The Wages of Vengeance

Fanfiction
Title:	The Wages of Vengeance
Author(s):	Rick Endres (aka Nomad)
Date(s):	1980
Length:
Genre(s):	gen
Fandom(s):
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The Wages of Vengeance is a gen Star Trek: TOS story by Rick Endres.

It was printed in Stardate #5.

Trilogy

• The Wages of Vengeance
• Oath of Vengeance
• The Cost of Freedom

Summary

"On the planet Serenadid, Captain Kirk murders the ruler during a ceremony for the signing of a treaty between the planet and the Federation."

Reactions and Reviews

"The Wages of Vengeance" was perhaps one of the best ST stories I have read. The Kirk-murders-the-king scene kind of caught me funny at first, but this was quickly overcome by the quality of the rest of the story. The art in that story and elsewhere was consistently good. If you can keep this caliber of material coming in, STARDATE will do well in issues to come.

I thought "The Wages of Vengeance" was well-written. It works very well. The only thing that didn’t work was where Kyr kills the Kirk-double and leaves the body. You would think he would get rid of the evidence.

The best way I can sum up my feelings about it is, "Rick Endres, where were you when ST-TMP needed a writer?" It would make a very- good Trek movie. The Klingon warrior Kyr was the penultimate embodiment of evil; he makes Darth Vader look like a fairy.

And Princess Teresa is one of the strongest female characters I've seen. Very good all around. "First Mission" was also well-done. It's nice to see Gary Mitchell and Lee Kelso again. And "A Funny Thing Happened..." is very humorous. SF comedy

is still rare (and I mean intentional comedy), and "AFTH..." was quite refreshing.

"The Wages of Vengeance" was very good. I like the vicious Klingon. And talk about an R-rating?...I thought the princess in the jumpsuit [illo] was well-done. He [Rick Endres] has the characterizations right, and it's quite well-done and I like it. And I really liked the ending, but the art needs some improvement.

I liked "Wages of Vengeance." In my opinion, it is one of the best stories I have read to date. "First Mission", though I thought it was a fairly good story, I think it would have been better if it had been filled out a bit. By this I mean I liked the story idea, but I just feel that it would have been better had it been longer and not quite so clipped. Example; When the final confrontation came, Spock just quietly pulled out a phaser, Skonn was captured, and it was all over. I don't believe that someone as neurotic as Skonn appeared to be would allow someone new (no matter how much he trusted him) to carry a phaser. I think he would've had Spock searched, then watched to be sure he didn't get a hold of a

phaser, etc. In other words, I think the story would have been better if the solution hadn't quite been so simple.

I hate peep-a-boo nipples and over-endowed (too the point of ridiculousness) females. The princess looks like she would fall flat on her face due to the load she's carrying! I'm a shade under 5 ft. tall, and considered well-proportioned for a woman my size, and I'm not built like a Mack truck up front! Granted there are some women my size who are overly gifted, but they are the exception and not the rule (end of sermon - this is a personal gripe of mine, its basis lies in artistic esthetics rather than jealousy as some mistakenly believe).

"Wages of Vengeance" is a damn fine Trek tale with good characters throughout, and I'll accept the explanation of the 'new' Klingons (I still prefer the sub-races of Klingon). The Kh'nyr Klingon is disgusting and a true villain. I do think the execution of the Klingon communications officer was

unnecessary and wasteful, but I suppose it could be argued that the Klingon penalty is death for disobeying an order, however minor the infraction.

"The Wages of Vengeance" was well-presented in the opening page. It had good sentence structure and direction. This story was creative to bring in something - new to "Star Trek Basics" and make it fit: that's the Barrier Alliance. [This was handled in past issues of STARDATE, and is the "Third World" alliance of the 23rd century. - Ed.] Something that writers forget, and the series did, too, is that of course there would be embassies of the Klingons, etc. on any planet the Federation would be interested in. This story has mystery and action. There is a very

good description of the Klingons in this somewhat brutal story.

Stardate #5 is the beginning of Rick Endres' 'Serenidad' series... This is a well-written storyline with many virtues. The very first story is the weakest of all, notably for its overuse of adjectives, a typical mistake for a first-time writer. In later issues, the quality of writing improves dramatically. The characterization is very strong. Each individual stands out as a unique entity. The Klingon culture is very well defined. The author is very good at contrasting the joy of lovemaking (in one scene) to the horror of rape (in an unrelated scene).

With a few exceptions, the plotting and situations are believable. The premise of the story is that an Earth colony, Serenidad, is wanted by both the Federation and the Klingons. The Federation is looked upon with favor by many government officials, but this does not stop the Klingons from trying to install a puppet government. The ENTERPRISE is heavily involved in this conflict.

This has many elements of a good Star Trek episode: action, romance, political conflict, narrow escapes. A minor weakness is that, in tying up the loose ends, anyone who might present a lingering problem once the conflict is resolved dies (a heroic death, to be sure, but nonetheless, such characters do tend to get killed off). Even so, this is a story that should appeal to quite a few Star Trek fans (particularly Klingon fans, and I should point out I'm not a Klingon fan).

Nomad's "The Wages of Vengeance" was an excellent story. Its plot didn't strain credibility (well, I was surprised that Teresa survived, but not that much) and everything fit in well. The characterization, of both regular characters and guest characters, was great.

One of my favorite stories has to be Nomad's "The Wages of Vengeance." Nomad must have read some of those "adult" Westerns (you know, the ones with at least one half-clothed woman on the cover) or a similar type book as love scenes seem read like the best (or worst?) of one of those. Excellent story, and the sex was well handled.

"The Wages of Vengeance," by Nomad -- Though he has improved a lot since this one was written, this is still a very good story. It's exciting, well-plotted, and also ells us more about those hideous Star Trek: The Motion Picture Klingons. The surprise ending and tantalizing epilogue left me looking forward to "Oath of Vengeance" and "The Cost of Freedom."