In this review of Star Trek: Red Shirts #3, the body count continues to rise as the remaining red shirts face impossible odds, but they might have a secret weapon (if they can survive long enough to use it).
Star Trek: Red Shirts #3
Writer: Christopher Cantwell
Artist: Megan Levens
Main Cover: Chris Shehan
Variant Covers: J.K. Woodward, Suspiria Vilchez
Page Count: 32 pages
Release Date: October 1, 2025
This review contains spoilers
Star Trek: Red Shirts #3 begins at the embattled research facility on Arkonia 89, as the surviving red shirts reel from the devastating loss of Lieutenant Web Cromarty, while the Romulan spies make off with a data drive of Starfleet secrets. Ensigns Chip Miller (our guy) and Zayna Raad are stranded halfway up the array as Romulan snipers open fire.
Nearby, Lieutenant Vesta prompts Miller to destroy the array with a photon grenade despite the inherent risk, but Miller is hit by disruptor fire and drops his grenade before it can be activated. In the midst of the chaos, the story shifts to Miller’s voice over, revealing that the Starfleet security trainees do not take the infamous “Kobayashi Maru” test because the “no win scenario” is just the norm for red shirts.
Meanwhile, with Lieutenant Midge DeMatrio now in charge, Petty Officer Grash takes it upon herself to back up Miller and the others. Phaser in hand, Grash runs full tilt towards the fray but is impaled by flying debris. Despite suffering a mortal wound, Grash trudges forward and finds Miller’s dropped photon grenade and arms it. The resulting explosion detonates a cache of nearby ordinance that takes down the entire array.
Vesta pursues the Romulan spies and tackles one of them as they beam out. Moments later, Vesta and the spy rematerialize on the Romulan ship’s transporter pad as a gruesome hybrid that the horrified Romulans quickly put out of its misery. Meanwhile, engineering whiz Lieutenant Amiga discovers that the research facility is actually a partially-buried starship with an inactive warp core, (I feel like we’ve seen this movie).
Star Trek: Red Shirts #3 ends with Miller and Raad saved from the array collapse by a transporter beam, only to discover they are now prisoners of The Klingon Empire.
Analysis
In Star Trek: Red Shirts #3, the security team endures another round of significant losses, as the “lucky” survivors are pushed to their limit, the odds increasingly stacked against them. Writer Christopher Cantwell puts the remaining red shirts through their paces, prompting acts of bravery that ultimately end in disaster or tragedy. There are some bright spots including Amiga’s discovery of the facility is actually an old starship.
Readers are again made privy to Chip Miller’s insight, as the trauma he experienced on his first mission (and every mission since), has disabused Miller of the notion that Starfleet has his back. That isn’t to say Miller is heartless, he makes every effort to help his remaining allies (especially Ensign Raad) survive the attack. And you have to wonder if he wanted to take the “Kobayashi Maru” test just to see what it was like.
Star Trek: Red Shirts #3 borrows a plot element from the movie “Star Trek: Beyond”, as Lieutenant Amiga discovers that the research facility is actually an old starship, which the team can use to escape Arkonia 89. The tragic loss of both Grash and Vesta are hard to look at, but also reinforces the high price that red shirts pay to keep others safe and complete the mission. (Also, no safety protocols on Romulan transporters?)
The fact that Starfleet considers a segment of their recruits to be cannon fodder proves that while the organization strives for equality, there is still a number of acceptable losses. Now that both the Romulans (Tal Shiar) and the Klingons are taking an active interest in the array shows that Starfleet isn’t providing their security team with enough armaments or intel (possibly on purpose).
If the Klingon allegations about the research station are correct, this has “The Andorian Incident” written all over it (look it up).
Artist Megan Levens ably jumps from one chaotic scene to the next, depicting the various red shirts in action. Grash’s slow, tragic sacrifice is heartbreaking, while poor Vesta’s fate as a transporter mutation is indeed horrific, but not without a profane sense of beauty. One has to wonder how Cantwell’s script described the scene. Both characters should be commended on their dedication. They gave it their all.
Final Thoughts
Star Trek: Red Shirts #3 is another intense, action-packed installment, full of dark plot twists, and likable characters who give their all to an organization that does not reciprocate. Solid story and art.
