How did Khan capture USS Reliant ?

[Can]

It has been a while since I watched TWOK but I still don't understand how Khan and his followers could capture ( and learned to operate ) a Federation starship in orbit with its full crew. Does anybody know how this happened ? Or is it written in somewhere like in The Wrath of Khan novelization ?

 

[kkozoriz1]

In all fairness to Khan he did have the Captain and first officer under his control. Perhaps it went something like this. Terrell and Chekov beam up and while still in their suits release the anti-intruder knock out gas (or some such). Beam the unconscious crew down. Beam Khan and his followers up.

 

[Mr Silver]

Pretty much what kkozoriz1 said...but

In one of the earlier draft scripts, an extra scene of dialogue is featured where Chekov calls Kyle after the Ceti Eel scene and tells Kyle to "Expect some guests"

I'd imagine Reliant beamed up Khan and his followers at the command of their Captain and First Officer and then found some way to incapaciate the entire crew and beam them down to Ceti Alpha VI

 

[Chaos Descending]

Yeah, I don't think the exact "how" is necessarily important to the plot. Khan has the CO and XO under his thrall. It's not hard to imagine any number of scenarios in which Khan uses this to his advantage.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The novelization says that the engineering crew were infected with Ceti Eels. That's probably one of the first things Khan did. Once the captain and XO are infected, they can assist in getting the engineering team, and once that's done, they pretty much control the ship.

 

[C.E. Evans]

I think Khan had some prior experience in taking over Federation starships...

 

[Smellincoffee]

He bared his chest at them and they surrendered immediately.

 

[Caligula]

The same way he almost captured the Enterprise in "Space Seed" (being a superhuman tyrant in charge of other superhumans).... and he would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for that meddlesome Kirk!

 

[sbk1234]

By that time in Trek history, the entire crew was wearing red, so it couldn't have been that hard to take them out.

 

[Nero's Shadow]

They used terrell and chekov to get aboard the ship using some line like "look we've found humans and then khan used his superhuman interlect on them. !!!

 

[Timo]

The same way he almost captured the Enterprise in "Space Seed" (being a superhuman tyrant in charge of other superhumans).... and he would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for that meddlesome Kirk!

Exactly. And the first time around, he only had one mole inside the ship - a very low-ranking officer. This time he had two, both of them highly placed.

Although both times his control of the starship was actually thwarted by the very moles he trusted. Lt McGivers denied him his original victory, while Cmdr Chekov and Capt Terrell first defeated the plan of killing Kirk outright, and Chekov later was elemental in crippling Khan's ship and preventing him from using her for further evil.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I've honestly never thought about the logistics of it too much, but I'd imagine that Khan & his followers beamed up with Captain Terrell and Chekov, immediately phasered the folks in the transporter room, and moved on from there. Gassing the ship would've been the most efficient way to take over the entire ship, but as we saw at Regula I, after 15 years of exile, Khan was pretty vicious. I'm sure a few resistant Reliant crewmen got slaughtered along the way.

Who knows? Maybe that's why Lt. Commander Kyle never showed up in any other TOS movies!

 

[Timo]

At the end of ST2, Kirk was optimistic about recovering the marooned Reliant crew. One'd think Chekov would already have informed him if his optimism was misplaced...

OTOH, the L.A.Graf novel War Dragons claims that the entire Reliant crew died, either directly during the takeover or during the few days they spent on Ceti Alpha V. Doesn't fit with ST2, but does make sense otherwise. Perhaps Khan told his victims he was marooning them in harsh but survivable conditions, but instead killed them all with the transporter during beam-down? Efficient, cruel, and completely in keeping with the new and deranged Khan.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I think even in ST II, Khan was only vicious when provoked. If the Reliant crew didn't piss him off, I don't think he would have killed them. I agree that Chekov would have informed Kirk if there were no survivors.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Yeah, I don't think the exact "how" is necessarily important to the plot. Khan has the CO and XO under his thrall. It's not hard to imagine any number of scenarios in which Khan uses this to his advantage.

Space is a dangerous place, and yet back then the CO and XO beamed into every potentially-hazardous situation!

You have to wonder if all the Second Officers who became Captain's (after one landing party too many for their predecessors) would do the same thing?

-Bry

 

[FormerLurker]

I don't recall it being definitively established that Chekov was the first officer of the Reliant, though. Certain lines of dialog could lead one to believe Mr. Beach is the XO.

 

[JonnyQuest037]

I don't recall it being definitively established that Chekov was the first officer of the Reliant, though. Certain lines of dialog could lead one to believe Mr. Beach is the XO.

I believe Chekov's opening log entry explicitly identifies him as first officer. A post-production addition, IIRC. I think Walter Koenig was jealous of Sulu's captaincy.

 

[JB2005]

^ Doesn't the log entry when we first see the Reliant go something like: "First Officer Chekov recording"?

EDIT: Too slow!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I believe Chekov's opening log entry explicitly identifies him as first officer.

Yes, it does. He says, and I quote, "Log entry by First Officer Pavel Chekov."

 

[Smellincoffee]

The captain and Chekov could have informed their people that there were shipwrecked people down below. Once they were aboard...it would have been easy. After arming them, the captain escorts some of the augments to the bridge to secure it, Chekov goes to engineering with augments to secure it, and they narrow things down from there.