“He is a shadow of mystery.” — Galicia, in a poem about Black Fire
Black Fire is a guilty pleasure novel. Published in 1982, a time before the parameters for what can and cannot be included in a professional licensed Trek novel were as stringent as they are today, Black Fire is professionally published fanfic from the zine era.
In Defense of Fanfic
Now, I love fanfic. I read it and write it and I will go to the mat for fic readers and writers. Fanfic writers have formed a beautiful, supportive, inclusive community that I am proud to be in. But I’ve written and read enough to know that the quality of fic varies wildly. Some fic is better than professionally published novels. Others are… not well written at all. (No judgment— I have written my share of trash).
Black Fire, although a wildly entertaining rollercoaster ride of a book, is not, by today’s standards, well-written. The novel reads like my seven-year-old telling me a story about Minecraft: *breathlessly* for this happened and then this happened and then this happened. And the plot is more holey than righteous, and one story doesn’t connect to the next, and he’s telling me what happened instead of showing me, but I’m enthralled.
Quest for the Tomariians
The story begins with a BANG!!! An explosion on the bridge of the Enterprise kills only the Expendable Crewmen and leaves the Bridge crew just injured badly enough to make the plot suspenseful. Spock endures an injury that causes him great pain throughout the first half of the book, an injury he refuses to let McCoy treat although it limits his function, an injury that reads as the favourite fanfic tropes, “hurt Spock” and “whump” (hurt/no comfort).
For reasons unbeknownst to us but knownst to the Powers That Be, Starfleet is not overly concerned about the explosion that blew up the Enterprise bridge and nearly killed her captain. There is a board of inquiry in which the unfortunate event is dismissed as a tragic accident because apparently, Constitution-class starships are in the habit of spontaneously combusting for no reason. But Spock isn’t buying it.
He does some private investigating and discovers a clue in the crew quarters: a piece of paper with a star map pencilled on and a bottle of depilatory. On the strength of this evidence, Spock, accompanied by Scotty, goes rogue. They commandeer the Raven out of the space dock and end up on an adventure that leads them halfway across the galaxy.
They follow the crudely drawn Star map to a desert planet where, coincidentally, representatives from the Klingon and Romulan empires show up at the exact same time they do. They all take each other hostage before the lot of them are taken prisoner by large hairy persons, called the Tomarii, who want to test each species’ ability to fight in hand-to-hand combat. The Tomariians take their prisoners off-world in an extremely primitive spacecraft, and thus the imprisonment begins.
By the time the Enterprise shows up to rescue Spock and Scotty, a fellow prisoner in the shape of a beautiful Romulan woman named Julina has fallen in love with Spock, Spock has attempted suicide twice after a failed escape attempt, Scotty has made a still and created some homebrew, Spock has nearly died of starvation because he won’t eat animal flesh, and the prisoners have been forced into taking up spears against the Tomariians foes.
The battle ends for Spock when he succumbs to his injuries and becomes paralyzed. Finally, their Tomariian jailer, the Begum Ilsa, falls in love with Spock and takes a kinky delight in taking care of him in his helpless state, although he takes no pleasure in her ministrations but retreats into himself.
Yet all the suffering and humiliation pays off when Spock’s Vulcan ears pick up the intelligence that Begum Ilsa was the undercover agent responsible for planting the explosive that destroyed the Enterprise bridge! He learns that the explosion was part of an elaborate plot to test the strength of the Federation, the Klingon and Romulan empire.
Spock’s Treason!
As Spock might say, I fail to see how a culture like the Tomariians, who steal other races’ technology instead of inventing their own and therefore do not have the knowledge to sustain their own tech, could possibly prove a viable threat to the three major galactic powers. But Spock did not fail to see. Upon returning to the Enterprise to discover a new science officer and a new first officer reigning in his stead, he promptly submits to Dr. McCoy’s medical ministrations.
Not, however, with the intention of assuming his duties once again. So seriously did he take the Tomariian threat, and so seriously did he take his vow to Julina, that he contacts the Romulan empire to inform them of that threat. Unsanctioned communication with the Romulan Empire is treason. And Spock is tried, convicted, and sentenced to the high-security penitentiary on Minos.
I’m not quite sure how this penal colony fits in the Star Trek universe. To begin, it’s brutal; Spock is regularly assaulted and beaten by the other inmates. To continue, it’s humiliating; he is forced to feed pigs. Yes, vegan Spock is carrying buckets of slop to pigs. To conclude, it somehow has jurisdiction over Romulan citizens. Spock meets a Romulan named Desus who becomes like a brother to him, and with Desus, he makes a successful escape. Surprisingly easy to escape a Federation high-security penitentiary, but of course, Spock is akin to Houdini.
Spock, Pirate of Corsair
Spock’s act of treason and escape from a penitentiary has cut him off from his past life, and he must form new connections. Upon discovering that his Romulan companion was imprisoned for acts of piracy and that he is returning to those acts, Spock takes the only logical road: he joins the brotherhood of the pirates of Corsair.
Clad in a cowled hood and cape over a shimmering, luminous outfit that is red in some lights, black in others, leaving behind a single black gem as a calling card, and carrying out his raids without bloodshed, Spock creates a dashing legend for himself as Captain Black Fire.
Although patently uninterested in exotic liquors, glow-gems, and electronic parts that are the usual prizes of the raids, Spock takes an interest in two young women who were captured by a rival pirate. Spock’s interest, of course, is not in intimacy of any sort with the young women; it is purely the desire of a former Starfleet officer to help those who cannot help themselves.
But no good deed goes unpunished. By freeing the young “damsels in distress” and sending them safely home, Spock becomes a galactic romantic figure. His very silence and reserve make him all the more tantalizing; he is desired by many women, who dream of being captured by the mysterious, tall, elegant figure, and of spending wild nights with him. Galicia, one of the women rescued by Black Fire, writes a book of sentimental and romantic poetry based on her adventures, and to Spock’s dismay, that volume of poetry is widely circulated throughout the Federation worlds.
Spock, Subcommander of Romulus
A confrontation with Enterprise puts an abrupt end to the piracy chapter in Spock’s life and leads to the revelation that his Romulan friend, Desus, was in fact a high ranking officer of the Romulan military, who had been dabbling in piracy. Spock, under sentence of death for stealing the cloaking device, has no choice but to cast in his lot with the Romulans, and swear his loyalty to the service of the Praetor.
The kinship and comfort Spock feel while serving with the Romulans, his distant cousins is surely a foreshadowing of his later work toward reunification. This is extraordinarily prophetic of the TNG episodes “Unification, Parts 1 and 2.”
Yet Spock’s loyalty is divided between Desus and Captain Kirk. As they form an uneasy alliance to confront the Tomariians together, Spock is forced to weigh the kinship he feels like his Romulan compatriots with the memories of his friendship with Captain Kirk. Intimately, loyalty to Kirk wins out, and Spock comes home to the Enterprise.
Double-Oh Spock
Here, at last, all is revealed. From the very beginning, Spock has been on special assignment, working under such deep cover that not even his Captain and best friend knew what he was trying to accomplish. Spock had gained invaluable intelligence for Starfleet; he has aided the Federation by exposing the Tomariian threat, the Corsair pirates, and a Romulan plot to destroy the Enterprise. Spock is cleared of all charges, he is reunited with his friends, and he is back at his station at long last. But Dr. McCoy will never cease to tease him about the legend of Black Fire.
Final Thoughts and Ratings
Black Fire is enthralling, although not a well-written, story. For the sheer delight I have gotten from the pages of this novel, I would rate it three out of five iridescent black jewel earrings worn by Black Fire.
