Who told Carol Marus that David died?

[Admiral Rex]

Carol Marcus does not appear in Star Trek III even though Genesis was her project. She's not even mentioned in the film.

However, not only the failure of Genesis would have an impact on her, but she also lost her son, David, to murder. One on the most emotional scene is Kirk's reaction to the death of his son. So I began to wonder if Kirk was the one who contacted Carol to inform her of their son's death. How did she find out?

I don't recall ever reading this event in any novel or comic. Was any such scene ever portrayed in Trek Lit? It would be a very emotional scene for Kirk to tell Carol of David's death and how it happened under his watch. Would she blame Kirk for what happened?

[Relayer1]

She still doesn't know...

[Christopher]

I think Vonda McIntyre dealt with Kirk telling Carol about David in either the STIII or STIV novelization. She and J.M. Dillard were pretty good about including Carol as a character in the novelizations even though she never came back in the films.

[BillJ]

Admiral Rex wrote:

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I don't recall ever reading this event in any novel or comic. Was any such scene ever portrayed in Trek Lit?

Didn't DC Comics deal with it at the beginning of the Mirror Universe Saga? Like issue 9, if I remember correctly.

EDIT: It's on pages 9, 10 & 11 of issue 9.

[Sky]

I think there's a scene in Vonda McIntyre's STIII. She did a fine job with the Drs Marcus and the people who worked with them on the Genesis project. STII novelization fleshed them out a lot.

[King Daniel Into Darkness]

BillJ wrote:

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Didn't DC Comics deal with it at the beginning of the Mirror Universe Saga? Like issue 9, if I remember correctly.

EDIT: It's on pages 9, 10 & 11 of issue 9.

That's the version I remember.

[BritishSeaPower]

I think I recall Carol remembering being told about David's death in "Genesis Wave" and it being kind of weird. Like, they secreted her away after STII and was told by a random person. Which seemed dumb.

[Admiral Rex]

I pulled out the TSFS novelization. Chapter 13 states that Kirk was prevented from contacting Carol about David during the Vulcan ritual at Mount Seleya. The book ends at the same place as the movie.

I then looked at the first few pages of the mirror universe saga and Kirk visits Carol after leaving Vulcan. She slaps him and yells, "I took David away from you so he wouldn't be like you...and what happens? He's dead! My son is dead!" She later tells Kirk that she wished David had come back instead of Kirk.

I knew she would blame Kirk (unless I subconsciously remember this scene in the comics from years ago).

Carol is 135 or 136 years old in Genesis Wave - Chapter One. She's really not sure how old she is, but she has a vision of David returning to her with forgiveness. He wraps his arms around and says "Father is waiting."

Thanks everyone for pointing me towards these books.

[Christopher]

^I think there might've been something about Carol early in the TVH novelization, but I'm not sure.

[Captain Nebula]

According to The Voyage Home novel (page 11), Jedda and Zinaida's "spouses/partners" told Carol about David when she beamed down with Zinaida's body to Delta. If you are wondering who Jedda and Zinaida were, they were scientists on Regula-1. Zinaida was one of the scientists who's throat Khan cut and hung upside down on the station, and Jedda was killed by phaser fire from Captain Terrell in the Genesis cave.

According to The Undiscovered Country novel (page 4), Kirk didn't get to see Carol face-to-face for a year after David died. It also said that circumstances made it impossible for Kirk to be the one to tell her about David.

[Admiral James Kirk]

Actually Zinaida willed herself to die when Khan attempted to plant a Ceti Eel in her. Though later in the novel it said all the scientists had their throats cut. I suppose it's possible he cut a dead woman's throat just to horrify Kirk later on. That's doubtful though since he intended to kill Kirk before he reached Spacelab.

[Gotham Central]

Wasn't Carol Marcus mentioned in the novelization of ST: VI?

Wasn't Kirk considering meeting up with her after he retired?

[Admiral James Kirk]

If I remember correctly Carol was working at a scientific outpost that was attacked by Chang's prototype BoP. It was one of the reasons Kirk was so staunchly anti-Klingon in TUC.

I also wanted to note that in the Shatnerverse Kirk and Carol were spending retirement together in The Ashes of Eden. He was suffering erectile dysfunction before Teilani used her wiles to lure him away to Chal.

[rfmcdpei]

Admiral James Kirk wrote:

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Actually Zinaida willed herself to die when Khan attempted to plant a Ceti Eel in her. Though later in the novel it said all the scientists had their throats cut. I suppose it's possible he cut a dead woman's throat just to horrify Kirk later on. That's doubtful though since he intended to kill Kirk before he reached Spacelab.

I assumed he mutilated the body a) to make sure and b) to take some kind of vengeance on a woman who defied his wishes.

[diankra]

In addition to following Carol through TSFS and TVH, McIntyre also adds in some fairly substantial subplots about how Scotty's family deal with the death of Peter Preston (a fair more substantial character in the WoK book, thanks to his friendship with Saavik), in particular his Starfleet officer sister Dannan Stuart. She's not Kirk's biggest fan, to put it mildly (something like "When Kirk wants the Enterprise back, the captain dies to make room. First it was Decker, now it's Spock, but this time he got Peter killed in the crossfire...").