kirk to be mentally incompetent, Spock takes command of the Enterprise and immediately surrenders to the Romulans. In a pique of irrational temper, Kirk attacks Spock in plain view of the Romulans and delivers an ancient Vulcan defence technique known as the Death Grip, and apparently kills him. Spock is now prepared to discuss terms with the Romulan Commander, who is revealed to be a woman. Of course, Kirk isnt dead and he and Spock are under secret orders to steal a Romulan cloaking device. Kirk, surgically altered by McCoy to look like a Romulan sneaks aboard the Romulan flagship, while Spock distracts the female commander with his Vulcan wiles. The device is installed aboard the Enterprise, the Romulan commander is taken prisoner and the Federation now has a cloaking device to study. What happened to the Romulan commander? As a political prisoner, there would be obvious ramifications as to her career and even her status as a citizen of the Empire. Heres a thought: how about we even learn her name? There have been a few attempts to include some mention of her in novels, like My Enemy, My Ally written by Diane Duane. We meet another female Romulan commander who is the aunt of the one Kirk encounters in The Enterprise Incident. However, the un-named niece isnt featured, only mentioned as a background element. It should be a crime to leave such a strong and compelling character to obscurity. She was a character whose fate we needed to know more of.